Name your overrated anime
- Thread starter thespyisdead
- Start date
Recommended Videos
Hooray! Only one person has mentioned Ghost in the Shell, and they weren't dissing it *feels safe*
That's plenty articulate to me. And the reason I wrote "general critic of media" is that anime has its shit and gold, just like any other medium. You could rephrase the question as 'is there any film/song/book/graphic novel/cartoon etc. that isn't overrated' and be bombarded by either flame or examples that pertain to refuting the intent behind the question.Xartyve2 said:
The (widely considered) 'safe tropes' of anime are along the lines of the tsundere main female protagonist, clueless mech operator who's a natural, whiny brat who just happens to be good in a fight, out for revenge bad guy, the couple who hate each other, but secretly love each other etc. etc. fucking etc. Down to it, its fanservice. Sure, not all of it will be boucing boobies, but its fanservice nonetheless because it caters to the tastes of the majority of anime viewers.
There are a number of series that buck this trend (an insufficient number if you ask me). It's not really in my ability to 'sell' anime, though were I to recommend some that are not referential (either in general content or dialogue) to anime culture:
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 - think back to March/April this year in Japan and the massive earthquake, this is a personal story that received very little coverage anywhere when it was released in 2009
Hourou Musuko - this one covers concepts that you won't find handled so well anywhere else in anime production: gender identity. The short of it is that a boy and a girl like each other, but are unsure of their relationship, because the boy wants to be a girl and the girl wants to be a boy. Critics praised it for its handling of the subject material and the only gripe they could come up with was that the characters were a little too intelligent.
Gunslinger Girl - personally, I prefer the manga, the anime's a little too polished (haven't seen the second season, so won't comment on it) but this is a pseudo-sci-fi series about the nature of how a little girl thinks when her existence is based solely on being a government assassin. Stark is probably the best way to describe the general mood of the series. Understanding the humanity of the main characters is the ultimate goal of it, and it's both very easy and very hard to do that (all credit to Yu Aida).
Ergo Proxy - this series spends about fifteen episodes exploring the various facets of human existence, and references virtually every philosopher under the sun. This is more an intellectual piece than anything else with action spread across the series.
Haibane Renmei - a subtle exploration of death and emotional maturation. It takes a couple watch-throughs to realise it's a 'coming-of-age' series.
There are others, but these five series are ones that I'd consider 'great anime'. You're welcome to watch and enjoy/disparage them as you please, but understand that I know I can't affect your stance on it, because you might find the above titles too heavy (I don't think there's a single laugh to be found in there, with the possible exception of a couple scenes in Haibane Renmei). However, they might let you realise that not all anime is cliched dialogue ridden superpower fights, tits, teen angst, big walking machines and hamfisted revenge.
Good evening... (by that I mean it's half-past midnight and I need to be up at six).
Code Geass. It's entertaining and all, but I die a little inside every time I hear someone call it smart.
One more drop in the bucket for Naruto and DBZ. Those series are exhibits 1 and 1A of filler content. I would add Bleach to that but I haven't seen enough of it (and that's unlikely to change) to drop the hammer of judgment upon it though when you're series is already nearly 50% longer than DBZ that probably isn't a good sign.
Gurren Laggan: Watched the first ~1/3 of the series and could not bring myself to watch any more of it. Mentioned this to a friend who assured me that it got better later. Mentioned to said friend that that a) that isn't exactly a point in its favor AND b) the amount by which it would have to get better by for me to consider it watchable is mathematically impossible to achieve.
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: I used to like this series a lot and then they came out with a second season which consisted of 8 episodes of the creators wanking all over audience expectations. I don't even remember if I finished watching the entire season.
Highschool of the Dead: I would have liked it if the series had decided if it was going to be zombie or fanservice based and not flipped back and forth between the two so much. This is the only series I can think of where the fanservice has gone from "Ooooh titties" to "I hope they get eaten by zombies" in less than an episode.
Gurren Laggan: Watched the first ~1/3 of the series and could not bring myself to watch any more of it. Mentioned this to a friend who assured me that it got better later. Mentioned to said friend that that a) that isn't exactly a point in its favor AND b) the amount by which it would have to get better by for me to consider it watchable is mathematically impossible to achieve.
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: I used to like this series a lot and then they came out with a second season which consisted of 8 episodes of the creators wanking all over audience expectations. I don't even remember if I finished watching the entire season.
Highschool of the Dead: I would have liked it if the series had decided if it was going to be zombie or fanservice based and not flipped back and forth between the two so much. This is the only series I can think of where the fanservice has gone from "Ooooh titties" to "I hope they get eaten by zombies" in less than an episode.
I will back this one up. I am loving the show so far from what I've seen, but it isn't smart in any real deep way. The closest it gets is some of the risky gambits Lelouch takes, which I will openly admit are clever as fuck and incredibly badass, but the show itself is not smart. Interesting and entertaining, but not "smart". At least not from what I've seen so far. It's a fairly standard "repel evil invaders" thing only with awesome rollerblading mechs, awesome Chess Master bullshit that should be impossible for any human being to figure out on the fly, and magical "you will do what I say" powers.gigastrike said:
Also: Death Note. What is the big fucking deal with this show? It's fucking stupid, and not in the insane way that normally makes anime entertaining. It's just... dumb. It has no value for me and every time someone recommends it I just want to pop them.
Honourable mention for Reborn! which is one of the most "look at our crazy random shit" shows I have ever fucking seen. Just throwing over-played batshit insanity at the screen does not a good TV show make, and this pile of stupid just proves that theory single-handed. I can maybe understand it has a certain campy appeal to it, what with the magic lizard that turns into a gun that fires magic bullets that set an annoying kid's hair on fire and make him rip his clothes of and oh my god even writing this is giving me a fucking headache. But while it may be stupid, and fun for some people, it still isn't... good.
Honestly, both Death Note and Reborn! combine with Naruto, Bleach and fucking One Piece to illustrate why you should not take anime recommendations from a 14-year-old girl.
Yeah, I can agree with that. The show's actually one of my favorites but nothing deserves that much praise. Shaft treating it like its baby doesn't help. Do not make a sequel/spinoff series, Shaft! Do not do it!UncleUlty said:
OT: Gurren Lagann. I don't hate it. I don't. Hating it requires I have feelings towards it. It is beneath my attention, but it gets more love than Madoka will ever have.
Question to the general audience: how many people actually like Evangelion? I mean, I like it, but I see nothing but contempt for it from people. How is it overrated? Is it one of those "if so much as one person likes it but I don't" things?
NARUTO!!!!!!!
Naruto is a stupid, way too overpopular manga/anime. HERE'S why:
1.The characters, in both the manga and anime, are terribly drawn. What kind of a half-assed author was it that created it, anyway?
2. Any manga/ anime that has a main character named Sakura is stupid and half-assed, anyway. That is an overused fucking name.
3. The people that wear those retarded headbands? Ohmygod, do they knowhow retarded they look. Waste of money. People that wear them to stores, malls, and school? FAIL.
4. It's really an anime for people that don't know quality anime. Go watch some Deathnote or Ouran High, PLEASE.
5. I actually saw an episode to see how freaking terrible it was; I was very dissapointed that any functioning members of the human race would even sit through an episode of the anime. A little blond son-of-a-***** was running around eating 812972 pounds of food, yelling "BELIEVE IT!" in his little gay orange jumpsuit. What the fuck kind of ninja is that?
6. Which brings up another fact. I know that ninjas don't always dress in black, killing people silently. But, I'll be damned if they run around in bright orange jumpsuits yelling "BELIEVE IT!". What the fuck am I supposed to be believing here anyway? That ninjas are loud, annoying, and dressed in bright orange?....disbelief! =0
Naruto is a stupid, way too overpopular manga/anime. HERE'S why:
1.The characters, in both the manga and anime, are terribly drawn. What kind of a half-assed author was it that created it, anyway?
2. Any manga/ anime that has a main character named Sakura is stupid and half-assed, anyway. That is an overused fucking name.
3. The people that wear those retarded headbands? Ohmygod, do they knowhow retarded they look. Waste of money. People that wear them to stores, malls, and school? FAIL.
4. It's really an anime for people that don't know quality anime. Go watch some Deathnote or Ouran High, PLEASE.
5. I actually saw an episode to see how freaking terrible it was; I was very dissapointed that any functioning members of the human race would even sit through an episode of the anime. A little blond son-of-a-***** was running around eating 812972 pounds of food, yelling "BELIEVE IT!" in his little gay orange jumpsuit. What the fuck kind of ninja is that?
6. Which brings up another fact. I know that ninjas don't always dress in black, killing people silently. But, I'll be damned if they run around in bright orange jumpsuits yelling "BELIEVE IT!". What the fuck am I supposed to be believing here anyway? That ninjas are loud, annoying, and dressed in bright orange?....disbelief! =0
1. That's the first artistic criticism, I've ever seen. The art generally has a positive reception more than anything else. Hell, 2ch even voted Kishimoto as the best artist amongst mangaka, and Japan has the smallest Naruto fanbase anywhere.Yugeky20 said:
2. There are alot of Sakura's. But there are also alot of Johns. And Sarah's. And Haruhi's. Names get reused.
3. They wear the headbands because they dig the show. They look way cooler than people who say FAIL like it's 2009.
4. Ouran and Death Note? Serious anime fans haven't talked about that stuff in years. (They're good and all, but geez. Get with the times. It's 2011. Black president. Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magic. Bam).
5. He eats a normal amount for a growing boy. The schtick is that he only eats one food. How can he say "believe it", if he's Japanese? He wears orange because the author digs dragon ball.
6. It doesn't matter what he wears. Chapter 1 introduces a technique that transforms the user into anybody else. Boom. There's your stealth. And it's not like they ever need to use stealth. You can't have bombastic battles with amazing powers in secret. That's why it's fantasy.
You really should've stuck with "It's pretty cliched" or "it drags on alot" like everyone else.
I will agree with you there. As much as I liked the show, the last third was lacking something once they introduced the younger girls. They were mostly gag characters, and I think we agree that slice-of-life only works when the characters are relatable.Slenn said:
All of them really. I found some of the popular anime very entertaining sometimes, but the fans really take it to a whole new level.
I have to say, Naruto receives too much hate even though it has all the cliche's. I reckon Bleach, One Piece, DBZ, Death Note, and most others weren't nearly as entertaining. Elfin Lied is the worst offender, the cast are all so poorly charaterised and bland that it made it painful to watch.
Same goes for the new Hunter X Hunter, just poorly executed.
I have to say, Naruto receives too much hate even though it has all the cliche's. I reckon Bleach, One Piece, DBZ, Death Note, and most others weren't nearly as entertaining. Elfin Lied is the worst offender, the cast are all so poorly charaterised and bland that it made it painful to watch.
It's not heresy when it's trueAdeptaSororitas said:
Same goes for the new Hunter X Hunter, just poorly executed.
I personally believe that the hatred for Neon genesis Evangelion spurs from the dislike of one character, Shinji Ikari.Xpwn3ntial said:
Not to say it's isn't a good reason to dislike the show, as Shinji's depressing attitude is enough to put a lot of people off watching it.
Personally, Minus the complete mindfuckery of the movie, and Shinji's emo antics, I enjoy Neon Genesis Evangelion. The new movies are really great, and have improved on the story immensely especially in 2.0 You can (not) Advance.
In the movie however...
when Rei fuses with lilith, and destroys every living being on the earth, it gives me the fucking chills, such an epic conclusion, which is miles better than the original ending.