New anime & Dragon Ball rant

1. New anime.
I think it's ok to make CG based anime. But something very sucky is the topic that's becoming blunt: most new anime seem to be in the genre of "Friends" or "Many people in one house is so much fun". Love Hina, Fruits Basket, Ai yori Aoshi and many more are, if you give it a closer look, basically the same. Many peole go live together, the house sort of bursts in fun and chaos, there's puppy love, the poor house keeper and a forcefully made-dark past for one or more characters (which completely failed in AyA - Kaoru's back, come on, is that drama? Stop plugging darkness into silly home comedy, it won't work).
Classics in the genre of heroic fantasy or fighting like Inuyasha, Slayers and Kenshin are dying out, it seems. Or it gets "modernized": no more fairy tale monsters, but big evil robots and tentacle monsters. Man-to-man fights are virtual (//Hack.Sign). Or you get the kind of shit monsters as in SdK.
Other new animes like Suiri no Kizuna are propped up with flashy looking DigiMon characters, too exaggerated to fit the genre and stuff (like Kousuke and Eyes). Also, the "Blade Children" crap which sounds stupid, isn't solved or explained at all aside from - "Missing rib = dark future". The quizzes Ayumu has to deal with are cool, but other than that, I think it's a work of bored people. Design flashy characters and don't know what to do with them but throw them into a forcefully mystified spy-kids show.

All those shows may be cute and funny and all, but aside from Fruits Basket, they're no longer original. One might have thought that since CG makes things faster, easier, cheaper, you could afford to work out better stories and stuff. But no, we get a fantasyrized Rurouni Kenshin, animated soaps and Detective Conan with good-looking characters. And as for originality, even Fruits Basket isn't quite... the innovation. Honestly, I had a very similar idea.

2. Dragon Ball.
I'm a hater, not convincable to like it. I try not to sound offending, but I hate it so much, I'm not sure if I'll succeed. But I'd like to know what makes it THIS popular. All I see in the few episodes and one movie a little admiror of mine forced me to watch (when he left, I hoped his house'd blow up so he can never make me watch this again), is 70% brainless CRASH BOOM KILL YOU! and ugly, disgustingly muscular characters who look angry all the time. I think Toriyama's style is by far the ugliest around, I've never seen such ugly women, sorry ?_?; (Well... Hokuta no Ken is also really BAD..)
I dunno... if I wanted fighting with ki blasts and stuff, I'd watch Slayers or Fushigi Yuugi, or Inuyasha or Saiyuki. At least those have some emotion and viewable faces in it. And morals, and stuff... And things aside from CRASH BOOM... As for muscles, I think Kougaiji or Gourry are way enough...
In my eyes, sorry, Dragon Ball, whatever GT or Z or stuff, is blunt fighting amongst the kind of guys who are boxers in real life - beat each other up, feel cool and lose brain cells.
No offense, but not only I, but many anime fans who like things with emotion and thought dislike this show... A cocumber who is nice from time to time won't stir my emotions really... and Vegeta has no dick!! I saw it on a cel, he has none! How can one like a man who ain't a man...
I understand if some don't like Fushigi Yuugi, there's really too much luv-luv, but still, that series has a heart...
Also, I think bad guys who're evil for the mere sake of being evil, vs good guys is a bit very blunt ._.
Sorry if I offended anyone, I'm just so grossed out by this show... but still, I'm curious as to what makes it so great...

?_?;;

PS Anyone else think that Yami no Matsuei is quite cold, just like its manga? Somehow, Matsushita seems to make beautiful, but icy art... I also don't feel any emotion in the anime. The characters are emotional, but the anime isn't, know what I mean?

Whew, what a rant...Are you okay with your hatered of DBZ..? ;-) Now, I'll will earnestly to try answer the one question that you posed in all of that :

" I'm curious as to what makes it so great...?"

Well, I will probably regret this, but what the heck!

Well, bear in mind that, I am not a big DBZ fan, and I will probably screw this up, but here is my "superficial" take on (maybe) why the show is such a big hit the show; But please do not take my comments to mean anything else but my own opinions.

DB/DBZ/GT:

I have seen about 2/3rds of it with much of it being a yawner, but sometimes an, I'll say an entertaining show would appear. I have a three year old daughter that loves the show, and we sit and watch it together sometimes when I come home from work. So, for her it is built in that,`me and daddy` have the watching DBZ TV time together mode. That is the show were she clings and grabs on to me whenever she sees the fighting going on?She feels , ah-hum,,,,safe in dad?s arms.. (oops!, off-line , sorry)?

Anyway, fans of DBZ probably love the relationships that grow over a period of time within the show itself. The DBZ "family" of characters change physically, mentally, emotionally, and morally over time.
Some even die, and later come back to life...No one had ever been exposed to that kind of anime universe before where even life and death could be separated but remain connected and become a continuing part of the story-line. The main character could die, but still participate in the show, etc.

Characters that were once hated as villains become allies and friends of the main characters, and become main characters themselves (i.e., Piccolo). Characters that began with no confidence and little courage find it through trail and tribulations (Gohan). DB and DBZ is arguably a very interesting show for kids and adults alike, if you try not to think of it as something that is not tryihg to be--which is pretty, cute, or intelligent. It is just trying to show as much action and "super kung-fu" as possible and have a moral reason for it, that even a child could understand.

DBZ fans love the character designs, because they reflect the personality of the characters inner-force. These muscles are displayed and are used to show the intensity deriving from and due to the different "power-levels and character remakes" (HULK-like) that occur because of these power spikes. It is the struggle and emotion of "bursting" power that attracts a lot of cartoon action lovers, I think.

But at the end of the day, I think that love for the show is because of the story teaches a kind of philosophy (if that can be said), that evolves from a continuing struggle against forces more powerful than the main characters, yet through a kind heart, courage, and fighting improvements , the main characters can overcome greater forces. But in the end, it could be the relationships between characters that I think hold the show together for the dedicated fans.

This show ran for a long, long, time in Japan. And is still making re-appearances, (now go figure?)

E

I actually laughed out loud when I read this thread. I just had to respond.

I hated DBZ when I first saw it. I couldn't understand why anyone would want to watch something so meaningless. It was nothing but a bunch of men showing off their muscles fighting. Big deal! I could see an episode and then tune in 3 weeks later and not miss anything. I couldn't change the channel fast enough when it came on. That's all changed.

A friend of mine's brother is huge into DBZ. When I asked why, he explained the storyline. I laughed. "There's no storyline!" But I was then given a specific episode to watch. WOW! There's a story that has romance, courage & faith and of course good vs evil. Still not a fan, I calmly watch a few more episodes. Then I found myself hooked wondering how each character was going to overcome the obstacles placed in front of them. I even cried when Goku died. Sure, there are plenty of episodes that just drag on but I watched more for the moments where the characters revealed their inner feelings and secrets. I laughed so hard when Goku found out Vegeta was Trunks' father.

Basically, I'm still not what you'd call a fan of DBZ. I like it now. I've seen all of Dragonball and DBZ but only part of Dragonball GT. If I hadn't had the story explained to me, my eyes would probably still be shut to this series. BUT - no one said you had to like all the anime out there. AND - your friend probably didn't give you the 'right' episodes to watch being a beginner.

Just how I feel. :)duotrouble

I cannot speak for GT because I have never seen a single episode. As for DBZ, I think it s because of the fighting and main watchers, teens and kids. People thrive on violence. It is a way to deal with your own problems. Wow if only I could ki blast my math teacher for giving me a D! Things like that. Though, there are a few very good story moments I liked myself...when #16 died I felt like what the hell? But it was well done, the way the little bird flew in the image as Gohan snaped.

For Dragonball...it was more story. There were no crazy insane world destroying powers yet. There was Goku trying to bring back the native americanish kids dad back to life, helping the indianish guy bring water to his people. Defeating Mobster Bunny ect. There was a fair shar of fighting, but had good story to it. But the reason I think a good share of people like it, is because they havent seen it before and wanna know the orgins of the characters not from the Z series. Though it is a sad thing in a way, because most of the Dragonball cast becomes useless and not givin as much credit in the other series.

Finaly, isnt it weird how most of the characters where villians at one point? Yamcha, Tenchihan Vegeta ect. Even Ox King! Annnnd...isnt it weird...that Goku dosnt really pull his own weight? Every one else fights the main badie for a good time, then Goku cleans up. Or Gohan in Cell's case.

Well I have to say that I genuinely agree with the majority. I'm not a DBZ fan in any kind of way. I think that the storyline is very vague mostly due to the fact that any general storyline that might have been attached to the series is buried under a high-action, high-violent set of overtones. Really, there's no ONE THING that can be pointed out that makes this series great. What it is, is sellable. The only merit that I can lend to the series is that, in spite of cheap-cut animation and overall repetitiveness, it's the big seller. I'm sure you've noticed that whenever you go to your local anime or video store the one thing that they have waiting for you when you walk through the front door is DBZ. Before you walk in, there's that Goku standee out in front of the store holding video cassettes of dragonball. You walk into the store only to find DBZ t-shirts hanging on the wall, posters, and action figures for sale. When you go to check the VHS and DVD sections you find that they have been mostly taken up by the dragonball series' And then when you find the anime you've been looking for and go to the checkout, there's magazines with DBZ on the cover. The shows have been so mass-marketed in the united states, that they are now the first thing you see in most anime stores. And they are marketing the show directly towards the kids. So naturally, if the kids are into it....it's going to be bought up by parents and friends as gifts and whatnot. All of this buying only gives manufacturers more insentive to produce even more DBZ goods. So this makes the series large. It's actually gotten to the point that some one might send you an instant message saying, "Do you like anime?" and you ask them if they do in return only to receive the typical, "Yes, I like DBZ and stuff like that." Many anime fans don't seem to entirely regard the show as a standard anime but more-or-less just another saturday morning cartoon. To me, it's another show instilling violence into the younger crowd. Please bare in mind this is just my opinion. Any statements made are intended to be generalized and not directed toward any specific person. However, even though this may be my opinion....there's a large crowd that I am certain disagrees. That's life! ^.^