Anime... overrated?

[YellerDog]

Maybe it was Metropolis that killed it for me, but I find the whole of Japanese-style animation to be severely lacking in many catagories, not least among them being story and, well, animation. Exceptions permitted, as with anything...

Content-wise, I've started to find many of the plots to be painted with too wide a brush... every other story seems to be about 'hope' or 'love' or 'redemption' or some other high concept, without ever actually stopping to truly understand what it's trying to say. It's like they get the idea, but they just can't figure out how to say it, so everything is generalized. Character moments have a real tendency to be overlooked in much of anime, in favor of pushing the mostly-decoritve plots forward, ever intent on playing that big concept up in bright letters throughout the climax, just in case you missed it.

As far as the animation... well, when was the last time you saw any actual character animation in anime, barring title sequences or theatrical releases? Characters that 'act', not just strike poses as the camera angles dance around them. I know this is largely a reality of the budgets most series' have to work with, but would it be that bad if some of these 30 episode monsters ran for half that, in order to get some better quality animation in there? Enough of these increasingly-overboard character designs... show me some simplified characters that can move!

Mind you, there are some wonderful exceptions, not the least of which being Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli... their influences follow the Disney tradition of character animation rather than the limited-animation stylings of much of anime, and they absolutely know how to tell a story!

[Green]

I pretty much agree with you, but I think there is enough good anime out there for my liking. I'm not tired of the whole scene (not yet, anyhow). There is way too much stuff about vague concepts, and far too many cookie cutter releases. You're right about Metropolis too, for all it's technical artistry it falls flat on it's face in plot and characters. It's so weird, you're given this amazing spectacle, yet no reason to care about the characters. As for your second to last paragraph, there are few series over 26 episodes that are very good, so that doesn't really bother me. As for the animation in general, I'd rather have an interesting tale than a well animated snore fest. Anyways, can you list all the anime you've seen, or at least your favorites?

[Lhadatt]

Er.. why is this in the movie board? We've got an anime board, you know...

[YellerDog]

Perhaps in dropping some episode counts, better animaiton would follow along with a tighter story... but I digress.

Anyway, a few favorites:

Cowboy Bebop
-Just nailed it in terms of story and aesthetics. Follows my tastes in music exactly, to boot!
Lupin III: Castle Of Cagleostro
-Wonderful character animation; the rooftop running never fails to impress, but it's all about the subtleties... the rose and flags from the sleeve bit in particular. Look at the expressions and the 'thinking time' of the characters.
Excel Saga
-Absolute parody of all things that have been dragging anime down for the last 10 years or so. Good fun!
Gunsmith Cats
-Coulda stood without the 10 year old in lingere bits, but the action scenes were as well directed as some of the best live action films.
Akira
-Soooo brilliant, animation-wise. The effects animation alone...
Ghost in the Shell
-The animation on the muscles was shockingly good... hard not to wince as arms and tendons are being broken...

There are others, but that's just a quick run down off the top of my head.

Originally posted by Lhadatt
Er.. why is this in the movie board? We've got an anime board, you know...

Because I'm at least baiting for objective opinions.

[Green]

That's a stellar list you got there. I don't really know what to say other than what I've allready said. If anyone said every anime title ever released has awesome animation, then they'd be overrating the genre. Otherwise, what can they do, really? It's all about the budget (or in Japan's case most of the time, lack of), and if a series goes on for a long time the animation will suffer. It's like that in Japan, and it's like that all over the world. As for story, can you name more American animated films that have better stories than the anime on your list?

[gamevet]

I highly suggest Don Bluth's Titan A.E. It is one of the finest animated films you'll ever see and the story is pretty solid. Sure it's an American anime, but a fine one at that.


Have you seen Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie? The story did have a lot of character cameos, but I found the story to be fairly decent and the soundtrack was pretty good as well.


You should also check out Akira. It is considered a classic, amongst Japanimation fans.

[Josh]

Weird... I really enjoyed Metropolis.

To each their own I suppose.

[Jester]

Metropolis did indeed kick much ass. The story was realy altered from the original manga though, which micht explain some odd issues with character development.

[YellerDog]

Originally posted by Green
As for story, can you name more American animated films that have better stories than the anime on your list?

Though 'better stories' is subjective, I do feel that much of the animation in America presents stories much better than their Japanesse counterparts. Going to stick to feature legnth for these (and the last 20 years):

Lilo and Stitch, Beauty and the Beast, Monster's Inc., An American Tail, Nightmare Before Christmas, Oliver and Company, The Lion King, the Secert of NIMH, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Emperor's New Groove, Titan AE, Mulan, Toy Story 1 and 2, and, even though it was half live action, Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

I'm very interested in the concept of acting through animation, something that is sorely missed in Anime.

[Diff-chan]

There's some anime I really like (Miyazaki is a genius), but yea, youre right. A lot of anime is really pretentious and is all about these wide, general themes.

There is some really genius work out there, but there's a lot of nonsense too. I guess its just like the American movie industry.

I do think Japan's, and pretty much America's pre-occupation with anime may be harming their live actor film industry. There really hasn't been a great Japanese filmmaker since Kurosawa... granted he is the best filmmaker to ever live, but still. Japan's movie industry is lackluster. I consistently read about and hear and want to see all these wonderful films coming out of China... but Japan? Mostly anime.