My Problem With Anime

[Lem0nade Inlay]

Hey all.

Recently I've really been getting into Anime. Currently the only Anime series I have watched all of are FLCL and Welcome to the N.H.K., and I'm halfway through Azumanga Daioh. The only movies I've seen are Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. So far I have enjoyed all of these immensely, they have been really great and I'm looking forward to watching more.

However, for me, it's hard to watch the end of Anime. Because for some reason, I always feel far more attached to characters from an Anime series/movie than I would to a real life show. So when a series has finished, I often feel really sad. Much more than I would if I had finished a TV series. An example is FLCL, while this series only had 6 episodes, once it finished I felt a great amount of sadness. Or Welcome To The N.H.K., which had 24 episodes. Once it finished I felt the same amount of sadness as I did when I finished watching all seasons of Scrubs, and Scrubs had a hell of a lot more episodes than 26.
Even now I'm half-way through Azumanga Daioh, which is primarily a comedy, and I'm still going to be sad once it's over.

So my question to the Escapists is, do you feel this way to? Are you often more attached to an Anime series than a real life show?

And by the way, I don't mean "attached" as in thinking that the characters are really hot. But I mean attached in the sense than I wish that there were more episodes and it didn't have to finish.

 

[delet]

So watch longer anime? You'll probably like the long Shounen animes that often go way above 100 episodes.

 

[Irridium]

Felt the same with Cowboy Bebop. Damn that was a good one...

But thats whats great about anime, well some anime at least, is that they end. Which I believe is much better then having it dragged on for ages. Like most TV shows

Just makes it more powerful.

 

[s0m3th1ng]

God...after watching the NHK I had to have a drink. Show is so depressing at times. And hilarious...props to them for outlining Pyramid Schemes.

 

[Lem0nade Inlay]

So watch longer anime? You'll probably like the long Shounen animes that often go way above 100 episodes.

It's not going to make me stop watching Anime. And I prefer shorter anime anyway, I tried watching Bleach and by the 70th Episode I was almost bored of it. Although that was my first anime ever so I could try going back...

 

[rstank77]

i watched scrubs for half of my life basically and when i saw the finale on tv i almost cried..yu yu hakusho ended fast so i felt like a pit was in my stomach(still do even tho ive watched the series like 10 times) and while dragon ball z didnt have a sad ending dragon ball gt had a pretty sad ending because i grew up with goku so i had the same feeling after the finale

 

[SadisticPretzel]

I have your issue, kinda. But I don't just do it with Anime. I do with with any series I get attached to. I always thought it was just me being a weirdo.

That said, I do have an issue with watching Anime in particular...I can't watch it in Japanese. All the girls sound like they're having an orgasm every time they talk, and it drives me crazy.

 

[delet]

So watch longer anime? You'll probably like the long Shounen animes that often go way above 100 episodes.

It's not going to make me stop watching Anime. And I prefer shorter anime anyway, I tried watching Bleach and by the 70th Episode I was almost bored of it. Although that was my first anime ever so I could try going back...

I see. Well then yeah, that's natural I guess. I find that, by the end of most series, I don't want there to be any more though.

I advise you not to restart Bleach, though. Plot is just pulled out of the ass in it.

 

[steam_marc]

Heh. Baccano! has so many well-developed characters that I almost recommend you don't watch it, just because you'll feel sad when it's time to say good-bye. Of course, you'll be missing tons of ass-kicking in Prohibition-Era America, with mafia members, monsters, and people who won't let a little thing like death get in the way of revenge.

 

[Thaius]

Same thing tends to happen with me. It's kind of annoying...

The thing is though, it's better for a series to end well than go on until it sputters and dies. That's what I love about anime, actually; for the most part, it doesn't overstay its welcome. It doesn't drag on, it simply tells a story and ends when the story is done. That's awesome.

Also, since this is an anime thread, I have to make some recommendations that you would not get by looking at most popular anime. One, Clannad. This anime will make you cry, especially in its second and final season, After Story. Holy crap, it's so good. Two, Orphen (the first season). This is a really good fantasy anime that does not get the love it deserves. Three, Avatar: The Last Airbender. It's not anime, but it's animated, and it's amazing. It's a kid's show, so the first season is a bit juvenile at times, but it is more than worthwhile; easily the best show I have ever seen.

Then the obvious recommendations: Death Note, Full Metal Alchemist, all that stuff. Also, give Naruto a chance. If you can get used to the slow, deliberate pacing, it's actually really, really good. Most of the hate it gets is just because it's popular.

 

[Pyre1million]

Lucky you, you're hitting the shows that explicitly make you feel for the characters. Most shounen anime don't do that.

The shows are in a way meant to evoke this kind of response (though usually not as strongly as it affects you).

For my part, most of my favorite series have yet to finish. But depending on the series, yes, most definitely. Cowboy Bebop especially: a ton of the fans were so upset by it ending they refuse to believe that...well, I won't spoil.

The variant of this is shows/manga those shows come from that leave you with a satisfied, complete feeling once everything's done. The Elfen Lied manga does this in a great, bittersweet way.

Fruits Basket is a good one to pick up for the same kind of fall-in-love with the characters effect. Even Yu Yu Hakusho, a major shounen anime, manages to invoke this in its finale.

 

[ShezUK]

Watched one or two mangas when I was younger, but animes don't seem to hold any appeal for me whatsoever.

 

[Lem0nade Inlay]

Avatar: The Last Airbender. It's not anime, but it's animated, and it's amazing. It's a kid's show, so the first season is a bit juvenile at times, but it is more than worthwhile; easily the best show I have ever seen.

I've seen Avatar, it's awesome. In fact it's basically what got me into starting to watch anime, because I wanted more like it. I just didn't put it in because I wasn't sure whether to count it as anime or not. I'll try your other recommendations though! Are any of them like Avatar in particular?

 

[Shia-Neko-Chan]

ah, I actually have the same problem!

I've come to accept it as a part of anime and will watch them all the way through, but this problem actually seems to prevent me from re-watching anime all the way through.

Actually, I have the same problem with a good JRPG. After long times, bonding with likeable characters, and watching them advance through the story, the ending does sometime get to me.

I suppose you can say it's how I can really tell I liked an anime or video game.

 

[Drakmeire]

I think it's because anime tends to flush out characters more than most forms of media, slice of life stories will be character driven where most shows are event driven and the characters are fairly simple and one-dimensional
If that's a problem you have then NEVER watch Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. it's one of the best shows ever but the ending will leave you depressed.
or you could pretend this happened
<spoiler=Only Click if you have seen the series or you won't get the joke>http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/8638/1205692670138.jpg

 

[strum4h]

Cowboy bebop was a big one for me. FLCL would have been great but 6 episodes? really?

 

[Drakmeire]

Watched one or two mangas when I was younger, but animes don't seem to hold any appeal for me whatsoever.

ummmmm please don't say that in front of otakus they will murder you for thinking that you can "watch" mangas

 

[Talshere]

snip

Part of the problem is that most TV shows continue long past the time they should have just called it quits, trying to rake in every last copper.

Another problem with "real" TV programs is they are too real. They are so close to reality that it is difficult to see them any way except in the 3rd person. We KNOW this cant be us. We KNOW that even if it was real, we would not be part of it. It gives us a distance, and thats fine. You can enjoy things within investing a personal stake in something.

The truly great films and shows make you feel as though you have been through everything they have. Firstly this requires you to actually leave you viewer while they are still invested. If you continue to the point noone cares any more. Thats how it will be remembered.

Its a lot easier to drag someone into a fake world because you lose the 3rd person perspective. Its so alien to what you know that if you are going to be able to enjoy it at all you HAVE to accept the reality you are given as truth. This allows you to much more easily identify with these characters and see yourself either as them or as one of them.

Firefly
Stargate
Lord of the Rings
Wheel Of Time (Book)
Matrix (Just the first one )

These are just some examples where you are left exhausted for one reason or another, and in all of them your are forced to accept that alien reality. This isn't saying that real life cannot achieve this. But for that, you need an emotional attachment to the characters, which means you need some killer acting, fantastic writing and sufficient length and depth to allow it.


My 2p

 

[Lem0nade Inlay]

Cowboy bebop was a big one for me. FLCL would have been great but 6 episodes? really?

I don't know okay! It's just I fell in love with all the characters, and while it was short (although the episodes were long themselves) I was so sad when it ended, and I missed the characters.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

I remember being so bummed after finishing the Love Hina manga. It was just one of those things, I'd been collecting it for a couple of years and for me the ending was so right that it just felt fantastic. Same with TriGun, which was one of the first manga I ever got. Finishing the anime was bad enouhg but finishing the manga left me disheartened for a whole day.

Then again, I have felt it with some other media. Finishing Harry Potter felt like I'd run a marathon, I was so drained. The series I'd been reading since I was seven had finally ended when I was age seventeen. Also, finishing Buffy brought the same feeling.

I think part of it is the length of series. Most of the manga I've seen run to at least ten episodes (assuming they don't get abandoned) which is a lot longer than your avergae 100,000 word novel. Some of the long runners are well over 20 chapters, which is a lot of time to get to know the characters and associate with them.

Also, in a way that long runners of American comic books don't have, most manga end. Batman has been running since 1939 and it looks like he's going to be running for as long as DC are printing comics, whereas even the longest running manga have endings (even things like Bleach and Naruto, apparently the authors do have endings planned out)

I also guess that a lot of webcomics are about to go through this, because reading through blog posts some webcomic artists have had endings planned out since they started, and after ten years of consecutive strips are starting to reach them. (Something Positive, Questionable Content, maybe, MegaTokyo, Striptease)