What is it about an anime that have us start watching? The art? The studio and involved staff?
My money is on our past experience. That tempts us to watch anime with a storyline we're familiar with. – Abhimanyu Shekhar9 years ago
As stated by Abhimanyu, it can be related to past experience. You can see how many animes are aimed to children or are suitable for children, meaning some people grow up anime fans. – Ryan Errington9 years ago
I think it be interesting to discuss this from a non Japanese point of view. Which I mean to say what causes non Japanese audiences to watch anime? It also be cool to discuss the stigma that comes with anime. – Cagney9 years ago
You would have to mention the narrative of some stories. Anime seems like a more adult version of cartoons and so shows like, Death Note and Attack on Titan, present a narrative for an older audience. Sometimes something that might not be able to be created as a live action show due to budget and effects which cost a considerable bit more then animation would. – Tyler McPherson9 years ago
Anime presents sometimes more complex and darker ideas. They also do not use crude humor and cheap jokes like current American animation. They present complex ideas and search for great storytelling, although sometimes anime can be a bit overdramatic. – Travis Kane9 years ago
I find these topics too generic....why bother writing such a generic piece when we could focus on more specific topics? – Justin Wu9 years ago
I can't remember where I read this but it said something like animation is a truer or more pure medium than live-action. Now, I don't mean to say either is better than the other. The way I see it is that animation is more manipulatable and less restricted than live-action. For example, the director in a live-action film is more often forced to make everything in his film look and seem "real" and by real I mean what's on screen resembles reality to a point where we believe it (ex: dragon has lizard skin and real fire effects or else it won't look real). Animation on the other hand is purely an expression or representation of what ever is in the creator's head and is a lot less if even at all restricted by reality. The viewer also accepts that they're watching an animation and subconsciously knows that what ever is on screen is merely a representation of something. This is why I believe some people prefer anime as a medium rather than live-action. TL;DR We watch anime because animation is a medium that favours expression in a different way than in live-action and is potentially more pure to the idea in a creator's mind – ttbloom9 years ago