Anime general

I actually almost dropped JoJo during part 1, twice. I couldn't get into hamon at all. Then Joseph saved me. I also almost dropped part 3 in the beginning. And also the part 5 manga. Not part 7 though, if you're looking for a pattern. I'm just a temperamental guy.

Dropping a show is rarely an active decision I make. I usually put a show on hold for a bit, and if I never rebuild enough interest to load up the next episode, it ends up on the wayside. That's how I dropped Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu, even though I thought it was a very good show. One day, I fell behind, and I never felt an overwhelming desire to catch up.

In recent news, I binge-watched Welcome to the NHK and Mawaru Penguindrum, back-to-back. Now I want a light show to watch, because those shows were very heavy, in more ways than one. Like, I wish I had Shirobako to watch now, because that didn't make my head hurt or make my feelings hurt. Any recommendations? Check my MAL if you want.

 

Your opinion is WRONG. Just kidding, I don't have a strong opinion of my own yet.

But I can say that, while the show is not for everyone, it is not bad. If you can't relate to the MC in any way (not necessarily as a hikikomori), then that's good for you. Everyone in the story has severe flaws. Not character flaws, but human flaws. The show starts with a limited scope--just one room. Here, we meet one obviously flawed character, Sato. He has issues--we know it, and he knows it. Yet when we expand our scope to the outside world, we notice some patterns. Everyone's got these problems, to some extent. Several characters realize this, and wrestle with the question--why is life so overwhelmingly bad? Who can we blame for this? Why do we struggle? The answer . . . is [SPOILERS]. (I'm not gonna write a full analysis in response to one and a half sentences.)

To some extent, appreciation of NHK relies on appreciation of irony. The story doesn't make you feel good, but it draws you in with images that may be familiar, but then it pushes it in a new direction. I certainly enjoyed the off-meeting arc, because the whole scenario was dripping with (dramatic) irony.

 

It's not a story of triumphant success. Yamazaki says it best: "A drama has a progressive thought, an emotional climax and a resolution,but our lives aren't like that. All we get day after day, are a bunch of vague anxieties that are never really resolved." In the end of the story, there is a resolution of sorts, but it's not one where their problems are solved. It's just one step forward. Presumably the first of many. I most certainly wouldn't ask someone to rewatch a whole show if they didn't enjoy it in the first place.

Side question (for all): How often do you re-watch shows? I've only re-watched a few series, my favorites of all time. It allows you to appreciate some of the details you missed the first time through. I'm planning to re-watch Madoka Magica eventually. I wasn't able to get the most out of my first viewing because I had almost every plot twist spoiled to me (through reddit), so I was more concerned with thoughts like "Is THAT scene coming up now? Or is it later?" than I was with enjoying it.

Eyeshield 21 is pretty legit. I only read the manga, but I've heard the adaptation is good.

I'm excited for all JoJo. I look forward mostly to moments that I really enjoy, rather than the story as a whole. And I only stopped part 5 because there were no good quality scans. In fact, Vento Aureo has some of my favorite fights, and the protagonist is one of my favorites.

 

Have you tried to understand? Inb4 I write an essay in response to a troll comment, but I like writing either way.

It's sort of like someone saying "I don't understand books; they're not interesting." It's not hard to imagine a person who might say that, but anyone who's ever enjoyed a read will know how silly that assertion is. Books are a medium for story-telling. They have countless genres, and they come in all sorts of lengths, styles, etc.

In the same way, anime is a medium. The same things apply. Sure, the most popular genres/tropes you find in modern anime are different from the popular ones in books or western movies. But making sweeping assumptions about all anime based on a handful of shows is like someone denouncing all books because they've only read Harry Potter X Twilight fanfiction on Tumblr.

One possible point in favor of "not understanding" anime is the language/culture barrier. There some concepts in the Japanese language/culture that do not translate well to westerners. Still, there exist anime shorts that don't rely on words to convey ideas. And there are anime that are Japanese in origin, but take heavy influence from other cultures.

Or maybe you're someone who can't take animation (in general) seriously. Maybe there's just something that holds you back from enjoying it. I'm not saying this is bad. For example, I can't take interpretive dance seriously, even though many people do. In cases like these, sometimes it just takes one or two positive experiences to expand your mind. I didn't like books, because I associated them with boring schoolwork. Yet one book changed that entirely. It was so different from everything I'd read before. There were exciting plotlines that drew me in. The characters were suddenly so life-like and interesting. I was invested. I was hooked.

If you're interested in finding such an experience, then there are resources for getting a good anime recommendation. If not, that's fine too. There's a million other things to do with your life (and one or two of them might be better than JoJo /s).

 

Yeah, I love AMVs. It's an easy way to bring back the best memories from each show, in a short time. Plus, I get to listen to nice songs. Here are some of my favorite AMVs: (major spoilers)

• Magic Eye (Steins;Gate)
• You Can't Deny Us (TTGL)
• Welcome to the Black Parade (TTGL)
  • I have more Gurren Lagann ones, but I want to include more diversity in shows.
• Into the Labyrinth (Monogatari series)
  • I saw this one before watching the series--I just liked the editing a lot. Watch in 60fps.
• Beauty and a Glitch (Fate/Stay Night: UBW)
  • This uses the same song as that famous sangfroid KAG montage.
• Final Spark (Fate/Zero)

I also watch animated music videos for non-anime shows, like Steven Universe (SU), Over the Garden Wall (OTGW), and Avatar: The Legend of Korra (nevermind the videos got copyright-striked). Interestingly, I have no JoJo AMVs that I really enjoy.

 

Yeah, the only things I've re-watched from shows are the OP's/ED's. Might watch the last episode of a series again if a sequel is coming out.

Been just catching up on my backlog. Currently watching Log Horizon, but stopped because of the annoying kids. Only thing I would probably watch from this season is Drifters.

@TheBloodOfNight could you spoiler each of your videos. It makes the page slow to load. Out of the listed I think Air Gear - Breathing is the best.