I just don't get anime

[batboy2001]

I just don't know what the heck the shows are about. Most of them have giant robots. The only one I like is Big O and that one is strange to. Anybody else think the same way?

[Vigo Sprax]

Thats kind of life saying "I don't like cartoons" or "I don't like Action Films", Anime is a broad range of things linked by one thing - its Japanese. If you care enough to look you'll eventually find something, for me this was Cowboy Bebop. Not everything is about A) Giant Robots B) Girls in Sailor Suits or C) Monster You Train To Fight...just a lot of them ...Anime is as broad as movies are here in America.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Well, what do you mean? Tenchi is basically a sitcom about a bunch of alien girls and a boy, Sailor Moon is a girl's superhero show, Gundam is usually about a war between two futuristic races where robots are used as fighting machines, and Dragon Ball Z is a fight 'em up martial arts show. That's not hard to understand. Different is sometimes a good change of pace (though IMO, the ones isted above aren't THAT different)--allows your mind to expand a bit.



OTOH, bad dubbing can make a show difficult to understand.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Originally posted by Vigo Sprax
Thats kind of life saying "I don't like cartoons" or "I don't like Action Films", Anime is a broad range of things linked by one thing - its Japanese. If you care enough to look you'll eventually find something, for me this was Cowboy Bebop. Not everything is about A) Giant Robots B) Girls in Sailor Suits or C) Monster You Train To Fight...just a lot of them ...Anime is as broad as movies are here in America.

Five anime shows I can name from the top of my head that doesn't involve sailor girls or robots or pet monsters:

Rurouni Kenshin
Little Princess Sara
Niea_7
Maison Ikkoku
Rose of Versailles

I sometimes have to explain to hardcore anime and manga fans that American comics aren't just superheroes in spandex, even though there are a lot of them. I tell them about Daniel Clowes, the Hernandez Brothers, Art Spiegelman--and that's but a few. I tell them about Westerns, romance comics, war comics, etc,. They aren't as easy to find as superheroes, but they are there, just tucked away.

I don't like broad generalizations. I don't like broad generalizations of anime and manga (though I can accept if you don't like most) and I don't like broad generalizations of western animation and comics.

[batboy2001]

I liked outlaw star that was pretty cool. But my taste preference is not really anime. Other people may like but I don't really care for it.

[icecold]

Originally posted by Vigo Sprax
"...Anime is as broad as movies are here in America."

and that's good or bad?

[Bird Boy]

I think the problem with anime is, the fact that the stories all lead off onto another. You have to watch the series from beginning to end, w/o missing a episode in-between. Like, if I watched the new pokemon now, I'd be like "wha? when did he get that pokemon?".it's just somthing that needs to be followed. Thats why I'm not a big fan of anime for that reason. I like watching TV..but not when the episodes is just one huge story. Take for instance, batman, the batman episodes are 20min long, and very rarely are they 2-parters.

I can honestly say, I do like anime, but not all that well. I loved Princess Mononoke though...that was a great movie..

-BB

[Firefly]

I like Big O thats it

[Scythemantis]

Anime does have a distinct style...actually,its lots of subtle reccuring themes/personalities that come together to FORM a distinct style.There are plenty of exceptions,but most anime is still different enough that its just not for everybody.I dont hate anime,but I dont drool over it like countless others....big O has been my favorite anime series partly for its more american feel...the animation and style was very similar to batman: the animated series and the characters were quite interesting,esspecially dorothy.

A lot of anime is difficult to follow entirely because of the dubbing.It is VERY difficult to translate from japanese to english and still keep even half the plot intact.

Look for some japanese websites that try to translate into ENGLISH and you`ll get a better idea of just how hard it is.I once ran across a japanese site that apparently contained harsh language (in japanese) and the front page stated
"caution may contains in this page some damaging to your susceptibility contents"

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Originally posted by Bird_Boy
I think the problem with anime is, the fact that the stories all lead off onto another. You have to watch the series from beginning to end, w/o missing a episode in-between. Like, if I watched the new pokemon now, I'd be like "wha? when did he get that pokemon?".it's just somthing that needs to be followed. Thats why I'm not a big fan of anime for that reason. I like watching TV..but not when the episodes is just one huge story. Take for instance, batman, the batman episodes are 20min long, and very rarely are they 2-parters.

I can honestly say, I do like anime, but not all that well. I loved Princess Mononoke though...that was a great movie..

-BB

Well, lots of recent anime are more episodic. Cowboy Bebop is a show where most of the episodes are single stories.

OTOH, you can get more character development and change in a big long story, so you sacrifice one for the other. In a longer story, character nuances are easier to spot, and continuity in development can lead to something rewarding. You look at Sopranos and you look at, say, Charmed. Both shows have their strengths, but since Sopranos is basically continuous, you can get more change in characters, whereas in a show like Charmed, characters don't really change all that much between episodes.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Originally posted by icecold
and that's good or bad?

Both. Nothing is totally good and nothing is totally bad. There is good and bad in everything. In anime there are movies like Digimon the movie...but on the flip side, you get a gem like Grave of the Fireflies, which ALL animation fans should watch at least once. (It also made Ebert's list of his top 100 movies of all time)

You may get a TV show like Yugi-Oh, which is bad, but on the flip side, you get gems like Cowboy Bebop, or Hidamari no Ki.

You get super-long story arcs in anime like those found in the Gindam shows...but you can also get single-episode shows like Niea_7.

You can have giant robot shows like Evangelion...but there are down-to-earth "romance" shows like Maison Ikkoku for those wanting something quieter.

I'd say what you see on U.S. TV now only represents about 20% of the variety anime can offer. Obviously, there are a lot of bad anime, but like I said before, there is always the good that comes with the bad, and vice versa.

[Calhoun07]

I would encourage any animation fan to give anime another chance, if they haven't done so. While there are some things I can't stand about it either, such as all the big robot shows and other stereotypes, there are shows out there that break free from the stereotypes and shine as great examples of what is good about anime.

And not liking anime because there are a lot of cliches being used in several shows...well, that's not liking a genre of movies like sci fi because they use too many cliches, but you can always find movies that are original and invigoratingly good in any genre, despite the cliches other movies may use.

The fact that there is anime that you have to watch an entire series of to get the whole story also appeals to me, as I like to watch something that makes me think beyond the 30 minutes or so I sit down to watch the show. Princess Knight was one of the first anime series that I was exposed to that was obviously not over in 30 minutes and that appealed to me beyond anything I watched as a kid. And the characters in Princess Knight developed and grew and changed, while in the show that followed, Battle of the Planets, the stories were more episodic and the characters in that show hardly had any real development at all. Of course, I liked each show for different reasons, but to dismiss a show because you actually have to pay attention to each episode, well, it does make it hard to jump in the middle and just start watching it, but on the other had, it is more rewarding when you do get in a show like that and follow it all the way thru to the end.

I think we probably see only 20% of what Japan puts out too, but I think that 20% is mostly better of what they have to offer. So if you think anime in America is bad, I would hate to see the remaining 80% that never gets exported!

[DR. BELCH]

STING CHAMELEON:
A lot of anime is difficult to follow entirely because of the dubbing. It is VERY difficult to translate from japanese to english and still keep even half the plot intact.

I'd say the same of translating from English to Spanish, or vice versa. Certain American colloquialisms get really botched, and some of the names are strangely changed (in a dub of The Flinstones, Fred is called "Pedro" and Barney is "Pablo", and every few seconds Betty says "Cootchie-cootchie" like a Stone Age Charro).
I nearly dismissed Pokemon at first because of too many cute beasties (plus KWB would air them out of order and start with season 2, featuring Todd Snap, the worst character in Pokedom--latre I learned to forget them and focus on the human dynamic, esp. Jessy) and Sailor Moon on my first viewing because of the weird mouth movements.
Basically anything with a lot of emotion/human drama--American, Japanese, or European--attracts me. That's why I'd like to see this new adult trend with Disney continue post-Atlantiswith The Mouse doing faithful adaptations of Shakespeare, Dante, Marlowe, and such....

[Scythemantis]

Dante...now THAT would be interesting