Top 10 Reasons You Don't Understand Anime
There are a myriad of reasons why lots of manga are hard to grip by people who have an "anchor to reality", just like there are people who can’t grasp Philip Glass’s music, or an abstract painting. But for some reason people often scream and shout about Anime being completely mind-bleedingly incomprehensible, and to an Anime geek (or an "Otaku", if you fancy that term) it's almost strange wondering why people can’t understand
This list is targeted for a specific sort of anime/manga, and is not supposed to be a blanket statement for all manga. This is specifically for "Shonen" manga and anime.
If you get confused by Naruto, Bleach, Dragon Ball Z and other action anime you might find a few a reasons why that is—however, if you're looking for how to understand FLCL, Yakitake Japan, and Super Milk Chan… well I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until I describe why Japanese humour is so great.
If all of these words are basically Japanese to you, it's because they are.
Wikipedia for "Shonen" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ShÅnen
This list is targeted for a specific sort of anime/manga, and is not supposed to be a blanket statement for all manga. This is specifically for "Shonen" manga and anime.
If you get confused by Naruto, Bleach, Dragon Ball Z and other action anime you might find a few a reasons why that is—however, if you're looking for how to understand FLCL, Yakitake Japan, and Super Milk Chan… well I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until I describe why Japanese humour is so great.
If all of these words are basically Japanese to you, it's because they are.
Wikipedia for "Shonen" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ShÅnen
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Fictional Universes/Works
Modified: 2009-10-27 12:29:24.0
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PhysicsNow I assume most people know that physics are heavily exaggerated in pretty much any action media known to the human race. I mean how fun would a Jackie Chan film be if they took away all the Wires? How fun would The Flash be if we mentioned that the human body couldn’t exist at such speeds? But Action anime shows don’t just alter Physics, they completely chuck it out the window. The forces of nature work completely different from show to show, and many times different on the same character from one episode to the next.
Author Characters Locations userRating 100 -
Time“oh crap I’ve only got three minutes to beat this guy or I will die!” And after they explain the plan nine minutes have gone by, and we're like “wtf?” Well, time in Anime is a lot like physics in that it doesn’t have a continued basis. We like to assume that a minute is a minute. Or at least close to our own time scheme. In American action movies they might stretch five minutes to fifteen minutes, but in say Naruto three minutes can last three episodes.
Author Characters Locations userRating 100 -
ScienceIf you think you know a lot about everything, one of your favourite things to do is, derail pretty much everything you can to prove your awesome knowledge of science. Don’t do this in Anime. If you know a lot about science, ignore it or you will be so confused you might suffer a brain explosion. Don’t worry how cyborg can be powered by Cola, or how a person can grow nineteen sizes larger and not collapse due to the obvious frailties of the human skeleton.
Author Characters Locations userRating 100 -
MusclesJust because they aren’t drawn like batman doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Strangely it is often believed that Anime character’s have muscles in their very bones, so that’s why twig thin anime protagonists somehow seem to as strong as Olympic level body builders. So its best not to wonder how wimpy 98 pound pretty-boy is able to lift a building, or you might start to question your own masculinity and that’s no good for anyone (especially not the gay population).
Author Characters Locations userRating 100 -
DamageIf you are anything like me, you instantly think about how much you could take when you watch an action movie, but in anime it really doesn’t work that way. You can’t assume that the characters in anime are even human, or work with the same sort of bodies or bone structures we have. In something like one Piece is sorts of understandable when you got a rubber guy going around, but when you see a human person in the same series take a bomb explosion at point blank range and live to tell the tale… well you can’t really compare him to what you know in reality. So just don’t.
Author Characters Locations userRating 100 -
Culture ShockManga and Anime is an obviously a Japanese thing, and since most of us aren’t Japanese many of the customs and ways of life are much different than what we are use to. We often can’t quite figure out certain social habits, and question certain vices they have. This in turn can limit our enjoyment, and some of them make us uncomfortable. However its important to keep an open mind, and who knows you might learn something.
Author Characters Locations userRating 100 -
Language BarrrierIn case you weren’t aware language doesn’t usually translate to exacts. So there are many times that there is a pun, or some cases a huge plot moment that can not be translated properly into English. For the Otakus this is a golden crowning moment in their obsession with Japanese culture, feeling there is a reason to live in their parents basement pleasuring themselves to Ani-manga volumes of Inyuyasha. For the rest of it… well we usually have no idea whats going on and we hope it’ll come out in context clues.
Author Characters Locations userRating 100 -
Inside JokesUnlike American Super hero comics, many times there’s a bit of humour in action manga. This humour can often be an inside joke for those who are well rounded in other Manga, or the artists previous work. Of course unfortunately for those of us who are well rounded in Manga, these jokes still aren’t funny – and just tend to alienate audiences much in the way Saturday Night Live has since the 90’s.
Author Characters Locations userRating 100 -
MonologuesIn American comics we have long been guilty of Super villains like Doctor Doom delivering some plan that takes up three panels, or a morale speech by Captain America as he’s on his death. However Anime characters can deliver such long winded speeches as they are getting ready to lay the smack down on some enemy it makes Alan Moore’s text boxes in the Swamp Thing read like the ingredient list of a bag of Lightly Salted Crisps. More often than not when hit with blocks of text this massive we usually just read right over it, or in anime we sort of forget were supposed to be listening.
Author Characters Locations userRating 100 -
A billion episodeswhen we look at animes like Narutu, One Piece, Bleach, D. Gray Man, etc we know that there are hundreds of episodes. And like in Super hero comics they constantly will reference history that occurred a few years back. And like Super hero comics we have no idea what they are talking about, and even with a small flash back we still are confused, without going to a Wiki and who has time for that? They should tell us there will be a quiz later on in the series so we can remember what the hell went on then… and how the hell it relates to now. The irony is in anime they rarely do relate to know so we mainly get a migraine trying to remember a 30 episode fight ten years ago.
Author Characters Locations userRating 100
 it\'s almost strange wondering why people can’t understand <br/><br/><br/><br/>This list is targeted for a specific sort of anime/manga, and is not supposed to be a blanket statement for all manga. This is specifically for \'Shonen\' manga and anime. <br/><br/>If you get confused by Naruto, Bleach, Dragon Ball Z and other action anime you might find a few a reasons why that is—however, if you\'re looking for how to understand FLCL, Yakitake Japan, and Super Milk Chan… well I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until I describe why Japanese humour is so great.<br/><br/>If all of these words are basically Japanese to you, it\'s because they are. <br/><br/>Wikipedia for \'Shonen\' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ShÅnen', false, []);)
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