Things I Hate About Things I Love: Anime · 12:32am Jul 21st, 2015
I'm the type of person who is split right down the middle, in terms of personality. On one hand, I always try to look on the bright side of things. On the other hand, I have the type of mind where I just have to point out any and all flaws in everything, even things I genuinely love. Thus why this blog exists.
I wasn't sure how I was going to do this one. I mean, Anime is a rather broad subject, so how do I complain about all of it while being fair? Maybe I should point out things I hate about specific anime I love. Maybe I should talk about things that bug me about anime as a genre. I decided to go with both.
Act I: Things I Hate About Anime I Love
If you're not into the whole otaku subculture like I am, the word "anime" can be fairly mysterious. I think that, when most non-otaku think of anime, they think of "Pokemon", "Bakugan", "Yu-Gi-Oh!", or "Dragon Ball Z". I am tolerant of three of these four, but I'm not going to talk about these at length. No, I'm going to talk about some of the more... Japanese... of the anime. Trust me, it'll all make sense soon.
I got into anime through Naruto, which was, and is, one of my favorite anime. Sure, it has many, many, many problems, but it was my first, so it has a special place in my heart. But, one of the main things I hate about Naruto is that it goes on too long, and it gets a bit convoluted. It's one of the artistic curses of being successful: Once you pass a certain success threshold, you are no longer allowed to stop. I think that is a problem with most, if not all, of the Forbidden Four (Those being Naruto, Dragon Ball Z, Bleach, and One Piece, in order of how much I have seen/enjoyed them). Naruto has a simple-enough premise: An orphan who is hated by his village of ninja wants nothing more than to earn their respect. He does this by training to become the strongest ninja he can be, and eventually become Hokage (which is the chief of the village). As the case with almost all shonen anime, the titular main character has a rival, in the form of the perfect, adored, prodigy Sasuke Uchiha, and a love interest, in the form of the nigh-useless, angry, tsundere Sakura Haruno. Things get weird and complicated, with Sasuke wanting to "go to the dark side" so that he can avenge his clan's murder by killing his brother and Naruto becoming the target of an organization who want to capture him so that they can harvest a demon that was sealed in Naruto for the sake of... Something. You never actually know until pretty close to the end why The Akatsuki want the Tailed Beasts, but it ultimately doesn't matter, because cool stuff is happening on the screen. Much like this paragraph, Naruto is simply too long, complicated, and it gets kind of dumb at a few key points. It also does a poor job of establishing scale of power, and in several cases, the "strongest technique in the shinobi world" is beaten out by an even stronger one in a few episodes. Which would be fine, if we were ever properly informed of what that original strongest technique actually did.
I'm rambling, so let's move on to an anime that I absolutely adore. This anime is, without doubt, my all time favorite anime, and I suspect it will remain my favorite for many, many years. I am talking, of course, about the perverted, magical-girl adventure that is Kill la Kill. KlK also has a fairly simple premise: Our 16 year old heroine, Ryuko Matoi, is in search of the person who killed her dad. That seems simple enough, right? Then I tell you that she's going to find her dad's killer by identifying whoever has the other half of a giant red pair of scissors, which was the murder weapon. Still with me? Now I tell you that the main setting is a school ruled with an iron fist by the student government president, Lady Satsuki Kiryuin, and she has a veritable army of club presidents decked out in Goku Uniforms, which increase their strength, speed, and what have you. Wow, you're still here? Well, did I mention that Ryuko puts herself on an even playing field by donning a talking sailor uniform called Senketsu, who, when they Synchronize, becomes a skimpy battle armor that covers a measly ten percent of her body? I could talk about KlK for an entire blog (if at least one person asks me to, I will), but I'm here to complain about it. My biggest beef with this show is that it is so freaking short. The exact opposite of the Naruto issue, this series is a measly 24 episodes (25 if you count the epilogue OVA). I want more. I know that's not fair, because the Kill la Kill story actually wraps up rather nicely, but I want more! Some more KlK content, anything, a movie, a spin-off! I mean, Platinum is discussing making a Kill la Kill game, but that is just a rumor! And even if it does come to pass, that's another two, three years! I can't wait that long. Another beef I have is that there is too much smut in that, even for me. It gets incredibly awkward when watching with others, especially when that "others" is your mom. One day, I was watching an episode and my mom just walked in and sat down. I wasn't too bothered, because the show hadn't proven to be that gross yet. Then, it goes into the Ragyo Bath Scene. Those of you who have seen KlK know exactly why that's such an uncomfortable experience to share with your mom. (Double Entendre-ho!)
Lastly for this post is the series Freezing, which I haven't actually finished. Freezing follows a girl by the name of Satelizer el Bridget, who is what is known as a Pandora. These are female warriors who have little implants in their back called Stomata. The Stomata materialize the Pandora's weapons and armor, which is pretty sick. Each Pandora is paired with a Limiter, who are all male. Limiters are meant to cast a Freezing Area around the enemy (Novas, which are trans-dimensional aliens), freezing them in place. Limiters are also capable of a technique with their Pandora known as the Ereinbar Set, which synchronizes their senses. My problem with this anime is very similar to the Kill la Kill problem of "too pervy" even for me. Every single fight in the series, almost without fail, results in at least one combatant's shirt ripping and her breasts flying out. There are several scenes of just pure nakedness and panty-shots for no reason. I'm tired of someone walking in on an episode and scolding me for watching hentai! I mean, people who say that obviously have never seen hentai, because it gets a lot worse than Freezing, but that's not the point. It's the association and negative stigma that really rustles my jimmies.
My, this one went places, didn't it? Well, there you go, things I hate about three of my favorite anime. Either later or tomorrow, I'll be back with everything I hate about the whole anime genre, because this post is rather long. Please, talk to me about things you hate about these anime or some of your favorites not mentioned. I look forward to reading about it.
Hope you enjoyed my anime ramblings, and I hope to see you with my hate on the whole genre. Farewell, and Don't Lose Your Way!
3256021 That's amazing! I need to find a copy, now, because I would find that hilarious. Uh... That's probably not the response you wanted... I agree, the Japanese can get a little... overzealous... But once you get used to it, it's super great. You just need to have the right expectations. I am of the firm opinion that most people who get turned off from anime are driven away because they weren't expecting so much in-your-face sex. Fairy Tail, Soul Eater and Fullmetal Alchemist are really good ones if you don't mind a bit of action and blood (I swear, it's not that bad. My little brother, eight years old, watches it with me), and Baka and Test is a great little high school comedy. And I promise, Freezing isn't that terrible. It's just very obvious very early on that this series comes from a different culture. There are even censored versions of most anime, if you look for it. I don't actually know why I'm defending anime so hard, because I really agree with almost every criticism you could throw out... I think it's because I hate to see people shy away from one of my favorite genres. But, I understand it's an acquired taste (at best), so I totally sympathize if you attribute my suggestions to the rambling of a sick, disgusting shell of a man who is amused by incest and rape in a manga based on a kid's show. You know, now that I see that written out... Maybe I am a bit messed up in the head.
Hope you give more anime a chance, particularly Baka and Test. If you do, I recommend you watch anime with someone you know who already knows about/enjoys it. It'll help you get accustomed to the odd sense of censorship that is Japanese culture.
3256021 I hate to bother you, ma'am, especially since I can tell you're not a fan of this sort of thing, but could you tell me more about that joke in the manga? I have a morbid curiosity, and I have to know the details. You could PM me the context of the joke, or link me to an image. Whichever you prefer, if you choose to do it at all. Thanks regardless for reading my blog! /)
3256191 I might actually give Fullmetal Alchemist a chance, as two of my friends are very much into it. :) As for the joke, my friend at school had a copy of manga, which is where I found it. It was about Discord, and he was talking to Fluttershy about how he was fully conscious when he was turned to stone. He had to sit through a lot of embarrassing moments, such as the royal guards being. . .weird. *cough ahem let's not discuss that*, and other things. Among that was Celestia tackling Luna to the ground while Luna shouts, "sister, no! Not tonight!" while a blush mark appears over Discord's statue.
Yup.
static.fjcdn.com/pictures/Discord+life+being+statue+read+it+like+a+manga+i+couldn+t_f6cc05_4565329.png
On a plus side, though, one of the artists has a style more adorable than the show.
4.bp.blogspot.com/-Zu95mvuoqRg/VI86cFWCYgI/AAAAAAABJoM/5Guw2nS_Nyk/s1600/fd811e5ecdb843fca091450c794045cc.jpg
3256237 Hm... I don't actually think that's from the same manga. From what I can tell, the official MLP manga is entirely in color. Also, the face the guards are making are very un-Japanese in style, which leads me to believe that what you've posted up above is fanmade in nature. If you're keen enough, and you watch enough anime, you'll be able to tell the difference between Western and Eastern drawn expressions. I can't see a Japanese artist drawing the guards' face like that unless he was being sarcastic towards Japanese art.
3256251 OH THANK GOD Q_Q That's good to hear. My friend does has access to a lot of cool but obscure crap (including fanfictions written into books and stuff. So jealous). I'm going to go ahead and assume to she printed it or bought it off a fanmade site or something.
The quality of the little booklet was freakin cheap too.
Naruto was the first manga I read all the way through over the many years it took to release. I had read Bleach alongside as well, but I got distracted at one point and had to stray away from reading mangas (Naruto included, but I had a pretty good handle on that story) and couldn't quite pick it back up. When I compare these two, I have to say I appreciate the way the next ultimate technique came into play in Naruto... Bleach had this slapshod way of introducing a new technique out of the blue, with a new enemy with unbelievably outrageous strength and Ichigo has to match it through training (which is really just more suffering), and miraculously bests the big bad. Naruto basically has 2 techniques for the entire run (or even just 1 - Shadow Clones that he learned in the first episode/volume) and he incorporates new knowledge into it (element and sage chakras), and moreover. I guess I vaguely disagree about not having a consistent hierarchy of power levels as it's all at least hinted at considerably earlier than it's exhibited.
But yeah, it was way longer than was necessary and I kind of got bored after Naruto found acceptance across the village. And I didn't love the final chapter.
Been meaning to watch KIK, and I kind of have a rampant love for too-short animes! FLCL is dear to my heart as the first manga I ever read and the end leaves me wanting for so much more. Even Elfen Lied (for all its gore and crazy) is delightful. Oh! And have you seen The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya? I think the thing about short runs is that they don't have time to make terrible mistakes.
3256496 Haruhi Suzumiya just came up in conversation today, actually. Might give it a go.
After I finish Psycho-Pass, FMA: Brotherhood, Soul Eater, K, Gurren Lagann, and Panty & Stocking. Boy, do I have some work to do.
3256535 It's okay, my going-to-watch list: FMA (all of it), Gurren Lagann, Durarara!!, Fruits Basket (I only got half way through the first try), Rabbit Doubt, Inuyasha (I casually watched the dub on Adult Swim, the manga has to be better), Death Note, Soul Eater.
I have no self control
Have you read Ranma 1/2? It's good for silly fun.
3256551 I should've added "there's too goddamn much" on the things I hate. At least I'll never be out of anime. I imagine that Ranma will be watched eventually.