Good series/games/movies that are hard to recommend because of specific reasons.

Mister K

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We all here, to some extent, like asking for an advice on what game to play, or which anime to watch. Also, we all here like suggesting to watch, play or read things that WE found enjoyable.

However, sometimes there is this one feature, or this one scene that makes it hard to recommend something.

For example, the anime called Great Teacher Onizuka

For those who don't know, this is a story about a young guy who decides to become a teacher for two reasons: to be near young pretty schoolgirls and to be actually supportive to his stundents, unlike his own teachers. He get the job and gets assigned to the most problematic class, the class that literally makes teachers go mad. But over the course of the story he actually befriends them and helps all of them with their problems. He is not judgemental, he is not preachy, he is a friend that they all desperately needed. It is filled with comedy, drama and life talk and is overall great story with good and likable characters.

So why is it hard to recommend? Because the very first scene of the series, THE VERY FIRST ONE, shows us Onizuka sitting under escalator and looking under skirts. Damn it, Onizuka! It's hard to sell you as a lovable but cool goof if you start like that!

So what are your examples?
 

Erttheking

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Berserk is a well written series, but I have a hard time saying to friends "Hey, here's a story with around a dozen or two graphic depictions of rape, and the main female character nearly gets raped around half a dozen times I think you'll like it!"
 

Queen Michael

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There are lots of awesome superhero comic books that I can't recommend to people who aren't already familiar with the basics of the universe where they take place.

Warhammer 40K novels have the same problem.
 

Scarim Coral

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Kill La Kill, do I need to type anymore of the reasons why it is hard to recommend it???

EDIT- Oh I just remember this animated film "Secret of Kells"

I apologising if I'm sterotyping Christian or something as this is based on one experience only.

Long story short, I watched the film and I enjoyed the hell out of it! Since it's a religon Christian based story (it based on the Book of Kells), I figure my friend who is religious AND like animated film would enjoyed so I show her the above trailer.

Apparently she got offended or something like that cos it feature "Pegan" spirit. Since I'm not full on Christian I don't exactly get why she find it offended (I didn't contiune asking why) since technically shouldn't it cause some sort of controversy? Just to be clear here, she is fairly religonist as she married to a priest and generally fear the 666 number (heh she hate my phone number as it contrain three 6's).

Still I would like to know why the film having "pegan spirit" is so offending to Christianity? (I been meaning to make a thread on it under Religon and Politics but I rather not venture in that subforum.) Obviously I know it doesn't offend anyone so any Christians out there would enlighten me?

I mean seriously the girl spirit is so danm cute, who can possibly hate her???!!!

EDIT 2- I just remember Black Panther animted miniseries
People seen to be put it with its semi wen animated comicbook style eventhought it look FANTASTIC!!
 

tippy2k2

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High School of the Dead

Why?

Well...


If you haven't seen that video and cannot, just read the title. That title is not a hyperbole...a sniper fires a bullet that her left boob dodges one way then the right boob dodges the other. The sniper also lays across a girl to fire the rifle as the shoulder strap gets stuck on her and the jiggle physics are on full display with every shot...

I enjoyed the series but Anime is....well....Anime. Awfully hard to recommend this series to people without looking like a giant perv as every episode is filled with upskirt and fan service. Basically, I can only recommend this to people I know will have no problem with it and understand that Anime is...well...Anime :)
 

Chanticoblues

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A lot of the movies I like are experimental, or at the very least very slow. A lot of what I watch I wouldn't recommend to anyone who isn't familiar with the work, and even if they are, the odds are pretty good they've already seen it.
 

Zontar

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Strike Witches. It's an actually good series with interesting characters with well animated action scenes and good moments of humour. The problem is...

 

Johnny Novgorod

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Zontar said:
Strike Witches. It's an actually good series with interesting characters with well animated action scenes and good moments of humour. The problem is...

... that it was made in Japan.
 

Blitsie

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tippy2k2 said:
High School of the Dead

Why?

Well...

Its amazing how well it nails the horror atmosphere of a zombie apocalypse between all the tits and ass so damn well though! But I agree its hard to notice it when you show a friend an episode and its just..well.. that haha.

My choice would be Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, the series has amazing characters who you grow to love through the course of a pretty damn good story, insanely creative battles and just this dramatic flair to it which you just can't help but love. But it is bizarre.


Yes, that is indeed a killer squirrel formed from a (vampire) man's hand spinning through a cyborg nazi while dubstep plays in the background.

This is pretty normal compared to the stuff which occurs later in the series

I must admit though, I've reached a point where I recommend it now just for how crazy it gets, the levels of batshit insanity it reaches cannot be described and is truly something worth experiencing. Also its just a really quality show.
 

Pirate Of PC Master race

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tippy2k2 said:
High School of the Dead

Why?

Well...

Heh, I remember that fondly, as one of most hilarious scene in Anime.

Back to OT.

Nothing. Why are you not factoring in "specific reason" in the first place? Show is either bad because of said specific reason, or Show is good despite said specific reason.

If it is un-recommendable, then it is because show is not good enough. And I don't recommend shows that are sub-par.
 

Fiz_The_Toaster

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Cabin in the Woods.

Every time I try to sell it to people that I think would like it, it turns into a 15 minute explanation into why I can't tell them exactly what happens, but that they should totally still see it because it's awesome.

Then the next question is: "Is it scary?"

I always stumble upon it because I feel like no matter how I answer I will give it away.
 

Queen Michael

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tippy2k2 said:
High School of the Dead

Why?

Well...

What I don't get is why he fired at her breasts. Did he want to shoot her in the mammaries?
 

Hawki

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Well, you could apply this to pretty much anything, because there's always some level of circumstance that makes it hard to reccomend something - it also depends on what you know about the "recommendee's" tastes. But that said, I guess I could nominate the following works that might fall under that definition by default:

-Pretty much any form of tie-in media, due to the need for familiarity with the core setting.

-Andromeda: I admit that I like Andromeda far more than I should. It peaks in its first season, but unfortunately, never reaches that original level of quality. When Trance is replaced by "Trance 2.0," you can pinpoint the moment when the show began its decline. So I have a hard time reccomending it in the way I would many other series. I guess for me I've put up with the first four seasons because it had so much potential, but very rarely lives up to it.

-His Dark Materials: I'm mixed about this. For starters, I don't like the books, though I've only read the first two. No, it's not because of any moral outrage or whatnot, it's that I just don't think they're that well written. Lyra is annoying, there's a tendency for just plain exposition being given, and as weird as this sounds, I don't think the allusions are subtle enough. I mean, yes, the trilogy is obstensibly about "killing God so that Man may be free," but the books pretty much outright state that. The trilogy's been called the anti-Narnia, but Narnia itself was more subtle in its iconography and allusion.

And yet, in a way, I kind of reccomend it. I can't help but admire Pullman's audacity in writing the novels and not holding back with his scathing approach to the Catholic Church and faith in general (even if, let's be honest, Christianity is the only faith that's really being attacked). I want to like them myself because of the worldbuilding and concepts, but simply can't due to the characters and writing. That said, I'm sure someone else could look past those problems and enjoy it far more than I did.

-The Lord of the Rings: Well, I'll get this out of the way. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is one of the most influential works in Western literature, pretty much solidifying what we think of when we think of high fantasy, and where the tropes and concepts pioneered persist to this day. It's also a slog to get through. So while I'd reccomend a fantasy fan read LotR, it would come with the caveat that the books move very, very slowly, and you have to deal with the characters breaking into song every few chapters.

-2001: A Space Odyssey: Basically what I said about LotR, only replace "fantasy" with "science fiction," and add in the caveat that I don't like the film, and much prefer the novel. And yet, I'd still reccomend seeing it, because no matter what I think of said film, I can't deny its relevance to the genre.

-Tron: This is...um...okay, I'll just say it, this film is WEIRD. But it's a kind of weirdness that's kind of endearing? I mean, I admittedly prefer Tron: Legacy, but I can't deny that the original film was influential for its time. I kind of reccomend it, if only for its weirdness.

-Doctor Who: There's certain medias that I imagine are of an acquired taste, but Doctor Who really takes the cake. It doesn't help that there's "old Who" and "new Who" to deal with, that the style and tone differs between Doctors/showrunners, and that I find that the quality of episodes can be very hit or miss. You either have to accept that a time travelling phone box with a madman who wears scarves, bow-ties, and fezzes travelling through time and space fighting floating pepper shakers is a thing of beauty and gravitas for others, or check out then and there. Because I'll be honest - I like Doctor Who overall, but sometimes, I've no idea why.
 

09philj

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The romantic visual novel Katawa Shoujo. There's actually nothing wrong with it, but the description makes it almost impossible to sell to anyone who isn't a pervert. Hell, I only downloaded it because I thought it was pornography. This is because it's set in a school for the disabled and was made by people who met on 4chan's /A/ board after somebody posted some concept art there, and it also contains reasonably explicit sex scenes. In actual fact it's very sweet, but also rather an (intentionally) uncomfortable experience in a lot of places.
 

Cowabungaa

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Utopia.

Why? Because it's fucking insane. Extremely good, I reckon one of the the best British TV shows ever made. But oh my God it's all kinds of fucked up.
 

09philj

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Cowabungaa said:
BBC's Utopia.

Why? Because it's fucking insane. Extremely good, I reckon the best TV show the BBC made. But oh my God it's all kinds of fucked up.
Er, Utopia was Channel 4.
 

Erttheking

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tippy2k2 said:
I think someone did the numbers on that and figured out her tits would have to be going the speed of a jumbo jet for that to work.

Personally I never got the appeal of mixing tits and gore. Kinda freaks me out.
 

anthony87

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Hawki said:
-The Lord of the Rings: Well, I'll get this out of the way. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is one of the most influential works in Western literature, pretty much solidifying what we think of when we think of high fantasy, and where the tropes and concepts pioneered persist to this day. It's also a slog to get through. So while I'd reccomend a fantasy fan read LotR, it would come with the caveat that the books move very, very slowly, and you have to deal with the characters breaking into song every few chapters.
I read Lord of the Rings myself when I was around twelve years old. To this day I still remember how it felt like it took weeks to finally get past Rivendell in book.

And I hear people give GRRM shit for bloat...
 

Fox12

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erttheking said:
Berserk is a well written series, but I have a hard time saying to friends "Hey, here's a story with around a dozen or two graphic depictions of rape, and the main female character nearly gets raped around half a dozen times I think you'll like it!"
Yeah, this. Berserk is great, but it's definitely difficult to sit through at times. I mean, we basically start with child rape and move on from there. I tend to reccomend it to people who like Game of Thrones or Dark Soul's, and everyone I've shown it to is now a fan. Surprisingly, it's actually a good introduction to anime for fantasy fans.

Elfen Lied. It wasn't perfect, but I really liked that show. Unfortunately it has some really filthy fanservice in it. It's quite disappointing. There's a great story in there somewhere.