Bishop Steiner, on 08 May 2017 - 08:30 AM, said:
You kind of had me til the "Envangelion great, GitS/Akira crap" Anime hipster rant.
Mazinger Z gets pass because of it's era, was well before the "realism" animes like Dougram or Votoms came around. It, Chogokin, Getter Robo, and later the whole "Voltron" stuff, are also largely a different genre.
But evangelion (which also more accurately fits into the Giant Robot Mecha class)? You call Akira overrated? Convoluted and metaphysical aspirations aren't the same as great storytelling. And Evangelion is pretty infamous for not being the most coherent of stories on the best day. As for the Mecha... ? I blame Evangelion and anime?manga like it for ushering in the odd, anorexic mecha aesthetic that has plagued Macross Frontier, 7, Delta, etc..... and too many other modern anime.
If it wasn't for the decent QA on the overall animation compared to many, and the decent amount of character building in spite of the terrible nonsensical "plot" that gives it legs.
Well, and the fact that if anime kids these days can sit through Dragonball (and somehow consider it high art.... ) they'll sit through ANYTHING.
Eva is deep man. It oozes philosophical undertones, and the character development and writing is top notch for an anime, especially the dialogue. They did an extremely good job putting the series together and presenting the progression, despite the convoluted and mysterious nature of the story.
Guess what?
Not all stories are supposed to be corn syrup. Eva is one of them. It is easy to watch but hard to digest because the flavor is so complex you have to spend some time with contemplation to figure out what it is all about. It isn't a series you watch one time.
As a novelist, I look at stories quite differently from the average person. I've written mysterious convoluted stuff that dive deep into dreams and psyche, and it is very hard to pull off. I've been watching through Eva again over the past year (episode here or there) and I can see when, where and what writing mechanisms they are using the pull off the plot. It isn't bad, nor is it trash, it is anything but--the series is a masterpiece. I have four episodes left (saw it over a decade ago) so I'm not sure if I'll go to tears like I did when (spoiler alert) Spike dies in Cowboy Bebop, but we'll see.
If characters can elicit strong emotions then the series is special. Very few can do this.
Akira did not. About the only thing that movie has ever done for me is put me to sleep about 2/3 through in one particular spot. Every. Damn. Time. And I've seen it several times--tried to, but then I fall asleep. Sometimes this is okay--Meet the Feebles does this (not an anime), but the movie overall is fantastic. Akira is not.
GiTS... cardboard characters? Need I say more? Some of the worst voiceover work for a main I have ever seen. Awful, awful dialogue and plot. Want something good along the same vein? Read Gibson, or any of the other cyberpunk authors that came before the movie. Or hell, play System Shock--the game's plot, story, dialogue and progression is loads better than GiTS.
Lastly, I take being called a "hipster" as an insult. I'm anything but. If you ask folks who know me locally how they'd classify me, my bet is they'd say...
I'm an eccentric ******* with a big heart... if that's possible.
Anyways, since you had to resort to insults, I consider your post null and void. Have a nice day!