Why do you like anime? - And why is it popular

[Slap47]

Because Jojo is amazing:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=F5XrOwBunjM
https://youtube.com/watch?v=W944vHnaQPw
https://youtube.com/watch?v=XUhVCoTsBaM
https://youtube.com/watch?v=56l3KJPEkPo:11
In all seriousness, I was out of anime for a very long time. I used to watch it in the 1990s, but anime was way different back then. You basically didn't have series as such coming to the states, but movies. When the Sci-Fi channel was still Sci-Fi, it had all this great fucking anime on it. Project A-Ko, Lodoss War, Macross, all classic shit. Around college I got into it because of Hellsing, but I was more used to US schedules for TV, so I fell out of it. Anime, until relatively recently, was usually relegated to one or two series. This is because of the massive costs involved and sometimes you wouldn't get another series until YEARS after the first, because of how ridiculously expensive it was. This still happens today, the gap between AoT seasons was so excessive that many forgot it even existed. That's probably my biggest gripe with anime, is that it is so costly that sometimes good anime won't get another season or just stop mid-arc. Or it takes a VERY long time to get another series.

But its getting better. So I got more into it. The thing for me is multi-faceted: The way that anime tells stories is different than Western shows. The unique cultural aspect and its pure Japanese-ness is so different its attractive. A lot of times, the art is fucking beautiful. You can't even compare it to Western cartoons. That's because the West has not evolved.

Check out the Real Ghostbusters (1980s, 1990s):

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Now:

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Art has gone backwards from the 1980s and 1990s in the West. Even the cheapest shows have better art than the shows now. Also the 'Real Ghostbusters' for kids, had scary and terrifying stories and each character was good and unique on their own. Shit was good. But animation in the West has largely been relegated to dogshit. Everything is either badly drawn comedy or badly drawn for little children. The exceptions are Avatar and The Boondocks. But that's about it. And even the Boondocks is comedy. There's nothing really 'serious'. Maybe Avatar. Even that was more aimed at children. And then, its still fucking UGLY. Its not appealing to look at.

But there's really nothing that can compare to it. Especially since the art style in the West has rapidly been degenerating. When in anime there's tons of different ways to do art. Some is simplistic to a point, then gets complex. Good anime can tell its stories through its own artistry and visuals. Even anime with simple drawing style can get complex when it wants to do unique emotions or story-telling. The reverse is also true, well-drawn animation can go simplistic. There's also the music too.

There's also cases where you're basically looking at your own culture through the lens of another. Like in anime that is set in the US you get the unique perspective of how someone from Japan views the United States. Or even your own culture. I'm a spaghetti nigger, and this season of JoJo was set in Italy. So it was fun for me to see how the Japanese interpret Italian culture.

Another thing others have mentioned is that anime is generally free from the restrictions of the West in terms of creators. They don't have to worry about including this, or that. Or offending anyone. They tell the story they want to. And a lot of it can be fucking strange, weird, abstract. And that's fascinating. Its also the reason why Manga is raping American comics in its asshole. Its because Manga has no creator restrictions. It does what it wants and that's appealing. You don't really get a sense of a political message or being lectured to, if it even has one. Its trying to entertain you. The characters are also all typically visually appealing. Sure, there's fan service, but who gives a fuck? Is that really terrible? I think its better than nowadays where they're trying to pass off ugly, fat dumpy women as 'beautiful' and covering every beautiful woman in the equivalent of a burka. I mean, I don't watch a lot of fan service anime, so maybe that's it.

I mean, there's all sorts of dumb shit too, but there's dumb shit in every form of entertainment. But in anime and manga, you can get stories that Western creators are too fucking terrified to tell. And I'm generally getting tired of cowardly entertainment. Its why people have left American comics behind. They're not daring. They're not compelling. They're dumb, boring dogshit. With manga, there's so much out there and its so simple to follow. I also don't have to be afraid of being lectured to, or being dressed down for liking something or faced with SJW power fantasies that no one else has. My patience has ended and I no longer buy entertainment that tries to lecture me, has diversity in it for no reason or insults its audience in any fashion. I'm done. If someone wants my dollar, don't fucking talk down to me. Don't try to teach me anything. I don't need your faggot lessons. I work hard enough, intellectually and work wise. I want to be entertained, told compelling and thrilling stories and see beautiful art, animation, people, etc. I'm tired of being told those are 'bad' things to want. Anime provides them. The West no longer does.

Basically, Western pop-culture has a dulled edge that's made it way too safe and a lot of time lectures to, dismisses and insults its audience. Even when it tries, you can still feel the hesitation and need to compromise because of inter-sectional culture and the fear of Twitter. The East is more daring, stranger and more appreciative of its audience and doesn't care what Baizuo Western faggots think and isn't afraid to tell them to go fuck themselves. That's really what it comes down to, and why I've gotten back into anime.

I'd actually say that the 2000s was a golden age of western animation. There was alot of garbage but basically everybody was getting a budget to make something cool.

Adult Swim was actually putting out stuff that was insane and most govts were pretty willing to subsidize small projects.

Avatar, Megas XLR, Kids Next Door, Boondocks and many more.

You had all of these cool pet projects lead by passionate people. The animation was cheaper but the stuff had soul.

I also have no problems with lessons. The Cartoon Recess is probably one of the greatest "slice of life" shows ever.

I'd say the show that represents the final decline of the west is Korgoth the Barbarian - insanely good but never made because Adult Swim plays it safe.

YouTube

www.youtube.com

 

[X-Shaped Weeaboo]

I'd actually say that the 2000s was a golden age of western animation. There was alot of garbage but basically everybody was getting a budget to make something cool.

Adult Swim was actually putting out stuff that was insane and most govts were pretty willing to subsidize small projects.

Avatar, Megas XLR, Kids Next Door, Boondocks and many more.

You had all of these cool pet projects lead by passionate people. The animation was cheaper but the stuff had soul.

I also have no problems with lessons. The Cartoon Recess is probably one of the greatest "slice of life" shows ever.

I'd say the show that represents the final decline of the west is Korgoth the Barbarian - insanely good but never made because Adult Swim plays it safe.

YouTube

www.youtube.com

So long as we're going to be praising Western Animation, especially the more mature and adult stuff, let's not forget that this fucking show existed.

Moral Orel Sacrifice rant

Moral Orel Season 3 episode 11- Sacrifice. Clay rants about sacrifice to the reverend, police officer, and doctor

www.youtube.com

Bojack Horseman and Rick Sanchez have fucking nothing on how dark this character (and hell, the whole show) is. Seriously though, the animation on Clay is so fucking good not because it's fluid or innovative but because it's so fucking real.

 

[WhoIsSutterKane]

I only like extremely violent anime from the 90s.

 

[Lemmingwise]

I prefer western animation. It's more wholesome.

Video related.

 

[troon patrol]

I really have no fucking idea why anyone adult would bother to watch any anime outside of Cowboy bebop and dragonball. Dragonball Z was on basic cable and I watched it even though was painfully edited as fuck to not reference any kind of death. All references to death to were changed to "the next dimension" they even had to force some gay as dubover when a helicopter got shot down about it being a "robot helicopter".

Cowboy bebop was and still is fucking awesome but, then again I'm white trash and love gun pron.

 

[AverageAnimeWatcher]

I agree with most of what's been said.

I would just add that I think a huge advantage is that western animation is mostly kiddy cartoons designed to sell toys to 15-year-olds and younger or the other extreme with super edgy cartoons for adults (rick and Morty, Southpark, drawn together etc ). With very little in between.

Anime does have genres by ages, but it's far more varied on its types of stories. Western animation for around the '90s had a hard time letting go the looney tunes/Hanna barbera style. Meanwhile, you got Sailor Moon, ranma 1/2 and Dragon ball Z.

 

[Dom Cruise]

I only like extremely violent anime from the 90s.

If you like that then you should check out Kemonozume from 2006, which is like a post modern take on that type of anime, from Masaaki Yuasa, most recently known for Devilman Crybaby.

Unfortunately it never got an official US release, even a year after Devilman Crybaby created renewed interest in Yuasa, which is strange, but fansubs aren't too hard to find.

 

[Varg Did Nothing Wrong]

I watch two different types of anime mostly: Jojo, and calm/funny slice of life anime. Jojo is great because of the weird story lines, the stands, and whatever. Slice of life is just a completely relaxed viewing experience and I guess it's sort of a way to put yourself into the shoes of one of the characters, where the most stressful thing is whether or not you'll go cicada hunting or whatever. Non Non Biyori is a great anime for just drinking a beer, putting up your feet and watching kids do kid stuff without any sexualization or weird creep overtones. Same with Nichijou, or reading Yotsuba, or whatever else - just wholesome fun that you can watch and feel your inner tension melting away, no stress, no nothing. Just good fun and a smile on your face. It's like the media equivalent of petting a cat.

 

[X-Shaped Weeaboo]

Nichijou

What makes Nichijou good isn't the slice of life stuff. It's the fact that it's actually fucking animated like the people making it actually gave a damn. 90% of Slice of Life anime are barely animated at all with tons of boring still-shots, long monologues of characters talking in a room, usually eating or sitting at desks or benches, or being dragged and dropped as they "walk" by having their bodies bob up and down as the digitally rendered stock backgrounds pan.

The only anime that did this sort of thing right was Lucky Star, a show that knew to take the piss out of the traditionally boring format by making the characters never talk about anything important a la the "How do you eat bread" opening of the show.

 

[Varg Did Nothing Wrong]

What makes Nichijou good isn't the slice of life stuff. It's the fact that it's actually fucking animated like the people making it actually gave a damn. 90% of Slice of Life anime are barely animated at all with tons of boring still-shots, long monologues of characters talking in a room, usually eating or sitting at desks or benches, or being dragged and dropped as they "walk" by having their bodies bob up and down as the digitally rendered stock backgrounds pan.

The only anime that did this sort of thing right was Lucky Star, a show that knew to take the piss out of the traditionally boring format by making the characters never talk about anything important a la the "How do you eat bread" opening of the show.

You're missing the entire point of what I said I liked but ok feel free to sperg out

 

[Niggernerd]

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This is why I watch anime.

Ah I see you're a man of culture as well.

What makes Nichijou good isn't the slice of life stuff. It's the fact that it's actually fucking animated like the people making it actually gave a damn. 90% of Slice of Life anime are barely animated at all with tons of boring still-shots, long monologues of characters talking in a room, usually eating or sitting at desks or benches, or being dragged and dropped as they "walk" by having their bodies bob up and down as the digitally rendered stock backgrounds pan.

The only anime that did this sort of thing right was Lucky Star, a show that knew to take the piss out of the traditionally boring format by making the characters never talk about anything important a la the "How do you eat bread" opening of the show.

NHK is arguably the best Slice of Life tbqh. Sub-plot is hilarious because it's about making hentai games even though Satou wasnt a weeb but wanted to be part of something that didn't make him feel alone (too bad Yamazaki was just a loser himself and had bad taste in gal games)
The manga itself is superior because it shows why he talks to his household appliances (my nigga Satou high as fuck)
And really shows that the other characters were basically using Satou for their own means. Yamazaki just wanted him so he can make his own game, Hitomi just wanted someone more pathetic than herself and Misaki the same and had a obsessive mentally abusive affection towards him, she wanted to "help" him from his hiki life and at the same time put him down as a way of making him having to need her.
It's really good to help someone realize that the only way you can make your own life better is yourself and not relying on others.
Nichijous Slice of life isn't so much in your face because it's mostly really good comedy but when the SoL hits, it hits.

 

[verissimus]

It would be far more appropriate to say liked instead of like anime for me although that's not to say everything that's come out since about 2006 has been crap; however, if I had to say what got me to like Japanese anime, then I'd say it would be as what a few have already stated : great animation, balls to the wall action for a number of them (DBZ, Ninja Scroll, Macross Plus, Gundam Wing, etc.), somewhat more mature in terms of theme(s), willingness to have blood and kill off characters, and pretty goods scores at least for some of them (anything pretty much with Yoko Kanno in it, Gundam Wing, Escaflowne, Rurouni Kenshin, etc. (Note : again just to stress, I'm applying this for anime that came out mainly between the 80s and 90s).

Western animation rarely had all of the above. We mostly got comedic cartoon shows either family friendly (Freakazoid, Looney Tunes, Pinky and the Brain, etc.) or mature (the Simpsons, Venture Brothers, Boondocks, etc.), comic book bases series (Batman, Superman, X-men, and Spiderman TAS), a few action adventure shows (Swat Kats, Thundercats, Samurai Jack, Avatar, etc.) or Disney Movies many of which were certainly not bad for what they were, but as someone else rightly pointed out, most of them simply couldn't fill in the gap that some anime could because many of them were simply unwilling to go to places anime did although that probably had more to do with the intended audience of shows and other times American censors/weak-kneed studio executives.

 

[Crichax]

Anime is just exceptional and anime profile pics are for politispergs.

I can't find that with western animation because it's all garbage that panders to exceptional children unlike some cartoons from the mid 90's to mid 2000's (notably Batman,Batman Beyond,Justice league, Samurai Jack)

People who hate either the nebulous concepts of anime or Western animation blow my mind. Anime is a medium, not a genre. Same thing with Western animation.

Both anime and Western animation have given us some excellent shows, even in recent times. Sanjay and Craig, Gravity Falls, Madoka Magica, the awesome fanmade Touhou anime, etc.

All of these are very different from each other, but they're all quality stuff.

As far as manga goes, I'm honestly starting to enjoy Chinese comics, and Manhwa more. Manga is getting bad about something getting popular, and then everyone else ripping them off.

Chinese storytelling is becoming better and better, TBH. I watched two episodes of the Chinese anime Everlasting Immortal Firmament (with fansubs on YouTube), and it's scary how good they are. While they aren't subtle at all and sometimes rely on bland random humor (ha, ha, ha, Starbucks joke in Ancient China), overall, the writing feels like someone combined Japanese humor with Adult Swim, and I love it. Better first impression than Rick and Morty, to say the least.

Speaking of which, I've always wondered if The Boondocks has a following in Japan. For all their shows and games that show off Japanese life, I'd like to think they'd be interested to see a show with a bit of American life.

It does, actually. I talked to a Japanese guy in the comments section of a Boondocks Japanese dub video. I used Google Translate to translate his messages to English and mine to Japanese. Basically, he says he has fond memories of this show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsDdRW_jf_o&lc=UgxzSaljW77MRbcTyz94AaABAg

I can imagine the Japanese fanbase would be a lot higher if the companies behind Boondocks were to rerelease the Japanese version on some streaming service over there (or on Blu-Rays). Some Japanese geeks absolutely love South Park, after all.

 

[TerribleIdeas™]

Weabs are marginally closer to being human than furries.

 

[ES 195]

Weabs are marginally closer to being human than furries.

Weebs are the scum of the earth and should be purged with extreme prejudice. That being said, weebs are light-years closer to being human than furries.

 

[queerape]

I've liked anime as long as I can remember, all the way back to Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon when I was a kid. Why I originally watched anime is beyond me really, as I'd have been too young to remember. But, a large driving force of what kept me in it was because my sister joined in with me and later I built friendships and even romantic relationships of anime and engagement with anime/nerd media.

 

[⋖ cørdion ⋗]

I started watching anime about 3-4 summers ago. I watched all the big sad ones (fuck Your Name though. Generic, boring, and praised for trans awareness when bodyswapping is literally done at least once in every kids show) and actually felt emotions, which was nice for a change. Then I tried looking at sports, because ultimately they have an easy to understand plotline, and isn't just treading water with comedy or 'cute girls do cute things'. They join as first-years, see their SENPAIs graduate, become the senpai, win a tournament or something, and then graduate from school by the last episode.

I don't really want to experience the perfect childhood or anything, and I like that especially with sports, it's a contained span of 3 years. They could spend all their time in school cycling, but then they graduate and become an engineer and never touch it again. Just like real life. I did however recently start reading manga instead, as the author gets their point across personally and in 1/5 the time. Anime has since sort of lost its magic, and I've been overexposed to its ~magic~ and am now back to being jaded.

Anime is just exceptional and anime profile pics are for politispergs.

Honestly, the choice of anime, character, and expression for an avatar says a lot about a person. I believe it's rooted in the need seen with furries etc to have a personal 'me' to be recognized by. For example, if you have the most basic thot from some top 10 anime as your profile pic, I can tell you're as deep into it as Elon Musk (who only watches anime on Netflix), while having some side character from an unpopular anime probably means you either completely relate to them or at the least watch anime that isn't immediately popular.

 

[John Titor]

I got into mostly because of the variety I don't usually see. Back then my choices were family sitcoms, dysfunctional family sitcoms, teen dramas starring adults pretending to be teens, trashy "adult" humor ala Family Guy and if I'm lucky, a movie airing on TV; not having cable sucked. On the comics side, it's nice to see something that wasn't capeshit for once.
Edginess might have been a factor because I used to think Inuyasha was amazing for having the balls to have someone killed.

 

[lurk_moar]

I had this avatar saved to my computer when I was very huge into Bleach and just used it on the farms.

I was a huge anime fan as a teen, then outgrew it. I started to watch bleach as an adult and Dragonball Super. Thanks to the shitternet, I cannot remain focused too long on one thing, so It is hard for me to watch one episode of anything anymore. I cannot sit still long enough. Anime still holds a special place in my heart. I love 2D anime and the art style as well. I love the story telling in anime, but some novels are also very creative too. High speed wi-fi with free anime on demand would be a dream come true as a teenager, but as an adult I am more into Chinese dramas and my kindle. I am more into novels because my exact place on the kindle is always saved versus YouTube or other streaming where it is a hit or miss.

I haven’t been diagnosed with ADD.

 

[millais]

"King of the Hill" captures the essence of what it means to be 40 yr old Boomer