October 31st, 2013
My perspective over "typical" animes
Speaking out loud with no intention of defending my critiques - I just want to elaborate on the "Typical anime" concept that has been mentioned both on my profile and in my critiques. What does being typical mean? Not different. An expected occurrence of which we have seen instances before. If we have not seen any instance then it is an expected occurrence, not a typical one. I will go step by step to explain what I mean.
Now lets see certain instances of animes. Bleach - the protagonist, Ichigo has superpowers that are similar to Shinigami's meaning something a human shouldn't have - during the series, he manages to friend some of his earlier foes like Renji and Bayakuya (not exactly but in a way) - he defeats 'Kenpachi/Grimmjow' through a burst of will power and 'Bayakuya/Ulquiorra' through a burst of insane power. Furthermore, if we observe the initial main characters along with Ichigo we see there being a comparatively sane person with brute strength (Chad), and a wimpy character with a big heart (Orihime). Plus, they are friends since quite some time if not childhood.
Now stopping there, lets move to another famous show: Naruto. After taking considerable time in the anime, the three main char's, Naruto the dependable hero with the Nine Tail's power (a super power that is hard to control), Sakura the powerful and fierce girl and Sasuke who is a genius. A point to note - till Sasuke hung around team 7, Naruto was considered a fluke with only the will to fight. Though he does devise surprisingly good plans, the trio was balanced without each going extremely powerful. Meaning, they were lacking and balanced. Also, we have Naruto rounding up Garra/Pain through his understanding of sorrow, something similar to Bleach in respect to Shinigami's. Naruto also manages to go out of control against Orochimaru, Pain.
Air Gear - The protagonist just seems to have plain excessive talent that is not natural of normal people - his direct friends are a chubby dude who is not that amazing an Air Trekker but is just there as a character. The second guy on the other hand is super fast and quite a good Air Trekker. They are all almost childhood friends. They also add a member to their team by rounding up an initially bad guy. Where two members out of the original are strong and one is weak, they are balanced by their inexperience. The protagonist manages to win most of the times by will power.
Accel World - Haru is the unpopular guy in essence yet he does have a special power and that is having wings for an Avi. His direct friends are Haru, an experienced but not over the top guy, and Chiyu, the talented but immature and easy-to-anger girl. Again, Haru's lack of experience, Chiyu's lack of any fighting skills balances the trio. They also end up rounding the red king and the 'biker' in a way who were initially enemies. Haru too, manages to get his wings with a burst of willpower.
In Bleach - Ichigo wants to save everyone.
In Naruto - Naruto wants to be the Hokage.
In Air Gear - Main guy just wants to be a good trekker (and some girl issues as well)
In Accel World - Haru wants to be Kuoroyukihime's pet.
Now I won't go into excessive details but Naruto and Bleach have a lot more to their stories (good or bad) that makes them enjoyable animes. The variety of char's and perosnalities, the politics or underlying implications, the good side and bad side and how they trade blows, how the protagonist develops his powers... that cannot be considered 'typical' since all of the above mentioned aspects are handled in a natural, believable way. Naruto has Politics, fighting, a slowly progressing storyline and they too manage to handle the char personalities, friend/foe relationships well. Furthermore, the WAY they handle these 'typical' traits is what manages to make them unique. Ichigo has a blind sense of justice, his relationship develops with Rukia quite naturally before Bayakuya and Renji appear making his urge to rescue her, believable. It may be said that Ichigo wouldn't have gone the distance had Rukia just disappeared in the start. Naruto, has had a sorry past, he has lived within such an environment that his mindset is different. he is talentless yet wants recognition, wants to improve, wants to make friends and truly understands the meaning of being lonely. Thus, he DOES fight Gara but saves him in the end. He doesn't just sit around and try tackling him with words.
Air Gear on the other hand, does handle character development but not to much extent. It ends up midway in the story which means that a lot remains unclear. The purpose of the protagonist does not get clear, the politics with the different powers/kings had just started yet there was this certain power game barely hinted.
Accel World in that aspect is VERY similar to Air Gear, in the sense that it has the same 'power on top' concept and a female inspiring a guy. But in my opinion, their personality development was well handled. Haru is give na background along with his two friends and their personalities and interaction is justified. The futuristic setting was well handled and almost made realistic. Furthermore, while ending Midway, they ended at a fine arc and gave hints of an interesting past.
If, for a change, we move on to Attack on Titan, this is what I say: I saw the Titans - yes. Yet I was unable to see any Politics, overlying, underlying story, characters on the antagonist side - even a hint of who the enemies may be - and all we have is a maturing protagonist who listens to his instincts, has no intelligence and depends heavily on those around him. YET they all trust him for every single thing he wants. The main group of three is like the trio setup mentioned above, the protagonist personality is also like mentioned above, with Eren being stupid and only moved with the urge to kill all titans. He also has a special power and also has moments of out-of-control-rage. And other than a few good titan sequences, I don't see anything new to the storyline. Not to the elements like Titans and the basic storyline - storyline that defines the anime. Too little development to see.
Now here an issue occurs: Air Gear for those who have seen it, also seems to be just like that. In essence, Titans = Air Gear sequences matches up the action then what is the difference? The difference lies in how the char's/story progresses. While the development of the char was quick in air gear, relationships and over all progress was fine, the protagonist is not a slouch on whom everyone depends while helping him and dying for him, inspired by him... The protagonist is more responsible though inexperienced. That is what I feel.
Thus when I say typical anime and then state it as a negative, I mean that the anime had too many typical elements which were not really handled correctly. Due to that, I still like Bleach and Accel world - I actually enjoyed the shows but not Attack on Titan. I also didn't like Ao no Exorcist and Another. Both didn't have good enough progression or char development but had the elements that are not that uncommon... and both had potential... like Steins;Gate... ah... another disappointment.
Now lets see certain instances of animes. Bleach - the protagonist, Ichigo has superpowers that are similar to Shinigami's meaning something a human shouldn't have - during the series, he manages to friend some of his earlier foes like Renji and Bayakuya (not exactly but in a way) - he defeats 'Kenpachi/Grimmjow' through a burst of will power and 'Bayakuya/Ulquiorra' through a burst of insane power. Furthermore, if we observe the initial main characters along with Ichigo we see there being a comparatively sane person with brute strength (Chad), and a wimpy character with a big heart (Orihime). Plus, they are friends since quite some time if not childhood.
Now stopping there, lets move to another famous show: Naruto. After taking considerable time in the anime, the three main char's, Naruto the dependable hero with the Nine Tail's power (a super power that is hard to control), Sakura the powerful and fierce girl and Sasuke who is a genius. A point to note - till Sasuke hung around team 7, Naruto was considered a fluke with only the will to fight. Though he does devise surprisingly good plans, the trio was balanced without each going extremely powerful. Meaning, they were lacking and balanced. Also, we have Naruto rounding up Garra/Pain through his understanding of sorrow, something similar to Bleach in respect to Shinigami's. Naruto also manages to go out of control against Orochimaru, Pain.
Air Gear - The protagonist just seems to have plain excessive talent that is not natural of normal people - his direct friends are a chubby dude who is not that amazing an Air Trekker but is just there as a character. The second guy on the other hand is super fast and quite a good Air Trekker. They are all almost childhood friends. They also add a member to their team by rounding up an initially bad guy. Where two members out of the original are strong and one is weak, they are balanced by their inexperience. The protagonist manages to win most of the times by will power.
Accel World - Haru is the unpopular guy in essence yet he does have a special power and that is having wings for an Avi. His direct friends are Haru, an experienced but not over the top guy, and Chiyu, the talented but immature and easy-to-anger girl. Again, Haru's lack of experience, Chiyu's lack of any fighting skills balances the trio. They also end up rounding the red king and the 'biker' in a way who were initially enemies. Haru too, manages to get his wings with a burst of willpower.
In Bleach - Ichigo wants to save everyone.
In Naruto - Naruto wants to be the Hokage.
In Air Gear - Main guy just wants to be a good trekker (and some girl issues as well)
In Accel World - Haru wants to be Kuoroyukihime's pet.
Now I won't go into excessive details but Naruto and Bleach have a lot more to their stories (good or bad) that makes them enjoyable animes. The variety of char's and perosnalities, the politics or underlying implications, the good side and bad side and how they trade blows, how the protagonist develops his powers... that cannot be considered 'typical' since all of the above mentioned aspects are handled in a natural, believable way. Naruto has Politics, fighting, a slowly progressing storyline and they too manage to handle the char personalities, friend/foe relationships well. Furthermore, the WAY they handle these 'typical' traits is what manages to make them unique. Ichigo has a blind sense of justice, his relationship develops with Rukia quite naturally before Bayakuya and Renji appear making his urge to rescue her, believable. It may be said that Ichigo wouldn't have gone the distance had Rukia just disappeared in the start. Naruto, has had a sorry past, he has lived within such an environment that his mindset is different. he is talentless yet wants recognition, wants to improve, wants to make friends and truly understands the meaning of being lonely. Thus, he DOES fight Gara but saves him in the end. He doesn't just sit around and try tackling him with words.
Air Gear on the other hand, does handle character development but not to much extent. It ends up midway in the story which means that a lot remains unclear. The purpose of the protagonist does not get clear, the politics with the different powers/kings had just started yet there was this certain power game barely hinted.
Accel World in that aspect is VERY similar to Air Gear, in the sense that it has the same 'power on top' concept and a female inspiring a guy. But in my opinion, their personality development was well handled. Haru is give na background along with his two friends and their personalities and interaction is justified. The futuristic setting was well handled and almost made realistic. Furthermore, while ending Midway, they ended at a fine arc and gave hints of an interesting past.
If, for a change, we move on to Attack on Titan, this is what I say: I saw the Titans - yes. Yet I was unable to see any Politics, overlying, underlying story, characters on the antagonist side - even a hint of who the enemies may be - and all we have is a maturing protagonist who listens to his instincts, has no intelligence and depends heavily on those around him. YET they all trust him for every single thing he wants. The main group of three is like the trio setup mentioned above, the protagonist personality is also like mentioned above, with Eren being stupid and only moved with the urge to kill all titans. He also has a special power and also has moments of out-of-control-rage. And other than a few good titan sequences, I don't see anything new to the storyline. Not to the elements like Titans and the basic storyline - storyline that defines the anime. Too little development to see.
Now here an issue occurs: Air Gear for those who have seen it, also seems to be just like that. In essence, Titans = Air Gear sequences matches up the action then what is the difference? The difference lies in how the char's/story progresses. While the development of the char was quick in air gear, relationships and over all progress was fine, the protagonist is not a slouch on whom everyone depends while helping him and dying for him, inspired by him... The protagonist is more responsible though inexperienced. That is what I feel.
Thus when I say typical anime and then state it as a negative, I mean that the anime had too many typical elements which were not really handled correctly. Due to that, I still like Bleach and Accel world - I actually enjoyed the shows but not Attack on Titan. I also didn't like Ao no Exorcist and Another. Both didn't have good enough progression or char development but had the elements that are not that uncommon... and both had potential... like Steins;Gate... ah... another disappointment.
Posted by NotenSMSK | Oct 31, 2013 12:00 AM | 0 comments