Ask John: What Are The Most Overrated Anime?

Question:
Based simply on your opinion, are there any anime which you feel are vastly overrated? Are there any series which you feel received too much attention (be it in Japan or elsewhere)?

Answer:
Everyone likes different things, and anime that I think aren’t good may be someone else’s favorite series. So exactly what constitutes overexposure or excessive popularity is highly subjective. I qualify an anime as over rated by comparing its technical quality to its popularity. I’m aware that there are factors beside technical quality that influence fan reaction, but it’s exactly the prioritization of these factors that can directly contribute to a series being held in higher esteem than it really deserves. Generally I happen to think that the massive popularity of series like Pokemon and Dragonball and Naruto and One Piece is justified because these series are specifically designed to appeal to any and everyone, and they’re very good at doing that. There are also series that become tremendously popular for a short time while they’re current before their novelty wears off. Gundam Wing is an outstanding example of this trend. While Gundam W may be a decent show, because it was much of America’s first exposure to the Gundam franchise, when Gundam Wing was still a new series in America, it was ridiculously popular. Now that several years have passed and Gundam Wing has settled into context within the Gundam franchise and anime in general in the minds of most American fans, I think most American fans regard the series with respect, but less enthusiasm as was common two years ago.

Then there are a few series that remain perennial favorites even though I’m not certain they really deserve the amount of attention they receive. I’m bound to earn some criticism for my picks, but after all, they’re very subjective.

Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon remains a highly respected and sought after fan favorite, especially in America. Sailor Moon was the first magical girl anime to use a sentai team/five member team dynamic, so it should be recognized for that contribution to the development of anime. But with the exception of a handful of episodes, much of the show is tremendously repetitive and rather poorly animated. With any show that’s very popular, there’s got to be some reason for its popularity. Sailor Moon benefits from its diverse cast of personalities more than anything else. Based on its characters, and the novelty of seeing sailor suit wearing magical girls battle evil, I can appreciate some of Sailor Moon’s popularity. But I’ve never been able to understand the rabid, fervent obsession with the show among especially American fans. It’s as though Sailor Moon is a rallying flag for recognition of female targeted entertainment that supporters defend with barred teeth not entirely for the quality of the show itself, but because Sailor Moon represents the entire community of female genre fans and their favorite variety of anime.

Trigun was a relative marginal success in Japan. I think the relatively slim amount of coverage the show got in Japanese anime magazines of the time, and the fact that the original TV series was never followed up with OAVs or a second series reflects its status in respect to Japanese fan recognition. Although the Trigun TV series was a quickly forgotten come-and-go series in Japan, it remains tremendously popular among American fans who can’t get enough of the kuroneko and endlessly ponder Vash’s origins and the fate of Knives. In my opinion, Trigun got by with its strong characterizations but failed on almost every other level. Fans may argue otherwise, but in my opinion, the Trigun anime is humorous, but never genuinely funny. As an action series, it’s never exhilarating or breathtaking or even surprising. And its story is filled with unexplained holes. Fans call this mysterious. I consider it underwritten. The Trigun anime is, admittedly, mildly entertaining because its doesn’t really make any major mis-steps. But it also doesn’t excel at anything in particular, which is why I don’t really comprehend its highly respected status among American fans.

Unlike Dragonball and Naruto and One Piece, which also have extended quest/battle oriented stories, the Inuyasha TV series is particularly repetitive because it has only one primary antagonist. Dragonball can be accused of repeating itself over and over by continually introducing stronger villains to fight, but the Inuyasha TV series simply features 170+ episodes of the same characters battling the same opponent, Naraku. For a series of such length, I fail to see any accompanying development within the characters or their relationships. I’m not one to argue the pleasantry of the familiar, but for me, the Inuyasha anime seemed stale and pointless after 50 episodes. It’s difficult for me to grasp why it remains quite as popular as it is when we’re still basically watching the same characters doing the same things to oppose the same enemy more than a hundred episodes later.

Finally there’s Evangelion. I’d be wrong if I said that Eva wasn’t one of the most brilliant anime series ever created, but many fans seem to put Evangelion on a pedestal by itself rather than view it in relation to other anime. Part of the blame for Evangelion’s incredible hype is Gainax Studios’ own massive commercialization of the series. Releasing the show multiple times, producing every conceivable form of memorabilia, and even sub-licensing the franchise to other companies to produce more merchandise has made Evangelion an unstoppable and inescapable juggernaut. It’s literally the 800 pound gorilla of the anime world. Yet if we examine the show objectively we find a low budget, poorly animated story that rehashes the same “boy pilots father’s robot to save the world” concept that’s been around for decades. Of course, this reductive summary excludes the brilliance of emphasizing psychology over action. And in fact the limited animation, whether by design or accident, or some of both, does serve the show by forcing the viewer to analyze what’s going on. And it makes the well animated action sequences all the more impressive by comparison. At best, Evangelion is a flawed masterpiece. It’s certainly essential viewing for any prospective anime fan, but I don’t think it’s the pinnacle of the creative or expressive ability of anime. I can call Evangelion great without the slightest hesitation. But I think that the show’s following may be a bit too single-minded in its obsessive devotion, considering Eva with a very favorable and selective criticism.

As a concluding note, I’ve half a mind to include Wolf’s Rain in this list because the show does seem fairly well respected in the American anime community. On the other hand, there’s also a significant voice of reason within the American fan community that recognizes Wolf’s Rain as attractive but vacuous anime. I think that, since its American TV broadcast is still so new, it remains to be seen if Wolf’s Rain will connect with mainstream America or whether it will settle into a position of recognition, but not fervid obsession.