wojadzer's Blog

May 11, 2020 11:25 AM
Anime Relations: Afro Samurai, Ookami to Koushinryou, Sora no Otoshimono, Angel Beats!, Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou, Blood Lad, Btooom!
Hey everyone,

Forum post here if you want to join discussion: https://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=1840016&show=0

Today I have come across this question on Quora:
https://www.quora.com/Why-do-people-like-anime-From-what-I-see-its-just-a-poorly-drawn-animation-that-isnt-very-good

So I decided to and give it a go and answer. long story short I ended up writing a book 😅. What's even more funny is the fact I haven't even covered all the points.

Here is my answer on Quora, feel free to upvote if you agree: https://www.quora.com/Why-do-people-like-anime-From-what-I-see-its-just-a-poorly-drawn-animation-that-isnt-very-good/answer/Eryk-Kilianek

I have also attached it below.

Let me know if there is anything you would change, add, take away and your opinions on the matter.


You'll understand once you watch some. But it might take you a while to understand exactly why people like them. This was the case for me as I'm not a big fan of mainstream anime, I prefer the hidden gems of 12–24 episodes max that might have been popular at the time but have been forgotten about since. For me the best anime have been created between 2000 and 2010 but I also adore a few series before that time.

Back to your question though, the animation does tend to be poorly drawn if you compare it to the original manga of the series. But even then if you look with a close eye you will find that anatomy is very well presented in both manga and anime. But covered with 'makeup' that is the manga/anime style. This style of drawing has been made popular due to the fact of how easy and quick it is to draw, aw well as how popular it has become within the target audience.

The big tipping point of liking anime or any other format of story is the story itself. If a movie is bad you will most likely walk out of the cinema and not waste your time. Some people enjoy the comedy/romance/action/adventure/tradegy and other short stories that have been presented by manga/anime to us. This is not very present in western culture as comics and similar media is only just being explored as a popular format. An example of this is that of I ask you to name me a popular line of comics you would most likely say Marvel or DC. These publishers do tend to have completely different stories for all their superheroes, but the story tends to be intertwined. Where as the most direct equilivent of manga/anime in the west are books. Both manga/anime and books have a relatively similar difficulty to get published and into print. Liking manga/anime is similar to liking to read books, they both most likely have an individual concept behind the story and this is something that people who watch anime enjoy.

Lastly in manga and anime there is this over the top exaduration within each chapter or episode. This is something that enhances the lack of great wrighting skill and makes the story seem better than it actually is. But if the story is well written this creates a great dynamic between characters which can't really be seen in real life. This concept of being over the top has created a certain amount of character traits that can be seen throughout many anime or manga series. This sort of makes some people relate to and understand various characters better as they have more time to get to know how the character is portrait as they already have seen these certain characteristics in a different series before and can sort of predict how they would react to different situations.

On a final not I would like to come back to the start and give my reason for liking anime. I 100% agree with you that the poor animation is something that is present in todays anime creation process. But I will tell you that if the story is good and is something you enjoy the poor animation is easily looked over. Also if you can understand the fact that some series are at the point of having to turn out 24minute episodes once a week you will certainly have more of an easier time letting the poor animation go and focus on the story that is being told through this format. On the other hand there are certainly very beautiful manga and anime out there that have a lot of respect in the community. Unfortunately, even though I have watched them and enjoyed them I didn't enjoy them as much as I have the over the top short stories that have poorer art style.

From how you have phrased your question I assume that you have watched less that 1 good series. If that is the case I would try and give some classic anime a go. I would also advise you go for a short but popular anime series, one with 12 episodes as this is now a standard season of anime I tend to watch.

Some anime suggestions from me are:

Afro Samurai

Angel Beats

Ichiban ushiro no daimaou

Blood lad

Sora no otoshimono

Btooom!

Ookami to koushinryou

As I have looked through the list of anime I watched in the past I have noticed that a lot of very good anime tend to be have around 24 episodes. If you would like a few of my recommendations please feel free to reply to this answer.
Posted by wojadzer | May 11, 2020 11:25 AM | Add a comment
It’s time to ditch the text file.
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