Super Official Anime Discussion Thread

[vivster]

sundin13 said:

vivster said:
I just realized I hate giving recommendations to newbies. It's always just the same animes. The safe animes I liked before I got to know real animes. But you can't recommend the real animes to newbies because they might get scared and run away.

Since newbies always get recommended the same stuff they get the impression that there are only a few good animes out there instead of hundreds. And when these newbies grow up those will be the first animes they recommend to other newbies. It's kinda sad.

I agree (kinda)...when I was first getting into anime, I just dove in, and as a result, I watched a lot of shit. However, through doing so, I was able to figure out what I liked and what I wanted to get out of anime. I took risks with the shows I watched and I learned how to find shows I liked myself.

I've been trying to get my sister into anime and I've recommended her some stuff, but I do so begrudgingly, because I want her to jump in and take risks like I did, but I know that without the push of me showing her what anime is capable of, I don't think she ever would take those first steps on her own.

However, I don't think that people new to anime will only think there are a few anime, or at least, anyone actually interested in the totality of anime. I do realize that there are plenty of "casual" fans, but its not hard for someone to find recommendations or a laundry list of great shows. The people who only watch a few shows are probably the ones who would never have even watched anime without recommendations, so I don't think that them staying "casual" anime fans is a detriment in any way.

I remember when I got into anime. I don't know anymore what actually sparked the interest. I always liked the animes that were shown on television but never actively pursued them.

When I had some time on my hand I gave it a shot. I didn't delve into it randomly and I didn't get any direct recommendations. I did some extensive research before I watched my first real anime, which was Ergo Proxy. I searched for what I wanted at that time and then went by ratings on ANN. It's actually funny that I started off like most people. Looking for "serious" anime preferably with Sci-Fi setting. To think that these are now at the very bottom of my hunting list.

You can't really recommend newbies the really good stuff because that's usally either hit or miss comedy, lots of fanservice or just too weird. If I'd someday recommend to a Newbie stuff like Bakemonogatari or Kaiba or Aria or P&SwG they'd probably turn away right away. That's why we recommend the safe stuff. Because we want people to watch more. But what we're ultimately doing is not broadening their horizon but putting them on a predetermined path with only a small chance to light a spark.

It's just sad that a lot of people will ever only get to see that stuff and not actually the mountain of possibilities that is animes. So casual anime fans will only ever be a small step above the people who don't watch it and as such are full of stereotypes. Though the problem with casuals is they feel above the non watchers not realizing that they only scratched the surface a bit.