Why does anime suck?

[shmokes]

Don't misread my subject line....I know what sucks about anime, I'm wondering why they choose to make it suck.  Here are my problems:

1- ACTING!!!!  Why is everybody yelling all the time?  Why do they deliver their lines like if they don't make it to the bathroom in the next 30 seconds they'll pee their pants?  I assume that the Japanese people aren't constantly yelling for no reason in real life.  And if they do, why don't they tailor the english track to north american audiences during localization and have the voice actors speak in normal tones and make use of a little tool we have here called inflection?

2- Why, for the love of god, are these talented artists able to create beautifully detailed landscapes and worlds and action sequences, yet have only two frames for the human mouth: closed and gaping?  It looks retarded.

Great films like Sprited Away and Princess Mononoke are held back from being masterpieces by the jarring voice work, and Akira (here come the flames) is completely unwatchable -- "CAAANNNEEEEEDDDDDAAAAA.......TEEEEEETSUUUUUOOOOO.......CAANNNEEEEEDAAAAA!!!". 

[nostrebor]

hehehe...

Shmokes anime blasting thread has anime dvd advertisements at the top

BURN!

[TalkingOctopus]

1) The english subs are unbearable.  Watch it subbed. 

Akira is a pointless waste of time.  The movie has no plot and is very over rated.  Avoid watching it at all costs.  Like anything else, 90% of anime is garbage.  The remaining %10 is difficult to find, because rabid anime fans tend to give everything a positive review.  A current anime that I'd recommend is Monster.  I don't think it suffers from problems 1 or 2. 

[SirPoonga]

I find there are two types of anime, good action and the cutsy wide eyed stuff.

Trigun, Outlaw Star, and Cowboy Bebop are very good.
Basically, you want to see good anime, get Animatrix.  Matrix themed anime by the top directors and artists.

[SOAPboy]

Elfin Lied

Nuff Said

[paigeoliver]

When I was younger I was a big fan of the comic books drawn in the Anime style (Manga), but I had never seen any ACTUAL anime until recently.

I saw some Trigun, it was absolutely terrible.

[menace]

Is robotech considered anime?  I thought that was an excellent series.  And I agree Akira was way over rated and princess monoke, was pretty good.

[danny_galaga]

 

watch 'porco rosso'. excellent manga EVEN though it features all the annoying things you mentioned...

[Effayy]

I recently borrowed a copy of Appleseed from a co-worker, and I suggest giving it a watch.  Was well done imo.  (English subs, not dubbed).

And Spirited Away was great.

- FA

[Stingray]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who dislikes anime, and I'm a huge animation fan. I don't think I've ever been able to sit through an entire anime feature, and for the reasons that Shmokes cited.

-S

[SirPoonga]

I saw some Trigun, it was absolutely terrible.

Why is that?  Didn't understand the story line?  Depending on what episode you saw it can seem strange if you haven't started from the beginning and saw everything.  Especially when you get to the later episodes when the storyline is coming to a conclusion.

[fredster]

I love Anime.

It's stylistic, it's fresh, and it has compelling story lines.

Best sci-fi around.

Plus there are breasts.  Breasts are always good.

[dogg0]

Akira is COOL!!!! (blood, fights, BIKES, massive explosions??) what more could you really ask for?

also, naruto is both funny and badass, most entertaining thing ive scene with constant screaming and two frames for mouth movement

[SirPoonga]

2- Why, for the love of god, are these talented artists able to create beautifully detailed landscapes and worlds and action sequences, yet have only two frames for the human mouth: closed and gaping?  It looks retarded.

It's a stylistic thing.  Like South Park, the whole crappy animation thing is on purpose.  You know they use some of hte most high end software for that.

But it really depends on the anime.  The stereotypical huge eye cutsy stuff is like that.
But now watch Session 1 of Cowboy Bebop, or the beginning of Session 20 of Cowboy Bebop (My favorite scene in the whole series).  Cool animations and effects, lots of action, woohoo!

Or as I said before, pick up animatrix to see what good action anime is all about.

[Ken Layton]

The only real good Japanimation is the old black & white "8th Man" and "Astroboy".

[dogg0]

on a related note, has anyone seen Steamboy or Howl's moving castle?

[shmokes]

I just saw an ad for Steamboy on Rottentomatoes.  It says it's from the maker of Akira.  That's what prompted me to start this thread.

I'm actually surprised that a bunch of geeks like the lot at BYOAC seem to agree so much about anime suckiness.  I was expecting everyone here to be die-hards.

On the Southpark comparison I'd buy it if the crappy mouth animation were consistent, but Japanese animation is top-notch -- some of the best in the world.  The crappy stuff I was talking about seems to apply almost exclusively to human mouths and maybe to a lesser degree to facial expressions in general (inexplicable squinting and drops of sweat flying off people's faces while they scream, etc.).  I know that it is a stylistic thing, but I think it's out of place and inappropriate.

And the voicework is, of course, unacceptable. 

[mr.Curmudgeon]

I've always been bothered by the random grunt noises and exclamations the actors make...like, "uhn" and "huh?"...it's like there can't be 1 sec. of silence in-between two lines of dialog.

[SirPoonga]

The crappy stuff I was talking about seems to apply almost exclusively to human mouths and maybe to a lesser degree to facial expressions in general (inexplicable squinting and drops of sweat flying off people's faces while they scream, etc.). 

Oh, that stuff if showing a specific expression or emotion.  Like angry squinting eyes being ><.  And that's usually in the cutsy stuff, bah.

[Sephroth57]

notice all the anime h8ers are old people =P

you probably seen 1 crappy anime and say they all suck. thats like watching King Arthur (god that movie sucked) and not liking the fantasy genre even though LOTR kicks ass

[Jollyrob]

I like anime, I wouldn't go as far as to say love...

But I can see where they are coming from, I really only like either movies or the film noir style animes like Lain, or any that have a VERY serious dark overtone...

The reason is because those are the only animes you can really watch that have some stupid comedy relief situation or character popping up out of nowhere, Nearly all anime series' are like this, you'll have this great interesting story going on, your introduced to appealing characters that make you wonder what they have to hide, than invariably 10 mins later you're introduced to a side character with  NO bearing on the plot, that 9 times out of 10 is an under a foot tall, smiling clumsy, corny joking, crying at the top of a hat, winged cat thing...that as far as i can tell is only there to appeal to any 7 year olds that may also be watching this otherwise R rated film

I can really dig anime, up until that crap happens, Lain, Akira, Appleseed, Record of Lodoss War, they are all interesting to me.

Cause they have no retarded winged cat thing....I say, kill the winged cat things

There is one comedy anime I did enjoy, and that was 3x3 eyes, it was hilarious, it involved a dude that is turned into an immortal by some innocent cutesy demon school girl, and all through the series he dies at random stupid times cause he's really clumsy, gets up like nothing and the expressions of the people standing around looking at him is great, plus it has that way over the top blood thing that goes on in Kill Bill, which just adds to the level of silliness

[Sephroth57]

oh yeah i agree, im only into "serious" anime really. some good series animes are

Record of Lodoss Wars
Serial Experiments Lain
Princess Mononoke
Ninja Scroll
Evangelion
Iria

[Hoagie_one]

if akira baffles you, you need to read the comic...much better story telling

[SOAPboy]

2- Why, for the love of god, are these talented artists able to create beautifully detailed landscapes and worlds and action sequences, yet have only two frames for the human mouth: closed and gaping?

[Zakk]

Can't sum it up better than this:
http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail57.html

Oh, and trigun sucks.

[AlanS17]

on a related note, has anyone seen Steamboy or Howl's moving castle?

I saw both at the theater, and both were good. Steamboy is "the most expensive animated feature ever produced". And if you liked Spirited Away, you'll like Howl's Moving Castle. They're both in the same vein.

[TOK]

notice all the anime h8ers are old people =P

you probably seen 1 crappy anime and say they all suck. thats like watching King Arthur (god that movie sucked) and not liking the fantasy genre even though LOTR kicks ass

Young people are behind the popluarity of things like New Kids On The Block, pants down around the knees and 4 cylinder cars that look like they do 150mph but run 22 second quarter miles.

Like someone else said, I'm a big fan of animation, and I tried to like anime, but most of the stories really suck. There is no depth to them, although it's implied.
I'm always turned off by a cast of stylized but realistic characters, then there is one throw-in (usually a scientist) that has huge Coke bottle glasses, crazy hair and a giant red tomato nose. Either that or some goofy animal. It tears me out of the story.

As far as being good animation... I disagree with that. They have good art and backgrounds, but the actual animation sucks. Low frames, mostly cheaply done. Some Anime will have a few breathtaking well done scenes padded with lots of crap. Production values are uneven to say the least.

[Sephroth57]

bah, further shows your stereotyping. my 4 cylinder is runnin 12.4 1/4 thanks =p

[hooded_paladin]

notice all the anime h8ers are old people =P

Nope.  I love tons of Japanese stuff and (as I'm sure you know) anime's great for Bemani game art, but I really don't enjoy anime movies.  Most of the industry has the mindset that they are too funny / cool / genius to throw away the cliches and make something coherent.

And like TOK said, all the drama is mostly implied.  Some people can be fooled into thinking it's deep but everyone else balks at it.  I don't like that aspect in SNES RPG's like Chrono Trigger and Tactics Ogre.  Characters onscreen have dramatic encounters at 3 FPS and all I can think about is how I don't care because no one clued me in on any relevant information.

[danny_galaga]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who dislikes anime, and I'm a huge animation fan. I don't think I've ever been able to sit through an entire anime feature, and for the reasons that Shmokes cited.

-S

again. watch 'porco rosso'. hey, each time i read one of your posts i think you are drewkaree. i wonder why that is...

[shmokes]

I started the thread and would hardly call myself old at 26.

And don't say h8ers.

[SOAPboy]

notice all the anime h8ers are old people =P

you probably seen 1 crappy anime and say they all suck. thats like watching King Arthur (god that movie sucked) and not liking the fantasy genre even though LOTR kicks ass

Young people are behind the popluarity of things like New Kids On The Block, pants down around the knees and 4 cylinder cars that look like they do 150mph but run 22 second quarter miles.

Like someone else said, I'm a big fan of animation, and I tried to like anime, but most of the stories really suck. There is no depth to them, although it's implied.
I'm always turned off by a cast of stylized but realistic characters, then there is one throw-in (usually a scientist) that has huge Coke bottle glasses, crazy hair and a giant red tomato nose. Either that or some goofy animal. It tears me out of the story.

As far as being good animation... I disagree with that. They have good art and backgrounds, but the actual animation sucks. Low frames, mostly cheaply done. Some Anime will have a few breathtaking well done scenes padded with lots of crap. Production values are uneven to say the least.

Watch GOOD anime.. not cheap Dragonball crap..

Can't sum it up better than this:
http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail57.html

Oh, and trigun sucks.

You have an opinion, and its wrong.. 

[TalkingOctopus]

You have an opinion, and its wrong..

[SOAPboy]

You have an opinion, and its wrong..

[knuttz]

I'm 21 and I think anime sucks.  Its just a matter of taste.  I like things that others think are terrible too, such as professional wrestling and zombie movies.

[Stormryder]

For some reason, I want to like anime, but find it difficult.  I'm going to agree with many of the "turnoffs" already mentioned.  I've not seen much, but of what I have seen:

Trigun - borrowed the entire series on DVD from a student.  The first episode and the ones near the end are good... ...the "serious" parts, I suppose.  It's a culture thing I suppose, but it's hard for me to relate to a character who's got real depth and serious issues one moment, and the next his face is all goofy and he's munching burgers (or cookies or something).  Weed out all the goofy stuff and yes, this is a good series.

Cowboy Bebop - Also borrowed this one... Tried to get into it and didn't have the time nor the desire.  Perhaps I should try again sometime.

.hack//sign - AWESOME!  Yes, there's a little goofy stuff here, but it's not too bad.  The storyline is really cool (kid gets trapped in an MMORPG (massively multiplayer online roleplay game)).  As an MMO player, I can relate to some of the subject matter.  The music is pretty good in this series too.  Bought the first two limited edition (?) disks at BestBuy (pricey!).  I need to go on Ebay and buy the complete series (much cheaper).  Anyone know what the difference is between those?  or what I should look for?

Animatrix - Really cool.  Recommended.... especially for the Second Renaissance episodes that give good backstory to the Matrix series.

-Stormryder

[Stingray]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who dislikes anime, and I'm a huge animation fan. I don't think I've ever been able to sit through an entire anime feature, and for the reasons that Shmokes cited.

-S

again. watch 'porco rosso'. hey, each time i read one of your posts i think you are drewkaree. i wonder why that is...

If the opportunity arises, I'll give Porco Rosso a shot, but only because it was you who recomended it. And I can't imagine why you might be mistaking me for DrewKaree lately.

-S

[shmokes]

I watched Cowboy Beebop once on Adult Swim, and it was pretty lame, but I'm sure it would be a different story if I started from the beginning and watched the series...

[fredster]

I like things that others think are terrible too, such as professional wrestling and zombie movies.

Well obviously, you have no culture huh?

I like Inuasha and Ghost in the Shell. Those are good.  Cowboy Beebop is really good too.  It's all good sci-fi and fantasy.

I can understand why some people don't like it.  It takes imagination and some apprecation of the arts to understand it and enjoy it. 

[RayB]

You want dark anime that will blow your mind? Try Legend of the Overfiend and La Blue Girl.

Oh wait, those still have weird side-kick characters under a foot tall popping in from nowhere with little to no bearing on the story... (but hey, there's also Nazi sex machines. Can't beat that kind of twisted story!)