Why do you prefer anime over live action television or other available media?

Bunsuke said:

pretty sure this has been proven to be a sign of autism

logopolis said:


Neurotypicals just invest so much of their life into reading the faces and body language of the real people around them that they can't get out of the habit when they watch TV, and get disoriented when it's not present. Being neurotypical may make day to day life easier, but it does restrict the potential of the mind somewhat.

KingShoter007 said:
Simple: It’s a purely creative medium that isn’t forced to confirm to any political ideas.
Look at American media: Literally everything has some sort of politics in it (mostly liberal). Meanwhile, my moe slice of life shows only have cute 2D girls. It’s clear which is supperior.

logopolis said:


Very few dramas are actually forced to consciously examine politics, they just do so because well handled politics makes things better. Unfortunately, the chance of a big American drama made by people for big capitalist budgets in the fortress of global capitalism having politics which are actually good is approximately zero. But while I certainly enjoy my cute girl anime, (particularly from KyoAni,) the very best of the medium is stuff like Evangelion and Utena which is intensely political.

KingShoter007 said:
Simple: It’s a purely creative medium that isn’t forced to confirm to any political ideas.
Look at American media: Literally everything has some sort of politics in it (mostly liberal). Meanwhile, my moe slice of life shows only have cute 2D girls. It’s clear which is supperior.

thevagus said:
I would prefer anime over any other media, any time of my life. Most of the medias are infested by SJWs and normies, while anime is a creative medium with openness to most of the topics, even the ones which are forbidden.

Also, aesthetics in anime is better.

jal90 said:
Probably not so hot take: Manabi Straight is far more political than Evangelion.

Pullman said:
Ugh, most of the comments are expectedly cringey again. People have really been brainwashed into just parroting the same bullshit about 'politics' every time this topic comes up. It's sad how ignorant they are, basically the equivalent of normies who refuse to watch anime because it's 'all for children' or 'all tentacle porn'. They're just embarassing themselves.

Anyway, as for the question. Do I? Well, in terms of quantity consumed I guess I spend twice as much time on anime than on western series, which is mostly because I just love animation in general because of how much freedom and creativity can go into it. It makes even the mediocre stuff enjoyable to watch while I'm much pickier with live-action. But aside from that I highly value both (and a bunch of other) storytelling mediums as simply having different strengths. Anime is garbage for social commentary and pretty garbage for anything gritty and crime related and even in terms of just mysteries in general I prefer western live-action stuff. All of those are things I really love to watch, so I couldn't do without getting my dose of them from western shows. Anime on the other hand has slice of life and sports and battle shounen which are all not really a thing in the west and which I also love. I also prefer romance in anime much more.

In terms of the average length of a show, anime are way way too short and incomplete which can be frustrating and make otherwise potentially great watches very forgettable. Western TV series have the opposite problem of often overstaying their welcome and being prolonged just for the sake of it even after running out of ideas. I don't know how many shows I loved early on but after like 3 seasons I lost all interest in them because it just kept forcefully one-upping itself until it just became ridiculous or silly. But tbh, I still prefer that over the problem anime has with titles being too short and unfinished. At least I got 3 long seasons of great enjoyment out of a show, even if it declines afterwards. Feels a lot better than having it end after just 12 short episodes, when I basically feel like I just got into it and now the good stuff would start. I'll always prefer longer stories on average because I love stories and longer ones have just more story to them.

Oh and of course lolis. As a lolicon, lolis are a quintessential part of the appeal of the anime medium :>.


I also love manga, comics, books and movies but I'M not gonna write an essay for each of them. I much prefer series over movies, again because of my length preferences. With comics and books I do have very high opinions of those media, but realistically I just don't spend as much time on them because I'm a lazy fuck and it's just easier to passively consume a visual medium than actively focusing on reading something. But honestly, almost no anime and TV series can compare to a good Terry Pratchett novel in terms of enjoyment and quality, not to mention some of my favorite individual novels. Books are the only medium in which horror has ever worked for me, for example.

Bunsuke said:

pretty sure this has been proven to be a sign of autism

Bebop_Hakusho said:

I agree with a lot of what you're saying but tbh for me personally I'm the exact opposite with runtimes. I prefer it when a series I get the same level of enjoyment from is shorter rather then waste valuable time I could have spent on other shows with uninteresting filler and still lead nowhere. There a lots of great Anime that are only 26 or so episodes long and feel like complete masterpieces whereas most live action dramas I've seen are long drawn out and watered down while usually dropping drastically in quality by the halfway point. Not saying there aren't exceptions of course though.

Hades_Gil said:
Cause 2D>3D at portraying emotions through media.

nightcrawlercyp said:
Some anime actually try to tell a good story. Most other media either recycles ad nauseam old stuff creates mindless entertainment or try to indoctrinate the viewer. People in Hollywood seem not to be interested in telling stories anymore. Just to indoctrinate the viewer and if possible to make money.

petran79 said:


This topic is much more frequent in video games actually where they even motion cap and use the faces of real actors in 3D models, especially in high end game productions. They reached now a point where in some scenes 3D models resemble actual real actors.

They started this trend earlier with live action FMV games with real actors in the 90s, but as technology advanced, they swapped them with 3D models for better control.

Though I would have liked that canceled project of Phantasmagoria 3 where they would use real actors and track them in real time with multiple cameras around them. It would have been very difficult and expensive to achieve but it would have ended as a unique experience.

On the other hand though, a scene of a 16-bit JRPG game with blob characters could be just as emotional, if not more, than the latest CGI JRPG.They resemble a theater act

Pullman said:


The thing is, when they are the same levels of enjoyment I'll always just prefer to have more of it and if it isn't enjoyable the length doesn't really matter either way so I never understood why people just assume that longer shows will be worse by default. I just expect the same for all lengths, but I know that if it's a hit a longer show will simply provide me more enjoyment than a similarly enjoyable shorter one. I feel like that's the only really fair way of comparing the two that doesn't cloud the judgment with assumptions just based on length, before you even start a show.

When you start a show, it's always a gamble whether it'll be good or not, no matter the length, but if it turns out good I'd rather it have more episodes than being over before it really starts so I don't have to gamble again soon. Does that make sense?

If you really enjoy a 12 episode anime, don't you wish it was longer and there was more for you to enjoy? I see those sentiments all the time from people who otherwise claim to prefer shorter series, but then crave for more seasons of their favorites, which they wouldn't need if they were longer shows from the start, so I feel like people who say they prefer shorter ones are only saying it because they have negatively biased opinions about longer shows, but then want everything they like to be longer than it is because, in the end, they agree that having more of something you love is always gonna be better.

I don't disagree that there are plenty of anime that are great even tho they are short, but in the big scheme of things they still feel more than exceptions in the same way that 3+ season western shows that don't decline in quality are exceptions. It's pretty rare to have a 1-cour anime that is actually complete and doesn't just feel like a teaser for the source material.

And as I said about western shows, they do often fizzle out, but even if they do they often provided like 50 x 45 minutes of great enjoyment already, at which point they already gave me so much more enjoyment than an anime series of similar quality with 12 x 20 minutes that I can just drop them without regrets because they've done their job.

As someone who cares mostly about the journey, the viewing experience, and not very much about the ending in particular, the more 'enjoyment time' I get out of a show, the more I'll appreciate it, even if it ends with me dropping it later on or having a weak final episode or whatever. I already got my payoff during the first 2 or 3 seasons. Also, sometimes a show can decline but still be enjoyable, just not on the same level as the earlier seasons so it isn't always a black or white thing. I still loved the latter season of Scrubs for example, even tho they were definitely worse than the early and mid seasons.

In the end I just feel that shortness just really limits what a story can do, the paths it can take, the amount of things it can explore etc... A short series can still be great, but only in particular ways. It can't be a great fantasy epic or space opera or large scale political show with just 12 episodes, for example. If you want those types of shows to be good, they need time, among other things. The more time a show has the more things it can do, while short shows have to stick to certain types of narratives if they don't want to feel rushed and incomplete. They just offer less, not necessarily in terms of quality, but in terms of variety, focus and scale.

And lastly I've also made the experience that length on it's own can just make me more attached to a show and its characters. If I spend 50+ episodes on a show the cast just grows more familiar and coming back to the show starts feeling like 'coming home' of sorts. It's hard to explain, but just like friendship irl grows the more time you spend together my attachment to characters also grows in a similar fashion if I get to spend more time with them. Even my favorite 12 episode shows don't really reach that level of attachment in the long-term. I've always cared more about the characters rather than the plot so that factor alone would make long-runners worth it.

All of that combined just make a good, long show more rewarding than a good, short show. Of course a good short one will still be better than a bad long one, but that's not really a fair comparison in the first place.

Sorry for the wall of text, but it's a topic I've thought (and written) a lot about in the past so I always have a lot to say about it from all angles. I'm not trying to convince you that I'm right and you're wrong, just trying to explain why I feel that way and maybe make you rethink at least some of your stance towards longer shows.