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Boomer wrote:

Unpopular anime opinions. Okay, here goes:

Akira is a steaming pile of crap.

Never saw it, and won't

Boomer wrote:

Burst Angel is not a bad TV series. Sure, it's no masterpiece by any means, and it does have its fair share of silliness and meandering storylines. As a fan of cyberpunk, however, I did find enough in it to keep me interested, and many of the action scenes were quite engaging. Much of the animation was also very well done, giving the show an above-average visual style.

I liked it quite a bit. As a rule, I generally don't like any mecha type amine, but this one kept me interested through to the end. Of course I also like El Cazador de la Bruja so flame me for that if you want.

Boomer wrote:

Mardock Scramble

Never saw it and won't

Ditto for AoT

What I can't stand is whiny voice actors, be they in Japanese or English.

And I don't buy anime that doesn't have an English dub, so by extension, one could say that I don't like Japanese language only titles at all. I'm sure this is a really unpopular opinion. But you could ask yourself: Do I really care, if you don't like, that I don't like it?? Because I could care less.

guildmaster wrote:

Of course I also like El Cazador de la Bruja so flame me for that if you want.

My friend showed me some of that and I thought it was decent. I was like "....hey, this show is like Noir.....except I care about the characters" Laughing

Boomer wrote:

dtm42 wrote:

Fine. But Boomer's criticism is still invalid though, for the reasons that I mentioned above.

An opinion cannot be valid or invalid. It's an opinion. Nobody's asking you to agree. Deal with it.

That's the nature of the Internet. Lots of people praise, rant, agree, and disagree over an infinite number of topics. Our biases are what "justify" our beliefs, and whether or not we can sway people to think, otherwise, shouldn't be as important. Our minds are kinda' made up from the very beginning of an argument/debate/statement, so I always figure it's less important to bicker about it and just focus on saying what you want. If someone agrees or disagrees, that's fine.

But life is easier when you stick with what you like, while, at the same time, not allowing yourself to get worked up over other peoples' opinions. It's simply not worth the time and energy, when you can be doing better things.

Psycho 101 wrote:

As a fan of Akira (though I don't consider it to be THE end all masterpiece many do) I can respect people's opinions that they don't like the plot. Or the characters. I can get that. I can even understand if you say the animation STYLE is simply not your cup of tea. But I have issues with those that trash the animation quality, not the same as style, itself if they weren't even out of diapers when it came out. I have seen quite a few fans bash older shows and their animation quality while taking zero thought into account of the time period the movie/series/OVA is from.

It may be a question of style and my own aesthetic preferences. I happen to think that Satoshi Kon's character designs tend to be hideous as well. However, there is other anime from the same era whose animation style is gorgeous, and I like just as many older shows as newer ones. I also agree that the animation quality of Akira is quite high. Stylistically, my biggest complaint is that the characters in the movie are barely distinguishable from each other, which becomes a huge problem when they are part of such a convoluted plot. But, as you said, my problems with Akira run much deeper than merely the appearance of its characters.

^ Personally, I don't have a problem with the art styles of Katsuhiro Otomo and Satoshi Kon, and that's mostly because the characters actually look like Japanese people. Kon himself has stated his dislike for the generic cuteness anime art style and and the cuteness subculture in general. Maybe that's why you don't like it so much; after getting used to the "assume this character is Japanese unless specifically told otherwise" art style, it's going to be a shock to anyone when seeing Akira and any of Satoshi Kon's works, because all their characters are drawn to look like real-life Japanese people.

Now, time for my own unpopular opinion! I didn't like Wolf Children that much! Now, that's not to say it's a bad movie, it isn't! It's just not necessarily my thing. I'm not the type of person who enjoys slice-of-life anime (with the exception of Azumanga Daioh, hi, how'd that happen?), so I was pretty much doomed not to like this movie. To me, it felt too unfocused in terms of plot and characters, leaving me wondering who the main character was and what the thematic structure is. Now, that might not necessarily be a good criticism. After all, the movie is fantastic at creating an atmosphere. For those who like those feel good, fairy-tale-esque, cute slice-of-life movies, this one's for you. I'd just rather watch The Girl who Leapt Through Time again. I love that movie...

Akane the Catgirl wrote:

^ Personally, I don't have a problem with the art styles of Katsuhiro Otomo and Satoshi Kon, and that's mostly because the characters actually look like Japanese people. Kon himself has stated his dislike for the generic cuteness anime art style and and the cuteness subculture in general. Maybe that's why you don't like it so much; after getting used to the "assume this character is Japanese unless specifically told otherwise" art style, it's going to be a shock to anyone when seeing Akira and any of Satoshi Kon's works, because all their characters are drawn to look like real-life Japanese people.

Actually, I don't think that Kon or Otomo's characters look especially Japanese, certainly no more so than the ones in the Ghost in the Shell franchise for example. To me, the only difference is that the latter are aesthetically appealing while the former are ugly. I do not like the designs regardless of the racial phenotype they are trying to depict. Shows such as Gasaraki or Texhnolyze, for example, have characters that look more like Japanese people are "supposed" to (at least as it is commonly perceived in the West), and I have no problem with them. In the examples I gave, cuteness is not a significant factor in the chosen styles.

On the other hand, I hate the animation style of Family Guy (as well as the show itself) despite the fact that it attempts to depict Caucasian features in its characters. So no, my preference for certain character designs over others is not dependent on whether they look "Japanese" or not.

^ Ah, but you forget, this is Japan we are talking about. You know, where 98% of the country is native Japanese? This is kind of a big deal, considering that in most anime, you have to assume the characters are Japanese, even when they look white. Once again, I do like the character designs by Otomo and Kon, but if you don't, I am perfectly fine. I've had enough experience taking art classes and drawing my own anime-esque comics to tell the difference between style-that-might-not-be-aesthetically-pleasing-to-some-but-still-looks-mostly-good-and/or-unique and wow-this-person-cannot-draw-period.

Very few whites that I've seen have gigantic eyes or tiny noses and mouths. The stereotypical "cute" anime style does not accurately depict Caucasians either although I will grant you that the features look more "white" than anything else. However, if you look closely, many of the characters in Perfect Blue or Millennium Actress (a movie that I actually like) could pass for dark-haired whites. They are not 100 percent realistic, Japanese or otherwise. By necessity, anime is a stylistic rather than photo-realistic medium in which assumptions need to be made about the images of human characters. Whatever detail is not immediately apparent to the viewer must be filled in by his or her mind's eye. The examples I brought up in my previous post are shows which depict Japanese people in a relatively accurate fashion yet have a visual style which I find beautiful, characters included.

Boomer wrote:

An opinion cannot be valid or invalid. Deal with it.

But a criticism can be invalid, and yours was.

@Boomer

Let's not turn this into a discussion about the use of Mukokuseki in anime! You have your personal dislikes, and I have mine! (Though I think we can all agree that Hajime Isayama can't draw. It impresses me how they managed to clean up the character designs in Attack on Titan to make them look presentable, don'tcha think?)

dtm42 wrote:

But a criticism can be invalid, and yours was.

I still haven't heard why Attack on Titan is not a poorly written, cliche-ridden show. By the way, there is nothing fresh or original about medieval war tactics, to cite examples of things about it that impressed you so much.

Boomer wrote:

I still haven't heard why Attack on Titan is not a poorly written, cliche-ridden show.

I love how you've abandoned what you've said earlier and have tried to pretend the topic was something else. Not attempting to defend it anymore is all-but an admission that it was incorrect, as I pointed out halfway down page twenty-six.

Boomer wrote:

By the way, there is nothing fresh or original about medieval war tactics, to cite examples of things about it that impressed you so much.

Yes, because soldiers wielding giant craft knives who leap around above rooftops, down streets or through forests using gas-propelled wire anchors can be merely passed off as "medieval war tactics".[/sarcasm]

The 3D Maneuver Gear is really stupid and impractical - issues that you didn't point out - but no-one who has seen it in action can claim that it isn't highly original.

Boomer wrote:

I managed to watch the first three episodes of Attack on Titan...
...This show is an example of a recent trend in "serious" anime where a single weird and impossible premise is used as a springboard to build a story around characters as opposed to extrapolating from the real world and building a sense of awe from the ground up.

If you watched only three episodes how do you know that the story does not extrapolate from the real world?
Was there enough in those three episodes to explain the origin of the Titans and the world where the story is set?

I do not know because I have not watched any of it. I gave up after reading the first volume of the manga.
I decided that it was just not right for me.

dtm42 wrote:

The 3D Maneuver Gear is really stupid and impractical - issues that you didn't point out - but no-one who has seen it in action can claim that it isn't highly original.

That was certainly new to me.
I think that the concept and the animation are both very impressive.

Also, that clip actually made me feel a bit of sympathy for the Titans.
I think that I might reconsider my decision to not watch Attack on Titan.

(I love AoT...and it's not a show I'd normally go for; me the moe moe shoujo kawaii desu romance freak. Anime hyper

)

Regarding Satoshi's Kon's designs....I've been to Japan. I've seen the people. Most people are not that fugly. Smile

But maybe that's the world through Kon's eyes or something.

Chiibi wrote:

Psycho 101 wrote:

As a fan of Akira (though I don't consider it to be THE end all masterpiece many do) I can respect people's opinions that they don't like the plot. Or the characters. I can get that. I can even understand if you say the animation STYLE is simply not your cup of tea. But I have issues with those that trash the animation quality, not the same as style, itself if they weren't even out of diapers when it came out. I have seen quite a few fans bash older shows and their animation quality while taking zero thought into account of the time period the movie/series/OVA is from.

Oh no, I definitely agree Akira has quality animation for its time and even now. If it didn't, the graphic violence wouldn't be able to squick me so much.

It's just the aesthetics I'm not fond of. I'm too spoiled by 'pretty' shows. lol Perhaps it's a bit too realistic in style. I tend to not like those very much.

See now that is a reasoning that makes sense and is understandable to me. I would agree they are more realistic in style compared to many of today. Several of the characters facially also looked very much alike in Akira as well I will admit that. My response was a bit knee jerk I'll also admit. The thing is I come from a time long ago lol. I come from the vhs tape days. Back when we didn't have many choices and snatched up anything we could get our hands on. I often think fans today are spoiled to a degree by how quick they can get their anime and the volume of shows they can get. Plus I do honestly see quite often fans from this newer generation who insult older shows and are often quite merciless in their opinions. As I said before having issues with aesthetics or a particular animators style is one thing. Just trashing a show and it's over all quality while not taking into account the quality available at it's time is another. I'm protective of my old memories lol.

Boomer wrote:

Psycho 101 wrote:

As a fan of Akira (though I don't consider it to be THE end all masterpiece many do) I can respect people's opinions that they don't like the plot. Or the characters. I can get that. I can even understand if you say the animation STYLE is simply not your cup of tea. But I have issues with those that trash the animation quality, not the same as style, itself if they weren't even out of diapers when it came out. I have seen quite a few fans bash older shows and their animation quality while taking zero thought into account of the time period the movie/series/OVA is from.

It may be a question of style and my own aesthetic preferences. I happen to think that Satoshi Kon's character designs tend to be hideous as well. However, there is other anime from the same era whose animation style is gorgeous, and I like just as many older shows as newer ones. I also agree that the animation quality of Akira is quite high. Stylistically, my biggest complaint is that the characters in the movie are barely distinguishable from each other, which becomes a huge problem when they are part of such a convoluted plot. But, as you said, my problems with Akira run much deeper than merely the appearance of its characters.

Ya know, honestly in many of his films I am not a huge fan of Kon's characters designs myself. I LOVE the movie Tokyo Godfather's but I really don't like the character designs in it. I had to force myself to sit and watch it the first time through. And the second heh. After that the story got me so hooked I was able to look past that annoyance I had at first. I had to do the same with Fafner after watching Gundam Seed and loathing the character designs.

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