Anime: A love/hate relationship....

[Gentleman_Reptile]

Anime has always befuddled me, and I've never really been able to decide whether I like it or not.
On the one hand, I love it's unique style, and the way it is able to capture a childlike sense of personal nostalgia with interesting stories and original ideas. But on the other hand, I hate the endless slew of sociopathic miseryshits with stupid hair masquerading as a hero, or the way ever single series I've seen or looked into thus far seems to be able to sneak a dodgy, pre-pubescent pedophile fantasy into the character roster.
JRPG's have these problems coming out of their ears and its why I cant stand them.

I've seen some absolutely brilliant anime (the Evangelion series, the movie Sword of the Stranger), some half-decent fodder (Claymore, Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040) and some absolute rubbish (Ikkitousen) and I still remain indecisive.

Currently I am writing my own anime series and movie just for the fun of it to see if I can correct these "issues" I struggle with.

So my ultimate question is simply this: What in your opinion, makes a good or bad anime? Because quite frankly, I don't feel knowledgeable enough on the subject to make up my own mind yet.

 

[leviathanmisha]

Well...for me...it's how crack addictive is it. Hetalia and Ouran both have this underlying hint of sarcasm that really shines through and the sub-plots are sometimes funnier that the actual plot. (Hetalia is guilty as charged of this.)

When it comes to Vampire Knight, Hellsing Ultimate, FMA: Brotherhood, and Haruhi Suzumiya, I look for plotline and character development...I guess it's really how you look at it...

 

[TheNamlessGuy]

DELETED

 

[sephiroth1991]

I don't hate Anime, i just don't seem to like them as much as others. I hate how most have battles that last longer than five episodes. I hate how they most of the time young skinny teenagers. Fullmetal is possible the only one i like cos fights only last about five mins and it gets on with the fuckin' plot. I hate animes with 100s of diffrent important characters that all sound the same.

Spoiler: the best character in any anime

 

[leviathanmisha]

I don't hate Anime, i just don't seem to like them as much as others. I hate how most have battles that last longer than five episodes. I hate how they most of the time young skinny teenagers. Fullmetal is possible the only one i like cos fights only last about five mins and it gets on with the fuckin' plot. I hate animes with 100s of diffrent important characters that all sound the same.

Spoiler: the best character in any anime

OMFG!!! I TOTALLY AGREE!!! But the sparkly thingy that he does creeps the living fuck out of me...

 

[Delock]

I always wonder why people seem to lump anime together and try to determine what's good or bad about it. I take it more as an art style to a TV show. I've heard the whole 90% of anime is crap, well that's the same for regular TV as well. You've got stuff that shoots itself in the knees repeatidly, despite having a strong opening (Heroes... I like you and everything, but you've done horrible things to me in every season after 1). You've got stuff that's just crap. You've got comedy that just falls flat on it's face due to either differences or cliches. You've got bad characters in shows. Hell, I'd actually say more TV shows are crap in terms of percent compared to anime (think about most daytime television).

If I'd have to name what makes an anime good, I'd have to say that it entertains enough that I actually want to see what happens next, enough so that if I took a break from it for say two weeks, I'd actually be able to get back into it.

 

[Darth Caelum]

Anime....is like..........well. I like it. The only Anime were i ever hates was School Days [sub]But then Makoto was a dick beyond dicks[/sub]
Basically, i love Anime.

 

[Fightgarr]

I've seen some absolutely brilliant anime (the Evangelion series, the movie Sword of the Stranger), some half-decent fodder (Claymore, Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040) and some absolute rubbish (Ikkitousen) and I still remain indecisive.

Funnily enough I felt that Claymore was great and felt that NGE was only half-decent. Different strokes, I guess. But I understand you point completely. I myself have a tentative relationship with anime. If someones asks generically: "Do you like anime?" I'm inclined to say no. The thing is anime has it's tropes, and many of them bother me a good deal. Unfortunately it's those things that crop up in most anime that I watch making it extraordinarily difficult for me to like them. If I were to categorize what makes good anime to me I would say that the animation should be fairly fluid, the main character should not be a teenager, the show should not be focused on saving the world, there should be a healthy balance between exposition and action and the soundtrack should feature a minimal amount of j-pop if any at all.

 

[Gigano]

There seem to be many ways to make an anime work, with no ultimate formula. I've seen and loved both Spice & Wolf and Elfen Lied, and those are as day and night. A good story & setting, and a consistent pacing that works for those are pivotal for me, but that's merely my subjective main criteria.

Also, try to avoid the tired cliches of animé. I saw two awesome gaming parodies on those on a thread a while back: It basicly sums up what should be avoided in animé.

My problem with Japanime is that 95% of it falls somewhere between Bizarre Jelly 5 and Princess Robot Bubblegum.

Spoiler: Youtube videos

 

[Methos12]

I've always been amazed by how people tend to group everything under the same type of anime. "Anime" is basically just a name for Asian animation, nothing more. It has it's own genres, just like movies and western cartoons. What makes anime good are the same things that make those two good as well, things like: quality animation, good actors (or voice acting in this case), good script, etc.

Only problem with anime is that, over time, it's become EXTREMELY formulaic and has basically started to rely on cliches and overused character archetypes in a FAR greater degree than western works. You could argue that is it's main problem - lack of originality despite often inventive premises and ideas, at it's core anime is mostly comprised of same overused parts.

 

[Kagim]

If people are looking for a less repetitive anime check out Black Lagoon. Probably one of the coolest animes i have ever seen. Look it up.

The ratio of good anime to crap is the same as any tv show. Mountains of bullshit you need to dig through to find something good. Just like not every sitcom is Friends not every Anime is HyperBubbleGumExtream.(I fear thats a real anime....)

Oh, since i have the chance i want to set a record straight.

Anime = Cartoon made in Japan.
Cartoons = Cartoon made in the west.

There is NO other difference. It just is to let you know where it comes from. Same with Manga and comic book. They are the same thing. Its just easier to say Manga then Japanese Comic Book. It explains a lot, faster.

 

[Worgen]

yeah its love hate for me too, there is some damn good anime out there and some damn shitty anime, currently some of my faves are

flcl (best thing ever)
Spice and Wolf (if your hoping for action look else where but if you want an interesting plot and the best god ever, then check it out)
paranoia agent (kind of a murder mystery thing that just gets weirder and weirder but it always awesome)
outlaw star (space ships fighting with axes and guns, need I say more?)
witch blade (no part of me thought this would be good but its actually pretty decent, its got good chars and doesnt go overboard with the TnA or at least as much as I was expecting)
goddannar (this one does go overboard with the TnA but it does it well and its pretty funny, not to mention its got giant robot fighting action)

 

[Armored Prayer]

I haven't seen an anime in a long while so I can't really say much about them, other than there are some good ones and some bad ones.

One thing I despise about anime is how its influencing western cartoons. Look at Nickelodeon's Nicktoons network. A good 45% of them have this Cartoon/Anime hybrid look to them and it just looks horrible. (Except Avatar)

 

[snow]

Isn't the age of maturity over in Japan like... 13 or something? Which explains why almost all Anime consists of what us westerners consider as underage teenagers. With that, it makes understanding Japanese cartoons much easier considering the differences in cultures.

If anything, I can't stand most Anime because of the dubbing process it goes through when it's brought over to America. They get their hands on the animation, and through severe clip cutting and altering, and bad voice acting.. They can turn what could be the most EPIC of story telling and cartoon work into the dumbest and most annoying thing on the planet...

There was a japanese cartoon in the.. 70's? That my sister showed me called Gatchaman or something along those lines... Where they cut out almost any and all fighting scenes and action because it was violent, and added in an annoying robot that talked to the audience to fill in the time they took out of each episode and would often say that any vehicles or ships that got explodedered were robot controlled...

She showed me this, and she'd watch this show a LOT, so I ended up practically hitting my head off a wall.. But then she finally ordered the actual Japanese version that didn't have that annoying robot at all, and had all the blood and violence and awesome fight scenes and action.. I couldn't help but think "Damn this is bad-ass!!"

Proof right there at how uptight we are as a culture. =\

 

[Taxicab Samurai]

definitely love/hate with me.
I love good anime, IE Bounen no Xamdou, TTGL, Baccano.
I hate those goddam overloved pieces of crap IE Naruto, One Piece, Bleach.

I think a good anime is an anime that has good characters and setting.
The story can be as piss poor as "we save the world cuz we can" but as long as the people and setting are at least a little unique and not stuffed with naruto cliche's then they can do well.

 

[Aptspire]

Isn't the age of maturity over in Japan like... 13 or something? Which explains why almost all Anime consists of what us westerners consider as underage teenagers. With that, it makes understanding Japanese cartoons much easier considering the differences in cultures.

If anything, I can't stand most Anime because of the dubbing process it goes through when it's brought over to America. They get their hands on the animation, and through severe clip cutting and altering, and bad voice acting.. They can turn what could be the most EPIC of story telling and cartoon work into the dumbest and most annoying thing on the planet...

There was a japanese cartoon in the.. 70's? That my sister showed me called Gatchaman or something along those lines... Where they cut out almost any and all fighting scenes and action because it was violent, and added in an annoying robot that talked to the audience to fill in the time they took out of each episode and would often say that any vehicles or ships that got explodedered were robot controlled...

She showed me this, and she'd watch this show a LOT, so I ended up practically hitting my head off a wall.. But then she finally ordered the actual Japanese version that didn't have that annoying robot at all, and had all the blood and violence and awesome fight scenes and action.. I couldn't help but think "Damn this is bad-ass!!"

Proof right there at how uptight we are as a culture. =\

That's the main reason why so many kids today want 4Kids to die of a painful colon cancer. Imo, uncut stuff works better. Either that, or 'uncensorable' (stuff that's so graphic it beats the purpose of trying to make it easier to watch) i. e. Higurashi and Elfen Lied

 

[pirate64]

I love it but I'm picky on the ones that I like e.g. I like full metal panic, full metal alchemist, gundam, fairy tail, durrarara!!, soul eater and ghost in the shell but hate ones like naruto, bleach.

I guess the great thing about it is that the is a anime for different people so everyone has at least one they like.

 

[Sjakie]

As long as the animators/director dont make the char's "overact" semi-drama scenes, i can like an anime. Basically i watch the more mature anime's. I am a big fan of everything Ghost in the Shell. It was deep, complex and just damn good story and characters. FMA is also good.
Stuff i really dislike is all that pokemon or kids stuff they show on TV these days. Bleach was good, for the first 25 episodes or so, after that it turned into a dragonball Z with swords->crap

Anime is incredibly diverse, nobody likes it all and i do know a few people who don't like anime in general ("cause its cartoons") but did love some of the more mature ones and the cult classics