Is Anime Healthy?

[crazygameguy4ever]

It's Japan.. that's just the way anime is and I'm fine with it... Most American cartoons are usually(with some exceptions) cheaply made, badly designed and feature stand alone episodes that resolve things by episodes end (normally) where as anime is ( with some exceptions as well) well made, produced, scripted and feature multi-episode story arcs.Fights are slow? yeah, they are, but most anime is based on manga which has to keep readers coming back week after week to find out what happens and long fights are usually the way they do it in most manga...as for relationships.

Japanese society is very different when it comes to love and relationships and it's shown in anime/manga because we write from life.. Japanese Guys are conservative and don't usually show a lot of public displays of affection. Even in private however, most are just as reserved about showing affection cause it's how they were raised. Japanese women would love to have more affection, and have their boyfriend/husbands be more like other countries when it came to love( which is why more and more Japanese girls are going out with and marrying men from the US) because we're more romantic and more open to showing our love for them unlike Japanese men...

Basically, it's just a lot of differences that make what;s shown in anime/manga so much different then in american cartoons/comics and it's been that way for over 100 years and not going to change any time soon.. if you don't like it, don't watch/read it.. I'm still going to enjoy Bleach, Naruto Shippuden, Fullmetal Alchemist, Cowboy Bebop, School Rumble, Durarara and other anime/manga just fine though.

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

Are you eating it or something? Why on earth would you ask about it's health benefits?

Also, I liked the romantic relationship in Ah! My Goddess, but perhaps the experts here can tell me if it was actually an abusive relationship. Well between Belldandy and Keiichi anyway; I know whatever insane relationship Keiichi had with Skuld was abusive, but that's because she was a *****.

 

[Tsukuyomi]

What you're seeing, OP, is cultural differences. Though I've heard Japan has some social issues of it's own that a change in anime/manga may help to fix. Then again a lot of the bad news we here on the internet seem to get from Japan is only the really weird/really freak/"oh Japan!" stuff. Just because some jerk over there has a thing for touching schoolgirl panties and went on a spree and the internet blew it way out of proportion for the weirdness/comedy factor doesn't mean the entire country is sexually repressed and doing equally weird stuff.

...or it could mean that, I don't know. Though I'd like to give people the benefit of the doubt and say the weirdos/perverts are in an overexposed minority.

I also agree that you may need to expand. The Seinen series I've read have been far more enjoyable over the Shounen stuff I've read/seen. In fact the one that sticks out most to me in terms of anime/manga overall is still Bartender, which is definitely NOT a Shounen work as far as I know. Actually, it kinda ties for first with Shaman King for me, but the fact remains I enjoyed Bartender just a bit more consistently than I did Shaman King, so I guess it still gets first place.

Yes, the relationships seem rather unhealthy, but honest relationships are seldom sane and controlled and measurable. Not saying there's NOT things that send a bad message or set up unrealistic hopes/expectations or anything. Harem anime/manga seems to do that very well: nice guy with little to no spine and ordinary looks suddenly has four, five, six girls LITERALLY FIGHTING OVER HIM simply because he's genuinely nice to all of them? (Wow does that sound like a fedora-lord fantasy!) I don't really think such things happen in real life unless you're one-in-a-million lucky/cursed. But it probably does set up some unrealistic expectations in certain, impressionable people. Then again you could say that about a lot of media....hell, almost all of it.

Plus, well...these days it seems like American kids and teens aren't getting any different/better relationship guidance from media that comes from our OWN country. Twilight and all the stuff in it's genre sit on one side, promoting obsessive ideas about love and romance and whatnot. And if we're not doing THAT, we have parents and other busybodies trying to shut out notions of love and sexuality completely from works aimed at young people. My favorite thus far is the outrage over one of the recent Rick Riordan novels...

Spoiler

One of the characters admits after a long sequence, put in proper perspective even multiple books though we didn't know it, of wrestling with his emotions, that he had feelings towards another one of the male characters. The way it was written pretty much confirms that he's figured out he's gay and while the other characters, even the one who found out, treat it rightly as not a big deal (with at one point it being flat out stated "you have a bunch of friends who are more than ready to unleash the power of the Gods on anyone who gives you trouble."), the character in question still has issues with it himself.

It wasn't done explicitly in any fashion, and it was probably one of the best character-building moments I've seen out of him as an author so far. But there's still backlash about "sexual material" in the book. It was NOT done in an explicit way in any fashion, and while it could have been more subtle, I think had it been so it would have lost impact. It's far more tame than even the Twilight herd of books, and yet it's catching flak. People here seem to have issues with love and sexuality: we either do it to the nines, or we become very prudish about the entire affair. So yeah, Japan isn't the only culture with issues around love and sexuality.

 

[FredTheUndead]

Yeah Kikokugai the Cyber Slayer WAS pretty rad I agree.

Funny you mention that, I've had it bookmarked for ages. Should I give it a try?

It's every dumb cyberpunk movie AND every dumb Chinese crime/revenge movie.

Great fun, highly recommended. Bit heavy on the rape though.

 

[Vudu]

Try watching the movies, it's slightly longer with redone voice acting and the third movie is a great epilogue to the incredible ending.

I'm watchin it aaaalll

The third movie is pretty unnecessary, just saying. And all the streaming sites have is a shitty cam rip with shitty subs, so you might wanna hold off for a bit on that one.

Also, don't watch Elfen Lied. It's basically a 14-year-old boy's idea of what constitutes a "mature" show.

Seen it already a while ago and wasn't impressed.

 

[Vudu]

watch trigun, outlaw star, cowboy bebop and ofcourse full metal alchemist and fma brotherhood.
there you have some anime that were truely good and to go further you could watch dbz, the thing that most current animes copy the hell out of.

if you want to restore your faith in anime you gotta get away from stuff that is bound so hard to japanese way of thinking and watch avatar the last airbender to get to the legend of korra. Best anime of the 2010s.

I thought legend of Korra was garbage to be honest. It was fun to look at but aang went places and did things. Each episode was about getting from point A to point B to stop this from happening or learn that technique or find this library and so on. He always had a mission. The first season of Korra, she just sits back and waits for certain things to happen. Basically she minds her own business doing what she does UNTIL she sees so and so doing something wrong. You're the Avatar. The Avatar traveled the world in the first book. Korra polices one city in her first book. I know this changes in the second season but I sorta lost interest.

 

[Vudu]

I grew up watching anime. I remember my favorite show being Tenchi Muyo and having an affinity for sailor moon and outlaw star. Looking at beautiful people fall in love with other beautiful people while looking at the occasional beautiful transformation and beautiful fight scene was enough for me. I cried when Nephlite died in a sailor moon for me (He was my Edward). But, as I grew up, stories went from cute to tedious and, even as a child, I wondered why it took 3 seasons for a character to admit they liked or didn't like another character. As I grew and learned more about people and emotions, anime turned immature to me. Every social problem they had (which usually boiled down a girl liking a guy but not wanting to admit it so she treats him like shit and gets mad at him when another girl hugs him or kisses him or wants to be with him)) there was an obvious easy solution: for them to sit down and TALK for 5 minutes!

Seriously, the relationships in Anime seem so unhealthy. Naruto is freakin' scary. The girls are nuts and I can't sit through it. But it's not just these love stories (which they almost always have) but the filler. Ooohhh the filler. How the good guy makes a 5 minute speech about his super duper move but then the bad guy grins, counters his super duper move and then explains how he counters it for another five minutes. So, after thinking for ten minutes and relaying all of his thoughts to the audience, the good guy calls upon another super move that he didn't use originally for some reason and, although this hurts the bad guy, he dusts himself off, congratulates the good guy on his efforts, and then whips out yet ANOTHER super duper move and explains EXACTLY HOW IT WORKS!

"Oh no! What will our hero do? Find out next episode! Sike! Try three episodes from now!"

Fight scenes drag on and on until the hero digs deep down and unlocks a god power after discovering what true friendship/love/honor/family/bravery means and blows the bad guy away...for now (dun dun duuuun!).

By high school, I was over it, but it concerns me how Anime has such an adult following when seems so empty. The relationships are never healthy and the fights are slow. I think it was Yu Gi Oh that made me throw in the towel and give up trying to watch anime on tv. I hated those battles. At least Pokemon battles were quick (although I hated team rocket for fuckin' shit up and slowing shit down). Every now and then, I see something fun like Vampire hunter D, Miyazaki's older stuff, and the cowboy B bop movie but honestly, why is Anime so popular among adults? What's it do for them/you? Why am I the only one who thinks anime and JRG's are retarded and redardING?

Well... everything you mentioned was aimed at children. That's like saying all of American film is shallow based entirely on your viewing of the Rugrats Movie. You do realize most anime ranges from 12-24 episodes, right? Long running shows are the rare exceptions, not the rules. I'm not a big anime person myself, but there is high quality material out there if you look.

Berserk is, frankly, the most sophisticated and subtle fantasy epic ever written. In terms of scope, only Tolkien really compares. Martins Game of Thrones doesn't even compete. If you like Epic fantasy, this is as good as it gets. Not in anime. Anywhere. The character relationships are very well done. (Disclaimer: this is a tragedy, and a brutal one. Not for people who don't like dark material).

Neon Genesis Evangelion is a mixed bag, but nobody can say it wasn't interesting. Probably one of the best character studies in all of fiction. If you like psychological stuff, this may be up your alley.

5 Centimeters Per Second was a simple but brilliant coming of age story that really captured adolescence for an adult audience, if you want something down to earth. You sound like a romance buff, so this little film would probably be good for you.

Truth be told, I find anime far better than American television, which really will rot your brain. Anime has some pretty mature themes, if you know where to look. Here's a good list of series:

The Rugrats Movie was amazing

 

[Alterego-X]

To elaborate on what others have said about the anime demographics, here is some trivia about the anime industry's inner working:

The thing is that the anime industry is cleanly separated into two halves. Shounen is prime time TV anime, fun for the whole family. The adult-oriented otaku anime series are all airing in a late night time slot, they are only watched by a few thousand viewers, and only recoup their costs because a lot of those viewers buy the boxed DVD copies afterwards.

This means that while the former has a huge Lowest Common Denominator problem, (they rely on being as generic and inoffensive as possible to gather a wide audience, and then keep it for yerars), the latter can be simultaneously pandering to a million fragmented niches' interests, from gun collectors to philosophy majors, and from drool fetishists to animation technique enthusiasts, and shift between them every season.

The two are pretty much like the video game industry's AAA and indie sides, with one more monolithic and predictable side, and another more whacky and diverse side (that still has it's own trappings if you look too closely).

 

[WouldYouKindly]

I saw earlier in the thread that you were drawn in by Madoka Magica, for another series about cute girls doing horrible things, I recommend Gunslinger Girl. It's pretty much young girl cyborg assassins. It's not as colourful and much more grounded in reality, but it deals neatly with the prevailing anime trope that cute is nice/good.

 

[PaulAtreides]

if you want to restore your faith in anime you gotta get away from stuff that is bound so hard to japanese way of thinking and watch avatar the last airbender to get to the legend of korra. Best anime of the 2010s.

Avatar isn't anime, you have no idea what you're talking about so just stop. It's not "bound so hard to japanese way of thinking" because it's an American cartoon. Please don't comment on things you don't know anything about.

 

[Vudu]

Whaa..What? That's not supposed to happen. What are they gonna do now? My heart is a little crushed right now. But I have to know what they're gonna do next. Emo-styles doesn't look like she's about to help.

I love my job. Hell, I'm almost tempted to ask you to start a "Vudu Watches Madoka Magica" reaction thread or something.

I...I'm at a loss for words. okay so I just finished Modaka. After I got a ways in, I restarted it to watch it with someone else because I was so amazed and wanted to share it. What an ending! And I'm not someone who thinks existing for eternity is a good thing. It's hell, quite frankly. So I had to hold back some tears in order to save face while watching it. I'm holding back tears now just writing about it. Anime has never done this to me. The flash back episode...Ahhh I can't talk about it. And it gives me a whole new perspective on all of those magical girl shows. Who know that Luna from sailor moon, the blonde from that mew mew show, and all those little magical girl pets were actually dicks. Who knew they targeted ten year old girls to be magic because they knew ten year old girls are stupid and would waste a wish on something dumb like a boy in order to become a slave to a higher purpose. This was a smartly written show. I'm actually wondering where to go from here. A lot of shows have been recommended but I only want to go up. Of the shows recommended to me, what would be considered 'better' than Modaka? Gahh choices..!

 

[Jenvas1306]

if you want to restore your faith in anime you gotta get away from stuff that is bound so hard to japanese way of thinking and watch avatar the last airbender to get to the legend of korra. Best anime of the 2010s.

Avatar isn't anime, you have no idea what you're talking about so just stop. It's not "bound so hard to japanese way of thinking" because it's an American cartoon. Please don't comment on things you don't know anything about.

Do you really think that I don't know that last airbender and LoK aren't made in japan? Their animation style is just way closer to anime than to cartons. Anime is often seen as an art form, where you hardly ever could say that about cartoons. If you showed LoK to someone who didn't know, they would think that its anime. Key differences to most mainstream anime is that its drawing style looks less lazy to me (characters actually have different faces and bodies and arent just colored and styled differently), its way of handling relationships is also way different. the latter point being something that the OP complained about in the animes he watched.
So not mentioning it just because of where its from seems a little redundant to me.

I thought legend of Korra was garbage to be honest. It was fun to look at but aang went places and did things. Each episode was about getting from point A to point B to stop this from happening or learn that technique or find this library and so on. He always had a mission. The first season of Korra, she just sits back and waits for certain things to happen. Basically she minds her own business doing what she does UNTIL she sees so and so doing something wrong. You're the Avatar. The Avatar traveled the world in the first book. Korra polices one city in her first book. I know this changes in the second season but I sorta lost interest.

aangs series was a little bit more simple and Id say aimed at early teens years viewers. Korras tarvel is more of an inner one and the series has more subtle topics. Both learn what it means to be the avatar in their own way, that why I advise to watch both, even aang is more cartoon-like than korra. The OP complained about certain tropes in the anime he watched, both avatar series stay mostly away from those.

 

[COMaestro]

Vudu, since you seem to enjoy romances, try Emma: A Victorian Romance. It's only 24 episodes long but my wife and I both really enjoyed it. It's pretty straightforward story-wise, but very well done.

 

[FredTheUndead]

Vudu, since you seem to enjoy romances, try Emma: A Victorian Romance. It's only 24 episodes long but my wife and I both really enjoyed it. It's pretty straightforward story-wise, but very well done.

Then you should read Bride's Story, that author's current series.

 

[Vudu]

aangs series was a little bit more simple and Id say aimed at early teens years viewers. Korras tarvel is more of an inner one and the series has more subtle topics. Both learn what it means to be the avatar in their own way, that why I advise to watch both, even aang is more cartoon-like than korra. The OP complained about certain tropes in the anime he watched, both avatar series stay mostly away from those.

I AM the OP lol. I judge how simple a movie or series is based on how the adults behave. That's what makes a movie for young people either smart or stupid to me. Do the adults act realistically or is this pre teen main character supposedly smarter than all of the adults that have lived twice as long or longer than him or her? That's why hunger games is dumb to me and the legend of Korra as well. Aang spent more time away from adults than with them so seeing adult stupidity was minimal. But everyone Korra encountered is older than her and somehow they can't come up with solutions to problems. Korra might be the Avatar but when you have to turn every adult into a retard in order for the avatar to be interesting, something is wrong. Aang sought out adults because he KNEW they were wiser than he and used what he learned from them over a reasonably long amount of time to defeat a mighty foe. Korra (16) is the smartest one in the room and solves each issue in one night. Why?

 

[Jenvas1306]

Snip

korra often acts as if she knows better, but she is close to 20 and thats how people often are at that age. If you watch the whole series you see that her thinking of knowing better than those adults who try to guide her opens an opportunity for another adult to trick her. In my opinion Korra is portait as strong but flawed, especially when it comes to her stubbirness and her being torn between not wanting to take advice but then not knowing her way on her own.
the first season was thought out to be a standalone and is a bit messy because of that.

 

[Vudu]

Snip

korra often acts as if she knows better, but she is close to 20 and thats how people often are at that age. If you watch the whole series you see that her thinking of knowing better than those adults who try to guide her opens an opportunity for another adult to trick her. In my opinion Korra is portait as strong but flawed, especially when it comes to her stubbirness and her being torn between not wanting to take advice but then not knowing her way on her own.
the first season was thought out to be a standalone and is a bit messy because of that.

I guess the difference was that Aang was a humble monk who wanted to learn. He learned from adults and from his mistakes as well, never making the same ones twice. Korra, like you said, is a know-it-all and has to learn everything the hard way. And, even if someone else is completely right about something she was wrong about, she'll still say "Ppff what do you know? I'm doing my own thing" or "You just don't understaaaaaaand what it's liiiiike being meeeeeeee". The 'Aangst' (PAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I Kill me!)she has makes me want to throw up sometimes. You're everything about teenagers that society hates, Korra, and you're supposed to be HOW OLD? TWENTY?

 

[Julius Terrell]

Oh and it should also be noted that adults generally tend to lose their interest in fantasy and science fiction and gravitate towards the practical. It's part of growing up. Those that don't are unusual and become "nerds" or "geeks" throughout life. Indeed one of the things that has the media reeling right now is that "geek has become cool" at least for the moment, leading to the explosion of things like super-hero movies. The bubble not bursting as quickly as it has before has thrown a lot of things into an uproar, and indeed you have a lot of well respected, serious film makers relatively out in the cold, hoping that the audience gets bored with all of this "unreality" before too long. One of the things that also seems to be moving people away from Anime is that at least for the moment there are more alternatives to Anime than there have been in a long time for that kind of material, and a lot of those alternatives are of a higher quality than some show intended to entertain teenagers for 30 minutes in the afternoon or evening.

If this had been the case shows like The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Star Trek, and the classic planet of the apes movies series would have never been made. During the earlier decades of the previous century people were far more interested in Hardcore Sci-fi and Fantasy. I think it's more about times changing and the culture changing.

I mean there was a wealth of such shows until the 80s here. I just hate what this reply entails. I think it's baloney! Hollywood just stopped focusing on these genres and only focused on what is easily digestible. I'll take my Sci-fi and Fantasy in whatever medium it can come in, but I find that animation allows for the concepts to be more fleshed out and to focus more on solid storytelling.

My dream come true would be to see the Wheel of Time become a massive anime series. Someone needs to make that happen ASAP!

 

[Do4600]

If you only watch anime meant for pre-adolescent boys, you will be expected to have the attention and maturity of a pre-adolescent boy. There's so much more anime out there, it's rather unfair to judge it all on the merits of Yu-Gi-Oh and Naruto. You have to make the jump from shows based on shonen and shojo to shows based on seinen and josei if you want maturity.

 

[Jenvas1306]

Snip

korra often acts as if she knows better, but she is close to 20 and thats how people often are at that age. If you watch the whole series you see that her thinking of knowing better than those adults who try to guide her opens an opportunity for another adult to trick her. In my opinion Korra is portait as strong but flawed, especially when it comes to her stubbirness and her being torn between not wanting to take advice but then not knowing her way on her own.
the first season was thought out to be a standalone and is a bit messy because of that.

I guess the difference was that Aang was a humble monk who wanted to learn. He learned from adults and from his mistakes as well, never making the same ones twice. Korra, like you said, is a know-it-all and has to learn everything the hard way. And, even if someone else is completely right about something she was wrong about, she'll still say "Ppff what do you know? I'm doing my own thing" or "You just don't understaaaaaaand what it's liiiiike being meeeeeeee". The 'Aangst' (PAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I Kill me!)she has makes me want to throw up sometimes. You're everything about teenagers that society hates, Korra, and you're supposed to be HOW OLD? TWENTY?

exactly. you know how kids can be so reasonable and when they become teens at some point their ego overwhelms them and they turn into idiots? well that's korra for you, but she learns (the hard way as you said it) and develops to become less bitchy and less stubborn during the second season, enough so I am really waiting for the third season. just the balance between personal things and the big stories that affect their world seems to be a bit difficult o get right, but then, teens seem to think that their problems are more important than those of the rest of the world, I guess LoK reflects that mindset aswell.

as further watching advice, Miyazakis films are pretty good and different from other anime as they draw more from life, but they have more of farietails that have some lessons for children too.