DEATH TO ANIME!!!!

[Roman Virtue]

I HATE anime!!!

with their rediculous 'power stream' backgrounds that show up for no reason, their shaking eyes whenever they get emotional, dumb-ass plots and the art style sucks!! I saw one where a charatcers eyes were drawn so that they overlapped their head, THE GUY'S EYES PROTRUDED OUTSIDE OF HIS SKULL!!! Where I come from, that's crappy art, but for the fans of anime, it's 'just the style'....

I hate anime!!!

I have a friend who's into this crap, he goes to conventions and spends a butload of money on this crap. his computer is full of it, he even has a live action Japanise show based on an anime movie or something.

Do you know what's more stupid looking than anime? Live action anime!!! Seeing these guys in costumes based on this stuff was sad, funny sad, but still sad...

I started a realistic game a while back, and my friend made a character, np, but then he showed me what he wanted this character to look like, he brought over an ANIME PICTURE!!!!! AAAAARRRRRRRGH!!!!!!!
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO !!!!!!!

and now it seems that this garbage has invaded Saturday Morning!! (I know, no big news flash there!) My son, God bless him is ALL about this Yugi-O $#!t. Bleah!!!

And then it happened.... I heard a comercial for Teen Titans (Yeah, one of my favorite comic book teams was comming back to life!!). So I tuned in, and do you know what? IT WAS A FRIGGIN ANIME TOON, WITH STUPID ANIME ANIMATION, big friggin eyes, dumb@$$ flashy backgrounds for no reason, and really, REALLY REALLY LAME ANIME HUMOR!!!!

I abhore amine, I loathe amine, I despise anime, I feel nothing but wroth for anime and all it's cutetsy-barfy hellspawn!!!!

My nephew was into all that Power Ranger crud!!! OMG, I never belived that watching TV could give you a tumor, but then I saw this, and now I'm a beliver!!!

[cries uncontrollably for an hour]

Sorry for that, I'm better now...

Silent-Shadow-Bloody-Ninja-Kung-Foo Death with a flashy background to all things anime!!!!!

I need a shower now, this topic has made me feel dirty....

[Frozen Yakman]

I pretty much agree, especially about the humor. Humor rarely works cross-culturally especially if its spoken or written but even physical comedy suffers as well. British, Jewish, and Black humor works in America, Japanese humor is lost in the translation and just looks dumb. It's not even an Eastern Civilization/Western Civilization thing either; French humor doesn't work in America either.

[elspark]

Wow. I thought I disliked anime.

It's not so much that I hate it as that I'm tired of it. I mean, heaven help us, there ARE different art forms out there. YES, it's revolutionary, YES it has some good points, but it was revolutionary 15 years ago, and dang near ANYTHING has its good points (Hitler made the trains run on time).

I have friends who were sucked into anime and have never returned. And then I saw the latest Teen Titan show...I weep.

I know there's fans of anime here. I'm sorry if I offend. I'm just so tired of it. I agree with Roman Virtue, if not in extent (might want to think about some valium).

On the other hand, Yakman, sometimes humor DOES translate. I'm an American living in Arkansas, and I adore good British-style humor. However, I have to admit that I'm not sure if I've run across French humor.

[Iron Poet]

However, I have to admit that I'm not sure if I've run across French humor.

You would know it as "the French military".

Just kidding, don't want to start a flamewar or anything.

Anyways, I stopped being 'into' anime when Robotech stopped airing. Once in awhile I'd watch a few shows- generally anything with giant robots. Just found the humor to fall flat- but like you say, it's probably just a loss to the cross-cultural barrier. I don't think it's BAD, per se, I just don't care for it anymore.

[Kwikdraw]

While I won't say I hate anime, I will say I don't automatically like something just because it's anime or pseudo-anime. Like all art forms, there's the good stuff (e.g. Ghost in the Shell, Grave of the Fireflies, etc.) and then there's trash (most of what you'll find on Saturday mornings these days).

I don't mind Teen Titans, though I think that's more to do with my good memories of the Wolfman/Perez comic series than anything to do with the cartoon itself. Its pseudo-anime is rather annoying — I would have preferred a style closer to JLU, but then I suppose the producers figure anime is in with the kids these days, so aping the style will bring in the viewers.

[Roman Virtue]

Ok, I took my valium, took a shower, and I'm back.

While I do hate anime (generally), I have seen Akira and did like it as well as the old Voltron, and when I was very young and didn't know better, I watched Ultra man. So there are some good points (Ultraman not withstanding).
But I do go on the record to say (again generally)
I HATE ANIME!!!!!!!!

[Strict31]

I like some anime.

When I was younger, I had a bad impression of a lot of it. I still do, but I don't worry about it so much. When I was getting into Star Blazers and Robotech, my mother was always asking me if the artists ever made asian characters; why were the heroes and other characters always white and so forth. I had no answer. But her questions always nagged at the back of my mind. In College, I had a roommate who loved all things japanese. He'd even wear tabi boots around...Anyway, he got a lot of manga from his trip to Tokyo, and would read it to study up his japanese. One of his favorites was a mercenary pilot thing called Area 88. I paged through it, and then at some point, we managed to get ahold of the anime, and it became obvious that the character had blonde hair and blue eyes, but had a japanese name. So I asked, "Why does this guy have a japanese name if he's a white dude? Was he raised in Japan or something?" And he tells me, "No, he's japanese, dude."

So, we got into this argument about whether or not japanese people have naturally blonde hair and blue eyes. he finally argued the possibility that the character had dyed his hair and wore blue contacts. It seemed idiotic that a hardcore mercenary pilot bad-ass would dye his hair and wear colored contacts, especially given the fact that their base was in some remote desolate-ass desert.

Then, I saw Akira. A hot anime style with characters who still had the big-eyes-small-mouths, but who still looked asian. I thought that was cool.

Long and short of it is not all anime/manga is created equally. And yes, in a lot of cases, it is mainly a stylistic thing. That's not to say that anyone has to like it because there is a certain range of styles associated with it. I mean, it's possible to acknowledge stylistic intent without liking that style. This is how I approch Teen Titans. Super Milk Chan, for example. I can see there is a style, but I hate it. Same with Yu-Yu Haksho. My particular preference is for a style more akin to Wolf's Rain, Hellsing, Cowboy Bebop, Last Exile, Patlabor, that sort of thing.

Stuff like Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon...that stuff is only marginally anime as far as I'm concerned. But then again, I have a deep seated hatred for this crap. Mass market tripe.

But yeah, there is a gap in translation in a lot of anime. It is not ofetn made for western audiences, and as a result a lot of it seems weird or disjointed or just outright stupid. I remember watching FLCL, thinking how absurd it was to have the audience believe that some sexpot 16 year old honey is going to be all ga-ga over some little kid. I don't care what the hell pops out of his forehead. And as nutty as that show is, that's the one thing I had the most problem buying...And then there's the tentacle rape of hentai, with female characters being portrayed as resisting the rape...but only until they have an orgasm. And then they're all into it. This shit does not translate well at all.

Again, however, you can acknowledge that there is some craft that goes into the stories without necessarily liking it. For me, with stuff like hentai, I'm not really sure what they're going for exactly...if it's craft or if it's just a penis-driven power trip...


Strictly Speaking

[The Trapster]

WHY DO YOU THINK WE SHOULD BE TALKING ABOUT THIS???

This is a retorical question.

[Nightlynx]

WHY DO YOU THINK WE SHOULD BE TALKING ABOUT THIS???

This is a retorical question.

Spoken like a true anime fan

I will also have to chime in - While I don't loath anime, I am far from a number one fan - And yes I felt cheated when I saw the Teen Titans on cartoon netowork - but what can you do?

And for the record I was a HUGE fan of Battle of the Planets when i was a kid but I also loved the Superfrieds cartoon too

cheers
Nightlynx

[Wordmaker]

I like anime. *duck*

Okay, I'm still alive, phew! Granted, there is a lot of crap out there. I usually stick to watching stuff that's reccommended to me, like Princess Mononoke. There are a number of cultural gaps that make the transition difficult, but I'm interested in Japanese culture anyway so I looked into some things.

There are reasons for the animation style. It allows over-exageration of main features, and is easy to replicate en masse, stemming from the original manga comics. The images can be churned out fast because there is less detail.

There's a lot of changes that have been made in western art and cinema due to asian influences, often for the better. Bear in mind that in Bruce Timm's style, the characters' legs look like they should snap under the enormous weight of the upper torso!

[Evilschemer]

Repeat Sturgeon's Law:

90% of EVERYTHING sucks!

This applies to Anime, American animation, French animation, Czech Animation, Canadian Animation, Comic books, novels, TV shows, movies, EVERYTHING.

I dislike 90% of anime: Yugioh, Beyblade, Trigun, One Piece, Evangelion, Tenchi Muyo, Most Gundam and sequels/spin-offs, Robotech (nowdays, I enjoyed it as a teenager), Battle of the Planets (enjoyed it as a kid but can't stand it now), and much much more. I also dislike 90% of everything else.

I, however, DO like and enjoy 10% of anime, the GOOD 10%: Cowboy Bebop, Escaflowne, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Millenium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, FLCL, and a few others.

I also dislike 90% of all American animation: Family Guy, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Kids Next Door, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, etc.

I DO like 10% of American animation: Futurama, Venture Bros., the Tick, Batman TAS, Justice League (and I really only like about 10% of the Justice Leagues), Teen Titans, Samurai Jack.

I find it very difficult to make sweeping 100% judgements over ANY form of art, because invariably there is that 10% of excellent work that I enjoy, and 90% of the pure excrement that fills up space.

[The Trapster]

Repeat Sturgeon's Law:

90% of EVERYTHING sucks!

This applies to Anime, American animation, French animation, Czech Animation, Canadian Animation, Comic books, novels, TV shows, movies, EVERYTHING.

Good point.

I kind'a like Bey Blade... even though it doesn't make any sense, and has almost no consistency between serieses.
But then tops are for little kids and my eight year old nephew loves that show. That is why I watch it.

[Webhead]

...Justice League (and I really only like about 10% of the Justice Leagues)...

Just as a curiousity piece and a point of further discussion, what is it about most of the Justice League series that you dislike (and/or why do you like the few that you do)?

[Dungeon Keeper]

I sympathize Roman Virtue, I hate adolescent homo-erotic power fantasies about grown men in spandex with names like Hamster Man or Captain Concrete. I have a friend who's into this crap, he goes to comic book conventions and spends a butload of money on this crap. He plays computer games based on them and he even has a live action Hollywood movie based on a comic book or something...

[Kwikdraw]

When I was younger, I had a bad impression of a lot of it. I still do, but I don't worry about it so much. When I was getting into Star Blazers and Robotech, my mother was always asking me if the artists ever made asian characters; why were the heroes and other characters always white and so forth. I had no answer. But her questions always nagged at the back of my mind. In College, I had a roommate who loved all things japanese. He'd even wear tabi boots around...Anyway, he got a lot of manga from his trip to Tokyo, and would read it to study up his japanese. One of his favorites was a mercenary pilot thing called Area 88. I paged through it, and then at some point, we managed to get ahold of the anime, and it became obvious that the character had blonde hair and blue eyes, but had a japanese name. So I asked, "Why does this guy have a japanese name if he's a white dude? Was he raised in Japan or something?" And he tells me, "No, he's japanese, dude."

So, we got into this argument about whether or not japanese people have naturally blonde hair and blue eyes. he finally argued the possibility that the character had dyed his hair and wore blue contacts. It seemed idiotic that a hardcore mercenary pilot bad-ass would dye his hair and wear colored contacts, especially given the fact that their base was in some remote desolate-ass desert.

I think that aspect of anime was a market-driven thing, particularly for selling their animation to foreign markets. I suppose the animators figured that most western countries would be more willing to pick up these cartoons if the characters were white. This might not be as true now with the current craze in anime, but I think it certainly was back in the days of Battle of the Planets and whatnot.