Anime Your Unpopular Anime, Manga and J-Pop Opinions

[prog rocker]

Air Gear and Dogs: Bullets & Carnage are two manga series I like that are underrated.

I thought Air Gear wasn't unpopular, but then again, I'm basing this on the fact they got two reps in Sunday vs Magazine...

 

[Tactician Karina]

I thought Air Gear wasn't unpopular, but then again, I'm basing this on the fact they got two reps in Sunday vs Magazine...

It gets a lot of bad rap from people due to it going off the rails and some people calling it convoluted. I also see way more people talk and occasionally bash the anime and disregard the manga cause of it, it's actually a really good manga series imo.

 

[prog rocker]

It gets a lot of bad rap from people due to it going off the rails and some people calling it convoluted. I also see way more people talk and occasionally bash the anime and disregard the manga cause of it, it's actually a really good manga series imo.

Oh... Kinda reminds of what happened to Rave Master.

 

[FinalArcadia]

Black Cat anime is better than the manga, even if it goes off the rails toward the end into wacky anime-only territory

Shinn Asuka is a good character and I liked him a lot in Gundam SEED Destiny. I don't think he deserves all the hate he got and still sometimes gets from the Gundam fanbase. He was volatile but in a believable way given what happened to him and he was the most interesting part of Destiny.

I don't know how unpopular this one is, but literally everything about the 90s Sailor Moon anime is better than the manga. The artstyle (honestly I think the manga suffers from having cluttered panels that make it hard to read, and everyone is even more same-y looking in the manga), the pacing (SM is one of the things that NEEDS the filler tbh), the character relationships (filler gave more time for the girls to actually feel like close friends than the manga ever did, and changing Rei's role/personality was a huge plus since she and Usagi's friendship is one of the best parts of the anime)... I can't think of a single thing I prefer in the manga other than maybe some of the details about Hotaru's condition.

Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans' ending was 100% fine to me and even at the time, I didn't understand why a lot of people were so worked up and betrayed by it. I also liked Rustal Elion a lot as a character though so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Not sure if this one is exactly unpopular or more neutral but I actually liked the FMA 2003 ending more.

Honestly, I like the entire 2003 anime more than Brotherhood/the manga as a whole.

 

[Tactician Karina]

I actually like Sakura Haruno from Naruto, I can see why she may not be well liked at the start of the series but honestly her personality is what makes me like her, that and her design is pretty imo. Her Sasuke obsession can be annoying at times I'll admit, but there are other characters with obsessions that I found more annoying in other series. Also Kishimoto doesn't handle character development and romance all that well, not just with the female characters.

I actually really liked A Centaur's Life manga, it's cute and it didn't deserve some of the harsh flack it got even with some of it's negative parts.

Clannad and After Story was boring to me, I prefer Air and Kanon personally.

While I like MHA I still think Tiger & Bunny is the better superhero anime for me.

Cowboy Bebop is overrated, Ein is the only reason why I bothered with it.

Not sure if this is exactly unpopular or just niche but I liked the Valkyria Chronicles anime and VC3 OVA, I still prefer the games of course but I still quite like the anime, I also want to read the manga of the first three games still. Following the anime/manga adaptations of VC, Revolution should've also gotten a anime/manga adaptation as well (and yes I know of the few silly comic panels they have of VR, I liked those as well).

 

[Timaeus]

^ On the topic of Naruto, people often say that the series turned bad sometime during Shippuden, but I highly disagree. For me, the series really started to lose its way during the Naruto/Neji fight. Prior to that, the series was about the scrappy underdog Naruto trying to overcome the talented ninjas to become the Hokage. This builds up quite nicely with Neji's speech to Naruto about predetermination and how those born without talent should resign themselves to their fate. However that all goes out the window when the author decided to have Naruto (who is otherwise outclassed by Neji's skill) win the fight by tapping into the Nine-Tails' power - something he was both born with and did not work for.

What really baffles me about this decision was that nothing changed by Naruto winning that fight since the entire tournament was cancelled shortly after and despite winning his fight Naruto did not progress in Rank. Had I been in Kishimoto's shoes, I would have had Naruto lose the fight on his own merit to show how far he still has to go and push the whole "tapping into the Nine-Tails" thing back to the Naruto/Gaara fight to emphasise the parallel between them where Gaara uses the evil Tailed Beasts' powers for evil, but Naruto's good heart allows him to use his own for higher righteous causes when his own power isn't enough.

...Apologies for the rant, I got a bit carried away there.

 

[prog rocker]

Also Kishimoto doesn't handle character development and romance all that well, not just with the female characters.

Well, this is something I could see just by playing the games *has flashbacks of Sasuke's face-heel revolving door*.

^ On the topic of Naruto, people often say that the series turned bad sometime during Shippuden, but I highly disagree. For me, the series really started to lose its way during the Naruto/Neji fight. Prior to that, the series was about the scrappy underdog Naruto trying to overcome the talented ninjas to become the Hokage.

You know... I kinda feel this premise would have worked better if Lee was the protagonist. Or maybe even Tenten.

EDIT: By the way, what was Tenten's purpose besides filling the position of third member of the Chinese/martial arts team?

EDIT 2: Oh, and losing to Temari to show the Suna ninja are a threat.

 

[Tactician Karina]

EDIT: By the way, what was Tenten's purpose besides filling the position of third member of the Chinese/martial arts team?

EDIT 2: Oh, and losing to Temari to show the Suna ninja are a threat.

Honestly? Pretty sure it was that, showing off Chinese martial arts moves with being able to summon weapons and dressing in similar Chinese garbs. Which sucks cause she's a pretty cool character that had very little development and practically zero screen time (ironic for someone who was showcased to have this badass fighting style), she was unfortunately sidelined (though she's certainly not the only one). IIRC she did state that her goal was "to be like Tsunade" then later changed to "be a powerful kunoichi." which isn't much since most characters in the series want to be a strong ninja. She might as well have been a very minor background character with a name, Kishimoto isn't that great with writing most of his characters sadly.

 

[prog rocker]

Honestly? Pretty sure it was that, showing off Chinese martial arts moves with being able to summon weapons and dressing in similar Chinese garbs. Which sucks cause she's a pretty cool character that had very little development and practically zero screen time (ironic for someone who was showcased to have this badass fighting style), she was unfortunately sidelined (though she's certainly not the only one). IIRC she did state that her goal was "to be like Tsunade" then later changed to "be a powerful kunoichi." which isn't much since most characters in the series want to be a strong ninja. She might as well have been a very minor background character with a name, Kishimoto isn't that great with writing most of his characters sadly.

Yeah, that's pretty sad considering the games made her look extremely cool. I can't recall other places with characters like her.

 

[Timaeus]

You know... I kinda feel this premise would have worked better if Lee was the protagonist. Or maybe even Tenten.

Perhaps, but then if I'm remembering right then Lee lost practically every canonical fight he was in, showing how little Kishimoto cared about that early message. I forgot to add in my previous post but after Naruto beats Neji he tells him a story about how he originally sucked at making clones until he practised super hard and that's how he won - my immediate reaction was "you cheeky little s***" because of course while Naruto's Shadow Clone jutsu was how he got the winning strike, it was only possible through using the Nine-Tails chakra that he borrowed. It became an absolute joke during the final arc when

Spoiler

Naruto was revealed to be the reincarnation of Ninja-Jesus and is just given a power up because of that.

Might Gai was the true champion of the theme of "hard work over talent" which was proved so gloriously when he was kicking

Spoiler

Madara's

butt in the final arc.

 

[prog rocker]

Let's pretend that final arc never happened because it came from out of nowhere... I thought Final Fantasy IX's final boss was handled bad, but Kaguya takes the price.

Also, Lee did technically win one fight: the one against Kimimaro, but he had help from Gaara and Kimimaro died from not-cancer before finishing them.

 

[Juliko]

I'm probably going to commit blasphemy by saying this, but...I honestly don't feel Demon Slayer is as good as people are making it out to be. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't hate it at all. I actually kind of like it. The first set of episodes were pretty good to me. However, I feel the show started to go against what it originally set out to do the second Zenitsu appeared. Not only does his whole existence clash with the series' serious tone, it's like the show actively avoids developing its characters in a meaningful way, preferring to have them solve problems by pulling special Deus ex Machina powers out of its ass and introducing a whole lot of easy conveniences rather than have the characters actually work through their flaws and grow as people (Again, Zenitsu is infamous for this). That is bad writing, and it takes away a lot of the tension.

 

[System Error]

Hey if you want blasphemy here's a good one from me: I don't like Gurren Lagaan very much. I think it's way overrated and that GaoGaiGar did the "70s super robot throwback" thing much better. The tone can be all over the place at times, and it has annoying moments of melodrama. The titular mech is overpowered in a kind of boring way, too. It's not terrible by any means, it's just not the herald of the second coming of mecha like a lot of its fans seem to think it is.

 

[Tactician Karina]

However, I feel the show started to go against what it originally set out to do the second Zenitsu appeared. Not only does his whole existence clash with the series' serious tone,

Have you read the manga? He get's better later on and his silliness mellows out bit by bit. Unpopular opinion here but I actually think his level of silliness is a good contrast to the seriousness the series has, he gets serious when the need calls for it as well and his reactions to demons is the most human and realistic, so that's pretty much why I find him endearing. It's no wonder over in Japan he's more popular early on and he's occasionally jokingly called the series savior. Though I do understand if some people think he's too over the top with his whining and crying, and he's not going to be everyone's cup of tea and I respect that.

it's like the show actively avoids developing its characters in a meaningful way, preferring to have them solve problems by pulling special Deus ex Machina powers out of its ass and introducing a whole lot of easy conveniences rather than have the characters actually work through their flaws and grow as people (Again, Zenitsu is infamous for this). That is bad writing, and it takes away a lot of the tension.

I do dislike the fact that a lot of characters development is mostly contained in backstories, it's fine every once in a while but there also needs to be development in the now as well. That being said I think Sanemi and Genya are the best developed characters, they have development in their backstories and the current moment, especially for Sanemi after

Spoiler

Genya's death.

Zenitsu get's better development though,

Spoiler

especially his fight with his former senior Kaigaku and we at least see more of his past relationship with him.

As for the powers yeah that does get annoying, the manga has them occasionally too. Then the pacing at times can be too fast or fights drag out a bit too long, sometimes requiring a deus ex machina; granted that's not just a Demon Slayer problem and it's all too common in shounen in general.

While on this topic, not sure if this is still unpopular or neutral but I rather liked the idea that

Spoiler: Major Demon Slayer ending spoilers

Tanjiro should've been killed off at the end of the manga. Him becoming a demon and getting killed by one of his teammates or Giyu would've been a heartbreaking but understandable ending. I felt that if Tanjiro was going to return to being human like Nezuko then he should've had his right eye and left arm gone like they were during his fight with Muzan, instead of being blind in that eye and having a crippled arm. That being said it's nice to see him get together with Kanao, predictable but nice, same with Nezuko and Zenitsu getting together as well; likewise seeing the reincarnations of the other characters in modern times, so I do still like this happy ending.

 

[Juliko]

I haven't read the manga. If you like Demon Slayer, that's cool! I like it too! But I don't feel it's the masterpiece people I know are making it out to be. Also, I call bullcrap on Zenitsu only becoming a competent fighter when he sleeps. That's lazy writing and you know it! That's my main issue with him, but again, for all I know, that probably changed later on.

 

[Tactician Karina]

Not too sure if this is unpopular, but I prefer the Speed Racer dub over the original. I also want to see a full fledged English dub of Speed Racer X.

I actually like the Tokyo Ghoul anime, granted I have read the manga first so I wasn't too bothered when some important stuff was either skipped, changed, or glossed over; even when season 2 deviates quite a bit from the manga I still enjoyed it. I do dislike how the quality did worsen when season 3 came around due to the studio switch and season 4's badly animated fight scenes.

I still maintain that the Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem OVA is a treasure (especially English dub) even though it's only two episodes. That being said they should definitely try to fully adapt the game into a anime again and actually get to complete it; if they don't want to try and adapt the third game again then any other installment would work, I just really want an FE anime in the works (or they could go the Champion's Sword manga route, make their own anime only characters and story or alternate retelling to an already existing game, like this specific FE manga; if this manga and the Cipher original characters can interact with game characters, then this could work out)

Season 1 of Blue Exorcist had the best character development when Rin was exposed. I have not finished season 2 yet still, so this could change whenever I get around to it, but from what I've remembered of the first few episodes it just dragged on and on; I've heard it get's better though, so like I said this could hopefully change (I should mention I haven't read the manga yet either).

While I like FLCL it really isn't that great.

This one is more so a mixed bag in the AoT fandom but,

Spoiler: AoT chapter 130 spoilers

I really hope that Eren is the father of Historia's child. Their conversation leads me to think that he is, but at the same time the wording doesn't strictly imply that he is "What would you think... about me having a child?", though it could go either way. Of course I'm a big EreHisu shipper so I do hope it's true, but if not then that's fine; if he's not the father then it also wouldn't really surprise me much either since he only has four years left to live, at that point it's possible he's not interested in romance or siring children. well he can always elope with Floch instead if he doesn't love Historia or Mikasa lol

 

[Ryoma Maser]

I liked Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045, while I do think the original two seasons are better by a longshot I still enjoyed it. I think CGI works for a show like GITS and I don't understand why people think the CGI is bad (it's leagues better than most CGI anime). I loved the new design for the Major and I love the new Section 9 team member Purin a bit too much. I also got really interested in the arcs especially the 1984 one (since it dives into territory that really none of the previous GITS done I think) and I'm really excited for the second half whenever Netflix releases it.

I don't understand why people think Cowboy Bebop is the greatest anime ever. Yeah it's good, I like what I saw, but is it really that good to be consider one of the greatest? Especially when it has ended on a cliffhanger/mystery that will most likely will never be solved (considering the past few years we've been getting unexpected sequels or "Brotherhood" like anime, I'm very surprised that Bebop didn't get this any form). Otherwise I still like it, I just don't consider one of or the best.

F*** Asuka from Neon Genesis Evangelion. How do people like this selfish narcissistic asshole? Granted I never watch Rebuild so this could change, but I absolutely hate Asuka, since the way she is as a person is the type of person I loathe in real life (I've been verbally bullied by these type of people in real life), a self-centered jerk who thinks the entire world should surround their "greatness." Even when you learn why she acts like she does it doesn't really help her anyway, just makes her an entitled brat even if it is supposed to sad (and I agree it's mess up and sad for when she was that age but that doesn't excuse her behavior). I also do not understand why people would ship Asuka and Shinji since Asuka bullies him every episode they're in together, doubly so since they're surrogate siblings in a way with Misato as their real surrogate mother, so it makes it extra awkward and stupid.

Speaking of literal trash, screw Konosuba. Like how do people like this literally dumpster fire of an anime? Enough to consider it anime of the year one time. Every clip I watch of it I just grow disliking more and more, like I understand it's supposed to be parody of these type of animes, but literally everything falls flat onto the fire and doesn't put it out, the characters, the jokes (yeah a main character never loses rock paper scissors, that's so funny and interesting as a joke and a trait), literally everything. It also started the the horrible tread of isekai anime being the top thing bringing in more terrible shows (especially that Cellphone isekai where the protag becomes OP and marries his haren because he has every magic type thanks to "God").

I don't like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya that much because of Haruhi herself, I like The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan a lot more ironically even if Yuki is a tad overrated.

I liked Psycho-Pass Season 2. I liked how the villain while in the sorta the reigns of the implausibility of things the Season 1 villain did, he's much more grounded in reality than the S1 bad guy. Also we saw how Akane became even more of a badass (or how she became one unsure), before leading into the movie.

I personally believe that Princess Tutu is better deconstruction of the magical girl in general, or at least better focusing on the some of the same tropes better then Makoda did. I personally consider it "Madoka Magica before Madoka Magica" as it deconstructs more of the magical girl series than Madoka does, like the falling love with the popular guy trope, the Tuxedo Mask trope, and a few more I can't name on the top of my head.

Speaking of Princess Tutu, there's always a discussion on the main character's name. Her name is Ahiru which translate to Duck, which is she is called in the dub. While people can call her what they want to if they watch the sub or dub, I personally call her Ahiru not because I just watch the subbed version. I called her Ahiru since it sounds like an actual name, and since the in-universe it is implied they're speaking German (correct me if I'm wrong), it makes it less obvious to her true identity as an actual duck, as calling a girl named Duck with actual duck like mannerisms may be some high flags in that world. With Ahiru sounding foreign so she won't be outed that easily.

 

[Tactician Karina]

Since Konosuba was mentioned in the above post, I really enjoy it and it's actually up there in my favorite isekai series (at least after SAO). Also Aqua is my favorite, I know she gets hated on a lot in the fandom but I actually find her laziness to be fun (well same with Kazuma's), also I find her design to be cute.

People comparing Slam Dunk and Kuroko no Basket confuse me, especially when they say the latter is unrealistic. No duh it's unrealistic, them having a similar style to battle shounen and giving characters unique supernatural abilities should have tipped you off in the first place. Also I love KnB more than Slam Dunk, granted it's been a good while since I've read Slam Dunk (and only watched a little of the anime) but I just never really clicked with it (though I don't hate it), it's also the third sports anime I watched after Speed Racer and Prince of Tennis so I'm going to have some bias to it compared to other basketball manga/anime. (though Ahiru no Sora looks to be good at least)

+Anima deserves a anime adaptation.

Übel Blatt also deserves a anime adaptation.

Battle Royale manga is better than the live action movie (haven't read the novel so I can't say for that one).

I liked the Umineko anime more over the Higurashi anime.

I think most female idol anime are boring and annoying, which is why I prefer watching male idol anime instead. The only female idol anime I somewhat enjoyed was Zombieland Saga, them being zombies (and some actual funny moments) saved it for me from completely dropping it.

 

[Juliko]

+Anima deserves a anime adaptation.

OMG you like +Anima too?! So do I!! And yes, it ABSOLUTELY deserves an anime!!! I'm surprised it never got one!

I think most female idol anime are boring and annoying, which is why I prefer watching male idol anime instead. The only female idol anime I somewhat enjoyed was Zombieland Saga, them being zombies (and some actual funny moments) saved it for me from completely dropping it.

Agreed. Plus, it at least tried to do something new with the premise and bothered to actually develop its characters and make them more than just simple archetypes. I don't necessarily hate idol anime, but it's easy to see a lot of them are just generic cash grabs.

 

[SandwichSamurai]

I tried watching the original Digimon and the current series and I found them both boring. The original has them first entering the Digiworld and took too long to get anywhere. The current series starts with them fighting a super powerful virus Digimon only to unleash a stronger form...twice.

This is only for the two anime series I've watched, if anybody has any recommendations, I'm willing to listen. I got nothing against the rest of the franchise.

I don't understand the appeal of Dragon Ball. All I see is extremely ripped guys with generic super powers beating each other up. I especially can't say I find it amusing that they basically ripped it off a Japanese folktale. Although at least Goku has a likable heroic personality.