Forum - View topicLouis6578's anime thoughts (Most recently, listing off some favorite anime)
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louis6578
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Hello, friends. I am your beloved host, Louis6578. This thread marks the beginning of a new era. An age in which I can get my thoughts out on anime and hear others' opinions on my thoughts. Before I begin explaining what this topic will entail, let me address one statement that I predict the Hive Mind of forum-goers will give.
"HEY! YOU'RE RIPPING OFF AKANE ANALYZES!" Right, because she's the only person to do this. To say that would be to say that LittleKuriboh is the first person to create a parody series of an anime on the internet. But no. This is not Akane Analyzes. It is completely different for one fundamental reason. ... I'm not Akane. 
Now that that's out of the way, this is my thread to record my thoughts on anime and the consequences that arise from my viewing of it. I will give my take on many things such as entire anime series, my watch-throughs of specific anime as they happen and my current thoughts on them, the appeals and/or failings of certain running themes and archetypes in anime and their characters, the depths and inner-mechanisms of some of my favorite anime and characters, and most of all, my history with the anime I bring up. If rewatching an anime, I will never talk about it without discussing my history with it. I think where I differ from Akane is that I will take requests and talk about issues that may be considered "controversial." By that I mean that I can discuss anything I want to and if my opinion comes across as differing from your own morals, I invite civil discussion. I might say "Griffith is a good guy and everything he did was justified," but I will always explain my viewpoints (that was just an example though. Griffith is evil). Speaking of that, you should expect spoilers. My major posts will be archived in the following segments: Watching and Recording - In this, I will be discussing my opinion on an anime thus far as I'm watching it for the first time. I'll discuss my opinion on the characters, themes, symbolism, quality of the story, and whatever little things I notice. If I'm watching with a friend, I'll probably say what they thought about each thing I comment on to give two different perspectives. This probably won't be episode by episode since I hate watching episodes one at a time. I did say to expect spoilers, and I don't particularly mind being spoiled, but since I'm going to be making predictions on where the show will go, I'll leave it to the poster's discretion whether spoiling something will ruin it for me or not. I'll take requests for what to watch as well. Finished - The overall thoughts looking back on the anime I just finished and going in-depth on the ultimate outcome of the events in the story and where the characters ended up/how they developed. Looking back - For this, I'll be looking back at a series that I had seen... lets say 3 years ago at minimum, and discussing my history with it, my views when I saw it, and how my opinion or insight has changed in the years since. Anime Battle - In this, I'll look at two similar shows and see which one I think is better by putting them next to each other and dissecting their plot mechanics. Pander Bender - I'll bring up something that the anime industry keeps coming back to and discuss my history with it, its appeal, and whatever interesting things about it I can think of. For example, if I discussed Tsundere Characters, I would look at the history of it, discuss my own experiences with the archetype in anime, and see what makes or breaks that type of character. And a lot of other things that are so miscellaneous that I won't even bother categorizing them. A few things I planned on talking about include "Is anime getting worse," "Is Light a hero or villain," "What makes a likable jerk protagonist," and "What makes a good fanservice show" to name a few. There are a few ground rules to lay down before I get started. Rules and Limitations: 1. Obviously, I won't discuss hentai here, though feel free to PM me if there's anything interesting to discuss on the subject. 2. I will take recommendations for any and all shows no matter how long, though if it's a longer, 100+ type show, I reserve the right to stop watching it after 50 episodes if I don't care for it, or to take a break every 26 episodes (or at the very least, at the end of each arc that is taking place during the 26 episode increment). 3. Nothing will stop me from stating my opinion as harshly as I want to. If you love, say, Gabriel Dropout, and I think it's an annoying, pandering mess of a show whose only redeeming quality is Satania, then you will need to accept our differing viewpoints. I invite people to civilly state a differing opinion or tell me why I missed out on the appeal of a certain character or show, but don't be an elitist about it. Just as easily as I could have chosen not to make a post about something I didn't like, you could have chosen not to read about it here.
4. While I may resort to fansubs if the show is impossible to find legally, I would prefer that recommendations remain legally viewable. This is ANN after all. I can't really pride myself as a good anime fan if I'm going to watch at a certain super illegal, scummy site that doesn't allow you to use ad-block. 5. I will not talk about manga in-depth unless it is in relation to an anime. After all, this is the anime forum. 6. I've never been a big shipper, though if by some rare alignment of the planets on a leap day at the light of a blue moon I start talking about a ship I like, try to be civil about any disagreements you have. The same goes for if I for some reason address my "waifu" in a certain show. Jokey things like that will never warrant being the full topic of a post. Well, that took forever. I'll move on to discussing my first topic soon enough. Last edited by louis6578 on Wed Oct 25, 2017 9:40 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Akane the Catgirl
Posts: 1091 Location: LA, Baby! |
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Welcome to the anime blogging world, old friend. Good luck.
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louis6578
Posts: 1861 |
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Yes, yes. I'm sure that mine won't traffic as much as your's, though it will certainly help organize my thoughts. Plus archiving my thoughts on anime right now could be interesting to look back on a few years from now. I just looked at my "top 10 anime list" on the ANN topic, and I was surprised at the anime I chose. It reminded me of how fresh in my mind some were while others felt like a fleeting love that I had back then toward anime I'm now apathetic toward (Wolf's Rain stands out the most in that regard). Moving on, I think that the most important thing I could do to start us off on this "blog" as Akane puts it, is to give my own personal "anime award show" of sorts. The purpose of this is simply to show my tastes in anime. Just by telling everyone what a few of my favorite anime are and why I liked them, it should make my stance on a lot of the things I say in the future clear. That said, I'd like everyone to keep in mind that I'm not affected at all by things like nostalgia. My tastes were defined fairly early on, so things that I liked as a kid are things that I remember incredibly well as an adult. I've noticed that a lot of people will reply to my negative/lukewarm/mixed opinions of things like Tenchi in Tokyo, Rurouni Kenshin, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Fullmetal Alchemist 2003, Outlaw Star, Trigun, Spirited Away, Dragonball Z, MaR Heaven, and "Zatch" Bell by saying something like this: "What!? How could you say that dude!? That anime was my childhood! I loved watching it on Toonami bro!" To which I'll often reply by expanding on specific gripes I have on the show in question, which the other person will usually admit are very legitimate. This always leads to the same, similarly worded response: "Oh. I totally forgot that happened." or "Did that really happen like that? It's been so long that I don't remember that part." For every anime that I saw as a child, if I remember it as an adult, I remember it well enough to remember the things I disliked about it as well. I remember hating that Chris Thorndyke was supposed to be the audience surrogate of Sonic X despite making stupid and unrelatable decisions. I remember "Kiyo" from "Zatch" Bell never putting emotion into his lines despite being a part of a show that thrives on emotionally resonating with its audience. I remember that MaR was aired out of order due to a mistake by Cartoon Network, and when re-aired in order, was cancelled after episode 9 because no one (Besides me) was watching it. And I remember that Outlaw Star was an archetypal action show that peaked at episode 4. Bottom line, I'm not here to "ruin your childhood" or whatever, but if I hate something that you grew up with, or make you realize the imperfections of your favorite anime, don't act like I just made something that you love unwatchable. One of my favorite anime ever is STILL Code Geass, and one of my favorite videos, by a YouTuber named DXfan619 is called Anime I Effing Hate: Cod Geass. In it, he basically explains why he thinks Code Geass is a terrible anime, and why the first season failed to grab him as realistic, dramatic, or emotionally resonate. His complaints are all legitimate and a few are things that I hadn't noticed (for example, Mao gets shot full of holes in one episode and comes back the next because of the "Advances in medical technology" yet Euphemia is shot once and dies in a hospital bed surrounded by doctors). Despite now knowing about these imperfections, I still love Code Geass because, to me, the things it does right matter more than the things it does wrong. It isn't nostalgia talking. If I watched Code Geass again right now, I would still love it even if these nagging thoughts of negativity were in my mind. Before I get started on my favorite anime, I think I should explain how this is going to go down. First I'll drop a genre, explain my feelings toward that genre as a whole, and then drop two anime. A favorite of mine in that genre and its runner-up. I'll describe my history with each show and what I love about it. It'll be almost exclusively gushing. Here's the basic template for this. Example Genre - (Insert thoughts on the genre and honorable mentions) Runner-Up entry - (Insert brief thoughts on this anime, your history with it, and why you love it) Favorite in this Genre - (Briefly describe the plot in a few sentences Describe your history with this anime Detail why this anime is your favorite, and if you feel like it, briefly explain why it's favored over your runner-up) Now with that out of the way, I shall begin my descent into madness with the maddest genre I can think of. Comedy Anime - This is not to be confused with the Slice of Life, Romantic Comedy, or the Fanservice/Ecchi/Harem genre, all of which are sub-categories of comedy that I felt deserved their own spots. It doesn't take a lot for me to laugh at an anime. Plenty of anime have made me giggle or chuckle. Even Sword Art Online, MaR, and Future Diary, three shows that everyone knows I either dislike or find ironic enjoyment in, have made me laugh at one point at least. Despite this, the comedy genre is something that I enjoy in the moment, but can rarely remember after it's done. A couple of shows, such as Gintama, Cromartie High School, Bo-bo-bo Bo-bo Bo-bo, and The Ultimate Teacher have managed to sidestep this and become a few of my favorites (if not that then simply some of my most fondly remembered experiences of being shocked and surprised by insanity). A few other comedy anime that I liked are things like Konosuba and Sakamoto Desu Ga, but they're so recent in my mind that I need to wait and see just how good I truly think they are. I couldn't put those above something that has cemented itself as one of the best anime ever just yet. With that said, these are the two anime that I think of when I want to laugh with friends. Runner-up - Excel Saga. My experience with Excel Saga is a bit hazy. I remember one of my favorite anime reviewers, Klaus Von Hohenloe (who is quite notoriously picky and overly critical about the anime he reviewed) made a top 6 favorite anime list. His number 2 favorite, and one of the few anime on that list which I hadn't already seen, was Excel Saga. Since a lot of the humor was in the kanji on the screen, and most streaming sites turned off on-screen subtitles for fear of being removed faster by copyright Nazis, I bought the DVDs without any certainty of enjoying the anime. I ended up finding it immediately hilarious. Excel's voice was annoying, but in a funny, intentional way. I was instantly capable of finding humor in Nabeshin, the director's proxy character. Plus Lord Il Palazzo was always a hilarious straight man to Excel. It wouldn't be a favorite for me if it weren't for its final few episodes, however. The last four are all masterpieces of comedy for different reasons. 23 for its surprisingly emotional ending that still makes me cry, 24 for being completely serious without being boring or melodramatic about it, 25 for having a satisfying ending for these joke characters' character arcs, and 26 for... well, basically ignoring censorship and being as hilariously offensive as possible. My only issue with the show is that aside from the final episodes, once you know the jokes, the rest of the show isn't that funny upon rewatch. It's still a great show. One that I'd happily watch through all the less-than-stellar parts again to see the greatness of its finale. Favorite Comedy - Great Teacher Onizuka. This is a show that I would have never heard of if it weren't for Gigguk's Top 20 Most Epically Cool Anime Characters list. I'm grateful to have seen that, because Onizuka is easily on my top 5 favorite characters list. I could write all day about how great he is and how inspirational, funny, and heartwarming this man truly is. I won't though. All I'll say is that this anime makes me smile all the time. It is the most consistently funny anime I've ever seen (besides perhaps Prison School). Unlike a lot of comedies, when it tries to be dramatic, it succeeds. Onizuka often teaches his students to become good people, not great students. Watching him use his street smarts to enhance these children's lives was some of the best character writing I've had the pleasure of watching. Even if by some miracle you find none of this funny, you'll almost certainly resonate with Onizuka's way of helping and dealing with students. I thought this would be the boring "Thug teacher beats up his misbehaving students" garbage that we've seen a million times, but no. He actually helps them out by giving them the attention and personal connection that no other teacher in their school would. In the beginning, everyone in his school hates him. By the midway point, almost every student loves him, and the only teacher who really doesn't like him is the Vice-Principal. I used to jokingly tell friends who hadn't seen the show "If you don't smile once while watching this, kill yourself." Basically, I'm saying that this will be a great time to almost anyone. The only turnoffs I can see are these. First off, Onizuka says early on that he wants to hook up with a high school girl and that's why he's trying to become a teacher. Don't fret. This joke gets dropped early on and comes across as "Early Installment Weirdness" considering Onizuka later says that he would never objectify his students like that, and only enjoys adult videos where grown women dress as students. Second, there's a lot of perverted humor, but I think it's mostly in good taste, and a lot of it made me laugh, unlike something like, say, Love Hina or Future Diary. |
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louis6578
Posts: 1861 |
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Next up, I was going to do the Slice of Life genre, but that's far too broad to narrow it down to just two. After all, slice of life basically just means any anime that is about real life situations with zero, or very few, supernatural things thrown into the mix. Clannad, Welcome to the NHK, Great Teacher Onizuka, Ouran High School Host Club, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, most "cute girls doing cute things" anime, and almost everything in the shojo genre that doesn't escalate into the supernatural can be considered slice of life. To narrow it down, there are a few sub-categories I'll go into my favorite anime of next time.
Slice of Life for Adults in the workplace Romantic Comedies Iyashikei/Healing series Fanservice shows (AKA little sister BS and harem anime) |
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