Topic: Anime & Manga (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

I've finished up watching JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Season 1. Except for the 1st episode, I really loved it. It's now my second favourite anime series.

I'm not going to move on to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders just yet. It'll be nice to take a break from JoJo and watch a different anime first.

Edit: I liked the Phantom Blood arc better than the Battle Tendency arc for JoJo season 1. The characters were more likeable in Phantom Blood.

@crimsontadpoles Hmm, it's interesting that you preferred PB over BT. A lot of people say they like BT the most and many don't seem to like PB compared to the rest of the series. I respect that though! PB might be my least favorite JoJo part but even then it is quite good. I'm currently reading the manga of it right now, and it reminds me that Johnathan is cool, even if he is a generic shonen protagonist.

@OdnetninAges It's to finally see a teaser for this as I wondered if it was still happening or not. Can't say I'm super excited, but the animation looks good even though a couple character designs look to have lost that Gainax charm. In any case, more music by the pillows is welcome!

Anyone here watched Naruto Shippuden before?

I need to get back to that someday...

"Don't finish this series you've already watched hundreds upon hundreds of episodes from" lolno

@FriedSquid

I personally felt a wave of nostalgia from that trailer. The animation shown looked pretty much exactly like the original FLCL to me (other than the fact that it is widescreen now). The new Pillows song helps too.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to this, but that's probably just my nostalgia talking. I just hope I wind up liking it as much as the original series.

@Tsurii The Final Arc was a let down imo. A lot of cool characters and opportunities were wasted and the ending was a big wtf. Personally, I also didn't like how ridiculously powerful characters at the end were. Like they basically fodderized most others.

If you aren't currently playing it, now's the time to jump into Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle, as they're currently holding 2 different celebrations.

First off, it's the game's second anniversary, so all players get a Transcended UR Super Sayain 2 Goku (Technique affinity), 1 God Dragon Stone (can be traded for an SSR rank character of your choice, out of a small, but elite set consisting of Super Sayain 3 Goku, Super Sayain 3 Gotenks, Ultimate Gohan, Full Power Frieza, Perfect Cell, Legendary Super Sayain Broly, and Gohan Absorbed Super Buu), and 40 Dragon Stones (you need 50 to perform a multi-summom).

Furthermore, due to both the above celebration and another celebrating their 500,000 Facebook followers, you get tons of items every day you log in over the next few weeks (more Dragon Stones, Awakening Medals, Training Items, Support Items, Baba's Trading Post Points, and Anniversary Tokens. The Anniversary Tokens can be traded for various things including certain SSR characters, like a Super Sayain Goku, Super Sayain Youth Gohan, Android #18, Piccolo, & more).

Berserk (2016). It was ok. Thought it would be better. Now i see where dark souls got the inspiration. Didnt like the cgi and im sure 2d would have looked more grittier. I dont know cgi made many things look funny. Guts is the kind of lone wolf i like. Cant top geralt though.

Cheer boys: Enjoyable and motivational anime about a cheerleading club with boys. Nothing really special but sometimes the people were likeable.

Cute High Earth Defense Club Love! Love!: The only anime in which i dont mind the bathing scenes. Its ok.

@Tsurii I read the manga until around the babeing of casca. Yes guts is hardcore (who wouldnt be after his childhood?) but that alone doesnt make him a great character to me.

@Tsurii Im sure you like him and as i said so do i. But he just doesnt klick the way geralt does. It doesnt matter if someone is well portayed or logical. I think theyre both well characterized in their original medium. Simply put his general aura is just too aggressive for my taste. But it wouldnt be berserk if it would be otherwise.

That link was an interesting read, actually. I hope Netflix gets the other two movies...

D gray man hallow: Didnt like it at all. Its just another sorrow and pain emo teeny drama with much pain in form of cut off legs and arms. Mangaka seems to have a fetish for this. I remember watching this series like ten or so years ago. At the time i thought it was good and had character. Is it a coincidence that the director who looks like the dictator is part of an organisation that hunts akuma which are sometimes like the akuma virus symbolized by stars? Anyway i think all the groups are pretty unsympathetic and the hero is a boring nice guy who likes to suffer in agony for everyones sins. Ugh how i cant stand those types.

The only good thing was the last scene. Took me also some time to get this insight. If life is garbage just keep walking. So ill keep on watching anime to find a good show.

Honestly, I might stil give it a shot regardless. People said the original had terrible animation, but I hardly noticed...not to mention, I'm not actually a fan of Berserk's Manga. I guess it'll depend on how its handled, but I thought it got pretty gratuitous after a while.

I tried out the first episode of Kill Me Baby, and I'm liking it so far. It's a slapstick comedy, so not something to take seriously. Plus, the credits music is fantastic.

No, not the movies. There was already a Golden Arc anime back in 1997. It was really good, but a lot of anime fans point out that it has really bad animation, but I dunno, it seemed like it conveyed enough that I never really noticed it. I think the relatively unique art style helps.

I'm not a big Anime fan and I watch very few of it in general. Maybe like at most two or three different series over the span of years, but I have a question. Why does it seem like Anime in general loves to portray female characters with big chests and exaggerated body proportions/revealing clothing? So forgive my ignorance, but it's just a trend that I've noticed clearly. Keep in mind I'm not entirely oblivious and I answers in mind, but I thought it'd be interesting to ask people who probably know more about it and are in easy reach.

My assumption is that it's
A. The general focus on well endowed women in media in general
B. Japan's more chill outlook on sex
C. A way to make it more apparent who is a women when male characters in some series are feminine looking

I mean, y'know, outside of the obvious answer that sex sells

@-Green- It's a generalisation, obviously - you're much less likely to find similar tropes played out in a Studio Ghibli film, for example - but you'd have to be wilfully dishonest not to admit that it often hits the mark.

I'd say one of the most important ways of analysing any form of media is to look at the market its aimed at, and examining the domestic market for anime throws up a few interesting, and perhaps revealing numbers. The short answer is; sex does indeed sell, and (almost) nowhere is that truer than in Japan. The country has the second highest spending on pornography per-person in the world (at $157pp in 2011, behind South Korea's $527pp), and erotic/erotically-tinged material is still a more visible feature of - say - Tokyo's streets and stores than many major Western counterparts. Viewed in context of the notable abstinence from sexual relationships among 18-34 year olds in the country, it becomes hard to escape the conclusion that a significant number of young people are tending to their sexual appetites through methods other than 'in the flesh'. Not a phenomenon unique to Japan obviously - practically every country with wide-spread internet access experiences the same thing - but the numbers that Japan throws up are certainly worth reflecting upon when attempting to work out, 'who is this aimed at?'.

Of course, none of this is directly relates to your original question; including a questionably proportioned character in a short skirt doesn't instantly make a show 'pornography' (and therefore isn't necessarily included in the earlier spending figure), and you could well argue that it's overreaching to draw any overt links between characters designs in animated TV shows and national statistics on relationships and sexual practices. I'm not going to make any brash claims, as there are enough sensationalist articles on this subject as it is, but I think the figures are relevant when trying to understand the 'audience', which is in turn necessary to understand the 'context' behind the 'content' of shows in question.

So that's the audience (crudely) dealt with, but what of the shows themselves? Well, one notable difference between Japanese animation and that of much of the West is the scope and variety. There's very little animation for the Western market that isn't explicitly aimed a younger audience, whereas animation in Japan doesn't have anywhere near the same age-limited focus. It's simply a bigger, broader, and more varied medium in general.

"Isn't it weird how they sexualise cartoons?", a Western viewer might opine, before sitting down to watch an entire season Game of Thrones - unaware of the irony that they're basically tucking into 'Lord of the Rings + Sex'. It's basically the same thing; throwing sexual elements into a TV show for a particular audience. The main difference is that animation in Japan covers enough ground to extend into this audience, where Western animation doesn't have much of a presence beyond shows aimed at younger viewers. This may go some way to explaining why certain 'themes' crop up in anime that are much rarer in Western 'cartoons'.

Finally, as anime is, well... 'animated', you can draw pretty much whatever you - or audience - wants, which is much harder with live-action. This freedom can naturally lead to be bit more 'creative licence' with the character designs and general aesthetic than you might see in live-action shows. Even CG-heavy films have to be based on a believable aesthetic. However, when nothing is real to begin with, it's much easier indulge in fantasy, both in subtle ways and... less subtle ones.

There's probably a lot more that could be written on the (potentially thorny) subject, but I feel I've blabbered on enough as it is. To summarise: Sex sells in general, particularly in Japan (to the tune of $157pp); Japanese animation as a medium (note: not a genre) is much broader in output than its Western counterpart, and therefore covers a wider array of material for more ages and audiences (including raunchier themes); and the nature of animation makes it much easier to take a less realistic approach with character designs, which can range from giant dinner-plate sized sparkling emerald eyes to... other equally unlikely interpretations of the human form.

From a purely analytical perspective, I think that at least somewhat answers the question, although there may still be many valid points I haven't dealt with (such as whether the fraction of anime popular in the West paints a particular idea of 'anime' in general). Whether these tropes are a good thing of a bad thing is another can of worms which has probably set many comment section alight for months (with little progressive discussion to show for it). What probably is a good thing is that anime as a medium has enough variety that you can probably learn where to go if you want to head towards that sort of thing, and where to go if you want to get away from it.

And... err, there's a thesis I never thought I'd write. At least I've got my thoughts together, though I feel a little silly for spending such time on it. I think it's one of these prickly topics that if you don't spend an age correcting and recorrecting yourself and trying to explain from a few different angles, you're likely to annoy someone with your oversimplifications and get into a silly shouting match. Anyway, I'll go do something more productive now. If anyone spots any flaws with the above ideas, please point them out (kindly!).

@Tsurii Funny are you not the somebody who gaged (in fat) when i said i prefer geralt over guts and told me to educate myself? ^^

Finished danganronpa 3 and i didnt like it. Too many extreme characters and lunatics to say the least plus too much anime bs. The hero was just a hollow advertisement for hope. But watching the arcs together was actually good. Really liked it with pair 3.

Well i wont give up the hope to see a really good anime in that season.