Why is Anime so Popular?

It's old, but most of the good/classic anime are there.

You could also check out the anime which are airing/recently finished here:
* Spring 2011 Anime
* Summer 2011 Anime

edited 1st Aug '11 1:25:41 AM by LiberatedLiberater

MAL || vndb || Blog

They list Mobile Suit Gundam and Gundam 0083 on there but not list Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.... seriously that just lost creditability right there, 0083 was just messy in well all categories but animation. (0083 over Zeta seriously WTF...)

edited 1st Aug '11 1:32:05 AM by Raso

Sparkling and glittering! Jan-Ken-Pon!

Wow...I absolutely hate a lot of the anime under "Psychological", like Paranoia Agent...

And "Sports" is missing Ro-Kyu-Bu!

On a slightly more serious note, many of those anime also qualifies for more than just one category.............and G Gundam isn't under "Mecha".

edited 1st Aug '11 1:29:38 AM by Signed

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

Yeah, that is a pretty old list.

How long ago did most of these shows come out?

I am the lone wolf. I do not lead or follow.

Mobile Suit Gundam was 1979. (considered the Star Wars of japan.) Watch the Trilogy movies if ya ever get the chance (then watch Zeta Gundam for one of the best anime series ever Zeta was 10x better than the original but seeing the original helps a lot on Zeta but not absolutely required.)

Anyway that list is ok I guess the age and YMM Vness of them is the issue. But then again not one series is liked by everyone.

edited 1st Aug '11 1:41:42 AM by Raso

Sparkling and glittering! Jan-Ken-Pon!

I'll rent Mobile Suit Gundam when I get the chance to do so. Sounds like a real classic!

I would also like to add how some people were more worried about their anime and manga than they were the lives of people during the Japanese Earthquake. Really, do we really need to worry about it when people's lives are in danger?

This isn't a Take That! to anime fans in general.

edited 1st Aug '11 1:38:13 AM by DJMarred

I am the lone wolf. I do not lead or follow.

Really? I guess there would be people like that, but I don't think they're the majority.

MAL || vndb || Blog

Never said they were the majority.

I am the lone wolf. I do not lead or follow.

Well Anime is kinda of a delicate business and very creator centric. If the Mangaka dies the series is most likely over, no one is going to take over, Anime studios themselves were barely keeping themselves a float so the loss of stuff could just spill over and ruin the entire Japanese economy.

People usually focus on things that affect them vs stuff that doesn't.... hell some people only donated to the relieve effort if they got one of those armbands they were selling at one time.

edited 1st Aug '11 1:48:44 AM by Raso

Sparkling and glittering! Jan-Ken-Pon!

I like Science Fiction, I like Fantasy. I like a plot with a distinct beginning, middle and end. Sometimes I want my entertainment in audio-visual format rather than print.

Anime provides these in large quantities. Especially the plot issue since so much of Western Animation is made so that it can be rerun in any order. That and because Japan doesn't face the Animation Age Ghetto to such an extreme as in the West I can get a wider variety of stories within my preferred genres.

And while I can't speak for everyone I also know that I am not alone in my opinions. Its also why when I find Western Animation that defies these expectation (Avatar The Last Airbender or Wakfu to name but two) I treasure it just as dearly.

Edit: Also regarding the reccomendation picture, it's not that out of date if you actually go through it. Only a couple of years or so, it just looks worse because it tends from older at the top to the more recent stuff (ie Macross Frontier or Spice and Wolf) at the bottom.

edited 1st Aug '11 1:57:06 AM by KnightofLsama

You have a point. And I'll admit that I'm not an exception to the fact that people do often care more about the things that are close to them in their lives. They do care about the troubles of others, yes, but if we all took some time to think about the troubles of our world and showing sentiment for others suffering, then we would spend all our time crying.

Every second of every day, there will be other people screwed over and hard done, and sometimes we have to look away for our own sanity.

But hey, this is an anime forum, not a philosophy forum.

Avatar The Last Airbender is so cool. I adore the show.

I'm gone now, but I'll be back tomorrow. Feel free to continue discussing without me.

edited 1st Aug '11 2:29:02 AM by DJMarred

I am the lone wolf. I do not lead or follow.

Mmhh, I suggest the following points:

- Usually it follows plotlines unlike cartoons which are episodic
- Colourful personalities, I guess? Though most of it has gotten cliché at this point, it's still heavily varied
- Variety and scope of differences that anime encompasses (read: One show is nothing like the other). You can basically find everything in anime. This is why no matter what you like in a show, there's probably something that will appeal to you. In that sense it's much close to live action television and literature. I won't call it a medium with a lot of originality (though it might seem like it at first), but it's definitely varied.

Murrl LustFatM

Try Giant Robo The Animation: The Day The Earth Stood Still. I only watched a couple of episodes myself, but they were a good couple of episodes.

If you want a really heavy space saga, go download Legend Of Galactic Heroes. Be warned though: its unlicensed for a reason.◊ 110 episodes plus several movies and books.

---

Personally, because the only Western alternative airing during my childhood was Shazam. I think. Anyways, it was always infuriating when they hit the reset button every five episodes. I lost patience watching them try to get back home. On the other hand, Thundersub had a definite beginning and an end. Much better.

one thing i like anime is that it has way cooler premises and stories
Paprika and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time are witty works that introduced me to the medium

This level of trolling is reasonable for Commander Obvious. What do you think of this, everyone?

If you want something Gothic, I'd suggest Dantalian No Shoka, which is currently airing. It'd also get you in on some of the more...peculiar anime tropes without inflicting too many of the aspects that newcomers find grating.

i usually recommend Monster to newbies
since it is very western and noirish

This level of trolling is reasonable for Commander Obvious. What do you think of this, everyone?

Well, my gateway series was Code Geass, but that one's incredibly polarizing. Actually, it's as polarizing as every other popular anime work out there. The ones I've listed are still probably worth a try.

This, although not necessarily applicable to all anime.

edited 1st Aug '11 4:17:59 AM by LiberatedLiberater

MAL || vndb || Blog

Funny you should mention Geass; I literally just started rewatching it a few hours ago. I know I enjoyed the hell out of the series, but I can see why people would dislike it, especially Season 2.

Always, somewhere, someone is fighting for you. As long as you remember them, you are not alone.

^ This. S1 was excellent. S2 was a trainwreck.

As to Madoka, I think there are two important factors to its enjoyment:

• You're not averse to grimdark.
• You know the standard mahou shoujo conventions (even non-standard Nanoha will do, since it's still on the side of idealism as opposed to... this)

edited 1st Aug '11 5:35:08 AM by Magia

iM@S archive of materials.

Thread Hop:

There's a couple of reasons, for both it's general popularity, and it's popularity on the wiki.

1) Anime is more likely to mix it's genres than most western works, in my observations.

2) Anime series tend to have more Myth Arc than western works, likely due to a larger number of them having set limits, as opposed to enforcing Status Quo Is God to ensure that the series can go on indefinitely as long as it's profitable.

3) A 13 episode anime is between five and six hours long, meaning it's just a bit longer than a Film, but still shorter than long running series, which fills a nice little gap in length.

4) Genre preferences, much like 1, Anime is more likely to use a group of genres, like Giant Robot Fights, which tend to either be rare or poorly done in western works.

5) The mods aren't assholes to Anime/Manga fans but aren't exclusive to them either. This results in fans mixing, but my experience has been that Anime/Manga fans group together more, likely due to having to pirate the stuff, which being in a community helps.

Fight smart, not fair.

Since most people have already said what I like about anime, I 'll just move on to recommendations:

• Cowboy Bebop
• Samurai Champloo
• The Big O
• Berserk
• Trigun
• Cowboy Bebop
• Black lagoon
• Durarara
• Darker Than Black
• Hellsing Ultimate
• FLCL
• {{5 Centimeters per Second}}
• Paranoia Agent
• Sword of the Stranger
• Detective Conan (Read the manga)
• Fullmetal Alchemist (Read the manga)
• Bartender (Manga and anime are similar, but the manga keeps going, so I recommend the manga)
• Fairy Tail (Read the manga and then watch the anime, each version has it's flaws that the other makes up for. And then come and join us in the Fairy Tail Topic.)
• Armored Trooper VOTOMS
• Cowboy Bebop
• Rurouni Kenshin (I prefer the manga and it goes on after the anime ends, but I enjoy the anime a lot too.)
• Yu Yu Hakusho (Either manga or anime works, both are good)
• Gurren Lagann
• Magical Shopping arcade abenobashi
• Mononoke
• Neon Genesis Evangelion
• Ouran High School Host club
• Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
• Bakemonogatari
• The Legend of Koizumi (Quite possibly the weirdest thing I've ever read)
• Soul Eater (You're fine following the anime until about episode 36 or 37 and then you're better off following the manga)
• Mahou Sensei Negima (Read the manga. Starts off a Harem comedy, but it starts genre shifting into a Comedy/action series around chapter 80 and then full on action/comedy around 180.)
• Cowboy Bebop (Can you tell that I love this series?)

These are just some recommendations off the top of my head, but to start with out of those series, I'd check out Cowboy Bebop first and then Darker than Black, Black Lagoon, Baccano and Durarara are all good choices. While most of my recommendations are either Sci-fi, Shonen or action series, I threw in some genres that you might not be used to, so you get a chance to experience those as well.

edited 1st Aug '11 6:41:55 AM by Thenamelesssamurai

Imagine Rakan applying Calling Your Attacks to doing paperwork.~Anarchy Rakan for the hell of it COMMISSION THIS BRIDGE!~EHK

Holy shit, that's a large reference pool you got there. 0_o

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

You have to start Five Centimeters Per Second with the text, not the numeral. Numerals can't start a wikiword, the code won't work that way.

Fight smart, not fair.

I'd say Baccano and Death Note are good for newbies. Both have a lot of Western tropes that allow you to segue easily into the medium. Although for DN I'd go for the manga, since it lacks a lot of the OT Tness of the admittedly pretty anime.

As the rec list, as someone who has only been interested in anime for about two years, I like being recommended older stuff, too, although I watch and read new things. I'm currently watching Revolutionary Girl Utena and afterwards I plan to watch Tiger and Bunny.

As for why I like anime? I supposed I was just lucky enough to be exposed to things I enjoy when I decided to try it out. I imagine some people are initially introduced to series they don't like which can sour them on the whole thing.