ITT: Anime you thought were good but didn't enjoy

You know exactly what I mean

>You know exactly what I mean
No I don't.
Do you mean I thought they were good before watching them or do you mean I still think they're good despite not being able to enjoy them?

Monogatari

To some degree I agree with you about that anime.
I did find it enjoyable much of the time, though, but it was the last winter season anime I finished.

Usually, if I find something to be too painful to watch, it can be hard to judge it at all. For example, I've heard Hourou Musuko is pretty good, and I've also watched it myself. And while watching it, I also got a feeling that it was pretty good, perhaps. But it was simply so painful, every minute was suffering, so while it might have been good, I can't really say it's good.

I enjoyed Rakugou but I had a little trouble with the pacing until I realised you're not supposed to marathon it.

both meanings
I appreciated that rakugo was good, but I just couldn't get into it

So anime that we think are objectively good, but subjectively didn't like?

yep

Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei, I liked the visual style, but I felt like I was missing half of the jokes for not being japanese, so I just watched all the openings and endings on youtube and called it a day.

Not really, I enjoyed the fuck out of Rakugo.

I think Rakugo just lacks appeal in general. Despite it being by far the best winter anime very few people have seen it. The characterization is very solid but the narrative is just too simple.

How does that even work?

How do you think that anime is good without enjoying it?
Are you like
> oh, objectively
Doesn't make sense to me.

the best part of this was the rakugo, otherwise it was a mediocre sol with terrible pacing

>hurr durr personal enjoyment = quality
If and when you acquire good taste you will understand.

If you don't like it, then it's not good. There's no "Muh objective" point of view here, this is not math, everything depends on your taste.

>sol
It wasn't an sol at any point, it was a character/period drama.

It was impressive, "enjoy" is definitely not the word.

Have you ever watched a movie that you knew was good but bored you out of your mind?

I get his point, to put it in perspective, a person who likes jazz will probably consider classical music to be good, but wouldn't find any personal enjoyment from listening to it.

I think its simple. Does anyone enjoy suffering shows that kill you inside, like fafner? No, but I still watch it and sing its praises. It's enjoyable but not in a haha happy kind of way.

Darker than Black bored the shit out of me but I see the appeal.
Still over rated though.

"I'm sorry Gordon Ramsay, you can't say my cooking is bad even though I literally pooped in it, because taste is subjective"

The main character was just really obnoxious as a child and I couldn't get past it.

Is that analogy supposed to make sense?

>entertainment=food
Try again.

Yes, that's how it works.

There's not enough critical influence in anime to sway me like that. Like there's no canon for me to assume greatness of. Solaris for example is a movie I hated but still call good, but when I dislike something like Ghost in the Shell I'm just convinced it's no good.

Did you enjoy the slap at least?

>implying

tfw you objectively realize and analyze an anime for being good but doesn't enjoy it.
What are you, some kind of faggot?

Objective analyzation isn't an absolute. In fact, people misconstrue the word "objective" to it having the same meaning as "true", although it is not.
Having an objective viewpoint on a piece of art means that you stray away from using meaningless buzzwords and unspecific definitions, and instead of using something like, say:
> I enjoy the plot because it's fun
you say something like
> I enjoy the plot because it's detailed and subtle, with all the...

An objective judgement on art is simply using your thoughts in such a manner that you know WHY it's this or that. That's why a bad anime being enjoyable is understandable.
But if it's like
> I think it's good but I don't enjoy it
what the fuck does that mean? Is that what you call "pandering to elitist though so I don't get called out for my shit taste"?

It doesn't make sense that you think the anime is objectively bad but you don't enjoy it.

That movie hold the title for my pettiest drop ever. The pineapple scene told me that I could never like or relate to anyone in the film, and any hope of finishing the movie died for me after that scene.

I'd probably say this as well. I thought it was a good movie, but I will not watch it again.

Same with Millennium Actress, and Angel's Egg. I appreciate them but I didn't really enjoy them.

There isn't really any shows I didn't like that I didn't think were shit, just movies.

It is entirely possible to appreciate the effort that goes into making something even if it doesn't interest you as much as it would someone else.

When I think back on this show the narrative was really solid but the lack of tension and the slow pacing just made the episodes a chore to watch.

You're missing the production and visual element of the work. It's possible for a series to look and sound amazing, but still fail to capture my interest.

Casshern Sins and Jinrui wa Suitaishimashita

A little bit. Mostly I would wait for the flashback sections to be over so I could enjoy the "present day" segments of the movie.

I'll admit, the ending still got me a bit emotional.

>not enjoying homo shit
What are you? Some sort of non-gay?

The bromance aspect was great. The awful cunt ruining everything and the daughter growing up to be a slut was decidedly less-great.

I see what you mean but from a different perspective.
Some musical expert might say that "this music is good, with all the notes etc etc" but doesn't enjoy listening to it.

But I don't think it works like that for anime. There are no arbitrary "good" or "bad" for anime. The most complex, well thought-out anime can still be called bad for multitudes of reason.
I'll probably be fucked when I say this, but literature has far more depth in terms of what can be analyzed than music.

"Objectively good but subjectively bad" is something I will never understand in anime until I actually experience, if I ever.

I think with shows I tend to just drop them after I've hit a spell of episodes that I don't care for. With a movie I'll usually power through it.

Funny enough, the pineapple scene was the most relatable of the flashbacks for me. I thought the tension after everyone tried it for the first time was perfect.

Aria
Cowboy Bebop
Great Teacher Onizuka
Jin Roh
Ghost in the Shell
Perfect Blue
Honey & Clover

I suppose visuals is the most objective you can get in analyzing an anime.
I agree to that, at least.

Although if visuals and music is all an anime has, I don't think it would be "objectively good".

FLCL, Patlabor movie, Kaguya-hime, Cardcaptor Sakura, Kyousogiga
Most of the time I think they are good, but then I have no interest in continuing to watch after the first couple episodes.

I'm sorry you're not able to get it. It's really not that hard to understand

What is an analogy?
Let me rephrase that so you won't be a little semantic bitch about it
"I'm sorry Kubrick, you can't say my show is bad even though it's literally just 20 minutes of static".

And just in case you are still too dense to understand I'll spell it out for you guys.
While alot of someones enjoyment in entertainment is based on subjective taste, there is such a thing as certain objective measures by which to judge entertainment. You might not like a certain show for a multitude of reasons, but you can still acknowledge that it has some objective merits to it.
For instance, I personally didn't really care for Angel's Egg, because my subjective taste prefers another kind of narrative. But I can still see that it has some elements to it which are objectively (or at least universally regarded as) positive.

Texhnolyze and Lain did it for me, I hold them both in very high regard, but I did not enjoy watching either of them.

Waa I supposed to enjoy texhnolyze? I liked it but I'm not sure that enjoy is correct.

Bungou Stray Dogs, it's good but i'm not a fujo so can't be bothered

I still enjoyed it though, if you didn't enjoy it then it wasn't good

true that, the only movie I can remember ever dropping was There Will Be Blood. Fucking Sup Forums, that shit was boring. I don't care if it has excellent cinematography.

I don't think the term "enjoy" is something that's just compressed to having fun and smiling all over the place.
At least, I'm implying that's what you mean.

Things like tension and other stuff make it enjoyable in a different sense.
In other words, if you think that the anime you watched was well worth the time, it was probably enjoyable.

>Kaguya Hime
I agree, the visuals were amazing, but the story got boring once they got out of the forest.
I would have enjoyed the movie more if it was comfy adventures in the countryside, but I guess the original tale didn't allow for it.

I still have not finished Rakugo, stuck on ep7.I feel like I know how it will all go so its just waste of time.its good but not very engaging

>Bungou Stray Dogs
>Good
It's just a generic shitfest with some edgy characters.

Guess you're right, but then it's not the same as thinking the show was good.

That was when I first learned what Agalmatophilia was

Tell me those "objective measures".

Stop pretending to be someone who has a large understanding of how literature works. If you had an inkling as to how it did, then I assure you wouldn't be saying such things.

Must be different tastes, that movie captured my full attention instantly and kept it straight through to the end.

the first episode was good

Yo it gets really fucking good soon. Episode 9 and I think 10 are insanely satisfying. Please give it another try, and you have a whole second season to not know how it'll go.

>I'm a relativist because that means I could never be eating shit and the seasonal harem is of equal merit as Lain.

You are right. It's not like there are shows that have more compelling and internally sound narratives that are able to explore their themes more meaningfully than others. And it's not like time filters the things that remain relevant despite changing generations and technological improvements.

Seems to be a lot lately. Not bad, but some lost potential (and not in Kabaneri lost potential way).
Expected something like those early 60s spy movies or like soviet 17th moment of spring but with japs and got just a book with different small stories.

For those autists who can't understand the topic, think the opposite of a guilty pleasure.

Samurai Flamenco was a pretty shit show, but I liked it immensely.

Meanwhile there were movies like The Titantic and Inception which were 'good', but I found boring.

That's not what objective means though. An objective analysis comes from the object alone and has nothing to do with your personal interpretation or reaction.

Objective:
Ghost in the Shell is X minutes long
Ghost in the Shell uses this many key frames

Subjective:
Ghost in the Shell has complex themes
Ghost in the Shell is well animated

I usually try to stay outta this bullshit but you've triggered me. Stop spreading misinformation.

It's not even a fujoshit since MC has love interest

Dude, you're just doing what said. You're pandering to elitist.
There's no such thing as objective measures for this, because objective is something that is real whether you like it or not, something that do not depends on humanity, such as gravity and maths
It's simple as this: Objectively, anime is not but a collection of lines, color and sound moving around. It is us the ones that give meaning to it.

Calm down there James Joyce.
Even the wackiest writers have to adhere to a certain syntax for the sentences to make any sense and the same goes for making movies.
Unless you're one those contemporary/postmodern types, in which case yes, your 'artistic' excretion is fucking beautiful.

I disliked the individual story episode route initially. Still do kinda, but I'm not really sure how they could make a overarching story with spies being sent all of the world work.

As it stands, it's a very comfy watch and probably top 5 for the season.

I think I know what you mean, and you're phrasing it in an ambiguous way.
I suppose what you mean is:
>Anime that you didn't enjoy, but understand why others do.

You are aware of what other people would call good, and you believe these works would be enjoyable to others, even if they weren't to you.
That's a perfectly reasonable discussion.

Your question is confusing, though, because you're conflating someone else's taste with objective truth. No one has been gifted with the ability to define good or bad for others.

But what if you understand why people enjoy it, but still think its shit?
I know why people love Sword Art Online, but its still shit, for example.

This logic is soundly retarded.

For one, "compelling" is a subjective term.
What you gonna do?

For two, "internally sound narrative" is goddamn retarded. There can be no "externally sound narrative", nor can there be any "external narrative".

For three, exploring their "themes more meaningfully" means nothing. The themes could be meaningful inside the fictional verse but what if the themes it delves upon is simply trite?
Can it be called "objectively bad" because it's overused, or "objectively good" because it delves upon it?
Not only that, we can also factor that "meaningful" doesn't mean something good. That would be a non-sequitur argument.

Someone could say that SAO's message of "not giving up" is more meaningful than others. How does that statement differentiate itself from all the other analyzations?

Yes, because what's good is just what people remember over time, amirite?
There are totally no such things as something being overlooked, or to use some buzzword, "underrated".

Sure, you can ask that too.
>Anime that you didn't enjoy, but you still respect people who did

Planetes and Giant Robo

My boy, that's why I said "to stray away from meaningless buzzwords and unspecific definitions".
Say, I say something like:
> Madoka Magica is a great anime because Homura's character is delved upon...
continuing that line of thought.

Now, what's subjective is that "Madoka Magica is good". The objective reasoning is that "Homura's character is delved upon".

You straw away from using subjective terms in order to use objective reasoning to explain why that anime is good.
That's how criticism in art is supposed to work.
You cannot have a completely objective viewpoint on an anime.
That's also part why I'm confused about how you can enjoy something you don't think is good.

What kind of soulless bastard doesn't enjoy Giant Robo?

That doesn't mean shit.

That's like saying "writers have to use proper grammar to be considered relevant".
No duh.

That doesn't affect your argument at all.

Kaiba.

I love it and think everything about it is beautiful, but I barely managed to finish it and I don't think I'll watch it ever again.

This would work better.

I didn't like Giant Robo either. Imagawa's standard slow pacing was unbearable with hour long episodes.

Yeah sure, if you want to be a nitpicking philosopical pedant about it.
But in that case you could argue that even gravity isn't complete fact, but only an assumed truth based on currect empirical evidence.
At this point we've stretched the concept of objectivity to such extremes that any value statement using objectivity is meaningless and the statement that entertainment can't be objective becomes rather banal.
Let's take a step back out of these semantics and at least acknowledge that there are certain universally agreed upon aspects that make a film or a book good or bad, just as there are certain scientific theories etc. that are universally agreed upon, which are in general therefore regarded as fact.

Well it has some cool moments but to me it felt like they kept the cool stuff from me.
The villain was a faggot compared to the BF group, his shitty revenge plot didn't help either.

Also this.

I'm not your boy and "delving" is an interpretation. I don't think objectivity exists but
>I'm confused about how you can enjoy something you don't think is good
Peer and cultural influence create the illusion of objectivity and frankly arguing about subjectivity is fucking annoying for everyone so I find it best to just run with gut feelings.

Almost everything made by Miyazaki. The only one I actually enjoyed was Nausicaa.

Grave of the fireflies
Just recently watched it and though I can see it's merits and why people would like it and even cry to it I mostly felt anger at the retarded MC for letting all that shit happen and not suck up his pride and find a fucking job.

Hyouka. I know, "it's so good though user". I just hated the MC so much and i dont know why

Gonna post the opposite.


I've heard a lot of bad things about K but it was actually an okay watch.

Scientific theories are not exactly in the same line as literary theories.
In fact, they're way different.

Science gets it objective theories from a very different medium.

Yes, there are aspects that make literary works look good/bad, but it's still not absolute.
Literature evolves. What is amazing before might be considered a crock of shit years later.

Same thing happened for me. Sup Forums absolutely hated K when i aired and all i heard were bad things. Decided to watch this seasons newest trainwreck and actually loved it

>he fell for the "objectively good" meme

If you don't like it, it's not good

No, it fits perfectly.
I'm saying that there is a certain amount of objective criteria that can be used to judge whether something is good or not.
If you can't write proper sentences your writing is shit and it detracts from the total product of your book.
And in the same way you're movie/anime is going to suffer if you can't edit scenes properly.
These are objective criteria. At least if you don't take the concept objectivity to such extremes that it takes all meaning from the word and using it becomes meaningless.

Good job posting Mayoiga, an example of something I greatly enjoyed despite being complete shit. Pretty much the opposite of what OP asked.

I think Miyazaki and most of Ghibli movies in general were simply good, but they never really impact me or strike out to me as something amazing. The only Ghibli films that I actually loved were Totoro, Marnie, and The Cat Returns.

Don't be such a child.
You can appreciate a works qualities without being particularly fond of it.

To be fair the best part of Mayoiga was tuning into the Sup Forums threads about it. It was this seasons Guilty Crown

What if someone doesn't care about editing? I'd imagine there are people for whom good technical work is meaningless as long as something checks the right boxes for them plot-wise.

There aro no universally agreed aspects.
Not even when it comes to watching/reading the same thing. Take a show that you like and you think it's good, then go with other person that likes the same show and also thinks it's good, you will most likely find out that you like the same thing for different reasons. You may agree upon some points, but those ar not fixed, nor agreed.

What if the editing is so poorly done that it's difficult or impossible for the viewer to know what the plot is?

Concrete Revolutio episode 1. Holy shit, why would they do that?

>There can be no "externally sound narrative", nor can there be any "external narrative".

Wouldn't an "externally sound narrative" just be one that is consistent with history and events outside of the scope of the story?

Because you're talking about syntax. Grammar.
That's not the bloody same as themes, delivery, expression, and everything else.

Grammar has an objective criteria because it's well defined. Confusing, sure, but still well defined.
We know that "oh, nouns come after this shit". Basic stuff.
Literature is far from well defined.

Deconstructions with Derrida's meaning is literally confusing as all hell that nobody knows what's it about, and everybody keeps confusing it to subversions.
In fact, deconstruction's goals are the entire opposite of criteria that you mention, and I'm pretty sure they can still be considered good.

I thought this show would be about how a petty criminal turned his life around with rakugo, together with his mentor and the girl.
That would be a pretty interesting story. I wanted to see how the guy improved and overcame his past ties with the gangsters.

Turns out it just dragged on about the mentor's backstory, and it turned out to be a rather bogstandard "she liked my rival baw" story.

Do people actually believe there's absolutely no way to judge a literary work by its technical merits? Anime even has other aspects like animation and sound, are those also completely "subjective"?

I know people use "objectively" a lot these days, usually to try to make themselves look smarter than they are, or to justify their tastes, but that word isn't just a meme, you know.