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Rare genre anime.


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naninanino



Joined: 18 May 2008
Posts: 680
PostPosted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 12:28 pm Reply with quote
As a long time watcher, I've stumbled in quite a few anime that I consider unusual or "rare genre". I'm interested in hearing if other people have stumbled in these cases. I tried to make a quick search on the subject, but didn't find a corresponding topic about it. Feel free to inform me if such topic already exists.

I'm not exactly talking about shows with unusual twists or shows that are considered weird or psychological. I'm more referring to stuff such as Early Reins (western), which is a common genre, but rarely used in anime medium. I've also been following Genshi Shounen Ryuu (prehistoric) and it's refreshing to see dinosaurs and cavemen battling it out. Not all of the rare genre shows are even that unknown. For example, Record of Lodoss War OVA (epic fantasy) is fairly well known amonst anime community and receives much appreciation. Then there is stuff that receives zero appreciation like Tondera House no Daibouken (religious propaganda), where I can see why the genre never became popular.

I guess I just wonder how anime, a medium said to offer so much variety, has failed to produce good shows based on rather popular common genres. I think the industry has been too focused on the booms it has managed to capitalize on (mecha, battle shounen, ecchi) and has discarded perfectly good fictive settings in the process. Sometimes I dream to just see a pure blooded medieval anime or something. So I would like to ask the users who bothered to read this: Do you have any "rare genre" watching experiences and would you like to see some of them expanded upon?
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Dessa



Joined: 14 Jul 2004
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 1:35 pm Reply with quote
I'm not sure I would call westerns "popular". Sure, there have been a few [American] shows in the last 20 years, but really, westerns haven't really been popular since the 50-70s. There have been a handful in the past few years, but not many.

I remember reading somewhere that between 60-80 new anime series get produced each year. I'm sure that's a drop in the bucket compared to how many American programs get made a year, and hardly any of those are westerns. So I would expect even fewer anime titles to be western.

That being said, you're missing a few that, while not being traditional westerns, are heavily influenced by the western genre. Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Trigun, and El Cazador de la Bruja come to mind (and are listed on Wikipedia, where I went to get the timeframe for the popularity of westerns).
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anijunk



Joined: 30 May 2008
Posts: 55
PostPosted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 1:54 pm Reply with quote
The only animes I can think of are:

Vampire Hunter D. It is a fusion of a western and (light) horror (vampires). I have only seen Blooldhunt, but that movie is in style and build up a western. Due to this fusion it created a new sub genre, I think.

Gauche the Cellist, about a boy studying the cello and helped by animals to get the right timing. It is making use of classical music, which is hardly done in such a manner.

The Wave of Rage, a disaster movie with all the clichés (or should I see tropes) of the genre, not comparable with the stories set in a apocalyptic era or the latter movies by Katsuhiro Ôtomo with its nihilistic destruction. Not such a good OVA, though, but just an example.
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Kruszer



Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 7994
Location: Minnesota, USA
PostPosted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 4:32 pm Reply with quote
Ishoni Training where a real life girl is inexplicably sucked into an anime and then becomes virtual otaku pedo bait fanservice for you and challenges you to lose weight by showing you basic exercises with the camera set at weird angles. Then there's it's even more creepy and now boring sequel, Ishoni Sleeping where you get to watch her roll around and moan in her sleep like a creepy stalker. I think there was recently a third one too.

Those come to mind immediately. I'll look through my list and see if anything else pops out.


Last edited by Kruszer on Tue Feb 01, 2011 5:00 pm; edited 1 time in total
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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 4:52 pm Reply with quote
For me, it's the sci-fi shojo that are a rare genre, they're a good bit more common in manga, but anime? Very rare. I can still name a few:

Toward the Terra, adapted from Keiko Takemiya's manga of similar name. The anime actually does diverge from the manga quite a bit at the end. The most recent sci-fi shojo I've seen, though it was still based on a manga from the 70s. There's also a movie that was made in 1980, but the recent TV series is easily superior. In manga world, Keiko Takemiya has done some other sci-fi shojo that simply haven't been adapted or anything, like Andromeda Stories.

They Were 11 is a movie based on a short manga by Moto Hagio. Like Keiko Takemiya, she was one of those awesome pioneers of shojo manga in the 70s and has done some other sci-fi shojo shorts that have never been adapted (such as A Drunken Dream, the title story from her recent manga collection, which is a must buy btw).

Please Save My Earth is another notable one, a 6 ep OVA adapted from a 21 volume manga (it hits the first 7 volumes or so) by Saki Hiwatari. The manga was quite influential in Japan, it even had its own unique Otakukin problem! Much like the others, Saki Hiwatari has made other sci-fi shojo that haven't been adapted (like Tower of the Future).

What makes sci-fi shojo different from both sci-fi and shojo? Well it's quite similar to shojo in that characters are still developed rather similarly, but for some reason, most sci-fi shojo tend to involves psychics, at least to some degree. I've found that a bit odd, but yes, they usually do have the fantasy elements of psychic powers or other similar supernatural ability. However, it attempts to explain them with science or they are in some other way centered more around science and usually space (for example, PSME takes place pretty much entirely on Earth, but the characters had past lives as scientists studying the Earth from a base on the Moon).

For focus on science, I also tend to include Fantastic Children as a sci-fi shojo, it's quite similar to PSME in that it involves reincarnated scientists and other science mumbo jumbo (usually involving space or psychic stuff of course) but also does similar character development.

So, sci-fi is common and shojo is common, but somehow the combination of both of them into something that is both yet neither of them is oddly rare.
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naninanino



Joined: 18 May 2008
Posts: 680
PostPosted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 6:49 pm Reply with quote
Thank you for all the replies. Just keep them coming.

Dessa wrote:

That being said, you're missing a few that, while not being traditional westerns, are heavily influenced by the western genre. Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Trigun, and El Cazador de la Bruja come to mind (and are listed on Wikipedia, where I went to get the timeframe for the popularity of westerns).

First of all, westerns are still kicking around even though they're not mainstream. I think Red Dead Redemption is a good rather recent example. Secondly it's common for anime to mix match things in order to create something new, but it's ironically starting to have a backlash. It's actually rarer to find genre pure shows than crossovers. I think many shows suffer from a sort of identity crisis, because of this.

Personally I think that Cowboy Bebop has as much to do with westerns as Captain Harlock has got to do with pirates and Outlaw Star/Trigun are more battle shounen inspired. Maybe that's just me, though. Still, even space westerns are somewhat a rare genre, but still fairly well known of. Also, Trigun is still kicking around so we have a possibility for more. Gun Frontier seems to be the one that is closest to actual western, but I haven't seen that much of it to be 100% sure.

anijunk wrote:

The Wave of Rage, a disaster movie with all the clichés (or should I see tropes) of the genre, not comparable with the stories set in a apocalyptic era or the latter movies by Katsuhiro Ôtomo with its nihilistic destruction. Not such a good OVA, though, but just an example.

Ah yes. The disaster genre, good example indeed. Not too many shows of that nature. I think there was some TV anime a few years back as well. I'll definitely have to take a look at. Gauche as well.

classicalzawa wrote:
For me, it's the sci-fi shojo that are a rare genre, they're a good bit more common in manga, but anime? Very rare. I can still name a few:

I don't really see how a demographic enhances the genre. And as far as I know, Terra e... is shounen written by a woman, like FMA. I think there is a good number of more traditional scifi settings that don't rely too much on mecha around. Seikai and Terra being the most famous ones. Now would ESP enhance scifi as a genre? Well, I think it's a fairly common thing in scifi genre to detoriate it from the rest. I'd say it breaks down to scifi, space opera, mecha and space western.

Kruszer wrote:
Ishoni Training where a real life girl is inexplicably sucked into an anime and then becomes virtual otaku pedo bait fanservice for you and challenges you to lose weight by showing you basic exercises with the camera set at weird angles.

Yes. Exercise films most definitely are a rare genre. Also one of the most pointless things you can use animation on. I guess I could also add anime commercials, but this is getting on the border of just listing oddities and their setting is still fairly normal.
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Spastic Minnow
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 7:14 pm Reply with quote
The one whose rarity comes up occasionally is a true Musical anime. Not shows about bands or idols, but shows that truly express themselves in song. Nerima Daikon Brothers is about the only one of this sort I can think of. Interstella 555 is more of a long-form music video IMO. Occasionaly episodes of shows will go musical but not entire series.


Then there's Black Jack. Look up "medical doctor" in the genre search tool and the only other one listed is a show called Ray, connected to Black Jack. Another one that comes slightly close is the similarly unique Trapeze/ Kūchū Buranko which deals with diagnosing and treating psychological problems.
I guess Medical drama works best in live action but it's not like it should be impossible.
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rojse



Joined: 08 Sep 2010
Posts: 234
PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 8:33 am Reply with quote
Spastic Minnow wrote:
The one whose rarity comes up occasionally is a true Musical anime. Not shows about bands or idols, but shows that truly express themselves in song. Nerima Daikon Brothers is about the only one of this sort I can think of. Interstella 555 is more of a long-form music video IMO. Occasionaly episodes of shows will go musical but not entire series.


Then there's Black Jack. Look up "medical doctor" in the genre search tool and the only other one listed is a show called Ray, connected to Black Jack. Another one that comes slightly close is the similarly unique Trapeze/ Kūchū Buranko which deals with diagnosing and treating psychological problems.
I guess Medical drama works best in live action but it's not like it should be impossible.


"Monster" had a doctor who occasionally performed surgical operations, usually under quite difficult conditions - it was a necessary plot line in several episodes of the show. Admittedly, there was a lot of other themes and plot lines in the show not related to being a doctor or medicine or surgery operations spoiler[such as the doctor hunting a serial killer whose life he once saved] but I think the medical theme in the show was quite well-dealt with when it was present.
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naninanino



Joined: 18 May 2008
Posts: 680
PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 9:17 am Reply with quote
@ rojse

No matter how I look at it, Monster is a pure form thriller through and through. Quite rare nevertheless. There aren't that many thrillers without usual anime related distractions. Some high profile ones would be Perfect Blue, Jin-Roh and Death Note. The latter two might categorize in sub genres.

I'm also adding Musashi: The Dream of the Last Samurai as a rare genre anime. So far it's the only anime documentary that I've seen or know of.

edit:

I guess I'll try to explain myself a little better. If someone would ask about a medical themed anime for example, as in the style of live-action hospital series, would people answer Monster or Full Moon? Their genre doesn't really transform just because a certain activity happens there. Likewise, Gundam doesn't turn into a sub-genre of mecha just because it has ESP. Or any anime with a sports episode isn't a sports show or a sub genre.
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Key
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 10:42 am Reply with quote
naninanino wrote:
Not all of the rare genre shows are even that unknown. For example, Record of Lodoss War OVA (epic fantasy) is fairly well known amonst anime community and receives much appreciation.


Calling this a "rare genre" is a stretch, even if you look at it from an "epic" angle. Granted, we don't see a true epic fantasy series every year, but they do come up periodically; see (especially) 2009's Guin Saga, 2007's Moribito - Guardian of the Spirit, and 2006's The Story of Saiunkoku and Utawarerumono for the most recent examples. (Granted, the last one is also an ero game adaptation, but it has an epic scope and feel.) Going just a little farther back, 2002-2003's The Twelve Kingdoms certainly qualifies and 2003's Scrapped Princess arguably does. And these are just the ones that I can think of off the top of my head.

And really, I think it's more accurate to classify Record of Lodoss War as the first of the RPG-styled fantasy series, since it was indisputably heavily influenced by Dungeons and Dragons and its fantasy RPG kin; I've often described that one as "you can hear the dice rolling behind the screen in the background." Those certainly haven't been rare over the years.

One genre/format that I do find to be pretty rare is slice-of-life anthologies. The only ones I can think of in the past 15 years are Human Crossing, Rumiko Takahashi Anthology, and (arguably) Diamond Daydreams. Sci fi anthologies are rarer still, as the only two examples that I can think of are Memories and Robot Carnival, and they are 16 and 24 years old now, respectively.

You could probably also add historical retrospectives - i.e. stories that use fictional/composite characters to explore real historical events and circumstances, rather than just using events and historical figures as a backdrop for an original story - as a rare genre. The only titles that I can think of which fall into this category all came out in the '80s: the Barefoot Gen movies and Grave of the Fireflies. If there are any other titles that anyone can think of which meets this criteria, I'd be very interested in knowing what it they are.
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egoist



Joined: 20 Jun 2008
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 11:12 am Reply with quote
Quote:
(Granted, the last one is also an ero game adaptation, but it has an epic scope and feel.)

Legend of the Legendary Heroes isn't an ero adaptation! Laughing

Not exactly a rare sub-genre, although very solitaire, indeed.

I'd say horror itself is very rare, or often done so poorly that many people won't even count it as horror. And to think it's one of the big genres.
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naninanino



Joined: 18 May 2008
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 11:27 am Reply with quote
Key wrote:

Calling this a "rare genre" is a stretch, even if you look at it from an "epic" angle. Granted, we don't see a true epic fantasy series every year, but they do come up periodically; see (especially) 2009's Guin Saga, 2007's Moribito - Guardian of the Spirit, and 2006's The Story of Saiunkoku and Utawarerumono for the most recent examples. (Granted, the last one is also an ero game adaptation, but it has an epic scope and feel.) Going just a little farther back, 2002-2003's The Twelve Kingdoms certainly qualifies and 2003's Scrapped Princess arguably does. And these are just the ones that I can think of off the top of my head.

If you ask me, I wouldn't put any of those in the same boat. I know that some people are more lax at defining fantasy and scifi, but there is a difference in LoTR/D&D inspired fantasy settings and eastern fantasy literature/JRPG. Decisive differences in character archetypes and settings are rather plain to see. We get more Juujin and feodal southeast Asia style landscapes in the eastern ones. Classic D&D races and medieval castles in the D&D ones. Some things that also carries over more often than not is JRPG style archetypes, ecchi humor and crossover type story mechanics which you would not find in classic western fantasy settings.

Well, that's my reasoning for singling out Lodoss War anyway. In short, fantasy is not a rare genre, but shows in the legacy of western fantasy settings are. If a show adds in mechs, spaceships, catgirls and JRPG-casts, then it's a different subgenre. It's kind of a same thing as the earlier western/space western comparisons. I'd say there is a difference, others might not.
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TitanXL



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PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 12:22 pm Reply with quote
Kruszer wrote:
Ishoni Training where a real life girl is inexplicably sucked into an anime and then becomes virtual otaku pedo bait fanservice for you and challenges you to lose weight by showing you basic exercises with the camera set at weird angles. Then there's it's even more creepy and now boring sequel, Ishoni Sleeping where you get to watch her roll around and moan in her sleep like a creepy stalker. I think there was recently a third one too.

Ishoni Bathing. Where you watch her and her youger friend frollick in the bath/shower and give each other rubdowns with soap on how to stay clean.

Twisted Evil
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Spastic Minnow
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 12:39 pm Reply with quote
Key wrote:

You could probably also add historical retrospectives - i.e. stories that use fictional/composite characters to explore real historical events and circumstances, rather than just using events and historical figures as a backdrop for an original story - as a rare genre. The only titles that I can think of which fall into this category all came out in the '80s: the Barefoot Gen movies and Grave of the Fireflies. If there are any other titles that anyone can think of which meets this criteria, I'd be very interested in knowing what it they are.


Recently watched JAPAN, Our Homeland(Furusato JAPAN) which I rated "very good" more for its historical insight than it's somewhat standard story with a story twist very very similar to a favorite show of yours. That was from 2007. And if you can stand the melodrama and caricatured characters there's also last year's Rainbow, which looks at the same time period with a much darker lens. But I agree that it's a genre I'd like to see more of.
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yuna49



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PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 2:40 pm Reply with quote
naninanino wrote:
Gun Frontier seems to be the one that is closest to actual western, but I haven't seen that much of it to be 100% sure.


Gun Frontier would be my choice for the "rare genre" category. Seeing Japanese characters portrayed as Native Americans was definitely weird. Overall it's a story about racism, with the white settlers portrayed as the oppressors. I suspect the story is supposed to bring to mind the repression of Japanese-Americans during the Second World War.

II haven't seen too many shows like Narutaru, either. I suppose it fits into the horror category, but there's so much more going on in this story (bullying, incest, and rape for starters) that simply tossing it into the horror genre seems inadequate.
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