Deadman Wonderland did to... (SOILER ALERT : School kids to END SPOILER:)

Over here most smaller stores seem to realize that anime is not the same thing as childrens shows. But the larger ones still do silly things. Last time I went to the large Åhlens store in central Stockholm I spotted Hellsing right next to some Disney movies, even though it had huge red 18+ logos plastered all over it. One would have thought that the person unpacking it would at least have realized that those DVDs don't belong right next to the Disney DVDs...

I must admit that I'm more in the "anime/manga is for weirdos" camp. This is not meant to be insulting to people who do enjoy it, it's more to illustrate how far from my own personal taste it is. I do enjoy lots of comics and animated movies, just not Japanese ones. I also generally can't stand Japanese games.

It's a culture thing. I don't hate the Japanese or anything, I'm sure they are very nice people, but I don't understand their culture, and I cannot personally connect with it.

Here are a few of my observations. I'm sure a ton of people will jump on this, telling me how wrong I am, but these are my opinions, based on my experiences with Japanese media:

1. Dialog
The dialog in Japanese comics/cartoons/movies mostly comes off as stilted, odd and unbelievable. People's reactions to events tend to be too far from what I can imagine to be credible. The dialog also tends to be filled with non sequiturs, meaning people in the middle of a conversation suddenly saying something completely unrelated for no reason the reader can comprehend. This is likely at least partly a result of translation. As I understand it, Japanese as a language is structured completely different from any western language, and I imagine that the cultural difference means that things that it would be perfectly normal for one Japanese person to say to another, might well sound completely unnatural to western ears.

2. Variety in art style
None.

This is of course an exaggeration, but it's not that far off the mark. Usually with western comics and cartoons, it's impossible to tell where it's from just by looking at the art style. With Japanese comics and cartoons, it usually takes about half a second to conclude that it's made in Japan. It seems like Japan only has three or four illustrators that all copy off each other.

3. Animation
From what I've seen of Japanese animation (which, believe it or not, is quite a bit), it seems to me that the animators are generally somewhat lazy compared to their western counterparts. Movement seems jerky, backgrounds are static, the same cells are re-used over and over again.

4. Plot
A specific example. I tried watching Ringgu, the quintessential Japanese "scary movie", that everyone seemed to go on about. It was okay for a while, but as the plot developed, it seemed to get more and more ridiculous, until it passed a point where the movie stopped being scary altogether, and just seemed silly instead. Again, this is undoubtedly due to cultural differences. I don't think a native Japanese would find the plot as ridiculous as I did.

These are personal observations and opinions of mine. I'm not saying they are objective truth, nor am I saying that Japanese culture/media is worthless, it's just not for me.

I'm not trying to start a flame war, but I would like to hear other people's viewpoints, preferably stated in a calm and respectful manner ;-)

Anime and manga are most often designed for teenagers. The main characters are mostly teenagers, and plots are not very complicated.

This is why I stopped watching anime - most of new releases are just DUMB

there are only few exceptions, with my favourite Serial Experiments LAIN on the first place.

I mostly agree with Wishbone. He stated most of the reasons I stopped watching anime. I don't agree with Ringu, though. It's one of the best horror movies I've ever seen in my life.

I read the book in Grade 5 and found it incredibly brutal (though very well written). I remember my reaction being "Oh, it's just a story about some talking bunnies; it's going to be childish and boring and -- oh, shit..." Is the film worth watching?

Same here. I wanted to give it a chance, but alas.

I laugh hard when I see people say "99.9% of anime sucks, except for this one decent show I watched one time, that was AMAZING."

You know what? A good majority of anime does suck. You know what else sucks? A good majority of anything else in any other entertainment medium. I frequent a site called myanimelist.net, and use it as a database to find out what looks good to me. And usually what I watch I never regret watching. I watch quite a lot of anime by the way.
http://myanimelist.net/animelist/ovoon7
that is my list.

So for the guy that said Ninja Scroll, Ghost in The Shell and Akira are the only good anime with few exception... you're full of crap. The difference is that I've watched hundreds upon hundreds hours more anime than you. Also, what made it to the US I've found to be lacking.

Watch Steins;Gate, GTO, Ano Hana (that name is shortened), Clannad After Story (75% of that show is meh, but the final act is incredible), Kids on The slope (seriously, after 2 episodes I'm hooked), Baccano!, Durarara!, Aria, Monster, Bakemonogatari, Black Lagoon, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, anything by Studio Ghibli, Summer Wars, Time of Eve, Eden of The East, Kara no Kyoukai (The Garden of Sinners), Madoka Magica, Mirai Nikki, Planetes, Welcome to the NHK, Perfect Blue,Rurouni Kenshin: Tsuiokuhen, Samurai Champloo, Spice and Wolf, Toradora,Gurren Lagann (first half is bad, second half is amazing.) and Usagi Drop.

I just went through my list and picked what I thought to be the BEST anime that I have seen, not the decent or pretty good ones. I'll be damned if at least ONE of those series' does not appeal to you. Anime gets pumped out every season like it's nothing. There is so much anime that exists, it's near impossible to know about a majority of it. I bet the average American that thinks they know anime really only knows about 4%.

I've seen around 150 animes in my life. Maybe more. Thanks foe asking.

most of the animes you've listed are mainstream animes exported to US, so please don't tell me how "informed" you are.
And most of them are shit.

Maybe except for Monster, but it goes to shit in the end.

Depends how well you can stomach Nightmare Fuel, and bunnies ripping each other to shreds. The animation is absolutely beautiful, and the plot comes over just as well as in the book, with just a few minor alterations.

You might also want to check out The Plague Dogs, same author same Studio. Although I have to say that the film is a lot better than the novel this time.

EDIT: I'm disappointed that nobody mentioned FLCL in an anime thread yet. What is wrong with you people?

We know that already :)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YQQToRs1mJE/TESh5KNBlPI/AAAAAAAABgE/LAvSn-db5bI/s1600/Summer+Reading+Clip+Art+2010+070.jpg

oh, and most of them, I couldn't stand to the end. If something was really horrible, i stopped after 4 episodes.

There is 4 episode law :P If something still sucks after 4 episodes, it will suck forever. :P

The guy who said 99.9% of anime is trashy romantic comedy didn't seem to know that.
;D

Oh, and don't get me wrong...

Many of the animes ive seen were ok. But after some time i though "oh my god, how I could watch this shit? It's so dumb!" -> like it was with Bocurano or Higurashi no naku koro ni

And I came to simple conclusion. It's better to watch only great animes, and forget about the rest.

Like for example Neon Genesis Evangelion - after seeing this, there's no reason to watch any other mecha anime - none of them is nearly as good as Eva.

Oh, and the only good anime romances that weren't dumb as f...ck were:
Sola
Air
and... surprisingly... Fushigi Yuugi :-D Damn, I loved that anime. Even cried once or twice.

Can also be said about the new movies and series Hollywood keeps throwing at us.
The only difference for me is with animes I find good titles more often and even for average titles the concepts differ enough from everything I have seen in TV and cinema that it keeps me entertained.

And every so often I find a title that keeps me glued to my chair - so that I have to watch it in one go. Something that hasn't happened to me with TV-Series since ... ages.

If I think about the elaborate designed faunal universe of Mushishi, the tension of Death Note or audiovisual experience of Kara no Kyoukai - and then characters like Toua from One Outs and Usui from KWMS - that are the things that make anime something special for me.

On another note: I am a huge sucker for slice-of-life (yeah I know cute-girls-doing-cute-things and such) - but I can't see any live-action series giving me such warm and fuzzy feelings like for example Aria does.

Edit: And one other thing - where could I get good scifi/fantasy besides from anime.
Every live-action film/series couldn't produce the same experiences without investing millions in CGI.

So nuff said. ^^