What makes anime Good to You?

[OmniStrata]

This is in the hopes of stopping all these dumb/gay ass threads about [this is good!!! cause I say so!!!]

Here's something more objective and less counterable [as in idiots can't back their words up...]

What makes a good anime to you...?

[reads top 10 anime list]

10 FAVORITE ANIME

1. Please Teacher

2. Ai Yori Aoshi

3. Rune Soldier

4. Great Teacher Onizuka

5. Kanon (anime)

6. Nadesico

7. Bastard!

8. Saber Marionette J

9. Samurai Girl Real Bout High School

10. Virtual Fighter

I ask that you do the same with your top 10. [and if you forgot, you should update it cha n00b!]

Well, from what can be seen, lots of these have a quite a budget. This is shown through both the overall quality and skilled CG usage. [face it, all anime is going to use CG so it's better to accept it than to fight it :p]

First off: CHARACTER DESIGN! It's my favorite excuse for loving anime. It can be as simple as Virtua Fighter's. [which is still sexy in some cases] Or as VERY cute as Kanon's. I almost gushed looking at those faces... Or as UBER CURVY as [what else?] Please Teacher! [IT'S NOT A HENTAI YOU BUTTHOLES!!] Bad character design just makes me go [ugh] (DBZ *cough)

Good directing: Masami Shimoda [Ai Yori Aoshi and Saber Marionette J] Yasunori Ide [Please Teacher], etc. Hiroki Hayashi also comes to mind but his anime aren't in top 10 for me. You're a n00b unless you know WHO directed your fav anime. Just saying "WHOA IT R0X0RS MY C0X0RS" is of little help. A good director MAKES the anime good. Just cause you have a big production company doesn't mean shit. Look at Sorcerer Hunters, FLCL, and then Evangelion. [*cough] If it says the name of a well known director like, "From the director of Ninja Scroll" - Birdy the Mighty, then I'll probably grab it just for that. Labyrinth of Flames is directed by the same pervert as Project A-ko and [dare I say it] AGENT AIKA! And his [all panties are shown] technique still shines through, no pun intended. Directing also makes a good plot AND...

Good ending: I can't stress this more in the anime I watch. I DO mind open ended endings where no closure is brought about. [Berserk *cough] And the only reason Bastard is up there is cause Kazushi Hagiwara draws the best art to date in my book. [though I must say, Hiroaki Gohda's works are simple and JUST AS SINFULLY CURVY/SEXY] If I end an anime, am I "satisfied" that I sat through it? When Eva ended, I was just: "WTF WAS ALL THE STORY FOR?! DID THE DIRECTOR JUST SAY FOOK U TO MY FACE?!" [and according to some of you, that's exactly what he did] Good directing is one thing, but if the director is GREAT, the ending will have you say: 'I'm SOOO glad I watched it' Saber Marionette comes to mind. Though they stretched the shit out of it and its budget dropped quite a few notches, its ending was nothing short of... [aaaaawwwwwwwwwwww how cuuuuuute!!]

Good beginning: Please Teacher and Ai Yori Aoshi had they're grip on my on episode 1!!! This is part of having a good director after all.

Budget doesn't matter: just cause it's Production IG doesn't mean it's a be all and end all. Ghost in the Shell Movie? I said "blah, wtf?" Stand Alone Complex... [oooohhh no nudity needed to be sexy!!] Virtua Fighter should immediately hit you as low budget, however, what they had to work with was pretty damn impressive. Then there's Onegai (Please) Teacher. 0_0 Inu Yasha has a good budget too since they're CG usage is VERY damn good... [though not in my top 10 blah...]

DAMN good music: My #1 anime has my #1 song group singing it. I've [go fig] Virtua Fighter's song opening is DUBBED?! And it's GOOD! I thought only Pioneer did that! [shrug] Evangelion's saving grace is its music. But for me, the ending STILL killed it. Kanon has that soft mellow style intro but the series ending, "The Place Where the Wind Leads to" had [(2JA)OMNI WILL LOVE IT] written all over it ^_^ GTO's second opening, "Lonely Lonely" [Hitori's theme song I'm sure... ^_^] sticks with me 4EVAR...

Here's a klincher I'm sure none of you may agree with:

Major/minor: How "overrun" is the anime? Did it go mainstream and get butchered? Are there fanboys giving it a REALLY bad name? Has everyone and they're dead grandparents done a music video to it? Some of the anime on that list are quite old and yet they still have a modest yet strong fan following. I don't need overblown morons giving the anime I want to keep to myself a bad name. ^_^

Now, What makes an anime Good to YOU!! 8)

[Tom the Fish]

My top 10 list would be story-driven shows. Niea_7, Yamato 2, Magic Users Club, Ghibli, Ghibli, Ghibli, She, Ghibli. Substance over style everytime.

Tom

[OmniStrata]

Magic Users, ah, good times......

j00 are da man...

For a second, I thought this thread would die prematurely...

btw, I totally agree with you 8)

[InSaNe KeYbLaDeR]

Can't really put my top 10 anime, there's so much to pick from, but for what makes an anime good.....
Their expressions! They're priceless! And the sayings that they have and sick jokes. ((most can be seen in the Funny Screencaps thread, or sumthing like that)) They usually take that out in dubbed anime >.> And other stuff makes anime good, but I can't think of any right now. -_-;;;

[Moonlight Soldier]

My Top 10 SERIES In no particular order...

Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon (Obviously), Slayers, Fushigi Yuugi, The Vision of Escaflowne, Inuyasha, Ranma, Magic Knight Rayearth, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Record of Lodoss Wars, Rurouni Kenshin...the list goes on....

Reasons why i like:

1) I LOVE fantasy, i write it, i read it and i watch it...anything that involves any sort of epic quest or magic etc...
2) I'm a girl I like mushy romances (Laugh/mock all you want)...I love watching characters/romances develop...even the bad ones..
3) I like the genres...fantasy, Shojo, Romance, comedy etc...anime is better that Reality T'V and all that other crap they chose to produce nowadays...depending on what mood i'm in i'll watch whatever genre fits for example if i'm in a laughing mood i'll watch Excel Saga, Gokudo, Slayers etc...
4)The MUSIC! (I sing, I play flute <--no i've never been to band camp), therefore i have a strong sense of musical appreciation..I pick up on things i like the anime's above etc etc...
5) If the style looks good i watch...don't ask me to be specific about what kind of animation i like...i know i have a profound love for Clamp's stuff and most of their anime/manga has a unique style (especially the eyes), though i do love anime from Studio Ghibli...

I'm flexible...i watch a lot of mainstream stuff because most of the anime i can find/purchase is mainstream but that doesn't mean i won't like something from ages ago...

So ya there's my thoughts...

[Alucard_FoN]

Good ending: I can't stress this more in the anime I watch. I DO mind open ended endings where no closure is brought about. [Berserk *cough] And the only reason Bastard is up there is cause Kazushi Hagiwara draws the best art to date in my book. [though I must say, Hiroaki Gohda's works are simple and JUST AS SINFULLY CURVY/SEXY] If I end an anime, am I "satisfied" that I sat through it? When Eva ended, I was just: "WTF WAS ALL THE STORY FOR?! DID THE DIRECTOR JUST SAY FOOK U TO MY FACE?!" [and according to some of you, that's exactly what he did] Good directing is one thing, but if the director is GREAT, the ending will have you say: 'I'm SOOO glad I watched it' Saber Marionette comes to mind. Though they stretched the shit out of it and its budget dropped quite a few notches, its ending was nothing short of... [aaaaawwwwwwwwwwww how cuuuuuute!!]

I feel the exact same way. When I invest so much of my time towards watching an anime or reading a book, I expect closure at the end, and when I don't get it, I feel cheated, as if I've just spent all that time for nothing.

In my opinion, soundtrack is important to an anime. Some of my favorite animes wouldn't have been nearly as good without the soundtrack. FLCL stands out as a shining example. Without the excellent music by The Pillows, the anime just would not have been the same. Also in Onegai Teacher, the songs were good, and were often vital to setting the mood. For instance, in one of the later episodes, SPOILERS where Kei is unconscious and Mizuho is taking care of him END SPOILERS, the song Sora wa Takaranai plays, which is a great song and really sets the mood for that whole scene.

Needless to say, it needs good characters. If I don't like any of them, I'm not going to like the show, period. And 1 or two often isn't enough, it needs a good amount of them. For example, I didn't like Berserk. Everyone is always like "OMG Berserk is a work of genius it rocks!" And when I watched it, I was like... eh. The only character I liked was Judeau. I was indifferent to Gatsu and a few of the minor characters. And every single other character I hated. From Caska the uber bitch to Griffith the power hungry wacko, I hated them all.

Which brings me to my last point, humor. If a show is not humorous, that's fine, I love those too, but ones that ARE, the comedy needs to be done well. I HATE cheesy, horribly unfunny comedy. Comedy when it's done well is wonderful, just look at Excel Saga. But when it's not, it's painful to watch.

[EarthCurrent]

1. Patlabor,
2. Master Keaton,
3. Legend of Galactic Heroes,
4. Arjuna,
5. Princess 9,
6. Mononoke Hime,
7. Cowboy Bebop,
8. To Heart,
9. The Dog of Flanders,
10. Crest of the Stars

Writing is the number one aspect of anime that I enjoy. If a good story is being told, I can suffer through terrible animation. Character and character concept is next, though I must say it goes hand in hand with good writing. If I don't like the main characters of an anime within a few episodes I'm not going to keep watching it. I view fanservice as a cheap gimmick that insults with its presence, and I have little patience for series that rely on it to get a show over with its fans.

Patlabor sits at the top of my heap as it manages to contain a variety of different kinds of stories and themes, a variety of likeable characters, and my intellegence rarely feels like it is being belittled with cheap gimmicks.
Master Keaton is next, and this one is all about the writing and the characters. Good stuff.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes: epic, long, full of detail, and a well pieced together story.
Arjuna, the science in it is 80% fabricated, but the environmental and philosophical messages it contains stike close to my heart.
Princess Nine wandered along when I was feeling rather burnt out on anime, its feel good nature, and my own love of watching and playing the Game made this a pretty easy sell.
Mononoke Hime, Miyazaki finally went back to addressing the mature themes of mankind, life, death, and the environment that he had seemed to have abandoned after Naussicca.
Cowboy Bebop is fun escapist fair, and its roguish cast of characters and their bickering, further add to the dark wimsy that often appears in many of the stories. Plus, it's episodic nature allows you to sit down and watch an episode pretty much anywhere in the series with the expectation of a half hour of energetic fun.
To Heart is built around its characters. Almost all of them are initially cliches of some sort, but this stories manage to push beyond the character cliches by being so character focused, that they manage to break past the stereotypes and make almost all the characters unique in their own right. And despite the origins of the "Two Heart" franchise, the anime doesn't resort to fanservice, and similar cheap tactics to win people over. To Heart is sweet, innocent, and charming, with conflicts that are not overt, but rather lie in the emotions of the characters as they try to cope with friendships, new relationships, and growing up.
The Dog of Flanders, I have written a lengthy <a href="http://www.uwyo.edu/anime/reviews/dogof ... >review</a> about why this sadly overlooked (at least in the North America) movie is a classic.
Crest of Stars is aa wonder of carefully crafted, witty and intellegent dialogue that gives the shows two main characters a richness that many other series fail to achieve. The universe and politics in which the Crest of the Stars series is set is well thought out, and richly diverse.

[Otohiko]

To Heart is built around its characters. Almost all of them are initially cliches of some sort, but this stories manage to push beyond the character cliches by being so character focused, that they manage to break past the stereotypes and make almost all the characters unique in their own right. And despite the origins of the "Two Heart" franchise, the anime doesn't resort to fanservice, and similar cheap tactics to win people over. To Heart is sweet, innocent, and charming, with conflicts that are not overt, but rather lie in the emotions of the characters as they try to cope with friendships, new relationships, and growing up.

Here's someone who likes the right show for the right reasons Hats off to EC for that comment.To Heart is definitely in the top 5 for me, for reasons nearly exact same as his.

As for why I like anime - I could discuss the surface reasons endlessly, but in the end it all comes down to one: my faith in anime as an artistic medium capable of delivering virtually any sort of story, portraying any kind of characters and expressing almost any emotion. As an expressive medium, anime (IMHO) beats any other film media any day of the week - just because it can go places other things can't. So, in my book it's my love for the artistic side of anime that counts. Entertainment is secondary...

Top 10 list... let's try this (first time I tried putting something like that together).

1. Sailormoon (for reasons symbolic rather than factual - it's what got me into anime seriously, it came along at the right time in my life, and being the grateful person I am to it, I relegated the series to a permanent first position... although my current interest in it is at a low now)

2. FLCL (Avant-garde art animated... probably my real favorite for the past couple of years)

3. Love Hina (The one really hit me when I got into University... this one captures the insanity of post-secondary life and exaggarates it to ridiculous proportions)

4. To Heart (What EC said. I have nothing but good memories of this show)

5. Ah! My Goddess (Just a very enjoyable, short, sweet anime)

6. X/1999 (I know this pales in comparison to the manga, but the dark athmosphere of the movie blew my roof off)

7. Azumanga Daioh (This is something like FLCL meets To Heart... or something... amazingly insane yet true)

8. Escaflowne (needless to say, great fantasy/romance series throughout)

9. Ai Yori Aoshi (my brother made me start watching the series a few days ago... and I didn't mind. Fell in love with it instantly)

10. DiGi Charat (nyo)

[Arigatomina]

Here are my favorites as listed on my profile page:

10 FAVORITE ANIME

1. Yu Yu Hakusho: character interaction, music

2. Gundam Wing: character ineraction, animation style

3. Rurouni Kenshin: character interaction, animation style, battles

4. Yami no Matsuei: Hisoka, animation style

5. Sorcerer Hunters: humor, story line

6. Earthian: character interaction, story line

7. Psychic Force: character interaction, story line, animation style

8. Inu Yasha: certain characters, parts of the story line, animation style

9. Weiss Kreuz: see below

10. Dragon Ball Z: Vegeta, Trunks, character interaction

- This list has been under suspension since my WK dvd was stollen - I'm thinking about replacing Weiss Kreuz with Prince of Tennis, which I've seen more of and which has characters I like better - as well as good a good story and nice animation style.

I'd planned to write out exactly what I like about each, but you know what? That's my business. ^_^

If I bother to explain my preferences I'll be opening myself to attack - saying that 'I care what you think about the animes I like' - and quite frankly I don't. It doesn't matter if I like a show for what someone else thinks are the right or "wrong reasons" - so why I like it doesn't really matter, does it? ^_^

It's like saying "You should have a better reason to like your eggs cooked like that - your reasons are flawed, obviously you wouldn't know a well cooked egg if it landed on your head." To which I might respond: "Bugger off, eggs are eggs, get over yourself." It doesn't matter *why* I like what I like, just that I do, and that it's my choice. Unless I'm under direct attack, I don't feel the need to justify myself. And that's what this feels like - being asked to justify my choice in anime. And I won't do that. ^_^

[slayers1010]

SLAYERS

First off I like fantasy that include magic. I am a big D&D player and just love it. Second I had fun watching it. If I did dent why would I continue to get the rest of the series. I agree that art makes a big contributing factor in the likeability of a movie or series. But this series did have something that to this day I can’t explain. I did dent care how it ended. All I wanted to know about was what was next. Unlike EVA and cowboy bebop, where I did much research in how the shows were before I went and got them. Does that make sense to anyone???

Now I might be talking bull, but just the way I feel about this series.