Saturday, June 13, 2009

Top 5 most overrated anime

from
http://www.examiner.com/x-11609-Chicago-Japanese-Animation-Examiner~y2009m6d12-Top-five-most-overrated-anime

As Japan has been producing anime for many years, there is an amazing variety of movies and series available to the current consumer. However, in a conversation about anime, some names always come up over and over, and have an amazing following. But, sometimes, those followings are nearly incomprehensible, so I've compiled a list of the top five most overrated anime of all time. These are series that are either so bad, juvenile, or confusing that it begs the question how these series ever gained a following to begin with.

1) Dragonball Z

Dragonball Z is not quite the worst series out there, but not by much. The storytelling is so slow-paced and bloated that it takes over ten half-hour episodes for the protagonist to complete his finishing move on his opponent. Sadly, this is fairly typical of the series, and what is supposed to be a fast-paced action series always feels like a chore to watch. Couple that with a cast of characters that nearly rivals The Simpsons and several deaths and resurrections every season, Dragonball Z starts to get very tiring very fast.

2) Neon Genesis Evangelion

It should tell you something about a series when three separate DVDs have been put out to further clarify it, as well as a heavily edited director's version. Neon Genesis Evangelion starts out with a very interesting premise, but it soon devolves into ludicrousness and confusion, leaving viewers at the end wondering exactly what they've just seen, and how it reconciled with the first few episodes.

3) Sailor Moon

Adored by 11-year-old girls and 40-year-old perverts the world over, Sailor Moon proved naysayers wrong when they said that shoujo anime (Japanese for "anime for girls") had no audience outside of Japan. Unfortunately, the series is so formulaic and repetitive, and depends so heavily on "monsters of the week" to drive the series that from season to season, it's impossible not to feel a certain sense of deja vu.

4) Akira

Akira is called the "definitive classic of anime". It's hard to imagine why, as the attempt to cram an unfinished manga (comic) into a compact film left the plot of Akira confusing and only partially explained. Pair that with the graphic violence and dark themes, and the film turns into an exercise of sadomasochism with the viewer sitting through just over two hours of horror with little explanation as to why.

5) Gundam Wing

This installment of the ongoing space opera of the Gundam series was a bit of a departure from the rest of the series. Unfortunately, instead of coming up with a fresh, original storyline, the creators decided to repackage their old settings and plotline with new names, old characters were given pretty boy facelifts, and the twists and turns that are characteristic of the rest of the Gundam series were twisted so hard that the show became extremely difficult to follow, with very little payoff to the end. It's shocking that, nearly fifteen years after the series first aired, Gundam Wing still has a thriving fan base.

Author: Katrina Rue
Katrina Rue is an Examiner from Chicago. You can see Katrina's articles on Katrina's Home Page.

1 comment:

E.M. Lijesta said...

Great preference of Anime list. They are I think an all time favorite too. TopAnimes.net