Forum - View topicRealism in Anime?
|
Goto page 1, 2, 3 Next |
| Author | Message | ||
|---|---|---|---|
Jih2
 Posts: 403 Location: East coast |
|
||
|
Has anyone else noticed that anime tends to almost always use a fictitious world rather than the real world in which we all live? I tried really hard a couple weeks ago to think of a series that took place on earth, without aliens, ghosts or anything like that. Something that didn't look at a government fighting terrorists but something that looked at everyday real people. After thinking, I felt limited to the romance genre of anime for the most part and it bothered me. I personally would like to see a series that looked at issues normal adults, teenagers, kids, go through and struggle with. Beyond some marvelously realistic studies of otaku I haven't really seen anything like the aforementioned.
Does anyone else think this way? Is there any specific reason why anime is so "unrealistic"? If I'm a crazy dumbass please just say so. |
|||
|
|||
|
mistress_reebi
Posts: 735 Location: Canada |
|
||
|
Anime isn't supposed to be real, it's supposed to be entertainment. Shojo manga now is trying to be realistic and the slice of life genre is getting popular. I don't mind anime being unrealistic because it's purpose is to amuse me.
|
|||
|
|||
|
GreatTeacherKen
Posts: 59 |
|
||
|
@ Jih2
I take it you haven't explored the slice of life genre? That's probably what you're looking for. While not all slice of life shows take place in the real world per se, a lot of them do. There's lot of good stuff in this genre, so I think you can try it out. Here are some examples of good shows that fall under this category: Azumanga Daioh: A show that follows a group of friends throughout their high school lives. That's about it really, but the key thing about the show is the character interaction which is very well written acted and the show is frequently dead on hilarious and quite easy to relate to. You probably even know people who act like the characters here. Ichigo Mashimaro: A show about cute girls doing cute things. Again, the appeal is in the interaction amongst its characters, and it is also very funny though in a different kind of way from AzuDai. The humor here is much more low-key and subtle. There are also some non slice of life shows that are pretty realistic: Honey and Clover 1 and 2: A very good show about a group of college friends and the romantic entanglements amongst them. That's a big oversimplification of what it's about, but you get the idea. This show does a great job of portraying unrequited love and well college life in general. It's quite easy to relate too which is partially why I think this show has such a large fanbase. Not that it's necessary to relate in order to enjoy a show, but it seems to help for a lot of people. Great soundtrack as well. Anyway, the point is, it's not like anime about regular life don't exist, there are actually plenty out there. You just got to know where to look. |
|||
|
|||
Randall Miyashiro
 Posts: 2451 Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park |
|
||
|
Sounds like you are looking for something like Human Crossing
I also think that a good number of sports anime tend to be great slice of life series without an emphasis on romance. Hajime no Ippo/Fighting Spirit might be the best example of this. One could also argue that Beck could even fit what you are looking for although romance is a definitely a subplot. There are other anthology series like Diamond Daydreams and Takahashi Anthology that vary from episode to episode in romance and science fiction content. The main problem with finding a series or movie without any romance is not anime specific. A good 1 out of 5 of my live action films seem to have a romance subplot with the exceptions being films with an all male/female cast like Reservoir Dogs, Black Hawk Down, Predator or Usual Suspects. It is hard to find a non-action or fantastic slice of life film that doesn't have a romance subplot. There are certainly a number slice of life anime titles out there where romance isn't the main plot though. |
|||
|
|||
Veoryn87
 Posts: 808 |
|
||
|
Monster is perhaps the most realistic anime I've ever seen in both character design and setting.
|
|||
|
|||
Celes
 Posts: 223 Location: Madison, WI |
|
||
|
My personal guess for there being a lot of "unrealistic" anime out there is simply because people turn to anime to entertain them and they don't all necessarily want to just read about something that is like their real lives.
With that being said, there is such a thing as "slice of life" anime, and like any other genre (romance, action, whatever), you've got awesome titles and titles that aren't worth the paper or computer they were animated on. Truth be told though, I don't think I own or have seen any slice of life titles, so I can't really recommend any to you. Besides that, you do realize that most characters in anime DO go through the same things "normal" people go through, only it is in a different setting, right? If a guy dumps his girlfriend in his bedroom in a space station rather than in his bedroom in a house on earth, it doesn't really have an impact on the emotions involved in the situation. Unless of course he releases the airlock and then blows her up. |
|||
|
|||
|
JacobC
ANN Past Staff
 Posts: 3728 Location: SoCal |
|
||
|
The answer to your question is actually simple.
Japanese animators, (as well as European ones, but they haven't conquered the storytelling side of things,) have accepted that animation is a medium, not a genre, and can cater to any audience, not just children, and not just light-hearted stuff, as is the status quo in America. That's why a lot of people love anime, right? But these people are still animators at heart. They love animation because there are things it can do that either cannot be done in live action reasonably within a television budget (most sci-fi action shows are this way) or could never be done the same way in live action (Gankutsuou, Ouran High School Host Club, on the theatrical side of things Princess Mononoke or Akira) So most animation, not just anime, lends itself to showing us the impossible: fantasy. Not all, but yeah, most, because that's animation's greatest strength, and always will be. Those shows, like I said, that aren't fantasy should (they don't always do this, but I think it should be a priority, and that all good anime do this) show us something that could never normally be filmed. Like I said, Ouran's a terrific example of this. It's ridiculous, but so true-to-life because of it. Still, the farcical presentation and wild costumes could never be accepted in live action. It makes us laugh like crazy and nod at the verisimilitude in its animated state. |
|||
|
|||
|
BluMeino
Posts: 65 |
|
||
|
The most realistic anime I've seen recently would have to be Victorian Romance Emma. Based off what I know of late nineteenth century Imperialistic England, I'd say it was rather spot on. I guess the only far fetched part would be the male leads Indian friend and his attitude/persona/personality etc. But yes, it's a romance.
Anime tends to normally be about escapism. People don't normally want stories that are about common times that don't incorporate some interesting non-earthly theme. |
|||
|
|||
Vortextk
 Posts: 892 Location: Orlando, Fl |
|
||
|
To be fair, romance IS a large part of what people go through in life so not including it whatsoever in a long story may be unrealistic itself. That said, it's possible to find more "realistic" settings both with romance and without, you just won't find it as common.
As a recommendation, look at Bartender. Even then, some of the characters borderline "out of this world" just slightly by being a little TOO perfect, but they're not an impossibility. If this is more than a question, that you actually want to find anime like this, you may have to do a good bit of searching. You shouldn't come up empty handed though. |
|||
|
|||
ikillchicken
 Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
|
||
|
Well I think there are two general reasons for this. First, because you can. Why be realistic when due to to nature of animation you can just as easily have nearly anything? More importantly though, because focusing on everyday real people is boring. Okay, thats obviously a generalization but statistically things based on real life, especially based on average people like you mentioned here, tend to be uninteresting or at least less interesting. It definitely is possible to make something interesting out of it but it is much much much easier to just use ninjas and giant robots or what not.
Also to be fair, I would say this is more a case of genre's, not content. Real life people are the focus in the majority in the genres it applies to such as romance, slice of life, and to a lesser extent comedy. Of course you can't have action, adventure, sci-fi, supernatural, fantasy, or horror focusing on average people because those aspects do not exist in the life of real average people. |
|||
|
|||
|
nhat
Posts: 922 |
|
||
|
Try Minami-ke. It is just a telling of 3 average sister's lives. I like it more than Azumanga.
|
|||
|
|||
Kruszer
 Posts: 7994 Location: Minnesota, USA |
|
||
|
Anime is unrealistic because the reality is our world is boring. If we all wanted reality we could turn off the TV/Computer and go to work or something. The majority of anime and fiction in general is created for escapism so the more unreal the better.
Some examples of more down to Earth realistic ones would be Monster, Suzuka, Rumbling Hearts, and Kaze no Yojimbo. The settings and physics are more realistic than most anime. Last edited by Kruszer on Mon Feb 18, 2008 4:09 pm; edited 1 time in total |
|||
|
|||
Moomintroll
 Posts: 1600 Location: Nottingham (UK) |
|
||
|
There are a fair number of series primarily intended for older audiences that have real-world settings without aliens / demons / magical girls / whatever. Off the top of my head:
You're Under Arrest; Human Crossing; Salaryman Kintaro; Master Keaton. There are also various anime movies (intended for different - or broader - demographics than most anime) with realistic settings such as: Only Yesterday; Perfect Blue; Tokyo Godfathers; My Neighbours The Yamadas; Grave Of The Fireflies; Ocean Waves; Barefoot Gen. |
|||
|
|||
|
Kelly
Posts: 868 Location: New York City |
|
||
|
I think there are two factors going on here, Jih2.
The first is that, to be honest, most people aren't looking at anime for reality. Live action can handle that, so alot of people prefer anime to be "saved" for things like fantasy, sci-fi etc. that translate better to animation than live action. Think about some of your favorite animated action and fantasy scenes. Even with great CGI nowadays, would they generally have translated as well to live action? Then, let's take your average slice-of-life anime. Usually not exactly aimed at the all-important high school and college age male demographic that sponsors want, and the fact that it's animated will probably turn off much of your usual audience for such fare (adults and HS age girls). I think the people on these boards are an exception and the general adult population is still rather prejudiced against animation outside Disney/Pixar and a handful of adult-skewed comedies like The Simpsons. Basically, you're talking about a niche within a niche - which is why we're still waiting for Honey and Clover (for just one example) over here in Region 1. |
|||
|
|||
|
Zirdante
Posts: 49 |
|
||
|
Indeed, it would be a little unfair to ask the animators to only focus on 'real life' things that can be done with a normal camera. Its like cutting off the wings of an animator and taking away its right to fly to the ends of imagination.
I like slice of life style of anime as well, but the unrealistic, fantasy side of anime is the thing where animation really gets to show its true colors. Yes, the biggest difference between anime and real life, in my opinion, is that real life acting requires a lot of stress in facial expressions and such, while the big focus in anime is the capability of the voice actors, and their skill to mold the emotions of the characters into sound. |
|||
|
|||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group