Why the allure of anime?

[Priest of Asmodeus]

I just don't get why anime is so popular. It's horrible, it makes my mind scream in pain. I see kids post about i love anime and blast of every pop culture, toonami pos thats ever came across the screen.
Is it how it looks?
is it how it sounds?
it cant be how it's animated, there isn't any animation.
the stories all all the same and the characters are iconic and symbols of stock Japaneses characters.

When I was a younger guy anime, was called Japanamation, people called it that hell the publishers called it that. You didn't talk about japanamation around people cuz youd be a huge dork, its pretty true today but you can be more open in public about it.

So I would like to ask you japanamation fans out there what reasons do you have for liking Japaneses cartoons and why most of you are so anti subtitles, and so snobbish about it.

[Kaybrie]

Well you see, it's shiny... That'd probably be the main reason why it's so popular, it's shiny and kids enjoy shiny...

No not really, I think anime hits me as hillarious because they actually touch on humor that others don't go to... *Shrugs* Their hero's arn't perfect flawless things of beauty...

Not only that but anime has Dragon Ball Z... And neither Marvel or D.C. has created anything that comes remotely close to matching the awesomeness of Vegeta in my opinion. =)

[Priest of Asmodeus]

i think my brain just vomited..... did you just say as awesome as vagetta?
.......... sorry bile just shot up into my mouth.
I hate the nigh indestructible characters, with the powers to blow up a planet
and that super sayain stuff is just a joke. It takes what 5 episodes of screaming for it to work... sorry but dbz is one of those animes thats on the evolutionary scale below mayonaise.

those characters have absolutely no consequences what so ever. you die wait you get a wish and you back with longer hair and a new power of ultimate screaming time wasting agony.

when i was younger i watched the anime where 5 people dressed up like birds.
gatcha man or some thing, transmagner z, akira. akira is an actual attempt at traditional animation practices. the only ONLY respectable anime animator is Miazaky <= probably spelt super wrong and i should know it.
he came to america and met and studied with american animators, hes the walt disney of japan. he has 10 of 12 animation principles down.
and the other 2 he cant help due to the Japaneses outlook of mass production . His cartoons are the most enjoyable ones i have seen. My favorite would have to be grave of the fireflies.

being able to blow up planets doesnt make a good character, his subtex and texture does. and dbz characters have none, they are just dead shapes sliding on screen.

[Anthropic]

I think i've watched more of DBZ than any other cartoon. Probably because we used to smoke alot of herb in highschool. Come to think of it, I probably thought myself similar to Vegeta back in those days.. You know, undestructable and harnessing the ability to destroy the planet and such. Hah! Those were the days.

[Kaybrie]

i think my brain just vomited..... did you just say as awesome as vagetta?
.......... sorry bile just shot up into my mouth.
I hate the nigh indestructible characters, with the powers to blow up a planet
and that super sayain stuff is just a joke. It takes what 5 episodes of screaming for it to work... sorry but dbz is one of those animes thats on the evolutionary scale below mayonaise.

those characters have absolutely no consequences what so ever. you die wait you get a wish and you back with longer hair and a new power of ultimate screaming time wasting agony.

Thanks for that quite delibrate insult, I really deserved it for saying "I think this is cool." >_>

First off; five episodes? Come on, the longest screaming session in that entire series was 5 minutes... And it didn't just show him screaming... It was simply the time from when he started, counting all the clips in between, and then him finishing. And yes, I've watched every single episode, went through and timed them individually just because of people like you who can't seem to just look at something as being interesting.

Superman can live inside the sun! He can litterally just fly in there and live there... I bet you don't hate him... Even though his comics are outright stupid, he dosn't die, he dosn't ever even care! He's just like "Oh wow... You did something that made it look like it hurt me alot, and any normal creature on any other plane of existance would have been shattered into playdoh... But I'm actually fine... Didn't even really hurt... AT ALL... Nice try though."

Beyond that every character in DBZ, like most anime had alot of depth, they had huge and actually reviewed backstories... Heck Goku had an entire anime all about his backstory! You know what that equates to? More developed characters then any other anime in existance, period. You can say "Well I like these ones more" but they don't actually reveiw and show change in them the way they did in Dragon Ball Z. They had Goku, who they showed from his infancy gradually growing into the most powerful super saiyan who ever existed, Gohan, from his infancy as the crybaby brat to his later mystic form where he was incomprehencibly awesome, and of course Vegeta, the earlier psychoticly evil villain who eventually transformed into a begrudging good-guy.

I'm sorry but honestly if you're going to say you dislike something, just note that you dislike it. Don't make the rest of us who do like it feel bad because you had bile shoot up in your mouth. Comments that are better left unsaid.

[Priest of Asmodeus]

Thanks for that quite delibrate insult, I really deserved it for saying "I think this is cool." >_>

First off; five episodes? Come on, the longest screaming session in that entire series was 5 minutes... And it didn't just show him screaming... It was simply the time from when he started, counting all the clips in between, and then him finishing. And yes, I've watched every single episode, went through and timed them individually just because of people like you who can't seem to just look at something as being interesting.

well your welcome for a deliberate insult its my gift from me to you....
I'm not demeaning you i'm admonishing you there's a difference.

[quote=Kasso;11329]Superman can live inside the sun! He can litterally just fly in there and live there... I bet you don't hate him... Even though his comics are outright stupid, he dosn't die, he dosn't ever even care! He's just like "Oh wow... You did something that made it look like it hurt me alot, and any normal creature on any other plane of existance would have been shattered into playdoh... But I'm actually fine... Didn't even really hurt... AT ALL... Nice try though." [/quote}

I actually HATE, HATE, HATE Superman and DC comics as a whole
for just that reason. If you want to get really technical superman of the 40's only jumped high like the hulk and couldn't fly and wasn't invincible as he is today. small bullet fire didnt hurt him but larger calibers did just as gases, electricity and sounds did. It was untill the radio show of the late 40's did people think he flew. He said up up and away to signify that he was jumping but people mistook it as flying.
If i where to tell you who my favorite comic hero would be it would be Spider-man. I dont need to explain to you who spiderman is and what the deal is with him so i wont go into it

Beyond that every character in DBZ, like most anime had alot of depth, they had huge and actually reviewed backstories... Heck Goku had an entire anime all about his backstory! You know what that equates to? More developed characters then any other anime in existance, period. You can say "Well I like these ones more" but they don't actually reveiw and show change in them the way they did in Dragon Ball Z. They had Goku, who they showed from his infancy gradually growing into the most powerful super saiyan who ever existed, Gohan, from his infancy as the crybaby brat to his later mystic form where he was incomprehencibly awesome, and of course Vegeta, the earlier psychoticly evil villain who eventually transformed into a begrudging good-guy.

im sure you don't even know that goku is based off the Chinese legend of the monkey king, hench goku's stupid tail and his stupid giant monkey transformation.
his name is Sun Wukong and as far i know hes a prankster and was kicked out of the celestial realm by the gods, and eventually he found humility and became to the teacher of man. As far as i know goku gets shot on to earth from super bad guys to take over earth....hmmm sounds alot like superman to me super strong, invulnerable and an alien super hero..... indeed
there is no depth to there characters they are me fight me stronger than you and me beat you up.....your gonna need more proof that vegta is awesome cuz he was bad now hes good and gohan is awesomefor not being a cry baby anymore.
in reality you really shouldn't use dbz as examples for good anime or good character development. Go and look at grave of the fireflies and tell me the difference beside a 10 year old cant shake the earth with his super ultimate fire ball half quater circle back move.

I'm sorry but honestly if you're going to say you dislike something, just note that you dislike it. Don't make the rest of us who do like it feel bad because you had bile shoot up in your mouth. Comments that are better left unsaid.

That how you took it. I know the difference between good animation and good story telling and bad. I can be afforded the harder critique and down right anger towards bad cartoons.

with in a week Ill list to you and the rest of the people here resources to look and learn about animation.
there will be books on drawing, animation and websites to look at at your leisure. Most animation books are pricey mine cost me any where between 30-100 dollars to me there worth it, its what i do and it's what I live for and will be making a living on.

if you want i can talk to you more about the subject but frankly you don't have the right or the ability to call me out on what I know about what animation is

[Kaybrie]

No, I'm going to put it simply; you're being an ass.

I don't need to argue for Dragon Ball Z's sake because frankly, it has more then large enough of a fan base to discredit what you're saying as it has a 'horrible' storyline and 'terrible' characters. But seeing as it's actually what majorities think things are good that determine if it's good then Dragon Ball Z, which holds title as one of the top 100 anime's up to current date (Yes, a show from the 80's competes with modern anime even still) then it holds popularity. So obviously they did something right...

You're just one of the people who looks at something and sees a completely different scale of power and says "Well that's just stupid..." And you don't bother to look beyond to the characters themselves, And no I'm not going to go through the 350+ episodes that practically souly revolved around character development and actually try to tell you each individual point.

Yes, I know of what DBZ was based off of, and it was more based off of Superman (Hence Goku comming from earth from another planet) and the legend of the gold fighter, which was either a japanese or a chinese legend.

if you want i can talk to you more about the subject but frankly you don't have the right or the ability to call me out on what I know about what animation is

Please, in my post or this one, point out where I said "You have shitty taste"... I more clearly pointed out "You shouldn't so blatently insult something just because you find it distasteful." But go ahead and take it that way if you need to... I don't need this kinda bull... I come here for a friendly conversation and I get this. . ?

[Satoshi]

I personally have to agree with Kasso, sir Priest. Anime, as it is so lovingly termed, is much better written and played out than any american 'cartoon', if only because it retains an epic sense of continuity and builds upon stories. Every episode is a continuation of the previous, and the characters develop in response to their environment, and outside stimuli forcing them to change an adapt. In most american 'series', the motivation to change and adapt is stomped out by 'superpowers' that save the day at the last moment. The only american series that shows any sort of chronology like an anime is those that involve superheroes such as Spider-man, Batman, and others. Spider-man is simply another lame guy-cum-superhero who gained his powers, as unbelievably as it is, from a radioative spider. I hold Venom (Eddy Brock) in much higher regard. Even Batman, who has no 'real' superpowers, had the millionaire fortune that allowed him the time to buy all of his gear, and train as much as he did. All superheroes are unrealistic and fanciful. American or Japanese, it really doesn't matter. I simply think the japanese do it with a great deal more class and style, and have been for over forty years. Which is why we stole Transformers, Thundercats, Astro Boy, Power Rangers, and everything else we could from them. It was simply better than our crap.

By the way, just as a side note... You could really use some lessons in proper spelling and grammar. It's really hard to reply to poorly worded and spelled questions.

[undeadsteak]

Im not going to even bother saying my opinions, because Priest of Asmodeus is going to flame me.

[Satoshi]

Priest of Asmodeus started the fire, Woodelf! w00t w00t!

[Anthropic]

Im not going to even bother saying my opinions, because Priest of Asmodeus is going to flame me.

Are you saying he's a flamer?

[Acheron77]

Anime scares me.

[Anauroch]

Kasso... don't worry about him. And do not feel about liking anime.

I don't like it much though.

[Priest of Asmodeus]

. Spider-man is simply another lame guy-cum-superhero who gained his powers, as unbelievably as it is, from a radioative spider. I hold Venom (Eddy Brock) in much higher regard. Even Batman, who has no 'real' superpowers, had the millionaire fortune that allowed him the time to buy all of his gear, and train as much as he did. All superheroes are unrealistic and fanciful. American or Japanese, it really doesn't matter. I simply think the japanese do it with a great deal more class and style, and have been for over forty years. Which is why we stole Transformers, Thundercats, Astro Boy, Power Rangers, and everything else we could from them. It was simply better than our crap.

By the way, just as a side note... You could really use some lessons in proper spelling and grammar. It's really hard to reply to poorly worded and spelled questions.

spidermans origin was made in what the 60's. Stan lee created him during the time where radioactivity was the "in thing" and it was also something of a warning. In interviews stan lee talks about why the origin is like it is. If spiderman was as lame as you say than the spider-man in japan is down right frightful. Hes an alien and a spider-warrior with a spaceship and a giant fighting robot. they made a live action show and manga comics. you can find the tv show's first episode on youtube.com

as far as i know Transformers is Japaneses. The tv show started out from toys in japan, and the cartoon was made there as well. Not sure what thudercats is taken from but the idea of human animal hybrids is an old story nothing new just different twists. astroboy is Japanese and so is power rangers.

Being sequential doesn't make a good story, doesn't give it class. Dbz had none and the following load of garbage went into the negatives.
As for the argument of America having bad cartoons for the last 40 years i disagree. The Original 90's batman cartoon [before all the sharp angels], Venture Brothers, X-men for the 90's, ren and stimpy, Aeon, fosters hoime flux there are tons out there you just have to look. for the most part 80's cartoons where a darkage of cartoons in america mostly made for toys. He-man the cartoon was made for selling toys nothing more. As a kid they where cool, but dont hold up today.

Animation, well to be called animation by it's definition has to have what is called the illusion of life. Which Anime DOES NOT HAVE, save for Miazaki.
in general there is 12 principles of animation

1 squash and stretch
2 anticipation
3 staging
4 straight ahead and pose to pose
5 follow through and overlapping action
6 slow in and slow out
7 arcs
8 secondary action
9 timing
10 exaggeration
11 solid drawing
12 appeal

japanese animation has 10-12 thats it
and 12 is based on opinion

most anime has that held frame of just a mouth shape moving up and down
or a help character that slides across the screen. its a slide show nothing more. Little to no story and the same " effeminate sword fighter" the "reluctant i dont want to hurt any one fighter untill i need to" the brash hot head usually american guy. its the same repetitive crap just a different package.

and as far as i know the friend of mine that lives in japan tells me that american heroes and american cartoons are popular over there.

Simply Put when you look at a japaneses cartoon it isnt believable as a living character or world.

[Priest of Asmodeus]

im not going to "flame" any one. I want to hear what people have to say about the genre. so if you have something to say then by all means please say it