So I just finished watching Golden Boy (1995), since I was curious about it and was very often recommended on various lists of retro anime to watch. It turns out that the show is obnoxiously horny, reaching "I can't believe it's not Hentai" levels in Episode 5 and that the show revolves around this seemingly incompetent dude that basically thinks with his genitals and always ends up getting the girl. The comedy is also basically 90% sexual and with such a setup, you can't really expect much else than objectification of women.
The animation quality is neat and the ED song is catchy though. 5,5/10
The above description might sound familiar if you've watched Great Teacher Onizuka (1999), which is similar in concept, except it includes a pretty good story and interesting characters. Unfortunately, it also is obnoxiously horny (which makes it creepier than Golden Boy due to the setting of GTO), is very ableist towards one of the students of Onizuka's to the point where episodes centered around them become unwatchable if you have a single ounce of liberatory ideology in your head and the show has some really bad filler episodes.
7/10? Sure. 8,69/10, like the MAL rating says? No chance in hell.
I don't really have examples of underrated shows or manga that are noteworthy enough to warrant me complaining about unfortunately.
In the Gundam franchise Victory Gundam feels like it's underrated and overlooked. Naruto Shippuden feels overrated to me. I really enjoyed the first half of the series, the focus on the ninja school, the covert ops in other villages, the big emphasis on unique techniques, while from what I've seen of the second half just boils down to big goofy power creep fights.
Victory Gundam
I heard the common belief is that Tomino tried to sabotage the Gundam franchise with this one. I have only experienced parts of the story through Super Robot Wars 30, and seen only E1, but it's got some banger music and the MS designs are fantastic
Yeah iirc Tomino was depressed when he was writing it and it shows, it's pretty bleak but it does a fantastic job humanizing it's cast and really capturing the hell of war. The mobile suits are great as well and feel like the logical progression of the technology that late into the universal century.
As I understand it, Tomino has been struggling with depression since the 1980s, and it shows even in Zeta Gundam. By 1993, it reached dangerous levels iirc.
Turn A is after he sought out professional help, and it shows. Post-meds Tomino somehow turned into a Miyazaki-like lover of beauty and humanity apparently lol.
As I understand it, Tomino has been struggling with depression since the 1980s, and it shows even in Zeta Gundam. By 1993, it reached dangerous levels iirc.
Didn't know it was that bad. Zeta is fantastic too, love the narrative of the earth federation turning into genocidal fascists and the zeon remnants becoming the new opposition, real grey show on morality.
Victory Gundam would straight up be the best Gundam if Tomino wasn't trying to sabotage it. (Motorcycles in space, really?)
As it is, I'd put it in the top three. The Angel Halo is pretty unforgettable.
Absolutely one of the best UC Gundam shows. It's a shame people look down on it.
.hack//Sign - it's well paced and has a great sense of mystery as the story unfolds. It doesn't show its hand too quickly, which is nice. I like the way the characters are treated in this show too. Instead of it being action focused, it focuses more on interpersonal relationships and characters dealing with issues of mental health and identity (positive LGBTQ+ representation in the early 2000s too). It's a really wonderful show
It also leads into games/books/and other anime that continues the story if you like what you've seen so far. If you want to stop at Sign, the story concludes and you get the ending. Win-win
Nice, I was meaning to check it out eventually. Especially it's because it's by Kazunori Ito, who worked with Mamoru Oshii closely in Patlabor and directed some really based episodes of that anime original show
Teppu is a manga about a couple girls who do MMA, and it's really freaking good despite nobody I know having heard of it. The story is complete too so you can look forward to it having a conclusion instead of going on forever.
Hajime no Ippo is about a kid who becomes a professional boxer, and is the gold standard sports manga/anime despite never quite getting the following it deserved.
Hajime no Ippo is about a kid who becomes a professional boxer, and is the gold standard sports manga/anime despite never quite getting the following it deserved.
Well, that's because it's basically a spiritual successor to Ashita no Joe (1970 - Season 1; 1980 - Season 2), which was huge in Japan, especially among the left and the classic proletariat. (Megalobox is also heavily inspired by it) I guess in either case, it's because you don't really expect a sports anime to be this good. Similarly, Slam Dunk (1993) is one of the funniest shows I've seen, despite being a basketball anime.
Tried to watch "Gantz" with some buddies one time, I would rate it negative ten stars if I could
The manga is the best piece of shit I've ever read
There's a part where a dude paints himself to look like a black guy in order to commit a mass shooting and it's played completely serious
About halfway/ two thirds in the plot gets so insanely convoluted and stupid that it's legitimately hilarious and fun, especially because the author was completely genuine and dedicated the rest of his career to whining about fans not understanding his works of art lol
Pointlessly cruel and dark. And everything is so over the top. I'm honestly disappointed that there are some cool concepts that go wasted because of edgy bullshit.
I'm not a big anime fan so bear with me but I thought Evangelion was boring af. Apparently it has a lot of profound, heady themes but all I saw was a 10 year old with daddy issues crying for 9 hours.
Underrated: Ronin warriors, because fuck you, those action figures were sick.
Oh yeah Ronin Warriors was my jam on Toonami back in the day. But in defense of Evangelion it was a lot more ground breaking when it was new, especially since the ending was the first exposure for a lot of kids to more abstract storytelling.
I’m not a big anime fan so bear with me but I thought Evangelion was boring af. Apparently it has a lot of profound, heady themes but all I saw was a 10 year old with daddy issues crying for 9 hours.
When I became a weeb, I liked Evangelion. Nowadays, I have my issues with it, but it's still a good show. But I do agree that it's somewhat overrated.
I had the one for the water guy. Also the show contributed to my gay awakening.
I thought Evangelion was boring af. Apparently it has a lot of profound, heady themes but all I saw was a 10 year old with daddy issues crying for 9 hours.
Normie cringe = Detected
Opinion = Ejected
hardstyle plays
:party-sicko: :party-sicko: :party-sicko:
This is a personal thing I assume but I could never get into Gintama and would probably give it 5s if I could actually get through a season. But Gintama fans give it nothing but 10/10 non stop so it's always completely overrated.
Code Geass is very overrated.
Kimetsu no Yaiba is also extremely overrated. Not a bad show though, I don't really dislike it but it's also pretty throwaway shounen.
I only watch shows that are recommended by friends or have high review scores, so nothing underrated, except that Evangelion and Madoka should be 11/10.
Overrated:
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Hunter x Hunter is just ok for the most part, and the Chimera Ant arc is the low-point of the series.
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Attack on Titan is boring and the story doesn't seem to have been planned ahead of time, with new plot elements just being thrown in because "wow wouldn't that be cool".
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FMA Brotherhood is just ok, and is severely undercut by the ultimate villain's motivation being non-sensical anime bullshit.
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Cowboy Bebop is a technical masterpiece but I find it so boring I couldn't finish it on a rewatch.
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spoiler
(this is the only scene from golden boy I've seen, I don't actually know if I'd disagree with you or not, I probably wouldn't.)
The only episode I enjoyed was 5, because
Golden Boy E5 spoiler
of the novelty of the bicycle vs motorcycle race
Ironically, that was the horniest episode too
Underrated: Not because of a low rating, but simply because it's so old not many people have seen it.
Armored Trooper VOTOMS (1983) has a really good mystery plot and old school mecha action, some political commentary and really smooth music.
Future Boy Conan (1978) is Miyazaki's iirc only TV anime alongside Lupin III Part 1 (1971; it's very good btw), and is a studio-Ghibliesque adventure with environmentalist themes in a post-apocalyptic world. Keep in mind that it was made for kids though.
Underrated:
- Welcome to the NHK :joker-shopping:
Overrated:
- Bleach, the anime, 80% filler, it barely has a plot... I'm halfway thru.
- Horimiya, reverse ugly betty.
NHK-enjoyer = Detected
Opinion = Accepted
:party-sicko: :party-sicko: :party-sicko: :party-sicko:
:party-sicko: :party-sicko: :party-sicko: :party-sicko: how did you know? blasting Puzzle (extra hot mix) at full volume
Welcome to the NHK
Pretty sure it's considered by many to be a masterpiece, and rightfully so.
Welcome to the NHK spoiler and personal opinion
I didn't like the pyramid scheme arc though tbh. The main characters felt OOC, like if they took a major Wisdom stat penalty, to use a RPG metaphor, compared to their usual selves, as they really should not have been scammed so easily.
Yeah, but it's more like a cult following status (or no?).
cool, now I have an excuse to watch it again.
NHK spoiler and opinion prior to viewing it again
The pyramid scheme arc has troubled writing, the pacing seems weird due to the placement, although I think it fits in with the 'fringes of society' aspect.
Imo tho Satou throughout the series lacks awareness, jumps head first into tough spots, and can't assess the situation properly: I could see him getting roped into the pyramid scheme, it doesn't seemed that forced.
A few episodes prior he almost jumps off a cliff and before that he thought he was gonna hook up with his senpai. I could suspend my disbelief when he buys a bunch of detergent.
Still a great show!
NHK spoiler and opinion post view
Yeah, that was dumb of Satou... granted there is a moment where he calls it what it is: a pyramid scheme, but ultimately his fear of being a hikikomori wins out. I can see where what you said happens, you'd think he put more resistance to both her and the fear. I'll consider that he was still in shock from the attempt.
What are your thoughts on Psycho-Pass?
About Spoiler 1):
Agreed. I liked the premise of that arc, but it was badly executed.
I have never seen Psycho-Pass
One that I feel is overrated is JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
Like sure, I won't deny that it had a huge impact on anime and created tropes used by other beloved franchises, but when I watched it, I was so disappointed with the bare bones storytelling.
There were cool fights and it set the tone for shonen, but that was it. The characters felt bland.
Then there's the general discomfort I had with the way different cultures and races were portrayed. In Stardust Crusaders, their adventure in India felt gross. I know the source material is older than the anime adaptation but still.
Overall, I have a lot of respect for the series, but I had a lot more before actually watching it.
On the underrated side of things, I would say that Pumpkin Scissors was a series that I enjoyed. It wasn't perfect, but it explored a corrupt country following a brutal war. The series follows the group nicknamed 'the pumpkin scissors.' They're tasked with rooting out corruption, but are often dismissed as a propaganda campaign. This is especially an issue with the corps' leader being born an aristocrat.
She's very presumptuous about her ability to effect change in society and she's constantly faced with worse and worse corruption.
One of the other main characters was a soldier who was subjected to harsh experiments to make him into a mindless killer.
The politics weren't perfect by any means, but it was nice to see as a baby leftist.
I really like Jojo, but yeah, the Indian arc in Stardust Crusaders felt kinda racist and there's snippets of bad politics, male gaze, etc. through out the other parts too. Also Steel Ball Run, which is considered to be one of the greatest manga of all time, had a really bad beginning and while admittedly the story was pretty good, most of the characters were forgettable with only a few exceptions and the self-referentiality was annoying.
At least, as far as fanbases of large anime franchises go, Jojo's is alright beyond the annoying Rudol von Stroheim memeing.
Not a masterpiece, but I'd give the series a 8/10.
over rated: eva
underrated: The Land of The Lustrous. Slow burn anime steven universe with buddhist themes and mysteries. good manga too
