Comments on: Opening doors to new interests

By: IcyStorm

IcyStorm — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 07:42:35 +0000

I haven’t really watched anything outside of Japanese, Korean, and American live-action television and movies, which is the reason for my lack of mentioning any other cultures’ visual entertainment.

And nicely said, about being inspired if something seems to make characters happy. Non-action and non-drama shows typically lack the negative side of emotions (at least using them heavily), therefore have a greater chance of piquing the interest of its viewers.

By: IcyStorm

IcyStorm — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 07:38:13 +0000

Ah, that’s a good point. I didn’t consider that anime serves as a form of escape and that we are more open-minded toward it because of its separation from reality.

By: logopolis

logopolis — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 07:36:20 +0000

You’re only going to be inspired by people doing something if it seems to make them happy, and anime has always been the televisual medium which is best at basing shows around happiness, rather than crisis and shock and despair. The only example which easily springs to my mind of a non-animated show inspiring people to do what happens in the show is The Good Life, and yes, this is notable for just how much fun it seems to be just to be Tom and Barbara. On the other hand, nobody’s going to want to run a hotel after seeing Fawlty Towers!

(Although if you’re just comparing it to American and Japanese live-action rather than live-action in general, I feel comfortable using “it’s just better” as an answer to everything. I don’t think either of those countries do any good live-action in noticeable quantities.)

By: gerjomarty

gerjomarty — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:20:06 +0000

I think the reason why anime is more engrossing like that may have something to do with the difference in the audience anime and American shows are catering to. American shows like the ones you mentioned are very large, big-budgeted entertainment shows that need to appeal to a wide cross-section of people to stay afloat and be viable for export to other parts of the world. But because of this, they need to cater to a lowest common denominator of their audience (though that sounds really bad, I don’t mean it in a bad way).

While this also occurs with anime, they can afford to be a little looser with the subject material they play with, meaning that they can delve into issues and interests that no American show ever could because it would alienate some of the audience.

Also, I guess when we watch anime, we are much more open-minded about events in a given show, because anime is mostly fictitious and escapist, and literally anything could happen. Suspension of disbelief is much easier when everything’s animated.

By: Panther

Panther — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:50:20 +0000

Well it is true. Anime has sparked interests, or given more fruit for thought in certain interests that I already have, than any other form of visual entertainment. I mean, there are still Asian shows (movies and what-not) that do the same, but they never get to the level that anime has done.

It is part of the anime fascination I suppose, but since there are some Asian shows that have done it for me, I must say it is more of the culture (and why no American or Western shows have hit me as hard) than anything else, while anime also manages to express an uniqueness not found in other forms of visual entertainment.