It sometimes amazes me just how many ways there are to approach a given creative medium or product. When we look at a piece of art or fiction (or non-fiction!), we bring with us all that we prioritize and seek in works. Even when the focus is on just anime and nothing else, the result is a plethora, possibly even a panoply of differing viewpoints, each with their own inherent sense of validity.
At Otakon 2009, Yamamoto Yutaka, director of Kannagi, mentioned his praise for Studio Ghibli’s Takahata Isao, and how Takahata’s classic TV series Anne of Green Gables is essentially the gold standard of how a long TV series should be. Yamamoto is also known for being an anime critic, though his opinion can be difficult to comprehend. But then you realize that he looks at anime from that director’s perspective, and that his priorities are less on the content or themes or story of the work and more about how scenes move into one another, how well it all conveys the idea.
Narrowing the focus a bit brings forth the notion of watching anime for the animation, and Anipages is probably the best example I can think of for someone whose focus is mainly on the “moving image” aspect of anime. It affords him a perspective very different from that of most fans and enthusiasts, and nowhere is this more evident than in the fact that he will watch isolated episodes of Naruto because there is particularly good and creative animation in them. One look at his site and it’s clear that he is in no way a “Naruto Fan,” but that divide between people who love the series and those who consider it the worst showcase of anime is a battle in which he is simply not participating. Just like Kaiba, just like Macross: Do You Remember Love?, Naruto can be another vessel for delivering great animation.
That’s not to say of course that things such as characters aren’t or shouldn’t be important. While I don’t have any specific numbers to give, I think the vast majority of the current anime fandom focuses heavily on characters. We like to relate to characters, we talk about shows and characters as if we were violating Wikipedia’s rules of not having profiles that are primarily in-universe synopses. Even with characters there are divides, such as between those who want to see a story unfold from the characters, and those who want to see a story focus on the characters above all else. Wanting to see characters to whom you can relate is wonderfully human, I think.
However, relating to humans can go well beyond the characters themselves, especially when you factor in the people behind those characters. Here, you have fans who will watch shows based on following their favorite voice actors, something I have actually done on occasion myself. At first, it can seem like the most shallow reasoning for a person to watch even shows they personally admit as being terrible simply because their favorite voice actors are in them, but that is mainly if your priorities are on anime as a storytelling device. When you take the idea that anime is also a showcase for the actors in the roles, it starts to become a more exciting prospect. When following voice actors, it becomes about seeing how those actors take on their roles, how they own their characters, how they approach the challenge of not having a great script.
You can also watch anime for the mechanical or character designs. They’re two very different, yet similar categories, which is why I’m grouping them together. Again, like following shows based on seiyuu, the idea of watching something based on how the robots or the girls look can seem incredibly shallow, but that is another area you can follow in order to see how well certain elements are executed. There are plenty of people out there who won’t watch a show because it “looks old,” and while I lament this case, I understand that many people want to experience something that feels like the environment and era in which they’re currently living, the desire for the new over the old. And generally, I’ve found that this is more an issue with getting into a show. I’ve known friends who couldn’t watch a show because they disagreed with the mecha designs, and it has everything to do with that initial barrier. Still, anime is what’s given us all these great mechanical designs, so it’s kind of no wonder that there are people who will focus on such things.
And then for others still, characters and animation and actors and such hardly factor in at all, and the real meat of what they’re looking for is in the overarching themes of a given anime. Characters aren’t human so much as they are vehicles through which to express different concepts. Director Oshii Mamoru of Ghost in the Shell fame has increasingly focused on this idea over the years, and as such his works appeal to those who seek not a world which you can step into in order to experience it firsthand, but ideas you extract from a world and bring into your own reality.
It’s obvious to me, looking at all of these examples, how some heated arguments can start. People approach works from so many different angles that people can be arguing from entirely separate universes, and frustration sets in when the other does not “understand.” On a much broader level though, interest in anime can simply be derived from wanting to laugh, wanting to cry, wanting to smile, wanting to be aroused, and all of the previously mentioned focuses, from technical direction to themes, are in a sense all there to deliver to us the emotions we want.
As for me, I’m actually not entirely sure what my approach is. Perhaps this whole blog has been me trying to find it.
OGIUE MANIAX 
So true. We each have our own unique approach. Even people who seem to like many of the same anime I do end up liking others I can’t stand — and especially vice-versa. Yes, I love listening to the actors’ voices, but in fact I will only watch one episode or so of an anime for the voice actors alone. What I really watch for is emotion. That comes from the characters and their stories and relationships, as conveyed by the staff and cast. My favorite shows at the moment are Vampire Bund and Winter Sonata. Yes, we are each unique.
But I do think that the actors’ voices are the most immediate way of conveying character and emotion. That makes watching for the sake of the voice actors actually a deeper way of watching than for the mere visual surface, or to follow some emotionally shallow but complex “plot,” or for some merely intellectual “overarching theme.” Emotion is deeper than intellect. That’s my personal approach, anyway. To each their own.
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I ‘grade’ (more like ‘rank’) anime on the following scale:
(Story X1 + Characters X2.5 + Audio/Visual X2.5 + Meat X2) /8
With the occassional addition of 1 or 2 ‘bonus’ 10s, divided by 9 or 10 depending.
Story, exactly what you think it is. Characters, the same. Audio is everything from sound effects to voice actors to music to insert songs and op/ed. Visual is art, animation, and visual style. Meat is everything from directing and storyboarding to anything else that an anime might have that sets it apart from others. It’s mostly a directing grade, but an anime with some specifically unique facet might send the ranking soaring. Bonuses are just for when I don’t feel the conclusion properly conveys my emotions for the show.
With this system, I have an exacting list of how I feel about every single anime in comparison to every single other anime. Among those I’ve graded this way, there is no ambiguity about which one I like more than the other.
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Ah that’s nice, and you know what it reminds me of is scoring for some of these recent Olympic events like figure skating or ice dancing (even gymnastics I guess). They grade specific sections which are valued differently (usually).
In any case, it’s a nice way to bring about a score…. this is the kind of stuff that drove me to build an open ratings system, where users can define what they want in their ratings…. “how I feel about every single anime in comparison to every single other anime” <= this is usually how I rate anyway… I don't care about numbers, but how they relate.
So with two users who agree that the works in their lists are relative to other items in the list… we get something useful. Hence, melative does precisely this.
Anyhow… I could totally do the section breakdown, though I hate to think that far into it really without a review :/ The bonus points are nice, because I think that's what brings in the relativity. Allowing bonus points when the final score just doesn't seem to position an item in the right place on the list… not that the score is unnecessary, but it yields a general position, then you can tweak.
Also, what about when the sections defined are different per user… say, one user considers OP/ED separate from Music or Audio, but other users don't O.o
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21stcenturydigitalboy’s ranking system is the first additive numerical system I’ve seen that I think might actually work. In general, numerical approaches like that have always seemed to me just fake objectivity. The idea of a truly objective valuation of anime (or any other piece of art) seems false to me.
However, it seems to me that his system makes subjective judgments about various aspects of a show, multiplies them by how much he generally values a particular aspect, then has a couple of extra points left to work in a bit more subjectivity.
Making room for more subjectivity is what makes this system seem better to me. I’ll still probably stick with my own fully subjective approach, since I think that one great aspect of a show can overcome a lot of problems in other aspects. At least as far as my own enjoyment is concerned. But the idea of systematizing one’s subjective judgments is intriguing.
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I’ve written a couple of recent posts on this subject myself about how many different kinds of anime fans there are, and thus how many different things they look for in anime and what they relate to in the shows they watch. Since the hobby of anime encompasses such a wide range of stories, art styles, and individual fandoms (two people can be anime fans but one is a yaoi fan, one is a Naruto fan, and so on), it’s natural for fans to love differing aspects of it, unlike hobbies such as Harry Potter or Star Wars which encompass only one title.
I’m not exactly sure what my approach is either. I factor in many things at varying degrees when I decide to watch a certain anime – character designs, animation studio, story, how well received it’s by others, sometimes I look at voice actors. I guess it depends.
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I’m of the opinion that the important thing anime fans should realize when they interact with each other is that they at least share the interest in anime. It’s when that’s forgotten that we see a lot more arguments and unnecessary situations that do occur.
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Basically, agree to disagree.
Unfortunately, most of us are more willing to act like haughty retards than to foster communication.
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Nice. The idea of getting into a show, imo, is about attachment, or more specifically, detachment to expectation; un-want. I can see this having wide variety of tolerances among viewers/listeners/readers/etc.
I suppose the main breakdown is meta and non-meta “focuses” of the one experience the work. With anime, I tend not to over-indulge in the meta aspects of creation; I’m not super big about zomg’ing something just because it’s from the same creator/director/studio of a previous work I highly enjoyed…. that is, unless there is a story/reason in itself in relation to the previous work.
So here’s a thought, can we enjoy something just as much if we completely ignore the meta-aspects? Probably. Does it matter that much what seiyuu perform in a series if we don’t pay attention to them anyway? … A black box. The viewer might say, “I didn’t like that voice work” and be done with it, not relating it to the performer directly for “future reference/bias.” Though knowing these details can be helpful; double-edged sword.
Anyhow, I don’t think it’s possible to fully ignore the meta when we have already tasted it though we can limit or expand our knowledge, but in doing so, will it truly maximize our enjoyment, satisfaction, or sought item? Could go either way I guess… but for myself in any medium, its about finding what is enjoyable, satisfying, and picking up little bits that may aid in peaking what I seek; semi-abstract notion but works.
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