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[Nero's Neptune]

That's not the purest Yuru Yuri couple. It's borderline lewd and corrupt. Sakurako and Himawari is the purest and best YRYR couple.

Nope. Best couple.

Spoiler

This is the other part of anime I love: shipping and fighting over who the best pairings are.

 

[DoktorEvil]

To that end i think the most important factor is how fans of anime tend to congregate into very strong communities, which themselves promote anime and create a space for people to nerd over something they don't see others enjoy as much, kind of like how there are people who live and breathe vintage paraphernalia. Though anime is not a genre, its unique characteristics are so distinct to an western audience that it might as well be one. Even though i like to think that i have a very good grasp of anime genres, i still think there is a distinct sensibility and form to how anime is generally made that gives it a distinct "flavor", as it were. Which is why i think many experience it as they would a genre.

John Kowalski
Local Anime Expert

 

[blame space]

i don't get the eyes

 

[Lagamorph]

i don't get the eyes

All the better to see you with.

Except Brock.

 

[SquiddyCracker]

There is good anime, and there is bad anime.

Good anime is manly dudes throwing punches.
Bad anime is anything involving moeblobs and/or high school.

 

[CarpeDeezNutz]

I don't know about the new stuff but Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Ninja Scroll, etc. was my jam when I was in high school.

 

[John Kowalski]

i don't get the eyes

It's to express emotions easily. That's why they're so big, so you can tell what a person is feeling simply by their eyes.

 

[Booshka]

It's boring to me, I've tried a few times, not having it.

 

[ibyea]

Well, it isn't really one genre so much as a style of animation that even then varies a lot. For me, it is about long form storytelling told visually in ways live action can't match. Of course, I am generalizing here because there are films that range from theatrical to short 10 min ones that I like very much. There is also a show that I like that is an anthology and so doesn't fit the long form serial format.

 

[Jazzy Network]

It's too deep for your American uneducated self to understand.

 

[terrisus]

i don't get the eyes

 

[Mr. RHC]

It's to express emotions easily. That's why they're so big, so you can tell what a person is feeling simply by their eyes.

 

[victreeb3l]

Baka gaijins asking baka questions

 

[Dennis]

I just wish senpai would notice me.

 

[Edsmells12345]

I hate like 50% of it, neutral for another 40%, but love-love-love the last 10%.

Yup

 

[Neff]

I love anime from the '70s, '80s and '90s. It was a unique artform enabling methods of storytelling impossible in any other medium. Then around the mid to late '90s three things happened. Firstly, it started becoming painfully self-aware. Secondly, it started to celebrate otaku worship rather than cater to it. The third and biggest change is that it started to chase the kinds of anime which were exporting well when it became a mainstream artform outside of Japan.

Good anime is still made, but the frequency and quality isn't what it used to be. Anime used to be a tool for storytellers, now the reverse has happened. Storytellers serve anime.

 

[Exr]

I like talking shit about anime but usually anime fans show up in threads and make my points for me.

 

[RadioHeadAche]

I've always enjoyed animation, and anime covers more genres than what you'll likely find with animation elsewhere.

I used to be really into it in high school, but Space Dandy rekindled my interest a bit lately. Since SD, I've added a couple series to my favorite shows list including Polar Bear's Cafe and Berserk.

 

[Tesseract]

anime is for losers, bums with limited educatings

 

[breakfuss]

Agreed OP. Seems some people will watch and discuss it just for the sake. ALOT of anime is absolute hot garbage with undercurrents of things that should make all grown men uncomfortable. Let's be real. But whatever.

But I do love me some Studio Ghibli......Akira...Psycho Pass..Ping Pong...FCL...there is admittedly some good stuff.

 

[AlexBasch]

I watched it back in the day.

Not anymore.

I fucking hate otakus.

Not sure what else to add.

 

[Aaron-Lagann]

There's a lot of shared tropes and art styles. I don't like all anime but I love a very good amount. I can enjoy most anime. It's a medium. I happen to enjoy a large amount of that medium.

 

[Booshka]

Baka gaijins asking baka questions

Baka Baka Baka

 

[Barrylocke]

I'm not really a big watcher of anime these days, but I really enjoy the artstyle. I also seem to have a fondness for Japanese storytelling tropes. It mostly manifests in Jrpgs and other Japanese games for me though, as the only animes I've watched in the past couple of years is Sailor Moon Crystal (because of Sailor Moon love from when I was younger) and Devil Survivor 2: The Animation (because Megaten).

The again, I really don't watch much television in general right now, so maybe if I watched more, my anime consumption would increase again.

 

[LaNaranja]

People who are obsessed with it are weird just like people who are obsessed with comics, My Little Pony, Firefly or video games. It is fine to enjoy stuff but there is always some percentage of the fan base that takes shit too seriously and make it their whole life. It is nothing unique to anime.

Obligatory:

 

[ibyea]

Also, unlike American cartoons, which are almost all comedies or superhero shows, anime has tons of variations. Basically, anime doesn't restrict cartoons to just a narrow range of shows. People who make anime realize all the possibilities of stories one can tell with cartoons.

 

[petethepanda]

This is a massive generalization but it tends to have a very unique visual style and tone that is unlike other countries' animation or other mediums.

 

[Professor Renegade]

For me the appeal of it is that it can present a wide range of genres that are presented in ways in which Western animation can't. Depending on what you're watching it can be a lot more geared towards adults and at times the animation quality seems better. Not so say that Western animation isn't good, because there's a ton of cartoons that I love(d), but there's a lot more appeal towards teens in anime than there is in Western cartoons (imo). I was a kid that grew up on Pokemon, Digimon, and DBZ so I was introduced to it at a young age but I didn't follow up with anything else until my teens; by the time I reached my teens there weren't many cartoons on TV that I liked so I gave anime a shot, and the rest is history.

 

[The Technomancer]

I don't know if its fair to say the majority of anime produced invokes fandoms akin to the Doctor Who fandom (ignoring size of course). Like I'm pretty sure I'm familiar with what trends you have in mind but I don't think they are particularly applicable to the best of the medium or even anything side from the most popular IPs in the medium (irrespective of quality).

Well in size absolutely not. But I think that the relationship between say, your average anime of moderate obscurity and its fans and an american sitcom of the same moderate obscurity and its fans is quite different.
It gets a bit closer when you consider western animation to be fair, but its still not quite the same in demographics. Also volume of content produced.

 

[Savitar]

I remember how in the 90's manga and anime were building up in our part of the world, becoming more known, more attention paid to it and then became red hot. Then a whole lot of shit got released that I assume was forced upon companies if they wanted certain properties. So many crap helped tank things and so the popularity went south pretty damn quick it seemed and the boom went bust.

 

[Beerman462]

i don't know either OP, i have the same attitude as you. some of it is good, a lot of it is bad. none of that really hinges on it being 'anime' though.

i think it's initial rise in popularity in the U.S. at least was in part to the wide variety of available titles and content (i.e. - it wasn't just G-rated Saturday morning cartoons).

 

[blame space]

I watched it back in the day.

Not anymore.

I fucking hate otakus.

Not sure what else to add.

is this poetry

 

[Mr. RHC]

There's still good anime out there, trust me, you just have to find it. You will have your answers then, OP.

 

[The Omega Man]

Anime is OK at the right amount of dose like e any other type of media, it's the weabs that adopted it as a way of life and made it cringe-worthy for everyone else.

 

[ibyea]

I love anime from the '70s, '80s and '90s. It was a unique artform enabling methods of storytelling impossible in any other medium. Then around the mid to late '90s three things happened. Firstly, it started becoming painfully self-aware. Secondly, it started to celebrate otaku worship rather than cater to it. The third and biggest change is that it started to chase the kinds of anime which were exporting well when it became a mainstream artform outside of Japan.

Good anime is still made, but the frequency and quality isn't what it used to be. Anime used to be a tool for storytellers, now the reverse has happened. Storytellers serve anime.

While there is indeed a lot of garbage in anime today, isn't it more because the bad ones from those era were forgotten that it seems anime from those decades are better? Furthermore, most animes from those era didn't even make it to the west. It wasn't until with the internet that one could glimpse all the crap festering with the good shows.

 

[Moonlight]

There is good anime, and there is bad anime.

Good anime is manly dudes throwing punches.
Bad anime is anything involving moeblobs and/or high school.

this isn't very well thought out criteria i feel

 

[AtomicSymphonic]

It's a very realistic-looking medium with (mostly) anatomically correct characters and creatures that seems sometimes indistinguishable from reality itself.

It is a realm where the impossible is possible and there is no need to worry too much about social rules and structures. In anime, artists sometimes create their own...

It's compelling for those of us that have a lot of troubles or challenges fitting into the real world around us, be it due to mental issues or just general personality incompatibilities with those around them.

Spoiler

Although, to be honest, those that are extremely obsessed with anime (read: otakus) that claim to have no issues likely, in my honest opinion, have not been given a battery of tests by a board-certified psychologist. This can be because there is a social stigma to mental illness where they live like in East Asian countries, or just didn't have the resources to see the right doctors.

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

Do some research if you want to get into anime, there's great anime out there every single season but of course there's a lot of crap like with any other medium.

 

[TheGreatDirector]

I know, I'll use my trusty frying pan, as a drying pan!

 

[CarpeDeezNutz]

is this poetry

Haiku

 

[way more]

I like talking shit about anime but usually anime fans show up in threads and make my points for me.

Yeah. It's nice to see that the people who watch it are aware that's it's pretty infantile and kind of crappy. They are like wrestling fans.

 

[collige]

it's a medium

some people obsess over photos

others live action

others theater

others books

others german techno

others anime

others otters

others apples

and others still

enjoy the passing of time

But what about anime about german techno? Like an episode where a bunch of moe girls try to get into Berghain.

 

[The Technomancer]

But like this?

That's not the purest Yuru Yuri couple. It's borderline lewd and corrupt. Sakurako and Himawari is the purest and best YRYR couple.

Nope. Best couple.

Spoiler

This is the other part of anime I love: shipping and fighting over who the best pairings are.

I'm sorry, but this isn't cute. Its just offputting.

 

[blame space]

anime rules, i just don't know anything about it. cowboy bebop, attack on titan, i like these. i have no idea how to get into good shows.

 

[Booshka]

I know, I'll use my trusty frying pan, as a drying pan!

I hope it's not cast iron, otherwise he has a lot of maintenance to do when he gets inside.

 

[pancakesandsex]

Seriously. I legitimately have no particularly positive or negative opinions about anime. Some movies I like, such as Spirited Away, and some TV shows I like, such as Kino's Journey. Why is there an obsession over it as if it was one entire genre? I feel like... some of it is good, some isn't so good, just like any show or movie.

I'd like to hear the appeal of anime from enthusiasts here. I'm genuinely curious! I may be missing out on a large part of culture.

Bolded for truth. I say this as someone whose shelves are filled with primarily anime. That's the appeal.

 

[Grexeno]

Constantly closed slits are all you need to know about Brock. Truly a terrifying, inhuman, soulless killer.

 

[Savitar]

Watch Black Lagoon.

Also

 

[No_Style]

I need to print this image out and hang it up at work.

 

[Reversed]

Well, there's a lot of it. Like, a hundred shows produced a year. Pick your poison, or drop X if you don't like it.