Anime you hate but everyone seems to like?

[Traece]

Originally Posted by Shyni

Very little of the stuff in Madoka is truly original. Like, at all. Ever since I've watched Kamen Rider Ryuki (yes, I know that's not an anime), the comparisons made with that show become even clearer. I like the show, but honestly, there's very little that I can't find in other stories. I think Madoka gets compared to My-HiME a lot as well, but it hasn't been completely clear to me why that is.

Madoka basically runs on the same fuel that Higurashi ran on: Take a bunch of lolis, give them a little bit of exposition, and I suspect that the majority of you know what comes next.

I'm exaggerating a bit but in terms of twists, and really my whole Higurashi comment in entirely, but I maintain part of what I said. "There will be lolis, and then a big twist! Drama, drama, drama, another bit twist! Drama, drama, exposition on a character and hopefully people will relate and be really sad about everything, drama, ending. $$$." Frankly, I didn't think there was a single thing in Madoka that was truly interesting between the plot twists. So save for the very beginning and the very end, the meat was all an absolute bore.

So here's the real reason I mentioned Higurashi: While I do enjoy some mystery and supernatural stuff I always have to ask myself: Really? And obviously Higurashi is very popular because there's season upon season of it! Look, I'm not really opposed to the subject matter. OK, loli murder, whatever, but limitations people! Loli murder, new perspective, loli murder. Twisty ending! Wooo~ The only thing that kept me going through a large portion of the first season of Higurashi was the mystery elements and seeing how things pieced together. At one point though I realized that the piecing together revolved more around people being, er, unpieced together.

Edit: Also, I want to pull out the heartbreaker for the community. I do not like any of the "ef" that I've seen, or H2O, or Myself;Yourself, or Nana. I found Ef, H2O, and Myself;Yourself to all be intriguing but often too gimmicky. I could never get over the strange balance they had either with trying to be artistic, or trying a somewhat controversial subject. When I was watching them I felt less interested beyond the opening episodes as it became more and more obvious that each was more about the subject of the story, and less about what's actually happening. It's great that they wanted to try something new, but I felt they fell into that trap of being a more dramatic romance hinging on a special circumstance that makes it different from your average show. Nana as I've gotten older (it was actually one of the first anime I watched after I joined Asuki) I appreciate more for being somewhat, I guess realistic? At the same time though some of the decisions made by the characters just felt very off for character that should be a bit wiser than they're portrayed. On another note, I also didn't like Air much.

[NoemiChan]

So it sums that lolis are not appropriate for anything dark in theme.. I can relate to that.. It's like introducing a cute kindergarten girl into the world of murder.... Psychological abuse I say... well IRL..

[Traece]

Originally Posted by GenjiChan

So it sums that lolis are not appropriate for anything dark in theme.. I can relate to that.. It's like introducing a cute kindergarten girl into the world of murder.... Psychological abuse I say... well IRL..

They have that. It's called Elfen Lied.

Seems to me that anime (and anime fans) really love it when lolis die. A lot. Gruesomely. I can't help but notice a trend here: Elfen Lied, Higurashi, Madoka, and other lolimurders of varying popularity.

[Shyni]

Eh, I don't really find the deaths in Madoka to be all that gruesome. But I guess that's partiallly because I think of it as mostly "fantasy violence". That, and there are times when the actual lethal injury is a little "out of frame".

[Cheerful Orange]

Originally Posted by Traece

They have that. It's called Elfen Lied.

Seems to me that anime (and anime fans) really love it when lolis die. A lot. Gruesomely. I can't help but notice a trend here: Elfen Lied, Higurashi, Madoka, and other lolimurders of varying popularity.

The deaths in Madoka were gruesome? I disagree. There's really no emphasis on the gore or even the bodies themselves (when there were any), which is what you do when you want a reaction to "gruesome deaths".

When you compare Elfen Lied and Higurashi to Madoka, you see a good deal more focus on the deaths themselves. The bodies, the cause of death, etc. Not to mention gore (though that was a bit heavier in Elfen Lied than Higurashi, if I recall correctly). You don't really see anything similar in Madoka- oh, the deaths were discussed of course. But primarily their psychological impact on the characters and their narrative significance. The intended impact seemed to be psychological, rather than visceral. Now whether that worked is up for debate.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Cheerful Orange

The deaths in Madoka were gruesome?

The first death in Madoka was pretty gruesome. But I agree with you on the rest. The other deaths in Madoka were actually kind of tame at a purely visual level.

[Shyni]

The first death wasn't all that greusome either.

Spoiler for first death in madoka:

We see Mami dangling from the monster's mouth, but we don't see blood, or chunks of her falling off.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Shyni

The first death wasn't all that greusome either.

Spoiler for first death in madoka:

We see Mami dangling from the monster's mouth, but we don't see blood, or chunks of her falling off.

Actually, we do see blood. Bloody remains.

And certain types of death are just inherently gruesome, imo.

[Cheerful Orange]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

And certain types of death are just inherently gruesome, imo.

Eh. I wouldn't call it a completely tame death, but it feels like if Urobuchi (and the animators) was really going for gruesome

Spoiler for whee:

They could have continued from the close-angle that they utilized right before Charlotte eats Mami's head. Instead, they suddenly shift to a much farther away shot- back to behind Madoka and Sayaka, if I recall correctly. They specifically distanced the viewer from the brutality that was occurring.

But yeah, I suppose if you think that something inherently gruesome... then it's going to be gruesome. *shrug*

[Shyni]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Actually, we do see blood. Bloody remains.

And certain types of death are just inherently gruesome, imo.

But the blood wasn't shown on the spot of injury, or even the person's body.

Also, uh, examples? I'm not sure if I can agree, but I guess I rarely find anything to inherently possess a certain quality.

[DuelGundam2099]

Adding Casshern Sins to this list as I have never seen any anime series outside the magic girl genre so unengaging, boring, full of itself, bland, horrendous, melodramatic, and overall just lacking anything entertaining. It was an insult to the franchise more than even the live action movie, I have a hard time believing FUNimation was willing to license this. It felt more like Studio 4C's pile of rejected short ideas, Tatsunoko buying the license for them, and threw Casshern in rather than a remake. I will say this much, the art was nice.

[totoum]

Originally Posted by DuelGundam2099

Adding Casshern Sins to this list as I have never seen any anime series outside the magic girl genre so unengaging, boring, full of itself, bland, horrendous, melodramatic, and overall just lacking anything entertaining. It was an insult to the franchise more than even the live action movie, I have a hard time believing FUNimation was willing to license this. It felt more like Studio 4C's pile of rejected short ideas, Tatsunoko buying the license for them, and threw Casshern in rather than a remake. I will say this much, the art was nice.

I think people are starting to forget part of the thread title: Anime you hate but everyone seems to like?

[DuelGundam2099]

I haven't encountered anyone that hated Casshern Sins.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by DuelGundam2099

I haven't encountered anyone that hated Casshern Sins.

Then your experience is simply lacking. There’s a lot of people who consider Casshern Sins boring among other negative things. That anime is more dividing its audience than being a generally well-liked series. Those who like it are mostly already Casshern fans, fans of slow moody philosophical sci-fi anime, fans of the anime art-style, or just like the story in general. I’m one of those who like it btw.

[SayItAintSoJoe]

Sword freaking Art Online.

[ReaperxKingx]

Originally Posted by SayItAintSoJoe

Sword freaking Art Online.

Out of disappointment due to reading the Novel or you generally hate it, any flaws to mention why you dislike it.

[NoemiChan]

Originally Posted by ReaperxKingx

Out of disappointment due to reading the Novel or you generally hate it, any flaws to mention why you dislike it.

Probably the elephant...

[Joyce_Steele]

Hetalia. It's too easy to see why.

[backbone]

Originally Posted by SayItAintSoJoe

Sword freaking Art Online.

Preach it bro! I hate it as well. Even i didn't really get the hype of the nearly hysterical LN readers at that time. I watched the show and it's just mediocre at best. At first i thought "Maybe they executed the source material poorly?" And then i gave the LN a try only to realize that it's also mediocre. Kirito, the protagonist, how should i put it, he's just dull and plain boring, getting overpowered seemingly without thorough effort just like any other badass protagonist. And the harem aspect really killed me. It would be okay if each girls got proper character developments. And yet? They're no more than shallow characters without any depth which i don't wanna give a crap about. The main heroine, Asuna, doesn't get proper development as it feels like "Ahaha, we got two pretty people, let's marry them to each other". what's more annoying is how brutal they killed her character in second arc by making her a typical damsel in ditress (What's the point of being an action girl then? Ahahahaha!). And y'know what else irritates me? Kirito always finish off the big boss on each arc with retardedly boring deus ex machina, which make the entire "action" genre of this show seem pointless. The setting also fails to amuse me (Hack series executed it much more better)

[SayItAintSoJoe]

Originally Posted by ReaperxKingx

Out of disappointment due to reading the Novel or you generally hate it, any flaws to mention why you dislike it.

Never read the novel; just saw the first four episodes (and only because a friend of mine who's a big fan insisted) which seemed very dull and cliche to me.