Everything You Know about Anime Is Wrong
- Thread starter FireAza
- Start date
The main thing I hate about anime, is that the main an character and support characters must always be somebody special. The character always has a dark past, locked potential, or some kind of other amazing hidden destiny. While I understand that Destiny is a staple of a lot of anime storytelling (And that destiny usually leads to more skills and whatnot),but it just doesn't stick anymore.
For example:
Let's take bleach, an anime that almost everybody has seen at least once. Every character in that show is some kind of expert, or has some sort of dark, broody past. Now that makes for a terrible cast of characters. We already know each will survive because of said skills, and displays every single kind of character trope possible. If they don't have any amazing abilities, they have the life expectancy of about three or four shots (If their lucky).
I think that many anime's would benefit from a character that is literally just a normal person (or equivilant), that does not get tons of skills/abilities by the end of the series. Now this may sound taboo , because most characters need to progress otherwise they become boring. However, If this hypothetical 'norm' is played well enough,(And not as some kind of straight-man) they could become a very interesting character, without the use of adding stupid amount of skills.
Now I need to go bash my skull in, for that now I sound like my english teacher, mixed with my t.v productions teacher.
For example:
Let's take bleach, an anime that almost everybody has seen at least once. Every character in that show is some kind of expert, or has some sort of dark, broody past. Now that makes for a terrible cast of characters. We already know each will survive because of said skills, and displays every single kind of character trope possible. If they don't have any amazing abilities, they have the life expectancy of about three or four shots (If their lucky).
I think that many anime's would benefit from a character that is literally just a normal person (or equivilant), that does not get tons of skills/abilities by the end of the series. Now this may sound taboo , because most characters need to progress otherwise they become boring. However, If this hypothetical 'norm' is played well enough,(And not as some kind of straight-man) they could become a very interesting character, without the use of adding stupid amount of skills.
Now I need to go bash my skull in, for that now I sound like my english teacher, mixed with my t.v productions teacher.
I already knew all of this. Ironically because I watch anime. there's more than a fair share of anime where the main characters say things like "anime is for children and perverts" in otherwords, these stereotypes also exist in japan rendering this entire article pointless.FireAza said:
I feel like there's room for an inb4 here but I can't put my finger on it.
taboo? seriously? have you seriously never heard of Lucky Star? There's no fighting whatsoever, the main characters are normal people, absolutely nothing impossible happens(except for one short scene if you don't believe in ghosts), it remains realistic and entertaining (minus the main characters hair colors) and the only dramatic scene in the entire series is when the main character is talking about her deceased mother to her father (same scene mentioned above)Swifty714 said:
it's also one of the most popular animes of all time.
"Not all anime is the same"
"All Japanese girls have short, chubby legs"
.'. it's not okay to stereotype a medium in which a large percentage of what is exported is at least similar, but stereotyping a people by appearance is perfectly fine.
Also, the main reason people don't like anime is obsessive fanboys who go on and on about it all the time... and fucking WEEABOOS. Weeaboos being one of the few peoples who actually deserve a holocaust.
"All Japanese girls have short, chubby legs"
.'. it's not okay to stereotype a medium in which a large percentage of what is exported is at least similar, but stereotyping a people by appearance is perfectly fine.
Also, the main reason people don't like anime is obsessive fanboys who go on and on about it all the time... and fucking WEEABOOS. Weeaboos being one of the few peoples who actually deserve a holocaust.
If someone doesn't know about something, or knows only fallacies about something, their opinion is rendered nil.
I would have liked if this was written from an educational standpoint, instead of a "talking down to" standpoint. But otherwise, it's a nice little piece on common misconceptions, both from anime fans and anime "haters." But y'know, I think a lot of the people who say stuff like "I won't ever like anime, ever!" are the kind of people who just don't like foreign media. I doubt they'd enjoy Russian cartoons, or French cartoons. The Japanese tend to have a more "western" viewpoint when it comes to, say, stylistic flair and storytelling conventions, but still. With countless exceptions, anime is "foreign", and is thus... weird.
I would have liked if this was written from an educational standpoint, instead of a "talking down to" standpoint. But otherwise, it's a nice little piece on common misconceptions, both from anime fans and anime "haters." But y'know, I think a lot of the people who say stuff like "I won't ever like anime, ever!" are the kind of people who just don't like foreign media. I doubt they'd enjoy Russian cartoons, or French cartoons. The Japanese tend to have a more "western" viewpoint when it comes to, say, stylistic flair and storytelling conventions, but still. With countless exceptions, anime is "foreign", and is thus... weird.
A few examples of anime where the protagonist doesn't have some kind of "special destiny":Swifty714 said:
Any comedy/drama anime
Okay, okay, that's too easy, let's give some specific, non-comedy/drama examples:
Kino's Journey
Baccano!
Black Lagoon
Bubblegum Crisis
Crying Freeman
Cyber Coil
Darker Than Black
Death Note (Ryuk actually makes a point of clarifying this to Light: "Don't flatter yourself. All I did was drop the notebook, that's all. You thought I chose you? Cuz' you're so smart or something? It just happened to land somewhere around here and you just happened to pick it up.")
Dirty Pair
Eden of the East
Ergo Proxy
FLAG
Ghost Hound
Gosick
And I could go on. Basically, stop watching shounen (Bleach, Naturo, One Piece, Dragonball Z etc) if you don't like "destiny" 'cuz that's basically what that genre is about.
Y'all is missing the point. Also, you're intentionally misquoting me, which is kinda a dick move dude. Also, what you're saying is a total non sequitur.Lexodus said:
My point is, old school anime used to give their female characters very long legs, when in reality, Japanese girls have short legs, something that K-ON! uses in it's character design. It was an example of how modern anime is more on the realistic side, than old-school anime, I'm not judging anyone. Besides, I'm rather fond of Japanese girl's legs. Oh yes...
Anime is not a medium. It is a categorization of Animation. In order for it to be its own separate medium it would have be something entirely different from Animation found elsewhere in the world. A location of origin does NOT classify itself as a medium.
However, location CAN be used to classify a genre, the same way Nationalist music, Folk Music, and World Music can be used as tools to categorize music.
Calling Anime a medium is more offensive to the art than calling it a genre. You are thereby separating Japanese animation from the rest of the world's animation, giving credence to those who claim that Japanese animation is inferior to its western counter part.
However, location CAN be used to classify a genre, the same way Nationalist music, Folk Music, and World Music can be used as tools to categorize music.
Calling Anime a medium is more offensive to the art than calling it a genre. You are thereby separating Japanese animation from the rest of the world's animation, giving credence to those who claim that Japanese animation is inferior to its western counter part.
If I can't get the western elderly to watch Tokyo Godfathers right to the end without having them quit prematurely or comment that it's "kiddy cartoons", then there's no point in promoting Animesque products in the west, since it'll mean a demographic lockout to kids and teens.
And I'm SUUUUURE teens and kids in the west won't have nightmares when they watch something akin to a Millenium Falcon arc-era Berserk OVA.
And I'm SUUUUURE teens and kids in the west won't have nightmares when they watch something akin to a Millenium Falcon arc-era Berserk OVA.
People, a point of order;
Don't quote the whole article to reply to it. It's just bad manners.
Thank you.
Don't quote the whole article to reply to it. It's just bad manners.
Thank you.
The OP states that Anime itself is a medium all of its own, which is incredibly inaccurate.Kumagawa Misogi said:
Fact: anime is a style of cartoons originating in japan
Also Fact: People like OP who feel the need to tell everybody how much of a unique and beautiful snowflake their anime is are the reason people don't want to get involved with it. There is some artistic merit to some of it, but overall it's all style and no substance. Thinly veiled metaphor is no excuse for lack of character development.
To be honest, as much as I like certain anime (none of which are ongoing anymore)I'm quite saddened by the fact that after a while, all the character archetypes keep repeating. This wouldn't be a problem as that tends to happen from time to time in all media from around the world. The problem is, the japanese rely on the archetypes to flesh out their stories. You know the character's type, so you know his arc. They fill in some battles, and BAM! character progression. Sorry, doesn't work that way. It's just grown stale at this point with nothing terribly original that doesn't come off as inanely pretentious or deceptively shallow. Also, I'm well aware that my knowledge of it does not inform me in any way on the realities of japanese culture, something that many "otakus" tend to forget(or simply do not realize). Interestingly enough, otaku tends to have a negative connotation here in japan, calling somebody that is akin to calling somebody a neckbeardy shut-in nerd (only instead of table top gaming, it's JRPG's and animu), with possible creep implications.
tl;dr :Anime is not special and you are the reason people don't want anything to do with it. Stop calling yourselves otakus unless that's really what you are.
Also Fact: People like OP who feel the need to tell everybody how much of a unique and beautiful snowflake their anime is are the reason people don't want to get involved with it. There is some artistic merit to some of it, but overall it's all style and no substance. Thinly veiled metaphor is no excuse for lack of character development.
To be honest, as much as I like certain anime (none of which are ongoing anymore)I'm quite saddened by the fact that after a while, all the character archetypes keep repeating. This wouldn't be a problem as that tends to happen from time to time in all media from around the world. The problem is, the japanese rely on the archetypes to flesh out their stories. You know the character's type, so you know his arc. They fill in some battles, and BAM! character progression. Sorry, doesn't work that way. It's just grown stale at this point with nothing terribly original that doesn't come off as inanely pretentious or deceptively shallow. Also, I'm well aware that my knowledge of it does not inform me in any way on the realities of japanese culture, something that many "otakus" tend to forget(or simply do not realize). Interestingly enough, otaku tends to have a negative connotation here in japan, calling somebody that is akin to calling somebody a neckbeardy shut-in nerd (only instead of table top gaming, it's JRPG's and animu), with possible creep implications.
tl;dr :Anime is not special and you are the reason people don't want anything to do with it. Stop calling yourselves otakus unless that's really what you are.
This. I would also note that the idea of animated storytelling can be in any way serious or "literary" was basically enabled by the rise of anime in America. In the 80's we had Superfriends, while the post-anime 2000s had Justice League. The design asthetic and the idea that you can tell strong stories in animation, enabled things like the Diniverse to be made, and heralded the rise of Pixar, who regularly shred the notion that animated=safe family pablum.spartan231490 said:
And my 2c, anime is a medium, which itself covers many genres: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Romance, Comedy; basically any genre type you'd see at a video store could be done in anime, along with a few genres rather unique to the medium, and blended genres.