Is Mainstream Hatred Of Anime Growing?

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MisterGrey3000 said:
I've noticed that I've been growing a bit apathetic towards anime over the past 3 years as I've studied to become a professional animator/artist (Senior art/animation instructors in the west don't really wanna see that stuff in your portfolio. As far as they're concerned it doesn't look professional)
Outside of Miyazaki/Ghibli and classics like Akira (which they make us study), I generally don't pay a lot of attention to Japanese animation. I mostly look at western animated shorts/shows/movies with the occasional subtitled or dubbed foreign gem mixed in every so often.

If I'm mostly unenthusiastic about anime then I have to imagine that most mainstream people probably don't give a hoot about it (sans Miyazaki...maybe)
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Oh, I've heard of this stigma before. It makes sense, since anime fans can be really annoying.

But... I think anime is a treasure trove of complex and skillful animation, as long as you know where to look for it. There are sites like Sakugabooru that collect only the best nuggets of animation from various shows, which could be a good resource for someone in your position, akin to Ghibli's works.
 
Stumpokapow said:
Please do. Here are my requirements:

- if it is a series, that it is short with no filler
- should not be built around fighting or combat
- should not contain robots
- should look good, with smooth animation rather than choppy stuff
- should treat women like human beings with dignity, equity, and rich inner lives and should ideally have female characters that are not merely love interests for male characters
- should engage with human, social, and political themes and preferably in a real rather than fantasy world
- should be targeted to adults
- character's eyes should be appropriately sized for their head
- if it has a theme song, the theme song should not overly earnest desperate generic Japanese pop
- should not be described as anyone ever as "badass"

- should not contain a young female character who is rude and abusive to everyone played for laughs
- should not contain a young female character that makes shrill, high pitched noises as a stand-in for actually expressing themselves with words
- should not contain soft focus shots where characters gaze longingly into each other's eyes
- should not contain that dumb blushing reaction where there's a sweat drop and the person screws up their eyes
- should not contain uguu or waifu or whatever other babble people use to express how they want to surround themselves with shrill excitable cute girls
- should not have extended details about how a male character is a pervert

- should be available legally for a reasonable price in North America, preferably dubbed. If it's subbed, the subtitles should be professional and localized, not merely translated

I've asked this before and got a few solid recommendations that I have enjoyed, but in almost every case people remind me that I'm really rubbing up major tropes and approaches used in Anime.

Edit: for example, without knowing anything about the shows, the summaries in the Anime of the Year 2014 results thread exclude most of those shows that made the cut. Not all, mind you.
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Not legally released but Happy Birthday, Inochi Kagayaku Toki deals with mental child abuse and children with disabilities in a really tactful manner.
 
Gorillaz said:
Its in this weird balance where it is gaining relevance in a "haha im so nerdy" way and losing it because of all the lewd shit. There is always a gateway anime out like every other year and at the same time there is a lot of shit to search through to get the good shit.
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Okay is this the thread where I can honestly ask: what the hell is up with "lewd"?
 
 
The Technomancer said:
Okay is this the thread where I can honestly ask: what the hell is up with "lewd"?
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9_1550fd4adf5d86b55201eszn.gif
 
cosmicblizzard said:
Really, Stump would find a lot of stuff if he eased up on his criteria even if only a little bit. Something like Usagi Drop would fit if not for the fact the OP is J-Pop.
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Yeah Usagi Drop is really good. It was one of the anime that I watched a couple of years ago when I started to come back to anime after a break.
 
Stumpokapow said:
Please do. Here are my requirements:

- if it is a series, that it is short with no filler
- should not be built around fighting or combat
- should not contain robots
- should look good, with smooth animation rather than choppy stuff
- should treat women like human beings with dignity, equity, and rich inner lives and should ideally have female characters that are not merely love interests for male characters
- should engage with human, social, and political themes and preferably in a real rather than fantasy world
- should be targeted to adults
- character's eyes should be appropriately sized for their head
- if it has a theme song, the theme song should not overly earnest desperate generic Japanese pop
- should not be described as anyone ever as "badass"

- should not contain a young female character who is rude and abusive to everyone played for laughs
- should not contain a young female character that makes shrill, high pitched noises as a stand-in for actually expressing themselves with words
- should not contain soft focus shots where characters gaze longingly into each other's eyes
- should not contain that dumb blushing reaction where there's a sweat drop and the person screws up their eyes
- should not contain uguu or waifu or whatever other babble people use to express how they want to surround themselves with shrill excitable cute girls
- should not have extended details about how a male character is a pervert

- should be available legally for a reasonable price in North America, preferably dubbed. If it's subbed, the subtitles should be professional and localized, not merely translated

I've asked this before and got a few solid recommendations that I have enjoyed, but in almost every case people remind me that I'm really rubbing up major tropes and approaches used in Anime.

Edit: for example, without knowing anything about the shows, the summaries in the Anime of the Year 2014 results thread exclude most of those shows that made the cut. Not all, mind you.
Click to expand...

Okay. I'm going to go with the following as possibilities for your crazy list (note: this is not necessarily an endorsement of perfect quality):

Eden of the East (near future, but set in real world, targeted at post-university audience - deals with the NEET generation of early 00s Japan in a fairly high-concept way though so you may find it a bit silly)
The Tatami Galaxy (targeted at post-university audience, surrealist though)
Kids on the Slope (although about high school, is targeted at adults - a nostalgic high school romance but really more about young life in the 60s and jazz music)

Eden of the East and Kids on the Slope are both available dubbed on disc in the USA. The Tatami Galaxy is available legally in English but only through streaming and subbed - they are extremely professional and well localised. The only possible criteria to be violated is in the case of Kids on the Slope and its OP - I don't think it's "overly earnest generic Jpop" but it is sung by a Jpop singer.

I don't know if these are perfect suggestions, but I DO think they meet your criteria. There are other series I would suggest but, being incredibly niche thanks to the criteria, they aren't available in America!
 
Lynd7 said:
Yeah Usagi Drop is really good. It was one of the anime that I watched a couple of years ago when I started to come back to anime after a break.
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Really, there's plenty of stuff with a similar degree of poignancy like Barakamon that would be disqualified because of other bullet points among Stump's criteria. I'm no stranger to asking for overly-specific recommendations, but sometimes it's good to keep an open mid when it comes to the inclusion of certain things if literally everything else fits your tastes.
 
MisterGrey3000 said:
I've noticed that I've been growing a bit apathetic towards anime over the past 3 years as I've studied to become a professional animator/artist (Senior art/animation instructors in the west don't really wanna see that stuff in your portfolio. As far as they're concerned it doesn't look professional)
Outside of Miyazaki/Ghibli and classics like Akira (which they make us study), I generally don't pay a lot of attention to Japanese animation. I mostly look at western animated shorts/shows/movies with the occasional subtitled or dubbed foreign gem mixed in every so often.

If I'm mostly unenthusiastic about anime then I have to imagine that most mainstream people probably don't give a hoot about it (sans Miyazaki...maybe)
Click to expand...
Are you a clone of me? Because that's exactly how I feel. Seriously. There's just so many little things I don't get about Japanese animation sometimes. Like overly detailed character designs that are harder to animate which leads to very stiff movement during conversations unless the show has a high budget or the lack of lip sync. It's baffling. The lack of lip sync seriously kills me. I remember reading that they actually animate the show first and then dub over it. Which is quite literally the opposite of what we do in the west. Ofc i'm not talking about the higher budget ones,( the majority of which still don't have lip sync), like attack on titan which has some very fluid action scenes and even some good conversation scenes. Plus since i'm an adult, I seriously don't find the adolescent coming of age story relatable anymore, and I get quite grossed out from the ridiculous fanservice. Can still read some manga though, very few, currently invested in A Silent Voice. Very good, very human personalities instead of the same old anime archetypes and absolutely zero fanservice. I am so fed up with the anime archetypes, and the speeches, and the constant inner monologues and exposition.
 
madp said:
This.

Anime fans will swear up and down otherwise, but the truth is that I've never met one who wasn't creepy or severely maladjusted in some way and so it's pretty easy for me to dismiss them. All of the ones I saw in high school and college were usually unattractive/obese and awkward with poor hygiene, never had girlfriends, and were super obnoxious and wanted to shove all of their spiky-haired naruto ninjas and moe waifus down everyone's throats because they thought enjoying something "foreign" somehow made them edgy hipster connoisseurs when they were just circlejerking over cartoons.

It was always obvious to me that it was just a hobby for miserable, socially-stunted losers and emos who used Japanese cartoons as an opiate to distract themselves from being depressed and a shallow pretext for forming friendships with each other because they couldn't navigate normal human interaction otherwise. Everyone stayed as far away from them as possible, especially in college because watching cartoon as an adult (and not just that, but TELEGRAPHING it to other people as LOUDLY as possible) is the biggest red flag imaginable that you're a sexless manchild. There was a guy on the floor or my dorm that we would never invite to parties because he wore nothing but Dragon Ball Z shirts and smelled like he hadn't showered in a month and we all laughed at him behind his back over it.

With all the articles I've read on GAF about how Japanese anime and video games are catering to pedophiles and how anime fans have waifus and watch "moe girls" shit, I can't help but think that anime fans here are either in deep denial about their deviancy or straight-up lying about not jerking it to underage girls when they all have avatars of little girls. Just like every anime fan I've seen IRL they wear their "I watch shows about fucking cartoon children" badge on their sleeve but don't want to be called out on it. The kneejerk defensiveness from fans you see in every thread that exposes the depraved reality of anime is a dead giveaway.

It's creepy as fuck and if you have anime avatar, I'll ignore anything you type on your cum-encrusted keyboards because it's an admission that you don't actually know anything about real life and there's a good chance that you're a pedophile. You shouldn't be on NeoGAF, you should be in prison for CP. I'm glad that the GAF community has fostered an environment that promotes the marginalization and dismissal of fans of anime because they've earned it.
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vQ73WuN.gif
 
BluWacky said:
Okay. I'm going to go with the following as possibilities for your crazy list (note: this is not necessarily an endorsement of perfect quality):

Eden of the East (near future, but set in real world, targeted at post-university audience - deals with the NEET generation of early 00s Japan in a fairly high-concept way though so you may find it a bit silly)!
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He's already seen eden of the east
 
Stumpokapow said:
Please do. Here are my requirements:

- if it is a series, that it is short with no filler
- should not be built around fighting or combat
- should not contain robots
- should look good, with smooth animation rather than choppy stuff
- should treat women like human beings with dignity, equity, and rich inner lives and should ideally have female characters that are not merely love interests for male characters
- should engage with human, social, and political themes and preferably in a real rather than fantasy world
- should be targeted to adults
- character's eyes should be appropriately sized for their head
- if it has a theme song, the theme song should not overly earnest desperate generic Japanese pop
- should not be described as anyone ever as "badass"

- should not contain a young female character who is rude and abusive to everyone played for laughs
- should not contain a young female character that makes shrill, high pitched noises as a stand-in for actually expressing themselves with words
- should not contain soft focus shots where characters gaze longingly into each other's eyes
- should not contain that dumb blushing reaction where there's a sweat drop and the person screws up their eyes
- should not contain uguu or waifu or whatever other babble people use to express how they want to surround themselves with shrill excitable cute girls
- should not have extended details about how a male character is a pervert

- should be available legally for a reasonable price in North America, preferably dubbed. If it's subbed, the subtitles should be professional and localized, not merely translated

I've asked this before and got a few solid recommendations that I have enjoyed, but in almost every case people remind me that I'm really rubbing up major tropes and approaches used in Anime.

Edit: for example, without knowing anything about the shows, the summaries in the Anime of the Year 2014 results thread exclude most of those shows that made the cut. Not all, mind you.
Click to expand...

I think this is a pretty good list. It mentions many of the reasons why I find it very difficult to like or enjoy anime in general.
 
The Technomancer said:
Now that the anime craze among adolescents is on a downturn (or over) and people don't think of anime as "that Dragonball/Yu-Gi-Oh/One Piece whatever" show the next most salient style of anime, especially with the internet's focus on "wacky japan" is the moe-fanservice stuff which a lot of people find offputting
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First page quote but this is exactly my take on it.
 
I don't know the origin of "lewd", and can't seem to find it. I think i first heard the term somewhere in AnimeGAF or Mangaf and I thought the word had the right amount of unspoken insinuations that I started using it to describe "lewd" things as well!
 
Stumpokapow said:
Please do. Here are my requirements:

- if it is a series, that it is short with no filler
- should not be built around fighting or combat
- should not contain robots
- should look good, with smooth animation rather than choppy stuff
- should treat women like human beings with dignity, equity, and rich inner lives and should ideally have female characters that are not merely love interests for male characters
- should engage with human, social, and political themes and preferably in a real rather than fantasy world
- should be targeted to adults
- character's eyes should be appropriately sized for their head
- if it has a theme song, the theme song should not overly earnest desperate generic Japanese pop
- should not be described as anyone ever as "badass"

- should not contain a young female character who is rude and abusive to everyone played for laughs
- should not contain a young female character that makes shrill, high pitched noises as a stand-in for actually expressing themselves with words
- should not contain soft focus shots where characters gaze longingly into each other's eyes
- should not contain that dumb blushing reaction where there's a sweat drop and the person screws up their eyes
- should not contain uguu or waifu or whatever other babble people use to express how they want to surround themselves with shrill excitable cute girls
- should not have extended details about how a male character is a pervert

- should be available legally for a reasonable price in North America, preferably dubbed. If it's subbed, the subtitles should be professional and localized, not merely translated

I've asked this before and got a few solid recommendations that I have enjoyed, but in almost every case people remind me that I'm really rubbing up major tropes and approaches used in Anime.

Edit: for example, without knowing anything about the shows, the summaries in the Anime of the Year 2014 results thread exclude most of those shows that made the cut. Not all, mind you.
Click to expand...

I can't remember what was recommended to you last time tbh. Is watching something on crunchyroll acceptable as well?

Wandering Son is a fairly recent show that fits I think.
 
Haly said:
I don't know the origin of "lewd", and can't seem to find it. I think i first heard the term somewhere in AnimeGAF or Mangaf and I thought the word had the right amount of unspoken insinuations that I started using it to describe "lewd" things as well!
Click to expand...

What unspoken insinuations? Admittedly I don't lurk in animeGAF much (although its an interesting browse if I'm bored at work) but it feels like I've seen it used when people...are uncomfortable with the fact that they're comfortable with the sexual stuff? If that makes any kind of weird sense?
 
It's a euphemism to describe something that could be anywhere from racy to full on pornographic, whether it's an image, a story, a concept, etc.

The implication is that although such-and-such work might be "lewd", the person who describes it as "lewd" admits that they are amicable to the idea of "lewd", and in a way it's a secret handshake between deviants.

Well, not so secret now.
 
BluWacky said:
Eden of the East (near future, but set in real world, targeted at post-university audience - deals with the NEET generation of early 00s Japan in a fairly high-concept way though so you may find it a bit silly)
The Tatami Galaxy (targeted at post-university audience, surrealist though)
Kids on the Slope (although about high school, is targeted at adults - a nostalgic high school romance but really more about young life in the 60s and jazz music)
Click to expand...

Pretty sure both East of Eden and Tatami Galaxy would be disqualified because of their artstyles, among things
 
Instro said:
I can't remember what was recommended to you last time tbh. Is watching something on crunchyroll acceptable as well?

Wandering Son is a fairly recent show that fits I think.
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Doesn't have very good animation, which is why I didn't suggest it.

Murder said:
I think Kaiba meets most of your expectations. It's in my top 5. Would've been my favorite anime of all time if the last 1/4 wasn't so shitty. It's still very much worth watching! It has this beautiful and quirky astroboy visuals but it's really dark and political.
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Not legally available in America (although it is in Australia). I would have recommended it otherwise.

OddMorsel said:
I'm sure MONSTER has been recommended to Stump? If not, Monster qualifies for everything on that list.
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It's 70 episodes long - too long for the first criterion IMO. Also no longer legally available in America, I believe.
 
BeatResetsTheWorld said:
Pretty sure both East of Eden and Tatami Galaxy would be disqualified because of their artstyles
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Both of them have sensibly sized eyes and their animation is definitely not choppy. There are also no sweat drops in them.

Plus, as I've already been reminded, Stump's already seen Eden of the East, so that must have fit most of his criteria!
 
BluWacky said:
Both of them have sensibly sized eyes and their animation is definitely not choppy. There are also no sweat drops in them.

Plus, as I've already been reminded, Stump's already seen Eden of the East, so that must have fit most of his criteria!
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Then I honestly don't know what he means by - character's eyes should be appropriately sized for their head if this is ok
Eden-of-the-East-Saki-Morima.jpg
 
BluWacky said:
Doesn't have very good animation, which is why I didn't suggest it.
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Frankly with all the stipulations, particularly regarding the works availability, its going to be difficult to find something that has that kind of budget. The animation is serviceable for what the show is, and its still visually pleasing thanks to the overall quality of the art.
 
BluWacky said:
Not available to buy for a reasonable price any more, though (complete box set at $120 for a 13 ep series, singles go for up to $40 each).
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Anime prices are ridiculous. I would gladly drop $50-60 for a Paranoia Agent box set, but $120 is too rich for my blood right now
 
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