Anime about anime

[LirLiri_Wolfen]

[color=darkblue]Okay, I'll start by saying this is my first thread, so please stick with me. I'm not really one to criticize anime or manga. I either love an anime 'till the end or can't stand looking in the general direction of it (with little to no reason beyond, "It's just-so-dumb!"). :rolleyes:

I want to hear a little about what otaku like or dislike about the plots of different anime, because if I dislike one that's generally what bugs me the most, vice versa. Please include anything else that you might like or dislike! (Feel free to rant a bit!) I'll try and start with one of my simple-minded opinions. ;)


I recently finished the "Onegai Teacher" manga. I really loved it. I thought it a bit predictable plot wise, but there were a few twists that I didn't expect. Those kept me hooked on it. I thought that the characters were really lovable too, but unfortunately I can't remember most of their names. The climax really yanked a few tears out of my eyes, but the very end sort of left me in a stupor. I guess that it just didn't fufill my expectations because I was expecting something more dramatic.[/color]

[Queen Asuka]

[color=hotpink][size=1]I don't like repetition. A plot sequence that is just the same thing over and over again (such as Dragon Ball Z) just gets old after a short while. One month of episodes equals five minutes passing in the actual storyline worth of fighting. They get defeated, eat a bean, and keep on going. It's just the same annoying thing over and over again.

What I LIKE is romance. Just about any series with a romantic story of some sort going on will have my interest. Some may be boring and my lose my attention, but I love the romance.

I also like great looking characters. If the designs are ugly, I tend to be turned away from it. I thought Galaxy Express 999 was the ugliest thing I'd ever seen. After watching the movies though, I was hooked. It's one of the most beautiful stories ever...[/color][/size]

[Vash's girl]

Like the queen, i can't stand repition (ex. DBZ). I love a complicated plot. The stories with characters going through some sort of personal conflict is great. I can't stand shows with bad animation. That's one of my big turn offs of reign. I also love it when characters got some big ol' guns or swords!

[eleanor]

[size=1] Like Queen Asuka said, repitition is an [i]awful[/i] thing. :P DBZ is a perfect example, Q_A. Ahem. Same with Pokemon and Yugioh...and Sailor Moon for that matter. Ok, so I've only seen so many episodes of Sailor Moon, but they pretty much follwed the same plotline.

Of course, it's possible for an anime to have a repitition of action and still be very interesting. =_= [yeah, that didn't make very much sense] For example, when I first heard of Evangelion, I was wondering how the anime could be so great if the only thing they did episode after episode was destroy the enemies [in other words, the angels]. ^_~ We all now how that turned out. Er...for anyone who's [i]watched[/i] Evangelion. I'd have to say that Evangelion is probably my favorite anime series.

So...I'll just nit-pick that. The action is great, and it's nothing like I expected. Hideaki's new deisgn for the Eva's were extremely original for the mecha anime. [even though the Eva's aren't robots, the new design was cool. O_o] The way the whole action sequences were designed interested me greatly.

--This might sound strange, but I also love depression. ^__^;; I hate animes where everything is always happy-happy and the only problems there are is that OOPS! I forgot my lunchbox and home, HEY! Let's go on an adventure and get it back!
.......XP Don't worry, I made that up. I'm a sucker for the sad endings and depressed scenes in an anime. So, I love Grave of the Fireflies a lot.

Philosophy and themes that are connected to real life are always something I will definately by concentrating on when watching anime. Those things spike my interest level, so my eyes are pretty much glued to the screen when those pop up. In short, Evangelion and I were a pretty good pair.

Anyways, another thing I absolutely love about some anime series is the music. Good music is a [i]must[/i] for me, so Cowboy Bebop is another one of my favorite anime series. Yoko Kanno's music is great, and I love the jazz songs in that anime. Her music ranges from metal, jazz, vocal, etc. and they appeal to many different genres of music. So with that, Gravitation and FLCL are added to my list of favorite animes.

Another thing I enjoy a lot, [which is ironic compared to my love for depression] is humor. With humor, I mean [i]everything[/i]. Face expressions, slapstick humor, smart humor, randomness/insanity, etc. Gravitaiton is a great example for that, along with Excel Saga, Trigun, Ramna 1/2, and other series.

And yes, I do enjoy a little romance now and then. [though very rarely] Card Captor Sakura [NO, not the crappy little Cardcaptors you used to watch on the WB, kids] is another anime I really like to watch. It's pretty much a magical-girl anime with romance and action, but I still like it. DN Angel, Marmalade Boy, and Chobits are other animes/mangas I enjoyed watching/reading.

Another major thing for me is the art style. If I like it, I like it, and if I don't, there's a good chance I won't watch the anime. The art styles of animes are usually what draw me into researching the anime more, actually. ^_^[/size]

[AzureWolf]

[quote]They get defeated, eat a bean, and keep on going.[/quote] Haha, there's a lesson in that: "beans beans are good for your heart..."

I think I'm a "first impression" anime fan, where the first episode either grabs me or misses completely. Well, I guess I should say "the first episode I see" instead of the first episode, since sometimes the first episode isn't the first one I see...

Addtionally, the ending just has to rock, or else the series will lose a lot of luster. You can't watch it again without keeping that lame ending in mind. You know, it'll just be there in the back of head saying, "Yeah, it's cool now, but you know how it'll end." I'd give a few examples, but I'd probably make some enemies by doing so (OtakuSennen knows what I'm talking about ;)). :D

EDIT: Everyone hates repetition? That's a darn shame, because, when executed properly, it has a really awesome effect on the overall experience with the anime. Take Noir, where repetition serves as a "you might want to think/take note of this a little more than other things" foreshadowing. In other words, it's a way to represent varying degrees of importance. Noir does it significantly better than every anime I have ever seen, where the singular scene that defines everything is shown little by little, and in reverse. As the series progresses, you see more and more, and the big picture just doesn't hit you until late in the series.

Ok, so that's repetition done right. Naruto, on the other hand, is where repetition is excessive and serves no purpose. Showing the last five minutes of the previous episode at the start of every successive episode is a horrible idea. In cases like these, where repetition has no beneficial effect on the entertainment value of an anime, I despise repetition as much as the rest of you.

[OtakuSennen]

Hm.. What do I hate about anime? Well, at least in some dubs, you'll frequently some sort of moral in it in some way or another. Take, for example, Yu-Gi-Oh!. "Yes, if we work together we can do anything!" "Teamwork is great!" "We shall win because of friendship!" Now I'm all for morals and everything, but I prefer it all to be more subtle, like you have to think about the series some to find it. Like in Evangelion, for example. I think that the underlying theme is something along the lines of "Life is how you make it" or something to that extent. It's not that obvious. I like that more.

The intricate plots and great art are what mostly draw me to anime and manga. Normally in American cartoons you'll get simple plots, and the episodes rarely tie into each other. Bad guy appears, they beat it, all is well. In the next episode they all have a birthday party and never mention a thing about the horrible gashing wound the guy had (But still kid friendly, of course) in the last episode which magically disappeared. Yet a good story arc in an anime may take 4 or 5 episodes. (Of course, Dragonball has 26-season long fights, but I won't get into that)

And, of course, the animation is always so detailed. The average anime character has a fairly realistic character design, in comparison to the circle-eyed stick figures with color we call American cartoons.. >.>

[spoiler]The fanservice isn't what attracts me to an anime, but it helps. :p Well, not really.[/spoiler]

But, AzureWolf, what I believe that maladjusted and Queen Asuka and everyone meant by repitition was the repeating of scenes, like a jab-fest in Dragonball, which they show 20 times over. Not when referring to a repeating line or a recurring theme. When used properly, repitition makes an anime really great. Plot-wise, not animation-wise.

[Guest KJB292]

I have found that I prefer anime and mangas whose episodes and stories have self contained plots. I want to be able to sit down and watch one show, or read a short story and not be reliant on another six segments to understand what is going on.
This is one of the major complaints I had with DBZ when my friends finaly convinced me to watch it. Each episode was merely a short segment of time broken up amongst a number of plots. Unfortunately each plot stretched across more shows than I care to remember. A continuing plotline is great, but there are limits.
Additionaly, I don't car to find deep philosophical issues to be at the core of an anime. I often find them repetitive, as the usualy carry over from one episode to another. Just as frequently, I disagree with them, and that sentiment tends to detract from the enjoyment that I receive from them.
YIKES IT'S 3 AM!!!
Good Night

[Queen Asuka]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by maladjusted [/i]
[B][size=1] Like Queen Asuka said, repitition is an [i]awful[/i] thing. :P DBZ is a perfect example, Q_A. Ahem. Same with Pokemon and Yugioh...and Sailor Moon for that matter. Ok, so I've only seen so many episodes of Sailor Moon, but they pretty much follwed the same plotline. [/size] [/B][/QUOTE]

[color=hotpink][size=1]Sailor Moon was a bit repetitous and the dub was absolutely god awful, but I absolute love the series. The uncut series, that is. Where the storyline eventually goes is just so amazing to me. I love love LOVE it! *Squeaks loudly*[/color][/size]

[eleanor]

[size=1] ^_^;; I've [i]never[/i] seen the uncut Japanese version, so I guess I'm in no position to say anything about it yet. >_> I really don't like the dubbed version, though. [/size]

[Zen]

I'm not gonna sit here and bomb on DBZ becuase if it wasn't for that, i wouldn't be were i am today. Which is here, nor would i be interested in martial arts and writing. So i owe most of my current life to DBZ. Although i have far since past it and its no longer on my favorite anime list.

I treat anime like any other form of entertainment. If i dislike it, i won't froce myself to watch it. Like, i hate the popular anime shows like Yu Gi Oh, Pokemon, and the current trend starter, SD Gundam which tottally disgraces the series.

I'm fixed on shows with complex plots, cool, yet realistic characters, and great depth. My current favorite anime are Trigun cuz it has probably one of the greateststories around and its characters, in my opinion, are the coolest around. I love Cowboy Bebop because of the fact that "This could actualy be what the future hold for us" and that the animation is probably the best around. I also like FLCL, for obvious reasons. And the only "Bishonen"-esque anime i like is Tenchi Muyo cuz its the funniest anime around with FLCL.

Like i said, anime is like any other form of entertainment, You watch what is good, you bomb what you don't like. Plain and simple.

[Luminaire]

[color=crimson]I dislike repitition, as well. Also, in a more mature anime, the director may throw a "cute" character in and that kind of annoys me. In Yu Yu Hakusho when Puu was around as that little thing, it was cute at first, but when all the girls were babying it, I got a little annoyed, but when Yusuke cursed at it, I found it funny. I am also not big on sex scenes. If there are too many, I will stop watching; I just don't care for it.

Let's see...what I like about anime. Everything but the above. I like a good story, long or short. The story is always the most important part to me. Any animation works for me as long as the story is played out right. I like action or angst that is not overdone. Music is another important thing to me; if the music does not work, it just doesn't make it as impressive. Fighting that the eye can keep up with is important to me; I love fighting shows. But, going back to the first like, the story. The story has to be good or interesting; it has to make sense, but can be puzzling. The story cannot be drawn out or shortened. While 08th MS Team was only 12 episodes and Gundam Wing was 49, both got the point across about two different stories. Mysteries are good too. Escaflowne had alot of mystery and intrigue to it.

That's all for now.

~Lumi ^_^[/color]

[Soliel]

[COLOR=GREEN] Plot has got to be one of the main things for me in determining a good anime series. Also, the more unique the plot, the better. Cowboy Bebop is a good example of this.

Dislikes...well there are two things that will automaticly make me turn away from an anime. One is repeating series, such as Gundum. Don't get me wrong, I loved Gundum Wing when it came on, but after the forth or fith series, it got to be a little monotonous. The other thing is kiddied down anime such as Hamtro and Hello Kitty. These have cute merchindice but bad plot for people our age.[/COLOR]

[Zen]

Gundam Wing was the 8th countinuation of the series. I actually favored the more militairy Gundams in the UC Gundam series over GW. I especially liked 0080 War in a Pocket and 0083 Stardust Memories. Gundam ahs the countinuation factor cuz it doesn't reuse characters, just history, Gundam has its own universe that you can immerse yourself in, that why it too, is one of my faves. :D

[LirLiri_Wolfen]

The sound track is a big deal for me, too. I feel like it really needs to flow with the anime. I like different bordering bizarre sound tracks too, such as .hack//SIGN. I absolutely love the music because it's so different and because I believe it matches the atmosphere of the show well.

Speaking of .hack//SIGN, I did like it but something about it bugged me. I don't like it when an anime leaves you hanging like that at the end of the series. I was so confused by the end of the show, and I wanted to know more about what was going on. I felt like not a whole lot was resolved, and I don't want to spend a couple hundred bucks on the video games to find everything out! I understand that the mood is mysterious, but it still frustrates me. I don't mind hanging all the time, but I like an anime with more of a conclusion better.

Another one of the qualities in an anime that really gets me is a character that I can relate to. It's like James Cameron (Director of Titanic, had to watch special about it in history the other day) said; You need to provide the audience with an emotional doorway so they can fully appreciate the story. Or something like that. Although he was talking about past events, I believe this applies to any story.

For example, one of the reasons I like Sailor Moon is that I can understand what it's like to be a ditzy teenager. The fact that the main characters were generally young women really attracted me because I could connect with that.

[Zen]

Don't get me started on soundtracks cuz .hack dosn't even compare to Cowboy Bebop. Theres a custom song for every episode, for which the episode is named (usually) and the music is pure energy. It is either very driving or very deep. That is anotehr reason i love CB.

[Sun]

The Pillows on the flcl soundtrack is the best!

[Zen]

yeah, the pillows ruled that soundtrack! I lovedeverysong htey played. The slow sad ones and thefast up beat one. I espceially liked the ending theme. So CB and FLCL all the way for best sound track!