movies/tv What is the appeal of anime?

[Dark Fox 151]

First off I'd like to state, Cowboy bebop, FLCL, and etc. are Awwwright. 

 

Now, before we talk about the most honorable Japanese and their superior culture, I'd like to provide just a tiny bit of dissent...Ok, just kidding, most anime sucks, I don't get it.

 

I mean, literally everyone anime has the same cliches, as in, plot, action scenes, dialogue and hell even the "anime faces"...How many times can you watch a character turn all black and white, or a little tear shape go down the back of someones head? Is the reaction just the standard? "Gee whiz, this will never get repetitive!"

 

like has no one ever said "let's mix it up"? I can literally have a list of every anime ever and 90% of them will feature melodramatic grunting (a la dragonball Z, but it's cool when they do it), long winded monologues about nothing, the faces...Ok again sorry, but the over exaggerated expressions are not funny, and seeing them EVERYWHERE makes it worse, it literally embarrasses me to watch it, like the animators were trying to get this show to appeal to toddlers that laugh when someone sticks their tongue out.

 

I'm not trying to insult you personally if you like anime, I just don't get it...This started when I saw "Soul Eater" for the first time a few hours ago it was like the conglomeration of everything bad in anime...This was the gist of said episode: Super hilarious anime faces #12, 16, 18 and 29, character cliches up the ass, long winded dialogue about nothing, ungodly amounts of cheesy dialogue (zombie teacher making teaching puns), "Ho! He hit him in the solar plexus! SO MUCH HONOR! HE BRING HONOR TO HIS FAMARY!". Like come on, it actually made me angry...

 

So please, someone help, please tell me it's all a massive cultural gap, or some issue with the dialogue transferring well...

 

Also pony song:

 

[PonyEcho 1,610]

erm the appeal to anime is based on a thing we all have called personal taste you either like something, you don't or you kinda like it but not a whole lot.

 

"I mean, literally everyone anime has the same cliches, as in, plot, action scenes" -also plz display evidence to this because its a hollow statement.

 

also i shall go on a limb and say your issue is more with Shonen Jump anime rather then anime in general  

Edited March 10, 2013 by PonyEcho

[Clover Heart 978]

I agree with @PonyEcho. I think you may only be addressing boys' (shonen) anime. I agree that many shonen anime are like that and are very repetitive and boring to watch. Though, there are exceptions. Bakuman, for instance, is actually watchable. But there are a lot of different genres out there. There's romance, shojo (girls',) fantasy, horror, slice of life, school life and many more. I believe you live in America, yes? That's part of the problem. I think that the majority of anime that comes into America today, especially that which is aired on TV, is shonen. And not even the good stuff. So the image of anime in America today is based on crap like Naruto without representing most other genres or even most other types of anime within the same genre. You guys barely get a fraction of all the stuff that's over here, so it gives a skewed perception of what the media of anime actually is and what it is capable of. Not that that's a bad thing or that I'm saying you should move to Japan just so you can enjoy anime. (Actually, please don't. We get enough of those already...) Just mentioning the state of things.

 

One of the things I like about anime and manga is actually the diversity. There's something for everyone, and probably any topic that anyone has any kind of interest in has been written about. So even someone who isn't necessarily a big fan of anime or manga could probably find something that would interest them.

 

And yes, it does have its clichés. But what media doesn't? How many times have you seen someone slipping on a banana peel in an American cartoon? How many times have you seen a shot of someone falling from a great height in a movie? How many times have you seen explosions in films? How many times have you seen that one episode in a sitcom where everybody in the family gets sick? Clichés are inevitable. That doesn't exempt them from criticism, but to a certain extent, some things, you have to overlook.

Edited March 10, 2013 by Clover Heart

[Creamy Arty 6,252]

I don't like FLCL for some of the reasons that you just mentioned.

 

Yeah, I get what you're saying. That sort of stuff grates on my nerves after a while and is why I haven't seen half of the "entry-level" shows in their entirety that most anime buffs would recommend or that are commonly referenced (I haven't seen Soul Eater btw). There is plenty of anime that doesn't follow that formula, though. Cowboy Bebop, which you mentioned, is one of them. As noted by the guys above, those things are typical to shonen. Lots of shonen animes are one, continuous cliche. If you want something else that doesn't constantly fall victim to that (though it has some weird moments and elements), check out Samurai 7.

[TimeFactor 10]

Usually more realistic proportions when it comes to (normal) humans, I guess. A nice break from the various depictions of humans in cartoons like noodle-ly Adventure Time or "Big Head-Puny Body" children in Fairly Oddparents.

 

And yeah, I'll agree with the others. Most of your beef seems to be coming from the Shonens which is pretty much the only type of anime shown on television in America because "the kids love the violence!" and it's the only thing that will sell when it comes to merchandise here.

 

I'll agree anime is plagued with cliches, but what form of media DOESN'T have them?

[Mightymags 1,053]

I honestly thought I was the only one. My sister watches a lot of anime and I've never understood it. I know exactly what you mean by feeling embarrassed to watch it. I can't stand those jokes that seem like they were made for children. Most anime seems the same to me. I get that the characters are different and the story lines but I don't think it's enough to be interesting. Every episode I've seen looks almost exactly the same with the over-dramatized scenes and the weird random noises. 

 

As a side note, I have watched Dragon Ball Z and I can see why that would be appealing. It's not the typical anime and the characters are actually unique looking. 

 

You probably won't find much support on this site since there seems to be a large anime fan base here, so the best explanation you'll probably get is just that it's personal preference.  

 

Usually more realistic proportions when it comes to (normal) humans, I guess. A nice break from the various depictions of humans in cartoons like noodle-ly Adventure Time or "Big Head-Puny Body" children in Fairly Oddparents.

 

I have no idea why but I read the "Big Head-Puny Body" part in the really macho fairy guy's voice (the one that's supposed to be Arnold Schwarzenegger)   XD

[hawkflame 3,310]

Anime has a history of literally hundreds, if not *thousands* of shows, movies, and specials over the lat 50+ years, so what's this "most anime" or "every anime" that you've seen?

 

I imagine that shows like Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Zeta Gundam, Planetes, or Monster aren't on the list of shows you've seen. You've limited your exposure to mainly just the several most popular shonen series, when you could check out seinen (meant for mature audiences- not *porn*, mind you, but something like Monster, Ghost in the Shell, or Cowboy Bebop, which you mentioned), "real robot" mecha (the Gundam franchise)or films by someone like Hayao Miyazaki or Satoshi Kon.

 

If you like FLCL, you might want to try Gurren Lagann, which is by the same creators.

[Shanks 10,816]

PonyEcho hit the nail right on the head it all boils down to personal taste, I like anime but not nearly as much as I used to. Yes there are plenty of animes that have their share of cliches but the same can be said of plenty of American cartoons and live actions shows. What I like about anime is that because they don't have the view that because something is a cartoon means it has to automatically be for children that they can take certain directions that many American cartoons do not for that reason.

 

This makes anime much more diverse than American cartoons however despite this diversity most of the animes that are well known in the US are shonen animes some of which do fall into these traps but there are plenty of shonen animes which have overcome this. One such anime is One Piece, One Piece can best be described as a roller coaster ride on a pirate ship, you really don't know what will happen next. It takes the common them of pirates and combines it with shonen anime elements and various other cultural influences and weaves a very interesting story about achieving your goals and dreams, friendship and honor while providing enough twists to constantly keep you on the edge of your seat.

 

Another anime I would highly recommend would be Deathnote where a shinigami (grim reaper) gives this human this book where if you write someone name in it they die because he got bored one day. It deals with a lot of complex issues of just how far is too far in regards to justice and other themes.

Edited March 10, 2013 by EarthbendingProdigy

[notdog1996 315]

It all comes down to your tastes.  For example, I love Soul Eater but I can understand why you wouldn't like it.  Some like anime and some others don't, there's no need to go deeper than that.

[Dark Fox 151]

erm the appeal to anime is based on a thing we all have called personal taste you either like something, you don't or you kinda like it but not a whole lot.

 

"I mean, literally everyone anime has the same cliches, as in, plot, action scenes" -also plz display evidence to this because its a hollow statement.

 

also i shall go on a limb and say your issue is more with Shonen Jump anime rather then anime in general  

I never said my opinion was fact by the way.

 

I didn't know their were anime "genres" to be honest, Someone recommend an anime that isn't utter crap and I'll give it one more chance, also to the person above, I didn't like death note either.

 

Anyway, I don't think evidence is necessary or conceivable to find, I mean bleach and soul eater are basically the same shows, if you don't hear like 15 grunts and 8 long winded dialogue about character A's super ultimate attack then you're not watching a fight scene.

 

The animation is all basically the same, with little more than darker or lighter shading between shows, where the difference between Ed, Edd and Eddy and Jimmy neutron doesn't even need to be expounded on.

 

The facial expression thing is literally the visual equivalent of Verbatim speech, seriously I've seen this everywhere, with little to no variance

 

http://stimulatedboredom.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Teardrop.jpg

 

But hey if it is all just shonen than fine, give me something better.

[Scootalove 10,689]

I think in my opinion, the appeal of anime is basically the animation and the exciting battles. Especially, the product of anime in video games, movies, and television shows. When people read the manga, they usually compare some of it to the actual anime. But, I really think that anime really does help people understand about Japanese shows.

[Clover Heart 978]

I don't think the differences between these need to be expounded upon, either.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think this, again, has to do with the fact that you've only really seen shonen anime, which tends to have a similar looking style. Though, if you ask me, Dragon Ball and Naruto look totally different, but that's just me.

 

As for recommendations, this really depends on what genre you like. I could recommend a bunch of things, but most of what I like is romance, so I'm not sure if you'd be into it or not. Personally, some of my favorites include Kodocha, Marmalade Boy, Chobits, Love Hina, GTO, Kaiji and Fruits Basket. There's some variance in there, but again, it depends on what you like.

Edited March 11, 2013 by Clover Heart

[Titan Rising 2,156]

That's part of the problem. I think that the majority of anime that comes into America today, especially that which is aired on TV, is shonen. And not even the good stuff. So the image of anime in America today is based on crap like Naruto without representing most other genres or even most other types of anime within the same genre.

 

You don't have to be all defensive just because Naruto is a better anime than any other anime out there including your favorite.  Even better is the manga.  Fact.

[Clover Heart 978]

You don't have to be all defensive just because Naruto is a better anime than any other anime out there including your favorite.  Even better is the manga.  Fact.

I don't wanna get into a whole discussion about Naruto, but I'd like to go on record by saying that it's absolutely the least substantial thing I've ever seen, and I deserve to have the time and brain cells I wasted on watching it back.

[Soultensionb 18]

ushually in anime,,   great characters, great world, great story , memorable soundtrack thats why i love anime its fun to watch and takes me away from this world.

[Sanic Screwdriver 345]

Well I mean anime isnt all the same. People can like a lot of anime or like anime but anime can have a large range so just liking one anime doesn't mean you will like others  I've seen ninjas fighting, people playing card games, fighting small monsters, people becoming pirates, and someone trying to rid the world of evil by killing criminals with a notebook that kills who you want how you want when you right their names in it. So I wouldn't treat anime all the same I'd treat them each like their own series

[Moog the Kvlt 1,460]

Well basically what everyone else said

Shonen Anime is pretty similar to each other

And I can understand why someone would hate anime

It goes under what you prefer

Like I mean honestly you could say that films/series here

Have a sort of repetitiveness

Just go look at Quentin Tarantino's films for goodness sake

[SailorCardKnight 85]

As other have stated, its all about preference.

 

While most anime is full of the same 'ol cliches, but so do western cartoons. Mainstream shonen anime are the most guilty of these, along with most harem romantic comedies. As for the exaggerated expressions, for some series, thats just the style. Some series out there do like to mix things up, you just have to dig around. And as others have said theres a wide variety of genres.

 

If you liked Cowboy Bebop, I VERY STRONGLY recommend Black Lagoon. Its like a Hollywood action flick in the form of an anime series. Perhaps Madoka Magica while you are at it. It plays up the cliches of the magical girl genre at first only to turn around, punch you in the gut in surprise and leave you there crying. And if you want to try more: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Fate/Zero.

 

These are all series I point to whenever someone asks me "Why do you like watching anime so much?". All of these titles have great writing with some nice surprise twists, great action scenes and drama, terrific animation and are all favorites of mine.

[Le Kvlt Dawn 2,364]

I like FLCL, in fact I was watching it yesterday. I've seen some that I like (One Piece, Bleach, Cowboy Bebop), it's just that they have to use the most cheesy ear raping music in their intros and outros. Like fuck man, I either mute it or fast forward it just so I don't have to hear that crap. 

 

I've met some anime fans before and they can be really, well I'll just say that they're quirky because calling them weird would be mean. It's just the way they talk, they speak really fast and in a certain tone. 

Edited March 11, 2013 by Neighvana666

[Flying Space Badger 84]

Yeah, as others have said, limiting yourself to whats popular will lead to a mediocre experience.

 

If we are recommending good anime, worth mentioning is the excellent and deep Trigun, and  Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit which is one of the few "martial" anime series I've seen that does not reuse frames during fights, and doesn't draw them out for filler. Oh, and both have amazing story lines.

 

For Trigun, I would recommend watching it with subtitles. Moribito has a strong enough dubbing (almost Studio Ghibli quality, actually) to be just as good with dub.

 

Just...maybe skip the intro for Moribito. It's so painful to listen too...