Forum - View topicWhat's Your Biggest Guilty Pleasure?
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Top Gun
 Posts: 4868 |
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The only-mild-guilt category has to be s-CRY-ed. By any accounts it's a pretty generic fighting shounen sort of show (which I've since discovered owes more than a little bit to Jojo), with some truly ridiculous designs and often-nonsensical plot developments. But when it first aired on [adult swim] more than a decade ago, I couldn't help but love the hell out of it. It's just so earnest and over-the-top in everything it does, the characters shout ridiculous catch-phrases at the top of their lungs, its soundtrack is full of crazy flamenco-sting moments and a gloriously cheesy Engrish-filled OP/ED combo, there's gobs of (possibly) unintentional homoeroticism, and Straight Cougar is one of the greatest characters in anything ever. And the best part is that the dub crew knew exactly what sort of show they were dealing with, so you get luminaries like Steve Blum and Crispin Freeman absolutely chewing on the scenery.
The legit-super-guilt category? Street Fighter II V. It's just...yeah. 
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zrnzle500
 Posts: 3768 |
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I was going to put s-cry-ed too but I believe it isn't poorly rated (not too highly rated but still) That is probably one of the anime that I've watched the most times (at least three times). I've probably gotta rewatch that soon so I can reassess it but that is definitely one of my nostalgia favorites. |
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lostbirdinatree
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Normally I'd list my guilty pleasure as Kage Kara Mamoru, but it's not really a show I outright love. Thus, by virtue of the definition, I'll go with Binan Koukou Chikyuu Boueibu LOVE! on this one (no pun intended). Not the second season, the first one.
Its animation can look remarkably different from one episode to the next (there's a climactic scene in episode 5 that's a particular offender of this) and it's covered in signs that scream "fujoshi money trap", even though I don't identify as a fujoshi...However, these are all part of the appeal of this show, and even though the creators have admitted to being drunk while thinking up storylines in at least one interview, it still manages to eke out its own niche. As for Kage Kara Mamoru, most people would think it to be middle-of-the-road light novel trash, but even if it's repetitive, the jokes are bad/untranslateable, the animation can be a little blah and Yuna fails at almost everything in life, there's a sort of charm to that too. It's the only harem work I like in any particular way, which does make it rather notable in a sense. |
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whiskeyii
 Posts: 2278 |
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The filler arcs in Rurouni Kenshin. I actually loved those (and if *someone* would just release some nice Blu-rays for the original series, I'd snap up those suckers in a heartbeat.) Seconding Witch Hunter Robin (I've got such a soft spot for such an nearly incomprehensible story line), and adding Ben-To! to that list, which made me laugh harder than I had in years.
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Splitter
 Posts: 1276 Location: Knockin' on Heaven's Door |
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My biggest guilty pleasure would have to be Girls Bravo, the inauspicious directorial debut of Ei Aoki that absolutely revels in how shameless it can be. I mostly admire it for being a harem series that drops all the niceties and gets right to the smut and wallows in it like a pig in filth, as well as adding a very healthy dose of comedy to it's smut for a nice raunchy balance that reminds me of old teen sex comedies cranked up to 11.
It is most certainly not for everyone, but it's the best sex comedy anime I've ever seen. |
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marichan99
 Posts: 25 |
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Mine is definitely Oreimo. I have posters, wall scrolls, some figures, and all the LNs. Usually I hate harem type series but oh boy, I really enjoyed Oreimo so much because Kyousuke was an entertaining fella as a main character and the story was packed of fun. And I knew it'd end the way it did. Tsukasa Fushimi's writing is so fun to read! The light novels are packed with entertainment, and even though I generally find reading Japanese books annoying, his are an exception.
I even have all the volumes out so far for his current series, Eromanga Sensei! Although I'm still on volume 4 and haven't read the rest yet, I really love the series and can't wait for the anime. It's nice how the main characters are a bit younger than Kirino and Kyousuke, and Sagiri, the sister, is soooo cute compared to how annoying Kirino was at times. Masamune is also very calm and collected and in general a sweet guy, contrasting to Kyousuke's "no chill" attitudes at times.  Also for those who don't know the series, Sagiri and Masamune are not blood related. The anime teasers didn't make it clear that they aren't, and I think that it's an important detail.
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Keichitsu0305
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I'm just glad Theron and Amy actually remembered the My Hime/Otome franchise and Maramalde Boy respectively. I still have the four part Tokyopop box set from my very first anime convention and I still want to slap half the cast for their 90s soap opera BS!
Since I tend to avoid actually terrible shows, most of my guilty pleasures are just mediocre or forgettable TV shows that have no lasting impressions on the fandom. But, the most recent one is probably Seraph of the End; combines too many popular shounen anime cliches with only three decent fight scenes and a non ending that STILL baffles my mind.
Ahh early 2000's Studio DEEN...how I don't miss you and why the miracle of SGRS is even MORE profound!
Still can't get over how we are never getting that Panda mecha battle in NYC from the manga. Goddamnit I'm gonna marathon my Nozomi DVD again. 
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ZenAmako
Posts: 92 |
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I read an interview with Yuu Watase in which she cited Mutsumi Inomata (character designer and animator for Leda) as one of her influences. I immediately thought of Leda and its parallels with Fushigi Yugi. One of Fushigi Yugi's villains, Tomo, is basically Zell from Leda. And of course, both anime are about a teenage girl who is transported to a fantasy world and becomes its savior. Today, Inomata is probably best known as the character designer for the Tales series of video games like the recent Tales of Berseria. Also, I find it amusing that Leda's heroine emerges from a giant flower in a bikini and teams up with characters named Lingam and Yoni (see: the Kama Sutra). Despite being a strictly family-friendly affair, Leda always seemed to have some sexual overtones.
My guilty pleasure is definitely Iczer-One (1985). I ordered the remastered Blu-ray set last year and I've probably watched it at least half a dozen times since. Something about its mix of beautiful girls, yuri, giant robots, '80s aesthetic, and Lovecraftian horror does it for me. |
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Cat's Tuxedo
Posts: 25 |
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Mad Bull 34 is mine. Yeah, the main character's an unabashed, unrelenting sociopath, but his carnage and methods are so unbelievably audacious that I can't help but love it.
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zawa113
 Posts: 7360 |
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I absolutely have a thing for "so bad it's good", but in a world with Eiken, Garzey's Wing, Mad Bull 34, and other schlock, I definitely have a thing for two in particular.
First is Apocalypse Zero which is just a mess in so many regards. If you haven't seen it, it involves dick and boob monsters terrorizing a post apocalyptic world (this is somehow not classified as a hentai, and to be fair, it's as far from "sexy" as you could imagine). And the main dude wears this suit thing and fights them while everyone in this universe seems to think that these sorts of monsters look completely normal (I mean, to be fair if I saw them irl, I'd be sacred stiff too, but afterwards I'd be like "dafuq?"). And the main guy's sister/brother (it's really unclear, in the flashbacks, it's clearly a dude, but I think some sort of spontaneous sex change occurs offscreen because in the present, it's clearly a "she", I have no idea, I don't think the character is transgender or anything either. And he is voiced by Mona Marshall for some reason, this dub got real voice actors to waste their time here). I actually went out of my way to read the manga (what was released in english anyway, 6/11 volumes), and the anime is definitely funnier, but I do like how in the manga, the girl who is clearly meant to be the love interest has this inexplicable aura of worship around her, even though she is useless. And the in-between story is a fun mess too, nothing is really explained, not even in the first 6 vols in the manga (so don't think any of your questions will be answered). But I find myself enjoying the hell out of it at all times, it makes me kind of sick. And the ultimate "so bad it's good" award has to go to the utter mess that is Genma Wars. Upon watching the first episode of Genma Wars, you will notice its most glaring problems within 30 seconds, i.e. the terrible animation, the terrible backgrounds, the CGI fire everywhere, the terrible music, and the hilariously bad dub. Look, there's Richard Epcar, not giving a damn! And over there, there's Wendee Lee not caring either! They go out of their way to get real actors, but I can understand any of them not putting their best into this, honestly I do. But the terrible production values are honestly just scratching the surface of this "special" anime. Because lurking close beneath the surface is the mess of a plot and terrible characters polluting the series and bringing forth its true value in horrendousness. For example, episode 1 is something like this: the demon king wants a wife, he sends this wolf henchman to get a pretty girl from a village, he rapes her, she gives birth to twins, the wolf takes one of the twins back to the demon king, and the whole time, the girl has secretly fallen for the demon king (i.e., HER RAPIST!) and has spent the time between rape and birth pining for him. Clearly this series has problems. In fact, two more characters will get raped and fall for their rapist, it's some sort of weird rule in this world. So the rest of the series follows the twins (there's maybe one ep where they're toddlers, then they're teens for the rest of the series) and their terrible attempts at romance are included, they both end up trying to overthrow the demon king, and then for the last 5 eps or so, they travel in time (I can't remember if it's future or distant past, but it's the 80s). With them, the clearly evil baby of one of the twins also joins them in time. The twins are dumb as a sack of bricks though, because even though this baby tells them that it's clearly evil and wants to take over the world, the twins discuss what they should do about this. They then move to another room and they must have their memories wiped or something because they will immediately go back to discussing if this baby is really evil or not like they never had the last conversation five minutes ago. For all the hilarity of the first part, after they time travel, the show gets really epic in its guilty pleasure quota and a lot more memorable (probably because of lines like spoiler["Now, when I get back, I'm gonna beat that baby out of you."] (spoiler tags because experiencing it is incredible), and a strong ramping up in stupidity). I *think* the plot of the movie Harmageddon takes place sometime after this show (they're both adapted from the same manga but at different points), but I fell asleep about half an hour into Harmageddon and never finished it, so I don't really know (sadly, Harmageddon is just boring). To Genma Wars' credit, I did not find it boring, because all of its twists and turns were so out of left field that you wanna know what stupid M. Night thing they'd come up with next. If you plan on checking this out (which I do recommend, in an odd way), just know that I once tried to show it to two friends. One left two minutes in. The other, I got her to watch two episodes and I could see the glaze on her eyes as she turned into a vegetable. I don't know if she ever recovered all the brain cells from that one incident. And we have sat through Apocalypse Zero, Eiken, Garzey's Wing, Mad Bull 34, and some of La Blue Girl together. The fact that she could not handle this one says volumes about how much worse Genma Wars is, even vs these shows. As for something that is not downright awful or ever falls into the "so bad it's good" category, I do sort of have a thing for Code Lyoko, the French 2D/3D animated hybrid series. Like, the plot doesn't typically go anywhere fast and the characters don't really develop that much, but I guess I really like the semi-isekai thing going on I guess? But I just find the whole thing oddly charming, I can't help myself. And for anime, I actually like season 4 of Digimon, i.e. Digimon Frontier. I don't even get mad at the show when it drops any and all characters for the hero and the lancer about halfway through the series (and this is even after they get the final member that every series gets, they get the sixth ranger, and then they abandon him, even though he was actually interesting). It drops the other characters so hard that it gives the two leads like, three other powers that the others don't get, including one that literally requires the other four characters to not be able to do anything. I am kind of a fan of Lucemon though (he's so good in Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth! but I actually liked him already due to this series). I was always ok with the "kids turn into Digimon" thing too. I definitely do enjoy how you don't need to play a Wonderswan Japanese-only game (or other system) to get backstory on a character *cough*Ryo and Ken*cough* and that it's self contained. So it does one thing better than series 2 and 3. |
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TsukasaElkKite
 Posts: 4047 |
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Mine are Kodomo no Jikan, KissxSis, and all Precure series.
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Sloppy_Jimbo
 Posts: 98 |
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I don't feel 'guilty' for liking these shows, but perhaps watch and enjoy them more than I should.
Pretear - The show is a template reverse harem shoujo with a dash of fairy tale and I am not even the target audience. Strawberry Panic - A world without men, animation, or nuanced characters. Fencer of Minerva - .................. 
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Jose Cruz
 Posts: 1809 Location: South America |
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Mine:
Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha Its like the definition of otaku animation. Although, it's direction is very good. From the ones choosen by the staff I only read a few chapters of The Wolrd only God knows and My Otome but didn't find either interesting. |
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8509 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Challenge accepted. It's awful. The comic relief characters and coma girl's sister were the only interesting characters. , Honestly thought the coma girl was supposed to be mentally ill because of her acting like a four year old despite being a teen. It even looked ugly and had very limited animation. 
My guilty pleasure is probably most nostalgic anime from my formative years as a fan that didn't quite make it to my current favorites list. Samurai Troopers/Ronin Warriors come to mind. Or Tank Police. Iria, whoo boy, that's pretty bad, but somehow I still can watch it. Cyber City Oedo 808. Venus Wars. Some would consider these classics, but I say they don't hold up to scrutiny, even if they are kind of fun. Empty calorie anime. More currently, Tokyo ESP was kind of a mess but I really enjoyed it. I even enjoyed Big Order, a total train wreck. Gangsta was also kind of dumb but I liked it. I think Tanya The Evil is going to be something like that. |
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katsundere
 Posts: 6 Location: Orlando, FL |
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Oh man...I have a lot of guilty pleasures. I live in almost constant guilt since I am a 20-something year old man who primarily loves cute anime.
Pretty Rhythm Aurora Dream immediately comes to mind. The CGI was fuzzy, they recycled dances and songs and the end of every episode featured some real life girls attempting to dance. Wow it was awful. But the story and drama went far deeper than I ever thought it would go and Aira kicked a lot of @**. Aikatsu! was similar but had better songs and gaudy outfits. I have not seen CGI as good as Aikatsu's from any anime since. Not even from Love Live. The 3rd season opening song Halloween performance blew me away. I still loved it even when the main character was replaced. Ichigo and Akari were both great. I was heartbroken when it was canceled and replaced with this Aikatsu Stars! nonsense. Then there is the Strike Witches franchise (yes...including Brave Witches). The historical aspect caught me first...I could care less about the fanservice. I carved my own shield in a sheet of plexiglass and cosplay as Yoshika occasionally. Honorable mentions to Nazo no Kanojo X, Keijo!!!!!!!!, Seitokai Yakuindomo and Mitsudomoe. |
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