8
Aug/0936
Aug/0936
5 Common Anime Criticisms That I Hate
A few years ago on my deviantART account I put up a post I called the “Supah Funtime Anime Rant“. I always claimed I’d repost it on this site eventually, but since I’m an unoriginal whore and have gotten into the habit of ripping off the popular list humor format seen on every website in the world I decided to adapt the general idea of part one to this post. To the 3 people who actually remember the original: consider this a spiritual successor.
Now yes, I’m a fan of Japanese cartoons if that wasn’t blatantly obvious to anyone with a pair of working corneas. And yes, weeaboo, they’re cartoons, get over it. Naturally the East and West have distinctively different approaches and different schools of thought when it comes to comic books, cartooning and animation and both sides of the world have particular underlying techniques and ticks throughout.
But it irks me to no end when people go on about anime sucking because of something common to most cartoons in the world. Sure, you don’t have to like anime, but it’s my pet peeve and my website damnit! So here’s my list:
26
Apr/0926
Apr/0926
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Some of you out there may be wondering what I think of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, the second television anime adaptation of one of my absolute favorite comics, given my unbridled and unabashed hatred of the first series (warning: spoilers.)
If you’re confused as to why FMA even needed a reboot then clearly you’ve never read the manga.
Which I suggest you do.
NOW. Right here.
Go on, I’ll wait….
18
Apr/0932
Apr/0932
5 Anime You’ve Never Heard Of (But Need To See)
You kids today with your Narutos and your Inuyashas. You don’t know anime fandom. Oh yeah, you think you’re all hardcore cause you know how to use Bit Torrent? Yeah well back in my day I’d spend an hour sitting on the floor of a video store, rummaging through the shelves trying to find at least one over-priced thirty dollar subtitled VHS of The Slayers. Back then, we actually had a reason to hate dubs, they were more atrocious and embarrassing to listen to than you could possibly imagine. And you wanna complain about the voices in Death Note? You can go to hell!
But before you fling yourself into eternal flames of torment at my behest, read this list I’ve compiled of a few anime you’ve never heard of but you really should see. And if you comment saying you’ve heard of them I’ll consider you obnoxious.
14
Feb/091
Feb/091
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
I found myself in a kick of watching movies while doing digital art and other such work on the computer, and after Mega Video decided to start putting time limits on already stolen media and charging you not to be bothered by them I decided I might as well just pay for Netflix instead. Since then between their online streams and rented DVDs I’ve watched alot of films I’ve meant to watch for years (Clockwork Orange, Rosemary’s Baby, 2001: A Space Odyssey etc.), re-watched some old favorites, and watched alot of anime in between.
One of those animes also happened to be a film on my definitive “to watch” list: the sequel to 1995 cyberpunk classic Ghost in the Shell.
21
Jul/089
Jul/089
The Slayers Revolution
The swords and sorcery comedic fantasy epic returns once more after an 11 year hiatus! The Slayers was one of the most popular animes in the late 90’s and none of you weeaboo young’ns know not nothin’ about it! Being a gigantic fantasy nerd and all it’s one of my favorite anime series of all time. Originally it spanned three seasons, The Slayers, The Slayers Next and The Slayers Try. There’s also a series of light novels, manga, and films but they’re all generally only loosely related to each other (except one short movie made in 2001 which was an extension of the TV series.)
The Slayers is a mixture of fantasy action, slapstick comedy, witty dialog and just general fun (mostly episodic) adventure storytelling that usually ends with a bang in a starkly dramatic climax generally revolving around saving the world from one thing or another. Where the stories may never really be the apex of literary genius the lovable characters are really what carries the franchise. It stars Lina Inverse, a comically boastful and powerful sorceress with a foul temper, a destructive and violent personality and a heroic streak despite all that, Gourry Gabriev her hapless and idiotic swordsman sidekick/love interest, Zelgadis Greywords the stoic straight man who specializes in Shamanistic magic and was turned into a chimera in his youth (and thus has stony skin and wirey hair), and the spazmodic and justice-loving Amelia Wil Telsa Seyruun the princess of the holy kingdom Seyruun.
30
May/0817
May/0817
Elfen Lied
Warning: some readers may find images in this article disturbing.
I had heard alot of praise for Elfen Lied and I think it caused me to imagine all sorts of things about it without ever having actually seen it. Like imagining it was good, for example. I was on a forum one night and someone was complaining about a particular scene in the show with a link to Youtube. I was more taken aback by the juxtaposition of a cutesy, colorful, boringly mainstreamed, low-budget moe animation style with something that looked like it was supposed to be serious, dramatic and bloody than I was by the scene itself. To me it looked like it was pandering to guro fans, and the series didn’t serve to erase this opinion as I watched it out of sheer curiosity. I’ve seen about 10 of the 13 episodes and skipped around the last three for this article but I don’t think I intend to finish watching it. There will be spoilers because the plot is just too ridiculous for me not to rant about.
22
Feb/087
Feb/087
Hell Girl
Alright, so I lied when I said I hadn’t been watching any new anime. I’ve discovered I can find pretty high quality videos of almost anything on Veoh.com, and since then have been watching more bootlegged fansubs than in my brief stints of using Bit Torrent. Of course I think supporting the industry is still important, so if I really like a series I’ll be likely to purchase it… really, I’ll buy Death Note one of these days!
Anyway, among the anime I’ve been watching recently is Hell Girl. I’ve watched all of the first season and started into the second, and I’m still not really sure about what to think of this series. The main character is quite alluring in her design, but the rest of the series seems to fall flat. Don’t get me wrong, it’s entertaining, and it can be very pretty at times, but I can’t see it as much more than brain candy.
2
Feb/084
Feb/084
Haibane Renmei
What? I’m actually talking about an anime? Surprising, I know, seeing as my last 50 posts (hyperbole) or so have all been about video games. I haven’t really been watching new anime lately, so that effects my urge to write about it. So I was thinking I should just go back through anime I’ve enjoyed in the past.
Actually, I just lied. I finally did finish watching Haibane Renmei recently. What happened was I had seen the first episodes, and the last episodes, but completely missed the middle (entirely because the DVDs weren’t numbered and so I played Russian Roulette in purchasing the next one.) But my good friend Veoh.com came to the rescue as I randomly decided to watch what I had missed one night.
10
Dec/0718
Dec/0718
Death Note
Not too long ago, I found myself becoming a Death Note fan literally overnight. …It was kind of an accident. You see, after a year or so of people telling me over and over to read Death Note and me ignoring them, I happened to catch the second episode on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, having turned on the TV to that station thinking it was Sunday. By the end of the episode I said to myself “Wow… I didn’t know the main character was this insane” and decided I needed to see more.
I had just been watching Avatar episodes on Veoh.com so I decided to see if Death Note was on there. Sure enough it was and I watched the entire anime series over the course of 3 days. Now I’ve also collected and read all 12 volumes of the manga. At this point I have come to the conclusion that the goth kiddies who carry around little black notebooks and worship “Kira” have completely misinterpreted the plot.
Without many spoilers, I’d like to give a little review of the anime, the manga, and the overall plot. But mostly I wish to discuss how I believe many fans of the show misconstrue the main character Light Yagami entirely.
8
Jul/0756
Jul/0756
Bleach Sucks
Oh here I go on another anime rant, I seem to be stuck in a vicious cycle. A while ago on deviantART someone was complaining about Adult Swim’s lineup, complained about Bleach, but then implied reruns of Cowboy Bebop would be worse. After calling the poster retarded I was quickly reminded of how much I hate the anime Bleach: the story of a boy who can see ghosts and gets the power to turn into an invisable samurai from an emo dead girl.
And before you ask: Yes I did actually watch it. I saw up to the story arc where the characters all ended up in the poorly named "Soul Society", at which point the show went from simply almost unbearable to completely unwatchable, despite numerous people telling me this is where the show is supposed to improve. Why was I watching it? Well it happened air on Adult Swim between Trinity Blood and Eureka 7, two anime I sorta wanted to watch (Eureka 7 wasn’t bad, but wasn’t that good either, and I missed the first few episodes so I still have no idea what the hell was going on in Trinity Blood) and I was too lazy to change the channel.
And no, I didn’t go into watching Bleach with any preconceived notions. I had heard of it, but I had no idea what it was about, so the show had only its own merits on which to impress me. And my first impression was: "Yeah, I liked this show the first time, when it was called Yu Yu Hakusho." Well okay, I’m exaggerating: I never liked Yu Yu Hakusho.
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