Forum - View topicWhat do you look for in an anime?
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Tris8
 Posts: 2114 Location: Where the rain is. |
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What do you look for in an anime series? Fanservice, a certain theme/genre, intricate plot, or character development? I certainly lean toward fantasy anime or shows with a supernatural twist, but I do watch some without.
The #1 thing I want in a show, regardless of genre is an interesting plot. Sorry Azumanga Daioh, you were funny but the lack of any continuity bored me. |
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ArsenicSteel
 Posts: 2370 |
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I don't lean towards anything really. I just look to be entertained. I read plot descriptions and reviews to find something that sounds interesting. If by chance I am looking for something with a specific genre then I look around for stuff that sounds interesting the a specific genre.
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HaruhiToy
 Posts: 4118 |
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In order of priority:
1. A good story. 2. Good artwork and/or animation. (Yes you can have one without the other.) 3. Interesting characters -- at least one. 4. Everything else. You think this would be a pretty obvious list and that is probably true, but there seems to be a lot of demographics out there that will seek out specialties, like mecha or samurai or pantsu or whatever. My list causes me to end up watching most categories you could name, from H-titles down to stuff intended for pre-teens. For some reason I have never developed any interest in the mega-franchises like Dragon-ball or Sailor Moon. Speaking of H, I have seen very few worth watching but they do actually exist. Fortunately with most of them it is pretty easy to judge them by their cover so the obvious crap is easy to avoid. |
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Aoi_Sakaraba
 Posts: 312 Location: Des Moines, Iowa |
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1. Story
2. Characters 3. Transitions 4. Art 5. Opening/Ending Themes Pretty Simple. Usually ecchi factor lose a point, excessive ecchi factors tend to lose 2 points in my book. SO if there is a really perverted ecchi with excellent storylines, characters, etc, that means at best I'll give it an 8 typically. There are Very Few exceptions. Last edited by Aoi_Sakaraba on Tue Jul 19, 2011 1:27 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Yttrbio
 Posts: 3822 |
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I don't much care about artwork or animation, which I suppose is odd for an anime fan. As long as it's not distractingly bad, I'll barely notice it.
I think my favorite shows are the ones which don't have much of a story. There are so many shows that I enjoyed up until the point at which someone decided to move the plot along, at which point I quickly lost interest. "Off to save the world, eh? Let me know how that goes. On second thought, I guess I'll be able to tell, so don't bother." For me, the most important is probably characters, or more accurately, character relationships. If characters play off of each other well, I'll tolerate almost any number of other flaws and watch the show. |
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Darksorrow29
Posts: 412 Location: United States |
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@Yttrbio - does that mean you do not care if the show was shot in 480i native resolution compared to 720p HD? Or it doesn't matter to you if something was a high budget animation compared to a low budget one?
---- This is not really in order or priority, but just the process I go through when I look at a NEW anime. The first thing I see is the title and the art , there's just no way around it. They say you shouldn't judge a book or show or whatever by its cover, but it's pretty easy to do so. For example you can usually just look at a picture and tell if it's going to be a battle ecchi show, shojo, bishonen, etc etc. Not that any of those are bad. The very next thing is the genre. What kind of show am I getting into if I can't tell from the pic. Yuri, drama, slice of life, gag show? etc Next I look at the plot. Sometimes I actually skip this because I LIKE TO GO IN FRESH (seinfeld). After that comes seiyuus. This one is actually pretty big and really be a make or break for me if I'm no the fence for a show. Next is the studio. This gives me a sense of the production value, art quality, character designs, etc etc. Rarely i'll notice or observe directors, song comp people etc. If it's an OLDER anime (old here is defined as not airing) my process is a little different. I'll pay attention to fan ratings/reputation, seiyuus. Ratings do not mean that much to me though, only if it's very highly rated or very poorly rated. |
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richter3456
 Posts: 41 |
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The same goes for me. I don't look for anything in particular. I just look at the ratings and the plot descriptions, and if there's more green then then the orange/red then I'll give it a shot. But all that aside, the story is always the most important factor for me. I've never come across any anime with bad art as of yet.
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EricDent
 Posts: 997 Location: Georgetown, TX |
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Hmm, this is a good question.
I think it's a couple of things for me. 1: Does the show sound interesting from the description on the back (or from websites like this one). 2: Have I heard anything about the show, or even seen it before. 3: Is it by somebody I like (author/studio/etc). 4: Is it dubbed (kind of a dub fan, but willing to watch the Japaenese version at a later time). 5: How much does it cost vs length of show. 6: How long is the series, and will it get a full US release. (I tend to stick with shows under 100 episodes, but you never know I might pick up something long one day). |
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TitanXL
 Posts: 4036 |
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1. Characters.
If it has great characters who can make me laugh or empathize or I enjoy watching , I can forgive a lot of blunders from the next few entries on the list. 2. Story A good story/narrative that keeps me interested. 3. Music Catchy music that fits the mood and I can put on my iPod and listen all day. 4. Other Entertainment If it's an action show, the fights. If it's a comedy show, the jokes. |
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Yttrbio
Posts: 3822 |
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Both, I suppose. At least for me, the visual depiction of a typical anime is a medium for communication, rather than communication itself, so as long as it doesn't interfere with communication, I don't normally care. (There are a couple of exceptions to this, such as when looking good is a primary high point of a show, but if I'm paying attention, it's typically because I've lost interest in the show's writing, which is what I watch anime for) |
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Toucanbird
Posts: 126 Location: Winona, Minnesota |
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For me, it's...
1. Characters/Development - A lot of people will put story first. However, I'd rather see an anime with interesting characters and a crap story than a great story with crap characters. To me, the characters make the story go. If you don't care about the characters, why should you care about the story they are in? So when it comes to anime, I want to see interesting characters that are well developed. 2. Story/Plot - While not far back of characters, I think story is also very important when it comes to anime. When I sit down and watch an anime, I'm not looking for action, romance or comedy in huge doses, but rather a great story that implements a little bit of everything. 3. Sound/Music - While some would take animation at this spot, I always find the music and dubbing to be a little more important. A great composition in an anime can make good animes, great. I also think dubbing is important because if the voice of the character doesn't seem to match their personality, then it sort of ruins the atmosphere. 4. Animation/Art - I prefer to see animes that are well animated rather than your "cartoony" style anime. However, I do also like to see animes with a bit of an artistic side to them. The anime doesn't have to be the highest quality but if it seems artistic, than it might seem like its worth a glance. |
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A Mystery
 Posts: 1962 Location: Netherlands |
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- An awesome plot: This doesn't always have to be the case, because some series are episodic and still awesome (Natsume Yuujinchou, Azumanga Daioh, etc.). Why do I put this first then? Because it was a reason why I liked anime in the first place. I was attracted to Dragonball Z and Gundam Wing because they had plots, which other animated series on tv did not have. It makes you longing for more and check out the next episode. A nice example for me is Gintama (mostly episodic): when it's episodic, it takes a lot of time before I watch a new episode. When it hits an arc, I watch several episodes at once, on the edge of my seat.
- Setting: Whether it's anime, a book, a movie, or anything else: some settings are more appealing to me than others. I'm attracted to historical settings, or alternative universes where technology isn't very advanced or doesn't exist. This naturally makes me not very interested in futuristic anime (or technology must epically fail in the future, y'know, no resources & knowledge anymore, hehe  ).
- Genre: You can wake me up for adventure, romance, comedy, awesome fights, slice-of-life, fantasy. Not that much into thrillers, science fiction and mecha (yes I did watch Gundam Wing, I'm aware of that fact) and no ecchi please. Some minor things other people mentioned too: - Good characters, character development, nice art. - Primay focus isn't fanservice. - Number of episodes: I do like series with more than 13 episodes. However, I was discouraged pretty soon to watch One Piece. It is simply too long. |
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ethanftw
 Posts: 107 |
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I'm like this. It's the same way with movies. I never really look for a specific things, I'm just like "oh that looks good" and I end up checking it out or something. I will say this though, when an anime has a truly drawing story and lots of action, I can almost always get into it. That being said, I've never really been a big fan of the non-action romance or "following someones life" type of anime that are generally deep and non-action oriented. Inuyasha, and Eureka Seven and such are usually up my alley. |
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UnrestrictedMethod
 Posts: 80 |
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One thing I like is the ability to seemlessly mix serious storytelling and/or character development with not so serious wierdness of one kind or another.
See: Gurren Lagann Desert Punk Oh! Edo Rocket* Dokkoida?!** All very good shows. Also, from what I've heard, Midori Days qualifies. I've got to see that show. *not always seemless with this one unfortunetely, still a good example **By the end all the characters have spoiler[become a family]. It's something that's been building up believably the entire show and it's genuinely emotional. Last edited by UnrestrictedMethod on Wed Jul 20, 2011 9:30 pm; edited 4 times in total |
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Kruszer
 Posts: 8015 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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Pure and simple entertainment and a way to pass time. Whether that's the complex and mentally challenging kind of show or the basic and simple "brain-off" stuff. It depends on the specific genre of anime and each has a different set of things or combination of things I'd look for in it. I'll watch nearly anything in any genre as long as it's entertaining in some way. If there is one thing common to all of them though I want to say "a good story" but then I also enjoy comedy series like Soredemo Machi wa Mawattieru and aimless series that don't really have one like Mushishi, so I guess I'd have to go with my backup answer and say "interesting characters".
Last edited by Kruszer on Tue Jul 19, 2011 2:32 pm; edited 3 times in total |
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