Wishbone: Indeed. I have never understood the appeal of anime. It's weird, it's incoherent, it's ugly and it's boring. And it all looks exactly the same, as if Japan only has one animator who's been cloned numerous times in order to pump out a steady supply of the stuff. Unfortunately, he's also an incredibly lazy animator, because he apparently can't be bothered to draw more than 4 frames per second.
You may commence flaming, anime fanboys ;-)
soulgrindr: to be fair, a small percentage of it is good. but even that tends to get ruined by the adolescent attitude of the animators.
The problem is that it's all aimed at otaku, and hence mostly not suitable for normal people. (some of the stuff that's aimed at kids/families is much better, as it avoids most of the pitfalls highlighted in the above video. Well, actually only Maru-chan and Doraemon are ok... )
Gundato: But I doubt there are any Western cartoons or comics where the hero shoves his finger up someone's butt and laughs.
But japanese kids actually DO that... it's like a wedgie.
I think in some way anime can be compared to western computer games.... there are some people in the industry trying to break the mould, make something with value, etc... but too much of the industry is by-and-for teenage boys. So they're both full of big-boobed, scantily clad girls, etc...
It's just that anime is much much worse... and many of the pubescent teenage boys are actually 45 and still living with their parents.
Uhm, that is sort of like all media. Period. You always target the demographic that will make you the most money.
And I would love to see where you get the statistics that show the fans of the stuff you don't like are more socially inept than the fans of the stuff you do like.
Seriously, get off the high horse.
Is Anime creepy? I think so, but I am a very ethnocentric person.
I love PnP RPGs and Superhero Comics. I fully acknowledge that a lot of Superhero comics are REALLY creepy these days (PnP RPGs are just too easy a target).
But either way, I am sure the Japaneses would be wondering why every American comic is about large muscular men in spandex so tight that we can see if Peter Parker was circumcised. Or, better yet, they would wonder why large men who smack people around while wearing costume are allowed to randomly abduct orphan boys to induct into their costumed fetish games.
Hell, they would wonder why one of the most critically acclaimed comics ever is about a big naked blue guy, a woman who fell in love with her rapist, a sociopath, and a guy who can only get it up if he is in his costume.
Face it, we are all creepy. The best you can hope for is that the stuff that makes the things you love creepy can at least be explained by cultural differences.
