What makes anime special to you and your favorite genre?

[Alegend1994]

Tell the truth for me the genre isn't so important if the manga/anime has a good story, I gladly read/watch it ~ be action or adventure or comedy or drama or fantasy or horror or mystery or psychological or romance or shōnen...so on ~ if it can grab my attention and it's interesting I even read or watch it 2 or even 3 times ~ depends on my mood how many times I re-watch it.

I like your way of deciding what to watch. Much better than choosing a specific genre to watch cause there's so much more variety and enjoyment when you don't know what to expect =).

I grew up watching a lot of Anime such as Dragon Ball Z and Tenchi Muyo to name a few, which is what peaked my interest in art I think, so that's probably what makes anime special to me. I can also remember spending the night over at my friends house and we would stay up late watching Toonami and Adult Swim.

My favorite genres would have to be shonen/comedy.

I was into drawing back when I was like 10 or so and watched Dragon Ball Z and I've recently started it up again. I never saw adult swim we got rid of our subscription to satellite TV before it came out I guess.

[mriana]

Thank you for saying that n_n

I'm kinda odd in lot of ways I think lol

Just most of the people can't really understand how can that be - example I like D.N.Angel and Hellsing in the sametime, however Hellsing is an action, horror while D.N.Angel is romantic - but if the story is good it can't be helped I just wanna watch it till the end lol ~~

So be anything if the story is good I'm going to watch it~~~ /even 5x-6x times lol n_n/

[Bluenoser]

Tell the truth for me the genre isn't so important if the manga/anime has a good story, I gladly read/watch it ~ be action or adventure or comedy or drama or fantasy or horror or mystery or psychological or romance or shōnen...so on ~ if it can grab my attention and it's interesting I even read or watch it 2 or even 3 times ~ depends on my mood how many times I re-watch it.

This would match me these days for what ends up drawing my focus. I tend to be far more concerned with writing, plot, conceptual frameworks and interesting concepts being used or shown in different than usual aspects/images/approaches than what genre it is from.

However, that does not answer what made anime special for me, and it is likely that mine will be a bit different than most here. For me it was that I could get SF stories that had substance to them, were not kiddified to absurdity, unlike what little existed in NA animation when I was growing up (I was born in 1967, so for me the big animes were things like Astroboy, Star Blazers which I might add was the first to truly cause me to seek out other Japanese animations of the day, even ones that had been reduced to suit the NA audience usually with a Macek-tomy from Carl Macek a la Robotech), G-Force/Battle of the Planets, Voltron and of course Robotech as I just mentioned in another context. You see I was a very bookish child and I was drawn to Science Fiction from the outset, mainly because it was the most concept rich form of fiction I'd encountered, and it also did a lot of asking what-if questions about human behaviour whenever new technologies or social conditions were incorporated, and I found that to be much more interesting than mere action adventure stuff even as a boy, besides one of SF's best qualities was that you could get the best of the other genres within it from the better authors which just underscored why it was so addictive for me. However, finding audio-visual SF of quality was far harder, live action or animated, except for what came out of Japan. So I started becoming a serious anime fan by my late childhood in the late 70s and I've never looked back. THAT is what made anime so special for me, and a lifelong fan of it too, even though my tastes in it have far broadened from that initial starting point of course.

I can't really list favourite genres, I enjoy too many, but I will admit for having weaknesses especially for harem, mecha, supernatural, mythic/Deity/Gods based storylines, good comedy, also good drama, and most genderbending ones as well. This is only what especially tickles me, by no means is it all or even most of what I enjoy overall.

[Danmas86]

For the most part, I enjoy a good action/adventure type of anime, but I'm a sucker for a good romance/comedy.

[Connor175]

If the anime is presented with beauty and emotion and makes me really want to be a part of that anime then it would be special to me and my favourite genre would be mecha because of the way the robots are presented and the overall epicness of the sheer size and beauty of these robots. It makes me want to have one. >.<

[Alegend1994]

Thank you for saying that n_n

I'm kinda odd in lot of ways I think lol

Just most of the people can't really understand how can that be - example I like D.N.Angel and Hellsing in the sametime, however Hellsing is an action, horror while D.N.Angel is romantic - but if the story is good it can't be helped I just wanna watch it till the end lol ~~

So be anything if the story is good I'm going to watch it~~~ /even 5x-6x times lol n_n/

Being odd is the best way to be really, I couldn't be normal it isn't interesting enough for me =), and the more genres you cover the better understanding you have of anime and what each genre has to offer.

Re-watching an anime is the one thing I find really hard to do since I always find that I never get the same feeling as when I was first watching it.

This would match me these days for what ends up drawing my focus. I tend to be far more concerned with writing, plot, conceptual frameworks and interesting concepts being used or shown in different than usual aspects/images/approaches than what genre it is from.

A good plot, concept, art and writing is what I look for in an anime but I like to filter my list of anime to romance, comedy and harems since those are what captor my interest at the most. I've started a monthly thread called Anime of the Month which has an anime of any genre to be watched and then you discuss about it, which is really good since all of the anime chosen so far have been really good and shown me genres that I hadn't considered before.

I can't really list favourite genres, I enjoy too many, but I will admit for having weaknesses especially for harem, mecha, supernatural, mythic/Deity/Gods based storylines, good comedy, also good drama, and most genderbending ones as well. This is only what especially tickles me, by no means is it all or even most of what I enjoy overall.

For the most part, I enjoy a good action/adventure type of anime, but I'm a sucker for a good romance/comedy.

I've probably said this before but I do really enjoy comedy and romance anime and more recently I've noticed that harems are by far the best genre for me since they have both romance and comedy mixed together, although I usually have a favourite harem character that doesn't get chosen in the end which is a little depressing.

If the anime is presented with beauty and emotion and makes me really want to be a part of that anime then it would be special to me and my favourite genre would be mecha because of the way the robots are presented and the overall epicness of the sheer size and beauty of these robots. It makes me want to have one.

This is the kind of anime that I treasure in a memories. For example I have felt like this while watching Eureka Seven, Clannad, 5 Centimeters Per Second, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and The Familiar of Zero. All of which changed my personality slightly after finishing them.

Also for anyone who is interested The Anime of the Month thread is run by lemminglama and is always a good thing to try since the anime so far have been brilliant and the anime is never longer than 26 episodes so not a massive amount of time is needed to watch the series, here's a link for it:

Anime of the Month #3: Phantom: Requiem of the Phantom

(Also my signature has a link to it for when the thread gets updated for the next month)

[Rarenight]

To me, Anime is special because it conveys a sense of maturity not present in any other type of animated medium.

Animation has always been a massive love of mine. The ability to draw reality to create whatever you like just sounds so appealing.

Unfortunately, in Western culture the potential of animation is usually squandered thanks to the Animation Ghetto, where Animation is only associated with children, and the only adult animation that "works" is satiric comedy ala. Family Guy.

[Waukheon]

The drawing quality can depend because I'm used to classic anime drawing like the picture below but I saw pictures of lucky star & bakuman which are different but still great (pictured below).

The soundtrack is a massive thing for me when it comes to anime, especially since I love getting the songs straight finishing the anime.

Used to:

Different types:

That's what I meant about the diversity of drawing quality, that it should be perceived as riches rather than criticism. Plus, you are right about the soundtrack saying it is not to be missed!

[Legado]

Im good to try all different kind of genre, but I mostly do watch Action, Adventure, Mystery, Psychological, Slice Of Life and Comedy. Although I can't seem to find any anime that made me laugh till tears came like Full Metal Panic and Golden Boy. :/

[tohapply]

What make me like anime are Action ,Comedy Fantasy , Romance and Slice Of Life .

[raveshadow]

I generally like comody, action, fantasy, shonen the most. But I would watch any genre as long as there something attract to it like good plot, character, art etc.

[Alegend1994]

To me, Anime is special because it conveys a sense of maturity not present in any other type of animated medium.

Animation has always been a massive love of mine. The ability to draw reality to create whatever you like just sounds so appealing.

Unfortunately, in Western culture the potential of animation is usually squandered thanks to the Animation Ghetto, where Animation is only associated with children, and the only adult animation that "works" is satiric comedy ala. Family Guy.

Yeah I find that anime has real culture and passion that Western animation completely lacks e.g. Family Guy: funny but after a couple of episodes it has no real meaning or character association with the viewer.

I hate the mainstream idea that all animations are kids unless they are the Western comedy/mocks of life like South Park or The Simpsons but luckily this means it keeps away the viewers that would just destroy the anime culture, although I wish they would have a better understanding and viewpoint on this matter.

That's what I meant about the diversity of drawing quality, that it should be perceived as riches rather than criticism. Plus, you are right about the soundtrack saying it is not to be missed!

It keeps the feel of anime new and fresh when the drawing styles are different and sometimes odd.

Some of my favourite anime are ones that use a little more retro drawing styles like "Summer Wars" and "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time". Also I recently finished "Soul Eater" which has as less detailed but a more colourful style that at first seemed weird but grew well on me.