Cute Girls Doing Cute things (CGDC)

[Diluc]

The infamous CGDC
i am curious to know how people in this forum hold their view upon this genre
Arguably this is one of bashed genre like harem because the nature of anime with this genre often brought nothing except girls doing cute things and a heavy yuri tone.

Discuss!

In my view i generally dislike this genre mainly because the series with this genre often has stalemate plot especially if slice of life anime.
Sure there are Cute girls anime with plot like Strike witch, Madoka, Nanoha and among of them are my favorite but recently the mass overflowing of these genre really an irksome for me.
As heterosexual watcher i am prefer a romantic drama between opposite sex rather same sex.

[agetreme]

This Genre is only interesting if the characters are interesting (unfortunately most show in this genre doesn't seem to get it) and interact with each other interestingly (Bounce and play off each other).

Unless the characters are interesting to you, you are not going to be interested in it.

Admittedly this is mostly because real life stuff is actually really boring.

Such Genre would probably do better with a bit of comedy....

Otherwise, it is kind of like watching cat video on youtube except with cute girls instead of cats.

[RRW]

Well just like any kind of genre. there is good and bad one. Easy comparison probably with Harem genre. Most CGDCT life and die based on their character design. after that you recycle the usual trope (beach episode, inn episode, etc) and most the do overlap with harem anime. If you think about it. they nearly same anyway. all you do is kick male chracter from Harem anime, which probably liek 1 or 2, and you get CGDCT

few pandering that i kinda found it tired.

"Girl so not love each others! No way I love you!"
"She going to get transferred. let stop her!"
"Herro Everynyan. I spoke Engrish vely well."

and so on

[Diluc]

Originally Posted by agetreme

This Genre is only interesting if the characters are interesting (unfortunately most show in this genre doesn't seem to get it) and interact with each other interestingly (Bounce and play off each other).

Unless the characters are interesting to you, you are not going to be interested in it.

Admittedly this is mostly because real life stuff is actually really boring.

Such Genre would probably do better with a bit of comedy....

Otherwise, it is kind of like watching cat video on youtube except with cute girls instead of cats.

Agreed there, real life theme is the weakest form of CDGCT for not many want to watches a group of cute girls doing nothing in their daily routines except you likes the characters themselves.
If the characters are not appealing then i would not interested my biased favour probably would go to anime Aokana and Watamote. Aokana for characters design and Watamote for the unique characters.
This is why i only would watch an all girls casts anime if it have unique plot and good characters that cast my interest.

Originally Posted by RRW

all you do is kick male chracter from Harem anime, which probably liek 1 or 2, and you get CGDCT

Aokana exactly suffered from that and i believe Kancolle also same i heard there was a male protagonist but somehow he get erased from the anime.

[Akito Kinomoto]

I like yuri. I like all-girl casts. These are easy watches, but there's really nothing to talk about most of the time and you know exactly what you're getting. Hanayamata and Lucky Star are among the better ones though, the former for some actually engaging drama and the latter because it killed my sides every episode

[judasmartel]

I'll just drop by and say that I agree with most of the posts here that CGDCT anime are only as interesting as their characters.

Comedy and yuri are fine with me, but I am really high on character development and completely static characters are a no-no for me unless they interest me enough. I get it that real life is indeed boring, but I actually like more realistic CGDCT so long as there are characters in it that interest me. I treat realistic CGDCT just the same as I do with the fantasy ones. I really don't look at the romances too much, so CGDCT titles can shove as much Yuri to my face as they like. Fanservice is fine as long as they don't affect the plot and it's not literally shoved into my face every time.

Boring and unrelatable characters = bad CGDCT.

[IceHism]

Don't really care. I generally skip it anyways unless the source is pretty popular. If i watch it though, my favorite are the ones that are centered more around a specific subject/theme (For ex: cooking or some other hobby) and if it has good production values. Also i'd like it if it was more witty.

[erneiz_hyde]

I can't dislike this genre. These never fail in lighting up my day and put a grin on my face.

[Sheba]

I do agree that the characters make or break an anime belonging to this genre. But the most memorable ones are those making their cast mature and grow. Azumanga Daioh and Aria comes in mind.

[Jan-Poo]

There are entire manga magazines dedicated to this "genre", the most popular is the "Manga Time Kirara" line (Hidamari Sketch, K-on, Yuyushiki, Unhappy) which is aimed at an adult male demographic.

The common denominator is an all female cast (if there are males at all they are very secondary characters) of young age generally focused on ordinary life events (even when the story has a fantasy or sci-fi setting).

There is normally no romance in these kind of stories. When there is, it's always among girls, it doesn't play a major factor and it never goes beyond holding hands and hugs. So it is actually Romantic Friendship.

If it goes beyond that, it's generally considered more like a yuri manga and less than a pure "cute girls doing cute things". Even Yuruyuri, which is pretty bland, is serialized on a yuri magazine.

Panty shots, big tits, ecchi, and generally any kind of in-your-face sexualization are banned from this kind of stories. When you see those it's generally a Shounen manga not a Seinen.

Plot is generally not important and many of these stories are actually on a yon-koma format. They are simply meant to be relaxing and pleasant.


What I think of it? While it is a form of fan service, I still think it's better than ecchi and harem. In the end it's not much different than a show about cats or other cute animals, just with cute little girls instead.

[judasmartel]

Originally Posted by Jan-Poo

Plot is generally not important and many of these stories are actually on a yon-koma format. They are simply meant to be relaxing and pleasant.

What I think of it? While it is a form of fan service, I still think it's better than ecchi and harem. In the end it's not much different than a show about cats or other cute animals, just with cute little girls instead.

Since plot isn't that important in most CGDCT's, I think character development is one aspect that should be looked into when viewing them, like, how does a character grow throughout the series? They might be the same as they were from the beginning, but do these characters learn something or grow from their experiences, allowing them to make better decisions when faced with (relatively greater) adversity? Things like that.

As stated by others, CGDCT titles are only as interesting as their characters are.

[KanbeKotori]

CGDCT is a thing that goes very well with SoLs. I've seen other genres inputting CGDCT but I can't seem to get used to it. The way SoL anime are structured makes it easy to incorporate it.

Hidamari Sketch is a very good example of how good SoL pairs with CGDCT. Strike Witches and such on the other hand isn't quite as good. I find that if you have a plot, CGDCT will ruin it, kinda(look at Regalia).

[Infinite Zenith]

I don't do cat videos, since memes made them dank for me. With this being said, the genre is harmless, frivolous fun, equivalent to watching rabbits frolick, and there's nothing wrong with enjoying it. If I yearn for some serious, tasteful entertainment that respects my intelligence, I'll read a book

[jdennis007]

I love to watch shows like this at the end of the day, especially after a long day at work.

[VORTIA]

The most fun genre of anime by far, in my opinion! Nothing against other anime genres, but cute girls doing cute things is like visual dopamine. Nothing makes you feel good about life after a long day of stressful work like some cute moe goodness!

[kari-no-sugata II]

While I'm more attracted to some genres than others, generally I try to keep an open mind - ie, try to find series that are "good" (well written etc). There's no genres that are immune to bad writing, bad characterisation, bad plotting, over-use of cliches/templates etc.

Like jdennis007, it's nice to have something light and fluffy to watch after a long day's work.

[Theft]

Not a fan, Lucky Star is the only one I've kind of enjoyed