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Your biggest anime disappointment?


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hipnox



Joined: 20 Jul 2008
Posts: 143
PostPosted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 10:56 am Reply with quote
once in a while we come across a series with such popularity and good ratings that it´s practically impossible not to give it a shot.

The we look back at it and say, "what was the fuzz all about" or in some more extreme cases "What a piece Overhyped s***"

i´ve had this feelings (both of them). my most dishonorable mentions would be:

Deathnote:

Excellent concept destroyed by awefull character and some (or a lot) of very poor plot points. i would not rate it Aweful, or Worst ever. i´d probably give it a good. but since i was expecting somethings along the lines of MASTERPIECE or EXCELENT+, its just as bad as an Aweful.

I had huge hopes for this series, and it let me down big time. but not as big as my other disappointment

Ghost in the Shell: Stand alone complex:

[RANT] im actually watching this ATM (episode 20 or so) and this series fails to deliver in almost every aspect of it. What a letdown.

95% of the characters are uninteresting or very 2dimentional. The Major is your typically tough female lead and has practically no personality. Batou is by far the most interesting character, but thats not saying a lot. Togusa at least shows his family side and police side from time to time.

Most episodes and story archs have good concept but very poor execution. 9 our of 10 conversations are either long winded explanations or expositions. In fact, there´s hardly any conversation thats not exposition in some form or another. And we are not talking about cleverly disguised exposition. more like "im telling you this info you probably already know in detail" sort of exposition.

There´s hardly any (good) action in the series (judging from the opening sequence, i expected a lot more). Despite the fact that they are in a Huge city, the always manage to find a certain place or person of unknown wereabouts by just walking around for a few minutes.

There´s usually not a lot of investigation and digging. Facts usually pop out right out of the blue, hideouts are pinpointed within minutes, and secret agendas are unveiled through mere hypothetical thinking. With all this in mind, you´d think they want to cut right to the point, skip the "boring" investigation part and get to the action as fast as possible, but there hardly is any action, and it very rarely is it good, entertaining action.

Its usually over way to fast, the good guys are never in any real danger most of the times, and they always solve cases and win fights without breaking a sweat.

All these aspects make the delivery of most episodes sub par in pretty much every way, leaving as the only redeeming factor the concept behind each episode spoiler[organ smugling, life in robots, hacking of people´s brains, etc..]

The only episodes i truly enjoined where the ones about the spoiler[Laughing man]. but that's about it.

Bottom line, its just plain boring. probably one of the most boring animes i´ve ever seen.


oh, and the opening song rocks!! Cool

[/RANT]
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Darksorrow29



Joined: 05 Feb 2007
Posts: 412
Location: United States
PostPosted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 11:47 am Reply with quote
You have to be really careful with hype and not let it mess with your head on giving a show a fair chance. You can't go into something expecting a masterpiece everytime, you're just gonna set yourself up for disappointment. I mean i guess you could, but i'd advise against it. Also maybe it's just me but im not a big fan of saying a show is a piece of ****. I may not have liked it but other people may have. Haha anyway, i'll bite.

These shows are not really disappointments, but I didn't enjoy them as much as I thought i might have.

Fate/Stay Night - I've heard of this show for a long time and figured i'd give it a try. Honestly I could not stand Shiro. spoiler[ I just hated the way his character was and his mentality that he should be the one fighting instead of Saber... and as a DIRECT result he'd cause Saber more harm in some cases. It was hilarious to see him get his ass kicked though. I also did not think the fight between Archer and Berserker was that big of a deal. ] Overall though the show was still decent, just my thoughts.

Gundam Seed - Honestly it's harder to enjoy this after watching UC(not to say UC is better or worse), because really in my opinion this show pretty much seems like a compilation of different UC Gundams brought to a modern fashion. spoiler[Just to keep it short I had a hard time watching Kira fight for the federation when he had almost 0 ties to the federation except his so called friends. Not a bad show I, i just personally had a harder time jiving with it. The stock footage at the end was a killer as well. ]
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Bento-Box



Joined: 08 Sep 2009
Posts: 1049
Location: Florida
PostPosted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 11:49 am Reply with quote
I have to say that I do not share your sentiments about Death Note. Although, I completely understand where you are coming from. When there's a lot of hype and you hear so many positive things about it, you end up putting it on some kind of pedestal without even sampling it.

My biggest disappointment didn't come from online ratings or recommendations, rather something I had been looking forward to since I had first been introduced to anime by my now-fiance back when we were in high school. He got me hooked with Card Captor Sakura and, after finally watching the full series back in 2004, I wanted so much more. So I started looking around for a sequel. That's when I started hearing about Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. By this time, I was already a raving CLAMP fan-girl. I picked up the manga religiously on release dates.

Then the anime hit and I was all about it. I watched everything the anime had to offer (through the 1st season) and still craved more. So, I returned to the manga and caught up. But it was just one let down after another. Instead of providing closure, CLAMP attempted to provide some kind of mind-f*ck series using their typical duality theme. The series as a whole (anime and manga together) served only to diminish my high regard for CLAMP.

After all the years and hype, this was the best they could do? It would take far too long to post what actually became of the real Sakura and Shaoran from CCS and explain all the different "Sakura/Shaoran appearances" and how those characters interrelate. But, they took an innocent premise and perverted it into something that can hardly be considered a mediocre show and has anything but a decent plot. The Easter Egg hunt through the different dimensions was not worth the destruction of quite possibly the best series and characters they have ever created.

I know someone is totally going to come in here and rip me apart for saying it, but Tsubasa was a HUGE let-down. It didn't live up to what it should have been and each "crossover" only served to water the series down that much more. It ran too long and accomplished far too little while biting off more than it could chew.
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hipnox



Joined: 20 Jul 2008
Posts: 143
PostPosted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 12:07 pm Reply with quote
Darksorrow29 wrote:
You have to be really careful with hype and not let it mess with your head on giving a show a fair chance. You can't go into something expecting a masterpiece everytime,


I dont usually expect a masterpiece, no matter the hype. The thing is, Deathnote for example, came from recommendation from a lot of friends. is one of my best friends top animes. it also reached #3 ANN rating and still ranks high.

that, plus i have a tendency for liking titles which usually get high praise in these forums
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15545
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 12:28 pm Reply with quote
I would say Honey and Clover and it second season. I expected a happy romance comedy that will be lots of fun to watch, instead I would describe it as very melancholic, filled unrequited and or forbiden loves where lives can go from great, to being a mess. It actually made me feel sick in the stomach, I had seen Eden of the East and thought maybe it will be simular, instead we have things like the lead running away and characters being heartbrocken. Personally I liked how Season 1 ended, things looked a bit up and spoiler[the lead confessed], but it nothing hapend. And the series finishes with spoiler[the lead going to some bottom dollar job and the girl possibly going to date was it her uncle, who apparently had been in love with her all along.] Shocked (this is the closest emoticon I could get to feeling ill)
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Bento-Box



Joined: 08 Sep 2009
Posts: 1049
Location: Florida
PostPosted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 1:11 pm Reply with quote
DuskyPredator wrote:
Personally I liked how Season 1 ended, things looked a bit up and spoiler[the lead confessed], but it nothing hapend. And the series finishes with spoiler[the lead going to some bottom dollar job and the girl possibly going to date was it her uncle, who apparently had been in love with her all along.] Shocked (this is the closest emoticon I could get to feeling ill)


Wow. I never got into that one because I didn't like the art style. Now I'm EXTREMELY glad I didn't pick it up. I feel so bad for you. *pats DuskyPredator on the head* you poor, poor thing.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 24012
PostPosted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 1:17 pm Reply with quote
My biggest anime disappointment? The fact that Laura Bailey hasn't responded to my passionate offers of marriage yet.

But if you're talking about shows that I highly anticipated and ended up not digging, then I'd have to say Cowboy Bebop for me. I fully understand why it is beloved and why it is considered a classic, but I just could not warm up to it. I'm going to wait a number of years and then re-watch it subtitled just to see if that makes any difference.
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Bento-Box



Joined: 08 Sep 2009
Posts: 1049
Location: Florida
PostPosted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 1:33 pm Reply with quote
Blood- wrote:
My biggest anime disappointment? The fact that Laura Bailey hasn't responded to my passionate offers of marriage yet.


ROFL

Quote:
But if you're talking about shows that I highly anticipated and ended up not digging, then I'd have to say Cowboy Bebop for me. I fully understand why it is beloved and why it is considered a classic, but I just could not warm up to it. I'm going to wait a number of years and then re-watch it subtitled just to see if that makes any difference.


If it's any consolation, I agree that this series is overrated. (I paused after typing that sentence, halfway expecting someone to come stampeding through my office's wall spouting nonsense about the Anime Inquisition and taking me off to be tortured for all eternity.)

Bebop is delightful and everything if you're looking for something laid back and spiffy. But, when I watched the series from start to finish on DVD, I found it rather lack luster. I kinda enjoyed it better back when I was sneaking into the living room in the middle of the night to catch it on Adult Swim. It could have just been the adrenaline I got from thinking I was really getting away with something "naughty" by watching something called "Adult Swim" while my parents thought I was sleeping. For the same reason, I purchased Pilot Candidate. That too was substantially better at 2 a.m. during my covert ops.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 24012
PostPosted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 2:02 pm Reply with quote
@ Bento-Box - Ah yes, the thrill of the illicit. See, I wouldn't even call Cowboy Bebop over-rated because I do understand how somebody could really like it. It just didn't warm the cockles of my heart...

...the way Laura Bailey does. Embarassed
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Unicorn_Blade



Joined: 18 Jul 2010
Posts: 1153
Location: UK
PostPosted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 2:29 pm Reply with quote
OK, I must say, as for disappointment, I reserve this term for series I had higher expectations of, not just bad stuff that i suspected not to be that great. I mean, the acclaim and reviews do the trick. Not that I expect every thing with good reviews out there to be amazing, but if I read many good reviews, I think it is reasonable to expect something decent.

Noir. I have read good reviews, and then all in all, had no clue why the show got so much positive reception. I found it was utterly boring, pretentious, boring, boring, oh, did I already mention it was boring?
A series about two female hitmen could really be tackled so much better. Instead, what I saw, was a lot of talking, mumbling about a mysterious organisation, cloudy explanations, repetitive dialogues, and overkilled music themes. I can not remember a single detail from the plot, although it has not been such a long time since saw it.


Darker than black. For me neither dark nor black. Kind of similar history to Noir really... I did not bond with characters (except one or two supporting ones), not a good sign. Way too often I had an impression that the writers put in stuff that was supposed to make the characters 'cool'. And again, there was this tiny aura of pretentiousness.

Eden of the East
. I already vented my fristration with the show in another thread, so all that I can say, the opening song is better than the whole anime alltogether. Started great, only to fail to deliver what it promised to. How many times can you say a "Johnny" joke? Obviously, EotE creators think even the sky is not the limit in this case.

And last but not least, Utawarerumono. I saw two episodes ages ago and thought they were quite good, only to find myself having wasted a few hours of my precious free time listening to the most pompuous, inflated dialogues deliverd by the most self-righteous main character ever invented for the purpose of an anime series, supported by the most irritating, 1D characters, topped up by a ridiculous and predictable plot. I joked to my friend that the main character spoiler[will turn out to be God eventually.] Except it was supposed to be irony... And guess what, he really did...
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poilk92



Joined: 07 Aug 2010
Posts: 433
Location: Long Beach California
PostPosted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 5:21 pm Reply with quote
Quote:

Quote:

Personally I liked how Season 1 ended, things looked a bit up and spoiler[the lead confessed], but it nothing hapend. And the series finishes with spoiler[the lead going to some bottom dollar job and the girl possibly going to date was it her uncle, who apparently had been in love with her all along.] (this is the closest emoticon I could get to feeling ill)



Wow. I never got into that one because I didn't like the art style. Now I'm EXTREMELY glad I didn't pick it up. I feel so bad for you. *pats DuskyPredator on the head* you poor, poor thing.


Wow that was my exact reaction to reading his post (I feel like I dodged a bullet).

@ The whole cowboy bebop issue
As a cowboy bebop fan I can say, I completely understand where you are coming from. For some reason the first time I saw this anime I didn't feel any connection to the plot or any of the characters but for some reason the second time I watched it (this time on dvd and not TV) I loved every minute of it I noticed the music more I noticed how though we learn a lot about the character's histories over the course of the anime they are motivated by those personal stories in a believable manner all throughout. Also its an anime I feel like I could show to someone who has never watch an anime and have them appreciate it and thats another plus to its name

@Unicorn_Blade

Fortunately I had low expectations for Noir so I avoided any disappointment and wound up liking it, though I agree with all of your complaints.

I can't really argue with your thoughts on DTB even though I love that anime to death. I LOVED basically every character in that anime and you didn't, though I also didn't pick up the air of pretentiousness you were talking about. Maybe I was too busy loving how much of a dick Hei was

@OP

Anyone who has read anything I have written in the last month probably knows my biggest dismantlement PHANTOM REQUIEM FOR A PHANTOM. I have ranted enough about how much I loved the concept and what the opening theme made it look like it would be but how the flop in the writing department made me despise it so I will just leave it at that.

The other would have to be NGE my thought is, if you are going to be preachy at least have something intelligent to say. Also I think NGE set the precedent for teenage robot pilots and anime ending in several episodes of crazy surrealism bull both of which I hate
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ailblentyn



Joined: 28 Mar 2009
Posts: 1688
Location: body in Ohio, heart in Sydney
PostPosted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 6:56 pm Reply with quote
I would rather rave about what I love than express hatred. But...
The biggest disappointment I can think of right now was This Ugly Yet Beautiful World. I can't even remember why I was so excited about seeing this. I think it was partly the studio, and partly the director's previous involvement with EoE and FLCL. But to be honest it was probably also largely the name — what a great name it is! And the opening is also pretty good. However...
This has now replaced Mahoromatic as my least favourite GAINAX production. I found the character designs for everyone except the main girls bland, ugly, and characterless, the magical girl/harem aspects joyless, the action silly.
Great name, though!
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Sanosuke_Inara



Joined: 23 Nov 2009
Posts: 1662
PostPosted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 7:03 pm Reply with quote
ailblentyn wrote:
I would rather rave about what I love than express hatred. But...
The biggest disappointment I can think of right now was This Ugly Yet Beautiful World. I can't even remember why I was so excited about seeing this. I think it was partly the studio, and partly the director's previous involvement with EoE and FLCL. But to be honest it was probably also largely the name — what a great name it is! And the opening is also pretty good. However...
This has now replaced Mahoromatic as my least favourite GAINAX production. I found the character designs for everyone except the main girls bland, ugly, and characterless, the magical girl/harem aspects joyless, the action silly.
Great name, though!
Dont you mean, "Beautiful name?"

Ba dum, TSH. That was horrible. Anyway....

Blood- wrote:
My biggest anime disappointment? The fact that Laura Bailey hasn't responded to my passionate offers of marriage yet.
Pfft, good to know I'm not the only one. Crying or Very sad

2nd to that, my biggest anime disappointment would probably be a very recent series--High School of the Dead. I had never seen a zombie movie or anything before, so I didn't catch onto many of the cliches of it right away, but the 1st episode was one that I really enjoyed the first time I watched it. Swear to god, though, that it was a downhill fall from that point on--with every passing episode, I began to lose interest in the series to the point that I couldn't even stand the boredom--had to drop it at about episode 9. Confused
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poilk92



Joined: 07 Aug 2010
Posts: 433
Location: Long Beach California
PostPosted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 7:33 pm Reply with quote
@Sanosuke_Inara

I am a big fan of zombie movies but I haven't seen anything close to decent in the form of zombie anime... not that I have seen much beyond High School of the Dead

I'm going to stick with my Shawn of the dead and zombie land
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braves



Joined: 29 Dec 2007
Posts: 2309
Location: Puerto Rico (but living in Texas)
PostPosted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 7:47 pm Reply with quote
ailblentyn wrote:
I would rather rave about what I love than express hatred. But...
The biggest disappointment I can think of right now was This Ugly Yet Beautiful World. I can't even remember why I was so excited about seeing this. I think it was partly the studio, and partly the director's previous involvement with EoE and FLCL. But to be honest it was probably also largely the name — what a great name it is! And the opening is also pretty good. However...
This has now replaced Mahoromatic as my least favourite GAINAX production. I found the character designs for everyone except the main girls bland, ugly, and characterless, the magical girl/harem aspects joyless, the action silly.
Great name, though!


I can honestly say that I'm not interested seeing GAINAX's work from "that period" where they pumping out stuff like Mahoromatic and other not so spectacular stuff (save for my interest in Gunbuster 2 and to a lesser extent Abenobashi). I'm not sure where that studio would be now if Hiroyuki Imaishi hadn't come along.

Biggest disappointment for me would be Tatami Galaxy. Still a solid show if you look at the episodes individually, but the ending made me realize that Yuasa has to go back to making movies. He's much free and unrestrained in that way and he won't be forced to adapt light novels instead. The ending was way too similar to Mind Game and that is not something you want to be compared to since you will not stack up.
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