Can we discuss the problem of pretentious anime?
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Is this a comment on modern cookie-cutter animation where every character looks the same, or is this a comment along the lines of "a waifu for everyone"?
As someone who guilty pleasure watches about 2 Animes a year, I can confidently say I have no clue about Anime culture hierarchy, or why such a thing exists.
To draw a parallel from something I do know, I know 40k players who look down at Battletech or Historical Wargame players. I know Magic players who look down at Yugio players. Fuck one of the players in my DnD group looks down at Pathfinder players.
Why?! What's the point?! All these people share the same hobby and interests, just the flavor is different.
Enjoy what you enjoy. If some anime is connecting with you, drop it like last weeks take out.
To draw a parallel from something I do know, I know 40k players who look down at Battletech or Historical Wargame players. I know Magic players who look down at Yugio players. Fuck one of the players in my DnD group looks down at Pathfinder players.
Why?! What's the point?! All these people share the same hobby and interests, just the flavor is different.
Enjoy what you enjoy. If some anime is connecting with you, drop it like last weeks take out.
I think you meant "isn't connecting". 
But yeah it's fun to grouse and complain but at the end of the day, it's just a show, people really should just relax.
But yeah it's fun to grouse and complain but at the end of the day, it's just a show, people really should just relax.
Tribalism and wanting be part of the group. Even though it's all hypocritical and makes the "outsiders" of society no different than those that shun or hate them for having a "weird" hobby.
Fixed your grammar mistake. I do drop anime that does not work for me. Yet, that does not mean I am going to silence myself of bad experiences or shows I stuck all the way through wasting time on, and ended up hating. I am saying my stories, so I can save others time. Now, if you or someone enjoys an anime/manga/whatever I do not like, more power to you. I won't hate someone or think less of them for it, so long as they don't act like a jackass.
BTW, @SilentPony, I see you changed your avatar icon. Looking great!
I'm fairly certain Mirai Nikki isn't meant to be serious, you can watch this season Platinum end for the "serious" version of it. Spoiler for the ending, God commit suicide and everyone dies.
Pretentiousness is not really a problem I encounter much in anime. If something's wound me up, it's probably because it's boring, shockingly badly made, or crassly exploitative. I like things that are just really solidly constructed, but I also like it when a series takes really big swings, even if they can't quite follow through. I really, really liked Darling in the Franxx and Flip Flappers, which are probably controversial opinions because those series aren't necessarily what you might call good in a conventional sense, but I just like things that are evocative. For me, being visually or emotionally engaging is often a perfectly valid substitute for making sense.
It's not remotely a modern thing. I was watching Galaxy Express 999 a while back and the women all look exactly the same. Like same face, same extremely long hair, same body type, the only thing that was different was their hair color. It was really weird!
When I tried to get into anime like 15-20 years ago, so much of it was pretentious. It's been awhile and I don't quite recall how much of that was due to the creators thinking they made some masterpiece or the fans saying it was a masterpiece. I would check out anime on the "best of all time" lists and so much of it was garbage that I could no longer merit the time commitment. Elfen Lied is one that I will never forget, the user reviews were basically unanimous that it was a masterpiece while it is still one of the worst things I've ever seen in my life, it was so trainwreck bad that I had to keep watching (good thing it's very short at least). The show did very much take itself seriously. Neon Genesis Evangelion was another one, not near as garbage as Elfen Lied but it definitely thought itself to be way more than what the show actually is. I try to go back to anime here and there and I think the last one I watched at least 5 years ago at this point was Psycho Pass, which again the user reviews say masterpiece/amazing, and it was super just "fine" and the end reveal is like the 1st thing you'd expect it to be.
I think the most recent anime movie I checked out that wasn't Studio Ghibli, as I saw it at Best Buy I think, was The Girl That Leap Through Time, and it's one of the worst "jumping through time" movies I've ever seen in my life, it jumps off the rails so hard in the last 3rd. Same thing happens in the video game realm with Japanese games that I can't trust user reviews at all like how I gave Nier (the 1st one) a chance because the story was talked up as literally the best video game story of that gen and it's just an average anime story with plot points that have been done to death, the characters were mostly entertaining and carried the game, but the plot is nothing special at all. I even remember a post saying The Last of Us just copied Nier, no joke. The game was so pretentious it made you play through the damn thing again to see the real story that totally didn't need you replaying through it again whatsoever. Same thing also happened in the Japanese Netflix show, Alice in Borderland, it was so bad I had to stop watching after the 3rd episode I think. I could already tell there's no way the plot's gonna make sense unless it's like all a dream or VR or something. It obviously thinks it something more than just a fun "battle royale" type show as the last episode I watched was the one where all the characters are crying the whole fucking episode. You are not anything at all close the REAL Battle Royale so stop trying.
I think the most recent anime movie I checked out that wasn't Studio Ghibli, as I saw it at Best Buy I think, was The Girl That Leap Through Time, and it's one of the worst "jumping through time" movies I've ever seen in my life, it jumps off the rails so hard in the last 3rd. Same thing happens in the video game realm with Japanese games that I can't trust user reviews at all like how I gave Nier (the 1st one) a chance because the story was talked up as literally the best video game story of that gen and it's just an average anime story with plot points that have been done to death, the characters were mostly entertaining and carried the game, but the plot is nothing special at all. I even remember a post saying The Last of Us just copied Nier, no joke. The game was so pretentious it made you play through the damn thing again to see the real story that totally didn't need you replaying through it again whatsoever. Same thing also happened in the Japanese Netflix show, Alice in Borderland, it was so bad I had to stop watching after the 3rd episode I think. I could already tell there's no way the plot's gonna make sense unless it's like all a dream or VR or something. It obviously thinks it something more than just a fun "battle royale" type show as the last episode I watched was the one where all the characters are crying the whole fucking episode. You are not anything at all close the REAL Battle Royale so stop trying.
The first anime I ever seen with so much gory detail is often hard to get forget.
I wasn't like 12 when I saw Elfen Lied, I was early 20s, and I saw gory anime before like Ninja Scroll. It was the incomprehensible horridness of the show that I'll never forget like how it was basically a sexual fantasy for the protagonist and the unbelievable interconnectedness of the protagonist and the one chick, it was so laughable.
Pretentious? I find most anime these days likes to wallow in shlock. At least pretentious art can aim to say something. Most stuff produced today is wish fulfillment.
That varies on what it is. I will give credit for something that tries to be more than what it is or have a statement, but when you go that far up your ass and act like as if you're saying something important or no different than a schlock you're mocking, it's just as irritating, hurtful and painful. Or just as ugly and no better than the wish fulfillment. Both are extreme side of the same coin.
I know you are referring to a lot of wish fulfillment to the iesakai anime and you do have a point. Sometimes it doesn't even have to be in that genre with anime, but with a problem with a lot of today's shounen and others. Thankfully, there's always something good around the corner if you look hard enough.
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Same. Other than maybe Panty's speech towards the end of the last episode, none can be found. The hatred for the show is either crass humor, or the title characters themselves. Hell, I remember there were a good amount of haters on Deviant Art, and this guy's one comic showed the title characters and Scanty and Kneesocks dying, gruesome, horrifying, deaths. The artist seemed like wanna those wannabe tough guys that act all edgy and shit. Then another criticism I read from another user (much saner) did not like show, because it suffered the same problems Family Guy did: random humor and pop culture references. I still say FG's is way worse. It did not help that from their argument, people that were praising Panty and Stocking, were hating on Family Guy for the same reason. P&S has its flaws, but knew when to end. Plus, FG is still on the air, and I stopped watching the show around 2007. I can't blame those for finding P&S a breather of fresh air by comparison. Even if the air somewhat better.
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For me, pretentious is about "masturbating to the sound of your own voice", whether it's someone being full of themselves for the piece of media they've created or full of themselves by talking about a piece of media made by someone else. There's nothing wrong with wanting to make a show about women with big boobs fighting in skimpy outfits, there's also nothing wrong with putting some heart into it even if that isn't the main goal, it doesn't make them pretentious. What IS a problem is trying to convince everyone that you're super smart or enlightened or that this thing you like is and obsessing over it.
Yeah, it's absolutely the "look at how clever I am for doing the thing, *anime laugh*" quality that tips it over.
The fact that I see this most often in trash ass isekai shows these days is hilarious to me, but I figure that goes hand in hand with the wish fulfillment for Being Very Clever
The fact that I see this most often in trash ass isekai shows these days is hilarious to me, but I figure that goes hand in hand with the wish fulfillment for Being Very Clever
Part 1 and 2 of Ascendance of a Bookworm is the only isekai that I've found that avoids this because the MC has to really work to get what she wants and is still denied her main goal but even that series is falling into the same problems you find in most isekai with Part 3.