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Trends in hyperviolence in anime.

errinundra wrote:

I wouldn't describe The Animatrix as hyperviolent. Only Second Renaissance Part 2 would have moments that warrant that but, even then, it's not gross or disturbing.

Program and Matriculated also had hyperviolent parts, but I guess that's only 3 out of the 8 stories so as a whole Animatrix isn't really hyperviolent.

Adding to the list: Le Portrait de Petite Cossette (2004), Ga-Rei: Zero (2008), Kill Bill Chapter 3: The Origin of O-Ren (2003), and Blade of the Immortal (2008).

Basilisk has a lot of death and violence, but is another 'can't remember if it's violent enough to qualify' series.

Why are the Berserk movies not listed? They are more hyperviolent than Claymore. Ditto for Mirai Nikki? Sword of the Stranger?

Allow me to ask, since I never saw the whole thing and its been years since I did see some of it, but do the 3 stories have short scenes of violence or do they have extended scenes? Do they have several scenes of violence or only one? Does the quality of violence reach extreme levels? For example, does it meet several of these criteria: bloodshed, carnage (high body count), detailed injury, maiming (including decapitation), murder, torture, death, etc. Would you hesitate to show this anime to friends who might be more sensitive? After all, some of us are probably a bit desensitized to certain levels of anime violence. If the content is high enough even in those 3 stories then it may be enough to label The Animatrix extreme.

These segments do have violent moments but I think they are milder than Claymore, which Key puts at the lower end of the range. Anyway, it's up to Key to decide as it's his project.

BTW, given comments in the recent ANNcast my theory is that Key will be reviewing Ninja Scroll, but that's only a guess.

Does anybody have any input on these anime:

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000) - Its been so long since I saw this one and the OAV that I don't recall anything at all. I also don't own it so I can't check.

One-Eye wrote:

Does anybody have any input on these anime: Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000) - Its been so long since I saw this one and the OAV that I don't recall anything at all. I also don't own it so I can't check.

It's been years and years since I saw it and I can't recall large tracts of it, but from what I remember there isn't enough for the movie to really be considered hyperviolent. Lots of action but not much gore. I would say it is no more violent than Claymore, but as my memory ain't too good take it with a grain of salt. I do own it but I can't be bothered re-watching it again; it is 4am right now, after all.

As for Garden of Sinners, there was quite a bit of violence in it. spoiler[A girl killing the guys who rape her by literally twisting their arms off with her mind, a guy getting stabbed in the eye with a key, an arm being destroyed, a thumb being bitten off, girls committing suicide, plenty of dismembered corpses,] stuff like that. I would say there's enough to make the series as a whole violent, but some movies have drastically less violence than others. For example, the epilogue has almost no action of any kind at all, just talk talk talk. Other movies have lots of grisly stuff.

This is an interesting topic. I did an ANN search for series and movies with the objectionable content rating of 'intense', and it turned up:

So that's the reason. Maybe it would be a good idea to look for differences in hyper-violent anime from 80s and recent years. The first thing that comes to my mind is that the recent hyper-violent anime are more often emotionally manipulative and make viewers feel sorry for characters being subject to such a treatment rather than make the whole situation appear cool. So while a new hyper-violent show in which cute girls kill and/or are killed may sell extremely well, it does not indicate that old hyper-violent shows will be warmly received by the contemporary fans.

...Deadman Wonderland suggests that there's still a taste for it in the 2010s even though offerings of this ilk have been very sparse over the last 2-3 years.

I find few of the shows mentioned to fall into what I would consider "hyper-violent". Why the need to magnify attributes, does anime contain violence, absolutely. One of anime's main attractions for me is that is intended for a much broader audience than traditional western cartoons. I am an adult and would prefer that my anime be aimed at adults, whether that means violence (or sex) when appropriate to the story. I don't see where that turns into 'hyper-violence" or even what that means.

Another is one I certainly do NOT believe belongs in this category. Violence is defined by the World Health Organization as the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against a person, or against a group or community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment or deprivation. Most deaths in Another are the results of accidents, some are gruesome, some are not, but by definition they are not violent.

Now here's another interesting question: should something like Fist of the North Star (beginning 1984) qualify for this? I'd say that it could be considered one of the - if not the - prototypical hyperviolent titles. While it backs away from luridly showing the goriest aspects, there's really no getting around its regular depictions of exploding heads and bodies.

I maybe misunderstanding, but you seem to be suggesting that all presentations of violence are equal. Furthermore, that all "adults" respond to all forms of violence in the same manner.

Still, there are some that may not be fazed by that level of graphic presentation, but cannot stomach acts of torture and sadism, etc.

We are trying to identify anime that starts at an extreme level, perhaps moves to the hyper category or even ultra category.

We are trying to ask questions about whether there are more violent anime now than in the past. Is this influenced by trends in entertainment, specific shows or the culture in general? Has the content of violent anime changed (one comment says its more emotionally manipulative)? Has the presentation changed (perhaps its more detailed or realistic?)? We may even still be in the process of defining what is extreme or hyper violent? Perhaps you would like to help?

... in Another a supernatural agent/force is causing some of the gruesome deaths in the story. So you could argue that there is a perpetrator and a victim and some of those victims are suffering "psychological harm". I also seem to recall some people flipping out and trying to kill each other in the show.

One-Eye wrote:

I maybe misunderstanding, but you seem to be suggesting that all presentations of violence are equal. Furthermore, that all "adults" respond to all forms of violence in the same manner.

You not only misunderstand, but you are attempting to put words in my mouth.

Violence is violence, the person getting the crap kicked out them isn't going to differentiate.

One-Eye wrote:

We are trying to identify anime that starts at an extreme level, perhaps moves to the hyper category or even ultra category.

Possibly you and Key (maybe one or two others) are - but the thread has degenerated into a list of series people think are violent, and IMHO as the list grows longer the attempt to classify most of them as some sort of hyper/ultra violent not only become unnecessary but in many cases down right silly.

One-Eye wrote:

We are trying to ask questions...

Perhaps, but I think you last statement is most important. I have stated the opinon here before that many of the arguments that arise here stem from people refusing to use proper definitions - "well such and such means this to me". It can be moe, ecchi, fan service ... pretty much any term imaginable. But if you can't or won't use a term properly how are people supposed to understand what you are talking about? How can you discuss "hyper violence" amongst 10 people if there are ten definitions of the term?

As to the lion analogy, I see your point but I think we are arguing semantics here, My main point is that a car driving off a cliff, a crane smashing into an apartment may result in deaths, possibly even in gory deaths, but those scenes are not necessarily violent.