Why Does Anime (and its fans) Get Such a Bad Rep?

Humorously, this post talks about another part of the answer to the question this thread was asking. In terms of what gets public attention, only the bad part of anime is publicized. At other times (I've done this as well) people have forgotten that there is a huge heap of trash out there.

edited 3rd Nov '14 1:22:00 PM by Clannadisawesome

I skimmed through the thread, so forgive me for this sort-of Thread Hop.

Anime has a bad rep in the US because of a number of overlapping issues.

1. Stuff like Speed Racer, while cult classics, were mocked endlessly for their nonsensical stories, poor dubbing, and awkward shots (compared to Western Animation at the time).
2. Stuff like Franchise/Transformers and Franchise/Macross were fundamentally changed when they were brought to the states, becoming Transformers G1 and Robotech respectively. While, yes, both of these are beloved by hardcore groups of fans, they were still basically little more than marketing grabs to get kids to buy toys.
3. The Nineties brought ultra grim-dark, nonsensically-plotted, and over-sexualized anime front and center, with stuff like Wicked City, Ninja Scroll, and Legend of the Overfiend being the first image that many fans got of anime. Even stuff like Dragon Ball Z and YuYu Hakusho were still pretty much cult classics at this time. It wasn't until they were picked up by Toonami (well into the 2000s) that they finally got some respect.
4. Also in the 90s, even outside of the grimdark OV As and films, a fair number of anime television shows used to have shit-poor animation quality. The infamous still-frame shot being overused like crazy, in addition to repeated stock animation to pad out the length time. (Which is one of the REAL reasons that Transformation Is a Free Action).

I'll leave out the oversaturation of Harem Genre anime, Shounen Fighting Series, and Magical Girl genres for the time being. But, in general, until the 80s, Japanese animation was so rare that people didn't really even have a word for it, in the 90s, "Japanimation" was tainted with the stigma of ultraviolence and bad animation, and when it finally became popular stateside in the 2000s, the terms "weeaboo" and "japanophile" started making the rounds.

The irony is, though? Talking about all these different eras has made me kinda nostalgic for each of them.

edited 3rd Nov '14 1:44:59 PM by KingZeal

I wouldn't say the stories of Speed Racer are nonsensical; they are pretty linear. The English dubbing is probably what gave it its bad reputation. (As for the animation, it's not that bad, but it was one of Tatsunoko's first shows, and they did improve over the years.)

Note that people who grew up in the 60s praise some of the Japanese shows that came over there for being different from what homegrown TV had.

And there is a ton of anime that doesn't have shit-poor animation quality from the era.

edited 3rd Nov '14 1:55:23 PM by Aldo930

I can actually say I watched DBZ before it premiered on Toonami.

I forget what station it was, but Saban Entertainment products, including their dubbed anime, briefly had their own block, but it got crapped ratings so it was axed. That was the first time I watched either DBZ or Sailor Moon.

Maybe you've got a point there.

So did I. It used to come on WPWR here (the station that would later become UPN), and played once a week. Once. A. Goddamn. Week.

I'll never forget watching the entire Saiyan and Namek sagas one week at a time, only for the very episode when Goku shows up RECYCLING BACK TO THE FIRST EPISODE THE VERY NEXT WEEK! ARGH!

As a whole Japan gets mocked a lot for perverted and overly-sexual content. I've seen someone suggest that perhaps it was the fact that when anime localization first began a lot of fan servicey drek got adapted first, which is largely why the concept of anime being something for virgins and perverts exists.

If you ever see the depiction of anime and manga fans in American TV it's usually an adult male who has some serious sexual issues, such as the episode of The Good Wife where a misogynist who is accused of killing his wife professes to be a huge fan of manga.

edited 3rd Nov '14 3:44:04 PM by comicwriter

Also adding to that, if you're not actively into anime and manga, the stuff you're most likely to hear about is the questionable stuff that a lot of people are going to find objectionable.

I have friends who don't actively watch anime but are aware of stuff like Kill la Kill and Ore Imo just because of how infamous they are.

That's a big part of it as well. Growing up a lot of the kids I knew who were hardcore into anime (as in they were still into long after everyone else outgrew stuff like Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon) tended to be obnoxious nerds who seemed like they were trying way too hard to pretend they were Japanese.

edited 3rd Nov '14 2:39:46 PM by comicwriter

I'd also suggest that one reason for its image problem is that people aren't localizing anime that doesn't fall into the typical stereotypes of anime. But that's just me.

I've just been reminded of Sturgeon's Law. Sci-Fi went through similar also, so right now I think that anime just needs a few more mainstream hits to get out of the ghetto.

Attack On Titan just scored a crossover with Marvel. (No actual comment on that.) Anime does have its mainstream hits.

Vocal Minority. Specially the types who loves to start anime vs everything flame war on the internet bashing other genres for their negative stereotypes & clichés while forgetting that anime also has it's own negative stereotypes.

Let me rephrase that. When talking about "comedies", I was talking about WESTERN CARTOON comedies, not anime ones. Those are all the rage now in America to the point where any attempt at a serious action show is either canceled shortly in (Young Justice), or treated like shiat by the network (Korra). And the plots for them? "Are burgers better or worse than burritos?" -_- "How do I get rid of this pimple??" -_- Anime stories are far and away much more structured than Western cartoons.

Changing topics- I think the reason why anime fans tend to be more aggressively vocal is that they think it's makes up for how anime is less popular than Western cartoons or live-action in America (it is less popular). So it makes them come off as ranting complainers instead.

edited 3rd Nov '14 8:28:23 PM by kyun

Hilariously this thread has already displayed examples of that.

edited 3rd Nov '14 7:59:49 PM by comicwriter

Sturgeon's Law actually applies less to TV. With most channels, they generally can't approve whatever they want and have to choose only that which they think people will find entertaining. And it's the same in every country.

Animated comedies have long been the backbone of Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.

edited 3rd Nov '14 7:59:28 PM by Aldo930

You just proved my point.

Uh, yeah, I know; my entire post was about how western cartoon comedies are not inherently worse than anime comedies because anime is "more structured". And whether they're "all the rage" or not has nothing to do with anything. Were you even paying attention?

edited 3rd Nov '14 8:01:32 PM by PhysicalStamina

And to be fair, the plots back then were about as good as they are now.

And as for anime fans being more vocal because it's less popular... Well, duh. Anime's a minority interest.

edited 3rd Nov '14 8:03:48 PM by Aldo930

As much as I prefer the "prettiness" of anime character designs, I'd have to say that I would vote for Gravity Falls art-style. Was not impressed at first, but the story made me love the artwork.

X7 Didn't Justice League last for five seasons, counting Unlimited? That's hardly what I'd call "cancelled shortly in". Are you sure you aren't thinking about Young Justice? It's more recent.

Yeah Young Justice.

Oh, those were the days lol. I don't know if it were better or worse wants Toonami picked the show up. You'd get a new episode Monday through Friday, but that would mean it would speed through quicker.

With how many episodes DBZ has and it's infamy for extremely drawn out dialogue? How would speeding up be bad?

Because powering up really takes weeks in reality. huehuehue

I miss those days admittedly. Get home from school, do your homework ASAP get a bite and hope you're (mostly)done by the time Goku starts doing his thing.

Of course if you missed it there was always the midnight showing, until those started rerunning like a season behind lol.

Toonami went overboard with DBZ at one point though. There was a time where it would show like 6 times a day.

edited 5th Nov '14 2:25:19 AM by Vertigo_High

I remember when they were airing new episodes of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z at the same time.

Month a new episodes and then repeats for like half a year. It's a pick your poison scenario, but it was torture back then waiting for new episodes.