I see many others have filled you in on the generals, so I will simply state my personal reasons. The "good" animes that I have enjoyed have all:
- had stories equal to and in many cases MUCH better than that produced by the Hollywood movie/TV mill
-been based on interesting concepts and in interesting settings
- stretched the range of expressiveness in a way I find engaging and fun to watch
- had seriously engaging characters which underwent real development
Beyond all of those, one major reason that I will always support anime is because of its origin. Most anime comes from manga, which originates in the mind and heart of a single individual or small group of individuals acting in concert. They create the characters, write the story, do the original illustrations and development, and ask for the opinions of their friends, family and others known to them to see if they've done something appealing. Then they bring their work to a publishing house and present it for their review. If the publishing house approves, they support the authors with the time and collaboration of their professional artists and developers until they have a product worthy of general publishing. If the product is successful enough, it can be made into an anime.
In short - manga is an industry where an individual or group of individuals can have a dream, put in the work to make their dream at least a potential reality, and go openly before existing publishers to find the support they need to be successful. And this success can take off, bringing their work into a medium that can be viewed worldwide.
To me, there's nothing more American than that way of working. And the way our own media industry works sucks ass by comparison. I support anime and manga in the hope that the anime industry will force our own industry to take the sticks out of their @sses, trash the fear, uncertainty and doubt spread by their lawyers, break the shackles on them and start supporting independent artists in the same way the manga industry does.
Oh by the way, if you want a short anime that does have the type of merits you were looking for, please feel free to view Black Blood Brothers - you can find it legally on Funimation's video site. For a modern vampire show made for young audiences that ran out of budget before they could even finish the ending fight scenes, it has some serious oomph in characters, story, background, originality, and just plain entertainment (the villainess in particular is terrific). I could recommend other, more popular and polished animes, but most would have one or two outstanding qualities. Despite its age group and flaws, this particular show has that "magic mix" that makes it a good example of why anime can be worth watching.
- had stories equal to and in many cases MUCH better than that produced by the Hollywood movie/TV mill
-been based on interesting concepts and in interesting settings
- stretched the range of expressiveness in a way I find engaging and fun to watch
- had seriously engaging characters which underwent real development
Beyond all of those, one major reason that I will always support anime is because of its origin. Most anime comes from manga, which originates in the mind and heart of a single individual or small group of individuals acting in concert. They create the characters, write the story, do the original illustrations and development, and ask for the opinions of their friends, family and others known to them to see if they've done something appealing. Then they bring their work to a publishing house and present it for their review. If the publishing house approves, they support the authors with the time and collaboration of their professional artists and developers until they have a product worthy of general publishing. If the product is successful enough, it can be made into an anime.
In short - manga is an industry where an individual or group of individuals can have a dream, put in the work to make their dream at least a potential reality, and go openly before existing publishers to find the support they need to be successful. And this success can take off, bringing their work into a medium that can be viewed worldwide.
To me, there's nothing more American than that way of working. And the way our own media industry works sucks ass by comparison. I support anime and manga in the hope that the anime industry will force our own industry to take the sticks out of their @sses, trash the fear, uncertainty and doubt spread by their lawyers, break the shackles on them and start supporting independent artists in the same way the manga industry does.
Oh by the way, if you want a short anime that does have the type of merits you were looking for, please feel free to view Black Blood Brothers - you can find it legally on Funimation's video site. For a modern vampire show made for young audiences that ran out of budget before they could even finish the ending fight scenes, it has some serious oomph in characters, story, background, originality, and just plain entertainment (the villainess in particular is terrific). I could recommend other, more popular and polished animes, but most would have one or two outstanding qualities. Despite its age group and flaws, this particular show has that "magic mix" that makes it a good example of why anime can be worth watching.
