Why Anime Rocks: Addressing the Criticisms

Just like anime, this video has it all. Rational argument, quirky humor, Bulma fan-service, and a seamless transition from Hello Kitty to Bible Black!

In all seriousness, this is a message I believe has to be put out there. I hear these criticisms all the time, and most of them are only half true. I actually had a lot more to say, but I've been down the road that is YouTube videos in parts, and it's an unpleasant ride.

Here are some additional things that couldn't make it into the video:

Anime too violent? - Another favorite of "professional" critics of the west who think anime is a giant grotesque blood bath of flesh and obscurity. They've obviously watched Akira too many times. I believe my emphasis on the variety of anime in the video covers this one.

Anime is full of melodramatic, sexually confused characters: Anime gets a bum rap here, people say the story is melodramatic simply because of the high drama being packed into each episode and most of the time, the characters are teens. That just comes with the territory. You can only do so much with 26 episodes, and would it be different if the characters were adults? As for sexually confused? I admit, Japan has a knack for creating unisex looking male characters, uh no comment there.

The style is too uniform: While certainly true during the '80s and early 90s, anime creators are now diversifying and developing very unique styles that look completely different from the traditional style. Although most is still very similar, that's why it's a style in the first place. Although not said in the video clearly anime also includes very realistic looking characters that resemble real people (lacking big eyes and such), which I have yet to see out of the west outside of religious/educational cartoons.

Another thing I forgot to emphasize: think about how much time and effort it takes to draw Brian Griffin from Family Guy versus practically any anime character. It makes having many of the shortcuts japanese animators use almost a necessity.

That's a lot I know. Had to cut more than five minutes of this video. Please comment and rate!

Enjoy!