Fr one of the reasons I can't get into anime very much is because of how abstract and inhuman most characters look and behave. I know there are cultural and historical reasons for the style and tropes, but it makes everything completely unrelatable to me.
So I'll forever be one of those guys who's like "Cowboy Bebop is great but that's as far as I go"
Cowboy Bebop (ESPECIALLY the dub) was very much written and "acted" in a "western" style. Same with contemporaries like Outlaw Star and Big O (which is very much a referene to Batman).
In general? Rowdy Roddy Piper once said (paraphrasing) that pro wrestling is about explosive acting and emoting and film is about implosive acting and emoting. And ask anyone who has done theatre (which pro wrestling basically is)) and they'll say something similar. Because when the camera zooms in to that single tear in Ryan Gosling's eye? We can see it. When Ryan Gosling is on the stage behind twelve layers of plexiglass so we don't try to lick his sweat? We can't see that tear and he needs to make a big gesture to make it clear he is having an emotional breakdown.
And that applies to animated content. With very few exceptions (almost all short films), you can't have the level of detail where such a subtle response will be noticed. Even the truly amazing finales of Cowboy Bebop was built on us having learned enough about the characters to fill in the gaps by that point.
So you get the very over exaggerated "acting" styles so that you know this fairly hastily drawn person is really feeling it. And that is true regardless of the country of origin for the cartoon.
Dorohedoro is definitely one of the stranger anime I've seen in recent memory and even they managed to fit noses on their characters. Caiman also technically has a nose, I guess, or at least he's got nostrils.
I'd also strongly recommend it and it's supposed to get a second season at some point.
Caiman also technically has a nose, I guess, or at least he’s got nostrils.
Acktshully, he's got a snout, but technically has a nose because of the guy in his mouth 🤓
The adaptation is very solid and faithful, it makes good decisions like cutting mostly irrelevant parts and going for a baroque style for the backgrounds instead of the chaotic, nearly organic style of the manga, which is easier to animate. But if you haven't already, don't wait for the anime, read it, it gets crazier (and makes sense strangely).
This could turn into a thread of its own of people just recommending stuff, but I'm curious if you've looked up any of the current more popular series like Chainsaw Man, Dungeon Meshi (aka Delicious in Dungeon), Jujutsu Kaisen, and the recent Netflix animes like Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and Terminator Zero. I'd say all of them feel like the late night anime that was aired on Toonami back in the 2000s.
I also recommend the movie Redline to everybody because it's such a visual and audio treat. It's like if Hanna Barbera had hired somebody like Studio Ghibli to make a Wacky Racers movie.
There's some anime I've watched and loved but I had a revelation two years ago about why I was so put-off by the cutesier stuff. My niece was a toddler and we were goofing around with Snapchat filters. She was loving the anime filter and it dawned on me....
...Adult women in a lot of anime have the mannerisms of a literal children. And it certainly didn't help the ick factor when I also realized these are the characters a lot of weebs want to fuck.
Ew ew ewwww. If an anime with an adult cast is described as kawaii, you cannot convince me to watch it.
You can go far enough but Cowboy Bebop is still the best. Not because of it's graphics.
My biggest issue is that I'll start one highly rated anime which is serious and artistic, and then the moment I invite friends over Netflix decides to fill my recommendations with a bunch of boob service thumbnails.
I have terrible difficulties to enjoy those anime that require irreal coloured hair stiles and eccentric complements to distinguish the characters…
Recently I felt a bit of freshness with an anime, which faces I do not find “beautiful” or well drawn at all, but they were all quite distinguishable without the need of weird coloured hair… Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction, despite the cartoonish style for once in a while I was glad to not see an endless amount of plain “beautiful” stereotyped faces…
Jin-Roh
In my opinion, if animation isn't making characters look and move in stylized manners then it isn't as fun. It's why Turning Red was more enjoyable to look at than things like Frozen (which looked stylized but the characters move realistically).
source of the image is Golden Boy, the dub is incredible
I was just about to say "I seem to recognize this single frame, it's Golden Boy isn't it?" Lmao one of the best animes ever.
I watched it for the first time last week, I watched it dubbed on accident, and I'm so glad I did.
Came here to see who else knew the source... STUDY STUDY STUDY STUDY STUDY STUDY
I'd forgotten how much of a stranglehold Ryoko had on me as a youth until a few years back. The hyper possessive attitude was always very appealing to me. I think it only made me uncomfortable because it made Tenshi uncomfortable on the show. (When I was younger I had a difficult time realizing when I had a crush on people/characters.)
I’ve only ever got into anime shows for their quirky story or character personality development.
Not once was it for the design or terrible animation. If I ever do refer to breathtaking anime it would be studio ghibli but that’s about it. And even given its age, today’s anime really can’t compare. They just wouldn’t put in the work like they once did.
Not surprised a lot of kids get deep into it and then drop it fast as they grow older. Cutesy wears off when that’s the only thing going for it. It gets annoying after a while.
The scope and ambition of certain animes like Legend of the Galactic Heroes and Berserk I can appreciate. I was never a weeb, but I barely watch any anime these days. My kids got me to watch Demon Hunter (which I've only seen like a single movie of and didn't see the point) and My Hero Academia which is also not my cup of tea.
Studio Ghibli is pretty good, though. I like the depth, but sometimes they are so abstract and ethereal that my brain decides I'm already asleep and I just nod off. It's usually worth it to watch a few times to try to get everything. Princess Mononoke was really a struggle. It's a great anime, but I had to watch it a good 6+ times before I could stay awake through it.
What about 'western' anime? Think Legend of Korra, or even less '2D' but still highly stylized ones like Arcane.
One of the reasons I turned towards manga more.
Cause its all this inbred focused grouped to hell and back pile of grey goo to me now.
Its all the same looking crap (for the most part) and I am not willing to treck the desert anymore to find the rate oasis.[sad pug noises]
Women aren't dogs yo
Except for female dogs, but that's not what I'm talking about here
Sure, but that's not a woman, that's a drawing.
Comparing the evolution of art styles to the evolution of dog breeds, doesn't strike me as problematic.
Ce n'est pas un pipe!
This is puppy girl erasure!
She can give a dog a bone for sure!
