Is the general Dislike of Anime unwarranted? - General

Everytime someone brings up the subject of Anime, there is alot of hatred or dislike towards it. Usuall arguments include: - Art Style (usually the eyes) - 'Stupid' plots - The Word Weeaboo - It's Anime Now, up until a few years ago, i thought pretty much all anime was stupid and not worth watching, even though quite a few of the shows i watched as a kid were Anime (Which i did not realise) Such as Yu-gi-oh, Digimon, Pokemon etc. I then watched some Anime, and realised i was completely wrong. The Usual Arguments make no sense to me. There is no consistant art style, and the idea of large eyes is not exclusive to Anime: [t]http://i.imgur.com/hHN3q.jpg[/t] The plot depends on who it is aimed at, if it is aimed at younger people of course the story isn't going to be very good - you wouldn't say all TV Shows or movies are bad because you've seen a few you didn't like when they aren't even aimed at you as an audience. There are plenty of serious Anime outthere. The Term Weeaboo shows up the majority of the time anime is mentioned despite it never being the correct context for it. I have not seen any good reasons to hate all Anime, people disliking it because it just doesn't appeal to them is fine, but that does not seem to be the case - it seems to be hate. So, anyone else think the general dislike of Anime unwarranted? Or is there a good reason for it all?

Some of it can be pretty bad. But its all about different tastes.

For the most part, I don't appreciate the narrative style, conventional themes, and lazy animation tricks. Fortunately I can just [I]not watch it[/I]. [editline]24th January 2012[/editline] That being said I've watched a few good ones.

[QUOTE=Contag;34360560]For the most part, I don't appreciate the narrative style, conventional themes, and lazy animation tricks. Fortunately I can just [I]not watch it[/I]. [/QUOTE] They are not all like that though, there is some very good Anime out there. [QUOTE=BloodFox1222;34360497] Some of it can be pretty bad. But its all about different tastes.[/QUOTE] Some of it is pretty bad, but that is no reason to hate it all. If you see a bad movie you don't suddenly hate all movies.

Everything except for Dragon Ball. Nothing beats that shit.

As far as I am concerned, it all depends on what kind of Anime you are watching. People are generalizing that all Anime is somehow the same. For example: Hentai is to Anime what porn is to live action movies. You would never generalize and say that every movie fan is also a weird porn freak. Yet a lot of people think that if you watch any kind of anime you instantly fap to hentai. Well. That was kind of a stretch but you get the general idea.

If you don't like it don't watch it I used to like Bleach, Then It got all stupid, but I still read it out of fear that It will get good again

[QUOTE=nightlord;34360584]If you see a bad movie you don't suddenly hate all movies.[/QUOTE] Better example. Oops got ninja'd out of automerge.

[QUOTE=Liem;34360709]If you don't like it don't watch it I used to like Bleach, Then It got all stupid, but I still read it out of fear that It will get good again[/QUOTE] It's not just a case of not watching it, they always express their hatred. Every time there is a thread made here there is some sort of argument over it. Sometimes it's just trolling, sometimes it's not. They just hate all Anime without having watched any.

I always sort of assumed that people who liked anime simply wanted a mature story in the form a cartoon. Obviously this doesn't apply to everyone, and I'm really referring more to people from countries such as America and Britian, because the only mature cartoons you find here seem to be comedies. I would say that the hate is definitely unwarrented, as you can find some amazing pieces of work in anime form, but I will concede that there does seem to be an increase in the 'moe' genre (Such as Lucky Star and K-ON!), which is really catering to the lowest comon denomenator.

Well plots aside I think that the majority of the dislike focuses on two, perhaps three aspects. Which I can more or less fully agree on. a) The themes. In general it seems that the japanese tend to have a strong like of teen characters. To the level, that these are placed into setting where it is completely illogical for them to be in. It even shows in areas like videogames. Compare Nier - the Western version had a grizzled middle aged former soldier as the protagonist searching for his daughter. While the japanese version had a young pretty boy looking for a sister. Overall to most people this really hurt narrative. b) The artstyle. There's very little detail overall in japanaese animation. And on top of that, much of it looks very much alike. It's also important to note one thing. While Europeans tend to focus a lot more on the entire face as far as expressions go, Asians tend to focus far more on Eyes. You can even see it in smilies. :) is more common in europe to ^_^ in asia. This overemphasis on eyes leads to a perceived sillyness even in serious pieces to most Europeans. c) The animation. In the majority of animes the overall animation feels very very cheap. Compared to Western animation you have an abundance of of repeated and static frames, very little movement and overall choppyness. Add in the fact that anime seems to have a hard time implying things, and overall over the top themes and scenarios with underaged characters you tend to have a brewing pot of dislike. And that even among people that enjoy western animation targeted at younger audiences. Overall you get a result where even a mature story feels far more childish than an actual teenage animation from a western studio. JLA is a decent example of a western good animation that appeals across ages. Obviously there are some animes that break the fold. But they usually do this, by being more western in their concept. Ghost in the Shell is a perfect example of this.

I enjoyed Dragon Ball and Pokemon for a long time. Personally, I do not generally dislike anime, but it sure is alienating a lot of times. Also, I'm a huge fan of western animation, so that doesn't help towards anime either.

The only anime I've sit down and watched till the end is Fullmetal Alchemist because it was pretty good. The rest is formulaic, I have yet to see DragonBall though.

Go watch Death Note, come back, and rethink your opinion about Anime.

There's a few diamonds in the shitpile. Cromartie High School, everything by that guy who made Howl's Moving Castle, stuff like that.

[QUOTE=wraithcat;34361243]Well plots aside I think that the majority of the dislike focuses on two, perhaps three aspects. Which I can more or less fully agree on. a) The themes. In general it seems that the japanese tend to have a strong like of teen characters. To the level, that these are placed into setting where it is completely illogical for them to be in. It even shows in areas like videogames. Compare Nier - the Western version had a grizzled middle aged former soldier as the protagonist searching for his daughter. While the japanese version had a young pretty boy looking for a sister. Overall to most people this really hurt narrative. b) The artstyle. There's very little detail overall in japanaese animation. And on top of that, much of it looks very much alike. It's also important to note one thing. While Europeans tend to focus a lot more on the entire face as far as expressions go, Asians tend to focus far more on Eyes. You can even see it in smilies. :) is more common in europe to ^_^ in asia. This overemphasis on eyes leads to a perceived sillyness even in serious pieces to most Europeans. c) The animation. In the majority of animes the overall animation feels very very cheap. Compared to Western animation you have an abundance of of repeated and static frames, very little movement and overall choppyness. Add in the fact that anime seems to have a hard time implying things, and overall over the top themes and scenarios with underaged characters you tend to have a brewing pot of dislike. And that even among people that enjoy western animation targeted at younger audiences. Overall you get a result where even a mature story feels far more childish than an actual teenage animation from a western studio. JLA is a decent example of a western good animation that appeals across ages. Obviously there are some animes that break the fold. But they usually do this, by being more western in their concept. Ghost in the Shell is a perfect example of this.[/QUOTE] There is plenty of Anime which does not fit any of those Categories though, so people who use those are justication for disliking all Anime are wrong. While some of it is fairly non-serious, there's more mature stuff such as Hellsing Ultimate.

Sure, but we're talking about general aproaches. I know plenty of people who dislike anime in general for the points I put forward but do have a few exceptions. Because those things are exceptions. In the majority of cases if you hear something is an anime, those things listed apply. There's a reason why people believe they do. It doesn't help that the majority of the western fanbase tends to love those animes which tend to fill the main cliches.

[QUOTE=proch;34361434]Go watch Death Note, come back, and rethink your opinion about Anime.[/QUOTE] Yeah, now that's one good and smart anime.

90% of anime is shit So is 90% of any other entertainment medium Ignore that 90% and you can find something you love. Give it a chance, and if you watch something terrible for your first show don't give up. Believe it or not, not all of those who watch anime like tripe such as Lucky Star. Check the OP of Fast Anime and ask for recommendations if it doesn't help.

Animes like Studio Ghibli's and Miyazaki are incredible works of art, not just for the design but the story telling and characters. Most people who dislike anime in general haven't been exposed to more than Naruto.

I like over the top fighting ones, that try to ignore fan service. I hate when I feel like I'm being advertised to. Dragon Ball Z and Afro Samurai were some of my favorites.

I think a lot of the reason a lot of people don't care for anime is less the anime itself, and more a lot of the community around it ("weeaboos" and other ultrajapanophiles). A lot of times, this can compound itself- Guy watches some anime, and doesn't really like it. No problem there. Then someone says "How can you not like anime it is the best thing ever kawaii desu et cetera" ad nauseam and Guy gets pissed and decides he hates anime forever and always. Just sort of a third party view here; I don't watch Anime and I don't really care about people who do.

There are some shows people say are likeable, but really I'd rather watch something else.

alot of anime is just pure shit, 99% of the time the plot is something that a 5 year old would write. also, a common trait of anime is the lack of subtlety. everything is just too "in your face". there's no real artistic merit to it.

General dislike? I see way more people going crazy about it than disliking it.

Most anime is shit, that's all there is to it. There are a few good ones out there, but you have to dig through all the weaboo fandom crap to find them.

[QUOTE=JustGman;34362292]Most anime is shit, that's all there is to it. There are a few good ones out there, but you have to dig through all the weaboo fandom crap to find them.[/QUOTE] Or you could check the OP of Fast Anime for pretty good suggestions or just ask people Major Deja Vu here, I think I've said this exact same thing to another guy with gman in his name, although that's not very uncommon on FP

Studio Ghibli, Akira and Ghost in the shell, the rest are usually copies of Azumanga Dioh, or Naruto, which both make me want to kill myself instantly anyway.

[QUOTE=Oicani Gonzales;34362333]But see K-ON and you'll probably understand why we all dislike anime. It's like the most retarded thing ever, I watched it for 2 minutes before giving up[/QUOTE] CUTE GIRLS DOING CUTE THINGS, ANIME OF THE YEAR ALL YEARS [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6TdhB4LqN8[/media]

[QUOTE=Oicani Gonzales;34362333]But see K-ON and you'll probably understand why we all dislike anime. It's like the most retarded thing ever, I watched it for 2 minutes before giving up[/QUOTE] Yeah, people tend to see that sort of Anime and then refuse to believe there is anything else though, and think it is all like that even when you tell them it's not.