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mynamemine wrote:

All you have to do is mosey on over to the "Worst of Spring" article where you will see this wonderful nugget - a young, male, and straight audience, and I'm so tired of anime studios chasing that demographic's money - real nice.

Try putting aside your culture war talking point for about 10 seconds to realize that there are multiple underserved, if not outright ignored, demographics that are starving for anime right now. But instead we need to get multiple "I am the strongest" anime released every season. There's a damn good reason to complain.
And I say this as a straight man.

Also, just as a by the by, you're complaining in the rest of this paragraph about a show that set up the bog standard isekai storyline and then mercilessly subverted it in the first episode. Of course that got praised. It had nothing to do with it being a woman killing a man, it was a set-up people had seen hundreds of times in the last ten years being spun on its head.

Gina Szanboti wrote:

Because I am a glutton for punishment, I did give Knights of the Round of Golf a look-see, despite hating golf and just coming off of Tonbo, which turned out to be watchable if a bit too granular about the mechanics of the game. I just picked a spot at random to start, since there were complaints about the boy's voice and I thought I'd check that first. He was playing street ball with his friends and it wasn't just Gawain speaking. All of them set my teeth on edge so hard, I didn't last two minutes. Which I'm kinda glad about, since it means I won't waste another season on golf. I really hate golf.

Did you miss that that Tonbo! Season 2 starts in only 3 months from now, and that is followed by Sorairo Yūtiriti (Sorairo Utility) in January, so your golf anime withdrawal will not start until until April 2025. Wink

Actually, I do not care for golf either, but like Tonbo! as a calm SOL show (as long as it does not go the Usagi Doroppu (Bunny Drop) route and have a future romantic relationship between Tonbo and Igarashi).

smurky turkey wrote:

My Wife Has No Emotion is a no for me, I have had my fill of awkward and stale romance shows (plus that the show feels depressing to me rather than cute). Also, unless it is somehow horrible I will be watching Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian and one romance show a season is enough for me (we have like 8 this season).

I suggest you make that two romance shows, since if (leaked) EP 1 is anything to go by, Gimai Seikatsu (Days with My Stepsister) will be very good with a quiet atmosphere and without all the annoying and overused rom-com tropes. Think I will give it 4.5 stars on Thursday when it is officially released.

mynamemine wrote:

The original poster said something to the effect of "I don't know why I keep coming to this site." For myself, the answer is "find the shows that the reviewers hate the most and give them a shot because there is a good chance that I will like the very things that the reviewers and a vocal subset of likeminded commenters hate."

I find that mostly to be true for shows about cute girls hanging out and having fun that get blasted for being boring, while I find them to be some of the most enjoyable due to the pacing, humor, and developing characters one can care about: Hinako Note, Slow Start, Sansha Sanyō (Three Leaves, Three Colors), Joshi Kōsei no Mudazukai (Wasteful Days of High School Girls), Yuruyuri, and Yuyushiki are some examples.

The one that surprised me was Buta no Liver wa Kanetsu Shiro (Butareba -The Story of a Man Who Turned into a Pig - Heat the Pig Liver) that had such bad reviews that I watched Episode 1 to see what all the fuss was about, and ended up watching and enjoying the whole series.

NeedMoreCats wrote:

My Wife Has No Emotion just made me sad, on so many levels.

I find the story entirely believable (if such robots were actually available), but then I have a dim view of homo sapiens in general.

all-tsun-and-no-dere wrote:

mynamemine wrote:

The original poster said something to the effect of "I don't know why I keep coming to this site." For myself, the answer is "find the shows that the reviewers hate the most and give them a shot because there is a good chance that I will like the very things that the reviewers and a vocal subset of likeminded commenters hate."

Great! I'm so glad the reviews here helped you find shows you like!

*chef's kiss* masterful.

Key wrote:

mynamemine wrote:

Edgy main characters? Those are the things that they target the most. Except, of course, if it is an LGBT themed show like Gushing Over Magical Girls! No, that is when pervasive nudity, a "protagonist" who routinely commits sexual violence and a cast of 14 year old girls is just fine.

You might want to go back and take a look at those previews and episode reviews again before throwing out such accusations. 3 of the 4 previewers did specifically bring up the age factor, and the episode reviewer commented on it on multiple occasions. In fact, the initial reception towards the series from the staff was very icy, and the episode reviewer went some time before he finally started acknowledging the series' merits. It definitely did not get a pass just because "LGBTQ+ content."

Quote:

The original poster said something to the effect of "I don't know why I keep coming to this site." For myself, the answer is "find the shows that the reviewers hate the most and give them a shot because there is a good chance that I will like the very things that the reviewers and a vocal subset of likeminded commenters hate."

The contrarian angle is still a perfectly legitimate way to use reviews; at least once or twice a season I find myself liking a show that all of them rated poorly. However, at least some series that the staff hate on genuinely deserve it.

I appreciate the response and I admit its fairness and accuracy. Still, Gushing Over Magical Girls was so extreme that it could have been from the 2000s when way more explicit stuff was made for the Japanese DVD and late night cable crowd and was never exported overseas except for the seedy shops. So a show where the main character assaults middle schoolers actually only attracted as much antipathy as the self-insert MC isekai harems routinely get.

I can understand wanting more anime made that targets other demographics. (Note that the manga industry seems to have decided that they get a better financial return from adapting shojo and josei as live action rather than anime, especially if both Japanese and South Korean versions are made.) But that is very different from getting miffed at the shows that get adapted for preteen and teen boys containing elements that preteen and teen boys like. What else are they supposed to do? While entertainment that doesn't cater to what the target audience likes can succeed, it won't consistently AND requires other elements that drives up costs. Yes, we all loved Mob Psycho 100 with its absence of fanservice and subversion of masculine power fantasies. Great, now go produce 20 shows like it a year, most with a fraction of the budget and little of the elite talent. And for all the awards and glowing reviews that Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken justifiably earned, a mediocrity like Plunderer garnered bigger audience while airing the very same season, while also boosting manga sales. Our Last Crusade Or Rise of the New World? Bigger audience than Golden Kamuy almost solely because of the looks of the female protagonist, and the same was true of Banished From The Heroes Party vs Restaurant To Another World. Standing on a Million Lives versus The Vampire Dies in No Time? Again the latter was superior in almost every way, but the target demo preferred the edgy angsty teen protagonist and with a lot of teen girls to the weak vampire and a cast of mostly guys.

Would rather the reviews ask "is this work effective at giving the target demo what it wants and if not how can it be better" than bemoan shows targeting 10-18 year old boys exhibiting a lack of fidelity to third wave feminism.

Piglet the Grate wrote:

Did you miss that that Tonbo! Season 2 starts in only 3 months from now, and that is followed by Sorairo Yūtiriti (Sorairo Utility) in January, so your golf anime withdrawal will not start until until April 2025. Wink

No, my withdrawal, if by which you mean not indulging in it, starts now. Razz

There's a remote possibility I'll watch Tonbo's second season, if the rest of Fall is barren.

I think I'll be watching No Anime for Old Men for awhile longer, though I don't think it was that good, and didn't even realize it was supposed to be a comedy, rather than an adventure with some comic relief. But while reading James' review I had an epiphany.

I confess that I enjoy the "overpowered but underestimated character who amazes everyone" trope. So even if this is the umpteenth iteration of it, I still enjoy it. There are a handful that do it well, like Mob Psycho and One Punch Man, so you'd think I would just spend the time scratching that itch with rewatches of the quality stuff. But I still gravitate to the lesser ones each season because a) there are occasionally a few nuggets of new things in them, in character designs or personalities or plots, etc., and b) most are so unimpressive that I pretty much forget them as soon as they're over, so the current one still seems more original than it actually is. Who knew that having little short term memory would turn out to be an asset! Smile

mynamemine wrote:

Would rather the reviews ask "is this work effective at giving the target demo what it wants and if not how can it be better" than bemoan shows targeting 10-18 year old boys exhibiting a lack of fidelity to third wave feminism.

Good point. We should all continue viewing media like adolescent boys. Never mature, never ask for more. This is why your anime blog makes the big bucks, I presume.

Have you heard the terms "arrested development" or "audience capture," by the by?

(also, third wave feminism was in the 90's, fourth wave feminism started around the 2010's, at least update your lexicon)

all-tsun-and-no-dere wrote:

mynamemine wrote:

The original poster said something to the effect of "I don't know why I keep coming to this site." For myself, the answer is "find the shows that the reviewers hate the most and give them a shot because there is a good chance that I will like the very things that the reviewers and a vocal subset of likeminded commenters hate."

Great! I'm so glad the reviews here helped you find shows you like!

It seems the reviews are doing their exact job perfectly!

Seriously it's not a gotcha or sarkasm, I'm serious. It's not critic job to give you validation (speaking to mynamemine). It's critic job to (duh) critique the product for it's flaws and praise for its strong points. If you follow a critic, you will have a feel for their tastes and will know what might be your potential reaction to show because of their opinion - and it goes both ways. You might like what they like, or the exact opposite - and both are valuable information for you when making your choice to check some series.

I have reviewers from both spectrums on that site. For example, if Rebecca Silverman is praising something I will often check it out, even if I wasn't planning on, because her taste often overlaps with mine. And then there are reviewers I usually strongly disagree with, which I will not give example of, as it would be rude and unnecessarily provocative.

Ossan Adventurer seems fine. I don't think the "I don't think I'm strong" thing holds up as well with a full grown adult as it does for a kid like the Boonies series a few years back (and that one didn't end up being as good as I hoped it would be). I'll at least give it another episode or two to see where it goes.

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And it's all done with zero comic timing or flare.

*flair

Last edited by tintor2 on Tue Jul 02, 2024 10:01 am; edited 1 time in total

I guess My Wife has no Emotions is a prequel to the Jetsons when the father was single or something. That or a Persona 3 spinoff.

Edit: What if Tatsuki Fujimoto were to write it?

mynamemine wrote:

Still, Gushing Over Magical Girls was so extreme that it could have been from the 2000s when way more explicit stuff was made for the Japanese DVD and late night cable crowd and was never exported overseas except for the seedy shops.

I mean, many people are willing to give extreme content a chance if it has substance. Look at Made in Abyss, that manga has content so shocking I legitimately gasp when I read it and yet it is consistently extremely well reviewed here and other places to the point of being called a masterpiece. I also like series that wear their sexual elements on their sleeve and if a series wants to draw me in with a sexy character as it's main image then I am open to enjoying it. The issue is all the paper thin series chasing that demographic by checking off a list of fanservice and edgy stuff and does nothing with it. I have consumed plenty of products that are outrageously sexual and have depth to them.

I think it's perfectly reasonable to complain about shows targeting that specific demographic because the tone surrounding such complaints are that they are paper thin excuses to appeal to the demographic and not antipathy toward any show targeting that audience.

Wow, Tasuketsu, wow. The elevator pitch of mass killing based on quiz answers is a solid one, but that was maybe the worst death game anime premiere I've ever seen? That "action" sequence, just, lol.

My Wife Has No Emotion matched the vibes that had kept me from ever picking up the manga, easy skip.

Ossam Newbie just sort of was, not wholly terrible, but absolutely nothing special, and not one I'm in a hurry to add to the list.

Strongest Magician also didn't do anything to win me over, and there's plenty of other potential shows that are on my radar that day, so it's not likely to survive the cull either.

Spice & Wolf continues, welcome back SHY.

FishLion wrote:

mynamemine wrote:

Still, Gushing Over Magical Girls was so extreme that it could have been from the 2000s when way more explicit stuff was made for the Japanese DVD and late night cable crowd and was never exported overseas except for the seedy shops.

I mean, many people are willing to give extreme content a chance if it has substance. Look at Made in Abyss, that manga has content so shocking I legitimately gasp when I read it and yet it is consistently extremely well reviewed here and other places to the point of being called a masterpiece. I also like series that wear their sexual elements on their sleeve and if a series wants to draw me in with a sexy character as it's main image then I am open to enjoying it. The issue is all the paper thin series chasing that demographic by checking off a list of fanservice and edgy stuff and does nothing with it. I have consumed plenty of products that are outrageously sexual and have depth to them.

I think it's perfectly reasonable to complain about shows targeting that specific demographic because the tone surrounding such complaints are that they are paper thin excuses to appeal to the demographic and not antipathy toward any show targeting that audience.

Yeah, one of the best known examples, Bakemonogatari, had plenty of controversial content (toothbrush!), I ended up dropping it during the Nisemonogatari - I'd still say it was full of weakest stories compared to other seasons - but I returned to it because it can be just that good sometimes and I don't regret it. It's the cliched, overplayed, currently-popular-theme horny stories that are most boring and annoying.

I enjoyed several of the female characters in "Gushing..." (frankly I don't think there even are male characters there), but most of the ecchi sex slave harem isekai only give their female characters undying devotion to the male MC for not abusing them + some minor harem character trope. There is a difference between being indulgent or shocking and being just bland wish fulfillment.

*le sigh* my biggest gripe with the anime industry right now is the push for quantity over quality. It is abundantly apparent in almost every new anime adaptation these days. Without enough staff who are properly trained and paid accordingly, the shows suffer and so does the audience.

So far, in my opinion, no new shows this season are worthy of airing on a streaming service. They should’ve been dumped on Tubi. Hopefully the next two weeks will provide some better quality content.

Basically, I’m tired of all these pig slop anime adaptations. I’m grateful for the anime backlog of older shows so I continue to have plenty to enjoy while waiting for the better than mediocre and the diamond in the rough newer shows to appear.

SinisterOracle wrote:

So far, in my opinion, no new shows this season are worthy of airing on a streaming service. They should’ve been dumped on Tubi. Hopefully the next two weeks will provide some better quality content.

idk, in a way they're perfect for a streaming service. I mean, have you seen how much total crap Netflix produces as originals? They make so many movies per year and most of them are garbage. It's what streaming does.

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