Anime has never been bigger than it is today. After spending decades as a niche interest, anime has finally broken into the mainstream and even become a way of life for some dedicated fans. But now that anime has reached countless people around the world, the medium has also attracted more reviews and reviews.
To put it bluntly, anime is still a very acquired taste. As such, there are specific anime staples and storytelling conventions that are equally loved and hated by audiences. Anime’s biggest fans praise these mainstays for defining the medium, while detractors poke fun at or even show open disdain for things that are, in short, “too anime.”
ten Dubs & Subs have their own equally passionate fans
There’s probably no heated debate as heated and pronounced as choosing between duplicates and subs. Dubs (localized anime for English-speaking territories) and subtitles (subtitled anime that retains the original Japanese dub) are really a matter of preference, but both have very vocal advocates who demand their case be heard.
Some prefer watching anime in their unmodified states, while others gravitate towards dubbed anime in their preferred language. Helping the case of the latter are the likes of cowboy bebop and the parody Ghost stories’dubs, but these are rare exceptions to the rule. Either is fine, but some absolutists demand that one be put on top of the other.
9 Anime Episode Count Ranges From Intimidating To Excessive
One of the most obvious hurdles that scares some newcomers from even setting foot in anime fandom is the massive episode count. At best, an anime has 12-20 episodes that are all around 30 minutes long. At worst, highly recommended titles like A play have nearly 1000 episodes, plus movies and ancillary material to peruse.
Needless to say, completing a single anime can feel more like an obligation than a pleasure. Worse still, some long streaks can be bad, or they just won’t be as good as expected. Due to the fear of wasting time and emotional investment, newcomers and even some older anime fans balk at the demanding episode lengths and deep mythos of an anime.
8 Anime’s Exaggeration Of The Human Experience Is An Acquired Taste
If there’s anything anime isn’t known for, it’s subtlety. Whether it’s how characters are drawn to how their stories are told, anime always gets big or none at all. For instance, Kaguya-Sama: Love is war is an otherwise straightforward romantic comedy told through the most expressive and creative writing and visuals possible.
As is tradition in the anime medium, anime is a celebration of over-the-top actions and expressions, and this method of storytelling isn’t for everyone. More grounded and restrained realistic anime than their mainstream counterparts do exist, but there are too few of them to change the medium’s critics.
seven Anime Fanservice will always be a point of contention
Fanservice is, without a doubt, one of the most controversial elements of anime. Although “fanservice” technically refers to anything that exists to satisfy the audience’s lowest desires (e.g., a nostalgic reference), it has become shorthand for jarring or unnecessary sexuality in anime. The issue here is not the adult content itself, but how it is used.
Take Sword Art Online, for a fantasy adventure, it has an entertaining habit of showing female characters in moments of undress or suggestive and compromising situations. This is to say nothing of the fact that most ODS the actors are minors. This kind of fanservice can be a deal breaker for critics and even the most ardent anime fans.
6 Shamelessly high concepts are the norm
Nuance is something that’s practically alien to anime, and nowhere is that clearer than in the way nearly all anime – regardless of genre – is built around high concepts. For example, giant robots, magical abilities, or explosive action (or all of the above) in otherwise relatable stories about friendship are normal sights in anime.
The melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiyais a good example of this, as it’s a comedy-drama about high school life that features a group of super-powered teenagers (and Kyon). While fans love anime precisely because of their imagination with which they can execute even the most mundane plots, others cannot take it seriously for the same reasons.
5 Gender formulas are practically carved in stone
Well-defined genre conventions aren’t new, but what sets anime apart from other storytelling mediums is how locked down its genre formulas are. Whether it’s a shonen sports anime or a josei romance in question, anime follow the formulas of their genre down to the last letter, and those that go against the trend never appear. only sporadically.
This problem is incredibly pronounced among shonen battle/fantasy anime. To the untrained eye, black clover and Fairy taleare virtually indistinguishable from a narrative level. Anime critics aren’t unwarranted when they point out how stereotypical and repetitive most anime is, but fans don’t care, because that familiarity is exactly what they came for.
4 Painfully sincere emotions are the order of the day
When it comes to parodying or just making fun of anime, the power of friendship and love that saves the day is a common punchline. As corny as it sounds on paper, anime’s lack of irony when it comes to being as emotionally sincere as possible is one of its most defining (and sometimes inspiring) characteristics.
Depending on the anime in question, this trope can be used positively or negatively. Whether SSSS.Gridman unreservedly declares that the potential for good of humanity will be save lives, bokurano fully commits to its fatalism and nihilism. There’s just no emotion in between, and the lack of nuance can be a selling point or a turn off for people.
3 Anime Character Archetypes Won’t Be Changing Anytime Soon
When it comes to characters, anime seems to follow a set pattern. Anime archetypes are pretty much immutable, and have been that way for as long as anyone can remember. Every shonen anime will have a hot blooded fighter like The attack of the Titans Eren Yeager, and almost every romantic couple needs a hostile tsundere like from Toradora Taiga.
Very few anime challenge these stereotypes and, even then, those that obey another formula. Concrete example, The Rise of the Shield Hero Naofumi is one of many pissed off isekai anti-heroes. Fans don’t mind this since they love seeing different spins on their favorite archetypes, but detractors hate this lack of creativity.
2 The anime wears its Japanese roots with pride
In short, the anime is a reflection of its country of origin: Japan. That’s why many cartoons deal with the daily life of Japanese people or are based on the country’s history. demon slayer, Gintama, Naruto, and more can be enjoyed by anyone, regardless of nationality, but they’re so ingrained in Japanese culture that it’s sometimes hard not to feel out of the loop.
While fans appreciate this and use the anime as a gateway to learn about a new culture, there are those who think otherwise. Those of the latter often prefer titles like Berserk, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Spy X Familyand so on as they have more international appeal due to their lack of overt Japanese references and themes.
1 Anime is a form of entertainment primarily aimed at young people
A common complaint about anime is how mainstream shows focus on juvenile concerns like high school and fulfilling teenage power fantasies, or the fact that the characters are mostly teenagers. Even some seinen anime tend to be gorier, more secular versions of their shonen counterparts (see: kill her kill her), but none of that is a problem.
The anime is primarily aimed at the young and/or the young at heart. Teenagers and young adults make up a large portion of anime viewers, and that’s why the biggest shows tend to their interests and feature characters their own age. Fans are totally fine with this, while their opposites prefer something that gives off a more “adult” vibe.