Poll: Anime...

[Angryman101]

I love it Personally and its pretty much the only form of television I watch anymore.
My favorite has to be Code Geass. Death Note is a close second but I lost interest in the show after

Spoiler

L dies really why? he was the best!

in a unrelated issue don't you think the title is a little short I was skeptical this would turn out well when all I saw was "Anime"

I felt the same way about Death Note, as soon as THAT GENERAL EVENT occurred just stopped reading it. It went from being an interesting battle of geniuses to...well, shit.

OP: There are some amazing animes, just like there are some amazing cartoons and movies and books and everything else, as other people have said.
Generally, though, I prefer manga.

 

[Divine Miss Bee]

i like a lot of different types of anime, but i am a huge shonen fan! more than anything else, good shonen keeps me happy.

 

[mrbones228]

It creeps me out a bit... I think its the eyes

Spoiler

yeah its the eyes.

Gotta love Fullmetal alchemist Brotherhood

So thats where they got the [prototype] blade from.

 

[Calatar]

It can be very enjoyable. I tend to pick animes that are highly rated on ANN, thus I tend to get some of the best of anime.

I've enjoyed most of Hayao Miyazaki's movies, which were incidentally my introduction into the medium (not counting Pokemon).
I've watched several series, and enjoyed all of these to greater or lesser extents:
From most recently watched to oldest seen:
Le Chevalier (Pre-Revolutionary France, action, horror, magic, mystery, EXCITING)
Spice and Wolf (drama, medieval and economics; surprisingly enjoyable combination)
Skip Beat (full of lulz)
Cowboy Bebop (Old, but still very good)
Code Geass (full of confuse, fanservice and mindfucks)
Death Note (full of "ALL PART OF MY SECRET PLAN")
Claymore (entertaining female medieval demon-hunters, very dark)

I'm sure I've seen more, but I can't remember them all. All of these ones are good to some extent though.
EDIT: Gurren Lagann (WTF THIS IS AWESOME BUT WHAT IS GOING ON?!)

 

[Uncreative]

I hate some series, I love others, just like any other genre.

 

[Cowabungaa]

I like it every now and then. It's not my favourite medium, but I won't dismiss anime just because it's anime. But when I watch anime, I make sure it's a good one. Samurai Champloo, Cowboy Bebop and Studio Ghibli's work are among my favourites.

What I specifically don't like about anime, is that typical anime crap: ridiculous exaggerated facial expressions, those flashy backgrounds when something happens, stupid motions and overreactions. No thanks, I'll stick to more mature anime.

I don't just hate it. I hate it with a furious passion. Why? I hate every bit of it, but mostly the art.

God, the ludicrous, ugly art.

FYI, not every anime uses the same kind of art. Far from it, actually. Anime can range from:

to

to

to

There's quite a bit of difference in anime styles.

 

[Fightgarr]

I have a love-hate relationship with anime. Generally hate. See the thing is, I don't like anime. I like the anime that I like and approach new anime with caution. About 70% of what I watch I reject for adherence to too many anime cliches and the rest I will either watch until I've found it's grown stale or will watch with the avid attention of a dog to a squirrel just outside the window. Anime is an incredibly broad category and it's often aimed at a demographic just below my age group. Many times the animation is something I can't stand, other times the voice acting or characters I find obnoxious. But it is through my exploration that I found some of my favorite shows of all time and my all time favorite movies.
Here are is some anime and my reactions to it:
I loved Cowboy Bebop, Claymore and Samurai Champloo. It should go without saying but I will say anyway that I love Miyazaki's work and his films comprise a bulky portion of my top 10 favorite films.
I thought that Death Note was mediocre and I hated pretty much every character. I stopped watching after 10 episodes. I thought that Trigun was nigh unbearable, but I've never been one for goofiness in a show being represented through anime cliches. I had a hard time with Gundam Wing and felt that the characters were shallow if not plain unlikeable. I manages to power through the first 14 episodes of that. I watched Neon Genesis Evangelion's first 4 episodes and while I liked the robot and creature designs, I felt, like in GW that the characters felt shallow or unlikeable.
Akira I watched for it's significance in the West. I was unimpressed and felt that it was overrated. I've heard that it's better if you've read the manga, but I feel I shouldn't have to read a comic just to appreciate the movie.
Similarly I felt Ghost in the Shell was overrated. I thought it was fine. It was a nice little romp into cool action and exposed a younger me to the wonders of cartoon boobage. On the other hand I got kind of... bored. It's hard to describe exactly what failed about it for me because I didn't feel any aspect of it was particularly weak, (other than the colour palette was a little bland) I just... wasn't blown away by any aspect I guess. If I hadn't come into the film with suchhigh expectations I would have been a cool little adventure, but thanks to the hype it fell flat.

Final thoughts: I don't dislike anime. I dislike certain parts of certain anime that tends to pepper itself through anime as a whole. If I find something that I really get into, chances are I'll forgive some cliches, otherwise I'm likely to stay away from most shows.

 

[Spinozaad]

I like it every now and then. It's not my favourite medium, but I won't dismiss anime just because it's anime. But when I watch anime, I make sure it's a good one. Samurai Champloo, Cowboy Bebop and Studio Ghibli's work are among my favourites.

What I specifically don't like about anime, is that typical anime crap: ridiculous exaggerated facial expressions, those flashy backgrounds when something happens, stupid motions and overreactions. No thanks, I'll stick to more mature anime.

I don't just hate it. I hate it with a furious passion. Why? I hate every bit of it, but mostly the art.

God, the ludicrous, ugly art.

FYI, not every anime uses the same kind of art. Far from it, actually.

Could well be the case, but every anime my more annoying Japanophile friends showed me (and that went well beyond the terror that is "Naruto" and the unimaginable horror that is "Bleach') I hated with a fiery passion. I have no need, nor any desire, to look for an illusive 'pearl' among the filthy, pathetic dribble.

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

...
Ummm... Look at my avatar. What do you see?
Yes, I love anime. Well, certain anime. Don't love them all.
Why do I like it? I dunno. I just do.
I enjoy anime.

 

[Win Laik Pya]

Fuck i love anime.

But goddamn is it terrible.

Gurren Lagaan, Azumanga, Ghost in the Shell, Lucky Star, FLCL, Gunslinger Girl, and Outlaw Star are some main courses i enjoy.

Serioulsy though. Anime is awesome, and NONE OF US SHOULD BE PROUD.

 

[Good morning blues]

what u just said sounds like the soulless mainstream crap like Ikki Tousen thats shat out to appease the masses. try watching something intelligent, that doesn't abuse their funds by spending it all on Frankensteining together a hyper-sexualized 13year old girl to do something retarded like kill Satan or get raped by a tentacle monster, you know something well animated with at the very least solid writing and inspiring characters like Ergo Proxy or Serial Experiments Lain or hell even the Gundam franchise has enough respect for their show to at least try and do something good(though the quality usually fluctuates between amazing and crap from series to series)...

I'm not saying that there's no good anime out there; I'm saying that the vast majority of it is god-awful. Things like Akira and Miyazaki's movies are well animated with solid writing, and they're genuinely good films! The overwhelming majority of anime, at least at the point when I gave up on it (a few years ago, shortly before I graduated from high school), was not well animated or well written.

You know what else is terrible? Dessert. I have tasted many desserts I don't like therefore all desserts in general must suck.
You know what else sucks? Vegetables. I don't like brussel sprouts or onions so all vegetables must suck.
I also concur with your well-put opinions on anime. I saw some I didn't like so the whole genre must suck, right?

...This sounds like flamebait.

Not flamebait at all. I don't really see how anyone can make any kind of value judgment about any genre if they can't try a large, diverse sampling of it and decide that because they didn't like that sample, they don't like the genre.

I have watched all kinds of shows that have been sold to me as the best that anime has to offer. The majority of it was awful.

Akira and Miyazaki's films, like I said, are both genuinely very good ? particularly the latter. They're interesting stories told in a way that looks good.

The other things that people have tried to show me in order to change my mind, however, have set me in my ways even more solidly. Hellsing is supposed to be this really dark and spectacular action series, but it's just a bunch of static images spouting dialogue that seems remarkably similar to what a twelve-year-old would write into a character that was supposed to be a badass. Ghost in the Shell is supposed to be this super-deep comment on what makes us human, but it's just this juvenile power fantasy about spouting faux-philosophy between gory deaths and gratuitous nudity. Evangelion was sold to me as the second coming of christ, but it's just a show about an insufferably whiny fourteen-year-old and his oversexualized and similarly whiny friends driving big robots around.

Ninja Scroll was the end of it for me. It's supposed to be this action masterpiece, but it's just a hideous and disturbing exercise in sex, violence, and sexual violence. Not for me, thanks.

 

[Brad Shepard]

I love it! i think its great for the fact i can understand it better then anything on primetime tv.

 

[Angerwing]

I fucking loath the visual style. I can't watch it, because it visually looks like shit (to me). If someone else likes it, I can understand why.

 

[Coldman42]

I like a lot of anime, and there is a lot I don't like because, well... There is a LOT of anime out there. Some of it is good, and some if it is great, but there is a lot of crap that gets out there too. However i like anime a lot more then the dribble western animation has turned into. Aside from all the Seth McFarland cartoons. Family Guy FTW!!!

But yeah i like it more then i hate it you could say.

 

[Kushin]

Yes, it's good. Not all of it, I personally cant stand all those magical girl animé, but some of it is just awesome.

Hellsing Ultimate, FLCL, Gurren Lagann, Code Geass, Rurouni Kenshin and Hajime No Ippo are possibly some of the best around (Not including the 'classics' like Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop which should be animé staples).

It doesn't honestly matter what we think though, anime is just another medium to tell a story. It's like saying I like to read my stories in a powerpoint like in Lost Odyssey, it may not be how you do it, but its a legitimate medium to tell a story through.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Could well be the case, but every anime my more annoying Japanophile friends showed me (and that went well beyond the terror that is "Naruto" and the unimaginable horror that is "Bleach') I hated with a fiery passion. I have no need, nor any desire, to look for an illusive 'pearl' among the filthy, pathetic dribble.

Yeah, that's your typical anime. Shame that you're not open to more sophisticated material in the genre, like some of the examples I put in the edited version of my post. I mean, good fiction is good fiction right? No matter if it's made in Japan or anywhere else. But going to your average Japanophile doesn't end you up with the really good stuff, they're more interested in more...Japanish stuff...*shudder*
Like Yu Gi Oh (third picture, with those weird monsters and stuff), that would list under your average, typical anime, so to speak, one you would surely hate. I just posted that to point out the difference in styles.

But there's no need to be a generalising elitist about it, that's for sure. Not every anime is some Lucky Star or Naruto-type monstrosity, don't hate the entire genre (heck you can barely call it one genre) because of them.

 

[Calatar]

I don't just hate it. I hate it with a furious passion. Why? I hate every bit of it, but mostly the art.

God, the ludicrous, ugly art.

The last two series I watched had the most beautiful background art and scenery I've ever seen in a cartoon.

Spice and Wolf

Le Chevalier

 

[Brad Shepard]

I love it! i think its great for the fact i can understand it better then anything on primetime tv.

 

[dillirgaf]

Gurren Lagann, if you haven't seen it watch it.