#whereas the vast majority of things are great for what theyre tailored to be

[kaurwreck]

may i suggest you IEUqLL8J4gI on youtube? spoiler: it's not actually about killing gods in jrpgs

I don't love video essays because of how they tend to conflate, oversimplify, and often misstate or misrepresent information. They also tend to be poorly organized/structured. I think this video falls into similar issues, and its framing of Japan is infantilizing and orientalist at times.

Your summary is a good example of why it's not well constructed— the essay should, actually, be about killing gods in jrpgs. Context isn't supposed to distract from the thesis; it's supposed to support and provide an analytical lens. Nothing exists in a vacuum (not even American video game tropes, despite what the intro implied, or even the outro with its overextension of classical theology). But I think the creator misses background context relevant to the point, overattributes to the West (and in doing so, strips substantial autonomy, sovereignty, and culpability from Japan), and conflates Eastern philosophies and religions (and attempts to compare both to the West without considering comparably influential Western philosophy at all). The essay also suffers from a common issue in media analyses online in that the essay contains very little actual analysis (the analysis doesn't begin until after 1 hour into a 1.5 hour video— and is very rushed with only thin connections made to only some of the background information).

But, I do appreciate the recommendation, and it was definitely interesting. I can only be critical because of the sheer amount of background I've inhaled and because I don't think I'm necessarily the target audience. I also struggle to critique anything unless there's something substantial enough to latch onto, and so, as far as I'm concerned, the fact I have specific criticisms at all speaks well of the recommendation.