I have a love-hate relationship with anime. Generally hate. See the thing is, I don't like anime. I like the anime that I like and approach new anime with caution. About 70% of what I watch I reject for adherence to too many anime cliches and the rest I will either watch until I've found it's grown stale or will watch with the avid attention of a dog to a squirrel just outside the window. Anime is an incredibly broad category and it's often aimed at a demographic just below my age group. Many times the animation is something I can't stand, other times the voice acting or characters I find obnoxious. But it is through my exploration that I found some of my favorite shows of all time and my all time favorite movies.
Here are is some anime and my reactions to it:
I loved Cowboy Bebop, Claymore and Samurai Champloo. It should go without saying but I will say anyway that I love Miyazaki's work and his films comprise a bulky portion of my top 10 favorite films.
I thought that Death Note was mediocre and I hated pretty much every character. I stopped watching after 10 episodes. I thought that Trigun was nigh unbearable, but I've never been one for goofiness in a show being represented through anime cliches. I had a hard time with Gundam Wing and felt that the characters were shallow if not plain unlikeable. I manages to power through the first 14 episodes of that. I watched Neon Genesis Evangelion's first 4 episodes and while I liked the robot and creature designs, I felt, like in GW that the characters felt shallow or unlikeable.
Akira I watched for it's significance in the West. I was unimpressed and felt that it was overrated. I've heard that it's better if you've read the manga, but I feel I shouldn't have to read a comic just to appreciate the movie.
Similarly I felt Ghost in the Shell was overrated. I thought it was fine. It was a nice little romp into cool action and exposed a younger me to the wonders of cartoon boobage. On the other hand I got kind of... bored. It's hard to describe exactly what failed about it for me because I didn't feel any aspect of it was particularly weak, (other than the colour palette was a little bland) I just... wasn't blown away by any aspect I guess. If I hadn't come into the film with suchhigh expectations I would have been a cool little adventure, but thanks to the hype it fell flat.
Final thoughts: I don't dislike anime. I dislike certain parts of certain anime that tends to pepper itself through anime as a whole. If I find something that I really get into, chances are I'll forgive some cliches, otherwise I'm likely to stay away from most shows.
Here are is some anime and my reactions to it:
I loved Cowboy Bebop, Claymore and Samurai Champloo. It should go without saying but I will say anyway that I love Miyazaki's work and his films comprise a bulky portion of my top 10 favorite films.
I thought that Death Note was mediocre and I hated pretty much every character. I stopped watching after 10 episodes. I thought that Trigun was nigh unbearable, but I've never been one for goofiness in a show being represented through anime cliches. I had a hard time with Gundam Wing and felt that the characters were shallow if not plain unlikeable. I manages to power through the first 14 episodes of that. I watched Neon Genesis Evangelion's first 4 episodes and while I liked the robot and creature designs, I felt, like in GW that the characters felt shallow or unlikeable.
Akira I watched for it's significance in the West. I was unimpressed and felt that it was overrated. I've heard that it's better if you've read the manga, but I feel I shouldn't have to read a comic just to appreciate the movie.
Similarly I felt Ghost in the Shell was overrated. I thought it was fine. It was a nice little romp into cool action and exposed a younger me to the wonders of cartoon boobage. On the other hand I got kind of... bored. It's hard to describe exactly what failed about it for me because I didn't feel any aspect of it was particularly weak, (other than the colour palette was a little bland) I just... wasn't blown away by any aspect I guess. If I hadn't come into the film with suchhigh expectations I would have been a cool little adventure, but thanks to the hype it fell flat.
Final thoughts: I don't dislike anime. I dislike certain parts of certain anime that tends to pepper itself through anime as a whole. If I find something that I really get into, chances are I'll forgive some cliches, otherwise I'm likely to stay away from most shows.
