[Possible Spoilers] Most Overrated/Underrated Anime V. 5

ReaperCreeper said:
That's a pretty common opinion here, tbh.

Botato said:
Remember how high NGNL was?

Actually, remember NGNL? :p If your answer to this is no then gtfo you pleb

ReaperCreeper said:
That's a pretty common opinion here, tbh.

Okashi said:
Oh I definitely. Never forget when it was #16

And yeah, it's underrated af, it should be top 50.

Welp, the movie should do well I guess.

Yehart said:

it is?

japaniMay said:
Re:Zero is overrated, don't kill meh

fst said:


but general opinion of it is mixed at best

I mean nobody can stop watching in spite of that

but nobody could stop watching attack on trains either

although that said I must say, you would never guess from the forums that it's rating would be as high as 8.77. Meh, it'll probably go down once this shit finishes airing unless it has a strong enough finale to make everybody forget this arc. It's possible, there's a lot of shows with high ratings even though they were pretty meh overall just because they had a strong ending.

Yehart said:

it is?

tsudecimo said:
Forums is always a minority.

Kami_Maikeru said:


Okay, this looks very Intressting. Defenetly to the Watchlist!!!

Kami_Maikeru said:


Okay, THIS looks very Intressting. Defenetly to the Watchlist!!!

Dasuttebayo said:
Drifters = Overrated

silverwalls said:
tfw the lurkers only post in this thread

QuattroVaginas said:
A gratuitous amount of Tomino in the gallery may help.

mascarpone said:
Probably Pupipo! is the most underrated. Even though the episodes are only about 5 minutes and there are only 15 episodes. The story is pretty interesting and and the ending made me cry. ;__;

Kuma said:


the manga is far more darker and legitimaly fucked up, and it got labeled as kids shows O_O
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wait, we still use this thread?

mascarpone said:
Oh... O_O And I though the anime ending was depressing. Wait it's a kid show?!

Kuma said:

mal labelied it as kids shows last time a look at it page...

corwin_r said:
Tetsujin 28-gou (the 2004 remake) is underrated and underwatched. I feel like Imagawa and his team couldn't have done the original more justice, and it is an engaging show for even the most demanding modern watcher.

Ckan said:
Is it a huge tease like his Mazinger and Giant Robo were though?

ReaperCreeper said:
Robot Anime: Straight Title is underrated in the same vein as Tesagure. Not as good, but as a precursor you can see how the ideas got later refined.

No idea if gdgd Fairies also uses ad lib, but either way I'm more pumped than ever to watch it.

fst said:
mfw the danmachi spinoff has a rating over 8

TripleSRank said:
I keep thinking jizzy dropped for some reason. No idea why.

@Higashi: It's possible I overlooked or forgot about his posts. I don't think he's been starting any storms, though.

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This is an amalgamation of posts I've made on the subject with some editing and additional content for the sake of coherency. This post contains spoilers up to episode 13 and (very) minor spoilers for the subsequent 2-3 episodes.

My main problem with Shigatsu is the framing and premise for the in-story events. Kousei was given a good backstory to give depth to his character; namely his psychologically and physically abusive mother. This made his introverted tendencies and dramatizations of events believable and even relatable. It also gave him an interesting/unique relationship with the piano, a sort of love/hate relationship thanks to the trauma associated with it. He tried so hard to please his mother, to "earn" her love, but he failed and it crushed him. Now, despite the piano being something so connected to him, he can't bring himself to play it because it reawakens said trauma: The inability to hear the notes isn't literal, but mental- a coping mechanism. Kousei is a dramatic and depressive sort of person, after all.

None of that is bad. In fact, by itself it is a superb premise. The problem arose with Kaori and Tsubaki started pushing him. The pushing itself wasn't bad; Kousei viewed his life as empty and meaningless. He needed a push. However, the way they pushed was all wrong. They were giving him "hell on earth" over playing the piano. They put music sheets everywhere; they kept bugged him about it incessantly; Kaori even guilt-tripped him. It was bullying, plain and simple, and while I can't fault Kaori for that, Tsubaki knew Kousei's background and should have been more sensitive.

Still, depicting bullying in itself isn't a bad thing. You could even justify it in that these are middle school students who probably though they were actually doing something helpful (though I don't feel realism is always desirable in fiction, but I digress). However, what makes it a problem is how the anime framed it. Kousei was depicted as having psychological trauma and the anime frames the bullying as the solution to his problem. It is flippantly unbelievable and even offensive. Rather than suffering a breakdown (a realistic reaction), he sees it as a wonderful experience! Reliving the trauma of his past is so amazing now that he has this pretty girl in front of him.

The story is completely belittling and outright ignoring the realities of those who have suffered abuse. It might not be a problem in a series that doesn't take itself seriously, but Shigatsu definitely does, and it treats the issue with total disrespect. "Man up Kousei! You should be totally okay since this pretty girl likes you!" (The "man up" part is actually stated by a character in a later episode.)

Not only are these problems ignored, but it even turns into full-on emotional abuse after the violin performance via victim blaming. “I collapsed because of the stress someone gave me because they refused to play” (paraphrased). It's totally unfair and wrong: they essentially forced him to relive a trauma then berate him when he does poorly. Then, to add more insult to injury, it's used later as leverage to guilt trip Kousei into reliving his trauma yet again via a piano competition.

The entire method in which Kousei recovers from his trauma is suspension-breaking and offensive.

It gets even worse, though; the latter problems are even more offensive than the former ones. Leading up to the climax of Kousei's inner struggle with his abuse, the writer/director (I don't know which) decided it would be a good idea to portray Saki in a "positive" light. They started showing scenes of her making justifications for herself. In the scene following her hitting of Kousei and drawing blood (which DOES juxtapose horribly, even offensively, with the bloody comedy), she starts talking about how she loves him so much and worries about his future. Bullcrap. Later, she talks about how she won't be able to protect him; how she just wants him to have a future in music; etc. More bullcrap. In essence, it tries to make the abuse look like it stems from love, when it does not. She was taking out her frustration with the world on him; she was overstepping her role as a parent and forcing her desires on Kousei- who, being a child, wanted to please his mommy. Immediately after these scenes, it shows a scene of Saki and Kousei together before she became abusive, embracing.

After all of these scenes of false justification on Saki's part, and the sudden happy scene, we get a thought from Kousei seemingly out of nowhere: "I knew all along. The ghost of my mother was a shadow of my own creation. An excuse for me to run away. My own weakness."

Those lines take a dump on anyone who's suffered abuse and its aftereffects, and it continues to be suspension-breaking with the following lines: "My mom isn't there anymore. Mom... is inside me." Scenes are then shown of them embracing- happy memories. Kousei is (wrongfully) leaving the blame on himself and pretending the happy memories are all that existed. Without addressing the abusive actions themselves, this cannot be construed as forgiveness or "moving on". Rather, this is showcasing denial as the solution while simultaneously portraying Saki as "loving".

I find that extremely offensive and suspension-breaking.

There are other parts as well (such as the bridge-shoving scenes, which Tsubaki's friend even called her out on, and the fireworks scene recreating the sensation of drowning that Kousei felt whenever he played the piano), but the above parts were the main ones. Higashi's claim that anyone who is familiar with real life abuse first-hand or second-hand also finds the show offensive holds true for me as well (save mayu, to an extent). In fact, I know of people who had panic attacks watching the early portions of this show- to the point that they had to drop it.

Now Kousei is parading around without a care for his past nor a lick of depression. He's just having love problems now. We get to see Tsubaki continue to act like she owns Kousei, and see Kaori (almost certainly) die and cause so many "feels" despite acting so selfishly around Kousei. How utterly disappointing for a show that had so much potential.