When does an anime take things too far?

To the topic on hand.

One great example of this, as I mentioned in another thread.

Was the anime 'Another' and the teachers death...

Not to spoil the moment, if it was even called that to begin with?

But it is WAY Overkill, when it comes to the graphic detail and the context it is given in.

I personally almost downright stopped the series then and there.

It was that horrific to watch.

NOTE: I did finish it in the end, but it is not something I would watch again...

Or say for anyone else to watch it either, for that matter.

Question to you anime people out there is this...

Q. Have you ever been the consumer or viewer of an anime, that took things that bit too far, or otherwise left a bad taste in your mouth afterward?

Honorable Mentions:

Elfen Lied

Wizard Barristers

Mental Note of Mention: Please feel free to discuss matters such as, censorship, content in relation to the appropriate audience and why 'shock value' is still widely relevant in this day and age.

I want this thread to get as much use out of it, as possible basically.

And if this is like the most horrific deaths in an anime thread, I apologise in advance.

I personally thought it was much deeper a debate than that, to go by myself.

As long as it doesn't feel completely out of context, I don't think a show can take something "too far". To give you an example, Hellsing Ultimate established itself as a gore feast from the very beginning; hence it can get away with so many brutal scenes without the viewer being particularly shocked or surprised. Shows like Blood-C or Another might catch you off-guard when you first see one of those "brutal scenes", but you'll get used to them as they gradually increase in number. Overkill might be something like the ending of School Days (which wasn't realistic at all so pls).

Hmmm good point there! It wasn't out of context, but it 'felt' to me, like it was forced upon you and you had no say in it.

Maybe I am just being too serious about violence/gore in film/animation.

To me, you can only/should get away with so much. And not just be allowed to continue doing what you're doing.

Hellsing Ultimate was violent sure. But it was well done violence and as you mentioned. It has already been well established, prior to its conception.

Well 'Another' in my opinion. Was just like..... How do I state it. Played out far too much (Like it's graphic content)

It almost was like, it had never known such a thing as, bad taste, or in poor taste. Which I think it was.

As much as I like Fist of the North Star, I have to admit that the idea of touching a pressure point on the head that causes the brain to explode, and that there's one point you can touch to stop the effect, and another to remove it completely is really kind of dumb. Things that are unbelievable aren't always graphic, and while the death(s) caused by this move were violent and over the top, the concept itself is a lot harder to swallow.

Hmmm good point there! It wasn't out of context, but it 'felt' to me, like it was forced upon you and you had no say in it.

Maybe I am just being too serious about violence/gore in film/animation.

 

To me, you can only/should get away with so much. And not just be allowed to continue doing what you're doing.

Hellsing Ultimate was violent sure. But it was well done violence and as you mentioned. It has already been well established, prior to its conception.

 

Well 'Another' in my opinion. Was just like..... How do I state it. Played out far too much (Like it's graphic content)

It almost was like, it had never known such a thing as, bad taste, or in poor taste. Which I think it was.

Personally, I'd say that sort of thing is something you should expect in horror in general. Trying to be creative/brutal with the deaths is a common horror element, as a way to make a horror series unique. The idea of "only getting away with so much" doesn't really apply, beyond potentially dulling your intended audience, driving them off with stuff they can't handle or being unintentionally hilarious. An example for me would the corpse party games where I eventually stopped caring about the deaths.

I'd say the previously mentioned School days is a better example of going too far, in that it's ending does not fit the genre. Admittedly though, I'm one of those who hates school days, so personally found it cathartic. But it still really does not suit the series and thus I can see how it can be considered to be going too far.

Personally, I'd say that sort of thing is something you should expect in horror in general. Trying to be creative/brutal with the deaths is a common horror element, as a way to make a horror series unique. The idea of "only getting away with so much" doesn't really apply, beyond potentially dulling your intended audience, driving them off with stuff they can't handle or being unintentionally hilarious. An example for me would the corpse party games where I eventually stopped caring about the deaths.

 

I'd say the previously mentioned School days is a better example of going too far, in that it's ending does not fit the genre. Admittedly though, I'm one of those who hates school days, so personally found it cathartic. But it still really does not suit the series and thus I can see how it can be considered to be going too far.

A lot of people didn't like school days. Was it 'that' bad?

And I see what you mean. I am also easily scared by violence, so there is that too to consider lol

Basically frighteningly squeamish. Not the best stomach, when it comes to brutality.

A lot of people didn't like school days. Was it 'that' bad?

And I see what you mean. I am also easily scared by violence, so there is that too to consider lol

Basically frighteningly squeamish. Not the best stomach, when it comes to brutality.

It's a harem anime that gets called a deconstruction by some based on how it shows the whole guy with a harem character as a massive ass, along with a bunch of the other characters, and how everything collapses on him from the effects of his assholishness and cheating ways, as you'd expect it to. Personally, I just think it's shit that happens to show the problems of the harem genre simply by doing it in a shit way that inadvertently shows those problems. It simply failed at the stuff needed for people to normally overlook the shit.

There's also the ending, which was one ending of the visual novel picked at random by the anime creators. It involves the main character being killed by one of his harem and his head later being cut off by another harem member, who was mentally broken by how much she was treated like shit. Harem member one dies and harem member two ends up on a boat, clutching the main character's head.

I feel like in general anime should take things farther than they do. One of the things I like about anime is how it can go beyond what live action can do in storytelling and physical limitations

I feel like in general anime should take things farther than they do. One of the things I like about anime is how it can go beyond what live action can do in storytelling and physical limitations

I agree. The format of anime, combined with differing norms in regard to animation, allows anime to try to do things in regards to story and what's shown to viewers that you rarely, if ever, find in competing media. It's one reason why I like anime.

To the topic on hand.

 

One great example of this, as I mentioned in another thread.

Was the anime 'Another' and the teachers death...

 

Not to spoil the moment, if it was even called that to begin with?

But it is WAY Overkill, when it comes to the graphic detail and the context it is given in.

 

I personally almost downright stopped the series then and there.

It was that horrific to watch.

 

NOTE: I did finish it in the end, but it is not something I would watch again...

Or say for anyone else to watch it either, for that matter.

 

Question to you anime people out there is this...

 

Q. Have you ever been the consumer or viewer of an anime, that took things that bit too far, or otherwise left a bad taste in your mouth afterward?

Honorable Mentions:

Elfen Lied

Wizard Barristers

 

Mental Note of Mention: Please feel free to discuss matters such as, censorship, content in relation to the appropriate audience and why 'shock value' is still widely relevant in this day and age.

 

I want this thread to get as much use out of it, as possible basically.

And if this is like the most horrific deaths in an anime thread, I apologise in advance.

I personally thought it was much deeper a debate than that, to go by myself.

I have seen an anime where I got to a point and seen something that I disagreed with so much I stop watching right there.... Garo: the animation

When they keep running out of story ideas so instead of ending it, they drag it out, milk that cashcow and end up ruining it.

Examples: DBZ, Naruto, Bleach, Pokemon, Digimon, I could go on---

Also bringing back people that died, over and over. Like... come on.

In terms of content, I never found violence to be something I can't handle. In fact if things go too far, it enters guilty pleasure/dark comedy realm for me. What bothers me is ecchi. I dislike it in any form. I can deal with a few shots sprinkled here and there, but, shots being constantly shoved up my face doesn't bode well for me. Of course, part of the fault lies on me too, I should know what I'm getting into(something I didn't do when I watched Nisekoi). This comes under ecchi category to: Lolicons. They creep me out. I don't have anything against those who like it, but, I'd rather stay away from it.

In terms of story telling, it's about knowing when to stop. Naruto: Shippuuden is one of my favourite anime, and I'd defend it for all eternity, but, even I admit that the last couple of arcs dragged unnecessarily. Especially, the introduction of a new character(readers would know) towards the end, pretty much ruined the series for me. Log Horizon season 2 suffered from endless expository dialogues. Plot points and aspects of the game were narrated to us left and right, and throw away characters were given importance for some reason. It become unwatchable over the last few episodes(very disappointing considering that I really liked the first season).