Those horrible, plotless anime aimed at teenage girls. The twilight-y ones. Ecch.madwarper said:Well, the obvious thing to do is for you to say what about previous anime you've seen that you didn't like to make you think it was all horrible...
Those horrible, plotless anime aimed at teenage girls. The twilight-y ones. Ecch.madwarper said:Well, the obvious thing to do is for you to say what about previous anime you've seen that you didn't like to make you think it was all horrible...
I wouldn't mind suggestions for either, but I've been putting the focus more on movies than the TV.MysticSlayer said:I know you don't really care about genre, but do you care if it is a movie or a TV show? If not, is there any TV show length that is "too long"?Poppy JR. said:Anyway, does anyone have a recommendation for a good anime? It doesn't necessarily have to be a certain genre. Thanks!
I'd seen a couple of the really poorly written teenage-girl oriented shows. Not my cup of tea, but that kinda put me off anime for a while. Now I'm looking for legitimately good ones, my opinion of the medium[footnote] Thanks knight Captain Kerr [/footnote] has changed immensely.Alterego-X said:I guess I need some more details on exactly WHAT you were wary of in anime. Like, are you actually familiar with the typical genres, art styles, or tropes, and actively hate them, or just assumed to hate them but would be interested in seeing them now after all?
Sam Jack did the protagonist? I'm there.FPLOON said:And, finally, Afro Samurai... mostly on the grounds of Samuel L. Jackson as the lead voice actor in the entire series... (and that's underselling it in my book...)
Well, that's puting you in a strange position, because the anime fandom itself has been largely focused around TV shows, especially the 12-24 episode long ones.Poppy JR. said:I wouldn't mind suggestions for either, but I've been putting the focus more on movies than the TV.
Actually teenage girl oriented ones? Shoujo? Girl POV protagonist falls in love with rape-y androgynous boy? Bubbles and flower petals as a background for romantic scenes?Poppy JR. said:I'd seen a couple of the really poorly written teenage-girl oriented shows. Not my cup of tea, but that kinda put me off anime for a while. Now I'm looking for legitimately good ones
Alterego-X said:I couldn't really tell you, to be honest. I could be totally mistaken, but they seemed to be girl-oriented. You know, the kind where the girl is awkward and shy and meets the new guy and there's all the awkward stuff goin' on. I dunno.Poppy JR. said:Actually teenage girl oriented ones? Shoujo? Girl POV protagonist falls in love with rape-y androgynous boy? Bubbles and flower petals as a background for romantic scenes?Poppy JR. said:I'd seen a couple of the really poorly written teenage-girl oriented shows. Not my cup of tea, but that kinda put me off anime for a while. Now I'm looking for legitimately good ones
Because there are also plenty of ones that could be mistaken for that by the casual western observer, but have a somehow different tone. For example Clannad, or 5 Centimeters Per Second, are melodramatic romance stories, but totally made for adult dudes, or Azumanga Daioh is a slice of life comedy about schoolgirls that gratuitously uses the color pink, and is aimed at the young adult male audience.
Ok, if you are generally weirded out by that as a theme, then you can probably skip all the high school-based recommendations.Poppy JR. said:I couldn't really tell you, to be honest. I could be totally mistaken, but they seemed to be girl-oriented. You know, the kind where the girl is awkward and shy and meets the new guy and there's all the awkward stuff goin' on. I dunno.
I'm fine with a little bit of everything, but I generally prefer well-written dialog or interesting ideas. I don't want to limit myself with just melodrama or just action, but characterization and writing tend to be the clinchers for me. I love a good soundtrack, too (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time had a great one). If the totally-not-childish cartoon thingamabob is done in a way that's at the very least interesting, either with writing or visual spectacle, I'd totally go for it.Alterego-X said:Ok, if you are generally weirded out by that as a theme, then you can probably skip all the high school-based recommendations.Poppy JR. said:I couldn't really tell you, to be honest. I could be totally mistaken, but they seemed to be girl-oriented. You know, the kind where the girl is awkward and shy and meets the new guy and there's all the awkward stuff goin' on. I dunno.
Personally I think that as an aquired taste, many japanese style slice-of-life and romance themes can have their rather unique appeal for a male viewer, separately from the actually Twilight-ish "sparky dudes in heat" style of shoujo, and since you already loved Ghibli movies and GOTF, I guessed that you would be more interested in melodrama than in the totally-not-a-childish-cartoon macho violence that most of the other recommendations seemed to be angling for.
Start with Mamoru Hosoda's other two movies, Summer Wars and Wolf Children. In my opinion, they're even better than The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and that's a damn good movie. He's quickly become one of my favourite directors across the board, not just in anime, and for good reason. I love the art style of his movies, the characterization, the stories and the message behind them.Poppy JR. said:So far I've seen Akira, Nausicca of the Valley of the Wind, and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. I liked the first two, but I absolutely loved TGWLTT. The characterization was excellent and the story was much more mature than I thought it would be.
I was the same as you, and then I tried Fullmetal Alchemist. So very good. And that's the only anime I watch because time. I watched the original series, and now I'm halfway through on the Brotherhood "remake". Brotherhood is faster-paced, but loses some of the character development that the original did so well. I don't really want to spoil anything, but the first 7 episodes of the original Fullmetal Alchemist series is worth the watch just to see what happens in episodes 6 and 7.Poppy JR. said:Here's some backstory: last week, I made a claim that anime was horrible, which I immediately regretted. I know that generalizing a genre like that is shorts sited and wrong, so I decided to create "Give anime a chance week 2014"! I immediately got to work, watching a movie whenever I could. I've now seen three anime, and I'd like to continue. So far I've seen Akira, Nausicca of the Valley of the Wind, and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. I liked the first two, but I absolutely loved TGWLTT. The characterization was excellent and the story was much more mature than I thought it would be.
Anyway, does anyone have a recommendation for a good anime? It doesn't necessarily have to be a certain genre. Thanks!