things in anime you get sick of seeing

neptune2venus said:
Moe: This 'lovely' aesthetic runs through the majority of anime these days and I especially dislike when a character is drawn not looking remotely like their age. This aspect alone has put me off recent trends (Let's just say since roughly 2005) of depicting characters as mostly eyes and pretty much nothing else.
Really? I'm not a fan either but it feels to me as though the "moe" aesthetic is a trend that's on the way out and has been for a while now. The new Haruhi character designs are a good example of it being toned down and most of the shows that aren't about "cute girls" seem to steer clear of it completely.

neptune2venus said:
Unexpected fanservice: I may be enjoying an anime when suddenly the camera takes on a male gaze and zooms in to parts of the female anatomy. This may be suited to anime which clearly is denoted as harem or is obviously pandering.

Lack of mature anime: No, not hentai! I guess I wish anime was more like Perfect Blue and less like Lucky Star. Anime is generally seen to be immature and I wish this was not the case. This is because the anime industry (like the game industry) need to appeal their fans who have grown up in the last 10-15 years and now have the disposable income/purchase power. Unfortunately, school anime settings seem to dominate anime as a whole as well as a severe lack of adult characters (especially women).
These ones seem to go hand in hand. I think the sort of anime you want certainly does exist and in no small quantity, it's just not as immediately visible for the same reason god-awful reality TV shows and talent contests are more popular and than say, the films of Andrei Tarkovsky. The majority of people have certain (some might say terrible, I couldn't possibly comment) tastes and it follows that most of what's being produced will always cater to them.

Hello again, by the way.
 
I'd be interested to know what people would term 'mature anime' in terms of more recent output - ie. Would something like Psycho Pass count?
 
I'd probably consider anything which includes ideas, themes and behaviours which are not readily capable of being understood by the average child to be "mature" - Things which are implied but not explicitly stated and require a degree of reasoning ability, for example (can't really comment on Psycho Pass 'cause I've not seen it).

I think it's perfectly fine to enjoy the more mass-market stuff though - Each to their own and sometimes, you just want to watch something sexy or fun. Or at least I do.
 
I'd definitely term Psycho-Pass fairly mature. As ayase said, the average child wouldn't get what's going on in that show. I can't think of anything else straight off the top of my head.
 
Should qualify this by saying that I chucked the show quite early on, but I thought Psycho-Pass ruined any 'mature' credentials it had through sheer audience hand-holding. I had very high hopes for it beforehand, but upon viewing, I thought it was absolutely baby's first cyberpunk adventure and a complete waste of time.

He said, before going back to his show about the farty dog and the shouty ghost men punching each other.

Edit: In the interests of trying to contribute something, would also suggest that Ping Pong was playing to a more mature audience.
 
I suppose the definition of 'mature' can be clouded by what exactly constitutes 'mature' - eg. If we're talking explicit content, a wide majority of anime would be mature.

But I suppose if we narrow it down to anime focusing primarily on an adult cast (and that's not to say anime featuring kids can't be mature) then it becomes a little more selective.

I suppose then you'd be talking stuff like GITS, Fate Zero etc.
 
I hereby withdraw my troops from the impending battle of semantics and declare my new position that "mature" can mean whatever the hell anyone wants it to mean, just like any other word in the internet age.
 
black1blade said:
Fate/zero isn't terribly mature

Of course it is...

No school settings
The plot and story are good
No moe
A darker version of what fate stay night did
Kiritsugus views are interesting and unique
The music was brilliant
 
animefreak17 said:
black1blade said:
Fate/zero isn't terribly mature

Of course it is...

No school settings
The plot and story are good
No moe
A darker version of what fate stay night did
Kiritsugus views are interesting and unique
The music was brilliant

Is it not possible to have those things and still be 'mature'? Madoka Magica, for example. That show has an excellent and some what dark story ontop of having, by far, my favourite anime soundtrack and yet still retains 'moe' character designs and is partially set in a school. I'm sure there are other examples too. I just think you shouldn't have a checklist for what you could consider mature or not and let the show speak for itself.
 
animefreak17 said:
black1blade said:
Fate/zero isn't terribly mature

Of course it is...

No school settings
The plot and story are good
No moe
A darker version of what fate stay night did
Kiritsugus views are interesting and unique
The music was brilliant
Wait your serious...Kiritsugu is basically a man child with stupid ideals.
 
black1blade said:
animefreak17 said:
black1blade said:
Fate/zero isn't terribly mature

Of course it is...

No school settings
The plot and story are good
No moe
A darker version of what fate stay night did
Kiritsugus views are interesting and unique
The music was brilliant
Wait your serious...Kiritsugu is basically a man child with stupid ideals.

Yeah but at least he was interesting to watch the clash of ideals between him and saved was great
 
I guess mature is in the eye of the beholder. Perhaps it is a 'seriousness' in the story or characterisation. I've not seen Fate/Zero but the art style is a bit on the moe side for my liking but I guess it could have mature themes. I'll have to try and see past the aesthetic of the character designs.

ayase said:
Hello again, by the way.

Hello! Nice to see an old face again.
 
neptune2venus said:
I guess mature is in the eye of the beholder. Perhaps it is a 'seriousness' in the story or characterisation. I've not seen Fate/Zero but the art style is a bit on the moe side for my liking but I guess it could have mature themes. I'll have to try and see past the aesthetic of the character designs.

Moe is a subjective thing I guess but it's not something I'd ever think some would say about Fate/Zero's art style
 
I think, for myself, I've often classified a show (in my internal opinion only, mind) as moe or not simply by eye shape, for example - even if that isn't exactly accurate.

But obviously everyone has different definitions.

I know for some people, something like Clannad is like the apotheosis of all things moe, whereas for others, something like SAO is also 'moe', or even that Evangelion was the show that originated the 'moe' eye-shape/visual style that is so common now.
 
Girls falling over! Most girls in anime wear short skirts, especially in school uniform, and they tend to fall over a lot, onto tarmac, or pavements. Thinking of all those skinned knees always makes mine twinge in sympathy.
 
Just Passing Through said:
Girls falling over! Most girls in anime wear short skirts, especially in school uniform, and they tend to fall over a lot, onto tarmac, or pavements. Thinking of all those skinned knees always makes mine twinge in sympathy.

That reminds me actually, anime characters never seem to bruise realistically. They can get cut, sure, and they get get a little scuffed - but I don't think I've ever really seen a character get bruised or properly 'damaged' without it quickly being bandaged up or just disappear completely.

On a separate note - I was thinking about this last night; as much as I love a good harem show, I really am starting to get fed up of bland harem lead male-insert characters. Yes, I understand they're supposed to be bland so we can insert ourselves into them (especially in the case of VN adaptations) - but I refuse to believe after the umpteenth harem show I've seen, the only way a bloke can be in these situations is just an aimless, clueless fool.

Where's the harem lead that just says 'screw it' and actually takes all these girls up on their offers instead of skirting round the issue?
 
Something that was on my mind recently...

It really annoys me how the 'nice' / 'normal' girl in anime shows pretty much always gets a really bum deal. Minori in Toradora, anyone?

I understand that anime shows largely exist to play to tropes, and so the trope girls, such as the Tsundere will always get more attention lavished on them, and the super-moe girl will usually be the one that 'wins', but what happened to nice and normal winning the day?

Also, even going beyond harem/romance shows where the 'normal' girl is a potential love interest, I'm also talking the class president girl - who'll often just be a cardboard cutout, and never really fleshed out. Ok, so if you're nice and a perfect student, you're not entitled to a bit of backstory? It always reminds me of people like Hikari in Evangelion, these people are characters just as much as the messed-up leads, but all you get are snatches of what their life could be.

Part of me makes me wonder this might be why Hanekawa is so popular in Monogatari - she's the class prez/nice girl that actually gets decent screentime.
 
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