I am an avid animation fan (Simpsons, Looney Tunes, Pixar, King of the Hill, etc.), but I just don’t get anime. I think perhaps you have to have been exposed to it when younger for it to mesh.
To my eye, the characters often have happy expressions when angry, sad expressions when scared, and scared expressions when happy. The characters’ actions often defy common sense and the plot-lines seem haphazard at best.
@DrWorm
And the animation is usually terrible, with extensive use of two-, three- and four-frame repetitions, foreground masking to avoid having to actually animate at all, having a static character with nothing but a zoom while a background scrolls for “attacks”, and other even more hackneyed cheats. And that’s without getting into the way that so much of it is just a resetting of one of a relatively small number of stock Japanese cultural tales, or assembled from what amounts to memes at this point. Some entire series seem to be nothing but an agglomeration of cliches.
Is it obvious that despite not being a fan, I’ve been exposed to more than a bit of it?
If you’re over the age of 8 and want to be inoculated against getting attracted to it, I recommend either the ancient and terrible Speed Racer series, or the venerable and awful Bubblegum Crisis.
@DrWorm@werehatrack I enjoyed it in highschool… some years ago, but this sounds about right. Can’t get into anything recent because it’s like the entire genre is a collection of references to memes at this point. I don’t think they even try anymore. And with low budgets (too too few frames).
Except for the budget, I could say the same thing almost about American movies and TV these days. It’s mostly just iterations of The Formula, content-free.
Converse-wise, if you want to find it in yourself to enjoy anime without some initiation ritual: Ghibli. Big (enough?) budget movies, unrelated to each other except in spirit and artistic style. They’re beautiful to watch. A lot of big scale folklore-style fantasy.
I think Cowboy Bebop might also be a uh… self-realized and artful enough piece of media to be worth watching, and the soundtrack helps, but then again I have a feeling it went in kind of hard on the anime tropes in places. I’m not sure how much of my affection for that isn’t 1.earliest / defining exposure to sci-fi western for me, more lived in than Star Wars (+ some noir), 2. soundtrack, 3. not terrible animation. Haven’t watched it in a long time.
Some of the anime shows do have a tendency to pace things letting the characters breathe from time to time. You’ll get these transitional scenes that are slice of life with some circadas in the background. It’s nice. I’m not sure if circadas are a meme or just a universal experience in Japan.
@DrWorm@werehatrack I heard someplace that somebody is doing a live action remake of Cowboy Bebop. I feel nothing except trepidation.
Lest it be lost, since you said you like animation as a medium, seriously check out a couple Stufio Ghibli movies. They don’t break the fourth wall, don’t deform the characters, faces look more natural… everybody loves those movies. Basically a Japanese Pixar drawn by teams led by a single auteur.
@DrWorm@InnocuousFarmer@werehatrack Hopefully its not an American group planning the live action Bebop; they would for sure ruin it. The original is classic, and the music is some of the best ever.
@DrWorm@InnocuousFarmer@werehatrack I feel like the people complaining about the poor animation in anime are only comparing them to theatrical animation or big-budget current shows like The Simpsons.
A lot of these are television shows with aggressive budgets and production schedules. If you compare the animation with classic Hanna-Barbera shows like “The Flintstones,” “The Jetsons,” or “Yogi-Bear” then I think it’s pretty comparable.
Anime also tends to sacrifice frame rate for more detailed models.
I tend to like anime, but also have trouble with some of the storytelling conventions, but I’ve had the same trouble with some live-action Japanese films. Neither Paprika (anime) nor The Suicide Club (live action) really tell a coherent story that makes sense, and they’re both very popular.
@InnocuousFarmer@werehatrack Studio Ghibli is really the only anime that I have been exposed to in any significant amount.
“Princess Mononoke” was the first one I saw. While I had seen Astro-Boy and Speed Racer as a kid, I went in without really knowing anything about anime and “got” it even less than I do now. Afterwards, I initially thought the person who suggested it had been gas-lighting me in order to trick me into seeing something that was obviously (in my mind) garbage. I was legitimately mad at her. She had raved about the “beautiful” animation, which not only did I think was crap, had an odd obsession with worms and maggots. The story-telling, at least to my sensibilities, was a mess.
Because they are so critically regarded, and I really wanted to give anime a fair chance, I saw few more Ghibli films: “Ponyo”, “Spirited Away”, “The Secret World of Arrietty”. “Arrietty” was the only one that I found even passable as entertainment. I’m honestly not trying to dump on it, just trying to explain there is something inherent in anime that conflicts with my westernized tastes.
Anime fans love the medium for the distorted and “extremized” depictions of people, which I find quite off-putting. Likewise, I regard the lack of realistic movement as cheap looking, while anime fans appreciate it as a different approach.
I think my western expectations are such that “fun” shows (classic Hanna Barbera, South Park, King of the Hill) are fine with limited animation, but serious content goes hand-and-hand with more realistic movement.
Anime also tends to sacrifice frame rate for more detailed models.
I think that’s a good point, and underlies what some like about it, but I find as a negative.
@DrWorm Wow, guess you really don’t like anime. Never heard of somebody not even liking Studio Ghibli movies, based on aesthetics. They really do stand apart from… the rest of the genre, while still being fundamentally anime.
I mean, I find anime relatively more enjoyable where the genre rot is toned down and relatively less where it’s ramped up, but your thing is different, apparently.
Of the list, Cowboy Bebop.
Other options:
Haibane Renmai
Record of Lodoss War and its sequel
I watched Angelic Layer with my nephews/nieces years ago and except for one mildy creepy aspect (Japan, sigh) it was pretty good.
More current stuff:
I fell out of my chair laughing more than once at Konosuba.
The Rising of the Shield Hero
Goblin Slayer (which has some extremely harsh scenes; you will truly hate goblins).
Gate.
I’m sure there are more, but thats what comes to mind
At 65 years old, my son got me totally hooked on Fullmetal Alchemist…now that you’ve reminded me I think its worth another watch since I’m retired (68) and can binge watch all day.
@kittykat9180 A lot of people assume that, and there certainly are a lot of stupid animes (and some really cringey ones) but some of them are just awesome or even wonderful.
Other older style animes I’d recommend would be Gunsmith Cats, Riding Bean, and Megazone 23. There’s something about 80’s animes that are just more appealing than today’s anime. Maybe it’s the music.
@Rueki I kind of see what you mean. Seems like over the past decade or so, I’ve really loved a few new anime: Death Note, Paranoia Agent, Gurren Lagaan, Bobobo-Bo Bo-bobo (not including the titles in my previous post). But others come off as too overhyped: Naruto, Bleach, Fire Force, Pop Team Epic, Sword Art Online (give me .hack//sign any day) ,Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Dr. Stone. The older stuff seems to definitely be better; I’m a big fan of the Lupin the Third series. Tenchi Muyo was pretty good; so is Dr. Slump. The original Astroboy blew me away. Many of these have very good music to boot; some shows I want to see (or have seen) just because I like the opening theme song.
Use to catch all my anime on Toonami, but haven’t watched the animation block in over a year because I’m constantly disappointed by the new content.
King of the Hill
@awk
@awk Yep
@jmoor783 … my, god-o.
???
Simpsons
Does One Punch Man count? I haven’t watched much anime because I’m too slow for subtitles
@Superllama7
ONE PUNCH!!!
@Narwalt
Oh that’s painfully on point.
Evangelion?
Attack on Titan?
I just got caught up with Attack on Titan (TV show. I’m running behind with the Manga)
And haven’t watched the newest Evangelion movie yet, but pretty excited about it!
Edit: Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood was great!
@LaserEyes yes to Full Metal Alchemist!
Too many to name.
To add to the many great item:
Ninja Scrolls
Ghost in the Machine
7 Deadly Sins
Hellsing
Vampire Hunter D
and so many more!
@Evansdoor Sins!
@Evansdoor @PocketBrain Vampire Hunter D!!! Man. I need to rewatch that stat!
I am an avid animation fan (Simpsons, Looney Tunes, Pixar, King of the Hill, etc.), but I just don’t get anime. I think perhaps you have to have been exposed to it when younger for it to mesh.
To my eye, the characters often have happy expressions when angry, sad expressions when scared, and scared expressions when happy. The characters’ actions often defy common sense and the plot-lines seem haphazard at best.
@DrWorm
And the animation is usually terrible, with extensive use of two-, three- and four-frame repetitions, foreground masking to avoid having to actually animate at all, having a static character with nothing but a zoom while a background scrolls for “attacks”, and other even more hackneyed cheats. And that’s without getting into the way that so much of it is just a resetting of one of a relatively small number of stock Japanese cultural tales, or assembled from what amounts to memes at this point. Some entire series seem to be nothing but an agglomeration of cliches.
Is it obvious that despite not being a fan, I’ve been exposed to more than a bit of it?
If you’re over the age of 8 and want to be inoculated against getting attracted to it, I recommend either the ancient and terrible Speed Racer series, or the venerable and awful Bubblegum Crisis.
@DrWorm @werehatrack I enjoyed it in highschool… some years ago, but this sounds about right. Can’t get into anything recent because it’s like the entire genre is a collection of references to memes at this point. I don’t think they even try anymore. And with low budgets (too too few frames).
Except for the budget, I could say the same thing almost about American movies and TV these days. It’s mostly just iterations of The Formula, content-free.
Converse-wise, if you want to find it in yourself to enjoy anime without some initiation ritual: Ghibli. Big (enough?) budget movies, unrelated to each other except in spirit and artistic style. They’re beautiful to watch. A lot of big scale folklore-style fantasy.
I think Cowboy Bebop might also be a uh… self-realized and artful enough piece of media to be worth watching, and the soundtrack helps, but then again I have a feeling it went in kind of hard on the anime tropes in places. I’m not sure how much of my affection for that isn’t 1.earliest / defining exposure to sci-fi western for me, more lived in than Star Wars (+ some noir), 2. soundtrack, 3. not terrible animation. Haven’t watched it in a long time.
Some of the anime shows do have a tendency to pace things letting the characters breathe from time to time. You’ll get these transitional scenes that are slice of life with some circadas in the background. It’s nice. I’m not sure if circadas are a meme or just a universal experience in Japan.
@DrWorm @werehatrack I heard someplace that somebody is doing a live action remake of Cowboy Bebop. I feel nothing except trepidation.
Lest it be lost, since you said you like animation as a medium, seriously check out a couple Stufio Ghibli movies. They don’t break the fourth wall, don’t deform the characters, faces look more natural… everybody loves those movies. Basically a Japanese Pixar drawn by teams led by a single auteur.
@DrWorm @InnocuousFarmer @werehatrack Hopefully its not an American group planning the live action Bebop; they would for sure ruin it. The original is classic, and the music is some of the best ever.
@DrWorm @InnocuousFarmer @werehatrack I feel like the people complaining about the poor animation in anime are only comparing them to theatrical animation or big-budget current shows like The Simpsons.
A lot of these are television shows with aggressive budgets and production schedules. If you compare the animation with classic Hanna-Barbera shows like “The Flintstones,” “The Jetsons,” or “Yogi-Bear” then I think it’s pretty comparable.
Anime also tends to sacrifice frame rate for more detailed models.
I tend to like anime, but also have trouble with some of the storytelling conventions, but I’ve had the same trouble with some live-action Japanese films. Neither Paprika (anime) nor The Suicide Club (live action) really tell a coherent story that makes sense, and they’re both very popular.
@InnocuousFarmer @werehatrack Studio Ghibli is really the only anime that I have been exposed to in any significant amount.
“Princess Mononoke” was the first one I saw. While I had seen Astro-Boy and Speed Racer as a kid, I went in without really knowing anything about anime and “got” it even less than I do now. Afterwards, I initially thought the person who suggested it had been gas-lighting me in order to trick me into seeing something that was obviously (in my mind) garbage. I was legitimately mad at her. She had raved about the “beautiful” animation, which not only did I think was crap, had an odd obsession with worms and maggots. The story-telling, at least to my sensibilities, was a mess.
Because they are so critically regarded, and I really wanted to give anime a fair chance, I saw few more Ghibli films: “Ponyo”, “Spirited Away”, “The Secret World of Arrietty”. “Arrietty” was the only one that I found even passable as entertainment. I’m honestly not trying to dump on it, just trying to explain there is something inherent in anime that conflicts with my westernized tastes.
Anime fans love the medium for the distorted and “extremized” depictions of people, which I find quite off-putting. Likewise, I regard the lack of realistic movement as cheap looking, while anime fans appreciate it as a different approach.
@Limewater
I think my western expectations are such that “fun” shows (classic Hanna Barbera, South Park, King of the Hill) are fine with limited animation, but serious content goes hand-and-hand with more realistic movement.
I think that’s a good point, and underlies what some like about it, but I find as a negative.
@DrWorm Wow, guess you really don’t like anime. Never heard of somebody not even liking Studio Ghibli movies, based on aesthetics. They really do stand apart from… the rest of the genre, while still being fundamentally anime.
I mean, I find anime relatively more enjoyable where the genre rot is toned down and relatively less where it’s ramped up, but your thing is different, apparently.
Weirdo
I don’t watch anime shows
Robotech/Macross
Anime? I am not Japanese.
@hchavers That doesn’t stop a lot of the er… foreigners.
/giphy inane requirement
@hchavers, anime? I don’t watch cartoons.
AstroBoy
So cheesy but Gundam Wing. It’s the first anime I ever watched.
/image ponyo
@GrandmaLyn my youngest is convinced she’s actually ponyo.
@sillyheathen That’s adorable!
@GrandmaLyn Ham!
Bubblegum Crisis
@Rueki The original or 2040? I liked what I saw of 2040.
@Rueki This is the opening song for the first episode.
@JT954 I needed to specify. The original by a million times.
Golden Boy
@thechinglish haha this one rules, but I haven’t seen it for 15 years
Completed: Cowboy Bebop, Berserk, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Ongoing: Vinland Saga, Jujutsu Kaisen, Attack on Titan
Huh?-Sorry again. I hope these don’t turn up in a crossword puzzle!
Hentai?
Does Avatar the Last Airbender count? If yes, then that.
Excel Saga.
@dannybeans
Dr. Stone is a great one to try - free on HBO Max
Of the list, Cowboy Bebop.
Other options:
Haibane Renmai
Record of Lodoss War and its sequel
I watched Angelic Layer with my nephews/nieces years ago and except for one mildy creepy aspect (Japan, sigh) it was pretty good.
More current stuff:
I fell out of my chair laughing more than once at Konosuba.
The Rising of the Shield Hero
Goblin Slayer (which has some extremely harsh scenes; you will truly hate goblins).
Gate.
I’m sure there are more, but thats what comes to mind
Demon Slayer
Case Closed and Wolf’s Rain are two of my favorites, though they aren’t really ever played on mainstream media. Also love InuYasha.
Dragonball Z and The Big O are my top classic anime.
Current anime favorites are Detective Conan (Case Closed) and My Hero Academia.
JoJo all the way!! With love from Polnareff!!
No one piece? One piece best animu.
One of the first a name series shown in US: Kimba, The White Lion
@lonocat As a wee lad I was watching Astroboy on TV on Sunday mornings in the early 60’s.
Great Teacher Onizuka
@2many2no Or…
/giphy Crayon Shin-chan
Najica: Blitz Tactics.
Girls und Panzer
At 65 years old, my son got me totally hooked on Fullmetal Alchemist…now that you’ve reminded me I think its worth another watch since I’m retired (68) and can binge watch all day.
@texmarc watch Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood if you do rewatch, it’s wonderful and more complete than the original.
They are all equally stupid (I assume).
@kittykat9180 A lot of people assume that, and there certainly are a lot of stupid animes (and some really cringey ones) but some of them are just awesome or even wonderful.
FOOLS! TOOLS! JEWELS! AWESOME!
FLCL
Nichijou!
It’s been awhile, but I remember finding Marmalade Boy fascinating.
/giphy demon slayer
Other older style animes I’d recommend would be Gunsmith Cats, Riding Bean, and Megazone 23. There’s something about 80’s animes that are just more appealing than today’s anime. Maybe it’s the music.
@Rueki gonna check out some of these. I recently watched Akira and it was so good, has made me want to explore older anime a bit!
@Rueki I kind of see what you mean. Seems like over the past decade or so, I’ve really loved a few new anime: Death Note, Paranoia Agent, Gurren Lagaan, Bobobo-Bo Bo-bobo (not including the titles in my previous post). But others come off as too overhyped: Naruto, Bleach, Fire Force, Pop Team Epic, Sword Art Online (give me .hack//sign any day) ,Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Dr. Stone. The older stuff seems to definitely be better; I’m a big fan of the Lupin the Third series. Tenchi Muyo was pretty good; so is Dr. Slump. The original Astroboy blew me away. Many of these have very good music to boot; some shows I want to see (or have seen) just because I like the opening theme song.
Use to catch all my anime on Toonami, but haven’t watched the animation block in over a year because I’m constantly disappointed by the new content.
I just finished Beastars on Netflix. I really liked it but definitely not for kids.
Ren and Stimpy.
Bleach and Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood are probably my all-time favorites.