story criticism of anime

[I am The Compendium]

flauterfli

I_Write_Ivre

flauterfli

So, what does anime/manga do right in regards to its writing? That really depends on the work; a not snarky blanket statement is difficult to come up with. I'd say by and large an anime series will get its own mythology right, not always, but let's look back at The X-Files, Teen Titans, Supernatural, Buffy the Vamp Slayer, and every soap opera ever. Those long running series (yes, even Buffy!) don't often plan ahead and are episodic, monster-of-the week types (almost choose-your-own-adventure of the television world) so you would definitely notice huge gaping plot holes and vanishing side characters (where does that bus go anyway?) during an eighteen-hour binge-a-thon. Even Sailor Moon, Inuyasha, Bleach, and Naruto, with copious amounts of filler, usually have a feasible story arch per season and a grasp on the point of it all. Good non-anime examples would be How I Met Your Mother, Harry Potter, Le Airbender Avatar , Elder Scrolls (to a ridiculous extent), and well Game of Thrones. Bad examples would be the 21st century Disney Channel (not including Zena of course!), Twilight (disposable, nearly invisible supporting cast aside), Divergent (did you make it as you went along woman?), and every Victor Hugo novel ever (long, long out of context political manifestos and ridiculous amounts of fawning over Gothic architecture.).

I've found that when an anime diverges into unplanned filler that makes no sense and often is contradictory or at least just breaks mythology, it is because the anime is catching up to the manga. he next book isn't written yet, so the cartoon has to stall for time before they can match it. It's similar to when a western show continues, despite a writers' strike.

This isn't all true, as Divergent was poorly written and plotted (it's like if someone wrote a book after reading the description of Magic the Gathering colors), Lost and several Star Trek two parters, and many animes that either condense the story (or just seem not to give a damn about continuity or logic) were intentionally written either to break their own canon and be 'artistic' or just without any planning beforehand.

I'm not sure if you're arguing or...? Because you are confirming what I said and I completely agree with you.

I guess I need to work on writing more clearly haha

Confirming.

[Maltese_Falcon91]

Denki Hitsuji

But you can apply a lot of the same critical techniques to viewing these things, there's nothing stopping you. Yeah there are cultural differences involved with shonen manga, and you can take into account how serialization effects the flow of the story but you can see the Hero's Journey or bildungsroman in it all the same.

Mhmm, there's also the art style and animation quality to take into account. Akira and Ghost in the Shell were widely praised for the quality of their animation for example.

Denki Hitsuji

The landscape of anime is changing here in the West. A majority of new series that come out get simulcast through Crunchyroll, Funimation, Hulu, etc. and a lot of more "adult" stuff is licensed and released on DVD but never broadcast like High School of the Dead, Oreimo, Freezing and Kill La Kill.

It's a lot rarer that merchandise centric kid's anime comes out I think because they usually bring over the toyline as well and outside of good old Pokemon, the recent Beyblade revival, only Bakugan is really prominent.

Also Gundam isn't really a children-centric property... Not with storylines that revolve around war, politics, transhumanism and occasionally genocide.

Changing, but not changed. Not yet. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Crunchyroll, Funimation and Hulu are all primarily streaming services, aren't they? Meaning that Oreimo (I've never even heard of that before) isn't quite as mainstream as Pokemon. I'm also willing to guess that the DVD sales probably aren't very strong, comparatively speaking. It's been awhile since I went to the electronics section at Walmart, but I don't recall seeing many anime products there.

Gundam is a very diverse property. Some are geared more towards older fans, others are not. The original, as released in the US, was geared heavily towards children.

[Denki Hitsuji]

Maltese_Falcon91

Changing, but not changed. Not yet. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Crunchyroll, Funimation and Hulu are all primarily streaming services, aren't they? Meaning that Oreimo (I've never even heard of that before) isn't quite as mainstream as Pokemon. I'm also willing to guess that the DVD sales probably aren't very strong, comparatively speaking. It's been awhile since I went to the electronics section at Walmart, but I don't recall seeing many anime products there.

Gundam is a very diverse property. Some are geared more towards older fans, others are not. The original, as released in the US, was geared heavily towards children.

Just because they're streaming sites doesn't mean they're not mainstream. Streaming has become a major source of anime in the present day offering access to way more shows than television broadcast.

Walmart, Best Buy, etc. aren't really good judges of what's popular either. Most anime fans should be at least in middle school and above, and from then on out they know how to stream and... obtain... anime from the internet, and the market in general kind of caters to a more internet savvy generation selling their stuff primarily online.

The first Gundam shown in the U.S. was Wing, and if it was trying to target anything it was teenage girls, with it's 5 bishonen leads. Targeting children has been the exception rather than the rule for Gundam. Even the original, while kind of a toy commercial for model sets, was very much a serious sci-fi war story.

I feel like we're kind of getting off topic though it's been a nice back and forth. We could continue in PMs any time.

[Maltese_Falcon91]

Denki Hitsuji

Walmart, Best Buy, etc. aren't really good judges of what's popular either. Most anime fans should be at least in middle school and above, and from then on out they know how to stream and... obtain... anime from the internet, and the market in general kind of caters to a more internet savvy generation selling their stuff primarily online.

Again, still not mainstream.

Denki Hitsuji

The first Gundam shown in the U.S. was Wing, and if it was trying to target anything it was teenage girls, with it's 5 bishonen leads. Targeting children has been the exception rather than the rule for Gundam. Even the original, while kind of a toy commercial for model sets, was very much a serious sci-fi war story.

Mobile Suit Gundam was the first Gundam series chronologically, and it wasn't too far behind. At any rate, I'd say Gundam Wing was targeted at children, too. It was very popular back when I was in... grade four, was it? I don't recall any girls expressing much interest in it, though.

Denki Hitsuji

I feel like we're kind of getting off topic though it's been a nice back and forth. We could continue in PMs any time.

You haven't given me any reason to ignore you. So if you quote me, I'd prefer to respond, if possible, but this isn't a debate I have any real interest in and I'm afraid I'll have to decline.

[I am The Compendium]

I'm going to make a crazy statement. I like the idea of moe (in a very non-sexual way). This doesn't mean I like all expressions of the idea, but in contrast the western ideals, obsessions, and desires of strength, I like the portrayal of different versions of showing a character who is weak, emotionally, mentally, physically, etc. Both aspects can show a lot about characters and weaknesses aren't well explored.

[Black Gabriel]

Maltese_Falcon91

Denki Hitsuji

The first Gundam shown in the U.S. was Wing, and if it was trying to target anything it was teenage girls, with it's 5 bishonen leads. Targeting children has been the exception rather than the rule for Gundam. Even the original, while kind of a toy commercial for model sets, was very much a serious sci-fi war story.

Mobile Suit Gundam was the first Gundam series chronologically, and it wasn't too far behind. At any rate, I'd say Gundam Wing was targeted at children, too. It was very popular back when I was in... grade four, was it? I don't recall any girls expressing much interest in it, though.

Gundam Wing was pretty heavily edited in the U.S. for a daytime run next to Sailor Moon, Dragonball Z, and the like on Cartoon Network's Toonami block.

It was also aired unedited late night as part of the Midnight Run block.

Gundam Wing certainly wasn't intended as a children's show originally, but at the time anime was being pushed pretty hard towards the middle school sector in general and it had a pretty strong "saturday morning" presence too, thanks to extraordinary levels of editing by certain companies, in part, and the selection of certain types of shows. (Video game tie-ins! Monster friends!)

[Maltese_Falcon91]

Black Gabriel

Gundam Wing was pretty heavily edited in the U.S. for a daytime run next to Sailor Moon, Dragonball Z, and the like on Cartoon Network's Toonami block.

It was also aired unedited late night as part of the Midnight Run block.

Gundam Wing certainly wasn't intended as a children's show originally, but at the time anime was being pushed pretty hard towards the middle school sector in general and it had a pretty strong "saturday morning" presence too, thanks to extraordinary levels of editing by certain companies, in part, and the selection of certain types of shows. (Video game tie-ins! Monster friends!)

Huh. I didn't know it was heavily edited, and I'm actually kind of surprised it wasn't for kids back in Japan.