Anime Thread!

[PickelledEggs]

Finally finished Ghost Hunt. Thanks for the recommendation, Hijiri! (It got really weird and scary really quick :shock:   )

[Notthesun]

Caught up with Attack on Titan! It's pretty good.

[Hijiri Byakuren]

Caught up with Attack on Titan! It's pretty good.

I still don't understand the appeal of that show.

Here's what I wrote about it on a blog of mine back in August:

So I was recently talked into watching a newer anime called "Attack on Titan." It being a shounen anime, and me generally avoiding anything but seinen anime, I wasn't particularly interested. After some cajoling from a friend I regularly talk to on Skype, I decided I'd at least give it a fair shot. Hence began my viewing of the first 3 episodes of "Attack on Titan."

Why 3 episodes?
Half-hour cartoons like this don't have as much time to cram in a good "hook" like regular hour-long television. You can fit a good two or three anime episodes into typical live-action television. As well, I discovered long ago that very few anime will actually hook you on the first episode.

1st Episode
As you would expect from the above, episode 1 completely failed to impress me. It was extremely predictable, and I was pretty much my own riff-track the whole way through. ("No titan has broken through in a hundred years!" Boom, I say aloud. Not 2 seconds later...) After seeing this, I was fully expecting a time-skip to a boot camp episode.

2nd Episode
A point in this show's favor, it looks as though they'll actually finish resolving this incident surrounding the titans breaking through the wall. It goes and goes... then they time-skip ahead what looks to be a few days. Okay, no big deal. Then the episode ends with another time-skip to boot camp. Oh boy...

3rd Episode
Going into this one I knew exactly what I needed to see if the show was going to hook me at this point. "Okay," I thought, "you guys already did episode 2 right. However, you haven't finished resolving the wall-break incident. What needs to happen here is some shots from the resolution of that incident interspersed as flashbacks in between the boring boot camp bullshit. You do that, and you'll have shown that you will follow through on your storytelling."

I had high hopes for this episode, but in the end they decided to do the boring boot camp bullshit along with the important character moments which I really feel should have been saved for the next episode. I almost fell asleep during this episode because it was so fucking boring. I'm not saying you can't have an episode with no action, but don't make it the boring boot camp bullshit. Quiet episodes should have scenes with characters talking, and scenes with characters reflecting. This episode had scenes with characters talking... and scenes with characters doing fuck-all. This is not how you set up a series hook, guys.

Did "Attack on Titan" get me hooked?
No, it did not. "Attack on Titan" completely drops the ball on episode 3 and destroys my confidence in the writers' ability to deliver a story that I'm willing to spend my evenings watching. While I won't discount the possibility that some really interesting stuff happens later on, that's not really going to convince me when the show has already failed to get me invested. The show's main character at this point is clearly Eren, yet by the end of episode 3 I still didn't give one single fuck about this character. The only character who I found remotely interesting was Sasha Blause, and everything I like about her I can already find in a typical episode of Haruhi Suzumiya, so why the hell should I care?

The point is, if you can't make your audience care in 3 episodes, you've done something wrong and doing damage control later isn't going to bring back most of the people you've already lost. I can think of a few different ways this show could potentially shock me within the next couple episodes, and a fan of the show may very well think they're good plot twists; but the shock value will be lost on me, because I simply do not care what happens to these characters. It's to the point where every main character I've been shown so far could die in episode 4 without eliciting anything beyond mild surprise on my part. I'm just not that invested, and that is a critical failure on the show's part.

Final Verdict
If you're just looking for a fun romp with dark elements, "Attack on Titan" will deliver. It has plenty of scenes that will make you laugh, or cheer, or cry. If nothing else, "Attack on Titan" will entertain you.

If you're looking for a deep story you can pick apart for hours, though, go ahead and give this one a pass. "Attack on Titan" does not deliver enough material in its first episodes to make a more critical viewer get invested in the characters enough to care what happens later on in the show.

I, for one, will not be watching the rest of this show.

[Notthesun]

I read the manga. I don't really watch their anime versions.

[Nonsensei]

I still don't understand the appeal of that show.

Thats because you only watched three episodes of a show with a story meant to span two seasons.

Your method for evaluating anime is flawed, imo. Not only because it made you pass on pretty much the best anime show produced in a while but also because your method will also have you passing on shows that have episodes worth watching.

This is a big mistake a ton of people make. These episodes are meant to be individually entertaining, as they normally air once a week. Judging what episodes 4-24 will be like based on an aggregate impression of episodes 1-3 is a lot like judging what a room full of people are going to be like by talking to only a fraction of them.

[Hijiri Byakuren]

I still don't understand the appeal of that show.

Thats because you only watched three episodes of a show with a story meant to span two seasons.

Your method for evaluating anime is flawed, imo. Not only because it made you pass on pretty much the best anime show produced in a while but also because your method will also have you passing on shows that have episodes worth watching.

This is a big mistake a ton of people make. These episodes are meant to be individually entertaining, as they normally air once a week. Judging what episodes 4-24 will be like based on an aggregate impression of episodes 1-3 is a lot like judging what a room full of people are going to be like by talking to only a fraction of them.

I watched Code Geass for 1 episode before deciding I was already hooked. I watched Full Metal Alchemist for 1 episode before I was hooked. Conversely, I watched some hundred episodes of Bleach before getting tired. You are free to disagree with my conclusion, but my method is tried and true; and like it or not, Attack on Titan is not a show that grabs my interest. You berating me for this is certainly not going to change my mind, and you're fooling yourself if you think it will.

[Insult to Rocks]

I still don't understand the appeal of that show.

Thats because you only watched three episodes of a show with a story meant to span two seasons.

Your method for evaluating anime is flawed, imo. Not only because it made you pass on pretty much the best anime show produced in a while but also because your method will also have you passing on shows that have episodes worth watching.

This is a big mistake a ton of people make. These episodes are meant to be individually entertaining, as they normally air once a week. Judging what episodes 4-24 will be like based on an aggregate impression of episodes 1-3 is a lot like judging what a room full of people are going to be like by talking to only a fraction of them.

If a story is not able to make itself interesting within a reasonable introductory period, there is no reason to continue watching said story, regardless of how satisfying it will become later. Besides, from what (admittedly little) I've seen of Attack on Titan, it did little to differentiate itself from it's contemporaries or present itself as interesting in general.

[Hijiri Byakuren]

If a story is not able to make itself interesting within a reasonable introductory period, there is no reason to continue watching said story, regardless of how satisfying it will become later. Besides, from what (admittedly little) I've seen of Attack on Titan, it did little to differentiate itself from it's contemporaries or present itself as interesting in general.

Pretty much this. I'm not out to make a full and detailed review. My free time, while better than many folks', is not great enough to piss away on something that isn't quickly grabbing my interest. If I have to dedicate a significant amount of time to get to a part of the show that's remotely interesting, it's not worth my time.

[Notthesun]

You are free to have whatever method you'd like. I, on the other hand, will keep with a show if I believe it will get better. For example, it took about 200 chapters for me to finally really like One Piece. Now I'm completely in love with it. I even have a tattoo. Not saying anything about you, but I can't imagine if I had stopped because the first half was slow. Oh well, you're welcome to like and dislike what you please.

[wolf39us]

I tried so hard to get into One Piece.  I just couldn't get into it!  

Most of my friends love the show and I've tried 3 times to get into it.  Oh well, just not my style I guess!  

OOOHHH so it's dubbed! I can do that. I have to re organize my folder of Ghost hunt that Hijiri reccomended and I downloaded. After I watch that, I'll watch this.... I need things to watch while I work. otherwise I get bored. As for now, I'll finish re-watching Elfen Lied.

I can't watch dubs without wanting to tear my ears off.  This goes with Japanese anime and foreign flicks.  That's not to say though that there aren't some great dubs out there.

A couple of good examples are Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke) and Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away).  But 98% of the dubs I've ever heard make me hate myself lol

[Nonsensei]

If a story is not able to make itself interesting within a reasonable introductory period, there is no reason to continue watching said story, regardless of how satisfying it will become later. Besides, from what (admittedly little) I've seen of Attack on Titan, it did little to differentiate itself from it's contemporaries or present itself as interesting in general.

But thats ridiculous. It sounds like you're pissed at the show for not meeting a criteria you fabricated within a time frame you fabricated so you're going to pretend the show is bad.

The problem of course being that the show is actually fantastic and all you did was deprive yourself of the experience.

[Nonsensei]

I watched Code Geass for 1 episode before deciding I was already hooked. I watched Full Metal Alchemist for 1 episode before I was hooked. Conversely, I watched some hundred episodes of Bleach before getting tired. You are free to disagree with my conclusion, but my method is tried and true; and like it or not, Attack on Titan is not a show that grabs my interest. You berating me for this is certainly not going to change my mind, and you're fooling yourself if you think it will.

I couldn't care less what you do. If I have a motive its to keep other people from disregarding the show based on your opinion. And opinion arrived at by using a deeply flawed method.

Just because you have denied yourself the experience of one of the best anime shows to be produced in a while doesn't mean other people should meet the same fate based on your evaluation.

In reality, I did the same thing as you. I watched the first few episodes and decided it didn't appeal to me. Then, quite a while later, I decided to watch a few more episodes and found out how fucking dim it was of me to dismiss the show based on the first few episodes. The plain reality is that the initial impression of anything is not always a fair indicator of how the rest of it will be. If you act like it is, then you will miss out on some great things, as you did in this case.

[wolf39us]

I think based on the fact that there are more episodes of anime out there that any one person could possibly watch... it's pretty fair to dismiss most shows based on a few episodes.  My personal limit is 3 episodes... if you don't catch me in 3 episodes, I bail.

He did a review, didn't like the anime.  His opinion is his opinion and that's that really.  You can't tell him he's "wrong" for not liking something... seriously.

[Hijiri Byakuren]

I couldn't care less what you do. If I have a motive its to keep other people from disregarding the show based on your opinion. And opinion arrived at by using a deeply flawed method.

*Ahem*

If you're just looking for a fun romp with dark elements, "Attack on Titan" will deliver. It has plenty of scenes that will make you laugh, or cheer, or cry. If nothing else, "Attack on Titan" will entertain you.

If you're looking for a deep story you can pick apart for hours, though, go ahead and give this one a pass. "Attack on Titan" does not deliver enough material in its first episodes to make a more critical viewer get invested in the characters enough to care what happens later on in the show.

Does that look like me actively deterring everyone who ever lived from the show? No. I'm just letting folks know that if you're looking for the next Code Geass, you're not going to find it here. 5 years ago I probably would have liked Attack on Titan; pretty much everything I liked about Bleach is there. I have become a much more critical viewer since then, and shows like that no longer appeal to me. I gave it a fair assessment based upon my past interests, though.

Just because you have denied yourself the experience of one of the best anime shows to be produced in a while doesn't mean other people should meet the same fate based on your evaluation.

Yes, yes, continue the passive-aggressive sniping, that will surely change my mind. :roll: More proof that you didn't notice the part where I actually recommended this show. Maybe before accusing me of being overly critical, you should try dialing it down a bit yourself.

In reality, I did the same thing as you. I watched the first few episodes and decided it didn't appeal to me. Then, quite a while later, I decided to watch a few more episodes and found out how fucking dim it was of me to dismiss the show based on the first few episodes. The plain reality is that the initial impression of anything is not always a fair indicator of how the rest of it will be. If you act like it is, then you will miss out on some great things, as you did in this case.

I know what happens later in the show, dude, I only bothered watching it after getting some spoilers. I did the same thing with Madoka Magica; I only started watching it after having the first three episodes spoiled for me in SF Debris' review of the series. If anything remotely interesting popped up in those spoilers, I would have continued watching. And yeah, some of the humans are Visoreds, and some of the titans are Arrancars, great, would have had my attention 5 years ago, and hence my recommendation to the audience who likes that stuff. It doesn't do it for me anymore, though, so I gave it a pass for the more critical audience.

[Notthesun]

@Hijiri Byakuren there is no next Code Geass. There's only one. I love that show so much!