Anime I’ve Overrated
Posted: May 26, 2011 Filed under: "Editorials", Meta-ish, Misaki Thursday 20 Comments »
Whether I’m twittering, forumming, or just talking with my friends (IRL, and yes – I do have some), I tend to overrate things that I find good. Food, Classes, Movies, Games, Anime, and more. If it looks good and if it looks like more than one person will strongly disagree with me, I’ll hype it up and say it’s the best thing ever.
Blogging makes it so much worse. It’s like I have a devil on my right shoulder urging me to hate all non-perfect shows and an angel on my left shoulder urging me to overcompensate for my bias by overrating it.
Here are some anime I’ve overrated in the past (and excuses/reasons why I did so):
- Sora no Woto
People were making a shitstorm about how it looked so much like K-ON!, and it annoyed me. It turned out a ton of people were saying the same thing, because the aniblogosphere was buzzing with praise about this mediocre show. - Fractale
I watched this show without reading anything online about it (school and such, you know?). I thought it was good by the time I’d finished it, but once I got online and saw all the hate, I vehemently defended my “good” decision until it became a “great” decision. Some of the criticism is well said, but I guess I’m still not seeing the light or something. - Kamichu
It was surprisingly boring and surprisingly like Sprited Away. I focused on the latter, and found it a really great show. In retrospect, I found it a chore (and a bore) to watch. - Strike Witches
Don’t get me started with this show. Every time somebody talks crap about Strike Witches, I have to qualify my praise by saying “look, I hate fanservice, but I loved Strike Witches.” It’s gotten to a point where I’m questioning my dislike of fanservice and my sanity. - Arakawa Under the Bridge
Early on in my anime career (wc), I discovered Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei and ef. I loved those shows and became a fan of SHAFT. Later, I ran into the boringness that was Maria Holic, the snoozefest that was Natsu no Arashi, the disappointment that was Bakemonogatari (imo), and the failure that was Dance in the Vampire Bund. That’s a full year and a half of utterly terrible SHAFT shows. Then came Arakawa. Reminiscent of SZS, the show sparked the inner SHAFT fan in me even though it wasn’t that good. I never got through the second season… - True Tears
Peer pressure. I read very, very favorable reviews of this anime on various blogs and forums and decided to be hipster and proclaim it the best romance show ever! In reality, it’s not that good. Maybe because I liked Aiko more than Noe or main girl. It’s that red hair. - Hatsukoi Limited
I don’t know why I liked it. I also don’t remember anything about the show except the main female character’s face. That’s probably a sign that I shouldn’t have praised it so much. - Darker than Black: Ryuusei no Gemini
I just wanted to jump on the Darker than Black bandwagon, honest! I didn’t like the first season of DtB while everybody else seemed to love it. Thus I decided to force myself to love the second season, a show that had some drunk old man and some girl who does something to end up with one hell of a stupid and confusing ending. My plan backfired, and I ended up trying to defend a show that I knew, deep down inside, was less than extraordinary. - Serial Experiments Lain
“Confusing means deep” was my motto while watching this show. I don’t understand what happened while I watched it, and I still don’t understand it. However, I thought the anime was cool and deep because it managed to baffle me. Also because everybody likes Yoshitoshi ABe and I should too. - Moetan
No amount of explanation could convince you of my sanity. - etc.
Don’t get me wrong, though. I find all of these shows to be good – just not nearly as good as I say they are.
but if you say they’re good and then you say they’re not as good as you say, then doesn’t that mean they’re bad?
Well, as an unreliable source, you shouldn’t believe me even when I say these shows aren’t as good as I say they are. Maybe they are good. Maybe they are bad. Anyway, I just think that my original opinions on these shows gave way to a gradual realization that they weren’t the best thing since sliced bread.
And don’t take this as an opportunity to point out
Hey, you actually don’t think ______ is good!
For many, that blank could be Fractale. I think Fractale is good. You think I’m crazy. I think you think that I think it’s bad, but I think you’re bad. The same applies for the other shows. Strike Witches and Moetan may be up there, but hell, I hate K-ON! with a passion, so don’t lump me in with that bunch!
With anibloggers using stronger and stronger language to describe their feelings toward shows, it’d be nice to have some qualifications. “I like/hate this anime, but ______ and Mikoto is awesome.” should be the standard template of every aniblog post ever. Instead, most posts are “THIS SHOW SUCKS” or “THIS SHOW ROCKS.” I would know – I started off aniblogging through unqualified bashing and hyping (more of the former, though: think Akikan and K-ON, if anybody remembers my embarrassing aniblogging past). But this is my atonement!
So getting to my point, what anime have you overrated, and why? I’m very interested to see if people actually like shows that I detest (FLCL, Bakemono, etc.). What so good about FLCL anyway? It’s just a show about Amarao, a guy with big, bold eyebrows and some kid and some girl. The same goes for Bakemono.
P.S.: Alien Nine, where this post’s header image is from, is an anime I’ve consistently praised ever since I watched it. It’s really good. I-It’s not like I’m overrating it, baka…
Overrated? I’m still incredibly new, but…
Heh, it’s not so much overrating as it seems that some people are doing this to stem from a desire that…
…let me re-begin.
Some people like to be ‘special’, and thus subconsciously take a stance contrary to popular flow.
Others like to be ‘normal’, and thus subconsciously take a stance going with the popular flow.
I guess we’re all mixes of both types.
That is true. When I started aniblogging, I wanted to be the devil’s advocate so badly that every post was full of “AKIKAN SUCKS.” The desire for longer e-peen is very powerful!
But people have to keep in mind that e-peen girth is equally important, if not more so. People aren’t going to like your incredibly long e-peen if it comes from a career of hyping shows or bashing shows. You have to broaden and deepen your views for people to really appreciate your posts.
I guess what I’m trying to say here is that too many people are trying to be “special” nowadays that I can’t tell who actually feels that ______ is good and who is just hyping a show that doesn’t deserve the praise.
– Bad Metaphor Guy
Then again, there are always that bunch of people who read those posts just so they can bash/defend those shows as well.
Eh, people.
There will always be people who do things other people don’t do. People suck in general.
therefore I suck
– Useless Comment Poster
=( how can you say Lain was overrated. I like arakawa too, all their stupid jokes makes that a really funny anime. you detest FLCL? why?
but then again, one man’s meat is another poison.
I have to agree with your views on K-ON =D but i like their OPs though.. don’t say lazy is kinda nice of a song.
Hold on a sec. This is the kind of confusion I was trying to avoid. I’m not saying these shows are overrated – I’m just pointing out that I myself overrated them.
I know quite well that a lot of people have a lot of opinions about Lain (pretty divisive anime, that one…).
Also, on FLCL: I just didn’t find the gags humorous or interesting. It’s pretty boring to sit through an anime that you have no interest in. 🙁
On K-ON: Moeblobs are okay for me, but a moeblob show with no real… humor isn’t. Yeah, most of the music isn’t bad (though the second season opening is downright terrible).
I’ve never heard that variant on the saying before. Interesting…
You have ANOTHER blog? Woah, that’s…4 now?
I’ve overrated stuff because the shine of recently watched or youthful exuberance took over me, but overrated for e-peen? Can’t really think of any…
A-Actually, this is my… sixth. Minaide! Hazukashii…
I only blog during school breaks, and I tend to get bored of my blog in between those breaks. Yeah, bad combination. Though I’ve been called the “fickle flower of the ‘sphere” and “Unlimited Blog Works guy” because of it, so I guess it’s all good!
In this post, I ignored the recently-watched reason because I’ve done that to practically everything I watch. I go back through my anime list just to change my ratings on anime. In retrospect, After Story was not a 10! In retrospect, Toradora was not a 10! In retrospect, I must have been crazy!
I’m not quite sure how youthful exuberance plays a role… unless you’re talking about Gurren Lagann (in your case, Lagann-hen iirc) or something.
So what are your other blogs, if you don’t mind me asking?
Up until a year ago, I had a blog called Mikotoism (or rather _____ism because I kept changing the name). Then I went through a series of blogs.
But yeah. I deleted them all. I didn’t like having so many dead blogs, so I thought deleting them was the best thing to do.
Thats a shame. I think its good to leave your old blogs around, even if you are ashamed of them. Its a record of your history, tells you about your past which you might otherwise forget. I wish I had records of my past prior to when I was 15, but nope, that whole saga is a black hole to me because Ive forgotten most of what happened.
You seem like a pretty cool guy man. You have a good sense of humor and I agree with a lot of stuff you said, esp. about pretty vs beautiful girls and being friends with a girl before going out with her (i read it via google cache if you don’t mind me doing that.)
heh i totally sound like a stalker right now dont i
Ah, it’s not that I was ashamed of them. I just got annoyed at various things and kept making new blogs every time I came back from school (as in winter break, spring break, etc.) and by the time I’d realized, I already had like five blogs. So instead of having all these blogs, I decided to really start over and wipe everything clean.
Some people like my sense of humor, and others really don’t. Bah. Thanks, though.
also, yes you are one crazy stalker.
Are you ‘Misaki is mai waifu’ from /a/?
Nope. I have been a lurker/semi-poster for years, but I don’t think I’ve ever donned a name and a tripcode.
Also “Misaka is mai waifu” is probably more accurate. I’m a mysterious man.
Oh okay. Its just that that tripcode user is one of my favourite posters, not that I actually browse that site a lot anymore though.
Misaki is cool but Misaka is pretty cool too. So is Misaka your waifu?
I used to be an avid 4channer, but the duties of college life have caught up with me.
I like to say that Mikoto Misaka is my goddess. “Waifu” is one of those otaku terms that I dislike, alongside HNNNGGG and others. I’m just a hipster, yeah.
Wow… I randomly stumbled across your blog (Huge mistake), and I’d like to point out after reading through a few of your articles that you know next to nothing about anime.
Also you use terms like character development a lot, and I’m hard pressed to believe you even know what that means. You also don’t seem to understand the basics of storytelling.
I found that your complaints about anime are juvenile and asinine. It’s pretty sad to think there are people that take you seriously.
So please if your answer to any of these questions is no, PLEASE STOP watching anime and coming up with insane reasons why you think they are bad. You are only making anime fans look retarded.
Have you been watching anime for at least 10 years?
Have you watched at least 200 anime?
Off the top of your head can you name at least 15 different Japanese animation studios?
Off the top of your head can you name 12 different seiyu?
Off he top of your head can you name 5 animation directors?
The people over at Anime News Network can answer these easily. That include most of the forum goes as well.
Ok Thanks.
No
TV series only: No
+ OVAs, Movies, etc. (MAL, A-P, etc. count): Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Thanks for the comment. I tend to write in a half-serious manner, so when I try to write something serious it turns out troll-y anyway. I admit that I’m terrible at writing and that my arguments/complaints are juvenile a lot of the time, but I like writing this way.
Also thanks for reading my blog.
Let me go over your list:
-Sora no Woto was another one of my fav shows of 2010. As for the whole, it’s a K-ON ripoff…somebody shoot me already.
-Strike Witches: Are we brethren or something? I mean, how coincidental is it that we’re praising so many similar shows?
-I haven’t finished Lain, Fractale or Arakawa but for the first two I have to say that just because it makes no sense at first, doesn’t mean it sucks. Arakawa anime is made by shaft and I’m a Shaft fan for life. Nuff said.
-If the Moetan is similar to the Popotan one then I’m sold.
-I haven’t watched the other shows because I’m not interested in bandwagons that much. I mean, why do you think i haven’t watched Steins;Gate or the Index series yet?
People talk crap about Strike Witches every day. It’s gotten quite annoying when people try to troll me by asking me why I like moe pantsless mecha girls so much. Look beyond the character designs, and into the heart of this show, and you’ll find out! It’s a nice little show that goes beyond the pantsless premise.
Lain is pretty confusing and I don’t understand any of it. I can’t say that it’s all useless junk, but I’m sure some of it is. Fractale, on the other hand, is a show I liked but everybody else bashed. Bah!
I haven’t watched Popotan, but Moetan is just an anime about a moe magical girl. It’s cute and loli-ish, and is at times a nice parody of the magical girl genre. At other times, I feel like a pedophile.
Bandwagons are dumb. I tried watching Steins;Gate and I didn’t see anything amazing in the first three episodes.