Anime you think don't deserve the heaps of praise, and why they don't.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

Can we please stop conflating criticism and issues of taste with hate?

Sir, how dare you hate on the above posters.

[blkmage]

Sir, how dare you hate on the above posters.

i hate u :<

[TheSubtleDoctor]

i hate u :<

[TWWK]

Can we please stop conflating criticism and issues of taste with hate?

Absolutely.

Hating on something = how people feel when something they have a strong emotional attachment to is being criticized

*stops using the word "hate"*

[MangaRocks!]

The only studio Ghibli movie I've seen is Whisper of the Heart, and I liked it, but I don't think it's exactly amazing. My only real problem with it was that the ending felt like it went a little too far to me.
[spoiler]"Hey, you think maybe, years off in the future, we can get married? Also, I love you!"[/spoiler] I like that the girl was a writer, naturally, and I definitely enjoyed the movie, but I just don't think it's the greatest thing. XD

Heh, actually, that's one of my favorite movies (of any kind, not just anime).

Interesting take on the ending-- personally, I actually feel like a lot of anime don't go far enough in that regard (I'm not too fond of open-ended romances ), so to me WOTH's ending was perfect. *shrugs* Difference of preference, I guess.

In regards to the discussion, Whisper... seems to be a bit lesser known, so I've not really come across mountains of praise for it like the other Ghibli movies, but the few reviews of it that I have come across are completely positive, and I agree with them (i.e., what praise it gets, I think it does deserve).

[blkmage]

I think there are a disproportionately large number of people on this forum that really, really like Whisper of the Heart (myself included).

[ShiroiHikari]

I really loved Whisper of the Heart. I dunno, it just...really had something that got to me.

Also, to enjoy Totoro you either have to be a kid, or be a kid at heart.

I can't talk much about Cowboy Bebop because I haven't seen it since probably 2002. I still like to listen to the OSTs every now and then though. Maybe I should rewatch it sometime.

I did think of something else that I personally don't think deserves all the hype: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. I just...didn't think it was as good as everyone said it was. Maybe I just didn't "get" it, but it really left me cold.

[TWWK]

I think there are a disproportionately large number of people on this forum that really, really like Whisper of the Heart (myself included).

That's cause its ridiculously awesome. But I can definitely see why one wouldn't like the ending...even for someone like me, who enjoys it more than any other Studio Ghibli film, the closing seemed rushed.

[Nate]

I did think of something else that I personally don't think deserves all the hype: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. I just...didn't think it was as good as everyone said it was. Maybe I just didn't "get" it, but it really left me cold.

I just watched this instead:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x0hc1EAaAE

So now I feel like I don't need to watch the actual movie.

[TopazRaven]

Oh jeez, that poor girl. xD

[the_wolfs_howl]

I agree with Last Exile, Ponyo (the main problem I had with this was that there wasn't enough conflict), and all the ones like Naruto, DBZ, etc.

Unfortunately, usually when I see something that really bugs me, even about a really popular or acclaimed anime, I usually just stop right then and there. So I can't really say for sure whether some of these animes are really bad, or if the beginning just made it seem like that.

For example, two animes I've heard praised to the skies, then tried out the first episode and couldn't stand it, were Ouran High School Host Club and Durarara! They're not much alike, but I got the impression from both that they were supposed to be hilarious, and I was not laughing at all. I found Ouran downright creepy, like they were taking objectionable content and wrapping it up with a pretty bow to make it look all fun and innocent. And all the time watching the first episode of Durarara! I couldn't decide whether it was supposed to be funny or dramatic, but it didn't seem like either one to me.

*barricades self in room and prepares to fend away the cries of dismay and disapproval*

[Lynna]

What about Shinkai? Any haters of his work? I loved Voices of a Distant Star, really enjoyed 5 cm per Second, and thought The Place Promised in Our Early Days was beautiful, but a bit boring. In other words, I think he (generally) deserves all the acclaim he's received (though I don't think he's lived up to lofty expectation yet). Anyone disagree?

I've only seen 5cm/s and I must say it was very...depressing. I didn't like that. I mean, the art is spectacular. But The story was nothing short of...sad-making. Even then, Couldn't there have been more talking and character development? It dissapoiinted me quite a bit. I haven't heard much of it's praise to decide if it's worthy of it though.

[goldenspines]

Okay....now I got one....

Ouran High School Host Club. Now I've only watched 3 episodes. It seems pretty popular, and I'm not saying it wasn't funny. I did laugh, BUT I wouldn't call it spectacular or anything, or so hilarious "you HAVE to watch this!" kind of show. I'll probably finish it eventually (my mom did, and she loved it). Plus some of the content was....eh....bit much for me in some cases, but it was mostly for humor's sake, so I can usually push that aside. The show itself, though was interesting, is just OK to me. Nothing special or must see, in my humble opinion.

Basically, not a must-see for me. If I finish it I finish it, if not it's no big deal to me.

You could try watching more shoujo series, come back, watch Ouran, you will probably like it better.
Ouran is a magnificent series and deserves heaps of praise, though not if you don't know much about the shoujo genre, in my opinion. In which case, it will be confusing and weird. It's meant to be a satirical commentary on the genre as a whole as well as throw in a cute story.
Though if you have seen many shoujo series (5+) and Ouran is still not appealing to you, then I don't know. :<


And, people seem to be again confusing like/dislike with whether or not a series deserves praise or not. In regards to depressing anime, that's not a reason for it not to get praise, I think. To be fair, I don't like watching much depressing stuff. Give me a bubbly, happy magical girl anime any day (if someone says watch Madoka Magica, I will cry D: ), but such rather depressing anime like Clannad, Cassern Sins, and even 5cmps deserve much of the praise given to them because of their ability to draw emotion from the viewer (good or bad).
@ Lynna: I agree with you, the character development in 5cmps was a little flat with the exception of one character; Kanae Sumida. She was one of the only reasons the series was worth watching for me.

[AnimeGirl]

You could try watching more shoujo series, come back, watch Ouran, you will probably like it better.
Ouran is a magnificent series and deserves heaps of praise, though not if you don't know much about the shoujo genre, in my opinion. In which case, it will be confusing and weird. It's meant to be a satirical commentary on the genre as a whole as well as throw in a cute story.
Though if you have seen many shoujo series (5+) and Ouran is still not appealing to you, then I don't know. :<

Yeah, I heard that's what it is, and it's not like it wasn't funny. I did laugh at several parts. Let me think of how many shoujo stuff I read/watch....
There's Dream Saga, Kitchen Princess, Vampire Knight (I think that's shoujo?), Kimi Ni Todoke, and....lots of webmanga that'd probably fit in the shoujo genre like anything by Ki Hiwatari and Marshmellow Muffin. Though I like shoujo very much, I think I might actually like shounen better for some reason O.O But hey; I'll still give Ouran a chance, it just wouldn't a big deal to me if I never finished it. I've been debating on reading the manga, is it any good?

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

The anime for Ouran is definitely the superior work.

[MightiMidget]

@goldenspines. I watched Clannad. I never need to again. xD

Though, speaking of depressing, that's another reason I disliked [spoiler]Cowboy Bebop[/spoiler]. In separating dislike and "not good", I still don't know what makes it "good." Is it because of the depressing ending?

@Wolfs Howl -- Like Golden said, Ouran is meant to be satirizing the genre, and therefore brings up quite a bit of objectionable content and makes fun of it. One of the favorite lines in Ouran is "There's debauchery here. ... Yay! There's debauchery here, isn't there! Everyone: ..." So it's not praising the content in the least, it just needs to be there to be made fun of. (Though I admit, I ran by a friend "please tell me the twins are actually straight" before continuuing. ops: )

[TWWK]

Though, speaking of depressing, that's another reason I disliked [spoiler]Cowboy Bebop[/spoiler]. In separating dislike and "not good", I still don't know what makes it "good." Is it because of the depressing ending?

Maybe it's not as depressing as you think? [spoiler]The ending for Cowboy Bebop has been much discussed, since Spike is never confirmed as dead. The creator of the show, Shinichiro Watanabe, also has said that he himself is unsure of Spike's fate.[/spoiler]

Does that change your mind any?

[MightiMidget]

Maybe it's not as depressing as you think? [spoiler]The ending for Cowboy Bebop has been much discussed, since Spike is never confirmed as dead. The creator of the show, Shinichiro Watanabe, also has said that he himself is unsure of Spike's fate.[/spoiler]

Does that change your mind any?

Only sort of. Because:

[spoiler]On one hand, it offers hope that Spike did, indeed, survive. But on the other hand there being no continuation of the franchise doesn't give any reason to think/hope for anything different. :/ Though it is quite possible whether you assume him to be dead or alive is strictly glass full, half empty sort of deal.[/spoiler]

Though, in all fairness, I really, really, really enjoyed the Cowboy Bebop movie.

[Sheol777]

I am a fan of Bebop and Azumanga Daioh, and am a bit surprised at all this, however this is not the point of this thread...this is:

FLCL - I never got into it. The music the super deformed scenes, heck even the "plot" was shaky.

Revolutionary Girl Utena - I watched this for 10 episodes...and saw no real story hook to like. Felt really floundering to me. If it gets better later I will never know because if a series doesn't establish itself in at least that many episodes it is a waste to me.

Last Exile - BOOORIIING

Excel Saga - LolRandom! Yeah, I am not into this humor and this is the epitome of random, super deformed anime for me. Anything that uses this formula is useless.

[Wallachia]

Durarara!

I'm sorry to inform you that you were horribly misinformed. Durarara! is a series that has a bit of a slow start and is not a comedy. It may have some humor, but its genres are strictly action, supernatural, and some shounen.
If you've ever watched Baccano!, its story is by the same author and the anime has many of the same animation quirks of Baccano!'s. (The OP video even uses the same style.)

Going in with expectations of hilarity, I can see why you didn't like it.[SIZE="1"] Though I personally don't agree with dropping a series at episode 1 but that's up the viewer to impose upon themselves.[/SIZE]

[Nate]

I was going to comment on how I couldn't understand how anyone could consider Bleach or Naruto to be better than One Piece, but then I realized you were a spambot.

[agasfas]

For me it would be FLCL and One Piece.

[daturaonfire]

[quote="TWWK (post: 1458337)"]The thing about Cowboy Bebop is how incredibly sad it all is. I don’t just mean the histrionics, and don’t let the mirth fool you]

You said it much better than I could have. CB has always kind of haunted me; I think it's about people trying to escape the mistakes they made and the pain others put them through...and in the end none of them make it. After I first watched it, I had this idea for an alternate universe fanfic where Spike did run away with Julia after all. But I realized, if I were being true to the series, it would end exactly the same way.

So...on that happy note. I'll take a stab at Basilisk, I think. Beautiful, gorgeous art, goregous character designs. Way too much fanservice (I know, it's a comment on content and not actual crit, but it bugged me a lot >_x), not very likeable characters. To be fair, I don't watch much of the ninja subgenre, so maybe I just don't get it. =\

[TWWK]

You said it much better than I could have.

Just a note - I didn't say that. I wish I did, though. It was written by ghostlighning, a really amazing aniblogger.

[the_wolfs_howl]

I'm sorry to inform you that you were horribly misinformed. Durarara! is a series that has a bit of a slow start and is not a comedy. It may have some humor, but its genres are strictly action, supernatural, and some shounen.
If you've ever watched Baccano!, its story is by the same author and the anime has many of the same animation quirks of Baccano!'s. (The OP video even uses the same style.)

Going in with expectations of hilarity, I can see why you didn't like it.[SIZE="1"] Though I personally don't agree with dropping a series at episode 1 but that's up the viewer to impose upon themselves.[/SIZE]

Well, I figured it was either supposed to be silly/hilarious or serious/dramatically cool, and I was just sitting there with a blank face, going, "....Huh." I dunno, maybe I just wasn't in the mood or something.

[crazypackersfan]

While there are a lot of great things about Cowboy Bebop, I'd have to say that I lost interest early on in about half the episodes. Maybe it was the whole "nothing ever happens" thing, as they never received the rewards they were going after. I'd often get lost as to what was going on.

My real beef is with Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. It has proven to be inferior to the original in every way except one - May Chang. May has kept me watching because she's an adorable bundle of power. But the way the series just rushed through a lot of the story made me not connect to the characters the way I did in the original. I don't feel any sympathy for Ed and Al like I did the first time around. Many characters' roles were reduced to next to nothing. Some characters have been killed off after barely appearing, or after relatively weak battles compared to the original. (Note: I've been watching the dub faithfully and am thus only halfway through. If it drastically improves in the second half, and if May gets a lot of face time, then I'll eat my words.)

[Fish and Chips]

Many characters' roles were reduced to next to nothing.

Please name one character other than Lust or Basque Grand whose role is significantly reduced. Also, do keep in mind that while you may say Shou Tucker, I may, in turn, be forced to hurt you.

Though the pacing in the first 13 or so episodes really is abysmal.

[Nate]

If FMA: Brotherhood is the second series that was made to follow the manga more faithfully, thus actually making Brotherhood the original FMA and the first series the deviant, how can a series be inferior to itself (since Brotherhood IS the original)?

[TheSubtleDoctor]

Watch the entirety of Brotherhood and the fulfillment of each character's role, then get back to us.

[Rocketshipper]

If FMA: Brotherhood is the second series that was made to follow the manga more faithfully, thus actually making Brotherhood the original FMA and the first series the deviant, how can a series be inferior to itself (since Brotherhood IS the original)?

Because...they preffer how the other anime series did things? its possible

I would agree with their assessment in regards to one particular character: Hughes. I thought he was a WAAAAAY more fleshed out character in the first anime series, and it was easier to buy the connection between him and Ed/Al. In Brotherhood, it seems like he's barely around until the big event invoving him. But the manga has the same problem, so Brotherhood is still being faithfull ^^.