Forum - View topicWhat makes you turn down an anime
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sj21
Posts: 312 |
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So, i was thinking about why different people don't turn down some anime. Why don't you like it or why could you just not get into it. So for this, maybe name an anime you turned down and why.
For me, one anime i turned down was Slayers. Here's why. First off, i didn't like the character designs.They just looked weird, but that didn't have a really big say in why i won't watch it. Now for story its got a basic plot like DBZ and others. I have no problem with storys even though now i kinda like complicated story lines. But so in checking out this series, seeing the trailers, it looked good overall. But looking through the episodes, it just seems the that when it came to the action it just wasen't serious enough. I don't like that in a series. Now if its something where its like the music is kinda happy and its not a huge fight i don't have a problem with. But this just didn't suit me. So really overall- even though i really wan't to like this seris i can't. : ( But i still can't wait to here your opinions and thoughts. 
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Veoryn87
 Posts: 808 |
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I'll usually turn down a series it it just looks like it's suppose to be fanservice clad fluff (fanservice of the sexual nature). Or if the humor revolves around a guy opening the door on a girl changing or getting facefull of her breasts, resulting in his face getting punched in (which has happened so many times I can't even count). Often times I don't watch an anime if it has one of those long, complicated Japanese names like Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni (which is a bad example since I actually did watch that, but you know what I mean). Those types of names just sound like gibbrish to me really tell me nothing about the show. I'm less compelled to look up an anime called Utawarerumono than I am an anime called Fate/Stay Night. If that makes any sense to you......
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Zin5ki
 Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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Although I've realised they are by no means gospel, if the ANN review of a given series' last volume mentions a poor ending (i.e. Arjuna) then I'll steer clear of it altogether.
I'll also tend to turn down horror/thriller/historic titles if they don't list other genres or settings. I've stopped watching things like Excel Saga. They're not intrinsically flawed, it's just that there are many things I believe I'd prefer to watch which I've yet to get round to. |
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16983 |
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The only thing that will make me turn down an anime, or stop in the middle of one, is a bad plot. I can over look poor characters designs, bad dubs, gratuitous fanservice, and choppy animation as long as the story/plot is solid. Ultimately that's why I watch anime, for the stories they bring to the table. As long as the story entertains me in some way I'll see a series through to the end. If the story/plot is not that great the smaller things will start to add up and quite often cause me to drop a series (Gundam Seed Destiny, Knight Hunters for example).
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MorwenLaicoriel
 Posts: 1617 Location: Colorado |
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Hmm....well...let's see...
I have a bad, bad habit of watching a series halfway through, then getting busy and taking a break (or deciding I'd rather watch another series at the time) and saying "I'll finish this later"...and then never getting around to it. The number of anime I have on my "stalled" list makes me wince every time I see it. As for why I stall or drop a series...it tends to vary. I dropped Noir and .hack//SIGN because they just...moved way too slowly. Noir, particularly, just felt like I show that wasn't for my demographic at all...I couldn't particularly care about Kirika and Mirelle, so after a while I was basically watching the show just for the music and the cool action scenes...which, as someone who really gets into characters, really didn't work for me. I'm stalled on Fruits Basket and might drop it because...as a fan of the manga, I was really disappointed. Chrono Crusade is in danger of having this happen to it, too, but the great dub is helping me stick with it. DNAngel I actually own the thinpack of, but I've never watched it all the way through. I keep restarting through it, but the occasionally corny 3D animation combined with the fact that I prefer the manga much more is making it difficult for me to find the motivation to finish watching through it. ...So I guess in general, if I'm a fan of the original manga and the adaption isn't very good I might drop a show, and I also have a hard time finishing a series if I'm not into the characters. Oh, and I keep losing interest in Bleach and Naruto. They're just too darn long.[/url] |
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JacobC
ANN Past Staff
 Posts: 3728 Location: SoCal |
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I drop a show if I either
A) Sniff a cliche or uninteresting use of a trend (moe craze) early on in a show or B) Find it to be too explicit, gratuitous, preachy, or burgeoning with agenda for my tastes. Strong themes and messages are good, even required for an A-list show, and I like to be scared and squealing over dicey action as much as the next fan, but I hate being exploited or having some repetitious idea shoved down my throat like I'm watching a Disney movie for unsuspecting teenagers. Other than that, I'll try ANYTHING at least once, and stick with it as long as I'm not abysmally bored or start to forget even the characters' names. (That's always a bad sign.) Doesn't mean I'll like it, but I'll stick it through if I can. (I say this, but there are probably over 50 series I've only seen three episodes of. Some fit into categories A and B, but not all. I never realized before that I was so easily bored.) |
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Kruszer
 Posts: 8016 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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Kruszer's Guidelines for Choosing Anime:
1. Well, I usually don't go for children's anime, predictable family oriented mediocrity, or cutesy sugar-coated fluff stuff. Being 25 and male, I prefer my anime with certain level of seriousness and complexity (unless I'm looking for a comedy) so most of what I try to watch are series aimed at teens and Seinen series aimed at people my age and above. Those are usually the shows I get the most enjoyment out of and those that end up being my favorites. Of course there are always exceptions for instance I follow several shounen shows (like Bleach, Naruto, D.Gray-Man) currently and have liked a few Ghibli films. Aside from that my tastes are quite varried and I'll watch any genre really as long as it entertains me, Science Fiction, Action, and Mecha seem to be my main preferences though. I'll also watch Fantasy, Mystery, Comedy, Romance, Drama, and horror as well as others. 2. Another thing I don't really get into is the whole "magical girl" thing. I mean I've liked series like My HIME, Fate/Stay Night, Ah! My Goddess, Negima, Aquarian Age, Maburaho, and Shuffle! which contain women with magical or magical-like powers but nothing really in the true definition of the genere, like Sailor Moon with long transformation sequences and other such staples of genre. 3. When picking series I usually avoid the cliched looking cutesy comedy titles with all the moe and/or loli character designs and the predictable harem setup unless I'm actually specifically looking for a comedy or echi series which is kind of rare. 4. I will not bother starting a series I know is unfinished/canceled or has a generally unfavorable concensus that the ending just plain sucks. 5. I will usually not bother with anything over 52 episodes or so. Longer series have a higher tendency to decend into filler or be unfinished. Dropping Series: I give everything the 5 episode rule. If it doesn't entertain me after 5 episodes it's not worth my time and I drop it. Most of the time I can tell from the first episode whether I'm going to like it and sometimes 1 or 2 episodes is enough to convince me I really hate it. If it was sufficiently entertaining, I don't drop a series unless it digs it's own grave and becomes EXTREMELY boring or repetitive which is very rare. Once I'm past that point I usually finish a series 95% of the time. |
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sj21
Posts: 312 |
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Kinda the same here. I do like some seasons or things of kids anime but don't watch them alot. What i hate with kids series is that they always have to have a billion sequals and the kids don't find it annoying. Because i'll admit it- I love the original poke'mon- indago leage and jhoto leage. But i HATE diamond and pearl. I think advanced was alright, but still not that great. Same for yu-gi-oh. I loved the first and battle city ones. but then it got out of control. I started watching bakugan to but i just hate it. same basic kid plot with cards or monsters. It interested me at first but after seeing 4 episodes i realised(will only get if seen the show) that its just differnet elements that make the mosters. I swear with those 4 episodes i saw this mantis thing at least 5 times and in the first episode battled the same dude twice. I just couldnt stand it. |
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Murasakisuishou
 Posts: 1469 Location: NE Ohio |
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Pretty much the only reasons I'll drop an anime are a.) if it's a comedy and I think the comedy is weak (Kodomo no Jikan), or b.) if a romance/friendship is the focus of the series and I think that's weak (ef - a tale of memories, among many others). I usually tend to be tough on romance series because there are very, very few that hit that realism I love in a relationship, where you see the couple slowly grow to truly love each other instead of the infatuation crap plaguing most anime. I generally ignore romances entirely for that reason; I'll just watch action series, which are almost guaranteed to have a decent relationship built in: Motoko and Batou (or spoiler[Kuze]) in Stand Alone Complex, Utena and Anthy in Revolutionary Girl Utena, Roy and Riza in Fullmetal Alchemist, etc.
The comedy thing is self-explanatory; if it's a series dedicated to making me laugh and I'm not laughing, it's obviously not doing its job and watching any more would just be a waste of my life. |
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Ishmoo
 Posts: 413 Location: Fredericksburg, VA |
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My primary reason for halting a series is simply boredom. Often, I'll sort of like a series and watch a few episodes, then it'll just lose my interest or something I like better comes along. Since there are so many terrific choices that I haven't gotten to I figure, why waste time on something that doesn't grab me? I do sometimes go back and finish them when I'm stuck between series I really love. Ef- A tale of Memories is one I went back to eventually. It was alright, but not one I'll watch twice. Right now I have 63 series on hiatus. Some, I quit after only watching once or twice. Shuffle didn't make it past the 2nd ep for me. People have told me that it improves, but unless the entire premise turns around I can't see reinvesting my time in it. Harem and moe type shows are usually instantly out for me. I'm totally not the demographic they're aiming for though so it's no surprise they don't appeal to me. Wrong gender, wrong age group. I can see why guys might have a different opinion on that though. I'll admit to a guilty pleasure enjoyment of Reverse Harems so I'm not exactly in a position to judge anyone else's tastes. To each his (or her) own eye candy I suppose.
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zawa113
 Posts: 7394 |
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Reasons I drop a series/stay away from a series:
1) I find the main character to be either overly whiney or overly stupid. Not even ok as a joke anime for me. Actually, the whiney part was precisely the reason I would have dropped spoiler[Tales of the Abyss], except the gameplay was really good, so I suppose I have different standards for videogames (meaning gameplay triumphs over story for me in all situations). Its also the reason I won't consider Now and Then, Here and There and why I will never watch Grave of the Fireflies ever again. Sure, characters can't be perfect, it makes them unrealstic and unnatractive as main characters, but I find it hard to belive that real people can be this stupid or whiney sometimes and its a major turn off for me. 2) The humor style doesn't appeal to me if its a comedy anime/manga. The first turn off is pop-culture refernces. I am by no means a pop-culture expert (didn't know what Star Wars was until I was about 12-13), and having to look things up to get a joke seems stupid to me. If its also an elaborate cultural only joke that requires a good small paragraph to explain the joke, that turns me off to, I shouldn't have to research a joke to understand it. In this case, Excel saga turned me off because I felt there was too many "you have to have watched AT LEAST X amount of anime to get this joke" situations. The next is repeat jokes. Its usually not funny more than twice, three times rarely. If I detect that there will be few new jokes in a series, it bores me. 3) Never ending animes that don't have a strict plot making them never ending. This is why DBZ did not annoy me (it has a plot. A simplistic plot, sure, but I feel they're going somewhere), but Ranma 1/2 completely offends me now. Sure, I was into Ranma ages ago when I first started watching anime, but it occured to me later by a few years that not only does this have a terrible ending, after the first DVD boxset, I really saw no plot spanning more than 4 episodes in one sitting. I saw a bunch of repeats of ideas (the whole Akane and Ranma do-and-don't-like-eachother-at-all-times thing) and bunch of repeat laugh attempts because Ranma turned into a girl at an inopertune time type thing. Sure, its fun at first, but after a while, its all kinda samey. If things are episodic and either ending and/or not attempting linked plot anyway, that's fine, I loved Mushi-shi, Kino's Journey, and Phoenix (all episodic or semi-episodic). I even wish for more episodes of these series because each episode felt fresh to me. 4) Preachy anime (particuarly for the enviornment) Sure, I'm for the enviornment and healthy life style. I've been eating organic vegitarian for over 4 years now, SUVs and smokers highly offend me if its in front of me, and I try to drive less overall, recycle, and use 1 or 2 plastics whenever possible. Considering that I actually attempt this in real-life, I don't think I should have to watch an anime tell me I'm doing it wrong somehow and yell at me for it without being contructive. This is my turn off for Princess Mononoke.Yes, this one managed to be entertaining in some aspects in its own right, but then I felt like the end of the movie was just the prince guy (heh, forgot name) yelling at all of humanity for having some modern conviences like a toilet or a sink or a flashlight or a dishwasher without noting the benefits of how things like communicable diseases aren't spread as easily anymore because we have proper hygiene now. I don't want to watch something to feel guilt. I notice that some anime and manga pretend to be like this for maybe the first few pages or minutes, but if they abandon it to be interesting, all is forgiven. Parasyte is my example here of how the first couple pages make you think its preachy, then it becomes just an amazing gem of a manga. 5) Anime with far TOO convient things to drive the plot that aren't used a sort of running joke or not done entertainingly enough so that you don't care. Ugh, conveint plot annoys me. Its not fun nor fair to me (I beleive) to be tricked like this to have something easy happen so that plot can happen or an ending can happen. I would almost rather it have a bad ending than an overly convenient one. In this case Spirited Away comes to mind. spoiler[The whole plot happens out of conveince of her parents walking into a strange place without thinking (also offending rule #1), the the whole thing ends with her conviently and suddenly knowing that Haku is really a river that she suddenly remebered out of the blue with no warning of her remebering it whatsoever, then she suddenly gets to guess at which pigs are her parents.] The whole thing just reeked of convience to get the story done to me. Convience to start a story can be ok, it needs to start somewhere, but it shouldn't rely on it. In the case of Tokyo Godfathers, sure, lots of conveint things happened, but its was almost a running joke there as though the baby was magical and somehow caused it and it was entertaining. Even at the end, the story wasn't just abruptly ended with convience, it took the interesting way out even then. In this case, I would call convience ok. These are my most major imediate turn offs. Sometimes I just find a series boring, and that clearly turns me off too, but not necessarily for one of the above reasons. Just not my cup of tea sometimes. |
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the Rancorous
 Posts: 2249 Location: Sac, Ca USA |
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FUMMOFU comes to mind for me. I agree, if I rent the 1st vol of a 'comedy' series and it fails to make me laugh, then it gets dropped. I'm pretty picky when it comes to comedy; series' that rely solely on either bathroom humor or dense idiots behaving like dense idiots are a no-go. I like parodies if they are done right, like Excel Saga and Magikano (regardless of what the review says, though I do admit that a lot of my liking of it has to do with the English VAs shamelessly hammin' it up  ).
Aside from my picky comedy tastes... When a sequel/spin-off to a series that I like comes off as half-assed. Best example, Tenchi In Tokyo. The animation took a dive, and the writing was crap compared to Universe and especially the movies and OAV. Characters who were once cool and hilarious to watch were degraded to ear-grating idiots. This is the same reason why I'm saddened by the fan response to the new Gunslinger Girlseries. I love the first series, but the multiple (negative) opinions about the new season greatly disappoint me. Another one that relates to this is Devil May Cry. Aside from the 2nd game, I love these games; they are everything that an action-junkie/mythology-junkie like myself could ever ask for. The 1st vol of the anime actually pissed me off. The action was beyond lame, the characters were flat, that damn little brat was intolerable, and I am convinced that this series was made specifically to milk the DMC franchise because everything about it is so uninspired that it makes Coyote Ragtime Show look like a masterpiece. This is the one blight on Madhouse's record. /rant One more thing that turns me off is when a series' end comes off as "trying too hard to appease to everyone." An obvious one is Maburaho: spoiler["OK, so we can't decide who Kazuki should be with, so let's multiply him so that each of the girls can have him".... "GENIUS!" ] heh, yeah right... And once again, I must bring in the ending of RahXephon. I mean, seriously, spoiler[it plays out as "a perfect, re-tuned world" is Ayato's fantasy of how his own "leave-it-to-Beaver" world would be. And all of this is after the series makes an effort to blow through the deaths of damn near every cast member in a single episode just to relay that they indeed come back after Ayato's wish comes true.] I couldn't help but laugh about that one... Anyways, that's all, for now... |
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6921 Location: Kazune City |
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I'm one of those masochistic souls who tries to finish everything he starts, so most of these "turn-offs" are things that will cause me not to touch a series in the first place. I operate under the 1/4 rule, as I feel that 25% of a series is enough to get a true feeling for it. So that means 3 episodes of a 12 ep series or 55 episodes of Naruto. Looking at my Dropped and Will not Watch pages, I can see a few trends. * Long series (100+ ep) with no end in sight or confirmed to have no conclusive ending. Includes Ranma 1/2, Inuyasha, One Piece, City Hunter, Saiyuki, Sargent Frog, Urusei Yatsura. I don't mind watching long series like Sailor Moon or Kodocha if they have an actual conclusion and payoff in the end, but watching 167 eps of Inuyasha sounds like a waste of time to me. * Shounen/Tournament series. Includes HunterxHunter, Flame of Recca, MAR, Dragon Drive, Busou Renkin, D-Gray Man, Kenichi, Kiba, YuYu Hakusho. I can never really get into these series...I got into Bleach and Naruto awhile back because of various secondary characters or story elements, but even with those two I'm mired in filler with little motivation to continue. I do intend on continuing Yakitate Japan in the future because it's sufficiently funny to rise above the format. * Comedies centered on weird/gross-out/outlandish humor with nothing else going for them. Includes Papuwa, Ping Pong Club, Hare+Guu, Hanada shounen-shi. I know people who find these funny, but they're just not my style of comedy. * 24+-episode manga commercials. After being let down by Berserk, I'm staying far away from series like GTO, Spiral, and Claymore whose endings are described in similar "go read the manga if you want more" ways. Same goes for other series described as "needs a second season" like Pumpkin Scissors and NANA. I'd much rather have an anime original ending (like in Fruits Basket or Negima!) that at least tries to provide closure for the series. * Sports series. I'm sure there are some good ones out there, but I don't think I can take any of them beyond 26 episodes. So Princess Nine is a "Want to See" show, but Prince of Tennis is not. Same with Initial D, Major, Capeta, Slam Dunk, and others. (Although Touch is an old-school one I want to check out someday.) * Poorly-reviewed video game adaptations of games I never played. I tolerated Final Fantasy Unlimited and survived the Chrono Trigger OVA because of my love for the games, but no way am I going to sit through Ragnarok or Xenosaga. * Unintentionally boring series. I've got a soft spot in my heart for relaxed "nothing happens" slice-of-life series like Piano, Kokoro Library, Someday's Dreamers, Mushishi, Strawberry Marshmallow, etc. However, I don't appreciate series like Avenger or Tsubasa Chronicle that purport to be story-driven action series and proceed to lull me to sleep with panning and Yuki Kajiura music. Dammit Bee Train  (Though I did watch all of Avenger, and will watch through ep13 of Tsubasa under the 1/4 rule.)
* Horror/Ultraviolence with nothing else going for it. (Nothing else that I can perceive without watching it, anyway.) I liked Elfen Lied because of its cute and dramatic elements, but stuff like Tokyo Majin, Witchblade, Requiem from the Darkness, and Blue Seed doesn't interest me. For the most part though, I'm quite accepting and forgiving of silly plots, genre cliches, fanservice, moe, cuteness, and reference-heavy comedy. But I have to have some standards to avoid getting into anything and everything.
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Truered
 Posts: 515 Location: Uni |
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 I'm someone who generally seems to enjoy most anime...from clichéd fanservice series to episodic stuff to WTF? stuff. 
Mainly it's the actual availability that turns me away. If I can get volumes 1, 3 and 4, but number 2 involves a trek in a deep jungle to find a map to locate the DVD, I'll probably just look at another series. Also endings...I usually have a habit of spoiling things for me, so if I know it has no real ending I can't be bothered. The one major example I can think of stopping, having already brought it was robotech...it was just too painfully 80s. And at this moment, as I have 20 volumes of the manga, I can't see the point in starting bleach...especially when I'm over a hundred episodes behind. |
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Sabut
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I haven't drop many animes, there are some which first chapters are a bit annoying but once you get the plot they get better. Some animes I have dropped are because they seem me annoying or because simply I didn't saw any reason to continue watching them.
I dropped Slayer at half of the first chapter more or less, because it seemed too much ridiculous to continue watching it, maybe if I could stand a few chapters it would get better but it seemed like I was wasting my time and couldn't continue. Cowboy Beebop, I "dropped" it around chapter 15 not because I disliked anything in special but because I couldn't see any reason to watch the next chapter when other series know how to catch you, I suppose I will finish watching it some day because there aren't much chapters but a don't have any hurry in it. I mean the music is cool, there are some good funny moments, but the plot isn't very interesting. They try to do some kind of mix between black novel and humor that I don't get at all, there is very few mystery, very few character development, ... Blood+, I actually haven't dropped it, but I was thinking in doing it. I mean, there are a lot of things that annoyed me a lot, the great "mystery"s that they reveal at the middle of the anime and that where absolutely clear from the first chapter, the characters doing strange things all the time, catching a depression in the most strange moments and eating other worst moments like nothing and things like this. |
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