sqbr | Poll: Reasons not to like Anime

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Poll: Reasons not to like Anime

A panel idea I've been batting around for next years Swancon is "Anime for people who don't like Anime" (and even if it doesn't become a panel, I think it would make for an interesting post and discussion). But in order to do it, I need to know what it is people don't like about anime, in order to find anime which avoid those things.

The first part of the poll is divided into two, one for anime fans and one for non-anime fans. If you're on the borderline, feel free to do both.
The second part is a few films I've seen suggested around the place or think people might like, but are not unqualified recommendations.

Note: disliking over the top violence etc is different to not minding it but not liking it enough for it to make up for an otherwise crappy show. Also, you can see the results of the polls you didn't take by clicking on the "Poll number blah" link.

[Poll #1203783]

[Poll #1203784]

[Poll #1203785]

This was very checked together: I see no point trying to craft the perfect poll without more data to get the questions right. Feel free to make suggestions in the comments.

I should mention that I'm mainly aimed at people who don't mind anime in principle but have high standards and tend to dislike a lot of the stuff they get recommended, or don't know where to start. People who hate all of it are probably better off as they are!

Also, in the poll I only mentioned a few films each from Hiyao Miyazaki and Satoishi Kon, but they're both totally awesome and worth a look. In my opinion, as an anime fan :)

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poll'd!

Also, in the first poll you've omitted "cutesy bootsy schmootzy" and "bishies" as 'things other people find squeal-worthy", which I thought would be a big part of it :P

Secondly, Akira appears twice in the second poll :)

Oh yeah, oops. I probably missed them because they don't annoy me :)

See, if I'd repeated "Ghost in the shell" I could have said one was the tv show and the other the movie. Oops again.

Most of the things on the list I've seen, but not been "OMG THIS IS BRILLIANT" about. I would definitely add Tonari no Totoro to the list, and probably something bishojou, such as Magic Knight Rayearth, or for something a bit newer maybe Suzumiya Haruhi.

I thought about Totoro but decided I had enough Miyazaki :)

I don't know much about Magic Knight Rayearth, and hadn't heard of Suzumiya Haruhi *noted*

Totoro was the one that I really thought of... I hadn't seen it until recently, and we saw it with a real age mix. The adults all enjoyed it, and our four year old _still_ suggests we should watch it again (and that was before Easter).

Hellsing or Hellsing Ultimate?

*blinks*

Um, Hellsing I guess. I wasn't actually aware of the other one, is it any good?

Ultimate is following the manga storyline (so it's the same to the Valentine attack on Hellsing, but then diverges). It's better, mostly, (mostly because of the closer manga plot) but poorer (soundtrack) and the same (animation budget lol lol lol) in other areas. It hasn't finished yet, though, so. (I'm preeeetty sure the ending can't be as terrible as vagina head... but the manga's getting pretty lol SO WHO KNOWS.

Well, I will have to check that out, thankyou for sharing your superior anime-fu.

Crazy things have happened to Geneon, the US company who was dealing with the dub and releasing it in the English-speaking world, so legal copies may be difficult to come by.

legal copies may be difficult to come by

I...see...

...

So are there not-neccesarily legal english-subbed copies one could..somehow..get a copy of? :)

>.>
<.<
Perhaaaaaaps...

Also, I should probably rec Code Geass to you. I've... acquired it but haven't had time to watch any of it yet, but one of my friends asks me pretty much daily if I've watched it yet or not.

Britain invades and conquers Japan with mechs. STUFF happens. I'm quite looking forward to it!

Also also, legal recs: Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi and Galaxy Angel.

Of course here we hit the fact that I never see you in person any more...

I've been watching Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi in fits and starts, it is fun. Galaxy Angel looked very typical boring anime, but if you say it's good I shall give it a go (Quickflix kept reccomending it and I ignored it, maybe I should trust it more :))

We could meet up for lunch after exams!

Oh no no no NOOOO Galaxy Angel is most definitely not boring.

It's crazy.

It was supposed to be based off of the dating sim game, but that got delayed and they didn't really know the plot... so they decided not to have a plot. Every single episode is self-contained, non-canonical madness. It's nice just to watch a few episodes a day to cheer yourself up.

(Galaxy Angel Rune is terrible, though.)

That could be nice, as long as it was a weekend (some of us have Real Jobs (tm)) Or are you coming to Supernova?

I checked the "anime fan" option. Although by most people's standards I may not be one, I have been really into *some* anime.

But I've not seen ANY of the ones you listed. Clearly, I fail.

No, clearly you just have a whole bunch of new anime to watch :D (*)

I must admit the list was very much skewed by what I've watched and my own tastes.

(*)I don't actually reccomend all of them, but I am suprised you haven't seen Princess Monoke or Spirited Away, and I reccomend them pretty strongly unless you've seen other Miyazaki and really hated it.

I have no problem with anime per se at all --- but I dislike almost all of its regular sub-genres. From shojo to hentai, the normal stuff of anime, particularly too much kawai, and anything which is basically a soap opera about character relationships at its core, leaves me cold.

But I like it as a medium - and I like Miyasaki and lots of the other thins you mentioned. But I'd never describe myself as an anime fan, even though I like quite a few specific anime things.

Mm, I can see that. I have enough of a soft spot for certain subgenres (and can put up with a certain amount of pretty much all of them if the story etc isn't too bad) that I do consider myself one, but Cam's in the same boat as you which got me thinking about this panel.

I consider myself on the cusp. I like some anime, but going out of my way to get it (such as downloading, to which I am morally opposed, or giving all my hard earned money to Mad Man) is just too hard.

I'm terrible, I like Sailor Moon and Card Captor Sakura and that, also Great Teacher Onizuka, and some random stuff.
My biggest problem with anime is really two problems, now I think about it.

1- The voices. Either you go for subtitled and get the highpitched squeeky nails on a chalkboard, I'm so soft an fluffy like a ducking, sad girl in snow, female voice acting. The timing, the pitch, the different 'um' and 'ah' and 'sooooo des' things. OR there's dubbing, which is inevitably irritating. "Hey, awesome vampire slayer from hell! Wait... that's the voice of Brock from Pokemon D:"

2 - The pacing. Any character driven anime I've seen has moved so slowly I give up before anyone's said anything. Long drawn out silences with little 'oh' or 'hm' noises to remind us that we haven't actually put it on mute as we focus clearly on each character's face. And if it's not drawn out, it's hyper-super fast with very little explanation of what the character's motivations are.

Wow, that sounds pessimistic, but there -are- animes out there that don't do that.

(Oh, and I finally get to write this somewhere- any English dubbed character with glasses will sound like they have a peg on their nose. Please, someone show me a counter example, it drives me up the wall.)

Personally I don't mind the way japanese voice actors talk, but it does take a little getting used to and has it's own annoying cliches (especially, as you say, with women). Dubs on the other hand: yes, with some exceptions they are just terrible. Americans don't tend to take voice acting very seriously at all.

I don't mind the pacing either (mostly), but it was something Cam brought up and I forgot to put in the poll. I will admit there have been times I couldn't remember if I had the dub on or not, and had to sit there watching cherry blossoms fall for five minutes until some spoke and I could find out :)

Anime Fan (at least, sometimes). Things that make me dislike anime: Excessive angst ('Oh, no, I'm just an ordinary xxxxxx, why is this happening to me' is a favourite, and, OK, fair enough, but to keep it up *every* frelling episode for 26 farnarkling episodes, or more ...)

Re: Perfect Blue. I both intensely like and dislike this one. It is a near perfect example of the psychological thriller - I'd put it up there with Vertigo. But I would never watch it again, just like I'd never watch Vertigo again. They are just that bit too good.

And I flubbed a vote. "But I have a soft spot for xxxx", where xxxx is pretty visuals, as evidenced by my love of Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (Diary of a Yokohama Shopping Trip). In which Nothing Happens. Very beautifully. (Strictly speaking, stuff does happen, but mostly in the background, or off-stage. Its been two years since the series ended, and fans still argue (very politely and gently) about what was going on!)

Yes, angst! Forgot that one, thanks.

Mm, I can see people not liking Perfect Blue, but I'd say the reasons for disliking it probably aren't to do with it being anime.

I'd be interested in being on that panel.

One aspect of anime fans that I'm not terribly fond of is a refusal by some to recognise Sturgeon's Law.

There was a period in the late eighties/early nineties when we were only seeing a trickle and what was getting out had been subjected to a savage selection process, and this meant we were generally only seeing 10-percenters.

Now, well the viewer has to be prepared to do their own editing because there's a large amount of crap getting released. And then it takes forever for something like ARIA to get licensed....

Well, I'd be interested in having you on it, circumstances allowing :) (Though I think it'd be good to have at least one person who tends to dislike anime, and then we could force them to watch all the suggestions and say what they think :))

Oh, yes, there's many many things I could say about anime fans...

But yes, the increase in supply has changed the nature of the fandom and the genre's perception. Especially with manga, I'd say. On the other hand, it's also meant that non-fans tend to have encountered more than just badly dubbed and edited kids cartoons.

Other recent titles that I would strongly recommend are Haibane Renmei and Planetes.

Haibane Renmai! I knew I forgot one.

I hadn't heard of "Planetes", will have to investigate.

Trash collectors in space, whats not to like? :)

DVDs come with interviews with the NASA Debris section...

El-Hazard's OAV made a very good impression on our early viewing of anime. Both the sub and the dub are very well crafted.

Ok, thanks.

Oh, El Hazard dub yes yes YES.

One of the few where the dub is better.

"You saw it too? I thought I had the DTs!" :)

Planetes is definetly one I think you'll like and I can lend you the dvds if you like.

Another one I think is particulary awesome so I push as many people onto it as I can is "The girl who lept through time". It's a nice little Sci-fi movie of what an ordinary teenager would do if they gained the ablity to time-jump and the consequences of their actions. It's getting a theatatrical release here soon so Luna will probably be showing it.

Planetes is definetly one I think you'll like and I can lend you the dvds if you like.

Thankyou very much for the offer, but Quickflix has it (just as I was running out of shows too :))

Another one I think is particulary awesome so I push as many people onto it as I can is "The girl who lept through time"

I'll have to keep a lookout for it, thanks

I guess one of the things that annoys me the most about anime is that anime fans seem to spend way too much time thinking about it, discussing it, analyzing it, researching it, and giving presentations on it that will only ever be seen by other anime fans.

If you have an idea for a more inclusive panel than "Anime for people who don't like anime" I'd be genuinely interested in hearing it :P

*is amused, since I was just pondering writing a post about how I don't understand the whole anonymous commenting culture they've been talking about recently on

metafandom. Also at the idea that I'm too scary to make fairly mild criticisms of to my face*

Top reason I'm not an anime fan: time. Being an anime fan is a bit like being a "book fan": you actually need to watch a lot of it. I don't watch as much anime as I read certain types of book, watch certain types of films, listen to certain types of music, and I've no connection with the community.

There are some things in anime which casual watchers (like me) tend to find irritating, particularly fanservice and endlessly recurring character types. But I've come to love other types of media that arguably have at least equally offensive traits, so I don't think it's fodder for prejudice against anime fans per se ... that said many anime fans, particularly those who have little outside-anime literary context for their consumption, do tend to shit me, because they squee constantly about things that just aren't that mind-blowing.

Oh, there's a reason I specifically didn't mention anime fans as a reason to dislike anime, they're a whole seperate thing :) Though I'm not sure they squee at crap much more than sf fans...

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Poll: Reasons not to like Anime

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'Other' comments & explaination of a double vote

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Planetes

Titles are hard, but not toooo hard.

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El Hazard

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