In Defense of Liking Bad Anime
IKnights article about his love of Karin got me thinking about if there was some forgotten or maligned anime I’ve seen that, despite my own high standards, I loved anyways. So I go to check out my MAL anime list and it turns out there’s not just one show that fits the bill, there’s a slew of shows that make me wonder how I ever finished them AND enjoyed them.
For instance, there’s Dragonaut, the most maligned series in recent memory (ie. from two seasons ago) and for good reason. It is a sloppy mess of a story filled with big boobs and bad CG. Admittedly it was probably the boobs that got me to watch the show, standards mean nothing before hormones, but I did finish it because I liked the characters and the story, however awful it was. There’s Grenadier, a show whose main selling point was that the heroine reloaded her gun just be swishing her breasts around. A pattern may be developing here actually.
Continuing on, there’s Elemental Gelade, which I doubt many remember. If there was ever a definition of generic fantasy anime then Gelade is it. Still, I watched all of it, no doubt helped along by how insatiably moe Rin is. Also had a great OP. Then there’s Gift ~eternal rainbow~, yet another eroge adaption that was probably forgotten because Kanon was airing at the same time. I can’t remember how I even started watching it or what drove me to complete it. It’s pretty average - there’s probably worse eroge shows - and to its own merit it has a few good Kaede moments towards the end. Keep in mind I also couldn’t finish ef, the eroge darling before Clannad started, which really says something about my slippery standards. Then there’s Mai-Otome…well, we all got duped into watching that so I can’t say much there.
Apart from the genuinely bad shows I enjoyed, there’s also the many goods ones that were for whatever reason tragically ignored. I will sing the praises of Bartender to the hills and back as one of the most brilliant adult pieces of anime ever made, but people easily dismissed it for not owning up to its epic hype, which admittedly I also fed. Betterman is the only anime I’ve ever seen that actually has horror that makes me huddle down in my seat, but because it’s old and mecha and had a somewhat whiny protagonist it’s forgotten.
Ufotable’s Futakoi Alternative is probably the best dramatic-romantic-comedy I’ve seen but many people just tuned it out, mainly for refusing to settle down into one category. Even when a show that defies genre conventions comes around people still ignore it for not following the same conventions they were already railing against. That’s more a fault with people in general, actually. Finally there’s Skull Man, which was a perfectly plotted dark and mature show. It was also based on a one-shot tokusatsu story written in 1970 from the guy who made Kamen Rider, so there wasn’t much hope for it to begin with. And then there’s all the old shows I’ve seen, but they’re old so nobody cares.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned after so much blogging and so much watching, of both good and bad, it’s that anime really is the most subjective form of art. Objectively people will point to some work - invariably Hayao Miyazaki comes up a lot - and say “look! That’s the best of anime right there,” but that doesn’t work out. Anime is made of so many diverse elements - design, animation, characters, story, voice, merchandising - that even the worse show can have one element that some person out there will love it for. So, really, none of us should feel guilty for liking one show or entitled to like another one just because it’s critically acclaimed. In my head I call it the Aesthetics of Likeability, but if I really understood aesthetics could I actually have watched and enjoyed Dragonaut? Now that’s a question that requires some deep soul searching, which I don’t have time for cause I’m going to go watch some Kamen no Maid Guy.
Hey, I actually really liked Dragonaut. ^^ true, sometimes it was downright ridiculous, but what anime isn’? Dragonaut is one of the few anime where the main couple are actually a couple and not two people who enjoy skullfucking each other ^^ And well, me being a big fan of “bad” anime, just of different kind.. why would you be ashamed of liking something? Nowdays anyting that isnt’ moe is regarded as “bad anime” anyways ^^
Comment on July 22, 2008 @ 6:29 pm
Kamen no Maid Guy is first-rate entertainment.
One of these days I ought to write a post called “In Defense of Hating Good Anime”.
Comment on July 22, 2008 @ 8:02 pm
Sometimes a show is so bad that it’s good. I rather liked Dragonaut and thought it redeemed itself near the halfway point with some gutsy character deaths. Too bad all the deaths involved cool characters. The story was a mess with way too many plotholes and unexplored potential for character backstories, but it was kind of a fun ride.
Comment on July 22, 2008 @ 10:53 pm
@Meows and Yamcha: I definitely enjoyed Dragonaut but it just fits the bill of bad anime so perfectly. It also works well as an example cause most people remember it.
@Baka-Raptor: Perfect example of this for me is Cowboy Bebop. Everyone says it’s brilliant, but I just find it average at best. It has some good fights and drama but the individual stories just aren’t that interesting.
Comment on July 23, 2008 @ 1:40 am
It’s hard not to enjoy bad anime or any anime because its main purpose in existing is to please the (an) audience. A while back I read an article that refuted the rising belief that Elfin Lied was “art” or more “artistic” than other anime and therefore a better anime. I agreed to some extent, but not because of the analysis the author provided. Anime has always been, like any entertainment medium, about selling a product to the consumer and perhaps even beyond Hollywood’s compromise of quality for profit the anime industry tends to act towards giving the consumer a feel good experience in order to gain.
Art, meaning, content, experimentation, and other risky fringe ideas will mostly be defeated by the comfort of good sales and gaining a foot in the market which is usually attained by hitting on your fancies like cute girls and good-guys-win stories. Dragonaut as you mentioned is mostly about the fan service and little else and perhaps the best example of the industry’s tap into your pleasure zone without much regard to other aspects is the harem genre which continues to use a proven formula almost dogmatically for acquiring a market. As for liking “bad” anime, well first off what is “good” anime? Much like in the film industry what constitutes a good movie varies for each person. As for me I would say 90% of anime is “bad” in the greater context of the expressive mediums.
Analyzing anime cinematographically, its nearest expressive medium, results in almost all of them being considered amateurish at best. As for good and bad within the anime medium well now we need to define an anime and what aspects need grading for quality. To make it simple the best indicator of quality is probably story since a good story will negate bad effects of graphics and any visual story telling aspects ( the equivalent of having a director) is usually ignored when grading anime (no one really considers the quality of scenes or frames in anime quality which is a shame.)
Good anime would therefore have an interesting, original, and perhaps more importantly a thought-provoking story. By such standard you would eliminate a good deal of anime since it mostly works to please you, not make you think (like a handjob vs. reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez.) If you believe that thought is not necessary and likability is just fine to create quality then anime falls a bit below legitimate expressive medium. a bit like porn.
Comment on July 23, 2008 @ 2:40 am
*awaits Baka Raptor’s hating ‘good’ anime post*
Anime is definitely an extraordinarily subjective medium, though it’s only those who get into it that realize this or even care because suddenly you feel like you have to defend every show you’ve ever watched and liked against the cynical flamers… Or maybe that’s just me. I think I’ll stick to the “I like what I like, SO THERE” mentality for a while/
Comment on July 23, 2008 @ 4:01 am
School Days was great if only because it was a most memorable trainwreck.
GSD is utter crap, but it had a decent soundtrack.
Then again, I really liked what I saw in Karin and I’m glad to say that Koihime isn’t too bad. But in the latter’s case, there was this sense of THIS IS NOT RIGHT. That and it was really silly.
Comment on July 23, 2008 @ 4:09 am
I absolutely agree that nobody should ever feel guilty for liking what they like, but I don’t really see how anime is inherently more subjective than any other form of tv show/film/cartoon. Think of how many people genuinely love bad films.
I reckon that the issue isn’t with anime, but with fans. So many of us only bother to seek out foreign cartoons on account of certain styles/tropes/fetishes. So we’re more likely to embrace subjective analysis, and to get caught up in the overwhelming appeal of a specific element of an unsatisfactory whole.
Comment on July 23, 2008 @ 6:37 am
I think that’s the important point here. We tend to be embarrassed that we like shows that the majority of fans consider bad, and tend to over state series that the majority of fans think is good. And while we worry about doing those things, when we look at it, I don’t think it’s something that needs to be worried about as long as you get the enjoyment. But I’m a hypocrite about this anyway, so eh.
Comment on July 23, 2008 @ 8:13 am
Am I the baka raptor hating good anime? I rather enjoy the idea of being a vicious if somewhat less intellectual bird/reptile of prey who, though dumb, am capable of qualifying anime and using a computer to post such remarks. I also enjoy the other version in which I am a sentient fighter yet (the F-22 Raptor) setting my sights on good anime and shooting hate missiles at it.
Issa-sa I do not disagree with you in that people can get into anime and like it for it and much like coburn adds we “get caught up in the overwhelming appeal of a specific element of an unsatisfactory whole.” Once again Dragonaut comes to mind in the conversation. What I am saying is that the anime industry capitalizes in our “seeking out” as coburn says of other forms of entertainment and has little incentive to provide us with something original or “good” in the greater sense with respect to all mediums of expression (writing, the visual arts, theater…)
I also add that quality cinematography or directing of scenes and frames is lacking in most animes because it is not something that is usually critiqued, but in the medium of moving pictures is a rather important aspect as far as meaning and quality is involved. I am also saying that enjoying bad anime is natural because every anime has a specific audience that it’s trying to please and if you’re it then it will do its hardest to “jerk you off” mentally. If you’re happy then you probably liked the anime.
However, just because you like it does not make it good. Kind of like enjoying pizza, but pizza is not really good for your health. That may be a good way to put it. Bad anime is like junk food: delicious to those who like it, but not really healthy in large doses and certainly not hot cuisine. I would also add that all mediums of expression are extraordinarily subjective and that anime is just another form that is a bit too rooted in commerce and pleasing the audience to achieve anything of greatness most of the time.
Giving you what you want is a bad way of achieving quality. Like a parent spoiling his child and then wondering why he/she turn out to be a useless jerk. The more you are content the less likely you are to think about it and wonder and in all form of expression the less time you spend examining the work the less its overall value to you is.
Comment on July 23, 2008 @ 1:18 pm
I understand the baka-raptor comment now. Sorry for any misunderstanding. I am also not sure if my post is really up or not since I cannot see it so sorry if this is a re-post.
Issa-sa I do not disagree with you in that people can get into anime and like it for it and much like coburn adds we “get caught up in the overwhelming appeal of a specific element of an unsatisfactory whole.” Once again Dragonaut comes to mind in the conversation. What I am saying is that the anime industry capitalizes in our “seeking out” as coburn says of other forms of entertainment and has little incentive to provide us with something original or “good” in the greater sense with respect to all mediums of expression (writing, the visual arts, theater…)
I also add that quality cinematography or directing of scenes and frames is lacking in most animes because it is not something that is usually critiqued, but in the medium of moving pictures is a rather important aspect as far as meaning and quality is involved. I am also saying that enjoying bad anime is natural because every anime has a specific audience that it’s trying to please and if you’re it then it will do its hardest to “jerk you off” mentally. If you’re happy then you probably liked the anime.
However, just because you like it does not make it good. Kind of like enjoying pizza, but pizza is not really good for your health. That may be a good way to put it. Bad anime is like junk food: delicious to those who like it, but not really healthy in large doses and certainly not hot cuisine. I would also add that all mediums of expression are extraordinarily subjective and that anime is just another form that is a bit too rooted in commerce and pleasing the audience to achieve anything of greatness most of the time.
Giving you what you want is a bad way of achieving quality. Like a parent spoiling his child and then wondering why he/she turn out to be a useless jerk. The more you are content the less likely you are to think about it and wonder and in all form of expression the less time you spend examining the work the less its overall value to you is.
Comment on July 23, 2008 @ 1:23 pm
[...] quality is something that’s been bouncing around in my head for a while, and Demian’s recent post on ‘Liking Bad Anime’ (hopefully to be followed in the future by Baka-Raptor on [...]
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