[arcen]

A lot of these SK stories keep reading like a cultural/techno dystopia, which makes me wonder if people there want change to occur.

[lazide]

SK has been ‘crazy’ this way for many decades. It’s also why it is so obsessed with plastic surgery.

Japan has been going in a similar direction, but has some notable differences (tentacle porn really is a thing, as is chibi).

Everyone is just becoming more aware of it, which hey - at least it isn’t just all about the USA anymore!

[klodolph]

Japan isn’t actually going in that direction… as far as I can tell, there’s just a ton of “Japan is so weird” articles that get shared in the west. Like, articles about vending machines that sell used panties to perverts, or men who get married to anime characters. You could just as easily write these articles about the US or any country in Europe, it’s just a bit of old-fashioned orientalism going around that we happen to write these articles about Japan. I assume SK is mostly boring and has boring problems like the rest of us, like rampant alcoholism and poor work culture. Likewise, the social problems with Japan are boring ones like (again) work culture, being punished for standing out, or having to navigate bureaucracy.

I don’t even know why chibi would be on your list since it’s just a style of drawing cartoons with big heads.