Anime General Discussion

For anyone interested in reading the amazing sequel to Madoka Magica. http://www.mangareader.net/magical-girl-kazumi-magica/1

Another thing I did, and this one's kinda long. Still looking for feedback if there's anything I can do better, but for now I'll take the silence as meaning things are okay. Anyway, lemme know what you think (again, in the comments over there, not here )

Anyone here remember the very first anime they ever watched?

My is 'Tekkaman Blade' and im re-watching it right now!

Aigaios wrote:Anyone here remember the very first anime they ever watched?

My is 'Tekkaman Blade' and im re-watching it right now!

Pokemon for me.

Though this is a question I always like asking, since most people don't know what anime is when they see their first show.  So while Pokemon was technically the first anime I ever saw, the first anime I saw and watched specifically because it was an anime was Naruto.  So in a way Naruto was also my "first anime."

Aigaios wrote:Anyone here remember the very first anime they ever watched?

My is 'Tekkaman Blade' and im re-watching it right now!

Pokemon, Digimon and DBZ

Reaperfan wrote:

Aigaios wrote:Anyone here remember the very first anime they ever watched?

My is 'Tekkaman Blade' and im re-watching it right now!

Pokemon for me.

Though this is a question I always like asking, since most people don't know what anime is when they see their first show.  So while Pokemon was technically the first anime I ever saw, the first anime I saw and watched specifically because it was an anime was Naruto.  So in a way Naruto was also my "first anime."

Yep, back then I had no idea that most 'cartoons' that I watched were anime, well I probably didnt know anything about Japan either.

Well, my first anime I watched that I actually knew was an "anime" was Bleach, although the first anime I watched that got me mostly into it was either Fullmetal Alchemist or CardCaptor Sakura.

Pokemon mostly, but Spirited Away was the first time I truly realized how awesome "anime" is (both of those are far from typical anime). After I saw Spirited Away was about the time that I started watching Hellsing because it had that edgy/dark feel despite being a "cartoon" (I should also note I hated most live action shows/movies because I was able to get into animated characters easier). Then I watched Death Note while it came out and it's been anime ever since.

One of these days someone will let me know if I'm doing an okay job or not...

Except you, Stray, you're ahead of the curve

If I can be honest, as a person not into anime that kind of turns me off of it further.

Tolvo wrote:If I can be honest, as a person not into anime that kind of turns me off of it further.

How come? I've got plans for more articles, and hearing more details from the other side would help me format an approach to the topics better.

Well the overly artsy writer/film buff in me feels it should be mentioned that a story doesn't exactly need what we would consider characters.

But aside from that, the article really doesn't give any merits to the slightly mentioned series as examples. They kind of just come off as vague and simple/cliche plots that have been done before. Nothing in the article really showed any attempt to give validity to anime, it seemed like it was directed towards people who already know about the mentioned series or are already into those sorts of plots.

Reaperfan wrote:One of these days someone will let me know if I'm doing an okay job or not...

Except you, Stray, you're ahead of the curve

Anime Misunderstandings.... ( All anime are set in high schools)

Verdict.. False.

Well there are a large amount of high school anime, there are also quite a few not set in a High School. Shows like Stein's Gate, Fate/Zero, or Sengoku Basara... or even One Piece don't take place with a high school....

Tolvo wrote:Well the overly artsy writer/film buff in me feels it should be mentioned that a story doesn't exactly need what we would consider characters.  

But aside from that, the article really doesn't give any merits to the slightly mentioned series as examples.  They kind of just come off as vague and simple/cliche plots that have been done before.  Nothing in the article really showed any attempt to give validity to anime, it seemed like it was directed towards people who already know about the mentioned series or are already into those sorts of plots.  

The point of listing off the series summaries wasn't to review them or validate them, but rather to provide examples of all the various genres and stories that can be told from that setting beyond the go-to School Life genre assumption. They weren't supposed to be reviews, just examples.

Soul of Stray Demon wrote:Anime Misunderstandings.... ( All anime are set in high schools)

Verdict.. False.

I know it's false, that's why I wrote the article.  To show the close-mindedness of that assumption.

But those descriptions didn't show much variety in them, from what was listed off it did just end up sounding like typical teenage drama in a fantasy. Which is incredibly bog standard. You didn't list off one that is a mystery, one that is a sci-fi story set in a school, or one that is an action series. Everything you listed off would fall underneath the same genre of fantasy.

Read it. It's Ok, for me I don't think it's that I'm put off by any of it (I actually think most of it is very interesting indeed, just follow me on Twitter and you'll see) but rather that I just didn't grow up watching anime so now I feel like I have a hill to climb to just become ingratiated in the storytelling style.

For example, recently I've been trying to watch some of Kill la Kill and while parts keep me interested sometimes the shifts seem to be too fast or abrupt for me to fully keep all the sensory information in a line. And with the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, there are moments that really do make me laugh out loud, but it's also just as liable to spend 5 minutes not doing much of anything that's interesting.

So, for me, I don't know if it's still not just that I don't know enough but it seems to be that the good is, more or less, always in-line with the bad. But then what I consider "bad" may just me not fully understanding Japanese animation's rhythm.

Mystery/Horror. "Higurashi When They Cry".... Romance/Sci-Fi "Angel Beats" .. Action.. "Shakugan No Shana", Dirty Humor and Action "Soul Eater" ... Comedy "Azumanga Daioh"

There's just a few of them.

And Pendant... The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzimaya... is like that. It can be funny at times. but it really is a boring show at others.. There just happens to be a lot of fanatics surrounding the show.
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Tolvo, I would recommend for you, a little show called "Serial Experiments Lain"

It's a total mind *** story, and is quite well done.. It's old and doesn't look as good as newer animes, but I'm sure you would like it if you give it a go.

Tolvo wrote:But those descriptions didn't show much variety in them, from what was listed off it did just end up sounding like typical teenage drama in a fantasy.  Which is incredibly bog standard.  You didn't list off one that is a mystery, one that is a sci-fi story set in a school, or one that is an action series.  Everything you listed off would fall underneath the same genre of fantasy.

Mystery: Another, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Sci-Fi: Code Geass, Full Metal Panic
Action: Madoka Magica, Code Geass, Air Gear, Accel World

All listed in the article.  Did The premises not convey that?

EDIT: I hate posting from my phone, add Accel World to Sci-Fi as well.

Not really, none of them sounded as if mystery was the focus, or technology was the focus. Keep in mind, Star Wars is not known as Science Fiction series. It is known as a Fantasy Adventure series in a Sci-Fi setting, while Star Trek is a true Sci-Fi series since there is such a heavy focus on technology.

Having something that needs to be figured out does not make a series a mystery. In Neon Genesis for the majority of the series you have no idea why the angels are attacking, that doesn't make it a Mystery. Everything that was described in the article came off more just like standard fantasy plots.

Tolvo wrote:Not really, none of them sounded as if mystery was the focus, or technology was the focus.  Keep in mind, Star Wars is not known as Science Fiction series.  It is known as a Fantasy Adventure series in a Sci-Fi setting, while Star Trek is a true Sci-Fi series since there is such a heavy focus on technology.  

Having something that needs to be figured out does not make a series a mystery.  In Neon Genesis for the majority of the series you have no idea why the angels are attacking, that doesn't make it a Mystery.  Everything that was described in the article came off more just like standard fantasy plots.

Sounds like we have different approaches to defining genre then. By your approach, Star Wars is just a standard, generic fantasy story. So why do most people I know classify it as Science Fiction?

Phones about to die, so I'll be back to continue when I get back to my computer. Did I mention I hate posting from my phone? Cuz I do

Because they know little of properly defining a genre. The world of Star Wars is a Sci-Fi world, but it has magic, it has crazy aliens, the focus isn't really that much on the technology. The conflicts generally aren't resolved through the use of Science Fiction means. In Star Trek, often they'll have to engineer something to try and deal with an issue, in Star Wars they often use magic to help them. The Force is just magic, it's a fantasy Sci-Fi world. Generally you have a focus for a series on what it will be about. Detective Conan is a mystery series, the whole show revolves around solving mysteries constantly. An action series will generally be about constant combat, etc.

Odd, I've never seen much of a difference between Sci-Fi and Fantasy anyway..

I know Sci-Fi is supposed to focus more on technology, but science isn't just about that. Science is about explaining and understanding the world around us. So the force is a fictional part of the world, and would therefore be Sci-Fi... but yet magical things which are fictional science (something that exists in the fictional world) aren't counted as that..

I think it's odd that it's classified differently in the first place.

To be Sci-fi is any kind of fantasy that is in a futuristic/space setting. By definition for me since it is a) a fantasy and b) set in space to be a sci fi..

To be fair most shonen and shojo manga star characters are in school as most are made an age that the target demographic can empathise with, so naturally the setting will partially be in school.. However with many manga/anime like that such as Death Note, Mirai Nikki, Bleach, Card Captor Sakura etc, that part of the setting takes a backseat role.