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[Dastardly Jerks]

I watched Song Of The Sea last week and it's literally better than any anime that's happened in the past 10 years.

 

[Saucycarpdog]

a) It's visually exotic. It's a sharp contrast to the animation most westerners were raised on, and immediately so.

b) It's not restrained to the same conventions as western animation, particularly animation in North America which is almost entirely limited to children's entertainment and adult comedy.

So exotic and diverse!

 

[Macka]

Seriously, anime newbies should watch Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Its absolutely fantastic.

I know I'm probably in the minority here but I actually prefer the original series (including the movie) and think it should definitely be watched first, if only because the animation is dated so it would be hard to go back after watching Brotherhood. Seriously though - the original series has a better story, with a darker tone and much better pacing overall, while Brotherhood is just lightning speed the entire way through and treats things that were taken seriously in the original as comic relief. I also think Brotherhood's ending isn't anywhere near as good.

Attack on Titan becomes pretty bad after the first few episodes. The last few are pretty good from an action standpoint, at least. Your position really only holds water if you can prove the people you quoted even liked the show before it 'caught on'.

Yup. I was really surprised at how popular it became...the show isn't bad but it isn't really anything special either. I mean it has a great setting and the first couple of episodes were fantastic, but after that the show slows down to a grinding halt and doesn't really pick up again until the end. Incredibly generic characters too.

 

[Crocodile]

It's a pet peeve of mine, same with people calling animation a genre. It kind of diminishes the incredible animation work that other countries do by calling a single countries animation a medium, while not giving that same standard to others. I think of it like this. A single countries output of art could never be a medium, unless they were literally the only ones doing it.

Japanese games are not a medium, nor are Japanese movies, TV shows, Japanese paintings etc. Conversely American animation is not a medium, nor Russian animation, nor French, nor English, nor Argentinian, or whatever, so what makes Anime so special that it gets bestowed the title of medium?

I think you're projecting a bit (and by a bit I mean lot). I, and I assume most others, are just looking for a convenient word to describe it to make it clear that its not a genre. It's a counter to "I don't like/get anime" as if you could take any two random anime and they would have any more in common than any two random entertainment products from the same country. It's not a means to try to elevate the products of one nation above the products of any other nation. I'm just a fan of animation, I don't care about the country of origin as long as its good (IMO of course). It's true that the fact that Japan makes animation in a wider range of genres (especially Action shows) means I end up watching a lot of it but that doesn't diminish my love for current shows like Teen Titans Go, Regular Show, etc. or older shows like Animaniacs, Gargoyles, etc.

 

[Crash Station]

It's a medium with its own genres like every other medium. Unlike most western animation, it has a large demographic range with stuff that isn't comedy aimed at adults.

Of course you could argue the variety has taken a hit, but the medium it's most connected to, manga, has far far FAR more variety than comics/graphic novels in any other part of the world with only Korea coming almost close.

 

[Transhuman]

I know I'm probably in the minority here but I actually prefer the original series (including the movie) and think it should definitely be watched first, if only because the animation is dated so it would be hard to go back after watching Brotherhood. Seriously though - the original series has a better story, with a darker tone and much better pacing overall, while Brotherhood is just lightning speed the entire way through and treats things that were taken seriously in the original as comic relief. I also think Brotherhood's ending isn't anywhere near as good.

Not at all. Some things, like Greed's introduction, were so rushed they felt incomprehensible. I probably would have stopped watching the second series had I not watched the first.

 

[Coreda]

Unfortunately someone might take it seriously and make a huge mistake.

I've fallen for it before.

If you think about the big tent-poles of modern cinema, the Hollywood blockbuster, most of it is garbage.

I'd say what is usually used to "represent" mediums usually isn't always so great. Anime is no exception.

So what is the equivalent of superb arthouse/independent cinema in anime? The hidden gems of anime.

Sword Art Online II.

lol

 

[Crash Station]

I assumed Attack on Titan wasn't for kids because of all the blood and guts, and general people-getting-massacred vibe it gave off, but the quality of its writing said otherwise.

Well it is shounen, so it's aimed at non-adult males.

 

[Crocodile]

I know I'm probably in the minority here but I actually prefer the original series (including the movie) and think it should definitely be watched first, if only because the animation is dated so it would be hard to go back after watching Brotherhood. Seriously though - the original series has a better story, with a darker tone and much better pacing overall, while Brotherhood is just lightning speed the entire way through and treats things that were taken seriously in the original as comic relief. I also think Brotherhood's ending isn't anywhere near as good.

Darker =/= better especially since a lot of the "darkness" in FMA 03 was being edgy for edginess' sake. That isn't to say there aren't some things the FMA 03 anime did better than the FMA Brotherhood anime but I just have to disagree overall with "better story" and what not. Many aspects of it, and the movie, don't make much sense if you try to think about them.

Not at all. Some things, like Greed's introduction, were so rushed they felt incomprehensible. I probably would have stopped watching the second series had I not watched the first.

The first 13 episodes of Brotherhood were rushed because they didn't want to retread ground the first series covered that was actually canon. Annoying if you were a neophyte to the FMA universe I admit but just in case you weren't aware of why that happened.

 

[Xe4]

I think you're projecting a bit (and by a bit I mean lot). I, and I assume most others, are just looking for a convenient word to describe it to make it clear that its not a genre. It's a counter to "I don't like/get anime" as if you could take any two random anime and they would have any more in common than any two random entertainment products from the same country. It's not a means to try to elevate the products of one nation above the products of any other nation. I'm just a fan of animation, I don't care about the country of origin as long as its good (IMO of course). It's true that the fact that Japan makes animation in a wider range of genres (especially Action shows) means I end up watching a lot of it but that doesn't diminish my love for current shows like Teen Titans Go, Regular Show, etc. or older shows like Animaniacs, Gargoyles, etc.

Probably. I am a huge fan of animation (anime included), and it rubs me the wrong way. I'm sure 99% of people say that to indicate that it's not a genre, but a fair number haven't really given much thought to why they consider anime a medium, aside that it's not a genre. In the end it'll make people assume that anime is an end all be all for animation (I know this because I used to be this way), and stifle the art form. I'm sure I sound like a total asshat correcting people like that, and I wish I could find a way to more politely get them not to use the term, but I'm still going to correct people, just as people correct those who assert anime is a genre. : / Sorry if it bugs you : (

I watched Song Of The Sea last week and it's literally better than any anime that's happened in the past 10 years.

I don't know if that's true. It's an amazing, amazing film, but an argument could be made that The Tale of Princess Kaguya, Wolf Children, Paprika or a number of other flicks could be considered at least as good.

 

[Crash Station]

If it's not a medium, then what is it?

He's technically right in that being distinctly from one country over another doesn't affect the criteria for a medium. It's just Japan has done far more with animation than any other country to the point of flat out inventing genres that don't exist in any live-action mediums, that calling it its own thing is kind of necessary at this point, at least until the rest of the world gets out of the animation ghetto and produces as much as Japan covering a large variety of genres and demographics.

The same argument could be made for western comics and manga, but with the latter being a dominant medium in Japan and the former holding historical restrictions that hindered its growth (and that's before we get into the general visual differences), it's also good to make a distinction between those despite being part of the same "silent static images that tell a story" medium.

So pretty much a semantics argument.

 

[Macka]

Darker =/= better especially since a lot of the "darkness" in FMA 03 was being edgy for edginess' sake. That isn't to say there aren't some things the FMA 03 anime did better than the FMA Brotherhood anime but I just have to disagree overall with "better story" and what not. Many aspects of it, and the movie, don't make much sense if you try to think about them.

The first 13 episodes of Brotherhood were rushed because they didn't want to retread ground the first series covered that was actually canon. Annoying if you were a neophyte to the FMA universe I admit but just in case you weren't aware of why that happened.

Completely disagree - I thought it was appropriately dark given the context tbh, didn't feel at all like they were pushing it in order to be edgy. I haven't watched the series in like five years so I'm a little hazy on plot holes though - what didn't make sense within the series itself? I'll give you that the movie was kind of ridiculously coincidental at times, and I recall thinking that the timeline didn't match up well, but all in all those are very minor complaints for me.

 

[Jex]

It's straight from Japan, totally unexpected, not kids stuff.

 

[daniels]

It has always creeped me out the way some people just latch onto anything anime, regardless of quality. I like a decent amount of anime, fairly diverse as well. And even more manga. But like... I dunno. There's a weirdo tone to a lot of the fandom that's really off-putting, and a lot of the shows/comics people are watching/reading are often truly awful. The writing makes me want to leap out of a window rather than sit through it, yet some of these terrible shows are among the most popular.

you mean like twilight or 50 shades book/movies? whats the difference to crap like naruto.
I dont see much differents from other junk in other mediums the majority is crap and has huge following anime or not.

 

[Chinese Cartoons]

Youre waifu is shet.

 

[Chairmanchuck]

I knew I'd get this response.

I don't see this same level of "I LOVE JAPAN" in other media. People who read 50 Shades of Grey don't go nuts over every single North American erotica novel published, or have queues to eventually read every single one. They just read the one crappy book, and probably read other popular, crappy books.

There's an element of cultural fetishism among anime fans that I find off-putting. I know some of these people personally, and they basically shovel mountains of crap into their brains because it is Japanese.

These are who I call the casuals. They try to watch everything, listen to japanese music, somehow wanna live 3 weeks in an Onsen and have a strange picture of what Japan is.
But actually their knowledge about the subject is not really big in my experience.

When I read manga, it's because I want to read a crime story, or a sports story, or (especially, due to how often the art is absolutely terrifying in the manga scene) a horror story, and I heard about one that sounds good. I'm not turning Japanese stuff specifically into a hobby, I just cross paths with it when something cool like A Drifting Life or a Hideshi Hino translation is published.

I love francobelgian comics, but I still read more manga, because at least to me it still feels different than that. Gotta enjoy everything though.
But I know what you mean.
I knew some people who wouldnt even read Manwha, because they are from Korea.

 

[Escape Goat]

There is no deal. Anime is just weird.

 

[Xe4]

He's technically right in that being distinctly from one country over another doesn't affect the criteria for a medium. It's just Japan has done far more with animation than any other country to the point of flat out inventing genres that don't exist in any live-action mediums, that calling it its own thing is kind of necessary at this point, at least until the rest of the world gets out of the animation ghetto and produces as much as Japan covering a large variety of genres and demographics.

The same argument could be made for western comics and manga, but with the latter being a dominant medium in Japan and the former holding historical restrictions that hindered its growth (and that's before we get into the general visual differences), it's also good to make a distinction between those despite being part of the same "silent static images that tell a story" medium.

So pretty much a semantics argument.

I'm not entirely convinced that is true. Japan has done a whole lot with the medium of animation, but just because Japan has done more popular things that are unique and different does not mean they were/are the only ones doing it. I would argue that Russia has almost committed as much to the genre of animation as Japan. It's just that the work that comes out of Japan is more popular, and in many cases longer (TV shows and movies compared to Shorts and the occasional Movie).

The reason that Japan has had success in so many different genres is simply because they found a market that allows those different genres. They found their niche, and they stuck with it, allowing them to do some pretty amazing things.

The reason why America is stuck in an animation ghetto is two fold. One, there is an animation depression brought upon by the Hayes code, that convinced the American public that cartoons=kids. Two, the majority of the people who give a damn about differing genres in animation watch anime, because that's easier that the monumental task of convincing studios to make something mature. Truth be told I don't really blame them, why try to change your countries animation when another already market already caters to you?

Unfortunately this leads to some problems. When only one country delivers mature animation, you are stuck with what that country decides, for better or for worse. You deal with their tropes and cliche's, their way of marketing and distributing, and their way of dealing with producing, directing, and animating works. You have a whole lot less input as well, as you are not their main customer. Most importantly however, is that is that animation is a global medium, not one that is produced in separate countries. The best animation has always taken ideas from other countries, and other cultures. To give one example, Miazaki was influenced by the Russian animation of Atanamov, and the French animation of Grimault, among others. Japan itself was heavily inspired by both Disney and Chinese animation when its industry is young, and you see both of these influences to this very day. In turn, without Yoji Kuri, we would not have the acid trip works of Rene Laloux.

If you care about animation as an art form, instead of thinking that mature animation comes from Japan, and that's the end of it, people should be shouting at publishers to expand their genres, and supporting those indie producers that tackle complex subjects. This attitude is very slowly changing, but people can do more to change it. We can see great things with animation from every corner of the world that we have yet to even think of, yet the only way this will be possible is if producers become convinced that it will make money, If people start making a fuss over lack of diversity and voting with their wallets, instead of just straight face saying that Japan does it better, then we can see amazing things.

Edit: Just to clarify, I love anime. Some of my favorite animated works are from Japan and I wouldn't be who I am today without that market. Furthermore, if you love anime specifically for its tropes, culture, and style, then that's fantastic, and I fully support and encourage you.

 

[Stereogatari]

You are 100% right OP. It's a medium and shouldn't have stereotypes associated with it. The reason is has a strong following in and of itself, is because it has a Japanese quirkiness about it, you get storylines and idiosyncracies that you wouldn't in Western TV shows and movies. It's not just a case of "it's anime therefore good" but "it's anime therefore Japanese-elements". Also people find the general anime artstyle tropes aesthetically appealing.

In a way it's like the way being "a gamer" is a thing in and of itself, despite also having varied genres and quality.

 

[True Savior]

I dont understand the thread purpose . What is the OP asking ?

 

[ScepticMatt]

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

I hate like 85% of it, neutral for another 10%, but love-love-love the last 5%.
Some movies I liked are Princess Mononoke, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Grave of the Fireflies. For TV anime I liked Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Cowboy Bebop, Planetes, Nodame Cantabile and Steins;Gate amongst others.

Things I dislike: All kinds of 'developing powers' fighting anime, cheesy romance anime, moe+chibi art style, annoying cute monster and baby characters, ecchi and fanservice,
technobable or applied phlebotinum used as incoherent plot devices, or bullshit endings. There's really not much left after that.

Give me any good shonen (like One Piece) over any american superhero, avenger or any shit like that.

I dislike both (with few exceptions).

 

[Jburton]

That's the show about the battling dreidels? No.

I love this post, the dismissive tone is delicious.

 

[Kurita]

Anime is the worst thing ever made.

But it gave us Tomokazu Sugita.

 

[munchie64]

For me this is a pretty strange question.

I like a lot of shows and movies. I don't like using this term for myself, but I could be considered a bit of a movie buff. Sometimes the things I watch are Spanish horror films, sometimes they're Italian Westerns. Sometimes they just happen to be animation from Japan.

Edit: Alsoanimedoesn'thavetobefromJapanyoubakagaijins.

 

[chiliboy]

Came for this!

Tried getting into anime a couple of years ago, just didn't click. Not for everyone I guess ^^

 

[Inkvoterad]

Like some other said, check out Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. It's one of the few really "big" animes that actually maintain quality IMO. One of the animes that got me interested in more than reading Naruto and One piece and realize how much more anime can be.
Other great modern animes that i feel are pretty "friendly" to a new crowd would be Knights of Sidonia, Space Brothers, Code Geass and Darker than Black.

If you don't have any issues with some high School and feelings i'd recommend Anohana, Clannad and Kanon.

Clannad is love, clannad is life. (also kanon)

Edit: Also stay away from Death Note, it's the purest form of shit (imo)

 

[Ratrat]

I watched Song Of The Sea last week and it's literally better than any anime that's happened in the past 10 years.

Im looking forward to seeing it. But I wonder what you've even watched to make such a bold claim. It looks really good, but I didn't care for Kells at all.

I don't know if that's true. It's an amazing, amazing film, but an argument could be made that The Tale of Princess Kaguya, Wolf Children, Paprika or a number of other flicks could be considered at least as good.

Yeah, these are some of the best I've seen in recent years.

 

[Krixeus]

For me this is a pretty strange question.

I like a lot of shows and movies. I don't like using this term for myself, but I could be considered a bit of a movie buff. Sometimes the things I watch are Spanish horror films, sometimes they're Italian Westerns. Sometimes they just happen to be animation from Japan.

Edit: Alsoanimedoesn'thavetobefromJapanyoubakagaijins.

It's strange because there really isn't a way to explain it in a way that the OP would understand/sympathize. It'd be like if someone who was a non-gamer and looked at GAF and asked "Why are all these people so passionate about these video games? Aren't they suppose to be for kids? Whats with the obsession"? It wouldn't matter if we listed our favorite animes and why we enjoyed them (or just anime in general) since its clear that whatever anime the OP did watch never clicked with him/her, and I doubt watching more would change it.

 

[Moonkid]

I swear there'd be half as less threads on anime if we moved on from the weird attachment we have to the more extreme side of the fanbase. I can't imagine many of us will actually meet someone we describe to be a hardcore otaku or such so why do we let it get in the way of just watching a film or t.v. show? Maybe then we'll move on from reciting Sturgeon's Law and debating what it should be called and actually have more discussions on the anime themselves.

Elfenlied? That was the posterboy in 2004 for people to show "Look. Anime is mature. See how gory that is. It is not for children."
I am not saying it might not be enjoyable. I am just saying that Anime was used about 10 years ago by "casual"-anime-fans who wanted to prove Anime is mature.

And to think Paranoia Agent was released that same year...

 

[Spiritwalker]

A lot of anime is indeed trash, but there's also a fair amount of genuinely intelligent and thoughtful stuff out there too. Mushishi and Monster are both very good examples of that.

Don't dismiss anime as a whole simply because you haven't found one you like yet. I'm sure it exists.

 

[Lev]

You should just treat it like a medium, like film, and try to find TV series or films from anime that you might end up liking. Personally, I enjoyed the anime from the 90s and up to the earlier 2000s. I think anime really went down hill once the moe fad became big, which was luckily around the time I stopped watching it with regularity.

Stuff I really liked was: Ghost in the Shell, Escaflowne, Gasaraki, Macross Plus, Ergo Proxy, and Battle Angel Alita.

One thing I really hate about manga and anime these days is that the typical setting is at school. Personally, I don't understand this. I thought kids would want to read/watch anime that has nothing to do with school, in order to escape reality since their lives are nothing but school. Apparently, they just want to see stories that they can relate to and fantasize about, which is my guess. For me personally that setting is so exhausted and boring to me. Also, I hate kids in general, so of course I don't want to watch anime about them. Why would I, a grown ass man want to watch a bunch of girls shoot airsoft bullets at each other, or sing some garbage music in a rock band. lol

 

[Moonlight]

The first 13 episodes of Brotherhood were rushed because they didn't want to retread ground the first series covered that was actually canon. Annoying if you were a neophyte to the FMA universe I admit but just in case you weren't aware of why that happened.

Pragmatically that's understandable as a reason, but viewed as a distinct, standalone work, Brotherhood pretty objectively has a really rough beginning. And honestly, given the incredibly bloated finale, it becomes a lot harder to justify.

 

[Josephl64]

(look at this KimiKiss (was it that one with the two sisters?) anime/manga. It has incestious themes
What I want to say is. It works in both ways.

...you're thinking of "Kiss X Sis", not KimiKiss. Just had to say since nobody mentioned it.

Spoiler

And yes, I actually did like that show.

 

[Coolwhip]

A good way to recognize creeps.

 

[cajunator]

Anime is my favorite medium

 

[FO-totality]

A good way to recognize creeps.

Do you really think that?

 

[kurahador]

A good way to recognize creeps.

 

[munchie64]

It's strange because there really isn't a way to explain it in a way that the OP would understand/sympathize. It'd be like if someone who was a non-gamer and looked at GAF and asked "Why are all these people so passionate about these video games? Aren't they suppose to be for kids? Whats with the obsession"? It wouldn't matter if we listed our favorite animes and why we enjoyed them (or just anime in general) since its clear that whatever anime the OP did watch never clicked with him/her, and I doubt watching more would change it.

Yeah that's fair enough. Was just trying to explain the best I could.

 

[Basileus777]

Do you really think that?

Coolwhip has a long history of trolling anime fans, I wouldn't take the bait.

 

[FO-totality]

Coolwhip has a long history of trolling anime fans, I wouldn't take the bait.

Poe's Law and all, especially on GAF.

 

[Xe4]

Anime is my favorite medium

Now you're just trying to get a rinse out of me.

Spoiler

 

[UrbanRats]

this isn't very well thought out criteria i feel

What's that?

Anyway, Anime is just Japanese animation, lumping it all together is incredibly stupid.

"I don't understand American Cinema!"

 

[Basileus777]

What's that?

Anyway, Anime is just Japanese animation, lumping it all together is incredibly stupid.

"I don't understand American Cinema!"

Ping Pong the Animation, NeoGaf's 2014 anime of the year.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

Normies who don't get anime, man I wonder what it's like...

FMA Brotherhood dumped on the manga hard, anyone who loves the anime probably never even read the source material. I remember following it weekly in 2009, I ragequit once I saw that proper shit CG "true form" Envy, it was truly, TRULY the most insulting thing you could've done for one of the best moments in the series.

 

[UrbanRats]

Ping Pong the Animation, NeoGaf's 2014 anime of the year.

Thanks, looks really cool, will give it a shot.

 

[King Gilga]

I don't hate anime, I just hate people who like anime.

Scum of the earth.

 

[ffdgh]

Some of it is good. Just gotta look really hard to find them.

 

[waypoetic]

It's weird. It's super fucking weird.

 

[munchie64]

I don't hate anime, I just hate people who like anime.

Scum of the earth.

I hate people with the name King Gilga.
They're always burning my crops and killing my families.

 

[rpmurphy]

Some of it is good. Just gotta look really hard to find them.

Well, anime been around for several decades as a popular medium, so you do have to look around to find what you like and don't like, what's good and what's garbage. It's not going to come at you and tell you what shows you should be watching. There is no one who watches everything from each new season, and if they do, they probably have a critic's blog or something.