| If you're not into the show you're just not into it; no matter how brilliant it may be. Would you really consider it "having missed something brilliant" if it doesn't interest you? I wouldn't. It could be hella great but too bad it's not my cup of tea. Edit: To answer your question, I guess yes it has to interest me to a certain extent or else I'd just be too bored to continue. |
| Personally, I watch anime mostly to be satisfied on the emotional level. Things like social criticism, wisdom and so on are just extras that make the work better, but they cannot replace the emotions. |
| I was thinking that by "dig further" you were talking about searching for more from the franchise, not looking deeper into the story. To answer your question, I usually try to take the story in full regardless of how much I enjoyed it.... though this usually happens when I'm done watching the episode/series. |
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| I agree you need to be emotionally invested in the characters or story to care about the subtext [underlying message / theme]. It's like you must be entertained before you can actually appreciate what the show is trying to do. I can't appreciate anything I can't bare to watch [like I'm not emotionally invested because it is boring] |
| “Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only, truth. But the world isn't perfect, and the law is incomplete..." -Alphonse Elric "Then and now, what I protect has never changed!" -Sakata Gintoki I'll take anything like The Pet Girl of Sakurasou. Anything as good as that. |
| some shows are trying too hard to look serious/deep , Ergo Proxy is a good example. |
| Signature removed. Please follow the signature rules, as defined in the Site & Forum Guidelines. |
| Once you realise that it's not humanly possible to make a non-pretentious sci-fi show,you will be able to move on. |
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Buo said: I'm a rather simple person, I expect drama to be poignant, comedy to be funny, action to be fun and horror to be creepy. It's only after I'm satisfied on an emotional level that I'm willing to dig further and read the subtext. Same with me. If the characters and story aren't getting me invested enough, I can't be bothered to look any deeper. Not to mention when shows are tackling subjects I don't even care about. That actually frustrates me because I feel as though I've been missing out on great things because of this. ... Is it my own fault for not being able to grab the subtext directly and having to rely on emotions to be willing to do so? Or is it the show's fault for not being able to grab me with its story and/or characters? Personally, I'd say it's the show's fault. Thing is, whether I'm missing out on "great things" is completely irrelevant. If the show failed to entice me, it just means it wasn't my cup of tea. And that's perfectly OK, everyone has their own likes and dislikes after all. |
| In this moment, I am euphoric. Not because of any phony comedy’s funniness. But because, I am enlightened by Ergo Proxy |
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| Entertainment and emotional investment come before anything else. Unlike you, I was pulled into Ergo Proxy from the get-go. I loved the characters and was entranced by the world, so naturally I was compelled to dive deeper. That's only me, of course. If Ergo didn't come to your liking, then that's that I guess. No reason to look hard into something you aren't interested in. |
| That has rarely happened, but I guess yes, I have to be satisfied on an emotional level to really dig into it. |
"At some point, I stopped hoping." |
St0rmrage said: Once you realise that it's not humanly possible to make a non-pretentious sci-fi show,you will be able to move on. Really? I wouldn't say so. Look at MAL's list if sci-fi shows: https://myanimelist.net/anime/genre/24/Sci-Fi It has One Punch Man, Tengen Toppa Gurenn Lagann, Date A Live, Trigun, Full Metal Panic, Infinite Stratos, To Love Ru, To Aru Kagaku no Railgun... Are they all that pretentious? |
| NO YOU WON'T NEED TO BE THAT KIND OF PERSON |
 ◐ ~ Life sucks ~ ◑ |
RandomPersonA said: I see what your saying, I feel like I miss out on a lot due to the fact it's hard to grab my attention. I don't like the art of anime before 2010(roughly) so I know I am missing out on brilliant works, such as Bebop, Evangelion, and other older anime.If you're not into the show you're just not into it; no matter how brilliant it may be. Would you really consider it "having missed something brilliant" if it doesn't interest you? I wouldn't. It could be hella great but too bad it's not my cup of tea. Edit: To answer your question, I guess yes it has to interest me to a certain extent or else I'd just be too bored to continue. |
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| If the atmosphere isn't right the story has failed either way. So, sure. A story should not be defined only by its subtext. |
| sometimes i do feel like that and sometimes i just wanna finish an anime that i just wanna know the ending for so i can discuss the lot with people. |
| Sonic X is basically an isekai |
| I would say so.... digging further requires at least an investment to a show. Why would you even try to dig deep into a show you really don't or slightly care about? |
| If I don't give a damn about anyone in the anime, then I won't give a damn about symbolism or subtexts or higher meanings or social commentaries. Looking at u Texhnolyze. |
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Buo said: I'm a rather simple person, I expect drama to be poignant, comedy to be funny, action to be fun and horror to be creepy. It's only after I'm satisfied on an emotional level that I'm willing to dig further and read the subtext. Some people are able to get past that and directly enjoy shows thanks to their subtext. That actually frustrates me because I feel as though I've been missing out on great things because of this. Shows like Ergo Proxy for example, I couldn't get invested in the story or the characters at all, and because of this I'm pretty sure I missed something brilliant. Is it my own fault for not being able to grab the subtext directly and having to rely on emotions to be willing to do so? Or is it the show's fault for not being able to grab me with its story and/or characters? YES! I'm not the only one! Case in point for this would be both Panty and Stocking, and FLCL. I disliked the first and hated the second. The humor was quite flat and relied too much on 'crazy shit in your face' and south-park style humor for both of them, what little drama there was going on bored me to death, and I never found anything really fun or enjoyable with either. And to this day, I wonder if this makes me worse as a person. I try to review things with only a slight bias to enjoyment, and yet I know that because I couldn't enjoy either of these, I lost anything that was 'deep' inside of them which thousands of others have picked up on. My end thoughts are this: "Well, if the story couldn't grab me, then maybe I'm not the type of audience that this show was aimed at." Because when you realize that creators aren't always trying to market one thing to everyone, but are typically trying to market certain things to certain groups, the world sorta sorts itself out...or at least...the world of anime sorts itself out better for oneself. |
"I'd take rampant lesbianism over nuclear armageddon or a supervolcano any day." ~nikiforova |
| Eh, maybe, I won't put in as much effort to understanding something that I don't enjoy, but if something confuses me I might look at up. Now that your thread reminded me I'm probably going to read what others say about angels egg later even though I didn't enjoy it that much because it might be interesting to read about. I tried to figure what people saw in EoE but gave up. I like to read people's opinions on this sort of thing, so even if I don't like a show that other people see as deep I might read stuff to understand that perspective. |
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InsaneLeader13 said: lol, you're not a worse person. Idk about P&S but FLCL is up to interpretation to some extent and some shows like Cat Soup rely on it very heavily. People use the word deep in places it might not necessarily apply. Maybe somebody found it "deep" because it was relatable, like Ping Pong for me, or because it presents ideas in a unique way like SEL, and there's the interpretation with the aforementioned Cat Soup, and in the case of FLCL, it's a combination of all those things, but none of those things are the same as being deep or even good, so your opinion isn't wrong.Buo said: I'm a rather simple person, I expect drama to be poignant, comedy to be funny, action to be fun and horror to be creepy. It's only after I'm satisfied on an emotional level that I'm willing to dig further and read the subtext. Some people are able to get past that and directly enjoy shows thanks to their subtext. That actually frustrates me because I feel as though I've been missing out on great things because of this. Shows like Ergo Proxy for example, I couldn't get invested in the story or the characters at all, and because of this I'm pretty sure I missed something brilliant. Is it my own fault for not being able to grab the subtext directly and having to rely on emotions to be willing to do so? Or is it the show's fault for not being able to grab me with its story and/or characters? YES! I'm not the only one! Case in point for this would be both Panty and Stocking, and FLCL. I disliked the first and hated the second. The humor was quite flat and relied too much on 'crazy shit in your face' and south-park style humor for both of them, what little drama there was going on bored me to death, and I never found anything really fun or enjoyable with either. And to this day, I wonder if this makes me worse as a person. I try to review things with only a slight bias to enjoyment, and yet I know that because I couldn't enjoy either of these, I lost anything that was 'deep' inside of them which thousands of others have picked up on. My end thoughts are this: "Well, if the story couldn't grab me, then maybe I'm not the type of audience that this show was aimed at." Because when you realize that creators aren't always trying to market one thing to everyone, but are typically trying to market certain things to certain groups, the world sorta sorts itself out...or at least...the world of anime sorts itself out better for oneself. |
|
| Ergo Proxy is a sci-fi thriller, you have to watch it through to get to the freaky sht, 8 episodes are for really setting the world up/the characters, and no you might not like them at first, but think about how the father of pino felt when she walked away.. There's heavy emotion from that, and the pain of losing all your memories too. I think you might like it after you've seen the first 8. It's a slow starting series, and doesn't make sense the first time through, so you're going to have to watch it twice or you'll miss something. Regarding the topic, I kind of need to be emotionally into a show or obsessed with a certain character and what they're going to turn out as. That's why my dropped list is continuously growing larger. Some anime on my list I just finished to finish. I love certain shows due to the horrific circumstances that surround the characters (Attack on titan, ergo proxy, Gakkougurashi!) and I love others for their characters (I was obsessed with naruto, then there's ban from seven deadly sins (I also liked king and diana). Then I love certain shows due to their environment/way they're written like Tatsumi Galaxy. Anything on my favorites list (top 25) will have one of these, or the love of a good adventure story. I got emotionally invested in Steins;gate (made me cry), Tamako Market (made me really happy most of the time), Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? (made me crack up laughing and I liked Haruna for her personality) and Nodame Cantabile (more importantly, it had some great characters and I loved watching them strive to be their best). There were some shows that I just couldn't get invested into because they weren't relatable to me and I couldn't see myself even liking the main protagonist or any of the other characters: Golden Time (like their group pisses me the fk off, the whole group), Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso (don't like any of the characters besides his child hood friend, the main character is a crybaby I wanted to punch in the face and tell him to stop obsessing, and the girl character is a flip flopper on who she wanted to date, still a decent show for the music, art, and some of the story), etc. (this would be a long list but these two are usually very popular shows liked by many, and considering golden time is a related show to toradora it was surprising I didn't like the characters) I do have some shows I completed (maybe because they were short) just for the ride/completions sake, and I'm not going to do that anymore. |
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| I don't believe subtext can exist without something interesting above it. I don't think Haibane Renmei or Paranoia Agent would've worked if they didn't have interesting stories. Sure, I can mouth off about how PA is about the Japanese psych - and it is. But if it didn't have the bizarre premise of a kid hitting random people, if it didn't invest me in the characters' lives I wouldn't care about it. That's what makes it so brilliant, really. Even if I didn't get the whole atom bomb symbolism, the characters are still alive and fascinating. So I'm in total agreement with you except about Ergo Proxy. It was great. |
| WEAPONS - My blog, for reviews of music, anime, books, and other things |
| i just watch it till the end...other wise there wouldnt be a point of me starting it if im never gonna finish it... |
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| I guess to some degree but not really on a conscientious level. I'm usually willing to dig deeper into an anime if a certain set of criteria (pertinent to the genre usually) are met. |
SomeEdgeLord said: I WILL report you from this forum if this continues. In real life, I am one of the coldest, unsympathetic, people you'll ever know, who's grown up in an even colder household, you really don't want me to break my persona, I know how to make people feel bad. YearnsforAttention said: hm who has 1656 friends on MAL that's right me bye bye YearnsforAttention said: I don't want your approval how many damn times do I need to say it I enjoy irritating you I am gonna do things MY way |
Buo said: TheBrainintheJar said: So I'm in total agreement with you except about Ergo Proxy. It was great. I'm sure it is, and that's why it frustrates me. I most probably looked at it the wrong way and it ended up with me not caring about almost anything this anime had to offer. It's on my re-watch list though, now that I know what to expect it should be a better experience overall. The problem with the show is how it's advertised. Imagine if Haibene Renmei was praised for being an exciting story full of action and suspense. Ergo Proxy is a 'psychological adventure'. Its world is sloppy and sometimes too vague, but the focus is always on the characters. How they react, what they feel, how they change is what really drives the story. For all of the noise it makes, it's closer to Haibane Renmei and Paranoia Agent in its character focus than something like Serial Experiments Lain. |
| WEAPONS - My blog, for reviews of music, anime, books, and other things |
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