What is so great about Anime?

[Texas America Murphy]

Alright. So the kid gets his ass whooped.

The problem is that y'all are confusing medium with genre. Medium is a form of presentation. Anime I guess would be a subset of film. I hear they also do comics.

Genres can be argued for though. Genres and the individual works of art in it can be argued on a serious critical level. "Its just a medium" isn't only wrong, it's a cop out.

So live action cinema is also a genre, since it's a "subset of film", right? That means that I can just watch the "movie movies" (Disaster Movie, Epic Movie, Vampires Suck etc.), and declare that live-action cinema completely sucks, because it's just flat-out stupid, the characters don't act like normal human beings to the situations they're put into, the special effects are the worst shat ever shat out of a butt, the writing is absolutely horrible, it relies on way too many references that are stolen from other movies to justify writing a real joke, and instead try so hard to make the audience joke just because "Durr, its funny becuz is from nuther ppularr movie" and the plot events are so off the wall, stupid and the plot itself goes through so many absolutely unbearably mindblowingly stupid progressions that it boggles the mind?

Also, what the hell was up in Vampires Suck, where the girl turned into a hamburger, and the "vampire" ran at her with the stupidest sound effect this side of the galaxy and jumped at her, only now she was that girl again?

The whole genre of live-action cinema, RUINED!

All in all, just because you're studying film at a university doesn't give you a pre-set higher ground in this argument. There are better shows in the anime "genre", there are better features in the live-action "genre", and there are worse.
Everybody has a different opinion on something, including anime.

Some like the epicness of Tengenn Toppa Gurren Lagann, you don't. They enjoy it, remember it, love it. Get great memories from it. You think it's stupid, and reminds you of Power Rangers, which you didn't have much reverence for before.

There are animes out there more suited to you. There is to everyone. It's the same viewpoint I have on perfection. Nothing, or no one is perfect, because features something (or someone) has that one considers "perfect" is something the other just doesn't "like". I don't judge reviews on movies pretty much at all, because, for example, I really enjoy watching stupid American comedies that usually net ratings below 20 on Metacritic.

You think they're "objectively" bad, I say that "subjectively" I like them. Objectivity is a very dumb concept overall.

Jesus what the hell is that face?

Also, when did I call film a genre? If I did that was mistake. It's not, it's a medium. I'm trying to get a decent scattershot across the board of anime before I go back to my buddies and say its stupid.

And objectivity is not stupid. If you deconstruct most screenplays and movies there is a good (not totally) amount of it that you can take apart and say "this is what made this movie work, this is what didn't." Film is as much as science as it is an art.

 

[UrbanCohort]

Jesus what the hell is that face?

That, my friend (used here loosely), is the trollface.

 

[Texas America Murphy]

Final Neon Genesis update:

Oh man. Shinji just got his ass whooped. Is he going to get up and save the day? Is Neo-Tokyo going to be destroyed? Will this tension be resolved?

The answer to all these questions is apparently in order, no, no and no.

Shinji wakes up in a bed. The city is not destroyed. The giant monster has vanished, and the blue haired ditz is being intentionally vague.

Am I going to find out what happened?

I guess not because the credits just rolled.

So all in all we can sum Neon Genesis Evangelion episode 1 by saying that:

-It introduced us with a whiny protaganist
-The only interesting character had maybe a minute of screen time
-Nobody did anything of value
-No tension was resolved.

Awesome. Great pilot episode guys. Y'all really make me want to watch more.

I'm going to keep going at this though. I'm not going to stop until I find an anime that I like.

Girlfriend is holding up two DVDs. Deathnote and Cowboy Beebop. Which one should I pick?

 

[Tuckiozi]

-snip-
Girlfriend is holding up two DVDs. Deathnote and Cowboy Beebop. Which one should I pick?

Cowboy Bebop. It's pretty much the go-to anime for people who are not really into anime.

 

[Stoogie]

You... actually just read.

1. If your studying art or doing a diploma/degree in art you should know all forms of art and that art can be of all forms.

2. Anime is more diverse, you have more options while making a movie/series with anime. Like 1 for example you can create any character and any environment however you can't change real life actor's faces for example. Unless you use CGI but that costs way too much(the only anime diverse like movie ive known is avatar)

3. Naruto is a bad start to anime of your age. Why? because it is aimed at kids, as of today it's on it's 409th episode, So people with half a brain would acknowledge the fact that u cant explain a entire story in 1 of the 409 episodes.

4. There is thousands of Mature Anime, I rather watch anime because they dig deeper down into your emotions(mainly because of diversity) Unlike real shows that lack substance or emotion.

5. Anime is more popular than Real Films, Mainly due to the population of japan compared to the rest of the world.

Anime is an art form as is anything else, if you don't like it you shouldnt try to abuse it on some forums to make yourself feel better. Cause you will only get backlash

 

[albinokid66]

Cowboy Bebop!!!!!!!

 

[Glaive_21842]

Cowboy Beebop! Fuck yes Cowboy Beebop!
Hell, if you knew she had it, should have just started with it!
Now normally I'd tell you to at least sit through the first disk of Evangelion, but fuck it! Cowboy Beebop is there!
*jealousy...*
[edit...the only reason i sound like a raving fanboy is because i REEEAAAAALY wanna see this show! Everyone gives it such high acclaims and i fell in love with the first two eps. And no, I won't stream this one. If I'ma watch it, i want it in DVD quiality.]

 

[Darktau]

Final Neon Genesis update:

Oh man. Shinji just got his ass whooped. Is he going to get up and save the day? Is Neo-Tokyo going to be destroyed? Will this tension be resolved?

The answer to all these questions is apparently in order, no, no and no.

Shinji wakes up in a bed. The city is not destroyed. The giant monster has vanished, and the blue haired ditz is being intentionally vague.

Am I going to find out what happened?

I guess not because the credits just rolled.

So all in all we can sum Neon Genesis Evangelion episode 1 by saying that:

-It introduced us with a whiny protaganist
-The only interesting character had maybe a minute of screen time
-Nobody did anything of value
-No tension was resolved.

Awesome. Great pilot episode guys. Y'all really make me want to watch more.

I'm going to keep going at this though. I'm not going to stop until I find an anime that I like.

Girlfriend is holding up two DVDs. Deathnote and Cowboy Beebop. Which one should I pick?

Deathnote is a schoolkid given the power to kill at whim, Beebop is a olde-style cowboy, but in a space setting.


And yeah, evangelion is an all or nothing experience, DEFINATELY not a first anime >.<

Speaking of first anime, Deathnote is probably more interesting than beebop, at least for me.

EDIT: Plus death note has no whiny 12 year old

EDITEDIT: Oh and bebop has alot of forum support,I would still suggest death note though

 

[Koroviev]

I don't consider it art so much as entertainment. Most of it is sub-par, but then, so is the majority of any collective creative output.

 

[UrbanCohort]

I watched Deathnote and it didn't suck me off...I mean, in like it did so many others, I'd recommend Beebop over it despite having never seen it.

Trigun might not be a bad idea either, if you can find your way to it.

 

[2xDouble]

Haven't read the other comments yet, maybe this has been addressed before...

Asking "What's so great about Anime?" is like asking "What's so great about (all) television shows, or video games, or movies?" There are good ones, there are bad ones, there are multiple levels, layers, and genres, and many are series that usually require starting at the beginning to fully understand. (especially the high drama pieces like Code Geass, Death Note, or the various Gundam series). The three you mention are examples of what some might consider "typical Anime", but as I've stated before, there really is no such thing.

The problem I sense you're having with Anime is the individual episodes' open-ended nature, which, while not "typical", is fairly common. Very little might actually happen in an individual show, but the whole, when taken together, is far greater than the individual pieces. Being a film student, you probably already studied series gestalt, the differences between series and serial, etc. in far greater depth than I (or if you haven't, you will). I think it's worth looking at again (because I think the very concept of gestalt is cool, let alone such stellar examples of it in film and television).

 

[Fraught]

The problem is that y'all are confusing medium with genre. Medium is a form of presentation. Anime I guess would be a subset of film. I hear they also do comics.

Genres can be argued for though. Genres and the individual works of art in it can be argued on a serious critical level. "Its just a medium" isn't only wrong, it's a cop out.

*snip*

Jesus what the hell is that face?

Also, when did I call film a genre? If I did that was mistake. It's not, it's a medium. I'm trying to get a decent scattershot across the board of anime before I go back to my buddies and say its stupid.

And objectivity is not stupid. If you deconstruct most screenplays and movies there is a good (not totally) amount of it that you can take apart and say "this is what made this movie work, this is what didn't." Film is as much as science as it is an art.

It's trollface. I thought everyone knew that.

Also, I didn't call "film" a genre either. I said "live-action".

And yes it is, did you even read my post? You can't say "this is what made this movie work", because for some it might not have made this movie work. They may just not like it. Everyone's vision of what "would make X right" is different. They might've preferred a character alive, and actually liked it more that way. Maybe they thought a big city or vehicle, or the accent of the actors in an adaptation of their favourite movie didn't "work", just because it's not how they imagined it, or maybe it reminds them of some traumatic event in the past (talking about all aspects of every element in a given film).

Besides, think about it. If movies were "objectively" good, then why do all award ceremonies use polls? Some smart stuck-up university film guy should look them all through, and declare that "this movie is objectively the best one". But no one does that, because it's stupid. Movies can't be judged like that.

And no, art generally isn't "as much science" as anything. Art is supposed to play with your emotions, and emotions aren't objective in any sense of the word. That just about sums up the whole thing, really.

 

[Texas America Murphy]

You sir are an idiot.

1. If your studying art or doing a diploma/degree in art you should know all forms of art and that art can be of all forms.

2. Anime is more diverse, you have more options while making a movie/series with anime. Like 1 for example you can create any character and any environment however you can't change real life actor's faces for example. Unless you use CGI but that costs way too much.

3. Naruto is a bad start to anime of your age. Why? because it is aimed at kids, as of today it's on it's 409th episode, So people with half a brain would acknowledge the fact that u cant explain a entire story in 1 of the 409 episodes.

4. There is thousands of Mature Anime, I rather watch anime because they dig deeper down into your emotions(mainly because of diversity) Unlike real shows that lack substance or emotion.

5. Anime is more popular than Real Films, Mainly due to the population of japan compared to the rest of the world.

Anime is an art form as is anything else, if you don't like it you shouldnt try to abuse it on some forums to make yourself feel better. Cause you will only get backlash

1. I am studying for me degree. You should perhaps know that the Oscars is called the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

2. I'm trying to get a handle on that diversity.

3. I know this now.

4. Gritty, "mature" media doesn't equate quality.

5. I call bullshit. Back this up with statistics right now or I say you're making shit up.

Meanwhile...

Vote Tally:
Cowboy Bebop: 1
Deathnote: 0

 

[Texas America Murphy]

Haven't read the other comments yet, maybe this has been addressed before...

Asking "What's so great about Anime?" is like asking "What's so great about (all) television shows, or video games, or movies?" There are good ones, there are bad ones, there are multiple levels, layers, and genres, and many are series that usually require starting at the beginning to fully understand. (especially the high drama pieces like Code Geass, Death Note, or the various Gundam series). The three you mention are examples of what some might consider "typical Anime", but as I've stated before, there really is no such thing.

The problem I sense you're having with Anime is the individual episodes' open-ended nature, which, while not "typical", is fairly common. Very little might actually happen in an individual show, but the whole, when taken together, is far greater than the individual pieces. Being a film student, you probably already studied series gestalt, the differences between series and serial, etc. in far greater depth than I (or if you haven't, you will). I think it's worth looking at again (because I think the very concept of gestalt is cool, let alone such stellar examples of it in film and television).

I like this post. Alot. This is very interesting. So basically what you're saying is that all anime is of an effectively serial nature?

Tally now stands at
CB: 1
DN: 1 because my girlfriend just voted for Deathnote.

 

[Darktau]

Haven't read the other comments yet, maybe this has been addressed before...

Asking "What's so great about Anime?" is like asking "What's so great about (all) television shows, or video games, or movies?" There are good ones, there are bad ones, there are multiple levels, layers, and genres, and many are series that usually require starting at the beginning to fully understand. (especially the high drama pieces like Code Geass, Death Note, or the various Gundam series). The three you mention are examples of what some might consider "typical Anime", but as I've stated before, there really is no such thing.

The problem I sense you're having with Anime is the individual episodes' open-ended nature, which, while not "typical", is fairly common. Very little might actually happen in an individual show, but the whole, when taken together, is far greater than the individual pieces. Being a film student, you probably already studied series gestalt, the differences between series and serial, etc. in far greater depth than I (or if you haven't, you will). I think it's worth looking at again (because I think the very concept of gestalt is cool, let alone such stellar examples of it in film and television).

I like this post. Alot. This is very interesting. So basically what you're saying is that all anime is of an effectively serial nature?

Tally now stands at
CB: 1
DN: 1 because my girlfriend just voted for Deathnote.

I want my post counted as a deathnote vote

 

[Texas America Murphy]

Double post. Any of y'all having weird hiccups with the forum is just my connection.

Tally is at

CB: 2
DN: 2

Next vote decides what I watch next.

 

[Thaius]

Because Japan considers anime to be a subset of film, whereas we in American culture consider animation to be a childish plaything incapable of telling serious stories, presenting impacting issues, or developing meaningful characters. It's a terrible, ignorant idea that is the prevailing approach to animation in our culture.

Japan understands otherwise. Their animated works are, by and large, better than their live-action ones, and those who appreciate anime have come to understand the storytelling potential that animation has, however untapped and misunderstood it may be by most of our own culture.

Gurran Laggan, by the way, is an intentional self-parody of the sci-fi mech genre. Don't look to it for serious storytelling. Naruto actually has an incredibly complex culture, mythos, and story, but it must be watched from the beginning to get it, which unfortunately subjects the viewer to a lot of unnecessary juvenile drivel on the way to the brilliance the show exhibits later. Code Geass I haven't seen, so no comment.

Did you watch the first episodes of these shows? Most anime is not like the episodic drivel that populates western animation; you watch it from the beginning or you will be lost. Thus, if you did not see the beginnings, your ideas are entirely invalid due to lack of context and understanding.

 

[Glaive_21842]

i think your tally is off. As of my typing this post i counted...
Bebop: 4
Deathnote: 2

I'll update if i get ninja'd

 

[Ildecia]

Dear (people), explain to me what the heck the deal with Anime is.


~le snip~

Edited for spelling.

1. ignore it, first impressions mean nothing in anime, trust me

2. Naruto= bullcrap; ignore it completly. after the forst 100 episodes its all a bunch of fillers, and it should be renamed Sauske: that emo ninja.

3. Coed geauss isn't all too good. no offense to its fanbase, but thats what i believe.

4. Anime is all about personal preferences man.


my personal list to check out is as follows: top to bottom my favorites.

Rurouni Kenshin (Japanese Restoration, late 1860-1870s, epic fights and stuff.)

Fullmetal Alchemist (instead of science, in this anime, alchemy progressed in society, pretty sweet.)

Outlaw Star (galactic races in giant-ass sharships, and blowing shit up.)

Gundam Wing (giant robots, blowing shit up, more blowing shit up. whats not to like?)

Zoids (seriously, go see it. i can't describe how sweet it is)

 

[albinokid66]

actually DN=better introduction