Why are most anime lackluster compared to modern TV shows?

OmegaSwampert said:


Agreed. I can't speak for most people, but my reasons as an individual vary. Sometimes I watch a series that I'm unsure about the quality of, and it ends up bad. Sometimes I watch a series knowing it's bad, because it's easier to learn from failures than from successes, or sometimes just to have fun picking it apart. Sometimes I'm just curious about what went so wrong to cause such poor reception. And in one really odd case, I got my brother to watch Sound! Euphonium in exchange for me being required to watch Eromanga-sensei.

Meanwhile, said brother, for reasons that I can't comprehend, feels the drive to never drop any series, regardless of how bad it is.

In the case of general anime fans, perhaps the combination of an emphasis on critical reviews in certain corners of the community, the convenience of a handy list that keeps track of everything they've watched, and the added convenience of a database containing information of virtually every anime in existence may play a part in that sort of mentality.

abhutrash said:
Wow, this is the worst thread I've seen in quite some time. Can we just respect media for what it is and move on? Why do we have to constantly compare apples to oranges and pretend there's more to it than personal preference?

ten said:

It depends on a story, I guess. For long running shows with episodic route having more authors can be refreshing, but if the story needs to be told as a whole then this approach can become troublesome, especially when producers are more worried with ratings and prolonging to another season.

abhutrash said:
Wow, this is the worst thread I've seen in quite some time. Can we just respect media for what it is and move on? Why do we have to constantly compare apples to oranges and pretend there's more to it than personal preference?

Nyah_Chan said:
Okay so 1... Walking Dead is shit...

2... It's a very multilayered and complicated subject but to more or less sum it up it's a matter of these things:

-U.S entertainment industry is far more advanced
-Japan is a bit xenophobic in it's entertainment industries; not accepting much foreign help until somewhat recently, but even then it's not much. Meanwhile the U.S has no bounds in terms of foreigners
-Lack of funding, U.S has endless funding for entertainment
-Cultural differences
-The issue of cash-grabbing and popularity fear leading to improper writing: Also related to the money issue
-Overall much younger and less developed entertainment industry. The Japanese make amateurish mistakes that reflect their industries development. The lack of advancement is primarily due to lack of any source to teach them (though they aren't really making themselves open either), lack of money to support advancement and now a decreasing population leading to a decrease in workforce

teruu said:
What is so appealing about anime when it is off far lesser quality compared to modern TV shows.

oryouohagi said:
Walking Dead? Really? Really? (笑)

Don't worry, I know you are trolling, I mean, comparing AMC shows to anime is absurd in itself, of course you are trolling haha
(笑)(笑)(笑)(笑)(笑)(笑)
BTW the plotline of walking dead and breaking bad were both too childish for me.
I mean, at least most anime do not even try to take themselves serously, as compared to american shows in which at least 2 of the 3 has to be in order to be consumed by the evil americans:
-sex
-violence (lots)
-swearing
So NOPE

logopolis said:


That process leads to worthless soulless conformism. You don't get the best ideas, you get the most mainstream ones. All the best stories are written by individuals or pairs of people, that applies to live-action television just as surely as anywhere else.

teruu said:


Anime tends to be far more childish. Did you ever notice that?

teruu said:


Anime tends to be far more childish. Did you ever notice that?

Chiibi said:


If you mean "appeals to a wider demographic than edgy 13-year-old boys", yes, we have noticed that. :p

logopolis said:
I've read descriptions of Breaking Bad, and I don't understand why any human being would want to watch something like that.

In general, live-action American television is virtually never any good in my experience. British live-action is better due to its theatrical background, but as good as stuff like some of the Plays for Today, I Clavdivs, Sapphire and Steel or McCoy or Eccleston era Doctor Who are, put them against something like Utena or Shinsekai Yori and there's no contest. Animation is a better storytelling format than live-action, and anime is where you see this fact repeatedly proven.

helionaut said:
To put it simply OP, because you like (what you consider the best) western TV show, more than (what you consider the best) anime. Everyone has different views, some people will like anime more, and some like you will like other forms of TV shows. Neither is objectively better than the other.

teruu said:
I mean I know as an anime fan, why would you want your hobby/obsession to be scrutinized by a fellow stranger.

But anime tends to have a lot of childish moments in its character development and plot. It is one of the reason that deranges the story telling.

The new anime have been lackluster especially as their goal is just to leech money out of an already successful market.

Chiibi said:

Anime fans are widely accepted where I live. None of this "scrutinizing" nonsense.


I disagree.


Again, totally disagree.

Chiibi said:

Anime fans are widely accepted where I live. None of this "scrutinizing" nonsense.


I disagree.


Again, totally disagree.

Almost every anime post 2008 takes place around a group of teenagers in high school, or a gild or a clan or some other bs.

The obligatory hot spring.

obligatory tsundere.

obligatory festival.

obligatory whiny brooding kid.

obligatory badass dude who should be the protagonist but isn't for some reason.

Obligatory boob grab

Obligatory friendship speech accompanied by piano music

Obligatory character sits next to the window

space_cowboy37 said:
I think one of the reasons why a lot of anime fans have a disconnect with western TV (myself included) is because of the length. Breaking Bad is over 60 hours long. That's a 180 episode anime and I'm personally normally averse to watching shows of that length. I preferred Breaking Bad slightly to Steins;Gate but I'd rather re-watch Steins;Gate cos it wouldn't take nearly as long.

Another reason is one of the reasons people watch anime. Art & animation. Its much more pleasing to the eye (mine at least) because we see the real world all the time. Animation can more easily depict imaginative worlds and characters whereas it would seem silly in live-action because it would be more difficult to immerse yourself in such an unrealistic world in a show that should be bound by reality.

I think films get away with this, mainly because of the budget and how short they are. TV shows seem to try and fit in too much instead of having a point like films and anime/cartoons therefore feel like they drag along.

teruu said:


Great reply and great answers.

Why do you think a Japanese based medium is attracting and leading to the otaku movement? What is so appealing about anime when it is off far lesser quality compared to modern TV shows. And why is their quality not being improved

Surely if there is lack of funding, being innovative could improve upon that situation.

teruu said:


Hmm Are you using anime for escapism?

teruu said:
It seems that modern TV shows like The walking dead, Breaking Bad are far higher tier than even the greatest anime created. As a fan of Death Note which I was highly impressed by, still does not come close in even the plot. There were far too many loopholes to be exploited and it seems that anime border to the 'silly' line with all the big eyes, the exaggerated emotions and such. Is this the reason?

As a top comment on r/anime beautifully states


Furthermore there is an increase in anime plots such as when the MC falls in love with his sister or he goes to school is surrounded by bitches all over. To the average normal person, there is really not much appeal and it goes back to what I was saying when I mentioned silly. Anime can be silly more often than not. Even the best animes have silly plots at times. Is this something ingrained in anime to make it lackluster?

What exactly is the reason

teruu said:


We're discussing quality. There's nothing wrong in that ..

It seems like you can't take any criticism on beloved anime. Grow up lol!

Stead said:
Because it's a medium that caters to social rejects who just want to gawk at girls and see pretty colors with the illusion of good stories where all you need to be considered great is to "deconstruct" or be "subversive" and get praised as the height of storytelling. But television is pretty shit too for different reasons.

teruu said:
Why are most anime lackluster compared to modern TV shows?

It seems that modern TV shows like The walking dead, Breaking Bad are far higher tier than even the greatest anime created. As a fan of Death Note which I was highly impressed by, still does not come close in even the plot. There were far too many loopholes to be exploited and it seems that anime border to the 'silly' line with all the big eyes, the exaggerated emotions and such. Is this the reason?

As a top comment on r/anime beautifully states


Furthermore there is an increase in anime plots such as when the MC falls in love with his sister or he goes to school is surrounded by bitches all over. To the average normal person, there is really not much appeal and it goes back to what I was saying when I mentioned silly. Anime can be silly more often than not. Even the best animes have silly plots at times. Is this something ingrained in anime to make it lackluster?

What exactly is the reason

GlennMagusHarvey said:


I think the "reason" is that you're basically looking selectively and (unintentionally) cherry-picking certain things to represent all of "anime" as a whole, which is actually a huge number of shows and even a huge variety of genres. Your post mentions Death Note, with its "big eyes" and "exaggerated emotions", and also "MC falls in love with his sister or he goes to school is surrounded by bitches all over", which means you just cited one show and one other genre -- that's like saying that books are badly written because Catch-22 isn't all that funny and there's been an increase in smutty novels where the MC is seduced by a really hot guy who's an asshole. Also, your line about how "the best animes have silly plots at times" suggests that you've mainly thinking about a number of more famous series that DO more prominently feature silliness and tend to generate memes.

I haven't seen The Walking Dead or Breaking Bad, but there's no shortage of thoughtfully-written stories and/or stories that explore unusual concepts. A number of more serious drama or adventure stories that put emphasis on storytelling and characterization tend not to be as good at generating memorable individual moments that lead to memes or otherwise get many people chattering about stuff, so they don't stay in "fandom attention" as long.

But off the top of my head I can think of some stuff I've watched myself, such as:
* Allison & Lillia, which is an adventure story with not much in the way of silliness, but strongly revolves around the characters and their interactions with each other and with the setting
* Umi Monogatari, a show that works with and plays off magical girl tropes to tell a more mature story (that doesn't involve going needlessly grimdark like Madoka Magica), and is very focused on the relationships between the characters and the way they deal with each other
* Soukou no Strain, an intense sci-fi drama, which some people say contains to some extent a depiction of a person suffering from PTSD; there is one episode of silliness but it goes back to drama quickly
* Kyoukai no Kanata, an emotional romance drama with action elements, which may seem to start tropey but develops the characters rather thoroughly

teruu said:


Nope. Look at the broader picture, anime has built in flaws. I don't mean a particular one, but a set upon flaw. This flaw has become a cult like thing where everyone notices it but has no opinion over it.

Menzo- said:
You can't really compare anime to western tv shows though, they come from two completely different cultures. Whilst you and many other westerners may think of those examples as superior to anime, what about a Japanese perspective. Do you just assume that they think the same way as you? You're talking as if cultures don't play a part in this.

space_cowboy37 said:
I'd advise you not to judge a show based on the synopsis and instead actually watch it without preconceived judgements going in.

teruu said:


Nope. Look at the broader picture, anime has built in flaws. I don't mean a particular one, but a set upon flaw. This flaw has become a cult like thing where everyone notices it but has no opinion over it.

space_cowboy37 said:
I think one of the reasons why a lot of anime fans have a disconnect with western TV (myself included) is because of the length. Breaking Bad is over 60 hours long. That's a 180 episode anime and I'm personally normally averse to watching shows of that length. I preferred Breaking Bad slightly to Steins;Gate but I'd rather re-watch Steins;Gate cos it wouldn't take nearly as long.

Another reason is one of the reasons people watch anime. Art & animation. Its much more pleasing to the eye (mine at least) because we see the real world all the time. Animation can more easily depict imaginative worlds and characters whereas it would seem silly in live-action because it would be more difficult to immerse yourself in such an unrealistic world in a show that should be bound by reality.

I think films get away with this, mainly because of the budget and how short they are. TV shows seem to try and fit in too much instead of having a point like films and anime/cartoons therefore feel like they drag along.

teruu said:






Stop watching ecchi harem series then, how about? Your ignorance astounds me.

commander31able said:


Are you implying that the Japanese like crap? that they like extremely repetitive, unimaginative trope-heavy silly bullshit?
They don't think the same way as westerners do, but not in the sense of what they like - rather, they are more prone to putting up with bullshit than the westerners, in many ways. tradition and conservatism are a big deal in Japanese culture, and that translates into their inability to speak up for what the average consumer actually wants from their entertainment media, so they end up with more of the same crap every year.

Stead said:


This is a discussion about narrative mediums, there is no objectivity here. Duh. The closest you'll get to objectivity in a discussion like this is assessing how logical are the arguments people put up. Going "I-it's subjective!" Is a no brainer comment that's only used when someone doesn't like what someone said about something.