The Anime Thread #1

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Lost_Wanderer said:
You forgot to mention western animation snobs who think fluid animation can substitute for plot substance. Apparently to these people, the sight of a mentally challenged sponge and a dimwitted starfish chasing jellyfishes for an entire episode trumps a dramatic spat between two best friends because one has gone to the dark side. Their reasoning: “Because they move! Durr! :P”
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… No, people like Spongebob because they think it’s a funny and well-written comedy. (Well, the earlier seasons at least.) I highly doubt that anyone has an affinity for Spongebob because of its sophisticated animation, because it doesn’t have any - It’s TV animation. Perhaps you’re talking about the people who dislike anime simply because of the generally very low-budget animation? It’s a reasonable opinion - the limited animation can be very distracting for some people.

Either way, there’s nothing wrong with preferring a comedic cartoon to a more serious plot piece. Each genre has its place.
Oddly enough a lot of these are the same people who think NGE was some kind of deep and profound masterpiece.
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Actually, after watching the entire series with an apartment full of film majors, I’m inclined to agree with them. While that series might be weird to a fault and not my normal cup of Ramune, I’ve got a respect for it. Maybe not a masterpiece, but it’s very interesting and thought-provoking indeed. The high opinion of NGE you see is definitely not an uncommon nor an unfounded one, and it’s been discussed among educated people and analyzed as an art piece (as, technically, every animated show is).

You can bash certain series all ya want, but please - stay away from insulting the people who like the things you don’t consider good.
 
Skwrl said:
… No, people like Spongebob because they think it’s a funny and well-written comedy. (Well, the earlier seasons at least.) I highly doubt that anyone has an affinity for Spongebob because of its sophisticated animation, because it doesn’t have any - It’s TV animation. Perhaps you’re talking about the people who dislike anime simply because of the generally very low-budget animation? It’s a reasonable opinion - the limited animation can be very distracting for some people.

Either way, there’s nothing wrong with preferring a comedic cartoon to a more serious plot piece. Each genre has its place.

Actually, after watching the entire series with an apartment full of film majors, I’m inclined to agree with them. While that series might be weird to a fault and not my normal cup of Ramune, I’ve got a respect for it. Maybe not a masterpiece, but it’s very interesting and thought-provoking indeed. The high opinion of NGE you see is definitely not an uncommon nor an unfounded one, and it’s been discussed among educated people and analyzed as an art piece (as, technically, every animated show is).

You can bash certain series all ya want, but please - stay away from insulting the people who like the things you don’t consider good.
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But it goes hand-in hand. 😛
 
Skwrl said:
… No, people like Spongebob because they think it’s a funny and well-written comedy. (Well, the earlier seasons at least.) I highly doubt that anyone has an affinity for Spongebob because of its sophisticated animation, because it doesn’t have any - It’s TV animation. Perhaps you’re talking about the people who dislike anime simply because of the generally very low-budget animation? It’s a reasonable opinion - the limited animation can be very distracting for some people.
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I’m not denying the low-budget aspect its just that my point against these people (and seriously, they throw really childish tantrums when I say this to them) is that good animation is no excuse for a bad story. When I’ve argued with western animation snobs, they always try to drag the argument back to the animation. They fail to realize that they’re arguing with a writer, an armchair literary theorist. In other words, I couldn’t care less about the animation. Story is what matters to me. True a good story is neither an excuse for bad animation but guess what? That just simply means both sides or on par. I can live with that. They on the other hand? Hmm, I’m not so sure. :rolleyes:

I mean I know for a fact that the classic Disney movies I’ve watched such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty were all animation masterpieces. Story-wise however? They’re actually all pretty generic, simple, and geared towards child audiences. Stuff like Full Metal Alchemist, NGE, Naruto, and even comedies like Genshiken on the other hand… well, even though they’ve been also charged with being generic, simple plots they are not.
Skwrl said:
Either way, there’s nothing wrong with preferring a comedic cartoon to a more serious plot piece. Each genre has its place.
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Actually, I’m generally a “to each his own” person myself. Its just that when it comes to criticizing something, I pick the plot/storyline as my home ground. If a critic’s willing to back off and acknowledge that what he praises lacks badly in that department then I wouldn’t mind agreeing with him that both anime and western cartoons have an equal share of pros and cons.

Sadly, I’ve only met so few with that type of humility.

To be honest though, I feel that even a comedy should have some level of mature, adult sense. Can’t say I’ve seen that in the characters in Spongebob, Cow and Chicken, or Ren and Stimpy. >:\
 
Academia said:
I think I’ve been a fan of Japanese anime for the past eleven years, I want to say. Whilst not all of it interest me (particularly some of the mainstream) shows; they’re a lot of animes/mangas that do. I even like some of the ones made in Korea (there it’s called manhwa.
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I forgot to mention that it was actually a Russian cartoon that got me interested in anime:
But my anime journey began a long time ago, when broadcast television aired a Russian-made cartoon called The Magic Antelope. (Or maybe it was called The Golden Antelope, or The Magic Horse; information was sketchy, and several release dates are given, ranging from 1949-1954. It may have been part of a package called Cartoon Classics, syndicated by Radio and Television Packagers).
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By any name, the cartoon was beautifully rendered, filled with magical beasts and a brave, kindhearted orphan, and I loved it, and couldn’t wait to see more like it. Alas, The Magic Antelope was one of a kind.
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Until I discovered Miyazaki…
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Sailor_Kenshin said:
I forgot to mention that it was actually a Russian cartoon that got me interested in anime:
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How did you come across The Golden Antelope? It is known as a classic animation among others, going back to the mid 1950’s. I don’t come across many who know about “old” foreign animations, so that’s why i’m curious to know. :p.
 
Forgive my previous post, apparently, it aired on television? Don’t know why I didn’t see that before. 🤷
 
This is going to be sudden and random but is there anyone here familiar with the Vocaloid phenomenon? I can’t help but watch/listen over one particular series of synthesized music vids featuring the characters. I’m pretty dead certain that this would be the only ones I’d obsess over but I wonder if there’s a chance of anyone here who would know what I’m talking about. >_<;;
 
Academia said:
Forgive my previous post, apparently, it aired on television? Don’t know why I didn’t see that before. 🤷
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Yes. I can’t remember the exact year or the ‘show’ that aired it. I only know that since then, I’ve been looking for it. (See? The innerwebs is good for some things!)

I was finally able to buy The Golden Antelope on DVD, and it came with another feature: The Snow Queen, equally beautiful and a bit eerie. Seems to me that Miyazaki might have been influenced by those two cartoons.
 
Lost_Wanderer said:
This is going to be sudden and random but is there anyone here familiar with the Vocaloid phenomenon? I can’t help but watch/listen over one particular series of synthesized music vids featuring the characters. I’m pretty dead certain that this would be the only ones I’d obsess over but I wonder if there’s a chance of anyone here who would know what I’m talking about. >_<;;
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Art sites like deviantART and Pixiv have a lot of fanarts of Vocaloids, so yes, I know what are you talking about.

The design of Hatsune Miku is interesting, well, at least the clothes and colors.

Blessings !!!

:):)🙂
 
Sailor_Kenshin said:
Yes. I can’t remember the exact year or the ‘show’ that aired it. I only know that since then, I’ve been looking for it. (See? The innerwebs is good for some things!)

I was finally able to buy The Golden Antelope on DVD, and it came with another feature: The Snow Queen, equally beautiful and a bit eerie. Seems to me that Miyazaki might have been influenced by those two cartoons.
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I think between the two, The Snow Queen would be my favorite. Hans Christian Andersen has always been a favorite author of mine. He has written some excellent stories, that one in particular. They did a good job basing the animation off of his work.
 
Lost_Wanderer said:
This is going to be sudden and random but is there anyone here familiar with the Vocaloid phenomenon? I can’t help but watch/listen over one particular series of synthesized music vids featuring the characters. I’m pretty dead certain that this would be the only ones I’d obsess over but I wonder if there’s a chance of anyone here who would know what I’m talking about. >_<;;
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I love the Vocaloids. 😃 I can’t decide whether my favorite is Luka or Meiko. I’ve spent a lot of time on Youtube searching for their songs. Especially as Halloween nears (“Trick and Treat,” “Mrs. Pumpkin,” “Hitobashira Arisu”). Have you heard any of their “Story of Evil” songs?
 
Laoise said:
I love the Vocaloids. 😃 I can’t decide whether my favorite is Luka or Meiko. I’ve spent a lot of time on Youtube searching for their songs. Especially as Halloween nears (“Trick and Treat,” “Mrs. Pumpkin,” “Hitobashira Arisu”). Have you heard any of their “Story of Evil” songs?
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Sad to say I haven’t. :o

I have now though and I’m amused by their Halloween-ey feel. ;p However, this series’ representation of Len and Rin might actually be quite the opposite to the other series that I was originally referring to.

As I’ve said before, I’ve only been obsessing with a couple of Vocaloid songs I’ve run into while I was looking for ideas for my own fantasy-themed anime short story. If the “fantasy” bit has given you a hint, I suppose you’ve heard of Synchronicity?
 
Another good pro-life story is Now and Then, Here and There. Since I know a lot of you haven’t seen this (and here’s hoping its license is renewed since CPM is no longer around, or so I heard), I’m putting the spoiler in white.
Midway through the series, a girl is raped off-screen. When we later catch up with her, the hero has to stop her from killing her unborn child. We never get to see the actual pregnancy, but we do learn that she has accepted that she is to bring a new life into this world.

This anime is quite heart-wrenching, but the ending is worth it. It’s the reason that TVTropes made the phrase “Earn Your Happy Ending”
 
Funny that you mention Bleach. A friend sent me a sample DVD of the first episode. I thought the set-up was interesting, but I was completely unable to like the main character for whatever reason. Or the Dad… 🤷

I don’t know where ‘Hiei’ with his Bankai comes in, but the DVD was a dub so it wouldn’t be the same anyway.
 
Sailor_Kenshin said:
Funny that you mention Bleach. A friend sent me a sample DVD of the first episode. I thought the set-up was interesting, but I was completely unable to like the main character for whatever reason. Or the Dad… 🤷
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I didn’t really enjoy it or think it was that interesting until the part where they break into the Seireitei, and the story started focusing on the soul reapers instead of Ichigo’s schoolmates. The only reason I even stuck it out till that point was because the first episodes I saw were from later on and I wanted to get all the backstory.

PS. I really don’t like Ichigo that much either lol
 
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