Xartyve2 said:
Okay that was way more thought than my off-the-collar swipe required. I'm not a particularly articulate man, but I'll try to address what you said. But excuse me if I take a little detour first.
First off the term "general critic of media" is so broad and massive it's almost not even worth using. It's like asking your waiter to prepare your steak "cooked". Why bother? Is there some sort of distinction between someone who hates anime subjectively and objectively (which I can only hazard is what you meant by "general critic of media" whatever that means) that gets them different responses? One does not preclude the other you know. And if there is a difference and I was the former wouldn't you quoting me kind of contradict your request (to leave, that is).
That's plenty articulate to me. And the reason I wrote "general critic of media" is that anime has its shit and gold, just like any other medium. You could rephrase the question as 'is there any film/song/book/graphic novel/cartoon etc. that isn't overrated' and be bombarded by either flame or examples that pertain to refuting the intent behind the question.
You tell me that there is anime out there that doesn't subscribe to "safe tropes" of "stock anime". What tropes? What anime doesn't subscribe to these tropes? What "stock anime"? You wrote this paragraph, which I'm sure you put some thought into when all it really comes down to is you saying "Take my word for it". For a second, just assume I don't know anything about anime. Now sell me anime.
The (widely considered) 'safe tropes' of anime are along the lines of the tsundere main female protagonist, clueless mech operator who's a natural, whiny brat who just happens to be good in a fight, out for revenge bad guy, the couple who hate each other, but secretly love each other etc. etc. fucking etc. Down to it, its fanservice. Sure, not all of it will be boucing boobies, but its fanservice nonetheless because it caters to the tastes of the
majority of anime viewers.
There are a number of series that buck this trend (an insufficient number if you ask me). It's not really in my ability to 'sell' anime, though were I to recommend some that are not referential (either in general content or dialogue) to anime culture:
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 - think back to March/April this year in Japan and the massive earthquake, this is a personal story that received very little coverage anywhere when it was released in 2009
Hourou Musuko - this one covers concepts that you won't find handled so well anywhere else in anime production: gender identity. The short of it is that a boy and a girl like each other, but are unsure of their relationship, because the boy wants to be a girl and the girl wants to be a boy. Critics praised it for its handling of the subject material and the only gripe they could come up with was that the characters were a little too intelligent.
Gunslinger Girl - personally, I prefer the manga, the anime's a little too polished (haven't seen the second season, so won't comment on it) but this is a pseudo-sci-fi series about the nature of how a little girl thinks when her existence is based solely on being a government assassin. Stark is probably the best way to describe the general mood of the series. Understanding the humanity of the main characters is the ultimate goal of it, and it's both very easy and very hard to do that (all credit to Yu Aida).
Ergo Proxy - this series spends about fifteen episodes exploring the various facets of human existence, and references virtually every philosopher under the sun. This is more an intellectual piece than anything else with action spread across the series.
Haibane Renmei - a subtle exploration of death and emotional maturation. It takes a couple watch-throughs to realise it's a 'coming-of-age' series.
There are others, but these five series are ones that I'd consider 'great anime'. You're welcome to watch and enjoy/disparage them as you please, but understand that I know I can't affect your stance on it, because you might find the above titles too heavy (I don't think there's a single laugh to be found in there, with the possible exception of a couple scenes in Haibane Renmei). However, they might let you realise that not all anime is cliched dialogue ridden superpower fights, tits, teen angst, big walking machines and hamfisted revenge.
Good evening... (by that I mean it's half-past midnight and I need to be up at six).