Why do apocalyptic manga & anime make me wish for the end of civilization?

I thought that was pretty fitting.
In an end of the world scenario, people won't want to focus too much on the fact that the world is ending.

It is pretty fitting but i meant that as a plot element it wasn't that relevant outside the first two episodes to establish the setting, as opossed to girls last tour where every episode you have a constant reminder that they are in constant danger and could die at any moment

Only the lighthearted ones do.

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The world has already ended. All humans except Assistant are sleeper fairies trying to keep him company.

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But!
Robot waifus!

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what's the one on the top-left?

>robot waifus that already bonded with someone that died so they don't give a fuck about you and will probably kill you for touching them

Nips always assume people have time and resources to bathe and groom before going out in the morning and that women aren't immediately made into cattle.

Lucky Star

What if she is public service robot?
And that she is getting more and more frustrated that she hasn't "serviced" a customer for many dozens years.

>old ass robot that hasn't seen maintenance in years
>decades old jizz still inside
Used goods but in robot form

Of course she has cleaned herself after her last customer.
And she has been trying to keep herself clean with whatever's available.

Because it makes things simple. For all the benefits society has given us, it has also introduced a lot of stress. For example, to operate a car you need to make loan payments, pay for insurance, and get maintenance. And it's like that for everything, every tiny thing that makes our lives better can easily serve as a point of stress. Over time, all these stresses can make life miserable if not properly managed, and are likely the cause of our mental health crisis.
Post-apocalypse shows are so popular because they promise an escape. With everyone dead, all those problems just disappear. No more worrying about student loans or finding a job or health insurance or whatever else, just get some water and you're fine. You don't need to go to work just to pay rent, you just scavenge for food when you need it. It may be a shitty life physically, but it's liberating mentally.
In other words, it's like a sci-fi version of isekai, with a bit less wish fulfillment.

>Humanity has shown time and time again that in the state of crisis the majority will try to make the situation better.
Yeah sure that might be the case, but you forgot about the masses of DEAD PEOPLE that usually accompany the crisis.

Not me, no sir.

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People are worthless

Because modern Japanese post apocalyptic stories tend to focus on a return to rural life with a focus on friendship, as an escape from high stress, high work focused lifestyles that tend to lead to social isolation. It is wish fulfillment that speaks to modern Japanese anxieties. It also helps that Japan is homogeneous and doesn't have easy access to weapons, making roving bands of bandits pretty unrealistic.

Conversely, American post apocalyptic stories are focused around guns and not being able to trust others, sometimes even friends and family. It's not just racial anxiety, but also economic, regional and to a lesser extent government distrust, all things prevalent in modern american society. If you were to run into another group speaking another language, it would be difficult to trust them no matter what your beliefs were. The high prevalence of guns means survivors would most likely be people who most readily have access to them and are willing to use them. Also, while there is some element of wanting to return to a rural life in these stories, it would be difficult for a city person to make it far enough to farmland, or for someone inland to reach the coasts, or rivers.

I had more written up, but the gap between eastern and western post apocalyptic stories have been pretty interesting to me.

People really hate life nowadays, and they just want it all to end. Post apocalyptic stories speak to this particular part of the soul.

I dunno, Tom Hanks manged pretty well in Castaway
And you'd likely have way more to work with than he did

Hanks in Castaway had prior experience, not strictly in survival stuff but he was a sailor before and was alone on an island that did not have any predators that could kill a human. A person in a city or even the countryside would not fare as well.

You made up some pretty interesting points, user. Never though of comparing those two like that.
Of course, these are always exceptions, but generally speaking American post apocalyptic stories indeed focus much more on the harshness and violence aspects of it all. Although Shoujo Shuumatsu has guns, for example, it is never the focus. In fact, it even plays with our expectations with the genre a couple times. There is some intrinsic beauty in the way they represent it all.

You are easily influenced

Because civilization is nothing more than an addict's chase for a bigger high. You can't give up on it, but deep down you know that you're doing everything wrong.

Well, wouldn't that contrast also be cause American media in general has a larger focus on violence and that sort of thing. It's not necessarily just post-apocalyptic stories.

I would say it's because the Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race, user.

poor Alpha had it worse, though. She saw everything around her just crumble

Better than "civilization".

this is already the case though

Because shitty people make you forget how beautiful the world is.

It would be nice not the see the world deteriorate further than it already has, at least.

How is this different from the very present?
>end of civilization has just begun
Oh.

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Yes and no.
I'd argue that post-apoc as a setting is more of a narrative tool that can be used to different purposes too. That used to be the case with isekai, which ranged from criticism of modern society to entirely escapist to psychological journey to adventure. Japan is fully capable of doing violent post-apoc when it wants since the theme of catastrophical war has a lingering presence. This is mostly seen in mecha and sci-fi series, but Hokuto no Ken and Nausicaa are post-apoc too. Hell, Kemurikusa, Revisions and Derrida all aired this year and qualify as non-iyashikei post-apoc.
Anyway, my point was that the idea of post-apoc can be used in various ways with varying degrees of violence and criticism of societal norms, since leaving the idea of a near total self-inficted annihilation of civilization is already enough to leave a droplet of uncomfortable feelings: so you can range from SukaSuka (mostly melancholic-comfy) to SSR (everything's fucked forever but that doesn't mean there isn't value in human life) to So Ra No Wo To (everything might be fucked but we're going to fight back and regain a future thorugh the good in humanity) to Shinsekai Yori (humanity is deepy flawed and has the inherent ability to do incredibly fucked up shit as long as organized society is up).
SSY might have less open violence than Hokuto no Ken, but as long as the idea that human societies could basically end the world whenever is front and center, a heavy criticism of society is going to be there, even without armed gangs.

So basically what you're saying is there's actually no gap between the western and jap take, and both can do whatever.

This spoiler is ages old but I still remember the disappointment the first time I saw it, I actually wanted to read the LN

Because you can't compete in civilization and hope that would change when it's done for.

Am I living in the post-apocalypse already?

No, what I'm saying is that both the US and Japan can choose to do both stories where the implications of the post-apoc settings run deep and where it's just an easy way to tell the story you want to because it lets you have either a comfy isolated setting or a war and scarcity one with some (or even more) of today's commodities. Yokohama KK isn't really interested in telling us about the environmental disaster, the same as Escape from NY or Planet of the Apes doesn't really care about what humanity did to get to that point.
Conversely, stories where the post-apoc setting is important can differ from the US to Japan, but violence isn't really the main thing about it: rather, the USA's foundational myth about the frontier gave us western as an original American genre and THAT's the main difference. Exacting justicial violence in a lawless context dominated by the uncaring rules of nature is quintessentially American, so US post-apoc defaults to that as a way that allows to show all of the nation's contradictions at the same time. I find it interesting that Japan too has its way of doing this with samurai stories that sort of echo the cowboy ideal (as dozens of movies testify) but the feudal knights' too. Lots of sci-fi or fantasy stories are barely masked samurai or cowboy stories.
What's unique to the US I'd say is the peculiar relation of man with nature (either in its Walden or Moby Dick forms, where Japan basically has shinto kami and shikata ga nai earthquakes) and the colonial/racial consciousness, which really don't have a contemporary Japanese equivalent.
Aside from that, we're in XXI century so it's not like those deep mindsets are insular and disconnected anymore, an Alita adaptation produced by Cameron came out this year and the Gunm manga was heavily Western-inspired already so

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Based industrial revolution poster

You'll be crying. Mostlikely you're gonna die first.

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Would you say the same if you and your loved ones were part of that statistic?
Usually when someone wishes for some big catastrophe / end of the world scenario they don't even consider they'll end up as corpses on the road sides, it's always the other people that end up dead in their delusions.

You don't even need to go that far.
Few day without power, food and a week without hot water and the 'I-wish-for-end-of-world' crowd would crumble and cry in the corner.

Cause you are probably an edgy teen

>japanese stories focus on giving up and dying
>american stories focus on fighting and surviving

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I just want a Hotaru waifu. Forget about all of that fighting to live or die stuff.

There's no candy post-apocalypse and she would die instantly.

There's always a free candy.

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Do you think you would keep your morals in the apocalypsis user?

No.

I expect most of Yea Forums to go full rape-cannibal within a day of an apocalypse.

No, but at least I'll try to make some friends.

It's the relinquishment of all responsibilities for me, just being able to enjoy a simple life with no other worries would be heaven.

YKK is my ideal heaven.

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I wish YKK would get a proper anime adaptation

You know that with climate change it will happen sooner than you think? We already are in the sixth mass extinction of the planet.

>full rape-cannibal within a day of an apocalypse.
Well let's hope media won't pull some prank a-la War of Worlds radio broadcast in the future.
It would be pretty embarrassing.

>There's no candy post-apocalypse
They'd be delicious cake to scavenge for, if you get what I mean.