ceekim

I’m glad that you mentioned the pros and cons of many popular shows. I have a soft spot for shows like FMAB, OHSHC, Pokemon, Naruto, etc., but there are definite flaws in the shows, especially since it’s been many years since I’ve watched any of these shows beginning to end. Especially regarding shows like Cowboy Bebop and, even though it wasn’t specifically mentioned, Pokemon, people in their mid-20s have incredibly fond memories of these shows. I watched Cowboy Bebop but was not told to manage my expectations, so I found something a bit lacking when I did watch it. I’ve been a fan of Pokemon for almost as long as I can remember, but when it comes to the anime, the 4Kids dub especially, there are SO many things that probably aren’t going to be people’s cup of tea. Even so, I agree with many of your choices for gateway anime that I would recommend to anyone with a genuine desire to give anime a shot.

Honestly, I feel like there is no real answer for this question. I think it largely comes down to a matter of what you prefer or not. I’m not the biggest fan of blood and gore in anything let alone anime. I tried watching Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress but was turned off by what felt like, to me, an excessive amount of blood going SPLOOOOOOOOSH. However, my aversion is just that I’m not a huge fan of massive blood spurts in general. For the genre and for the plot of Kabaneri, it did make logical sense that there would be quite a fair amount of blood and gore overall. For this same reason, I didn’t have much of a problem with Psycho-Pass since characters exploding into bloody, pulpy messes is part of the psychological aspect of the show. It serves a purpose. To contrast that, we can look at Prince of Tennis. While this is one of my favorite shows from my childhood, I can definitely see its flaws now that I’m not 12 years old anymore. Yes, it’s about tennis, but it also can get randomly violent at times. It’s those kinds of instances that strained my suspension of disbelief. Shonen sports anime have a tendency to be OTT, but when it went as far as characters being hit so hard by a tennis ball that they dented the chain-link fence whilst being covered in blood, I felt the violence then didn’t serve a purpose and wasn’t necessary in the least.

I think this is an interesting take on Eren’s character and what his anger means for the show. His desire for revenge stems from him just being a very angry kid in general. Even before his mother’s death and the fall of Wall Maria, he killed a man because his friend’s parents were murdered. Wanting to take revenge in and of itself comes from a place of anger. It’s logical that Eren’s anger would spur him to take action against the Titans vow to “kill them all.” I only watched season 1 of AoT and was pretty turned off by Eren’s attitude. It almost seemed as though Eren’s only defining character trait was that he was angry and wanted revenge as a result. Thanks to the internet and spoilers abound, I am aware that Eren becomes a much more grounded person in future chapters of the manga. Having this idea in the back of my mind that Eren’s motivating force (at least in the beginning) is anger, it may give me more empathy towards Eren as a character.