Unpopular opinions about animu
So I've been watching some anime on Crunchyroll/official streams lately, and I thought I'd jot some thoughts down...
Gatchaman Crowds: I binge-watched this all in a weekend (it's only 12 eps, so not hard to do). I will fully admit that I was highly critical of this series even before I watched it because it didn't look at all like a Gatchaman series. (Not to say I'm like, a hardcore Gatchaman fan or anything. But I did watch a little bit of it back in the day and for what it was, it was ok.) I had attempted to watch the first ep when it was newer, but I just couldn't get over how...NOT-Gatchaman it looked, so I don't think I even finished it. But so many people seemed to ADORE the series that I was like, "Ok...maybe if I watch it and pretend it's NOT tied to Gatchaman, maybe it'll be different?"
Well...even when I ignored that, I still wasn't very impressed.
Everyone keeps pointing out that the main "theme" of the story is that "anyone can be a hero". Which is great, but when I watched it, I didn't really...feel like that was even the main focus? There were so many plot elements thrown up in the air throughout the series that never got closure--even some things that got thrown out there, then barely mentioned ever again as the show continued. Most of the characters got no development at all and were little more than things to help the story advance. Any character that actually seemed interesting to me got little to no spotlight.
And the main character...I will be the first to admit that I love genki characters that most people find absolutely annoying (Usagi/Sailor Moon or Miaka Yuuki, anyone?), but Hajime. I couldn't for the life of me really care that much about her. She was so damn genki that she almost seemed like a parody. She rarely showed emotions that were anything other than unwavering optimism, even when people around her were dying. Which just seemed...really off.
So imagine my surprise when I read reviewers calling it one of the best shows of the year, how amazing it is, etc. Not only because of the "anyone can be a hero" message (which, again, I didn't even really notice until near the end of the series), but because of the whole "Crowdsourcing" and how the internet effects us, how we use it, ect. Which, to be fair, that was actually a plot point that interested me a bit...but it still kinda fell flat. For a series that's supposed to be part of a super hero team, there wasn't much focus on the team itself...so it just seemed kind of like a rushed, mixed-up jumble of ideas that were never fully fleshed-out. I WANTED to like it, because there were elements about it I genuinely liked or found interesting, but the execution was just really lacking for me. A shame, I think if this got made as something else, not tied to Gatchaman, it could've been a lot better. But I just...really don't get all the hype over it. I guess I'm an old fuddy-duddy who doesn't get all this hip stuff, man. :P I kept watching thinking that they had to be some kind of big payoff at the end, for everyone to like it this much, but honestly there was nothing. I'd recommend watching Eden of the East instead if you're looking for some really great story involving how people use the internet. At least the tv series got 2 movies that actually explained the rest of the story. Who knows if Crowds will ever get anything like that, considering people actually seem PLEASED with how it ended as-is. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Beyond the Boundary: From the brief preview stuff I saw, I thought this series was gonna be a lot more action-y. But, SILLY ME, I forgot that this was a KYOANI title...which means a lot of fluff, no matter what. There's only 2 eps out so far...the first one was interesting enough, but still a bit on the "meh" side for me. The second ep, however, seemed a lot better, so...I think I'll give it a shot. The animation is great, as most Kyoani stuff seems to be. I'd like to see more fantasy/action stuff and less fanservicy moms & overly-cute female side-characters, but...like I said, it's Kyoani, so that's probably not gonna happen. At least it has potential. I guess I just was hoping the main character would've been a little less typical moe love interest type and more cool warrior school girl, but hey--maybe she'll grow into that role? I guess we'll see.
Meganebu: I will confess that I really enjoyed watching Free!. Yes, it was fanservicey fluff for the most part, but it was well-done fanservicey fluff! It was just enough "ooh, look, here's some cute boys doing stuff" without being creepy, and the story was actually pretty good, as far as a story about a swim team can be, I guess. XD So I was actually looking forward to Meganebu, thinking it could easily be the same thing, or at least similar. (Plus, a club of adorable glasses-wearing boys? That was kinda different!) Unfortunately, the first episode fell pretty flat for me. The story was a bit TOO goofy, a bit TOO fan-pandering, and mostly predictable. The animation direction and color usage were appealing to me, and the character designs were sharp, but everything else seemed fairly mediocre. I'll at least give it another ep or two to see if it might pick up or something, but I'm not holding my breath. I know this is supposed to be one of those mindless fun sorts of shows, but it might not be exactly my sort of mindless fun show, so...again, we'll see.
Kill la Kill: This was the series I was most looking forward to, and...I will confess, I have very mixed feelings about it. The animation, character designs, and plot are very dynamic, and have a lot of flare & style. The music is good, and the voice acting seems consistent so far. HOWEVER....there are some fairly questionable scenes that can be downright jarring due to the fact that they're kind of alluding to rape (or at the very least, VERY non-consensual contact). I get that Trigger, Imaishi and Nakashima are going for an extreme sort of shonen theme with their work--it's very Go Nagai's Kekko Kamen (or even original Cutey Honey), but even I was shocked over the scenes in the first episode (and we got a sort of similar one in the second ep as well). I also get that they're seemingly trying to mash-up typical shoujo tropes in here, with a sort of "transformation" sequence with the main character's symbiotic sailor fuku, among other things. BUT, if you're unaware of the things Trigger and the staff were inspired by, and have no knowledge of these types of things (like many younger or casual anime fans), this series will probably come off as HIGHLY offensive--and with good reason! Even though I'm aware of these things, I STILL find some scenes pretty uncomfortable to watch.
Speaking of her little "transformation", I was surprised to see that ridiculously revealing costume her fuku turns into. There was no art showing that version of her outfit in any of the promos (none that I saw, anyway--I guess they legitimately wanted to surprise us?), so I assumed all the fighting scenes would be done in just her normal, wearing the school uniform look. (Which I thought looked pretty cool on it's own.) I was talking to hamburgerclub that to me, the "fighting" version of her outfit almost reminded me of the "fake" anime art you see in American comics/TV shows to poke fun at anime. (Right down to the tiny skirt and the barely-covered boobs.)
While the show is DEFINITELY problematic, there are quite a few elements to it that I actually like--mostly the Utena-esque ones in there (the all-powerful Student Council, the city-sized School with the crazy over-the-top designs, duels to gain status, a cute & clingy best gal-pal, etc). And the ridiculous stripping male homeroom teacher in the second episode admitedly made me laugh. Someone on Tumblr wrote up a pretty good post about the first episode, and what some of the reasons behind some of the story/plot choices might be. And while I don't think that COMPLETELY excuses the problematic things in the show, it does help shed a little light on it, I guess? Kill la Kill is walking a very fine line right now between over the top and going too far for me, and I really hope that these things are as far as it goes...because it if does eventually cross that line, I don't know if I'd be able to enjoy it the parts I actually like anymore. So for now, I'm watching it with a critical eye, hoping that it's not something that I'll eventually have to appologize for liking.
I've also been watching a not terribly new series called "Ecentric Family" (it's about tanuki! XD) that I've been enjoying, though I can only watch a little at a time because the story involves a father that passed away...so that can kinda bring me down when they talk about it a lot. It's still a good series so far, I think I only have 3 or 4 eps left.
Gatchaman Crowds: I binge-watched this all in a weekend (it's only 12 eps, so not hard to do). I will fully admit that I was highly critical of this series even before I watched it because it didn't look at all like a Gatchaman series. (Not to say I'm like, a hardcore Gatchaman fan or anything. But I did watch a little bit of it back in the day and for what it was, it was ok.) I had attempted to watch the first ep when it was newer, but I just couldn't get over how...NOT-Gatchaman it looked, so I don't think I even finished it. But so many people seemed to ADORE the series that I was like, "Ok...maybe if I watch it and pretend it's NOT tied to Gatchaman, maybe it'll be different?"
Well...even when I ignored that, I still wasn't very impressed.
Everyone keeps pointing out that the main "theme" of the story is that "anyone can be a hero". Which is great, but when I watched it, I didn't really...feel like that was even the main focus? There were so many plot elements thrown up in the air throughout the series that never got closure--even some things that got thrown out there, then barely mentioned ever again as the show continued. Most of the characters got no development at all and were little more than things to help the story advance. Any character that actually seemed interesting to me got little to no spotlight.
And the main character...I will be the first to admit that I love genki characters that most people find absolutely annoying (Usagi/Sailor Moon or Miaka Yuuki, anyone?), but Hajime. I couldn't for the life of me really care that much about her. She was so damn genki that she almost seemed like a parody. She rarely showed emotions that were anything other than unwavering optimism, even when people around her were dying. Which just seemed...really off.
So imagine my surprise when I read reviewers calling it one of the best shows of the year, how amazing it is, etc. Not only because of the "anyone can be a hero" message (which, again, I didn't even really notice until near the end of the series), but because of the whole "Crowdsourcing" and how the internet effects us, how we use it, ect. Which, to be fair, that was actually a plot point that interested me a bit...but it still kinda fell flat. For a series that's supposed to be part of a super hero team, there wasn't much focus on the team itself...so it just seemed kind of like a rushed, mixed-up jumble of ideas that were never fully fleshed-out. I WANTED to like it, because there were elements about it I genuinely liked or found interesting, but the execution was just really lacking for me. A shame, I think if this got made as something else, not tied to Gatchaman, it could've been a lot better. But I just...really don't get all the hype over it. I guess I'm an old fuddy-duddy who doesn't get all this hip stuff, man. :P I kept watching thinking that they had to be some kind of big payoff at the end, for everyone to like it this much, but honestly there was nothing. I'd recommend watching Eden of the East instead if you're looking for some really great story involving how people use the internet. At least the tv series got 2 movies that actually explained the rest of the story. Who knows if Crowds will ever get anything like that, considering people actually seem PLEASED with how it ended as-is. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Beyond the Boundary: From the brief preview stuff I saw, I thought this series was gonna be a lot more action-y. But, SILLY ME, I forgot that this was a KYOANI title...which means a lot of fluff, no matter what. There's only 2 eps out so far...the first one was interesting enough, but still a bit on the "meh" side for me. The second ep, however, seemed a lot better, so...I think I'll give it a shot. The animation is great, as most Kyoani stuff seems to be. I'd like to see more fantasy/action stuff and less fanservicy moms & overly-cute female side-characters, but...like I said, it's Kyoani, so that's probably not gonna happen. At least it has potential. I guess I just was hoping the main character would've been a little less typical moe love interest type and more cool warrior school girl, but hey--maybe she'll grow into that role? I guess we'll see.
Meganebu: I will confess that I really enjoyed watching Free!. Yes, it was fanservicey fluff for the most part, but it was well-done fanservicey fluff! It was just enough "ooh, look, here's some cute boys doing stuff" without being creepy, and the story was actually pretty good, as far as a story about a swim team can be, I guess. XD So I was actually looking forward to Meganebu, thinking it could easily be the same thing, or at least similar. (Plus, a club of adorable glasses-wearing boys? That was kinda different!) Unfortunately, the first episode fell pretty flat for me. The story was a bit TOO goofy, a bit TOO fan-pandering, and mostly predictable. The animation direction and color usage were appealing to me, and the character designs were sharp, but everything else seemed fairly mediocre. I'll at least give it another ep or two to see if it might pick up or something, but I'm not holding my breath. I know this is supposed to be one of those mindless fun sorts of shows, but it might not be exactly my sort of mindless fun show, so...again, we'll see.
Kill la Kill: This was the series I was most looking forward to, and...I will confess, I have very mixed feelings about it. The animation, character designs, and plot are very dynamic, and have a lot of flare & style. The music is good, and the voice acting seems consistent so far. HOWEVER....there are some fairly questionable scenes that can be downright jarring due to the fact that they're kind of alluding to rape (or at the very least, VERY non-consensual contact). I get that Trigger, Imaishi and Nakashima are going for an extreme sort of shonen theme with their work--it's very Go Nagai's Kekko Kamen (or even original Cutey Honey), but even I was shocked over the scenes in the first episode (and we got a sort of similar one in the second ep as well). I also get that they're seemingly trying to mash-up typical shoujo tropes in here, with a sort of "transformation" sequence with the main character's symbiotic sailor fuku, among other things. BUT, if you're unaware of the things Trigger and the staff were inspired by, and have no knowledge of these types of things (like many younger or casual anime fans), this series will probably come off as HIGHLY offensive--and with good reason! Even though I'm aware of these things, I STILL find some scenes pretty uncomfortable to watch.
Speaking of her little "transformation", I was surprised to see that ridiculously revealing costume her fuku turns into. There was no art showing that version of her outfit in any of the promos (none that I saw, anyway--I guess they legitimately wanted to surprise us?), so I assumed all the fighting scenes would be done in just her normal, wearing the school uniform look. (Which I thought looked pretty cool on it's own.) I was talking to hamburgerclub that to me, the "fighting" version of her outfit almost reminded me of the "fake" anime art you see in American comics/TV shows to poke fun at anime. (Right down to the tiny skirt and the barely-covered boobs.)
While the show is DEFINITELY problematic, there are quite a few elements to it that I actually like--mostly the Utena-esque ones in there (the all-powerful Student Council, the city-sized School with the crazy over-the-top designs, duels to gain status, a cute & clingy best gal-pal, etc). And the ridiculous stripping male homeroom teacher in the second episode admitedly made me laugh. Someone on Tumblr wrote up a pretty good post about the first episode, and what some of the reasons behind some of the story/plot choices might be. And while I don't think that COMPLETELY excuses the problematic things in the show, it does help shed a little light on it, I guess? Kill la Kill is walking a very fine line right now between over the top and going too far for me, and I really hope that these things are as far as it goes...because it if does eventually cross that line, I don't know if I'd be able to enjoy it the parts I actually like anymore. So for now, I'm watching it with a critical eye, hoping that it's not something that I'll eventually have to appologize for liking.
I've also been watching a not terribly new series called "Ecentric Family" (it's about tanuki! XD) that I've been enjoying, though I can only watch a little at a time because the story involves a father that passed away...so that can kinda bring me down when they talk about it a lot. It's still a good series so far, I think I only have 3 or 4 eps left.