Very important thread: Why is it Anime?

[Stilzkin]

At first for the mods
Yes, I know, that there are thousands of threads like these out there which are or have been more or less informative and active. Nevertheless this is quite important for me to know, because I have to make a report on Anime for my japanese lessons in school. Therefore I am trying to get relatively new results to think, write and report about. Because of that i would kindly ask you not to remove this thread, but maybe you could even mark it as a sticky thread or so. This would be very nice. Thanks in forward.

Now let us start with the main topic: Anime
As I have said above I will have to make a presentation about Anime for school. My teacher especcially wants that I point out the reasons why Anime became worldwide popular unlike american comics for example. What is it, that attracts you to Anime? Where do the main differences between Anime and other animated media lie? What is your personal reason to watch Anime? And finally what do you think is the main trait of Anime (for example: storyline, genres, girls (I know there are some hardcore otakus out there )?
Feel free to write as much as possible and point out every single idea of yours after some time I will collect all the ideas and put those, which where mentioned the most into a poll, to have a nice and clean statistic.
Please help and post richly... God demands it from you

[Aeselle]

i thought i've come across similar thread(s), though it may have been worded differently..

What is it, that attracts you to Anime?
mainly the storyline and soundtrack..

Where do the main differences between Anime and other animated media lie?
the differences ranging from the theme, effects etc.. well, personally i felt both adopts different concept.. the former somehow tend to cover a broader span of topics, hence reaching wider audience.. you may also want to read these link/threads

http://animeyume.com/blog/2008/09/21...ws-and-movies/, http://www.animea.net/forums/showthread.php?t=49901, http://www.animea.net/forums/showthr...t=49905&page=1

, whereby some of the post covers the topic which you are interested in..

What is your personal reason to watch Anime?
personally, i don't watch much anime.. and on those rare occasion that do, it would be because of the storyline and soundtrack..

And finally what do you think is the main trait of Anime (for example: storyline, genres, girls (I know there are some hardcore otakus out there )?
is there really a main trait of anime? there are so many variety that to sum it under a broad header wouldn't do justice to it.. the common thing is perhaps all characters has disproportionately large eyes.. >.>

good luck with your presentation! =)

[Chido]

What attracts me to Anime? - hmm... the thing which attracts me the most is the storyline or plot however.
Where do the main differences between Anime and other animaterd media lie? - i think the difference lies in the story and the draw quality, both is better in animes^^
What is your personal reason to watch Anime? - my personal reason is the fact that every anime is kinda different^^ some are funny others are sad. the animes are never boring because of this^^
What do I think is the main trait of Anime? - for me the main traits are the grenes and the storyline

i hope i could help you^^

[Arinya]

My teacher especcially wants that I point out the reasons why Anime became worldwide popular unlike american comics for example. What is it, that attracts you to Anime? Where do the main differences between Anime and other animated media lie? What is your personal reason to watch Anime?

i don't really know of american comics... i guess lucky luke, garfield and such things are american.. lucky luke... i'm a girl... and this guy is ugly... no interest.. and it's not romance based... garfield.. is funny so i have no problems with it.. snoopy.. totally not my style.. don't get that thing... but on the other hand: simpsons... totally popular or not? so there are things that are popular.. disney.. children stories.. loved them till i got to know animes. so the only comic i like as much as manga... is yes: Asterix <- love it... that's one of the few comics worldwide, that u can read as child and adult and have fun because it's special...
manga/animes aren't generally for children.. all western comics are for children or young teens.... i'm an adult. so i want to watch something that is more for me. (okay i watched some "for-children- anime" too but in general not...)
manga and anime have not only a few genres but nearly all genres we can think of. from the "hero" stories (oh i forgot superman and co.. but that's more for boys too.. at least in comic form it doesn't look so nice... i like good looking things... ) over total crazy assholes as main character... (death note) to even things like yaoi and yuri.. there isn't a thing that is really forbidden in mangas/animes. and the most important thing for me: in anime/manga there is a place for girls. here we have tons of mangas/animes we can read/watch.... not only: barbie- like things... the stories are still romantic and there are many "prince on a horse" characters but over all way better than everything i've ever seen from german comics... no... i guess there weren't any of these things... if u are out of the barbie age.. u don't have anything as a girl... u can read some magazines for teens.. at best... (at least that was my only possibility before i entered the anime world)
in short: there is no better alternative.

And finally what do you think is the main trait of Anime (for example: storyline, genres, girls (I know there are some hardcore otakus out there)?

for me the most important thing is: genre. i most likely watch/read everything in the romance genre. but i will most likely not read something with robots/"future" things. sometimes i only watch a total list of all animes/mangas available and click on a name that sounds okay for me.. if i am in the mood and the art is okay i may even start watching/reading things that are out of my normal genre (death note, code geass) (romance includes shounen ai and yaoi too)
the 2nd thing is: the art. if i don't like the style, i'll rather not start reading/watching it. there are some but only few that i didn't watch/read because i didn't like the art.. the most famous example would be one piece.. can't get myself to watch it because i really hate the art.
3rd thing: characters. when i just started a series (especially when it's out of my genre), i want to have a character that i like in some way... maybe their character or their looks or aura... that's at first not that important but it makes me like the story more and even if i don't like the story, i may finish it because i want to see what happens with the character.the newest example.. shugo chara doki. it was so stupid to exactly redo the most important parts of the first season... (i still finished it because ikuto is such a beauty with a character that's really my style... seems to be evil somewhere but in reality he is what he is.. an incredibly lonely hurt cat with claws)

last a few words for the storyline. i don't mind when there are small mistakes in it... why should i care about that if there are shinigamis appearing or the main character is a vampire.. that are things that aren't real from the start. the important thing with the storyline is, that it's interesting and the whole story is somehow understandable. and for me the storyline is at it's best when it's unique at the same time.

okay that's it... i didn't look at this text.. so there are no mistakes in there because i've never seen them!
(if u want to know more... write a pm (but i'll answer in german ^^ too lazy to explain in english ^^)

[Otamega]

What attracts me to anime? Well that's a bit hard, but the art and the character development. From pages to action is what attracts me to it. The characters are the ones moving the story and bringing the action along with it. Much detail in art and their characteristics as well. Then comes appearances of an anime character. In shojo animes all the characters have to be good looking especially the main one who might at first look dorky or ugly, and then when they turn into a beautiful/ handsome person. Then there's shonen anime that I like very much because of the story. It tells about the main character out of all the others first and describes what is their special trait that they own. And it doesn't really matter if the supporting characters are ugly or not because they are not the main, but if they are strong then you can have taken a liking to them. Story really depends on characters to make them move that's why I like anime.

[babiewinx]

What is it, that attracts you to Anime? : What really attracts me to anime are the drawings, storyline, suspense, and soundtracks

Where do the main differences between Anime and other animated media lie? : The stories in every anime are always unique and different, they accept anything, and convert many genres into one whole interesting story. Other medias always has the same old boring story line and never really have a point accept for morals that we already know, and they are always keeping the main characters constantly boring in a way.

What is your personal reason to watch Anime? : I enjoy the suspense and action between the storielines given, the drawings, soundtrack, and twists to the shows.

And finally what do you think is the main trait of Anime (for example: storyline, genres, girls (I know there are some hardcore otakus out there )? : To me i think that both the genres and characters are the main trait of anime, along with a good story line. I mean if you have like a girly girl fighting in an action genre where she always loses/wins and never changes then it looks kinda dumb and you just run past it, but if it's a strong and willing person that may lose at times but never gives up you kinda wonder how the characters turn out the end and continue to watch it. Sometimes i get into anime which have a bad main character but continue to watch because you can tell already that the stroyline is good, but then again if the main is annoying you kinda just give up and you never see it agian.

[ZephZeph]

Ahmmm... How will I start!
You could also say that these are the main traits:
1 Story - Like most any other otakus there, it is obviously "UNIQUE". American animation and comics usually deals with superheroes and scifi which is kinda "CLICHE". A lot of animes have the "Sudden Twist" effect which I really, really like.
2.Characters - Characters are well drawn. What I really like about anime characters is the exaggeration of their expressions. For example, they blush if they're like shy, the eyes get big and the pupil gets smaller when they're shocked or really mad. You know what I mean. You can feel the impact of each expression, so strong that it'll make you laugh hard, burst in anger or even cry a river of tears. Especially drama animes, you can feel the loneliness as if you're in the scene.
3.VOICE - Voices really fit the characters.
4. CULTURE - Animes never fail to showcase Japanese culture(one of the main traits). It's also a good way to promote JAPAN. You can tell that they're proud of their country, which is a good trait.
5.GENRE - There are lots of genres to choose from and there are some genres that are only seen in animes.
6. OST - Man, I'm a music lover and this is one the reasons I got hooked up to anime. They have a very unique style when it comes to music.

The reason I watch anime is because TV shows nowadays are getting more and more boring. Real life media/drama don't seem to capture my heart like what anime does. Real people have limited
expressions because if they overdo it like what anime does, they'll look like idiots.

Hope these opinions will help, I would like to see a summary of your presentation if you don't mind.

[uekipheonix]

Well we did had few similar topics in this section. but since they all are dead, it is ok to continue in this thread.
for reference read --> http://www.animea.net/forums/showthread.php?t=50824


now for the answers you seek. In my point of view

What is it, that attracts you to Anime? Where do the main differences between Anime and other animated media lie?
What is your personal reason to watch Anime? And finally what do you think is the main trait of Anime (for example: storyline, genres, girls.

The main thing that attracted me to anime in my first try (back in 1999), was the fact that Anime actually relate to our real life in much more attractive manner than cartoons. Also most Cartoons are targeted for an audience of kids/teenagers, very few are made for adults. Where anime covers a very wide range of audience from children to 18+.

Another fact is the music tracks provided in anime. They are much more professional and appealing. Some anime has gained popularity solely from its music tracks.

The next main point is the story line. Most anime has a very interesting base. Personally I prefer anime with historical background. But there are a lot of bases for anime. Also the character design of anime is much more sensitive and greatly done than most cartoons.

[Stilzkin]

Thank you for your posts...it seems that most are thinking roughly the same. but please still keep up posting! God demands it from you!

[starcluster]

What is it, that attracts you to Anime?

i think that most likely the Art

Where do the main differences between Anime and other animated media lie?

i think the culture and the way of thinking is the deferent...

What is your personal reason to watch Anime?

my reasons i think coz Anime are more close to reality than any other Animated media, even though if there is some fantasy geners in the Story, Anime have thier ways in drawing the viewer ( not All Anime ofc)

And finally what do you think is the main trait of Anime?

i think it would be the Story lines

i hope i was helpful ^^'