I don't get anime

[Quintessence]

I have to confess Death Note disappointed me. I read the manga, though, and have not seen the anime. It started off with a lot of strong philosophical tones, then totally dropped the ball on it later on in the manga. Disappointing.

 

[dyanaprajna2011]

I hated elfen lied. Ugh.

Really? I loved it. I wasn't like most of the anime I watch.

 

[dyanaprajna2011]

I have to confess Death Note disappointed me. I read the manga, though, and have not seen the anime. It started off with a lot of strong philosophical tones, then totally dropped the ball on it later on in the manga. Disappointing.

Alot of anime that I've seen is like that. They start off strong, you get kind of hooked by the plot, connect with a character or two, and then it all goes downhill. Death Note wasn't as bad about that as others I've seen, it stayed pretty much on course, but it did waver a bit.

 

[Copernicus]

Alot of anime that I've seen is like that. They start off strong, you get kind of hooked by the plot, connect with a character or two, and then it all goes downhill. Death Note wasn't as bad about that as others I've seen, it stayed pretty much on course, but it did waver a bit.

I agree with this point, but we are looking at essentially a comic-book medium. Plots can get relatively sophisticated, but they seldom achieve what you find in the better movies. Part of the problem is that these movies and videos usually have to appeal to teenagers and children. I tend to judge them more on the beauty of their animation and how realistic the animation gets. That is one reason why I really enjoyed The Sky Crawlers. Its plot contained elements from a number of movies. There wasn't much that was new to contemplate. But the animation was stunning, and the movie-makers clearly knew a lot about aircraft. The dogfight scenes were incredible.

 

[Penumbra]

If a person is looking for an anime they might like, the best I can do is divide the ones I've seen into different groups.

Longer stories with imaginative worlds:
These are generally for a younger audience, like kids, teens, and young adults, even though there is generally a lot of death and violence. They're sometimes what people think of when they think of anime, because these are generally very long stories that become very popular with millions of readers. (Think characters shouting the name of their attack while hitting with it...) Many of them are originally in manga form that get put into anime form to follow the manga.

-Dragonball and its variants is mainly for kids. It's a big imaginative magical world. Characters fight each other to protect the planet, and are crazily overpowered. I liked it when I was a kid 'cause I thought Trunks was hot. Since somehow when I was a kid, an animated dude could be hot. If you're over 12, it's probably not a good choice.

-Bleach is about Shinigami (soul reapers) that have to lead dead souls to the afterlife, and fight against demons and fallen Shinigami. It's still ongoing even though it started over ten years ago; tons of episodes and chapters. I can't watch the anime anymore since it's too annoying but I'll read the manga until its finished, since I love the artwork and I started getting to know these characters like 10 years ago when I was a teenager and the series started. This is the only anime that made me cry once.

-Naruto is a big imaginative Shinto world of ninjas and demons and stuff. Lots of characters with detailed stories. This also started like 10 years ago when I was a teenager, so I still read the manga until it ends. A big theme towards the end is Nihilism. It's kind of an example of how anime can mix things that in American media would be totally separate, like the main character will make fart jokes early in the story and then later it includes nihilistic villains, elements of genocide, etc.

-Yuyu Hakusho is about a detective and martial arts guy that deals with supernatural problems. Couldn't really get into it.

-Claymore is about a bunch of demon hybrids that fight other demons to protect humans. Most of the main characters are female. Couldn't really get into it.

-InuYasha was a long series about a girl who ends up going back in time to an older period in Japan, and there are magical things with Shinto material. Couldn't really get into it.

Shorter, more mature stories:
Unlike the others, some of these are the ones I might recommend for young adults or other adults to watch if they want an anime recommendation.

-Cowboy Bebop is my favorite. It has 26 episodes and a movie. It's about a group of bounty hunters several decades in the future when they can fly around the solar system in spacecraft and go after criminals. It has action but it's mostly about good writing and character development.

This is the opening scene to the movie. Think of it like a James Bond movie where there's kind of a self-contained action scene before the opening credits.

[youtube]owgu_DxlwVU[/youtube]
Cowboy Bebop The Movie - Opening Scene - YouTube

-Samurai Champloo is 26 episodes and has the same director as Cowboy Bebop, so it's also very good in my view. It's about two samurai that agree to help a young woman find another samurai that she's looking for. Like Bebop, it has some action but there's a lot of character development and talking. Both Bebop and Champloo mix content together in fairly unique ways. Bebop mixes jazz with a space opera setting, while Champloo mixes Edo period Japan with hip hop and some other modern things.

-Full Metal Alchemist is 70+ episodes and is really good, imo. There is some action, but the main thing is the story. It's set in like the 1800's Europe, but the characters can do alchemy. Since they have to give up something of equal value in order to create something of value with alchemy, the overriding theme throughout the series is sacrifice. Like, what would you sacrifice to accomplish your goals. It gets kind of philosophical at times, and the main character basically meets god at one point and kind of argues with him. There are very dark parts about death or torture. The thing, though, is that there are two FMA series. The first anime caught up with the manga and then it went in its own direction, which was kinda bad imo. Then they went and did a second series that followed the manga better, which is called Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood. This one is much better, imo.

-Ghost in the Shell is pretty okay. It has like 26 episodes and a couple movies. It's about the future with artificial intelligence, androids, etc. There are some really dark scenes, like people getting skinned alive. But mostly it's a cyberpunk setting, and the makers of the Matrix movie drew some material and inspiration from Ghost in the Shell.

-Trigun is okay; I liked it as a kid. It's 26 episodes and gets pretty dark; it mixes a western theme with a futuristic space theme. Probably not great to watch if you don't already like some anime. There are concepts of altruism, genocide, survival, etc.

-Evangelion is 26 episodes I think, plus some movies. Nihilism is a big theme, and it's basically about kids that pilot gundams but start going crazy. It's immensely popular and ranked as one of the better animes but I really kind of hate it. I mostly just wanted to slap the main character for being a wimp when I watched this.

-Elfen Lied is about a creature that breaks out of a facility, but gets shot in the head. She acts like a normal human now because of the shot but if the right mental triggers are around, she becomes evil and violent. I freaking hate this show. This contains stuff I don't like about some anime, like over-sexualized female characters and unnecessary violence. There's like naked kids getting tortured and stuff. I think the plot had potential and there are some decent scenes but I think they really screwed this one up.

-FLCL is weird. It's like six episodes, probably good for teenagers. I loved it when I was a teenager but it's just totally crazy.

-Movies by Hayao Miyazaki are basically the Japanese equivalent of the big-scale Disney movies. They're sweeping tales that are aimed at a younger audience, but that older people can watch as well. (Disney and Miyazaki are smart in that they make a kids movie but one that the parents would enjoy as well.)

Overall I'd probably recommend Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, and Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood if someone is looking for an anime to watch. Plus Hayao Miyazaki films like Howls Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, or Spirited Away.

 

[Quintessence]

Copernicus, that plots sometimes fail to capitalize on their sophistication seems quite unrelated to the medium to me. I would observe that in Japan, animation and comics are a lot less beholden to the stereotype of "this stuff is for children" than it is in the United States. As a consequence of the narrow American perception that "this stuff is for children," the Japanese animation/manga that gets brought to this country and aired on more major networks targets the demographic stereotype. A fair representation would reveal a great deal of well-executed tales the medium that easily rival live-action styles in Japan. You can also find it in the United States, albeit not as frequently by virtue of our less frequent use of the medium. Nobody markets those stories strongly in this country whether foreign or domestic, so unless you're into the medium, you'd don't know these things exist.

 

[Penumbra]

Copernicus, that plots sometimes fail to capitalize on their sophistication seems quite unrelated to the medium to me. I would observe that in Japan, animation and comics are a lot less beholden to the stereotype of "this stuff is for children" than it is in the United States. As a consequence of the narrow American perception that "this stuff is for children," the Japanese animation/manga that gets brought to this country and aired on more major networks targets the demographic stereotype. A fair representation would reveal a great deal of well-executed tales the medium that easily rival live-action styles in Japan. You can also find it in the United States, albeit not as frequently by virtue of our less frequent use of the medium. Nobody markets those stories strongly in this country whether foreign or domestic, so unless you're into the medium, you'd don't know these things exist.

Yeah that's the thing about anime- you can have fart jokes and genocide in the same story. Totally all over the place from sex humor to torture. This is not common in American television or comics.

Classifying any particular work for an age group is tricky, although some of them can generally be considered more mature than others. The flexibility in their stories is what makes it so that I could start reading a series as a teenager, like Naruto and Bleach, and still catch up on them from time to time as an adult. And it's how a cartoon like Cowboy Bebop can hold my interest.

 

[Mathematician]

Graphic novels have only recently taken off in the US in the past 15 years. Stuff like the Sandman, V for Vendetta, and Sin City basically replaced a market entirely devoted to superheroes.

I think FLCL is awesome because it's pure insanity. You have to pay real close attention to understand what the heck is going on, otherwise you'll just laugh at how ridiculous the episodes appear. I had to watch the show twice. On the first run I was completely blown away by how ridiculous it was. Then on the second viewing I realized there was actually a pretty enjoyable plot underneath everything.

 

[9Westy9]

I watched baka to test series one (or some of it). It started off quite well. It had an interesting plot and looked like it could be good. Then it turned into some generic ecchi show where the same 5 things happen every episode. Needless to say I lost interest in it pretty quickly

 

[Mathematician]

I watched baka to test series one (or some of it). It started off quite well. It had an interesting plot and looked like it could be good. Then it turned into some generic ecchi show where the same 5 things happen every episode. Needless to say I lost interest in it pretty quickly

That's why I suggest getting into standalone anime movies or the short series before venturing into longer stuff. It's really no different than any television. Shows like Lost go on and on and on - just like Inyusha and Dragonball. It's actually a blessing that newly edited versions are coming out.

 

[dyanaprajna2011]

That's why I suggest getting into standalone anime movies or the short series before venturing into longer stuff. It's really no different than any television. Shows like Lost go on and on and on - just like Inyusha and Dragonball. It's actually a blessing that newly edited versions are coming out.

Inuyasha wasn't nearly as long or drawn out as some like DBZ or Naruto. I really liked Inuyasha, and it was't too long, no longer than Fullmetal Alchemist.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

-Dragonball and its variants is mainly for kids. It's a big imaginative magical world. Characters fight each other to protect the planet, and are crazily overpowered. I liked it when I was a kid 'cause I thought Trunks was hot. Since somehow when I was a kid, an animated dude could be hot. If you're over 12, it's probably not a good choice.

OMG have you seen just how perverted Dragonball is? Krillin, Oolong, and Master Roshi are horn dogs. And then Goku, is his extreme child innocence, grab's a few girl's crotches to tell for sure if they are a girl or not (He even pulls Bulma's panties off because of his alarm of her not having any balls). I would agree that DBZ at times seems childish, but at the same time I think it's a good story with some very interesting characters. And in a fetish power-struggle type of way, I think Vegeta is sexy. Can you imagine the advantages of a having a partner who has a tail?:flirt:

As for anime, you just have to find something that is of a genre that you like. Japan doesn't have millions and billions of dollars to spend on live action movies like Hollywood, so anime and manga are big parts of their entertainment industry. There is literally any and every genre you can think of, and a wide array of the several genres being combined in many different ways. And there are also different animation styles, different story telling styles, and really finding an anime you like is really no different than finding a TV show you like. Even if you don't normally like TV shows, there are such a wide variety and so many to choose from there is bound to be something you like.
And admittedly, many do start of very strong and finish weak. One of the most disappointing IMO is Black Butler, who features a very sexy demon butler who starts the series off by baking a person who pestered his master into a pie, and moves into a cooking contest with Shiva's chosen right hand, and finishes with an improv performance of Hamlet. Or some of them are so short they leave you wanting more, such Jyu oh Sei, which has amazingly well developed characters and plot, but at 13 episodes it falls short of something that could have been epic.

 

[9Westy9]

That's why I suggest getting into standalone anime movies or the short series before venturing into longer stuff. It's really no different than any television. Shows like Lost go on and on and on - just like Inyusha and Dragonball. It's actually a blessing that newly edited versions are coming out.

This is why I prefer shorter series anime to long shonen ones like Dragonball Z, Bleach, Naruto etc.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Inuyasha wasn't nearly as long or drawn out as some like DBZ or Naruto. I really liked Inuyasha, and it was't too long, no longer than Fullmetal Alchemist.

DBZ I will admit was excessively drawn out, but then again Toriyama was done with it after Goku defeated Freeza, and he was pressured into dragging it out until he finally pleaded exhaustion with it. But it could have done without all the recaps. I was liking the new DBZ edit, but having a different voice for Freeza completely killed it for me. The new voice just didn't seem to have the cruelty, malice, and evil behind it.

 

[dyanaprajna2011]

DBZ I will admit was excessively drawn out, but then again Toriyama was done with it after Goku defeated Freeza, and he was pressured into dragging it out until he finally pleaded exhaustion with it. But it could have done without all the recaps. I was liking the new DBZ edit, but having a different voice for Freeza completely killed it for me. The new voice just didn't seem to have the cruelty, malice, and evil behind it.

Yeah, and I think most fans were done with DBZ after the Cell games. Once it hit Majin Buu, it just got to be too repetitive and tedious.

 

[Riverwolf]

Everyone I talk to says that DBZ is basically over after the Cell Games; everything after that is just filler.

I admit that I haven't actually watched the series from start to finish (again, finish being the end of the Cell Games), but I do know the story and characters.

 

[dyanaprajna2011]

Everyone I talk to says that DBZ is basically over after the Cell Games; everything after that is just filler.

I admit that I haven't actually watched the series from start to finish (again, finish being the end of the Cell Games), but I do know the story and characters.

It gets worse after Majin Buu; once it hits Dragon Ball GT, it's absolutely horrible.

 

[Copernicus]

Copernicus, that plots sometimes fail to capitalize on their sophistication seems quite unrelated to the medium to me. I would observe that in Japan, animation and comics are a lot less beholden to the stereotype of "this stuff is for children" than it is in the United States. As a consequence of the narrow American perception that "this stuff is for children," the Japanese animation/manga that gets brought to this country and aired on more major networks targets the demographic stereotype. A fair representation would reveal a great deal of well-executed tales the medium that easily rival live-action styles in Japan. You can also find it in the United States, albeit not as frequently by virtue of our less frequent use of the medium. Nobody markets those stories strongly in this country whether foreign or domestic, so unless you're into the medium, you'd don't know these things exist.

I do find it hard to get into anime, but adult comics have been around for a long time in the West (not just the US). Anime, with its emphasis on childish features and exaggerated sexual stereotypes, strikes me as something tailor-made for younger folks. Since I have been an avid SF reader since the second grade, I tend to stick with that theme in the anime that I do watch. I don't much like fantasy as much as I used to, although I will read it when done by competent writers (e.g. Tolkien, Charles Stross, Jack Vance, Neil Gaiman).

 

[Penumbra]

I think FLCL is awesome because it's pure insanity. You have to pay real close attention to understand what the heck is going on, otherwise you'll just laugh at how ridiculous the episodes appear. I had to watch the show twice. On the first run I was completely blown away by how ridiculous it was. Then on the second viewing I realized there was actually a pretty enjoyable plot underneath everything.

I really like FLCL. Awesome characters, great music.

It's about the last anime I'd ever recommend to someone who isn't particularly into anime and wants a recommendation, though. You kind of just have to go with the flow to enjoy FLCL.

They hit an asteroid away with a guitar.

Inuyasha wasn't nearly as long or drawn out as some like DBZ or Naruto. I really liked Inuyasha, and it was't too long, no longer than Fullmetal Alchemist.

Inuyasha was approximately twice the number of volumes as FMA and was produced over a longer period of time. Approximately 12 years.

And FMA was itself somewhat long; longer than stand-alone series but shorter than Naruto, DBZ, Bleach, or InuYasha.

OMG have you seen just how perverted Dragonball is? Krillin, Oolong, and Master Roshi are horn dogs. And then Goku, is his extreme child innocence, grab's a few girl's crotches to tell for sure if they are a girl or not (He even pulls Bulma's panties off because of his alarm of her not having any balls). I would agree that DBZ at times seems childish, but at the same time I think it's a good story with some very interesting characters. And in a fetish power-struggle type of way, I think Vegeta is sexy. Can you imagine the advantages of a having a partner who has a tail?:flirt:

One thing I mentioned in my Naruto reference is that Japan produces content that completely defies western concepts of age. Naruto has, for example, lame sexual jokes and genocide. The main character is a kid that fights against dudes that rip eyes out. Porn is referenced from time to time in the series, since some of the characters read porn.

DBZ falls under similar concepts. It's violent. It's pervy. But mainly what it comes down to is dudes shooting energy beams at each other. The characters are one dimensional.

When I was a kid it was awesome. But for an adult I wouldn't particularly recommend it, unless they were already really into action anime stuff.

Everyone I talk to says that DBZ is basically over after the Cell Games; everything after that is just filler.

I admit that I haven't actually watched the series from start to finish (again, finish being the end of the Cell Games), but I do know the story and characters.

DBZ pretty much hit its peak at the Cell Games. That was the highest point of storyline complexity, and it included themes that were present from the beginning of DBZ (like Gohan being crazy powerful if he gets mad). So it would have been a nice end with a full story. Plus it has Trunks.

There's dragonball, which was cool at the time. It started in the 80's.

Then Dragonball Z has the following arcs:
-Raditz attacks (cool)
-Vegita attacks (cool)
-Freeza arc (epic but way too long)
-Android arc (leads up to Cell)
-Cell arc (high point)
-Buu arc (ok, but didn't need to happen. Screwed Gohan's character up.)

Then there's DBGT, which basically never had to happen and wasn't part of the manga.

So yeh, Cell Games was peak. After that, I was like "wait why the heck am I watching this?"

I do find it hard to get into anime, but adult comics have been around for a long time in the West (not just the US). Anime, with its emphasis on childish features and exaggerated sexual stereotypes, strikes me as something tailor-made for younger folks. Since I have been an avid SF reader since the second grade, I tend to stick with that theme in the anime that I do watch. I don't much like fantasy as much as I used to, although I will read it when done by competent writers (e.g. Tolkien, Charles Stross, Jack Vance, Neil Gaiman).

If you like Ghost in the Shell, I think you'll like Cowboy Bebop if you haven't seen it. 26 episodes plus the movie.

Not fantasy. Instead, it's future stuff, but still very down to earth and muddy. Meant for older folks. Critically acclaimed and considered one of the anime classics, especially in western audiences.

 

[Mathematician]

The only good component to the Buu saga was Vegeta's sacrifice, but that should have occurred in the Cell saga instead. His assisting Gohan was a turning point for the character, but it wasn't as powerful as Vegeta recognizing that he loves his son and wife enough to put his pride on hold, recognize that he is not superior to Goku, and take a leap of faith by dying. The brief discussion between Piccolo and Vegeta about ending up in hell afterwards was perfectly executed, so I would have liked that to be retained. It would have also made more sense since Cell's perfect form resulted from Vegeta's stubbornness.

If you like Cowboy Bebop you'd probably also enjoy Outlaw Star.