In my opinion, in the last 6-8 years, Anime has become an order of magnitude more watchable for both myself and those ‘without the gift’ of tolerance for the love of animation.

As far as themes that are uncomfortable, incest and pseudo-pedophilia are really the only ones that I still sigh and roll my eyes at. Not quite for loli as a concept, but the three are often not far from each other, so the association is there.

I am an evangelist for the things I enjoy, anime viewing included. I think to myself that the best way to enjoy something you love even more is to share it with someone else who may come to like it as well. On these terms I also judge anime aside from my own preferences, as I make it a point to mentally record viewing preferences of those I’m (personally) close to. I expect many of you might feel this way, too.

Explicit fanservice and objectification is a typical disqualification for shared viewing, as it would not reflect my entertainment choices in a positive light to share shows depicting scantily clad minors forced into compromising situations commonly enough to be a trope; even if I reluctantly suggest the play on innocence is the main objective of such a show. As such, essentially all rom-com and harem shows of late are out for being so prominently hostile to my western sensibilities.

Oddly (but perhaps not strangely) enough, I also penalize works that tactlessly use animation and manga techniques sloppily: namely stark proportion/chibi changes and simplified shading for dramatic/comical effect.

An example is in order: FMA:B and FLCL. Both of these series display characters lashing out in over exaggerated caricatures in response to somewhat predictable stimuli. Why does one make me sick to my stomach (FMA:B), and the other doesn’t faze me? I believe it is due to how well each (example) services its respective work. In FMA, I could count on one elbow how many of Ed’s outbursts brought even a smirk to my face or made me think “This sure makes me enjoy this show more”. The rest of the show is completely divorced from them and they only serve to ham-fist in comedic relief in such sporadic and jarring transitions that they are doomed to failure. All of the strong narrative, the themes of hope, struggle, repentance, the tone, and the generally great animation juxtaposition next to that, and it creates an unevenness that does not serve the story, much less make it more watchable. In short, almost all of the simplified animation techniques used in FMA serve to at best destroy the watcher’s immersion, and at worst reflect poorly on anime as a whole. I still think it’s a modern classic; I just couldn’t recommend it to an acquaintance knowing that they might be turned off by that aspect even ½ as much as I was.

FLCL, in my opinion, does this sort of thing right by matching the ebb and flow of the episodes to a perfect tempo of rise and climax. That, coupled with the generally less heavy-handed dialogue and scenarios makes FLCL feel more like a cartoon in the sense that it invites viewers to pick out what they like from the madness on display, instead of baiting and switching them with jarring exposition, or at least doing it often enough that a detractor could abandon all hope of enjoying it within ½ of an episode. Don’t get me wrong; there aren’t enough controlled substances in this hemisphere to make me think recommending this to an uninitiated out of the blue would be a good idea, but I would not be as embarrassed to watch it with someone willing to try it as I would the above. I would just forewarn that it is ‘pretty zany’.

In short; I know animation can be fantastical; it’s been done, and done well. Please show me how your story, character, or setting… your ideas, really can be amazing and enhanced with the techniques of animation… not that you think I won’t laugh at your straight man jokes if they are delivered by something resembling a human being (or whatever is telling jokes nowadays).

Off of the soapbox…

That was the major one. Other general annoyances include:

Talking animals – I believe I could enjoy this when I was young, and Kyuubi was unnerving in Madoka, but as a trope (sidekick) it just feels tired.

The entire “Dude paired with a combat loli” genre (that’s a genre, right?): After the original GSG, this trope became steadily less interesting as no authors were willing to introduce new story elements aside from the idea that being a battle loli is tough and unfair and kinda sad… boo hoo… They might as well format them like a buddy cop movie, as I always felt that fun, upbeat stories suit the perky lolis more.

Emo characters. This is a tough one, because it can be done right or it can be done so so so wrong, and I struggle to differentiate why! I think, though, that it is actually the level of moping that separates, in my eyes, the tolerable troubled from the helplessly hedonistic. Works with an ‘emotionally scarred’ lead get extra scrutiny from me during its opening scenes as I determine (guess, really) if I feel I’ll be able to engage with a show or movie based around this (its) depiction of unhappiness.