Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Parsely]

So I started watching an anime based off of Dance Dance Revolution... err I mean Street Racing.

A few things surprised me
1) There MUST be a Initial D Rhythm game, it practically sounds like it is going through the DDR catalog.
2) They actually CARE about the Comic Relief's feelings!? This surprised me so greatly I actually stood up in my seat. You NEVER see this... the comic relief's feelings never matter unless someone is beating them up.
3) Dracula Car!

I am actually loving it so far. Sure the 3d is terrible but I'd prefer an anime that actually shows me the actually process and moves over... "Stop motion attack!"

One of my favourites. Yeah the 3D is AWFUL. It goes away mostly near the end of the first season, and its gone completely in the second. BY THE BLOOD GODS YOU HAVEN'T EVEN MADE IT TO THE 2ND SEASON YET. SHIT GETS REAL.

[Zangi]

Watching avatar the last airbender.

Watching is not the right word though... binging? yes, that's more appropriate. I've been going for four days and I'm halfway through book 3 already.

Yea, it is pretty good.

[Neonivek]

Watching avatar the last airbender.

Watching is not the right word though... binging? yes, that's more appropriate. I've been going for four days and I'm halfway through book 3 already.

Yea, it is pretty good.

It is probably the best western cartoon to come out in the last 10 years.

Though if that is up for debate I can qualify it by saying "Best Non-comedy". Which eliminates almost all its competition. (Goodness we have comedy saturation)

---

Honestly there is only ONE thing the anime needs to do to hoist itself into my favorite animes slot.

It just needs the comic relief to pick up some skills. That is all!

[Zangi]

Watching avatar the last airbender.

Watching is not the right word though... binging? yes, that's more appropriate. I've been going for four days and I'm halfway through book 3 already.

Yea, it is pretty good.

It is probably the best western cartoon to come out in the last 10 years.

Though if that is up for debate I can qualify it by saying "Best Non-comedy". Which eliminates almost all its competition. (Goodness we have comedy saturation)

---

Honestly there is only ONE thing the anime needs to do to hoist itself into my favorite animes slot.

It just needs the comic relief to pick up some skills. That is all!

Might be you are wanting Japanese comedy to become Western comedy... yes?

[Neonivek]

Might be you are wanting Japanese comedy to become Western comedy... yes?

No... The comic relief of western comedies tends to have them keep being a joke. "Cool moments" happen but otherwise no. (This is excluding characters who are meant to be competent comic relief characters... obviously)

Also it isn't a comedy.

The issue I am having is that mostly I am starting to be drawn into the characters more and more.

Yet most anime doesn't give you much pay off as only the main character is allowed to actually succeed at anything substantial except one off victories. Which wouldn't be too much of a problem but everyone else is always more interesting then the main character. They have emotional arcs other then "I get angry and win", plotlines, and they actually have to work at their successes. It is actually kind of odd because these animes will always paint the main character, who is given everything, as the underdog and yet really everyone else is for needing to face up against the unstoppable hero.

It is why often in some animes they give the ordinary hero who is good at everything (Standard fanfare). Then they give the "good but not too good" secondary hero who actually gets to improve and have arcs.

This can happen in reverse, in this case the secondary hero tends to be very smug about being the "clearly superior character" until defeated later.

The reason why I am rooting for the comedic character to actually gain skills is because... that is actually part of his character arc. He actually has interests that he honestly goes for and tries to make happen. As well this anime for some freakish reason actually acknowledges that he is a person... which is unthinkable for an anime. Usually the comedic character barely exists and is easily thrown aside later.

Unfortunately the anime I am watching is becoming a standard anime. It set up minor character arcs but so far none of them panned out and most of the small ones are solved by the main character anyhow.

It is the standard "Kiss the main character's butt as he sleeps through everything unless he gets angry because he is much more talented, skilled, and handsome then everyone else. Did we mention how great he was?"

[Knirisk]

It is the standard "Kiss the main character's butt as he sleeps through everything unless he gets angry because he is much more talented, skilled, and handsome then everyone else. Did we mention how great he was?"

That's not just a standard for anime, y'know. That's almost like a universal standard. Need I bring up Twilight? It's definitely not specific to Japanese animation, or even any kind of media in general. It's just easy to write. Like how Mary Sues are popular, yeah?

[Parsely]

Is FMA like that? On cursory perusal of my memories of the show, it was nothing like that. It seemed like Edward and Alfonse were never truly succeeding, just having small victories but ultimately getting their asses kicked, either figuratively, literally or both at the same time. Plus even the 'side characters' got loads of attention and regularly played huge roles in their journey. Hell, everyone in the cast is a main character. There are no side characters in that show.

[Leafsnail]

FMA wasn't like that.

Also, finished LotGH and started watching the prequels.  The prequels are good because it's like a big party where all the cool people are still alive.

[ggamer]

finished Avatar and The Promise, now I move to Legend of Korra

[ToonyMan]

FMA wasn't like that.
Also, finished LotGH and started watching the prequels.  The prequels are good because it's like a big party where all the cool people are still alive.

Spoiler: SIEG KAISER (click to show/hide)

[Tellemurius]

What is this Space Hulk medieval times?

[Steelmagic]

FMA wasn't like that.
Also, finished LotGH and started watching the prequels.  The prequels are good because it's like a big party where all the cool people are still alive.

Spoiler: SIEG KAISER (click to show/hide)

For some reason when i looked at that the song 'raining men' was playing in my head. My brain likes to think of inappropriate music for things like that.

[Leafsnail]

70% talking, 25% spaceships going "pewpew", 5% brutally murdering the shit out of each other with axes is pretty much the perfect formula.

[Chaoswizkid]

Yet most anime doesn't give you much pay off as only the main character is allowed to actually succeed at anything substantial except one off victories. Which wouldn't be too much of a problem but everyone else is always more interesting then the main character. They have emotional arcs other then "I get angry and win", plotlines, and they actually have to work at their successes. It is actually kind of odd because these animes will always paint the main character, who is given everything, as the underdog and yet really everyone else is for needing to face up against the unstoppable hero.

It is why often in some animes they give the ordinary hero who is good at everything (Standard fanfare). Then they give the "good but not too good" secondary hero who actually gets to improve and have arcs.

This can happen in reverse, in this case the secondary hero tends to be very smug about being the "clearly superior character" until defeated later.

Neon Genesis Evangelion, Code Geass, Full Metal Alchemist, Fate/Zero, Black Lagoon, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (only because Stealth Protagonist, invalid later), Samurai Champloo, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, Gunslinger Girl, SaiKano, Paranoia Agent, Death Note, Princess Mononoke, Spiral, Hajime no Ippo, Claymore, Kore wa Zombie desu ka?, Ergo Proxy, Digimon, Cowboy Bebop, and Shaman King (manga, because the anime probably ended in a silly way) would say otherwise, and most of those were taken to be distributed on US television (so they are some of the most popular series out there).

In each of those cases, either the protagonist doesn't always win, the protagonist experiences some very serious character development and isn't just given everything (or doesn't use that everything to its fullest extent), there are side/secondary or even tertiary characters that have their own very serious importance and character development, and/or the side characters are legitimately more powerful than the protagonist and either stay that way or most be overcome by serious development, etc.

I will agree that there's a good number of series that are just dumb like what you're complaining about, but you absolutely cannot make a blanket statement when a lot of the more famous series refute that. You're mostly talking about DB/DBZ, the Big Three, Fairy Tail, etc. which are all stupidly popular but they are by absolutely no means the standard of anime if we're talking about what gets adapted to the West, and by no means the standard of what is considered good anime, rather than popular anime, if we're talking about anime in general.

Also, if you're looking for comedy, look up Bakemonogatari.

[Vector]

Yeah... and Dragonball wasn't even like that, most of the time.  In the manga, most of what Goku does involves cleaning up Vegeta's mistakes and trying to get him in line, whereas the ones who levy the main attack against the enemy are Vegeta, Piccolo, and Gohan.  It's clear that the main struggle in the show isn't against the particular designated enemy, but within the group.  Hell, I'd happily say that the plotline is, in general, about Goku's maturation and Vegeta's redemption.  That's pretty much it.  Because the point is not the victories in combat, but the victories on the path of becoming a decent person.

And of course, Goku's main struggles are "how can I successfully raise Gohan and find a successor" and "how can I get a choke chain on Vegeta and Piccolo."  And he really works at it.  And he fails a hell of a lot (see: the entire Cell saga, which is pretty much a humiliation conga in this lens).  He is an underdog, because he's introduced from page one as a social recluse who has no knowledge at all of social customs or how to interact with other human beings, and by the end he's married with two happy children, the dwellers of earth are at peace with each other, he's found a successor, Vegeta is confirmed Not Evil, and he fucking earned it.

[/bows out]