10/12/08 - 5 most inconsistent anime

[valondar]

We're just dealing with different stretches of time, vivafruit. By your standard, something must be good for a given stretch of time (an episode or episodes) and then be bad for an equivalent stretch. I don't think that applies, at least, not for that length. And I don't think a narrower space of time is the equivalent to lumping them together.

Take, for an example, NieA_7, another series I considered to be inconsistent. There are whole chunks of this series which are good. Even at least one full episode. And they're very good, the kind of melancholic slice-of-life material ABe would later do in Haibane Renmei. But there are also whole stretches - particularly in the early episodes - that are either painful or tedious to watch. Essentially any scene involving the 'Indian' alien or the alien meetings, for example - in short, most of the comedy. The series has very bad moments and very good moments, but they are seperate and distinct - and thus the feeling of inconsistency was left with me very strongly when I finished it.

The same applies to Elfen Lied. It's true its elements do run together at times - especially later on, where it pumps the melodrama for buckets of blood - but there were scenes in that show which I enjoyed a lot and other scenes I found tedious viewing.

Yes, that would mean some violent scenes were dull. Mariko declaring the woman who had spoken to her was not her mother and then proceeding to violently disembowel her was a scream, her subsequent death in her real father's arms had me rolling my eyes.

[purplemo]

Originally Posted by FalseDawn

If H2O isn't on the final list, I'm going to eat my computer.

This isn't a thread for overall bad anime. ;p

I'll take this as flashes of greatness (or at least goodness) mixed in bad, rather than bad endings or beginnings or such as some seem to be.

Let's see if any of these get more than my vote. ;p

Weiss Kreuz
ROD TV
Kenran Butoh Sai
Licensed by Royal
Himikoden

[vivafruit]

Vivi:

Originally Posted by VivisQueen

Re: Ingrey - he hasn't been around in yonks, and I wouldn't bother depending on him coming back.

Sadface.

Shinji wasn't a consistently awful character - there were times when he was actually characterized well. In particular I remember the scenes of him staring at the ceiling, walkman in hand, listening to the same song over and over. This worked well to introduce him as an anti-hero, and also triggered empathy in the viewers (who have probably done that thing at some point in their lives). The fetal-position-waaaah-I'm-so-worthless segments were less endearing. So basically I liked Shinji too much to want to punch him in the face all the time, but in parts his characterization was annoying enough to actually impede the narrative.

...and I haven't yet seen (won't ever see?) Code Geass s2, but yes, it seems like a pretty good nominee. :P

Valondar:

Interesting, I can see what you are saying. Going back to the running analogy, basically you are asserting that if there are parts of a runner that make him a good runner (strong muscles, rigorous training) and parts of him that make him a bad runner (didn't sleep well, too much sugar in diet), then he is inconsistent even if he runs at a constant speed for an entire race. On the other hand, I only care about the bottom line (speed, or in the case of anime, enjoyment), and compare my overall enjoyment for different discrete time intervals.

At this stage I can't really say you're wrong because I think both approaches make sense. It's really a potayto potahto issue.

[valondar]

Originally Posted by vivafruit

At this stage I can't really say you're wrong because I think both approaches make sense. It's really a potayto potahto issue.

Basically.

My two cents on Evangelion: I liked Shinji pretty much all of the time. He reminded me a lot of myself at that age, including his least likeable traits such as total self-absorption. I could see why people would hold him in contempt but he was too much of a mirror for me to do likewise. That said, I liked Asuka more.

[Rhesian]

Shadow Star Narutaru (OP and 1st episode cute, 2nd episode onward HOLY #*&*)
Hellsing - TV series (following manga great, not following manga crap)
R.O.D. - TV (agree with Volandar)
Red Garden (the singing in the first few episodes vs no singing afterwards thankfully)
Higurashi (fantastic horror in season 1, much tamer in season 2)

[foureyedalice]

all this hullabaloo is over the following: differences of opinion in what qualifies as "inconsistent" in tv entertainment, storytelling, etc as per variant personal tastes. There's no need, and no point, to discuss this veiled anything else.
my list:
Naruto
Kekkaishi
Chrno Crusade
Mai-Hime
Speed Grapher

[sevencreature]

1) NGE - great beginning and end, utterly stupid school comedy in the middle (those eps are just pathetic) - I am not talking about characters etc., of course. Inconsistent is my prefered tag for NGE.

2) Pumpkin Scissors - mix of nice drama, stupid comedy and some terrible clichés

3) R.O.D. TV - last episodes are nice example of "WTF"

4) Full Metal Panic - its stupidity is similar to middle part of NGE, yet another mix of nice drama and WTF comedy - half horse and half...

- - - - -

I am posting just anime I consider good (or at least with potential to be good - FMP).

Regarding Code Geass 2 - I would say the word is "condensed" not "inconsistent" :-D

[sloggerK]

code geass r2 for sure
mnemosyne (in terms of plot shifting from interesting to crap. Still like the show, just the last 1 or 2 eps really went off on their own a lot weaker than the rest of the series)
Scrapped Princess
El Cazador de la Bruja (Honestly I like all 3 of the Bee Train gwg trilogy, anyway, and as much as I like them, the other 2 can be a bit inconsistent, too )
Blood+ (This show went all over the place.)

PS: I just noticed someone listed darker than black... that's another one to add to the list. Same with red garden that someone mentioned.

[qwertyuiopz]

naruto has so much useless fillers

[Cetonis]

***Voting Closed***

This week's top 5:

R.O.D. TV
Elfen Lied
Full Metal Panic!
H2O - Footprints in the Sand
Mai-Hime

Thanks for voting!