B-rated anime?

[Oppius]

Do B-rated anime really exists?

Well Hollywood do have B-rated movies which are cheaper, not starred by A-list actors and of course most of them were pretty bad. Do same thing exists for anime too like they were made only too fill the timeslot and also to help the seiyuus(most of them were unknown) and animators to feed themselves.

I don't there are some anime are bad enough to be listed a B.

[Tempester]

Well, despite its audience reception and glowing reviews by critics, Kill Bill is considered a "B-movie". This is probably due to its cheesyness often seen in B-movies, and its brainless action.

Along the lines of that, I guess you can consider Shikabane Hime and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann B-anime by content and style.

[Sorrow-K]

I'm not sure I agree that Kill Bill is a B-movie and, by proxy, TTGL. Tarantino may have made the stylistic choices, but it was still designed as a box office hit with high production values and big name stars. TTGL is a bit the same, the stylistic choices somewhat resemble something "B-rated", but it was designed to be a hit and it did have reasonably high production values and lots of big names involved.

My first thought was that a B-rated anime would be something along the lines of a really poorly made fanservice anime, something like Akikan. I guess an action series with really mediocre animation would count as well, perhaps like Zombie-Loan. It's a little difficult to come up with a list of genuine B-rated anime, since a lot of the time, when an otherwise good anime has poor production values, it's generally done as a stylistic choice and even when it doesn't, these anime tend to be popular anyway (probably a consequence of the fact that anime is almost "cult" by nature). I don't think anime as a medium is really designed for B-rated works. Anime fans are arguably too hardcore to see the novelty of a B-rated work.

[Shadow Kira01]

It does not exist.

[james0246]

Originally Posted by Sorrow-K

My first thought was that a B-rated anime would be something along the lines of a really poorly made fanservice anime, something like Akikan. I guess an action series with really mediocre animation would count as well, perhaps like Zombie-Loan. It's a little difficult to come up with a list of genuine B-rated anime, since a lot of the time, when an otherwise good anime has poor production values, it's generally done as a stylistic choice and even when it doesn't, these anime tend to be popular anyway (probably a consequence of the fact that anime is almost "cult" by nature). I don't think anime as a medium is really designed for B-rated works. Anime fans are arguably too hardcore to see the novelty of a B-rated work.

Honestly, I have to agree with this statement. The concept of a B-movie is almost intrinsically American in origin, and even if you were to take the similar qualities found with a B-movie and plant them in an anime, the very fact that an anime takes so long to make and is constructed so differently from an actual film, means that those qualities were intentionally added to the anime, and consequently cannot be used as a means of categorizing the anime as being a B-movie.

That being said, using an extreme loose definition of the term B-movie, arguably any sci-fi anime, most horror, most comedy, as well as a few other genre anime could be considered a B-movie.

[Astrana]

I agree with Sorrow-K's statement, however I think we can grade anime by its popularity or cast

[Quarkboy]

Although I don't think there's anything comparable to a B-rated movie in recent anime, I'd definitely say that a number of OVAs produced in the 1980s ended up in a similar vein.

[Aoie_Emesai]

Bollywood animes? Hum... I would say not...

If we say B-rated animes, the production team would have to be either minor or independent.

[brocko]

If going by the above definition then I guess the Touhou Doujin Anime would be considered a B-rated anime.

[Sander RX]

B-Movie as in bad?Then you have loads B-Anime every season.

B-Movie as in feel like a B-Movie that takes after A-movie?You need not to look further than some old ultra-violence OAVs and similiar works.


Angel Cop:Feels like Robocop.
Mad Bull 34:Your typical Cop movie about partners.
Roots Search and Lily C.A.T:Animated low-budget Alien.
Dog Soldier:Its all about Japanese Rambo.
Crystal Triangle: Da Vinci Code...BEFORE DA VINCI CODE?!
And the title Dracula:Sovereign Of The Damned speaks for itself.

[C.A.]

If we rate anime by popularity, budget and such, probably 99% of all anime are B rated.

If TV ratings mean something, the highest rated anime would be Sazae-san, One Piece, Pretty Cure and other ratings giants. Anime like Gundam, everything from Gainax, Kyoani, would even be considered B rate.

There's no such rating in anime as far as I know.

[Kudryavka]

Well, assuming that a B-rate work is decided by a low budget, cast full of new names, and/or obviously subpar animation, yes, B-rate anime do exist.

I always considered the Higurashi anime series B-rate. For the first anime, the character design was disturbing, the art kinda hazy, and the voice acting so-so; the only thing they had going for them was the awesome story (which the studio didn't write, so no kudos to them), and USO DA!! Of course.

Another example of B-rate anime: the Eiken OVAs. If ever there was a bad anime, this is it. The animators used every animation shortcut in the book, had an absolutely awful story (they didn't write this either, but they did convert it into a story infinitely more grotesque than the original story), character designs that'd make feminists spontaneously combust, and okay voice acting. The OVAs were liscensed in America, and it ruins the voice acting; the English voice actors will make ears sensitive to quality voice acting bleed, be warned.

So yes, I believe there are B-rate anime.

[LeviathanDarkly]

/b/ - The Anime: the worset anime ever made.

[qtipbrit]

Originally Posted by Aoie_Emesai

Bollywood animes? Hum... I would say not...

If we say B-rated animes, the production team would have to be either minor or independent.

Kunio Kato's team at Robots (behind Tortov Roddle and La maison en petits cubes) is minor and independent, but they're only the second Japanese studio I've know to have won an Oscar.

Originally Posted by brocko

If going by the above definition then I guess the Touhou Doujin Anime would be considered a B-rated anime.

I'm not sure a "doujin anime" would be among B-Movies... It's not really even a "real" release (Using the term lightly), and in this case, it actually doesn't really fit the definition:

Originally Posted by Amex_Yohko

Well Hollywood do have B-rated movies which are cheaper, not starred by A-list actors and of course most of them were pretty bad. Do same thing exists for anime too like they were made only too fill the timeslot and also to help the seiyuus(most of them were unknown) and animators to feed themselves.

Probably cheaper on account of not really having a budget at all, but certainly starring A-list seiyuu, none of which hadn't or haven't already reached some level of recognition.
In this case, it was also more out of fandom than for feeding themselves, too. There are plenty of other ways to milk Touhou with less effort than animating an OVA.

[-KarumA-]

I remember there being a discussion on B-rated about 6 months ago D:
to me B-rated would be more pointed towards the budget and everything that comes along with it, a B rated anime can be brilliant even however sometimes the budget can influence how people look at it. Like there was a series that I don't remember the title of but people said it was really good, something about a group of kids going to the same school in a tiny village near the beach (think it was an island) and then something with a giant mecha, a game they had to participate in etc. the opening was pretty catchy and had the word restart in it however the budget was so small that the animation style started suffering because of it and because of that many people started labeling it as a B anime because ti wasn't top notch. grading it A or B is something that stands separate from grading it as a good anime to watch or not, it isn't influenced by the story but by how the quality is and int hese days how higher your quality the more chance there is that it will get popular

there are quite some movies with small budgets that are because of them considered B movies but whose plot can be brilliant to the oscar taking point