form follows...?

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Back with another potentially unpopular opinion:

I just finished Samurai Champloo recently and I didn't like it. (no spoilers.. don't worry)

It might be one of the best looking animated TV shows in history.... but I just couldn't get over the fact that the story was driven by terminally unmotivated players and ridiculous conincidences at the end. **Most** anime is like this and I still enjoy it anyway. However, like a great rock band, this one had the looks and the hooks -- so I grade it on a much tougher curve than I would most other disposable shows.

This became a rather interesting conversation at the pub this weekend++. All of the folks I was debating with were willing to glaze over the story, insisting that merely "explaining everything" was the best that could be hoped for in anime, in favor of the gritty/comical side stories and hyperspeed sword combat.

Should we overlook a weak story if the look and feel of a show is over-the-top fantastic? Can we? What other examples come to mind?





++ \\Yes, when nerds congregate, we drink and talk about engineering disasters, vintage toys, get-rich-quick schemes, and anime.\\

I will admit I enjoyed Samurai Champloo but I do know what you mean about the storyline, but sadly I'm easily impressed by flashy fight scenes.

Hell I used to be heavily into kung fu movies and most of them can never be admired for their storylines, the story in a majority of these are usually just an excuse to get a bunch of blokes in a room to have a good ol punch up, but i love em!

But anime can be used to put across great (and sometimes confusing, fooley cooley anyone) storylines. so really it depends what you are looking for in anime, if you're after a full on in-depth journey into the nature of being then Samurai Champloo is one to avoid, if on the other hand you want to see people kicking the crap out of each other and looking good while they are doing it then it is probably one of the best out there.

BTW love the sig Jason.
Scarily too close to home DOH!

Well, I guess it depends. I must admit that I've watched the Air TV show just because it is gorgeous (has no plot at all!)

For me, a series/movie has to be appealing. That's why I never made it past episode 1 of Gankutsuou: the fill colors were soooo out of control! (if I wanted an acid trip, I'd have one of my own!)

But even gorgeous shows can only go so far. When new episodes of Air are subbed, I don't immediately jump on the download. I'll only download it if I have nothing better to do.

I know what you mean by Air, but when I see a new Monster ep. I jump on it!

My first thought: Weiss Kreuz.
Half the art is great, the other half WTF?
The storyline is laughable, but there are those of us that just flock to it. Dunno why. Actually, -my- why is Aya. But, really...
Then the other thought was s-CRY-ed. The artwork was nice, but I was put out by the ending. And I haven't sought out any artwork from it.
Samurai Champloo... all I've seen is the first DVD, and I'm in love with Jin. Yeah, keeping my eyes peeled for stuff of him! I really enjoyed the ride of the first DVD. I hope the ending doesn't ruin the whole trip for me.

So, yeah, sometimes storyline doesn't matter (WK), but other times it does (s-CRY-ed). And I can't really point to one defining thing. I'm sure it's different for everyone.