There are actually quite a few anime series that i’ve enjoyed over the years, and EVERY single one of them has at least ten hurdles that a person must be willing to shrug off in order to enjoy the series. Here are my favourite animes, and their main hurdles:
1) Cowboy bebop- there are no hurdles. This anime is perfect. Actually- Ed. Ed the hacker.
2) Macross Frontier- Popstars and robots will save the world, but really, just popstars!
3) Lelouche of the Rebellion- The episode where the cat steals the mask, and the whole second season where everything gets metaphysical
Not to mention, all the usual tropes (perv guys, awkward internal monologue, half naked girls, bloody noses, gratuitous violence in everyday situations, and crazy volume swings, having to read the subtitles because the english subs are SO bad) that make anime pretty inaccessible to the casual viewer… it’s such a shame too, because if you can get past all that, once in a while, it pays off. For example:
1) Cowboy bebop- love or loneliness… which is easier? which is better?
2) Macross Frontier- what inspires us to do better? how far can our ideals take us?
3) Lelouche of the Rebellion- …everyone has their price.
The same can be said about most things I enjoy…
With battlestar, the hurdle is “Frack”, and the pay-off is a somewhat realistic portrayal of how space flight probably wouldn’t solve all of humanity’s problems. With star trek, the hurdle is “every single alien”, but the payoff is the exploration of issues of humanity that aren’t normally addressed. There always seems to be some hitch!
Knights of Sidonia is no exception, it has plenty of tropes, including unexplained talking bear amputees… and it isn’t over yet, so i don’t know what the point will ultimately be. I find the manga too difficult to follow, so i can’t even skip ahead! -sigh-.
So- as I said, this week’s updates and update schedule will probably be a little different. This is a really busy week for me at work, but we’ll see.
