How do new anime fans get into the medium?

Rui said:
Whether it becomes a 'thing' like SAO and a generation of fans rave about how it's the first and best show of its type (which it isn't) is yet to be seen, but regardless of those mainstream opinions I think it's a solid show.
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Curious, what would you consider the best of that kind of show? I'm really liking Inayushiki's tendency to stray into darker territory and not hold back in its portrayal of the subject matter.
 
IncendiaryLemon said:
Curious, what would you consider the best of that kind of show? I'm really liking Inayushiki's tendency to stray into darker territory and not hold back in its portrayal of the subject matter.
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Honestly, I wouldn't like to draw any firm conclusions about Inuyashiki until I finish it as I'm being good and resisting the manga so I have no idea where it's going. It blends together elements from older stuff and newer material; in terms of shocks I still think some of the schlocky ultraviolence OAVs have it beaten and in terms of being a psychological thriller there are examples I might come out with first, since I'm not sure it's made me think as much as other titles. At the moment the vibe I have is probably 'Death Note for grown-ups with a cute old man' which is sort of too unique a niche to compare directly to many other shows.

I'd be surprised if I come out of it thinking it's the greatest example of its genre but weirder things have happened. They're doing a good job of maintaining the tension so far.

(Who would have thought it would be the title to unite our wildly different taste in anime? I almost didn't watch it at all...)

In terms of the best series about falling into a game, it's Ixion Saga DT and I would suggest that anyone who disagrees has simply never seen Ixion Saga DT! (I'm putting my fingers in my ears to avoid any disagreement on this point.)

R
 
Rui said:
In terms of the best series about falling into a game, it's Ixion Saga DT and I would suggest that anyone who disagrees has simply never seen Ixion Saga DT! (I'm putting my fingers in my ears to avoid any disagreement on this point.)

R
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I think though while looking at what SAO was trying to achieve with its first half in season 1 the kind of dark dread behind being trapped in a game

Ixion doesn't really capture it the same as .hack//sign, which captures that inherit feeling pretty well imo.
 
Lambadelta said:
I think though while looking at what SAO was trying to achieve with its first half in season 1 the kind of dark dread behind being trapped in a game

Ixion doesn't really capture it the same as .hack//sign, which captures that inherit feeling pretty well imo.
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Aww, but I think Kon at least felt that dark dread even if everyone in the entire show was an idiot.

I actually like SAO well enough too in spite of its reputation (or at least, I like the bits before the creator blatantly ran out of ideas). It's understandable why newer fans would latch onto it. I have mixed feelings about .hack//sign, largely because everyone I knew pirated it and put it on an impossibly high pedestal while I was busy muddling through the original games and waiting for the US release of the anime. By the time I watched it a long time later, everything had been spoilt to death, I associated the lead with a rather annoying then-IRL-friend who kept going on about it and I wasn't so impressed as I might have been. Viva simulcasting.

R
 
Adam-M said:
When I say generic, I was referring to the fact that anime on a whole is no longer a "shock! gasp! different!" kind of thing. It's more acceptable because there's that much of it available that it just becomes considered as a TV show by some people instead of an anime.
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I agree with Rui's initial response. Anime still isn't mainstream. Until it is fully taken in as part of the social norm it will forever be niche. It may be more accepted than it was, but you say anime to anyone and you'll get either a cheer or snorting derision. Football is mainstream as it is taken as national past time by a majority of people. Even those who don't play will commentate. Rugby is the same as are cars and motor racing. You ask a hundred 16-30 year old to name 6 Studio Ghibli Films and you might get 20 to respond with one Ghibli film. Until you can get at least an agreeing nod from at least 40% of the population then anime will not be mainstream.

All Netflix and the net as a whole has do is make the medium more accessable and better known, but as the proverb goes, 'you can bring a horse to water, you can't make it drink'.

As for what makes anime generic imo isn't anything to do with public acceptance, but market acceptence. You can still be niche and generic. Generic simply means to follow a pattern (cookie cutter to use a generic term) and rinse and repeat. Often anime aimed at a market follow a demand that causes any anime sold in that market to follow similar tropes and cliches. For example most teen/young adult orientated anime will have fan service. More outstanding anime will control said fan service or may be so subtle with it as to almost forego fan service altogether. It won't set trends, but will likely sell well if the rest of the anime is any good. Generic anime, on the other hand, with a lot of action, panty shots and basic charater development and exposition will meet demand, be run out faster than a more crafted anime and sell by the ton. Others will follow suit and make just as much return.
 
To me it does seem there is a more broad anime audience out there then it seems or at least I thought, all the anime films I went to this year the audience were as diverse as a regular film to my surprise, not even the main ones like YGO or Pokemon, even something like Fairy Tail subbed. However people are getting into anime it is working!
 
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