Poll: Problems With Anime?

[Dannyrevv]

for me I'd hafta say how alot of them are just so blandly written, and then get over hyped

 

[Antonio Torrente]

recently I had a thought that anime is kinda like Supernatural - it has good ideas in it, very good even, some pretty original, but the way they do it... Is it for fanservice? Is it for girls obsessed with watching gay men sucking their dicks (which is my opinion is the worst of all)? Or the people who create these stuff go out of ideas, see how retarded SOME of the fans are and please their sick imagination with stupidity. I can't think of a lot of new animes who don't have some, even small hint of yaoi stuff, too much fanservice, total weird randomness that doesn't even make sense or just something we've seen so many times already...

Ironic you say that because they are gonna make Supernatural an anime. Here is the trailer:

 

[DarkRyter]

Because when you like it, people who don't like it hate you for liking it.

 

[blind_dead_mcjones]

Because when you like it, people who don't like it hate you for liking it.

damn, ninja'd

pretty much this, i dislike getting pigeonholed as the 'obsessive weaboo animu fan' simply because i like to watch it in my spare time

which i must point out is rather hypocritical considering how i'm sure most of everyone on here don't like getting pigeonholed with the obsessive video gamer label and all that entails

for me I'd hafta say how alot of them are just so blandly written, and then get over hyped

you do realise that that particular phrase can be applied to about 90% of any form of media be it books, tv, videogames and movies, right?

 

[joshuaayt]

I pick other, and choose the horrendous subtitles they usually get, forcing me to choose between relying on equally-bad-but-at-least-makes-some-fucking-sense english voice acting, or getting a headache trying to figure out what the dude means when he launches into a monologue full of phrases left either partially untranslated or (worse) in traditional Japanese sentence structure, simply because, as a Western viewer, it is my duty to learn all of this.

Why do I have to understand honorifics before I begin watching the show? Am I being tested? It's a minor complaint, but representative of the whole, I guess. Whilst it was easy to pick up on, it still made the first episode of Death Note annoying.

 

[alik44]

Im like anime to but to be honest the people who are almost creepy into it they. like if u saw somthin aout they will be the first to cut you off and explain it to u. i dnt mind but it gets annoying.

 

[Hunter6475]

I watch anime from time to time so I guess I would be a casual fan, but a lot of the problems listed in the poll I can relate with. The top three would probably be

1) English dubs: I can think of only 2 shows where I could live with the English voices.
2) Oversexualization: I watched one anime awhile ago where it couldn't go more than 5mins w/o a fan-service shot or whatever every episode, I want plot not teases, there are other things for that if you know what I mean (ahem)..
3) The people(fans): There are people out there that are making a bad name for the rest of us anime fans. Best example is at school, If you enjoy watching it, great, I don't need to hear a 1 hour discussion about your favorite show/character/scene when all I asked for was what was the math hw?..

 

[Krafty_Krocodile]

1. the plots are usally generic
2. the art style makes all anime look the same
3. the fanbase
4. the fan-art
5. filler
6. fan service

 

[PureChaos]

people i've spoken to seem to think that anime is hentai, which is why they steer clear

 

[nomis101uk]

People are thinking way to deep about this. Its really fucking simple.

For the overwhelming majority of the population animie is something on the absolute fringes of our cinematic culture, something that they are only dimly aware of. So some of the answers given above about plots and characters is irrelevent. People don't know anything about those.

And when they do think about it, they think first and foremost: Total kids films. Not the Pixar kind that are kids films, but that are made so that adults can like em too. But something that's not meant to be seen by adults on their own.

Second, the animation and culture are so wierd to us, that we'd feel strange even watching it.

Third, the fanbase in the West is thought of as being hideously, hideously nerdy, wierd and obsessive. Its like, to borrow from Yahtzee, they are to nerds what nerds are to normal people. And frankly, thats not without some grain of truth, even if it is a generalization.

Because of these - particularly the third reason - I think a lot of people feel unconfortable watching them. I've only seen 2 animies all the way through (Spirited and My Neighbour...) and they were exceptional films. But I have to admit I almost felt as though I was doing something a bit dirty that I shouldn't tell people about. Something most of society wouldn't understand and would judge me for. Not something I'm usually concerned about, which I think speaks all the more to the problems anime faces in establishing itself in our culture.

 

[The_Fezz]

Terrifying voice actors and the fact that to a newcomer it's completely impenatrable.

 

[Tsaba]

Anime went from slightly conceivable to utterly ridiculous. A good example would be the gundam series.


I apologize (even though none of you care(haha jokes on me)), I spent 15 mins digging through crappy AMV's to find pieces of episodes to make my point and sadly the second one isn't that great for point making.... Anyways, it seems to me that japan has to keep out doing themselves, everything has to be that much better, and sometimes it's not the action in the series, it can be subtle crap like there outfits, hair, attitudes, emotions, the situations, and so on. Sadly, I believe that anime and games from japan suffer for it, not all of them, but, quite a bit. Don't get me wrong, some of them get it right, but, others get it so wrong they fall flat on their face.

Maybe it's just me, but, these are just my observations with whats wrong in Anime.

 

[Jesus Phish]

That, and many series are too similar to each other, I could seriously make up an anime called "Magical Girl Robot: Tokyo Complex" and you would need to google it to see if I was making it up or not.

Funny enough if you google it the first result has all those words highlighted in the abstract.

I don't like anime much because of it's western fanbase. They put me off by obsessing far too much over anime, that it makes me think either the anime is probably crap and because they so blatently love everything Japan, they're biased, so when they tell me to go watch Bleach because it's an amazing anime, I think it's probably a waste of my time.

If I was to ever watch an anime and then talk to these people, I wouldnt be able to stand the torrent of things I know doubt they have to say about it.

They (animes) all look very same-y to me. This is the same reason I don't watch those shows that all look like CSI.

I generally do not like the anime style of drawing. I don't like the body shapes, I don't like the expressions and mannerisms. I don't like how the characters all look interchangeable from one show to the next. I don't like how they all look like teenagers.

I think my biggest problem is as blue_guy said, it's all very exploitative. Series after series are churned out and at this stage I'd go out on a limb to say that there is a strong percent of anime that is made in the East, for those in the West (and I'm not talking about 4Kids here). I think it's too easy for someone to make an anime and by the sheer merit of it being anime people will buy it. I'll use that new video game Catherine as an example. That thing could honestly just be an anime. People are saying theyre going to buy both versions of it just for the cover art (buy a printer and print the other off). People will go and buy every little related item to that anime/game that's released.

And I know this happens with other forms of entertainment (star wars, blizzard games, halo games), but I don't think to anywhere near the extent it does with anime.

Hopefully I've not offended any of you and I hope you enjoy your animes, but it's really not for me.

 

[Foolishman1776]

When I say "other", I mean "all of the above".

 

[HK_01]

I personally find the animation to be severely lacking in anime series. Very static.

Then there's massive boobies which annoy me. That's not hot, that's ugly.

Mostly it's the terrible animation though. I stick to the manga mostly, it usually even looks better than the anime!

 

[_Cake_]

Emo teens.

 

[Mass B]

I treat anime much the same as I treat any other TV show or film, whether it's from Japan or not.

Anime is like any other form of media and is subject to Sturgeon's Law, that states 90% of everything is crap...

Glad to see some other anime fans who aren't blinded by devotion and are able to point out the flaws in their hobby.

This pretty handily summarizes the text wall I wrote earlier. Just like any other form of media, there is good anime and there is bad anime. The problems and stereotypes occur when bad (or just mediocre) anime become insipidly popular and color the public's impression of anime as a whole.

Here is an interesting thought experiment. Imagine that you live in Japan and decided to watch a popular American television show to see what the fuss is all about. You decide to watch Family Guy. How would your impressions of American television be affected? What if the show was a documentary on Astrophysics on the History Channel? What if it was a trashy 80s sitcom filled with sexism and implied wife beating?

I will admit that there are plenty of people in the anime community that are incredibly obsessive and blindly devoted to their chosen hobby. These people exist in every hobby, from gaming to gun ownership and there is nothing anyone can do to prevent these people from influencing the public perception of that hobby. Level headed and mature anime fans are just as embarrassed by their actions as you would expect. Gamers are embarrassed by the cursing 12-year-olds on Modern Warefare and Christians are embarrassed by WBC. There will always be fanatical sociopaths in any hobby.

Nice avatar. oh! and good point

If my avatar is good, than the image I cropped it from might make your head explode : )

Spoiler

yup, I've seen it before. Personally, i like him as regular Alucard a little better than as Genya

Have you seen this?

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://static.dailystrength.org/groupfiles/9/1/7/0/10000719/g_1068542096.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.dailystrength.org/groups/anime-club/media/499086&usg=___qvr6HYNq55kFVvWEFU0TE_fKaM=&h=414&w=600&sz=86&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=xvB4aw_z_ydPTM:&tbnh=169&tbnw=225&prev=/images%3Fq%3Djuste%2Bbelmont%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1142%26bih%3D860%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=597&vpy=135&dur=414&hovh=186&hovw=270&tx=167&ty=145&ei=Qh37TJ3zEofAsAPfren3DQ&oei=Qh37TJ3zEofAsAPfren3DQ&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0

Favorite Castlevania art ever. it's of Juste Belmont from Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance

P.S. how do you put pictures into your posts like that? or videos? sorry i just never learned this

I believe there's already a thread for forum guides here in the Escapist.

Thanks. Btw, Felix from Golden Sun: The Lost Age? sweet. haha i have that game, never got around to beating it.... *runs to get gameboy*

Yeah he's my fave character in the series and too bad he didn't appear in Dark Dawn physically, only on flashbacks and if you want to beat it try watching walkthroughs on Youtube.

Yeah I liked Felix a lot too. I don't have DS, so i can't play the new one :/. Still, my favorite JRPG character is Ashton Anchors from Star Ocean 2/ Second Evolution/ Star Ocean EX (the TV show)

Back to the topic i already posted a thread 2 months ago about anime cliches that angers people and here it is. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.234792-Your-most-hated-anime-cliche?page=1]

Seriously when will anime studios, writers, seiyus can come up with something that breaks from stereotypes with an interesting story.

Another reason why i like ashton. Unlucky swordsman with two dragons fused to his back and a wooden barrel fetish. I've never heard of anything like it. Plus, Star Ocean 2 had a good, complex story with complex relationship mechanics that lead to over 80 different endings or something. Problem is, i haven't met too many people who know of star ocean. just another example of how good japanese media is usually more under the radar.

well golden sun is also one of those good japanese media that well i can't say under the radar but rather didn't get proper advertisement. still it took six years to make a fucking sequel. and yes the anime that are good i know are like you said easily forgotten or flew under the radar.

Problem is, I haven't seen any of those low key animes haha (unless you count interstella 5555 as low key). I've only seen more popular shows like pokemon, Dragonball, DBZ, FMA, Bleach, etc. Basically whatever stuff was on toonami and some stuff that's on adult swim i have seen at least 30 seconds of

isn't that what the american anime market is. release the things that are guaranteed or have a high chance for profit and forget about the quality. well that's also what's happening to hollywood too. one or two good movies along with 15 or more concentrated feces.

Amen. it's a sad, sad truth.

not just sad, the ugly truth. anyway speaking of movies. most movies based on comics are getting good (ironman 1 and 2, batman begins and the the dark knight etc.)
btw speaking of ironman last night i watched the ironman anime and i could say it pretty good.
and the wolverine anime is especially facepalm worthy, trust me the wolverine anime will just disappoint you.

here is the iron man anime trailer:


and the wolverine trailer:


tell me what you think.

Wow the Ironman one looks good. I gotta check that out. Yeah Wolverine does look pretty lame, which is a pity.

 

[Nannernade]

I got to go with the terrible english actors they don't even sound into it when they are read their lines you can easily tell they are reading them from the script, at least in Japanese they sound like they're into it.