Poll: Anyone an Ex Anime fan?

[The Wooster]

During my grade school years I used to be obsessed with Anime, manga, and Japanese culture. From things like Pokemon, Tenchi Muyo!, Dragon Ball Z... generally anything with an anime-ish look. Now when I try to get into a series, I can't stand it. Not that it's socially embarrassing or awkward (a lot of my friends are still into it) but it tends to make little to no sense to me. Other than the aesthetics, it utterly lost its appeal. Same goes with JRPGs. The plot line can be solid, but the journey from point A to point B is too filled with nonsense for my taste now.

It was just a phase to me, but I never thought it would end. I'd place it above gaming on my level of interest back then. I don't think it was a maturity thing to be honest, but it could be. How many of you went through Anime as a phase and what are you reasons for not liking it so much now? Also, I'm willing to give it another chance, so if you have any recommendations for me, please tell.

Kind of. I still adore animation of all kinds but my views have both widened and become more selective. On the one hand, I enjoy animation from any country and any background, on the other hand, I have very little tolerance for shittiness which rules out a big chunk of current anime.

Out of curiosity, what sort of animation piques your interest the most? Lately I've been drawn to more European animation. Canada's stuff is fine, but I recently watched two films: The Secret of Kells, and L'Illusioniste (The Illusionist). Despite the big style differences, I was amazed at how well they flowed. The combating artistic styles in SOK gave it a very unique look, while L'Illusioniste just had an extreme layer of polish on it.

Though not really traditionally animated I really liked the look of "Waltz With Bashir." I'm certainly going to check out the Legend of Kells, just the poster for it was drop dead gorgeous. Something about L'Illusioniste seems very familiar, I'm going to have to root around in the credits and see who crops up.

 

[Hungry Donner]

I watched some in college, but the only thing that stuck was Studio Ghibli. I continue to enjoy Hayao Miyazaki's films and have introduced my son to a large number of them as well.

Actually I think some of my Lodoss War mangas were purchased after graduating college, but it's been years since I've bought any new ones.

 

[game-lover]

I love it! Anime is awesome! Even if the stories can sorta annoy me.

Was watching Requiem of the Phantom but stopped after someone who I thought was a main character turned out not to be one.

Thinking about continuing Black Butler. Mmm... Sebastian.

 

[Javarock]

Nope...

I don't recall a time I ever liked it... However, There are reasons the people in my family hate Anime.

 

[Vegard Pompey]

Calling yourself an "ex-anime fan" is not too far removed from calling yourself an "ex-book fan" or an "ex-music fan". Anime is a medium, and while not quite as diverse as the aforementioned mediums, it doesn't have any universal flaws that should prompt anyone to dismiss the medium entirely unless you really dislike Japanese culture.

So maybe you're tired of endless flashbacks and fights that are unnecessarily prolonged to last dozens of episodes with shameless reuse of footage. This doesn't mean you're tired of anime. This means you're tired of the specific type of shounen action anime that indulges in these things. I doubt anyone who's ever seen Legend of Galactic Heroes would ever call himself/herself an "ex-anime fan".

 

[dyre]

I used to like anime a bit more than I do now, but I wouldn't say I was ever a "fan." It's a medium with a ton of cliche's, archetypes, badly written drama, and poor humor, but then again, so are a lot of TV shows in the US (excluding HBO). There are definitely a few anime gems out there, so I won't dismiss the medium altogether.

I'd say if I had to order my entertainment mediums from favorite to least favorite, it'd be

literature > games > music > films > anime > webcomics > American TV

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Snippity

Have you watched The Triplets of Belleville? I believe L'Illusioniste was made by the same person or studio.

 

[Elamdri]

When I was younger (middle school and High School) I was all about all types of anime, then as I hit college, my tastes grew and a lot of what I used to like stopped being so good. I still watch the occasional show nowadays but the production has to be really good.

Pretty much anything that follows a Dragonball forumula (Bleach, One Piece, Naruto and the rest of that garbage yadda yadda) I don't watch and most shows that exist in a high-school setting don't appeal to me anymore either since I'm not that age anymore.

 

[The Wooster]

Snippity

Have you watched The Triplets of Belleville? I believe L'Illusioniste was made by the same person or studio.

I haven't but I'm noticing a lot of similarities between it and 101 Dalmations of all things. I'm guessing there's some influence there.

 

[funguy2121]

I'm more a sort of "never was." I had friends who showed me stuff like Akira and Ninja Scroll when I was in high school, and I had other friends (whom I thought were weird) who were into Golden Boy, and I thought I'd become a huge anime fan, but it never panned out. Because of the wimmins in my life I descovered Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop, two of my all-time favorite pop culture works, but the last dozen or so anime works I've seen any of have really really put me off.


...I take that back. Basilisk was pretty damned cool, as were the 7 minutes of anime in Kill Bill.

 

[Javarock]

Nope...

However, There are reasons the people in my family hate Anime.

....Because?

OT: I've never seen a bad anime, because I only watch what are considered to be classics.

Various things here and there, However I think the heaviest influence was the fact my sisters first husband, When I was smaller was a huge ass-hole, He loved anime as well, After he divorced her(Forcing her to pay for the whole thing, And being non-cooperative) He had been living off her, Playing a internet game all day. After she learned he was actually talking with another girl online, And was planning to cheat on her, So he went to that girl got her knocked up, They harassed her and all of that terribleness. Eventually he left that girl to with the child. So anyways, After the whole divorce my sister moved back in with us, At the time I had just started knowing it. And then I learned about the whole deal with him, which is the reason she despised anime (He Was obsessed with it by the way, They had only been married for about a year and a half and he was already looking and naked drawn Anime girls, From a Magazine, And he wasn't even trying to hide it.) I Always assumed that started it. But after that, I Can't really watch it.

I Guess I Associate it with him.

 

[Samurai Silhouette]

Calling yourself an "ex-anime fan" is not too far removed from calling yourself an "ex-book fan" or an "ex-music fan". Anime is a medium, and while not quite as diverse as the aforementioned mediums, it doesn't have any universal flaws that should prompt anyone to dismiss the medium entirely unless you really dislike Japanese culture.

So maybe you're tired of endless flashbacks and fights that are unnecessarily prolonged to last dozens of episodes with shameless reuse of footage. This doesn't mean you're tired of anime. This means you're tired of the specific type of shounen action anime that indulges in these things. I doubt anyone who's ever seen Legend of Galactic Heroes would ever call himself/herself an "ex-anime fan".

So um, "Anime" is synonymous for "Japanese culture"? If I were to say I didn't like western cartoons, it's pretty clear cut that I'm just referring to cartoons made in America, not American culture.

Anyways, I just looked up Legend of Galactic Heroes on yourtube and was almost immediately turned off.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDpO7P65dY8
Two and a half minutes in I was introduced with an emo archetype riddled in several animes and I just had to stop watching. It was like watching an animated facebook page. I really don't want to watch an effeminate looking male possessing unlimited composure speak in monotone about deep feelings and perceptions throughout a series. It's been done, over, and over, and over.

Scrolling through the episode I see:
Standing and talking...
Standing...
Standing and talking...
A group of people standing...
A dude (I think) sitting on a table...
Standing...
Two dudes on a dinnerdate...

Not one of them yelled. Not one of the laughed, but there was slight movement. I think one of them put their hand behind their head to "think"? Even though I might have missed any signs of (real) human emotions while skipping through, my impression is that they're few and far in between. It's like they assigned everyone with the same serious, emotionless personality. I seriously doubt Japan and its culture has been taken over by robots.

 

[Flight]

I used to watch a lot of anime. These days, I read the occasional manga and very rarely check out a new series. I guess I'm just bored with a lot of what anime has to offer these days.

 

[Samurai Silhouette]

Note: MY AVATAR IS NOT FROM AN ANIME.

Touhou. No story to really follow to be able to enjoy the experience.

 

[Mikeyfell]

I'm an anime fan.
I love almost everything about it *Asides from most of the English dubbing actors.

Not to sound condescending to anyone who legitimately doesn't like anime but for the most part people who don't watch anime haven't given it a fair chance. They say things like "I'm not going to watch cartoons" that's like me claiming live action TV shows are all for kids because of Nickelodeon.

Anime is really just like any other type of show (It's not, but bare with me) there are good ones and there are bad ones. To me asking someone if they like Anime is asking them if they like music. The people who say "No" are really just asking for the "Well have you heard this song?" response. I do know a guy who used to not like anime until I tied him to a chair Clockwork Orange style and forced him to watch The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Within a week his Netflix queue was full of anime. It's not like he's in love with the genre now, he just respects that it has just as much merit to entertain and disappoint as any other medium.

 

[Mallefunction]

New anime just doesn't really catch my interest nowadays. So yeah...ex fan. XD

 

[vance32]

The only Anime i will watch is Full Metal Alchemist and some Gundam anything else just seems like 12 year olds with magic powers.

 

[Dethenger]

I'm not really sure how you can judge anime as a whole. It's like saying that you don't like movies; it doesn't really make any sense because not all movies are the same. I don't like SOME movies, but I find others brilliant.
Anyways, I watch anime whenever I'm really bored. I don't usually watch anything popular here in America, not for the sake of being a hipster, it's just that, coincidentally, the ones that come to America are typically shitty, like DBZ, InuYasha, so on and so forth. I still enjoy watching shows like Black Lagoon, Hajime no Ippo, GunXSword, Eden of the East, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Spice and Wolf, Great Teacher Onizuka, etc.

 

[Lt. Vinciti]

I liked anime until just about high school when I ran into those types of people....

I loved DBZ and when the right people/company gets their hands on it they can make a damn good game

I still enjoy Pokemon (old) and the games (doesnt matter)

I watched faithfully all of G Gundam

Nowadays its just....for fucks sake....annoying....I dont care about your emo god damn backstory...write a book! Kill his ass! We get it Japan loves the Bad Guys Nuked Your Shit Take a Sword a Loli and an Emo-er Friend and Kill They Ass!

I also watched AKIRA once a while back....it was good by those badassery 80s animation standards

 

[omega_peaches]

I used to love anime, but not really too much anymore.
Most recent thing I watched is Gurren Lagann, about 2 years ago?
I would still watch it if there was anything that interested me though.