I’ve been feeling this way, too. Most shows with dumbass teenage main characters are a pass for me, nowadays. I think it’s mainly because I’m getting older and they aren’t very relatable anymore.
Eh, I might getting older but the old stuff still hits better. Sure there will be a genuinely good show here or there, but standards have never been lower and slop has never been this popular.
It just seems like most Shonen have the same plot line of “the power of self confidence and friendship saves the day!” And it’s just so trite at this point to me. And that isn’t to say that Shonen can’t have a good plotline. But it’s usually some other genre with a sprinkling of Shonen.
That being said, there really is no accounting for taste. It’s the most popular genre for a reason after all.
I honestly wish Japan would split their genres a lil more. Shonen feels like such a default “anime” genre, and yeah most of it is just generic drivel. Then something actually wild and interesting comes along like DanDaDan or Gachiakata or SANDA, but you basically have to find them through word of mouth or knowing the animation studios.
Could I get a lil more info as to where to find this? I’ve long held the opinion that I would actually enjoy Naruto if there was a recut of it similar to One Pace. The big thing that causes me to bounce off it is the anime’s love of flashbacks.
Damn, even this isn’t quite what I was looking for.
I know the reason is to save costs, but holy fucking shit the anime just loves repeating scenes huh? I think the most egregious is the flashbacks to stuff already shown in the same episode, it’s like there’s only 8 minutes of actual content in a 22 minute episode. Part of the strength of One Pace is that a lot of those repeated scenes are completely cut out, which condenses a couple of episodes into one.
Personally I dont like shonen much either, but I don’t understand this argument of tropes=bad.
Just because something has a lot of tropes doesn’t mean it is bad. Tropes are tropes for a reason: it clearly means these are popular or highly liked/relatable vessels for storytelling. Not every story needs to be novel and invent new storytelling methods to be a good story. Sometimes, people just want more of the same.
The Hero’s Journey is a perfect example. Many, many stories follow this trope. And among those, some of the best stories of all time, including The Hobbit, The Odyssey, Dante’s Inferno, Beowulf, Treasure Island, etc. Literal masterpieces, peak storytelling. Just because there are other stories, or even a lot of stories, that follow the Hero’s Journey trope doesn’t make the ones I listed bad, nor does it automatically make every story that follows the trope bad either.
It isn’t necessarily that tropes are bad, it’s more like once you’ve seen a trope you can recognize the pattern and once you recognize the pattern you can more or less determine what’s going to happen.
Is the Hero’s Journey a bad trope? Not at all, as you’ve said — some of my most beloved stories are structured around the Hero’s Journey. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Redwall, but all of the books in that ‘world’ by Brian Jacques are very close to my heart. It’s also part of why I understand that once you’ve experienced at least one or two good Hero’s Journey’s — you’ve more or less experienced them all.
Is it wrong to be entertained by them anyway? No, I hope you don’t think I’m saying that.
I didn’t think you said that, I was mentioning this argument as one I don’t understand because recognizing a trope or predicting a story is an unusual and IMO “invalid” reason to not like something, and your comment seemed similar at first. I hear this a lot from a family member of mine who is anti-anime but also has a severe case of the Sonic the Hedgehog autism.
He says “once you watch one anime, you’ve seen them all because they all have the same tropes.” Which just doesn’t make sense to me. Just because you read The Hobbit doesn’t mean you don’t have to read Dante’s Inferno or Beowulf anymore. Its like the only thing he watches is the trope rather than the actual story being told, or the world/characters of the story.
Initially, I chalked it up to probably some “side-effect” (not the exact word I would use but I cannot think of a proper word for it)of autism, but then I walked in on him just casually watching Totally Spies and Naruto. And I asked him why he watches those and not other anime I suggest, and he just said “because these are peak and your recommends are trash.” Like, is Cowboy Bebop or Trigun (the original) trash? Compared to Naruto? Really? And I know he is not the only person that talks like this.
I wish I could understand, but I probably never will.
So Cowboy Bebop is not a shonen. It’s a seinen Apparently it isn’t a seinen, but it would be if it started as manga. Trigun is a little odd because it shifted from shonen to seinen somewhere along its publication history.
I point that out because seinen/josei compared to shonen/shojo is more or less the equivalent of young adult fiction to children’s fiction.
Children’s fiction is supposed to be easy to understand. It should be filled with trope’s, kids can’t really empathize with things that are more complicated. Or maybe they’re at an age where they can but maybe shouldn’t, i.e. show with themes of suicide for an already teetering on depressed teenager.
All that to say that I think your family members perspective is… severely limited. Not watching Trigun because you’d rather rewatch Naruto is 100% their choice but… it’s a pretty stupid way to live your life.
“Pff, why would I watch these ninjas do magic? I can just watch space wizards do magic and fight with lightsabers. Naruto is trash, Star Wars is peak.” Or something.
Edit: I’m completely wrong about Bebop, it is not a seinen because it never started as a manga. Apparently that is an important distinction. I think if it had started as a manga, it would be a seinen.
I can count on one hand the number of Shonen anime that I’ve enjoyed. There’s been a few that were a “X” + shonen. But it had to be like…a 75/25 split.
I’ll take “99% of Shonen” for $500, Alex.
I’ve been feeling this way, too. Most shows with dumbass teenage main characters are a pass for me, nowadays. I think it’s mainly because I’m getting older and they aren’t very relatable anymore.
Eh, I might getting older but the old stuff still hits better. Sure there will be a genuinely good show here or there, but standards have never been lower and slop has never been this popular.
What is it with all the short-tempered screaming MCs in shonen?
It just seems like most Shonen have the same plot line of “the power of self confidence and friendship saves the day!” And it’s just so trite at this point to me. And that isn’t to say that Shonen can’t have a good plotline. But it’s usually some other genre with a sprinkling of Shonen.
That being said, there really is no accounting for taste. It’s the most popular genre for a reason after all.
Cause you aren’t the audience.
I honestly wish Japan would split their genres a lil more. Shonen feels like such a default “anime” genre, and yeah most of it is just generic drivel. Then something actually wild and interesting comes along like DanDaDan or Gachiakata or SANDA, but you basically have to find them through word of mouth or knowing the animation studios.
The pirate cut of Naruto is good. All filler removed, some edits and subtitle changes to make it in line with the manga.
You still may not like it but that’s what came to my mind for quality shonen.
Could I get a lil more info as to where to find this? I’ve long held the opinion that I would actually enjoy Naruto if there was a recut of it similar to One Pace. The big thing that causes me to bounce off it is the anime’s love of flashbacks.
Nyaa, I think it’s the yellow flash cut. Sort by size or seeds it’ll be near the top
Damn, even this isn’t quite what I was looking for.
I know the reason is to save costs, but holy fucking shit the anime just loves repeating scenes huh? I think the most egregious is the flashbacks to stuff already shown in the same episode, it’s like there’s only 8 minutes of actual content in a 22 minute episode. Part of the strength of One Pace is that a lot of those repeated scenes are completely cut out, which condenses a couple of episodes into one.
At some point we will get a good abridged
That’s surprising to hear but okay
Is it? Shonen is a revolving door of tropes, you’d be hard pressed to find a shonen anime that actually shakes the formula up.
Personally I dont like shonen much either, but I don’t understand this argument of tropes=bad.
Just because something has a lot of tropes doesn’t mean it is bad. Tropes are tropes for a reason: it clearly means these are popular or highly liked/relatable vessels for storytelling. Not every story needs to be novel and invent new storytelling methods to be a good story. Sometimes, people just want more of the same.
The Hero’s Journey is a perfect example. Many, many stories follow this trope. And among those, some of the best stories of all time, including The Hobbit, The Odyssey, Dante’s Inferno, Beowulf, Treasure Island, etc. Literal masterpieces, peak storytelling. Just because there are other stories, or even a lot of stories, that follow the Hero’s Journey trope doesn’t make the ones I listed bad, nor does it automatically make every story that follows the trope bad either.
It isn’t necessarily that tropes are bad, it’s more like once you’ve seen a trope you can recognize the pattern and once you recognize the pattern you can more or less determine what’s going to happen.
Is the Hero’s Journey a bad trope? Not at all, as you’ve said — some of my most beloved stories are structured around the Hero’s Journey. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Redwall, but all of the books in that ‘world’ by Brian Jacques are very close to my heart. It’s also part of why I understand that once you’ve experienced at least one or two good Hero’s Journey’s — you’ve more or less experienced them all.
Is it wrong to be entertained by them anyway? No, I hope you don’t think I’m saying that.
I didn’t think you said that, I was mentioning this argument as one I don’t understand because recognizing a trope or predicting a story is an unusual and IMO “invalid” reason to not like something, and your comment seemed similar at first. I hear this a lot from a family member of mine who is anti-anime but also has a severe case of the Sonic the Hedgehog autism.
He says “once you watch one anime, you’ve seen them all because they all have the same tropes.” Which just doesn’t make sense to me. Just because you read The Hobbit doesn’t mean you don’t have to read Dante’s Inferno or Beowulf anymore. Its like the only thing he watches is the trope rather than the actual story being told, or the world/characters of the story.
Initially, I chalked it up to probably some “side-effect” (not the exact word I would use but I cannot think of a proper word for it)of autism, but then I walked in on him just casually watching Totally Spies and Naruto. And I asked him why he watches those and not other anime I suggest, and he just said “because these are peak and your recommends are trash.” Like, is Cowboy Bebop or Trigun (the original) trash? Compared to Naruto? Really? And I know he is not the only person that talks like this.
I wish I could understand, but I probably never will.
So Cowboy Bebop is not a shonen.
It’s a seinenApparently it isn’t a seinen, but it would be if it started as manga. Trigun is a little odd because it shifted from shonen to seinen somewhere along its publication history.I point that out because seinen/josei compared to shonen/shojo is more or less the equivalent of young adult fiction to children’s fiction.
Children’s fiction is supposed to be easy to understand. It should be filled with trope’s, kids can’t really empathize with things that are more complicated. Or maybe they’re at an age where they can but maybe shouldn’t, i.e. show with themes of suicide for an already teetering on depressed teenager.
All that to say that I think your family members perspective is… severely limited. Not watching Trigun because you’d rather rewatch Naruto is 100% their choice but… it’s a pretty stupid way to live your life.
“Pff, why would I watch these ninjas do magic? I can just watch space wizards do magic and fight with lightsabers. Naruto is trash, Star Wars is peak.” Or something.
Edit: I’m completely wrong about Bebop, it is not a seinen because it never started as a manga. Apparently that is an important distinction. I think if it had started as a manga, it would be a seinen.
I can count on one hand the number of Shonen anime that I’ve enjoyed. There’s been a few that were a “X” + shonen. But it had to be like…a 75/25 split.