>>536178213
The tone here is critical, suggesting that the Skullgirls team, despite being touted as "the greatest minds" in indie game development, are really just recycling ideas rather than creating something truly original.
The core point here is that Yu-Gi-Oh! is pulling from serious, timeless sources—like Greek philosophy—while still keeping its audience in mind (kids, toys, and entertainment). There’s an intentional effort to mix pop culture with deeper intellectual ideas, elevating the material.
The Overall Comparison:
Yu-Gi-Oh!:
Uses high-brow intellectual references (Plato, Atlantis) in a kid-friendly way, blending intellectualism with entertainment.
It's creative in its approach, taking existing classical ideas and transforming them into fantasy elements.
Skullgirls:
Derives inspiration from Japanese media (Guilty Gear, Kamen Rider) and classic literature (The Metamorphosis), but the poster’s critique is that it’s not particularly original or inventive.
The use of tropes like a character's name and transformation sequence feels more like surface-level imitation rather than thoughtful innovation.
In short, the comparison seems to be making a point about Yu-Gi-Oh! using cultural and philosophical material with an intentional sense of creativity and depth, while Skullgirls (at least in the poster's opinion) is criticized for relying too much on reusing existing ideas with minimal changes, attempting to look "cool" or intellectual but ultimately feeling shallow or derivative. The "Nihonjin create, Gaijin imitate" line is a way of suggesting that Japanese creators have more authentic or innovative approaches, while Western creators (like in Skullgirls) just mimic without truly understanding or innovating on the concepts.
It’s kind of a high-level commentary on cultural appropriation and originality in modern media—an argument that American creators might lack the same level of creativity, often relying on copying or altering established works.