I used to get Cartoon Network as a kid. I watched Outlaw Star and really enjoyed it. However, in one of the later episodes they crowbarred in a topless jacuzzi scene for no reason.
That sums up my anime experience.
I watched Dragon Ball Z and a bit of Gundam Wing but never really enjoyed them.
I bump into Dragon Ball Z fans occasionally and they’re pushing 35 and have themed pillows etc. I think that is mad but I’ve met more than one person like that.
I have no themed things in my house nor would in buy any.
P.S. I enjoyed Samurai Jack and often say “Long ago in a different land” randomly to my partner.
Any recommendations based on the above?
crowbarred in
I think when they said that, the implication was that there was no need for such. I.e. it interrupted the flow of the story and didn’t add anything useful, other than perhaps pandering to a certain crowd.
Try Noir. It’s a crime thriller about a pair of assassins who stumble into a conspiracy. Never tries to be sexy even though the leads are women in their early twenties. Has a bit of that Samurai Jack energy where there often isn’t much dialogue and it’s carried by action and the musical score. Also never went past cult classic status so you’re not likely to run into creepy fans. Or any fans, really.
I’ve always felt like anime requires a huge time investment to enjoy it; so I’ve always avoided it.
Chiming in as someone who actually owns a few different anime on DVD/blu-ray.
My whole thing is that I like good media. Anime is a medium. There’s good anime out there. As many have already said, those’re few and far between because the vast majority of people working in the medium seem determined to pigeonhole it as genre trash and perv shit.
I kinda stopped watching anime early in my 20s. The late 00s into the 10s seemed like the absolute worst period of time for worthwhile anime being made. I’ve sat through a few more current big-name ones since then and shit hasn’t improved.
So yeah, I don’t hate anime as a medium, I just hate like 99% of the medium’s content
I guess we just grew up and Japan still mostly treats and creates anime as media for kids and teenagers, not unlike how cartoons are still mostly “for kids”.
I don’t “hate” anime, like many people here, but some stuff just doesn’t entertain me anymore. I’m too old to find Dragon Ball Z and every other similar shonen even minimally entertaining. Hell, I was probably too old for that shit back when I was 19, I remember checking Bleach and giving up on episode 7 or whatever, though I think it was Naruto that “woke me up” when I was 16, I was watching it but wasn’t enjoying it for quite a while, until I just dropped it around ep 120, “this shit ain’t going nowhere”.
I’ve only watched Evangelion the first time during covid years, and it was clear it was two stories in one: the one they wanted to tell, which was kinda interesting, and their struggles with budget and how that affected the product.
The thing is that the anime that reaches mass appeal is meant for the masses, much like movies with mass appeal are the ones that require you to shut down your brain. The last 2 anime that I watched, enjoyed and wouldn’t mind watching again are Legend of Galactic Heroes and Taxi Driver, both are low on nonsense and bullshit.
More often than not, it’s just better to read the manga, when the anime’s based on one. Slam Dunk is a much better read than watching the anime, plus you end up knowing about the author’s other work, Vagabond, which is amazing.
as media for kids and teenagers
You clearly have never seen Animes from the “Seinen” genre.
Usually pretty dark or adult topics. You will notice it at some points in the story.
My current favorite is Oshi no ko which goes a bit behind the media industry and actually does show a fair bit of young adult topics (e.g. murder, intent to murder/revenge, child PTSD among other more lighthearted topics to keep it from being a depression show), Tokyo Ghoul would also fall into the seinen category.
For movies I liked Akira (an older movie) with the cyberpunk theme, Your Name,
I read Bleach until the characters convinced me to stop reading the manga after the last two arcs.
How can you care for the heroes if they’re breaking the rules and getting themselves in trouble for it while also being disproportionate?
Then I read Sankarea: Undying Love on Azuki which seemed fine at first but then things went off the rails and the heroine ended up bathing with a girl explicitly younger than her. Yeesh.
If you draw women like children, and then give them high pitched voices, like children, and have them act girlish and foolish like pre-teen girls, and then sexualize them…There is something very very fucking wrong with you. Anime “purists” can deny it all they want, but it’s inherently tied in/related to fake waifu girlfriends and lonely neckbeards drawing naked waifus all over DeviantArt.
It’s skeevy as shit and I refuse to pretend otherwise.
