Hi, I’m the Eclectic Dude and I will not reviewing for the lolz, at
least not this weekend.
So, you, the casual blog viewer may be asking or thinking, why am I not
doing any reviews on shows like InuYasha, Bleach, One Piece, and/or Naruto? Why
dwell on titles that either goes unnoticed or ones that are plain, dull crap?
Good questions, I will answer as best as I can.
First, I don’t much care for those series. I termed them as ‘longrunners’
as they well run long, as in more than 26 episodes. Now, I have stated in a few
reviews that a lot of OVAs had a few episodes and that is it, many went
unfinished. Longrunners have the opposite problem; in that they never end seem
to end. Granted, for people who are into watching longrunners, they may not
mind this. But, for me, at some point I just lost interest. For instance, I
watched Bleach through to the early episodes of the Bount arc and then just
gave up. Also, most of them are shonen action genre pieces which I don’t watch anymore. I have moved on from it to watching other, more interesting genres.
Second, I have to ask: What is the point? I mean, if you really think
about the premises for longrunners, they should be able to work within 13-26
episodes. But since they don’t, we run into another problem: filler episodes. It
is the bane of my existence, when it comes to anime. There are episodes where
not much happens and plot is derided for reasons not explained. That is not to
say all anime series have to be all plot/story/characters with no downtime. But
the downtime has to be at least productive and works well with the plot of the
story told.
Third, while they are popular and mainstream, they don’t best exemplify
what anime is about. Let me ask a reflective question, are shows like Bleach or
Naruto going to be remembered with same fondness as shows like FMA or Ghost in
the Shell? I don’t think so, as those shows have much more substance than a
series like Naruto or Bleach.
Lastly, it is the fans of series like Naruto, Bleach and/or One Piece. One
may called ‘Narutards’ or other unsavory names, I prefer to called them ‘misguided’.
As I stated, since most longrunners are shonen action genre pieces, fans of
these shows seem to think themselves better than others because they watch
Naruto, Bleach and/or One Piece. They also seem too deluded to the point that
any flawing/errors in series like that as a personal offense. Personally, I
have reached a point in being an anime fan; I have developed some basic
expectations for my anime. That is:
1.
Be entertaining
2.
Have a Point to it
3.
Hold my interest
4.
Tell a good story with interesting characters so
that points 1-3 are satisfied
5.
Be weird, quirky, strange in some form or shape
(personal and optional for me)
When it comes to longrunners, the first 4 points are not fulfilled at
all, at least when it comes to me personally. Even some of the titles I
own/seen over the years I can say with a straight face both the flaws and
strengths of a series. I have demonstrated this through my reviews since August
of last year. Does this make the authority of all when it comes to anime? Nah,
there are plenty of people who probably know more about anime then myself. I
just wish to impart my thoughts on the odd and the stranger titles in anime,
which I have established as my ‘comfort zone’ when it comes to anime
.
Well, next week, I will do my first manga (graphic novel) review on SS
Astro. Laterz
Questions/Comments-send to
wm933042@gmail.com
(working on getting comments enabled for reviews)
