What changes to anime would you make?

[Nickolai77]

I don't think the length of anime's is a problem personally. Bear in mind it takes a bloody long time to animate an anime, I would guess 20 minutes strikes the right balance between the length of time it takes to make an episode and being too short for the audiences taste.

As for me, I'd like to see a bit more subtly- Too much is explained in many animes through overly drawn out and dramatic speeches and dialogue- A little subtly wouldn't go amiss.

My biggest pet peeve though is intro and outro music of anime's being wildly out of tune with the type of anime it is. There's been too many occasions when an anime episode has ended on a sad or dramatic note only to be immediately accompanied by insanely upbeat music, and likewise anime's ending in a happy, humorous way only to be followed by some ridiculously depressing music.

 

[Hochmeister]

Can't agree with either of the OP's ideas; 22 min is a pretty ideal chunk of time for an episode. Not sure what the point about HxH was either. Anywhoo, my $0.02:

1) Less otaku-bait, i.e. gratuitous fanservice and harems. Nothing against either in theory (I enjoyed Kill la Kill and Highschool DxD for example), but they're both overused inappropriately and poorly.

2) More realistic portrayal of people and their relationships. Yes its fiction and characters won't be 100% lifelike, but it's hard to relate with them and become interested in their story if they act more like cardboard cutouts than real people.

3) Always have a satisfying ending, unless you know you're making another season. A futile wish, I know, but so many shows end and leave you hanging (Damn you Full Metal Panic!). In a similar vein, don't drag out a series until it's no longer good (looking at you Naruto and Bleach).

4) This is rather minor, but overt Imperial Japanese nationalism in anime grinds my gears. While not as dangerous and offensive as say CSA, Nazi, or Soviet nostalgia, Imperial Japan in the 30's and 40's was nasty. Yet a lot of shows basically wank off to the greatness of Imperial Japan and all things Japanese.

 

[drednoahl]

I'd reduce the amount of anime made with 14-17 year old schoolboys as lead and harem/fanservice stuff - more stuff with adults as lead. I'd probably revisit some classic manga that might have had minor anime adaptions made years ago but weren't successful in Japan, but were popular when released elsewhere - Gunnm (battle angel alita) and 3x3 eyes for example. I'd probably look at making the Akira and Nausicaa manga into series; I like the films of both, but the manga were much better and different enough to warrant a series imo.

 

[Kaimax]

Here are a few things I would change:
1) Stop making a series that is only twelve episodes long.
2) If you're going to make seasons, make the freaking seasons!

You can't really complain about these though, because in the end it involves all the factors of the anime industry, including yourself the watcher. And they're not Western TV shows.
--------------------------------
OT:
The only thing that I would like to see changed is their adaptation policies, wait till it's far enough before adapting it into anime and don't deviate too much from the source.
Also the people need to change, I just wish people would enjoy things that they like and stop going out of their way to "destroy" the ones that they don't like. And some people need to graduate from the nostalgia glasses.

 

[Kaimax]

I would make all anime writers realize one thing:
At some point your story is just DONE

They are not anime writers but simply the author of the manga and they do "realize" it, but they're under contract with Weekly Shonen Jump as long as their manga is popular and profiting. The Anime is just a byproduct of that.

 

[Savo]

Get as far the fuck away as they can from high school. I don't mind shows about high-schoolers in principle. They can be great fun. What infuriates me is when I check out the new anime release schedule and 95% of the shows are about high-schoolers or people of highschool age. I'd love to see more shows that focus on adults, as those seem to be in short supply.

 

[Something Amyss]

I'd cut down on (not remove) the absurdity. People in otherwise serious anime shows turning into dolls and chibi images for a single shot, the whole "nosebleed" thing. I mean, some shows are inherently silly, and that's fine. I don't mind Bugs Bunny acting like Bugs Bunny, but if there was a flashback in Citezen Kane where Chibi Charlie Kane was chasing some random shmuck swinging a sled and screaming, I might not react as well. That's not to say every serious anime does this, but enough of the ones I've seen do.

Less pedophile fanservice. That should be self-explanatory.

Er...That's about it.

I dunno. What changes would you make to comic books?

I'd make them all blue.

Or TV series?

I'd reduce the amount of reality television and police procedurals. I think we can get by with only 200 of each.

Or newspapers?

This is probably a bad example for your point. The first response I gave was a silly one, the second one less so, but you can certainly address the overall direction of a medium, and people actually really do talk about the overall direction of newspapers without people jumping out of the woodwork with pedantic arguments about whether it's a medium or an (insert descriptor here).

We really could address the merits and tendencies of all three, but this is the one where it tends to be done the most. And honestly, it's probably the one most in need of discussion given the recent financial issues to hit print media.

I could actually sound off on any of the three if you want.

OT: Remove the porny fan service. We've got the Internet and doujinshi for that.

And it seems you understand.

I agree with both of your points, though I would say that many other countries are also guilty of #1. In the states, our popular media is usually super far up its own star-spangled ass.

And we're still not as insular as Japan is. I mean, yeah, I get it. We love ourselves some self-fellatio, but even we show a greater level of interest in the outside world. And that should say something: most of us can't find another country on the map. But this is very similar to the reason Japan's having trouble selling games to the rest of the world. And we've grown into one of the big suppliers. I don't know for a fact that the same is true of other media, but given the number of people on here who complain they can't find anime/manga/Japanese film in their country, countries I tend to know do have access to US media, I'm kind of inclined to believe that they're running into similar isolation issues.

Which is fine, you know. But it should raise a red flag in terms of the "other countries are like this, too."

 

[TheMigrantSoldier]

Excessive filler would go. It's okay to have a breather episode here and there but I don't like it when shows get... triggerhappy with it.

 

[Deathmageddon]

Moar kuudere. That is all.

 

[Hochmeister]

Just because American media does similar things doesn't make it right. And there's a difference between shilling for the WW2 American armies (pretty much the only war where we were undoubtedly the "good guys" despite the stuff we did) and lionizing the Japanese government that launched naked land grabs across the pacific, systematically brutalized POWs, and eared generations of hatred in the areas they occupied. Patriotism in media is fine as long as you don't take it too for and choose the right things about your country's past to be proud of. As I said, it's not too big an issue; the "Japanese exceptionalism" rhetoric simply makes me roll my eyes same as the overly patriotic "American exceptionalism" pap, but shows that paint a militarized WW2-esque Imperial Japan in a positive light don't sit well.

 

[Coakle]

Well I would change it to pander more to me, specifically.

Get rid of the 'anime girl run.' Y'know, when the girl balls her fists, and swings her arms in front of her. It occupies that space where it's so annoying that it becomes kinda funny. The run is iconic at this point, so I might be sad to see it go. My issue is that it gets used to the point where it became the default. Girls would run that way without any kind of justification, besides reinforcing the girl's cute image. I dunno, it would be like if every protagonist took long, purposeful strides everywhere. Yeah, it's kinda funny, but there's no craft to it.

Cute anime girl sound effects. This one is just an especially irrational pet peeve. Just once, have a girl bite into that ice-cream cone without making that specific 'Nom' sound effect. It happens a lot, and I've never been able to find any redeeming qualities behind it.

What else...

I'd like more anime that's not an adaptation of a manga or light novel.

I want there to be more behind-the-scenes content. I like learning who makes my entertainment and how they do it. Even a wikipedia page for every person who worked as a director for an anime would be cool.

Off-topic

This year is shaping up to be a boring year for anime.

Yeah, there's nothing huge like AoT, on the horizon, I feel like this year will just be a bunch of very well executed shows that will be remembered fondly, but not obsessed over or talked about after they end. Noragami is what I have in mind. JoJo might be an exception.

 

[Deathmageddon]

Excessive filler would go. It's okay to have a breather episode here and there but I don't like it when shows get... triggerhappy with it.

It's weird, but with a lot of shows I think I enjoy the filler more than the main story, like with Fairy Tail. Compilation episodes can go to Hell, though. Chobits had three of those f-ers.

 

[ShinyCharizard]

I dunno. What changes would you make to comic books? Or TV series? Or newspapers?

I wish people would stop treating anime as a genre, and just accept that one shitty shounen series does not represent all of anime (not implying that the OP here did, but it seems to be a common misjudgement).

Wait...... hold on just a second here, did you just say Hunter x Hunter was shit?..... The door is that way, please leave.


OP: I just want some good stories. Less inane, petty highschool drama bullshit with terrible characters please.

 

[Ratty]

I would personally love to see a return to 1980s and 1990s anime artstyles. But that's just me.
I don't think there's anything wrong with anime as a medium, it produces some great works, some fun and interesting works, and lots of crap. Just like every other medium. I guess if I could make one broad sweeping change it would be that the animators and other creatives got treated better, last I heard working in anime was as big of a slough as working in video games.

 

[Vykrel]

1. i would get rid of all the unnecessary noises that characters make. for example, when one character says something and a second character goes "Uhhh?" because they dont understand, even though we can tell from body language and facial expressions. this kind of a nitpick, but it does stand out as something that is strange. i also hate when characters all say the same complex sentence at the same exact time. you know, when like three characters say something like "Yeah, come on Nuroshi! You can do it!" in unison. its just annoying to me.

2. when it comes to sagas, there is FAR too much filler. nearly every episode should have something happen. i can understand having one that is entirely devoted to setting up the next one, but shows like DBZ have always irked me with their entire 22 minutes of absolutely nothing happening. then, there is the fact that many of these shows also replay the final bit from the previous episode, and it often ends up taking up an entire minute.

3. the goofy running animations, like the girly run and the "arms trailing behind body" run. it looks damned silly.

4. this is the most important one to me: originality in art style. nearly every anime looks like it could have been done by the same team. this just doesnt happen with American traditional animation. every show looks so different that you can actually tell when two shows are created by the same people, because their art styles are similar. with anime, you could take a single character from twenty different shows, put them together in their own show and nobody would stand out.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I'd like more episodic series. There's a time and a place for serialized works, but sometimes I just want to watch a self contained story, like one of Cowboy Bebop's sessions.

And burn down the fucking high schools.

 

[TheEvilGenius]

I assume the OP is referring to something along the lines of tropes. Okay. I'll bite.

1: Quit killing off characters who just confessed to each other.

2: Quit making characters who have no character the center of your harems.

3: Quit maaking main guys fall for the VERY FIRST female they encounter in the series.

4: FOR FUCK'S SAKE KNOCK OFF THE CHILDHOOD FRIEND LOVE INTERESTS.

5: Make female characters actually voice their grievances like reasonable human beings instead of launching male characters into the air the moment they do something inappropriate.

I could go on. I might.

 

[NiPah]

I'd like to see better closure, while I understand why it happens it's just annoying when an anime ends on an absolute cliff-hanger.

Apart from that I do have gripes about animation quality in some shows, again I know why this is nearly impossible to fix but as long we we're in the world of "wishes" I guess I can put that out there.

Other then that nope, even death-hype shows (because let's be honest, most of the fanbase only cares about anime where at least 2 people get killed, or did people like the first half of SAO and Attack on Titan because of the plot?) I can just avoid. I'll stick with my goofy school girls doing nothing shows with some random ecchi thrown in, 90% because I enjoy watching the shows and 10% because it annoys the piss out of the random masses that such a show even exists.