Does Anime Suck?

Yes

41 (41.4%)

No

20 (20.2%)

Sometimes

38 (38.4%)

Total Members Voted: 36

[Brian Wolf]

I recently caught the end of the "What to do with Ben Tucker" thread where apparently the topic has shifted to "Does Anime Suck?"
Out of Respeck for Ghandi I am making this poll so that thread can go back on topic, and we can discuss the burning issue of the suckitude of Anime (or the lack there of).

My opinion is, like with any other art form, that sometimes Anime' sucks, sometimes it is great, and sometimes its just ok.
Claiming that an entire style of art as diverse as Anime sucks just because you have had a bad experience or two with it is illogical.
That is the equivalent to saying that all books suck just because you have read a couple of bad ones.

There many different types of movies and TV shows that carry the label "Anime".
Yea, there are conventions, and some of them seem weird to us Americans, but American cartoons have their own types of conventions that we don't notice because they are a part of our culture or they have been a part of American cartoons since the beginning.

I hate it when people dismiss "Comic Books" and "Cartoons" as being just for kids. Comics have not been "just for kids" in this country at least since Will Eisner. Some of the best works of art in the last century were comics and graphic novels. 'Cartoons' have not been a "kid only" medium in this country since at least 1972's "Fritz the Cat" by Bakshi.

In Japan, Comics (Manga) and Cartoons (Anime) are treated as true art forms. There are manga and anime that are produced for 80 year old men, 45 year old women and 5 year old kids. They don't have these hang-ups that we do because they have been exposed to them their whole life.
Look at "The Simpsons" it was the first 'cartoon' that I noticed adults admit that they watched. And now 17 years later, we also have "South Park", "Drawn Together" "Family Guy" "Futurama" and "King of the Hill". People are starting to realize that 'cartoons' aren't just for kids. But they still think of Anime as Pokemon and Speed Racer.

Granted, a lot of the Anime that American see does suck. Why? Because despite all of the great "Adult Cartoons" that have been produced, most Americans still think of Cartoons as childish or 'for kids', so there is not much of a market among adults in this country for quality animation and good stories. As a result, a lot of the Anime that you see over here was produced for Japanese children and are aimed at our children.
If people were not so dismissive of this wonderful art form, they would get to experience some truly great works of art.

Anyone who still thinks that Cartoons and Comics are childish, should check out Scott McCloud's groundbreaking work "Understanding Comics".

“BRAVO!! Your Understanding Comics is a landmark dissection and intellectual consideration of comics as a valid medium. Its employment of comic art as its vehicle is brilliant. Everyone...anyone interested in this literary form must read it. Every school teacher should have one.”

[AlexLibman]

The overwhelming majority of the Japanese animation I've seen was total crap, even the supposedly top-notch stuff, but there have been a handful of exceptions.  Grave of the Fireflies [BT], for example, was a powerful and uncompromising masterpiece!  I highly recommend it to everyone.

[ReverendRyan]

Anime sucks just as any genre of anything sucks. 90% of everything is crap.

[Earthwormzim]

Kudos to Brian Wolfe.  Well said.

I think the majority of the people who say it sucks are people like Bill Brasky who don't have much experience in anime, but are knocking it because it seems to be the popular American/Manly view that is more likely to get them karma points.  Heh...it appeas that Bill Brasky thinks that anime watchers like to paint their toenails...whatever.

Don't ever wanna actually admit to watching silly little cartoons, now, do we?

[Earthwormzim]

The overwhelming majority of the Japanese animation I've seen was total crap, even the supposedly top-notch stuff, but there have been a handful of exceptions.  Grave of the Fireflies [BT], for example, was a powerful and uncompromising masterpiece!  I highly recommend it to everyone.

What are some of the titles of the anime that you thought sucked, and why?  Were they, perhaps, on Cartoon Network, complete with terrible dubs?  When you say, "the overwhelming majority," how many are you speaking of?  3 out of 4?  6 out of 8?  Or somewhere higher, like 50 out of 60?

[money dollars]

Kappa Mikey is the shit.
http://www.kappamikey.com/



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kappa_Mikey

Kappa Mikey is marketed as "the first anime to be produced entirely in the United States" (without any overseas animation), according to press releases from MTV, Nicktoons Network, and various other sources, though, that statement is clearly debatable. More likely, it is an American animated series that mimics, and/or pays homage to, anime. This is carried out in the way it parodies countless anime shows and films, and in the existence of the characters, who all spoof anime in some way. It is produced by Animation Collective in New York City with voiceovers recorded at NYAV Post, and animated using Adobe Flash, with some moments of CGI rendered in Maya.


...

The series centers around Mikey Simon, a teenage actor from Cleveland, Ohio, who embarks to Japan after winning a scratch-off card contest to star in the country's formerly popular anime series, LilyMu, and in doing this, rockets the show back to the top of the ratings, and becomes Japan's biggest anime star. Segments of LilyMu are seen at the beginning and end of each episode, but the show focuses primarily on the actors' and producers' lives off-set and Mikey's adjustments to the new world he has entered (similar in concept to The Famous Jett Jackson). The humor comes from the fact that because Mikey is a AMERIKAjin (American), he actually stands out visually from the other cast members. While most characters on the show are drawn in an anime-inspired style (thin outlines, big, detailed eyes, small mouths, and all ten fingers), Mikey (and all other American characters) is drawn in a retro-inspired American cartoon manner (thicker outlines, single black dot pupil eyes, a larger mouth, and only eight fingers.

[One two three]

FYI, when I said sometimes, I meant most of the time.

[AlexLibman]

Don't ever wanna actually admit to watching silly little cartoons, now, do we?

Hey, silly little cartoons rule!  Just a few weeks ago, out of nowhere, I got a strange urge to revisit Disney's TailSpin I've watched as a kid. 

What are some of the titles of the anime that you thought sucked, and why?  Were they, perhaps, on Cartoon Network, complete with terrible dubs?  When you say, "the overwhelming majority," how many are you speaking of?  3 out of 4?  6 out of 8?  Or somewhere higher, like 50 out of 60?

Yeah, most of the stuff I was thinking of were anime TV series (and Japanese video games), though the dubbing was the least of their problems.  You could tell that there was a corporate mandate to produce X hours of cartoons, whether they had a plot or not didn't matter.  And the ones that did have a deliberate creative purpose -- like Akira, Totoro, Mononoke, or Spirited Away -- I didn't much like either.  They were just eye candy with a plot to further the eye candy, they didn't make me think or feel anything in any depth.

And that's not just my Eurocentrism talking - there were several other works of anime I sorta liked, like 2/3's of Memorîzu and maybe 1/3'rd of Samurai Champloo.  And I'm a very big fan of some KBS historical dramas.  Another example: I didn't like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, but I really liked Jet Li's Hero and Fearless.

[Taors]

Kudos to Brian Wolfe.  Well said.

I think the majority of the people who say it sucks are people like Bill Brasky who don't have much experience in anime, but are knocking it because it seems to be the popular American/Manly view that is more likely to get them karma points.  Heh...it appeas that Bill Brasky thinks that anime watchers like to paint their toenails...whatever.

Don't ever wanna actually admit to watching silly little cartoons, now, do we?

I told you that I had a lot of experience with anime. When I was in the 6th grade. I don't know about Bill, but I was all into that shit. Yes, even the Japanese subtitles and the 'non-mainstream' anime.

[Brian Wolf]

And the ones that did have a deliberate creative purpose -- like Akira, Totoro, Mononoke, or Spirited Away -- I didn't much like either.  They were just eye candy with a plot to further the eye candy, they didn't make me think or feel anything in any depth.

Yeah, but what awesome eye candy! (I never watched Totoro and Spirited Away was boring, it looked good though)
Personally, I like fun movies sometimes. Pulp Fiction, Army of Darkness, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and Clerks weren't real deep, but I love those movies.

At least Akira and Mononoke tried to inject a deeper meaning behind their fun. Kind of like the Matrix.

Basically, if a movie makes me think thats a good movie. If it is entertaining then it is also good.

Really, though. Most movies are not big think pieces. Every once an a while a good one will come along but for the most part, its either action or comedy.

[Brian Wolf]

The overwhelming majority of the Japanese animation I've seen was total crap, even the supposedly top-notch stuff, but there have been a handful of exceptions.  Grave of the Fireflies [BT], for example, was a powerful and uncompromising masterpiece!  I highly recommend it to everyone.

Its also really sad.

[ladyattis]

WoH, and a few other epic anime series were great. I especially loved the PatLabor Movies [The second one was the best in regard to being more story than action].

-- Bridget

[Brian Wolf]

WoH, and a few other epic anime series were great. I especially loved the PatLabor Movies [The second one was the best in regard to being more story than action].

-- Bridget

By WoH do you mean Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise?

[ladyattis]

Yes, that's one of my favorite films of all time!

-- Bridget

[Brian Wolf]

Yes, that's one of my favorite films of all time!

-- Bridget

Never heard of it.