The thing about anime is that you can't treat it like a single genre. For every single complaint anybody could have, there's a show out there where it doesn't apply. You wouldn't paint all of American television with a single brush, and you can't paint all of Japanese animation with a single brush either.
I used to think anime was really cool. I watched Berserk and Evangelion over 10 years ago by buying them off of internet bootleggers, and obsessed over them. Ah, the days of late '90s .RM video where the quality looked like I was watching it through a stained glass mosaic window. I just grew out of it. I can't watch action anime anymore, or any shonen, it seems too ridiculous and adolescent to me. I did try watching Death Note and I wasn't impressed. The vast majority of anime are targeted towards boys and girls in their mid to late teens, and I feel like I can no longer appreciate that stuff. And the comedy, well, let's just say that I don't understand Japanese humor all that well. Not to say that stuff is bad or that they shouldn't be watched by the people they do appeal to, I'm just no longer the target audience. There are other shows that I appreciate better, two of the ones I liked more in the last 10 years were Monster and the Count of Monte Cristo one (I'd try to spell that Japanese name but would embarrass myself). I also, much to my surprise, enjoyed Prince of Tennis, but I still can't figure out why.
But these shows come so far and few between that I've given up on the medium as a whole. As a casual viewer I don't have the ability to distinguish between shows I might like and shows I wont, and I don't have time to trial all of them. So I stay out of it entirely. There's also, thanks mostly to anime's surge in popularity, plenty of American animation that's targeted towards older audiences, and that scene seems equally impenetrable to me. Instead, I stick to what I know and I watch American live action television predominantly. It just suits myself better. Maybe in another 10 years my tastes will change once again, who knows.
I had the experience of basically growing with anime in my teenage years and have since grown into a middling apathy towards the whole thing. Anime nowadays sucks. The last great thing to air was Darker than BLACK and it's lacklustre second season turned everything it made great into complete garbage. There's nothing but harem romances, shoujo comedies or fanservice that is airing. Either you have the one anime that's trying mad hard to be Lucky Star or you have the other that is just throwing the panty shots and bouncing breasts at you.
Maybe it's going to comeback to it's form in a year or two, but I've given up all hope on anime as it stands now. There's just nothing there to watch anymore. Anyone is better off just going to Best Buy, buying both seasons of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and watching those over and over until the end of time.
I made this topic a while ago and after hundreds of replies, it became clear that people were too busy being stubbornly naive and prejudiced about the subject to ever actually give anime a chance.
I used to be a big anime fan in my younger days, but it was something that I grew out of.. and eventually begun to loathe. I won't outright say that I hate every anime, because that would be unfair. And I still very much like the Miyazaki films.
However, I dislike the style in general and more especially the culture surrounding it. I don't like the over the top style, the giant eyes, the silly hair styles, the exaggerated expressions and the storylines that tend to be incredibily immature and melodramatic to the point where I can't take things seriously. The characters usually end up screaming and explaining how they feel to put across their emotion, and that's simply not good storytelling. Or as others have already said in shows like Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh that tend to involve battling, they always have to take time out, mid action to explain their strategies.
And yes, I know there are anime's that are aimed at adults and these are the ones I tend to find the most immature.
Particularly the ones that seem to revolve around one awkward teenage male character, that somehow finds himself in a situation/school/house/workplace surrounding by dozens of beautiful and/or underage girls that are all crazy about him. He then manages to constantly end up in situations where he falls onto them, touching their breasts, or looking up their skirts, etc, etc. Obviously I'm generalizing quite heavily here, but it's a prime example of everything I think is wrong with anime culture.
Badly written. Badly acted. It all looks the same with those creepy bug eyes. They're usually perverse in some way. They have the most laughable, heavy handed themes since Sesame Street.
And yes, I have tried watching some of 'the best anime'. I've tried to like it. All I can say- if thats the best then I don't even want to see the worst.
Listen to me. Every anime ever made is a useless piece of shit. If you're braindead enough to enjoy it, then I just feel sorry for you. Don't tell me off just because you have low standards.
" I made this topic a while ago and after hundreds of replies, it became clear that people were too busy being stubbornly naive and prejudiced about the subject to ever actually give anime a chance. "
Yeah, its everyone elses fault! How dare they not love something you like.
Read the comments. We have given anime a chance. And we hate it. Because we have standards and the ability to criticise stuff instead of just going along with what some internet nerds tell us is 'cool'.
The films by that Mizakai or whatever he's called are also total mindless garbage.
When its good I really like anime. But I tend to stay away from it for the most part because the quality is so up and down and since a lot of the DVD sets are so expensive I don't like committing to a series. But I do like it.
" Because its all fucking terrible. All of it. Badly written. Badly acted. It all looks the same with those creepy bug eyes. They're usually perverse in some way. They have the most laughable, heavy handed themes since Sesame Street. And yes, I have tried watching some of 'the best anime'. I've tried to like it. All I can say- if thats the best then I don't even want to see the worst. Listen to me. Every anime ever made is a useless piece of shit. If you're braindead enough to enjoy it, then I just feel sorry for you. Don't tell me off just because you have low standards. Western animation is better in every way. "
I dont hate Anime, its just that I dont particularly care for it. The 4 Anime movies I've seen are pretty good (Akira, Vampire Hunter D and it's sequel, and Princess Mononoke) but Ive never seen any other Anime and don't really care.
Serial Experiments Lain and GITS are kind of the best anime out there imho, they have no cute little furry animals or stereotypes (even cowboy bebop got a kid with glasses that is all hyper).
The Anime art style usually is pretty bland, but Lain pulled it off superbly.
I watched 10 eps of deathnote, but the artstyle just didnt work for me.
... oh and humour in anime, most awful humour known to man!
I don't hate anime, but in general I think it's pretty crap. I own a Cowboy Bebop and a few Ghost in the Shell box sets, it's not like I never gave it a chance. I liked those ones, still do, great stuff. But most of it is just weird, colourful pish.
Honestly, my problem is that I can't really connect to the characters. Culturally everything they do is so different and frankly weird imo. That and it is harder to connect to characters who are not speaking your native language (and most of the English voice overs are terrible).
I don't know if I like or hate anime. On one hand there's some really cool stuff I've seen, but christ is all of the recent stuff terrible. Every year anime gets worse and worse. This season in particular just depresses with how far down anime has gone. Who gives a fuck about a decent story as long as there's cute anime girls to masturbate to, right?
Manga is a lot better, and visual novels ain't too bad either. But every episode of current anime I see is like torture.
I went to an Art College a few years back and 90% of the kids there were pretentious little emo muppets, who were all into manga/anime and would all constantly draw manga faces, instead of having any originality or talent. Its because they wanted to be different... but there was about a million of them.
Also, about the time I grew out of regular cartoon watching (I still love cartoons) was when Pokemon became a massive thing. I just didn't get the appeal, because Pokemon was and is, absolute nonsense.
These are two examples of my general distaste for anime but I don't write it off completely. I enjoyed Ghost in the Shell, Spirited Away and other pieces that arn't aimed at children or Japanophiles.
I'd never seek out anime for the sake of it though, just doesn't interest me and alot of the massively OTTness, just annoys me.
I've never really seen anime at the same level to "real" shows i.e with real life people.This is proberly because it just feels detaches since they're drawings and the weird themes sort of put me off, i just can take it seriously. But when i was young like 10 i guess, i loved DBZ because, yo dawg them guys be flying, and i would happily rewatch it just for the memories.
But to your question i don't hate anime, but its the fans of it that put me off from watching it. For example people who love naruto and then start using words they've heard from the japanese version for something in a real life conversation (Wapanese). Its shallow to not watch something to not look "nerdy" but i guess thats another reason why i don't. Also none of my friends watch any anime ect, so i'd rather watch Heroes or something and actually know what they're on about.
@MysteriousBob: To be honest i'm not sure I really want to listen to you.
The way I see it, we all have different ways of thinking, some people like it and some people don't and that's fine. As a fan of anime it does hurt me when I see peope going "AHNIME IZ FOR JERKZ LOL!!!!" but if that's their opinion just leave them be, you don't bother them and they dont bother you...hopefully.
" I went to an Art College a few years back and 90% of the kids there were pretentious little emo muppets, who were all into manga/anime and would all constantly draw manga faces, instead of having any originality or talent. Its because they wanted to be different... but there was about a million of them... "
I was an art major in college about 20 years ago before Pokemon, Dragonball, Bleach, or any of the titles people know today, and 90% of my fellow students were "pretentious little emo muppets", too. Of course, we didn't have "emo" back then so they were described as either goths or punks...or some sexually derogatory term. Anyway, I don't think it's anime that makes them so aggravating, but art college. Or maybe they're that way before and so they seek out other conceited types by going to art school. Kind of like how lemmings gather right before they collectively jump off a cliff.
Every fucking friday at 8pm these were the words on my lips.
Seriously though I have a distaste for anime as a genre like many of the people here. I have given it a chance and still have a small number of pieces that I genuinely enjoy (I will still sit down and watch Akira if it's on TV) but for the most part I just can't take it. I won't retread all the reasons everyone else has already gone over but to try and put it succinctly I find the art-form and the culture that surrounds it unbearably pretentious for what it is. I can understand a love for something niche but either calm down and realize that other people's opinions are equally valid or ask the IRS for some religion tax exemption forms and start your church of anime because this insistence of anime is starting to sound a lot like religious proselytism.
I feel sad for anyone who deprives themselves of something that they could enjoy just because they are too ignorant or prejudice to try it first.
As for the OP, you're just wasteing your time posting something about this kind of topic on the site. Any of those people who are too cool for anime won't read a single line of your post other then the thread title and just spout off their one or two line response of why they hate anime and move on and forget this thread ever existed. They all saw one or two really bad anime's at some point and rather then finding ones that don't do that they are just as happy telling themselves it's all like that and making one sweeping generalization about anime as a whole and marking it off as all being the same as that one horrible show. Again, I feel sad for these people as I can only imagine what other things in their life they will miss out on because they are too ignorant/stupid/unwilling to even look at other parts of something for the good and instead just write it all off as bad because they found some bad spots.
The vast majority of it that I've ever seen is basically drawn pedophilia covered up with other stuff. Creepy as fuck.
Also the people in the GB community who seem to like anime alot all seem to be douchebag windbags. Why don't you go post on anime vice? Odds are they like...anime.
I don't like anime because of the art style, the voice actors are almost universally awful and their seems to be a tiny pool of them, any sexual themes in anime are handled badly to say the least and most of all because of the fans. OP why did you make this thread? Why do you (and so many other anime fans in this thread) feel the need to evangelise for your niche hobby. Almost all of the posts by anime fans in this thread have this air of arrogant superiority about them and how it's everyone elses fault that they can't see the light when it comes to anime. I don't like the vast majority of annie mays but the fans are the biggest negative point I can think of when it comes to them.
much prefer reading the manga than watching the anime. As for people disliking it, different strokes for different people I guess. The only tragic thing is that people will spout "ANIME IZ 4 JERKZ LUL" just decause jeff said it. Seriously, learn to think for yourself and stop latching onto whatever an internet celebrity says. I like jeff gerstmann because he seems like a cool dude and has some great points of view on games. That doesn't mean I'm going to praise everything that comes out of his mouth. /rant
and ironically @bhhawks78: just sounds like the same people he's criticizing. Add maybe a little prejudicial attitude towards something he seems to know very little about.
I don't hate anime, some are pretty good with story and art, but the two main reasons i don't watch anime are that, first, most i find are those shitty kawai or whatever shows that piss me off, and the other reason is that most anime has a manga version it started from, so i'd rather read the manga and get the pure story, as well as avoid fillers and changes made by the anime directors
Reading this thread, it's clear that there is a heavy stigma attached to anime, which probably won't go away for a long time. Some of it is obviously a cultural difference thing, too.
I don't presume to change anyone's opinion, but to all those who expressed dislike of the anime tropes of over-the-top expressions and squeaky voice acting, I recommend checking out Mushishi. It's a very slow-paced, thoughtful series that has no crazy hair, sword fights, or under-aged girls in bikinis to be seen:
I rarely like anything that comes out of Japan, as i said before a main factor is because i LIKE western style acting i'm not into the whole over dramatic ridiculousness that you mostly see in JRPGS and Japanese cartoons. Some are so over dramatic that it doesn't really draw you in and it fails to be emotional but ends up a comedy, ive laughed at every single JRPG ive played when they attempted to be emotional whether its intentional or unintentional its unappealing too me even when they're serious i still don't like the acting, most seem void of any kind of emotion.
I don't even watch Western cartoons anymore, much less Japanese cartoons, if you're a fan of comics you're most likely not missing much as 98% of the stories in anime are borrowed from Marvel or Dc.
@heat said:
" I'd rather watch Eat Pray Love featuring Julia Roberts, than watch fuckin anime. "
Hmm true, i'd rather sit through a chick flick lol
" I'm willing to bet there are some people on this site that dislike anime simply because Jeff once said "Anime is for jerks". "
This. How long ago did he say that? Several years? The phrase has absolutely no meaning whatsoever.
@Hailinel said:
" @CL60 said:
" I'm willing to bet there are some people on this site that dislike anime simply because Jeff once said "Anime is for jerks". "
This. Also, some people on this site are incapable of forming their own opinions and will parrot anything the staff says, no matter how uninformed or facetious the original comment may be. "
This as well.
@ryanwho said:
" You can keep making these blogs, where you passively attempt to attach negative labels to people who don't like anime so you can dismiss them for not validating your little hobby. You can keep doing that or you can go to a site where people there like anime. Like, a site based around anime. "
" You can take any anime storyline and make it into a live action show, so maybe people just don't like animation and want to see real life characters.
But damn...can you imagine how bad some things would be? I mean, let's take Death Note. Some of the ridiculous writing sequences would be just laughable if an actual actor was doing it. "
Oh shit.
This is still relevant to the conversation because it proves that most anime has horrible writing because this just in: anime is written for children.
Wauu~, it's great to see such a postive reaction, desuyo~
Do you guys have any favorite seiyuu? I think Tamura Yukari's (that's Yukari Tamura in English ^_^) voice is so kawaii!! Most of the people who don't get it are just closed minded — Nippon is filled with totemo suteki anime, though some people refuse to acknowledge this ~_~. Shounen stuff like Naruto is awful >_<; the characters are dumb (Except Hyuugu Hinata.. Mizuki Nana <3) try watching something good like Haruhi Suzumiya no Yuutsu~. Chihara Minori is chou kawaii, it's impossible to not love her voice!! ^_^
I think a lot of Miyazaki's work is easily on par with Pixar and early Disney at their best. However, most serialized anime I can not get into for one reason: the exposition. Anime tends to both tell and show at the same time which has become incredibly annoying to me. It's clunky writing, plain and simple. If there are moral grays, I don't need long-winded monologues about said moral grays. If there are emotions being felt about a character, show me those emotions and don't stand there and whisper about them to yourself. Combine this with themes that have been done countless times before in books and other media (and almost always better), and I find anime to be a potentially arresting medium that has yet to transcend its own tropes and create something truly impacting.
EDIT: Serialized anime, that is. As noted, Miyazaki's works such as Spirited Away are rightfully considered new classics of animation.
"Almost all of the posts by anime fans in this thread have this air of arrogant superiority about them and how it's everyone elses fault that they can't see the light when it comes to anime."
lol wut? I don't know about you, but this "air of arrogant superiority" is way more prevalent on the other side. Take a look at some of these wonderful responses. Like this guy... @bhhawks78 said:
" The vast majority of it that I've ever seen is basically drawn pedophilia covered up with other stuff. Creepy as fuck. Also the people in the GB community who seem to like anime alot all seem to be douchebag windbags. Why don't you go post on anime vice? Odds are they like...anime. "
Or this guy... @heat said:
" I'd rather watch Eat Pray Love featuring Julia Roberts, than watch fuckin anime.
Or this wonderful piece... @MysteriousBob said:
" Because its all fucking terrible. All of it. Badly written. Badly acted. It all looks the same with those creepy bug eyes. They're usually perverse in some way. They have the most laughable, heavy handed themes since Sesame Street. And yes, I have tried watching some of 'the best anime'. I've tried to like it. All I can say- if thats the best then I don't even want to see the worst. Listen to me. Every anime ever made is a useless piece of shit. If you're braindead enough to enjoy it, then I just feel sorry for you. Don't tell me off just because you have low standards. Western animation is better in every way. "
The problem isn't whether someone hates it or not. It's the completely stupid and unbelievably ignorant reasons that some people come up with just to bash something they don't like. It's like they watched 2 minutes of a bad anime, and decided that all anime MUST be like this. And listen I am very critical of anime. I hate how many anime nowadays are being made solely to pander to the lonely Japanese otaku. I am tired of the overdone archetype characters and cliches that are prevalent in it. I'm sick of the sexual exploitation of female characters just to gain viewers and fans (overabundant fanservice). You know what I do? I sift through the garbage to find that diamond in the rough. And the diamonds I've found in the past year are "Now and Then, Here and There", "Durarara!", "Eden Of The East", and "Fullmetal Alchemist".
Does anime have a creepy fanbase? Sure okay. If anime fans are all sick, perverted Japanophiles, then video game fans must be filled with violent, homophobic, high-pitched 13 year olds! It pains me to see someone who may defend video games as a medium from all the politicians and media who wish to ban it, turn right around and shit on anime based on misconceptions and stereotypes.
Look, if one person doesn't like anime, it's cool, I respect that. But when someone decides to shit on it or it's fans for no other reason other than to be a dick or Jeff Gerstmann suck-up then they just look like a fucking idiot. Just like people who shit on western animation and claim Japan and anime are the best things ever, are fucking idiots. /rant
This is still relevant to the conversation because it proves that most anime has horrible writing because this just in: anime is written for children. "
It's not so much the actual anime i hate, it's the people who watch it.
All my friends watch anime, every single one of them, i tried Dragon Ball first but didn't care for it, Hellsing was kind of bland, saw a few videos of Naruto and he reminds me of an annoying kid i knew called russell so i can't watch that, saw the first 3 episodes of Death Note and almost fell asleep, watched all of Afro Samurai (there might be more now i don't know) and it has its moments, definately the best i've seen so far but does get boring.
But anyway, my friends, whether i'm with my old Counter Strike friends on teamspeak or vent, or with my 360 friends in party chat all i hear is anime anime anime anime and it's driving me insane, sharingan this chakra that i don't give a shit i'm trying my best to ignore it but its constantly in my ears.
Pretty much since anime and manga became popular over here and in america i haven't had a decent conversation with any of my friends, i don't know what we talked about back in Counter Strike's hay day but damn i wish i could go back to those anime free days. And that's why i hate anime.
I don't know WHY I don't like anime. I just never have... when I was growing up, some of my friends were way into Dragon Ball Z, and even back then I just thought... I don't know, it was stupid. I watched some pokemon when I was 8 years old, but that's really the only exception. Maybe it's the art style, the bad English dubs, I don't know WHY I don't like it, I just know that I don't. I try to be open to it, but I've just never seen any that I actually enjoy watching.
" Because its all fucking terrible. All of it. Badly written. Badly acted. It all looks the same with those creepy bug eyes. They're usually perverse in some way. They have the most laughable, heavy handed themes since Sesame Street. And yes, I have tried watching some of 'the best anime'. I've tried to like it. All I can say- if thats the best then I don't even want to see the worst. Listen to me. Every anime ever made is a useless piece of shit. If you're braindead enough to enjoy it, then I just feel sorry for you. Don't tell me off just because you have low standards. Western animation is better in every way. "
umm wow...the level of ignorant douchebaggerry in this post is completely phenomenal. I thought most of the post were civil and intelligent until I saw this pile of words that seems to drop the IQ of everyone who reads it.
Well besides this guy I have to say a lot of you anime-haters have come up with pretty good personal reasons to dislike it (cultural differences, hating the art style, etc.) and to you guys I'll say "Hey well I guess if it's not for you then it's not for you". It just seemed that most people who hated anime seemed to generalize it over the same stereotypes that in reallity only apply to a certain sub-genre of anime, but if you dislike it for legit personal reasons then I guess I can back off and admit that it's just not for everybody. Though if you're like the guy I just quoted then I have to say that I fucking feel sorry for you.
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