seiya19 said:
Well, when someone claims that "most popular shows are indeed terrible" I take it as a sign that said person is biased against them... Specially when the same person is arguing that some popular shows are only included here because of a lack of knowledge from those that chose them. But ok, if you don't believe there's a relation between popularity and quality, then we agree. As for the second part, I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. I don't think the opinion of any critic on a certain work is more valid than anyone else's, as long as they both have experienced it, of course. While the critic or more experienced person might be able to recognize certain elements or their origin that the average person wouldn't, I don't believe this makes their opinion more valid. As I mentioned before, the evaluation of whatever information you have is still subjective, so it really only applies to your personal views. If we were arguing about an objective topic, it would obviously be a different story. For example, Roger Ebert's opinion would be very valuable if I wanted to make a documental about the history of cinema. Furthermore, I would argue that experience can be a double-edge sword when it comes to the evaluation of an artistic work. The more experience you have, the bigger the risk of being influenced by it... Keeping an open mind is not just about trying new things, but also about trying to see things from different and new perspectives, which is easier to do when you don't have that much experience to begin with. This is arguable of course, and a long discussion by itself, but you get the point. While it is mostly anecdotal and personal experience, I disagree with the bolded. I don't understand why you disagreed with the bolded when all I said was that you can't prove it, which you agreed to. Anyway, you're obviously free to believe that it's just nostalgia, but in the end it's just that, a belief. The way I see it, nostalgia can only get you so far, and when you re-experience the same work after a long time and still believe it's one of the best, then that alone proves it's not just that to me. I could name several examples of this, but of course, I can't prove them to you unless you could get into my head... So, either you take my word for it or you don't. In any case, this kind of arguments could be used the other way around, like for example claiming that you only like a recent show so much because it's still fresh to you and you haven't given it enough time to properly evaluate its importance. And I for one believe that the test of time is the biggest test that an artistic work can face, as it's much more difficult to stay relevant after long periods of time than being the best only the moment you appear. On a related note, I'm currently watching Dragon Ball Z on Cartoon Network... (the Latin American version is not edited like the US one though) And about the last part, keep in mind that there's a difference between having a sizeable amount of experience and the variety of said experience. If someone has seen 100 anime but they're all shoujo while another person has seen only 50 but from different genres, who has more anime experience ? It's certainly arguable, right ? |
I'll start by replying to the last. I believe that having depth and breadth in watching things is far more valuable than just sheer numbers.
To the first, I don't think there is a direct relation between popularity and quality, it's just that I find Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece (among others, but I'll stick to the big 3) to be very mediocre shows at best. That's pretty much all I'll say on that topic.
As far as nostalgia, it's a mixed bag. I'll use DBZ again as I know how poorly the story is told and just how badly it progressed. While I still enjoy it as a whole, watching ~274 episodes again would be miserable. I believe they bothered to release Kai because of this. Now, there are shows that still stand up regardless. I've rewatched Outlaw Star, Gundam Wing, Trigun, and Bebop. Some of the shows, I've seen as recently as a few months, and I still believe they're just as great or better than the first time I watched. It really just kinda depends on the show (I won't dare delve in Pokemon).
Lastly, I said that I couldn't 'prove' my side in that argument as my evidence is entirely anecdotal and personal experience, and that I still disagree with you regardless. I will say that I generally try to speak or make these lists as objectively as possible. There's many shows that I've given 7s and 8s that I really love, but there's some core flaws with the show (it's the same way for games).
