Unpopular Opinions You Hold About Anime

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Well, as far as filler arcs go, I think those are gradually beginning to be phased out of many adaptations entirely. It seems as though many anime studios are steadily adopting the approach of adapting anime in 26-episode seasons each year, rather than the usual year-round schedule, for long-running manga. This allows the anime to adapt the manga at a steady pace while also giving the manga sufficient time to keep a gap and stay ahead so that the anime doesn't have to resort to filler. The problem lies in that many of these series are then just doing the copy/paste routine. For example, Kuroko no Basket is basically the exact same thing as the manga, for better or worse. Unless you really just want to see the manga with motion and voice-acting, there's no real reason to watch the anime if you've already seen the manga. If you haven't read the manga and prefer watching to reading yet still want the same story, then the anime is a no brainier. For everyone else, it depends on if you basically just want to see the motion comic version of the series.

[LumRanmaYasha]

To bounce off your point: I entirely agree which is why I dislike filler arcs.

If you're going to have all that new material that builds on everything that made the series great in the first place, then you have to make the filler mean something or its all worthless. Who cares what character or plot device you introduce if you can't even use them in the actual story so the elements actually matter?

It's always too much of a missed opportunity to me.

I think the problem producers have with making filler arcs mean something to the overall story is that they can't have the characters or story be affected that much by what happens because they might end up contradicting the source material later on.

It's a wasted opportunity, for sure, but unless the producers are willing to risk creating a completely different story it seems impossible to pull off to me.

I think the best kind of filler is one that helps set up and embellish canonical stuff. My favorite use of filler is probably in Dragon Ball, especially in the early parts of the Red Ribbon Army arc. In the manga, Colonel Silver was a one-chapter foe that Goku defeats quickly and that's that. But in the anime, we see him, and the Red Ribbon Army, in action, and we see that they are a dangerous force to be reckoned with and a real threat, something that doesn't quite come across so much in the manga. Not only that, but having Pilaf be apart of the early stuff was brilliant since it makes the reveal of him being the holder of the last dragon ball in the Baba arc feel more natural and set up, not to mention the anime's occasional reappearances of Chi Chi and Ox King was something that proved useful for the 23rd Budokai arc.

Anyways, I totally agree that anime adaptations should take liberties and try to make the source material work better as an animated series, be it long or short form. Magi did good with this, cutting out some less potent parts in the story and recombining others to make the first season a self-contained but effective season, and I think it improved on what it adapted as a whole. InuYasha: The Final Act also benefitted by cutting out some of the less needed stuff in the final volumes of the manga and streamlining the key points in the story. While I do miss some of the stuff it took out, especially in regards to the Moryomaru arc, overall they did what they needed to do and did so more than effectively, including adding original scenes that I think really benefitted the flow of the story, which is why I really enjoyed watching Final Act even though the first anime is such a slog to me (though that's also for many reasons other than just the pacing). Maison Ikkoku removes an entire character and several smaller stories from the manga while adding new ones, and reorganizes the order of the events, which I think helped the show flow a lot better than if they tried to adapt it too faithfully (Nikaido wasn't really essential to the story, fun as he was). The Urusei Yatsura and Ranma 1/2 animes benefit from loosely adapting the stories and playing around with them, not to mention adding actually great original characters like Megane and Sauske to the mix and doing clever things with anime original episodes. And Joe 2 has wondorous anime original content that, like EK said, improves on some aspects on the story (specifically, I prefer how the anime handles Nishii and enjoy the repeated appearances of Gondo and the anime original investigator character).

Sometimes, though, anime adaptions can fuck shit up by trying to change things too much. Going back to The Final Act, while I loved most of it, there is one, single episode I actually really hate; what they did with the Hitomiko arc which comprises episode 16. They added some nonsense about the meaning behind Kagome's name and hyped her as having some special power, and not only was none of that stuff there in the manga, but it doesn't have any real effect on the ending at all and totally missed the point of the original version. And don't get me started on the shit Toei did to Toriko. It was bad enough that they took out so much of the over the top violence and then dragged the fights out to boring as hell levels, but then they had to go and add stupid filler comedy and a completely useless anime only character among other shit. Couple this with godawful cheap animation and you have one of the worst adaptions of a manga ever. Anyway, my point is there should be moderation and whatever is added should add to the depth and enjoyment of the story while not contradicting it and changing why people enjoy it in the first place, and thankfully, the best anime adaptions like Yu Yu Hakusho and Dragon Ball do just that.

Well, as far as filler arcs go, I think those are gradually beginning to be phased out of many adaptations entirely. It seems as though many anime studios are steadily adopting the approach of adapting anime in 26-episode seasons each year, rather than the usual year-round schedule, for long-running manga. This allows the anime to adapt the manga at a steady pace while also giving the manga sufficient time to keep a gap and stay ahead so that the anime doesn't have to resort to filler. The problem lies in that many of these series are then just doing the copy/paste routine. For example, Kuroko no Basket is basically the exact same thing as the manga, for better or worse. Unless you really just want to see the manga with motion and voice-acting, there's no real reason to watch the anime if you've already seen the manga. If you haven't read the manga and prefer watching to reading yet still want the same story, then the anime is a no brainier. For everyone else, it depends on if you basically just want to see the motion comic version of the series.

This is why I appreciate what the Magi anime did. The first season condensed and reorganized 115 chapters of story in 25 episodes, adjusting the pacing of the parts of the story when the need arose, and nearly completely altered the Zagann arc in ways I think not only improved it as a whole but also made it work better as an ending to the season. The second season, while I have some problems with the direction of some things compared to the manga in regards to the Magnostadt arc (I really think they fumbled Mogamett's backstory), it's still a fairly different experience watching it than reading it and I can appreciate that.

Really, I quite appreciate anime that are willing to take more liberties from their source material, and not only that, but rework it when necessary to make the story work better as a show rather than a comic.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I'm more interested in anime comedies than action series these days. Though, this is true with tv shows in general. My tv watching time is ever dwindling and I just don't have the patience anymore to sit through many episodes of a continuing story, especially if it's over 26 episodes. Slice of life and comedy series, though, are entertaining on an episode to episode level for the most part and while they have stories that move forward too I can feel more at ease watching them at a leisurely pace. When I'm into an action show I can marathon though maybe 10 episodes at a time, time-permitting (at most, I once watched 23 episodes of Monster in a day), but normally my patience wears thin the longer the run is and I'm more likely to put it off. Also, I don't tend to re-watch action series much these days. The anime I revisit the most often lately, Bobobo, Ranma, Urusei Yatsura, and Lupin, are all comedy series where I can just watch any random episode and be satisfied, whereas with an action show one episode usually doesn't cut it as a casual viewing. But it's also telling that of the new anime I've been most into only Kill la Kill is an action series, while Space Dandy and Zvezda Plot are comedies and Silver Spoon is a slice-of life (and a damn well-written and emotional one, at that. Seriously puts FMA to shame...). Even though I've been loving the heck out of Kill la Kill and Joe 2, I probably won't revisit them for a long time, whereas I can see myself watching a random Dandy episode pretty often. Really, comedies are something I feel up to watching when I'm in a good mood or not, while I need to be in a specific mood to be motivated to watch an action show or something really serious, and so I get more out of the comedies I like at the end of the day, and I feel more drawn to watch a comedy or slice of life series than an action one because of that.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Honestly, if it's a series that I really love, action or otherwise, I can easily revisit my favorite chapters/episodes of it as many times as I want without having to re-watch it in any particular order. My case in point is that I've read many parts of AnJ multiple times already because it's just that damn good, IMO, and I have also watched the final episode of Joe 2 a total of 3 times, so far.

And don't even get me started on YYH. To be honest, the last time that I re-watched the show in chronological order from start to finish was in 2006. Ever since then I've done nothing but re-watch any particular episodes that I'm in the mood for, though collectives I've seen the show more than a half-dozen times so far if you add it all up. Honestly, no single other show, episodic or otherwise, has ever gotten even close to as much re-watch value for me, personally.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Honestly, if it's a series that I really love, action or otherwise, I can easily revisit my favorite chapters/episodes of it as many times as I want without having to re-watch it in any particular order. My case in point is that I've read many parts of AnJ multiple times already because it's just that damn good

So have I, actually. I heave re-read Joe and Rikishi's last fight, in particular, thrice. I should have clarified my feelings are more about anime and not at all manga. Manga is easier for me to revisit than anime, for many reasons, partially because it's just faster, but mainly because I find the experience of reading stories more engaging than watching and listening to them, these days. I also just find myself preferring manga to anime in general nowadays, honestly. I manage to feel more excited to read a really great manga and get closer to finishing my immense backlog for it than with anime and my anime backlog, which just seems exhausting to me.

And don't even get me started on YYH. To be honest, the last time that I re-watched the show in chronological order from start to finish was in 2006. Ever since then I've done nothing but re-watch any particular episodes that I'm in the mood for, though collectives I've seen the show more than a half-dozen times so far if you add it all up. Honestly, no single other show, episodic or otherwise, has ever gotten even close to as much re-watch value for me, personally.

YYH is actually the action show I've rewached the most. I've seen the first 32 episodes especially at least a dozen times because as a kid I watched it almost every day on Colors tv and I would watch episodes we ripped from the dvds on our iPhone in the car or on buses during long trips, not to mention we went through the dvds frequently as well. Me and Vlord especially tended to revisit the Saint Beast arc and Team Uratogi fight, so we've had to seen those more than a dozen times by now as well. Otherwise, I think I've seen every episode in the show a minimum of 6 times, with the exception of the Dr. Ichigaki and Team Masho fights, which I've only seen two or three times, I think.

That still doesn't compare to how much I've watched Bobobo. I manage to go through one or two runs of Bobobo every year just by watching the episodes randomly whenever I feel like it. By now I have seen every episode in the show two dozen times by now, and I still find myself drawn back to my favorite episodes. South Park is the same deal for me. Their re-watch value for me is one of the biggest factors as to why they are my two favorite animated series, really.

[Lord Dalek]

Precure is modestly entertaining.

[gunswordfist]

I'm sorry but Hunter X Hunter 1999 OST < Hunter X Hunter 2011 OST.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

-Kill La Kill > TTGL

-Kids on the Slope may be my favorite show from Watanabe; I love Cowboy Bebop and Space a Dandy, but this show just has themes and characters that resonate with me stronger than those 2 shows and his other famous one, which brings me to....

-Samurai Champloo: other than a couple of episodes in particular, I don't really care for it, personally

-Also on the subject of Watanabe, while I like Space Dandy, I still personally think that Level E is a better Sci-Fi/Supernatural Wacky Alien Space Comedy, this is partly due to my Togashi bias, but also because I find the incredibly insane story ideas presented in Level E to be much more entertaining, personally

-Full Metal Panic! Is the only thing that I've ever liked from KyoAni, which brings me to....

-I can't fucking stand KyoAni; I don't like moe, but their obsession with it isn't why I don't like them; It's their obnoxious up-their-own-ass-itude about it

-I completely disagree with the common criticism that Wolf Children's narrative is flawed just because it becomes more focused on the kids in the second half; it's purposely made like one of those movies that starts out in one generation and ends with the coming of age of the next generation; it's a story about life, and it's not Summer Wars which is clearly an action epic (sort of), so I don't know why it's judged by the standards of very different types of movies

[LumRanmaYasha]

-Kill La Kill > TTGL

I like TTGL, but I also prefer Kill la Kill. It has a more rough energy to it's craziness, and I find the characters an storyline on the whole more interesting and appealing. I also feel TTGL lost momentum at the start of the second half (before becoming insanely over the top in the final few episodes), while Kill la Kill was always an addictive, and exciting watch, and played with my expectations and emotions a little bit stronger.

-Kids on the Slope may be my favorite show from Watanabe; I love Cowboy Bebop and Space a Dandy, but this show just has themes and characters that resonate with me stronger than those 2 shows and his other famous one, which brings me to....

I still need to watch Kids on the Slope. Considering I'm gravitating towards more slice-of-life type kind of stories in fiction nowadays, I have a feeling I'd really like it.

-Also on the subject of Watanabe, while I like Space Dandy, I still personally think that Level E is a better Sci-Fi/Supernatural Wacky Alien Space Comedy, this is partly due to my Togashi bias, but also because I find the incredibly insane story ideas presented in Level E to be much more entertaining, personally

I also think Level E was more consistent, and is more consistently entertaining than Dandy, though Dandy at it's highs is stronger than Level E at it's best for me personally. Of course, my favorite sic-fi/wacky alien space comedy is by far Urusei Yatsura, because not only is that series incredibly inventive and diverse with it's stories, it also has a huge ensemble cast with incredibly appealing strong personalities and subtle but wonderful character development. On that note, I'd say the series' 12th OVA is also personally the "funniest" anime episode I've ever watched, imo, and I've watched and read my fair share of anime comedies. 

Some unpopular opinions of my own:

- Pokemon: Diamond & Pearl is easily the best Pokemon series. Not to say it's a great show, because it still has filler and pacing issues, but the character arcs are much better, the villains were integrated into the plot and characterized much better, the rivals were likable, had a role in the story outside of just being rivals, and were fleshed out characters, and the final battle between Satoshi and Shinji at the Sinnoh league is by far the best battle in the anime franchise and constitutes it's best episodes as well.

- I prefer the Lina and Naga duo than the main quartet of Line, Gourry, Zelgadis, and Amelia in Slayers. Lina and Naga just have more chemistry together than Lina has with anyone in the tv animes, and I do love those characters and their interactions a lot as well. It's just that Lina and Naga play off each other and create comedy more naturally than the core cast often does, and are more fun to watch in just about any situation, especially when they are at each other's throats. I really wish they made a Slayers Special tv anime, because 6 OVA episodes and 4 movies just ain't enough Lina and Naga goodness, imo.

- The weakest part of the Ranma 1/2 anime is the "second season;" aka, Hard Battle. That season has the worst animation, the worst episodes featuring Happosai, and in general has a weaker ratio of great to meh episodes than the others. Now, the best part of the anime is easily the final three seasons and the OVAs. I really disagree with people who prefer the first half over the second half. The second half has more creative concepts and is a lot more consistent (and the average episode is a heck lot more funnier, imo). How anyone can prefer the second season to the sixth is beyond me.

[gunswordfist]

Hmm, Level E is like Space Dandy?

[LumRanmaYasha]

Hmm, Level E is like Space Dandy?

They are both episodic and generally not-continuity heavy series that have diversified stories from episode to episode, combining sci-fi and wacky alien shenanigans with out-there ideas.

[The Shadow Gentleman]

-Kill La Kill > TTGL

To each their own, I suppose.

-Kids on the Slope may be my favorite show from Watanabe; I love Cowboy Bebop and Space a Dandy, but this show just has themes and characters that resonate with me stronger than those 2 shows and his other famous one

I still prefer Bebop, but I completely agree. And hey, the more publicity Art Blakey gets the better.

-Also on the subject of Watanabe, while I like Space Dandy, I still personally think that Level E is a better Sci-Fi/Supernatural Wacky Alien Space Comedy, this is partly due to my Togashi bias, but also because I find the incredibly insane story ideas presented in Level E to be much more entertaining, personally

I still need to watch Level E. I remember Vic Mignogna saying a lot of good things about that show.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I still need to watch Level E. I remember Vic Mignogna saying a lot of good things about that show.

Well, of course he would. He does play the main character on that show after all. 

But yeah, it's a fun series, and worth checking out if you want to see something very different from Togashi's main two works.

[The Shadow Gentleman]

Well, of course he would. He does play the main character on that show after all. 

Yeah, him talking about how fun it was to play the main character is what really got me interested in checking it out.

[gunswordfist]

I thought Kids on the Slope was just some short from him, lol.

Well, of course he would. He does play the main character on that show after all. 

Yeah, him talking about how fun it was to play the main character is what really got me interested in checking it out.

If only he felt that way about Broly.