What's so great about anime?

Bob McDob · Post by **Bob McDob** » 2003-09-06 05:56pm

Like most western stuff, 80% of anime sucks. The odd 20%, however, is great. I think the most notable thing about it is that it's often subtly different from western entertainment. Oh, and it's more stylish and there's often singing (:\)

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2003-09-06 05:57pm

Bob McDob wrote:Like most western stuff, 80% of anime sucks. The odd 20%, however, is great. I think the most notable thing about it is that it's often subtly different from western entertainment. Oh, and it's more stylish and there's often singing (:\)

Where is this musical anime? The most musical I know is Bebop; and that's just background music.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2003-09-06 05:57pm

Bob McDob wrote:Like most western stuff, 80% of anime sucks. The odd 20%, however, is great. I think the most notable thing about it is that it's often subtly different from western entertainment. Oh, and it's more stylish and there's often singing (:\)

90 percent, actually. Remember, 90 percent of everything is crap.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-09-06 06:07pm

Zombie, the main point of your arguement seems to be that you're a casual fan, and therefor don't want to bother investing the time to find the more recent titles of a higher quality, and that only hardcore fans get to see those.

Translation: I'm too lasy to look for the good recent stuff, so I'm going to put on my rose-coloured glasses and bitch that it's someone else's fault.

No offence, but your points just seem bitter and petty. If you want to see the creme of the crop, then you're going to have to look for it. That's just how it is.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2003-09-06 06:09pm

It's not that difficult for the casual viewer to find out what the best series to watch are, anyway. There are plenty of informative websites.

I'm somewhere between casual and hardcore, personally.

Connor MacLeod · Post by **Connor MacLeod** » 2003-09-06 06:13pm

Darth Wong wrote:Well? The anime I've seen tends to be no more plausible or realistic than old-fashioned 80s cartoon junk, but it's more stylish and there's often singing. Why is everyone so hot about it?

Andrew Tse could probably help explain. Maybe Martyn too (I think thoes two have talked anime before.)

Anime is like any other kind of TV. You have alot of different kinds ands genres - some fantasy, some comedy, some science fiction, some romance, some "other". Some kinds appeal to certain people, others don't (I myself am a big Tenchi Muyo - sort of sci fi/comedy/romance, and Hellsing action/horror, but I tend to dislike Mecha anime like Gundam.)

I suppose it really depends on what you watch, and what your tastes are, like with regular TV. The only difference being its drawn and not "live action."

Connor MacLeod · Post by **Connor MacLeod** » 2003-09-06 06:19pm

Again, to use an analogy, TV and moviesa re much the same. What is "likable" and "not liked" depends largely on tastes and interest. For movies, I hate most slasher/horror flicks, most dramas, and stuff.. but I tend to like certain comedies more.

As for TV, I tend to watch very little other than cartoons anyhow

I hate sitcoms, I hate reality TV, I hate most of the drama shows. One could venture an argument that 90% or more of TV (or even movies) are crap too, after all. I dont see why this should be a unique phenomena for just anime.

I think what Darth Wong is seeing is that alot of people who tend to enjoy fantasy/sci fi (IE people likely to be drawn to this board) also tend to be anime/cartoon fans of some form or another. So we tend to see a larger degree of discussions of that sort of thing as well

Majin Gojira · Post by **Majin Gojira** » 2003-09-06 06:43pm

I think it is because similar themes/ideas are presented in them, either that or they provide similar venues of escapist fair. Just a thought...

zombie84 · Post by **zombie84** » 2003-09-06 06:45pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Zombie, the main point of your arguement seems to be that you're a casual fan, and therefor don't want to bother investing the time to find the more recent titles of a higher quality, and that only hardcore fans get to see those.

Translation: I'm too lasy to look for the good recent stuff, so I'm going to put on my rose-coloured glasses and bitch that it's someone else's fault.

No offence, but your points just seem bitter and petty. If you want to see the creme of the crop, then you're going to have to look for it. That's just how it is.

Pretty much. I know there is great anime out there, i've seen it. Grave of the Firefly's is the most moving piece of animation i've seen and Metropolis is probably the most visually-stunning artwork ever committed to film. These are of course fairly mainstream stuff, seeing as they both recieved (extremely limited) theatrical releases. I'm sure theres a lot of anime out there that is just as great that i've yet to see.

But my point was that if there is great anime being produced today--and i dont doubt that there is--it is so few in number that you have to keep up with anime news and read anime mags and fansites to hear about it. I'm first and foremost a movie fan, not an anime fan per se. I'm not going to delve into the depths of the anime world to find one or two good films in a sea comprising countless thousands. I think thats unreasonable. Im just a casual fan. Thats what causual fans do; we like anime, go to reasonable lengths to find out about anything good and if possible seek it out. Availability is another huge problem because as was mentioned, only a wee bit is even translated, and of that small bit, only a fraction is even worth viewing, and thats if you can even obtain a copy, which is an even bigger problem, despite the popularity of the medium.

I think the problem many have--including myself--is the reputation anime has. People are obsessed with it, its everywhere and theres so much exposure to it. And most of that very stuff that people always talk about, advertise, etc. isnt even that good. Not that its bad, but sometimes i dont understand how people can spend so much time on some shows when theres tons of better non-anime stuff out there. Had anime remained in the semi-underground (im talking about the west here) i think many would find it a lot more appealing, including myself. When it was unknown, it was new and exciting, and we were all willing to accept some stuff with some rough edges because it was cool regardless. So i guess im not being totally objective, but sometimes reputations can be a turn off, especially when the source material wasnt all that great to begin with. I'm not bashing anime, i love it when its good, as i love all forms of storytelling when they're good, i just think that some people are so in love with the medium that they make stuff popular that isnt very good, and the good anime is only seen by the hardcore fans (which i guess is all the more better for you guys).

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2003-09-06 06:59pm

SirNitram wrote:
Where is this musical anime? The most musical I know is Bebop; and that's just background music.

Macross Plus?

Psychotic Rei Toei style virtual idol possesses gigantic transforming fortress, attempts to kill main character. For some reason beknownst only to herself...

Lots of music, fantastic action scenes, giant transforming robots, barely makes any sense...

Or Perfect Blue. Also based around Idol Singers, and their psychotic tendencies....

consequences · Post by **consequences** » 2003-09-06 07:02pm

Martian Successor Nadesico occasionally had singing.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2003-09-06 07:27pm

Zombie,

I'm a rathe casual fan of anime and it's not hard to find good anime. I've found quite a few good shows just off Adult Swim. And ask people here for recommendations. It's not hard to find good anime, you just have to do something other than watch Pokemon and DBZ.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2003-09-06 07:45pm

Anime, or at least the very good anime, is great to me because it's animation that takes on everything from the extremely humorous and weird to the very serious and provocative. Humorous being something like Excel Saga and serious to being something like Grave of the Fireflies or Jin-Roh.

Most of the animated stuff I spot on TV and the movies are almost all geared toward younger audiences. The only very mature American animation I've seen is Fire and Ice.

Anyway, the creators of anime and manga all seem to disagree with the idea that animation and cartoons are kids-only. That's one of the biggest things I like about anime.

Xisiqomelir · Post by **Xisiqomelir** » 2003-09-06 08:13pm

Voice-acting! Listening to your favourite seiyuu is a joy.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2003-09-06 09:13pm

How about the pram of death and destruction known as "Lonewolf and Cub"?

really it's a fun comic book/Anime/Live action movies, with a much deeper plot then anything you will see on Cartoon Network.

Of course I still like the Dirty Pair, Dominion Tank Police, Trigun & Bastard because they are FUNNY. not for any realism, and the puns in Bastard are so awful, they are priceless....

Darth_Shinji · Post by **Darth_Shinji** » 2003-09-06 10:19pm

Personaly there's not much anime I think is crap....I might dislike a anime for story direction or genre, but not alot I can say "This is total 100% crap, that not one person of any race or denomination will like." Which is not the case of the american movie genre. It seems to me the Japanese save stuff like that for thier live-action movies.

P.S though there are a few that do kick total ass.

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2003-09-06 10:35pm

The Yosemite Bear wrote:How about the pram of death and destruction known as "Lonewolf and Cub"?

Hell yeah! First time I ever saw "Lonewolf and Cub" was the live-action movie. I think it was shown on the LateLate show, or some similar, but I thought it was great.

And I remembered it well enough to recognize him instantly in the "SamuriJack" flashback cameo. (In the episode where Jack finds what's left of his home.)

I wish I could find more starring Lonewolf and Cub.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2003-09-06 10:44pm

I like low budget action and horror flicks, those have even less respect for the laws of physics.....

After seeing planet's getting blown up by sparkler fireworks so many times I kinda have some sympathy for the visual artists and the voice actor. Even more so for the voice actors after I started doing Radio Plays as a college project in my broadcast/communications days.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2003-09-07 12:37am

Shinova wrote: Humorous being something like Excel Saga and serious to being something like Grave of the Fireflies or Jin-Roh.

Excel Saga rocks. And so does Jin-Roh. Jin-Roh, if it was ever made into
a live action movie would rock so fucking much it would rule, utterly.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2003-09-07 12:57am

MKSheppard wrote:
Shinova wrote: Humorous being something like Excel Saga and serious to being something like Grave of the Fireflies or Jin-Roh.
Excel Saga rocks. And so does Jin-Roh. Jin-Roh, if it was ever made into
a live action movie would rock so fucking much it would rule, utterly.

Jin-roh, a Mamoru Oshii script, with IG animation. Why I haven't seen this movie yet boggles my mind.

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2003-09-07 01:17am

LadyTevar wrote:
The Yosemite Bear wrote:How about the pram of death and destruction known as "Lonewolf and Cub"?

Hell yeah! First time I ever saw "Lonewolf and Cub" was the live-action movie. I think it was shown on the LateLate show, or some similar, but I thought it was great.

And I remembered it well enough to recognize him instantly in the "SamuriJack" flashback cameo. (In the episode where Jack finds what's left of his home.)

I wish I could find more starring Lonewolf and Cub.

There's a remake coming up I heard.

There was also Lone Wolf 2100 or something.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2003-09-07 01:26am

Besides the Frank Miller/Dark Horse republishing of the entire Manga with a new translation team?

Bob McDob · Post by **Bob McDob** » 2003-09-07 11:11pm

Durran Korr wrote:Jin-roh, a Mamoru Oshii script, with IG animation.

Insect-Generated animation?

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-09-07 11:13pm

Bob McDob wrote:
Durran Korr wrote:Jin-roh, a Mamoru Oshii script, with IG animation.
Insect-Generated animation?

Production IG. An animation company.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2003-09-07 11:18pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:
Bob McDob wrote:
Durran Korr wrote:Jin-roh, a Mamoru Oshii script, with IG animation.
Insect-Generated animation?
Production IG. An animation company.

The best one, in my opinion, except for Ghibli.

StarDestroyer.Net BBS

What's so great about anime?

Re: What's so great about anime?