Do You Have Any Unpopular Gaming Opinions?

[Erik_Twice]

It's as true as saying Hollywood only makes blockbusters.

[Menegrothx]

That's a pretty gross over-generalization I think, and I don't even really watch anime much.

All the hardcore anime fans I've talked to seem to think so. And they consume hundreds and hundreds of series a year. The usual response really is that if you have a hard time finding anything worth watching, it's because you don't belong to the target audience. Anime is similar to games in that sense. You have your popular genres, moe and shonen (FPS and third person action adventure games), that are mass-produced with a specific target group in mind when it comes to writing, character tropes etc. Then there are more unique and artistically ambitious works that are far more rare than those archetype products.

[AppleQueso]

That's a pretty gross over-generalization I think, and I don't even really watch anime much.

All the hardcore anime fans I've talked to seem to think so. And they consume hundreds and hundreds of series a year. The usual response really is that if you have a hard time finding anything worth watching, it's because you don't belong to the target audience. Anime is similar to games in that sense. You have your popular genres, moe and shonen (FPS and third person action adventure games), that are mass-produced with a specific target group in mind when it comes to writing, character tropes etc. Then there are more unique and artistically ambitious works that are far more rare than those archetype products.

Well yeah, there's a lot of crap, but doesn't that apply to virtually every genre and medium? There's always a ton of crummy mass-produced stuff for certain audiences. That doesn't invalidate the medium as a whole or make the quality stuff not worth looking for. Unless saying that wasn't your intention of course.

I mean you named 7 shows/movies (well 1 of those 7 was actually many movies), all of which are extremely popular and well loved in anime fandom. You know there's a lot more out there than just those.

[Menegrothx]

Well yeah, there's a lot of crap, but doesn't that apply to virtually every genre and medium? There's always a ton of crummy mass-produced stuff for certain audiences. That doesn't invalidate the medium as a whole or make the quality stuff not worth looking for. Unless saying that wasn't your intention of course.

I'm not trying to invalidate the medium as a whole, just saying that many casual viewers (who are often attracted to flashy visuals) don't really realize how artistically bankrupt and unimaginative (and fucked up, when it comes to the otaku pandering moe stuff) the genre can be, but because it's from mysterious Japan and exotic, they can't fathom that there would be anything wrong in the genre.

I don't really have a problem with mass-produced anime, it's much more entertaining than anything that Western mainstream television has to offer (yay, reality TV), just saying that many people who get offended by that kind of statements ought to to know that fundamentally a large bulk of anime isn't any different from the Call of Duty games the same people hate so much. But because it's got cool characters and cute stuff and pretty colors and flashy fight scenes, people are distracted by the exterior image.

I mean you named 7 shows/movies (well 1 of those 7 was actually many movies), all of which are extremely popular and well loved in anime fandom. You know there's a lot more out there than just those.

Never said that the rare mid budget title that's unlike anything else couldn't be a huge success, nor that all of the substandard me too-products would outsell them.

[AppleQueso]

Well okay then, I just misread your statement a bit.

[brunoafh]

Oddly enough, I love tokusatsu (as evidenced by my Kamen Rider Black avatar), and listen mostly to Japanese music. That said though, I can tolerate anime aesthetic, I just don't particularly care for it.

I agree with what AppleQueso said. If you like toku, you should really look into the old school 70s monster of the week shows too. It is basically the same thing. Pretty much a "if you like one you'll like the other" situation for most people.

As for the other discussion, that's just the way it is now. It seems the industry can't really afford to do anything these days other than stuff that is guaranteed to yield profit. So whether or love it or hate it, moeblob and shounen spam is what you get. Even the once great studios like Ghibli and Sunrise are pretty much shit now.

I don't think it really matters though, as there is a goldmine of great anime to watch from the golden eras. I'd say I already have enough stuff in mind that I would like to see to last me for years without having to even look in the direction of anything made in the past 10 years.

[3DSStrider]

I agree with what AppleQueso said. If you like toku, you should really look into the old school 70s monster of the week shows too. It is basically the same thing. Pretty much a "if you like one you'll like the other" situation for most people.

I might do that sometime. I haven't watched anything before 1987 except for Godzilla movies, so I'm somewhat unfamiliar with that era since I can't find subs. I'm kind of curious about Tatsunoko because of TvC.
As for unpopular opinions, I sold my Genisis because nothing outside of Sonic's Collection interests me.

[Menegrothx]

As for unpopular opinions, I sold my Genisis because nothing outside of Sonic's Collection interests me.

When I was first introduced to the Mega Drive via a compilation on the PSP, I thought the system didn't have any good games besides Sonic and thought to myself "how on earth did this thing compete against Super Nintendo?" after playing games like Bonanza Bros and Flicky. Now I know there's lots of great stuff on it. I'm sure you can find great games on the system that interests you, if you do more research. Rocket Knight Adventures, Gunstar Heroes and Shadowrun are just few examples of great Mega Drive/Genesis exclusives.

[Masakisu]

The thing about anime is that many people are put off by the otaku-pandering moeshit and filler-loaded battle shounen, which, whilst fun to people who enjoy it, is hardly something you want to be the face of a reputable medium. Not many people outside the fandom itself will have heard of stuff like Lain, NHK, Kino, Mushishi, Monster, LOGH, etcetera. A lot of modern anime is shit, because that's where the money is, the "obsessive fan market", and because what's airing at the moment tends to be the most popular thing, and that's what most people see, it gives a bad image of anime as whole... unfortunate really, but oh well. Complaining about modern anime too much is equally pretty bad, because there is actually some good stuff still being produced (mostly in cinema) and harking back to some kind of imagined 'golden age' is just going to turn you into a cynical bastard who can't enjoy something because it's modern and different to the kind of classics you're familiar with.

[Gunstar Green]

Sturgeon's Law states 90% of anything is crap, but I'd go as far as to say at least 99% of anything is crap.

Of course, a person's own personal taste makes a difference in what they consider to be crap or not.

As for anime I mostly like stuff from the 70's through the 90's, though I'm especially invested in mecha.

The style of the majority of anime, at least TV anime, has changed quite a bit and most shows no longer interest me. I do feel part of the problem being that otaku fanservice got really out of hand and that's the kind of thing that sort of became the face of anime. It's not all terrible though, you've just got to know where to look.