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[ein]

He seems to be making a sustained attack on kuuki-kei and sekai-kei stories, or stories where personal problems are equated with problems of the entire world, without the intervention of society or the state.

Throughout the article it seems like this guy sums up everything I ever hated about anime. Plus, I liked Cowboy bebop and Geass. I'll have to put his works on the Things I Need To Watch List.

Definitely do this.
I'm with others here in having his stuff amongst my favourites.

[SalmonGod]

I think there are two separate grades of anime.

There is the stuff that is very cheap and mass-produced and stuffed full of staples/stereotypes/cliches of its form.  It's the same as cartoons but tailored to a different culture.  I enjoy them to an extent, but don't think they are anything special.  This is stuff like Sailor Moon, Naruto, Tenchi Muyo, etc.

But... I also think there is a lot of stuff that stands out from this, and not just from Sato Dai (who is amazing).  There is also the likes of Satoshi Kon (Perfect Blue), Miyazaki, Toriyama (who is the progenitor of many anime tropes but was himself very original, I believe), Masaaki Yuasa (Mind Game), Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira), Yukito Kishiro (Battle Angel Alita), Hideyuki Kurata (Now and Then, Here and There), Kunihiko Ikuhara (Revolutionary Girl Utena), Kouhei Kadono (Boogiepop Phantom).

I totally admit I looked up half of those names based on works I found unique.  Most of them have produced anime/manga of the former type, but each has also produced at least one real gem.  The thing about these gems is they are of an intellectual and/or genre-bending nature that almost certainly would not survive production in the western world, but can be found with relative ease among anime/manga.  The western world has its gems, but they're usually of a different nature.  Over here we don't like to break plot formula or genre boundaries or challenge commonly held perceptions, and when we do, it's usually many years before those works gain real appreciation.  We're more likely to produce work that does a pre-defined and well understood thing and just does it really well.

Plus on a more personal level, I'm incredibly disillusioned with modern western ways of thinking and connect more with the existentialism and relative morality of anime/manga.

[Vector]

Haha... you mentioned Toriyama.

I'm always happy when you mention Toriyama.  Keep up the good work

[Max White]

Ok, I understand and respect your views, and although I personally enjoy some anime.




So what do you like?

[Chaoswizkid]

I might have liked Wolf's Rain if I had any idea what it was about.

I can see that I need to do a Let's Watch with pauses for analysis in the near future.

If you do this, please wait until August >,<

@Original Post
Anyway, I find that if someone really dislikes anime, it's usually because they are exposed to all of the BS stuff. Impossible anatomy, sickeningly cute, outrageous fan-service, see-through plots, stuff like that. I know that for some people it's also the fact that animation quality is so poor, or the fact that the art style is so homogeneous (huge eyes, large heads, relatively small bodies, impossible hair styles in unnatural colors, etc.). However, I've seen a good portion of manga and anime that have amazing stories, deep thought experiments, and the like that could compete with Hollywood's best. These are incredibly rare, but they exist. There are also animes that are parodies of the style and culture of anime itself. Some animes are designed to be some sort of visual comedy, telling a strange and bewildering story so well that you just enjoy it. It's worth it to yourself to look for some of these so you're not excluding the good bits of an entire medium do to bad first impressions. Even if it turns out you still don't like anime, you might gain more respect for it so it doesn't bother you so much.

[Creaca]

I stand by the fact that all anime and manga is terrible, with a handful of exceptions.

(Looking at you Cowboy Bebob and Eden, It's an Endless World)

[Interus]

I guess I just don't get it. I did try to read this one anime about vikings (which is pretty interesting to me to begin with), but then one guy looked like he was from Naruto or something and I was completely turned off...

You don't read anime.  You read manga.  And I'm really hoping you're referring to Vinland Saga, because if you're not, there's another viking manga out there that I have to track down and read.  The only dude I can think of with a headband is probably the guy who swings trees around, but there might be others.  Vinland Saga is intense though.  I still follow it, but you could probably read it up until chapter 55 or something and stop.  The prologue ends somewhere around there, and the next part hasn't had as much awesome yet.  Plus, it updates on like, a monthly basis.

[Jacob/Lee]

The only anime I like is Hetalia. The rest is garbage.

[Darkmere]

The only anime I like is Hetalia. The rest is garbage.

Sounds like a pretty well thought out and balanced opinion.

[Jacob/Lee]

The only anime I like is Hetalia. The rest is garbage.

Sounds like a pretty well thought out and balanced opinion.

That's why it is an opinion.

You don't need to agree with me, think it is right. It's an opinion. I believe what I believe and you believe what you believe.

[Max White]

You don't need to agree with me, think it is right. It's an opinion. I believe what I believe and you believe what you believe.

Spoiler: I'm going to start using then where ever needed (click to show/hide)

[Patchouli]

I like to bum out on both mindless and thought-provoking anime and manga.

[Neonivek]

I always find it odd when people generalise and say they don't like anime.

It is to me the same as saying you don't like cartoons.

There is just such a variety with differing levels of quality it seems unlikely unless you just dislike animation as a whole.

I mean "Same looking"? You have been watching a lot of recent anime havn't you? A lot of more modern anime has been streamlined.

[Cecilff2]

I might have liked Wolf's Rain if I had any idea what it was about.  As was, I enjoyed it almost entirely for the old drunk guy.

The Drunk Sheriff Guy(I think his name was Yaiden?) is probably the best character of the series.

[Vattic]

For the most part I've always watched what's been suggested by my friends rather than hunting for stuff myself. From what I've read in this topic it sounds like I've missed a lot of the rubbish and caught a fair few of the better respected works (a few of Sato Dai's projects it turns out). I guess I'm lucky enough to have always said I like anime but that's based on cherry picked examples.

You have my thanks Aqizzar for linking to that interesting article.