Anime, why is it so appealing

Baku_

What makes anime appealing to me is that the majority of the anime I watch is not made for kids (Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Fist Of The North Star, Appleseed, Cying Freeman etc etc).

What draws me to anime is the vivid imagery and wicked (and often brutal) action sequences. The plotlines are intelligent - sometimes to the point of not actually understanding anything at all unless you watch them several times.

Chuui

The only thing that makes anime appealing is because it's currently the only portion of Japanese television that is widely available outside of Japan. Those who have only watched anime have done little more than stick their fingers into a cake to sample the frosting.

As a Japanese television fan, I've watched tons of Japanese shows, anime and beyond. And these days I tend to see the anime fandom as being rather ...erm, limited. You guys live in a world of imaginary boundries. In a way, you live in a Matrix build out of your own fandom.

Exactly. I wonder how popular anime would be if more main stream things such as the dramas and the movies (and not just US remakes or Japanese horror) were widely available? I also wonder how popular anime would be in the US if they had the same shows as us, and not just the "pick of the crop", remember for every show that makes it to the US, there's a hundred more over here that are utter rubbish. For the most part, the oversea's fan of anime is judging all anime on a very limited proportion of it. They really should try to sample the wider range of anime, and then see if they still like it.

Baku_, you mention Appleseed, is that the old version, or the new one? I must say that I liked the old one a lot when it first came out, I still have a soft spot Shirow's work, especially Dominion. But the new version that came out earlier this year, was smart too. And is probably the only recently released anime I have bought for my DVD collection - not including Ghibli stuff, although, the even the newer Ghibli movies are nowhere near as good as the older ones.

**A><IAN**

Watching anime is like a hobby, you have to enjoy doing it, for example
some people build models of cars, boats etc, others think its dumb but
not the person, its a pass time. Like anime, people like to watch it,
others hate it. Its the same concept, basically if you donot have an
open mind for it then you are never going to like it, hence why so many
people hate it, and so many others like it.

Baku_

I loved the old Appleseed - and I used to collect the manga too, but that kinda dwindled.... Dominion rocked as well... gotta love the tongue-in-cheek lewd-ish humour that goes with it (The "Ultimate Deterrant" still cracks me up! lol)

The latest Appleseed (due to be released in Cinemas in the UK fairly soon) I actually really liked... even though the storyline wasn't as intriguing... but the visuals I thought were jaw dropping. I really like the almost cel-shaded characters mixed with CG... very striking.

As someone said before, some people love everything japanese - I have to say I'm one of those people. I love Martial Arts, I collect Katana and Wasakishi and I'm learning Japanese too... (need to brush up on my hiragana though).

**A><IAN**

^ need any help, i would like to offer it SMILEY

3rd year japanese language
student SMILEY

past level 1 profiency test as well SMILEY

sorry off topic

I like anime, it's fun, and it's true about "adult" anime, when my
friend showed it to me the first time, the first words out of my moutth
"*CENSORED*???!" shortly followed by "my god, is that even possible?" lol not
a good experience, do not watch if you haven't already.

Chanulus

it is not bad, not the adult anime, if you are talking about porn, but some movies could only be anime.

Elome

Anime is awesome, the stories are amazing, and so are the visuals.
Character development is almost always top-notch. I'm watching "Bleach"
right now, also been reading the manga. The manga is great.

I think it's that the Japanese are very good at story telling and writing, and making great visuals.

Chuui

I think it's that the Japanese are very good at story telling and writing, and making great visuals.

As a Japanese, please let me dispel this myth. We are not always great at telling stories. We are not always great at making "great visuals". What you see in the West is the pick of the crop. The top 1 or 2 percent of the thousands of shows that are made and cancelled each year due to not being any good. Manga also sees this all the time. Only the good ones get published in book format, only the really good ones get published a second time, and only the outstanding ones get published year in year out.

It's just that from the limited selection sent overseas, you don't see the thousands that didn't make it.

Elome

My apologies if I offended you.

Chuui

You didn't offend me, so no worries. I just see too many people who come to Japan thinking all the anime is great only to see them wind up disappointed by the state of anime over here. It's a shames that's the way things are, but it will never change.

DolalrBill

WGAnubis wrote:

Topic asks it all, why is Anime so appealing that its practically addictive? I mean its just cartoons, every nation has its own version of this stuff but why japans? What's in it that makes channels like cartoon network have a time block called adult swim that has a vast majority of it? Why did it influence the W brothers so much that we can see where Ghost in the Shell played into the movies?

One word: hentai.

{G7G}Apsu

yup Hentai and kick *CENSORED* fights

Elome

Chuui wrote:
You didn't offend me, so no worries. I just see too many people who come to Japan thinking all the anime is great only to see them wind up disappointed by the state of anime over here. It's a shames that's the way things are, but it will never change.

well, what I have seen come from japan (movies, anime, etc.) has all been good, I have not seen much from there that I did not like...

{G7G}Apsu

GODZILLA

Chanulus

GODZILLA VS. EVERYTHING YOU CAN THINK UP AND STUFF YOU WOULD NOT THINK OF

*make sound like a old car that keeps turning over but just wont start(and needs oil too)*