What makes a cartoon/anime good/bad? (read thread rules before posting)

General Discussion
1

Rules:

  1. Don’t reply with a video without backing it up. That’s what video subforum is for.
  2. Don’t just say so and so is the best cartoon without saying why.
  3. When replying, remove videos from quotes.
  4. If adding more than one video, put it in spoiler tags.
  5. Don’t link full episodes.

So we all nostalgia hard at SRK about how cartoons were good back in the day and how their quality is inferior today. So I have a question for SRK, what makes a cartoon good? When you answer, post a clip to show what you mean.

This thread is off the top of my head so there’s a lot I’m forgetting or missing but I plan to maintain it and update the first post. I know we had similar threads but topic starter never maintained first post so we didn’t get anywhere. I will update the following with examples later also.

I’ll start off with a couple of things.

  1. Appropriate good music. Nothing kills an epic battle like some stupid song.
  2. Multiple view perspectives. Show events from character’s point of view, birds eye view, multiple angles, etc, but don’t overdo it. Also, don’t be lazy on surroundings. Attention to detail.
  3. Good voice actors. Nothing kills an anime with a real boss like a child who doesn’t give a f doing the voice acting. A reason why dubs are usually inferior to originals.
    Example of the above three:
    [media=youtube]pREOMmhHyU8[/media]
  4. A good story with some consistency.
  5. Strategy to overcome obstacles. Like what Naruto and Sasuke did against Zabuza.
  6. Establish goals and characters.
  7. Something funny. Even if it’s small like Goku telling Shenron he’ll beat him in seconds and then tripping on ice or Natsu from Fairy Tail being Natsu. Even small gems in Gintama like this:
Spoiler

[media=youtube]44GMNKbOqpk[/media]

There was another gem at the end of the episode when in the middle of the night Hijikata woke up, went to the bathroom, turned on the light, Kondo was still stuck, Hijikata just turned the light off and walked back out. Pulled a grandpa Simpson:

Spoiler

[media=youtube]b6fNroLb7ew[/media]

  1. Maintain character development and balance. If you’re going to spike a character above all others, introduce risk or make it temporary. Rock Lee from Naruto severe damage after opening gates, Vegeta from DBZ sacrificing himself Final Explosion against Buu to protect everyone, Ichigo from Bleach losing his powers after Final Getsuga.
  2. Untold story. Like making us keep watching Bleach to find out all of the Captains’ bankai. Though if progress is too slow, people may lose interest in the anime and not care by the time it’s actually revealed.

Will revise the above and add more later.

Nostalgia warning before you proceed:
For those that didn’t bother to read any of the above, watch these (order doesn’t matter or imply any rank):

Spoiler

megaman
[media=youtube]akJygsSXcjw[/media]

digimon
[media=youtube]gDvRV8KGphk[/media]

sonic the hedgehog (sam)
[media=youtube]HZ2RdImvSwg[/media]

zatch bell
[media=youtube]OzzHxoO72SM[/media]

gintama
http://tu.tv/videos/donten-gintama-opening-5

captain planet
[media=youtube]Vo0D6bzxLLw[/media]

yu yu hakusho

Spoiler

[media=youtube]j4mvVS1TGSk[/media]

fairy tail
[media=youtube]GJEKvCjMYz8[/media]

pokemon
[media=youtube]AUoEKwimBZw[/media]

s-cry-ed (was on cartoon network)
[media=youtube]ciOpKslFsPE[/media]

outlaw star (toonami)

Spoiler

[media=youtube]R0N3L-pcGdc[/media]

batman tas
[media=youtube]lEx9r5enZsk[/media]

batman beyond
[media=youtube]FlobFExM-UM[/media]

x-men tas

Spoiler

[media=youtube]7IzSGvXc_PM[/media]

spiderman tas
[media=youtube]3kBAh8nPQdk[/media]

yugioh
[media=youtube]byhBYJ3gf3s[/media]

swat cats
[media=youtube]ty7GT2vgM1A[/media]

teenage mutant ninja turtles

Spoiler

[media=youtube]Gn5iCn_T68c[/media]

soul eater (was on funimation channel)
[media=youtube]VEQUpewirFM[/media]

dragon ball z

Spoiler

[media=youtube]XdFy2lWc3lo[/media]

one piece (cartoon network)
[media=youtube]VSLFFV8KU74[/media]

bleach (cartoon network)
[media=youtube]jd0Vl9wNKj0[/media]

power rangers

Spoiler

[media=youtube]q0YkXmebAGM[/media]

naruto (cartoon network)
[media=youtube]4knyLQjYcn0[/media]

Spoiler

[media=youtube]cIeW67nmlR8[/media]

2

If you added the G.I. Joe intro and Transformers intro to that first page, that spoiler tag would be one step closer to being complete.

Nostalgia though is a big factor for a lot of the old cartoons that I used to watch though. I recently re-watched some old episodes of Gargoyles (a great show,) and I noticed some things that bothered me that I didn’t notice as a kid. I’ll try to find a video of the episode or something. It was nothing that broke my Nostalgia Goggles for the show, but it did make me wonder how I sat down and never questioned the episode before.

3

Which episode, I watched that on channel 11 WB. Can you describe what happened? I left a ton of stuff out, I know. Making a full list would take too long.

4

I used to watch it when Disney aired the first two seasons. Believe it or not, Disney actually had a lot of good cartoons back then too. They were my Toonami until Toonami came around. (That might be nostalgia talking though.)

And it was episode 8 of season one, Deadly Force.

Again, it was nothing major. But when the doctor describes the wound at 11:20, it sounds like a magic bullet. (It might be possible though, I’m no ballistics expert.)

5

First and foremost, Soul Eater wasn’t on Cartoon Network

I one thing I hate is when people say they dislike a show because a character didn’t act the way they would in a certain situation. i.e. one of my friends doesn’t like Deadman Wonderland because he thinks he can best Ganta by killing everyone in the prison. Like seriously, are you an over-grown 12 year old? No meatheaded mother fucker would last a day in a maximum security prison.

6

What makes a cartoon good is a powerful message and character development.
What makes a cartoon bad is a lack of the former.

7

That kind of stuff happens very often. Also, please don’t link full episodes because of copy right issues. You can just say season one episode 8 and the approximate time or just link a small clip.

Actually, it might have been the FUNIMATION channel since I have a number of channels. This reminded me of another anime, Claymore:
[media=youtube]ffIu5LnLdvo[/media]

8

Okay, I took the link out.

And I know, I was just surprised that Gargoyles had its moments too I guess. Unlike some other shows. I remember thinking Power Rangers and other things were campy even as a little kid.

I’ll be back with some examples of what makes a good or bad cartoon, in my own opinion of course.

9

Best troll thread I have seen in a long while.

:clapdos:

I give it half a page to turn into a sub versus dub debate and for someone to say that that Index anime sucks ass.(Edit: and fairy tale.) Also awaiting Kromo post.

10

Having a unique and interesting story
How the writers get you to become emotionally attached to characters
Strong conflict and resolution
Not ending in a way that makes the viewers want to never watch anime again

That said, Gantz was pretty good except for the last point I made…

11

Fairy Tail… is fucking horrible.
I’ll list why is is so fucking bad.

  1. Uninteresting characters. So the main group is anime sterotype characters #12, #23, #2, and #1. They don’t really do anything to make me care about them as much as hate them. For example, one piece would make me laugh, their characters interactions with themselves and the world around them was funny, therefore as a result I began to care more about them. If Zoro were to suddenly be like, killed, that’d change the show for me **dramatically. **However in fairy tail, everytime they try to make a joke it is often overdone and forced. Like they reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaally wanna squeeze a laugh out of their veiwers. They never do it for me, so i could never find any likability about them. So if gray, erza, lucy, hell, even Natsu dies, i wouldn’t give a fuck. I think they should have at least replaced them with new characters after the timeskip. Macaos son would have been much more interesting to watch.

  2. Lame villains. I know one piece and DBZ has some lame ass villains but holy shit does fairy tail it to a new level Its not even villains looking goofy, but they are generic as fuck. Lets take their first villain Gerard (not fucking jellal, japan can’t pronounce shit), he starts out like just about every other lame villain in media in general, shitty childhood, hates the world, wants to destroy it, yea yea. getting possesed by an evil power (lolreally) to influence him. The way natsu beats him is even more bullshit, random powerup from eating fucking magical DIAMOND? Orocien sies arc is even dumber. They add an annoying ass loli, and then the villains are all like something out of a 12 year olds fantasy. “omg he can control things, and he has i good side that is black, and a dark side that is white” because they were trying to resurrect Gerard for some dumb shit i dunno. And natsu beats him, becuase gerard conveniently had the ultimate powerup, yea ok.

  3. Inconsistent strength. How many fucking times is natsu gonna beat someone becuase of some bullshit powerup? How long are the writers make people clearly stronger than him unable to defeat the main villain so they leave it to natsu? how long after this will natsu, by the same people who were helpless to fight the main villain, rape him in one hit? how long is natsu gonna do the same shit over and over until the writers decide that it should work now? how long is natsu not gonna train at all yet somehow always end up on top, despite already being proven much much much weaker than the s class wizards who can’t even beat the main villain?!

  4. Music. Stop playing the same fucking song a slightly different way and get a fucking soundtrack.

5.The guilds themselves. When will they matter? Why do they affect like nothing at all other than doing oddjobs…that can be done by anyone that sees the job offer anyway? Its my biggest issue with the show, other than everything else. Its like they said the name guild to pull people in, and then not make them matter ever. Will a guild try and get some political influence? Will a guild go hunting for some rare metal or magic or some shit? Will they do anything outside of… what the fuck do they do?? Hell, even the mages themselves might as well not even be mages. Basically unlimited magic, so no handicaps whatsoever. The Ninjas on naruto are more like mages then the mages in fairy tail.

This show is absolute shit. Why does anyone watch it? I went in with an open mind, I gave it an honest chance, cause fuck Dragonball and One piece sure didn’t have pretty beginnings, but fuck this shit got WORSE with each arc. Save for the edolas arc, which for the most part, actually made sense. The only other good thing about this show is that I get to look at shanks here more often than i do in one piece.

-4/10 This show is fucking Horrible

12

It sucked because it combined shounen archetypes and plot structure with josei overtones. If it weren’t for all the fanservice and the fact that Catholics were antagonists, the show wouldn’t have been popular.

13

'Scuse me while I whip this out.

14

Bleach- Use to be really good in the beginning the plot and the characters were awesome (kenpachi gin byakuya) but the show started to get really stupid right after the soul society arc,Ichigo bleeds gallons and gallons of blood but doesn’t die.he also got killed 4 times and somehow manages to comeback.in the start of the show it seems to hype chad,4 eyes,orihime but soon they became cannon fodder characters,same thing happened with the espadas they show really emphasized on how strong The ranking for the arrancars are. like ichigo couldnt beat Uliquiorra in his regular form while he had the hollow mask and bankai but some he pulls out some new power from out his ass and completely rapes him.same thing happen to arrancar #2 and 1 they died in like 1 or 2 Freaking chapters wtf And whats worse is how Aizan the Main enemy loses in like 2 chapters Bleach just died to me when i saw that.Anyway sorry for the stupid rant :confused:

15

Good - subjective
Bad - Plot armor

16

Ass, titties, ass 'n titties.
Ass ass titties titties, ass 'n titties.

Hmmm, but on the real lol… Drawings are one thing but the plot better be good. Good pacing, no loopholes and a ending that is doable. It can be a sad/bad ending but it better be done right, or it could be a ending. Don’t get me wrong, good endings can still be axed and be god awful too though. Has to keep you entertained and make you crave for more. GOOD VOICE ACTORS… I watch all genre’s so I don’t really have a particular favorite but I do like some jealousy and drama from time to time. Yandere bitches is always fun. Kekeke.

Some of my favorite anime’s at the top of my head are probably:
Baccano http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=7492
Durarara http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=10947
(I suggest watching Baccano first and then Durarara.)

Darker than Black http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=7382
Full Metal Panic http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=844
The Guyver http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=675

There’s a ton of other anime but I’m just going to stop there. I’ve seen hundreds and read hundreds of shit so there’s too much to name at the top but I could probably go on for days. I’ll probably come back and see whats up though.

17

The same thing that makes anything else good. Good writing and good use to budget.

18

A lot of anime is adopted from light novels, visual novels, manga, etc. So chances are, if the thing got an adaption, the existing material is “decent” enough. Now, I know budget can be an issue. And sometimes, you are better going off with an original ending or don’t have anymore source material to work with. But why the fuck do these writers think they can do better than the author seven out of ten times? Then you have the filler content that tries to weasel in with the actual story. This thread has good examples of taking passable and making it into not-so-passable (Index, Claymore, FMP, big three) Not gonna say x is good or bad because my standards are pretty damn low though.

Oh, but Gantz went to shit. I mean really, what. da. fuck?

When it comes to cartoons, all I ask is that they try to mix in humor for all age groups. Or at least try not to be an anime if they’re going for a serious show (I mean as much as I liked Teen Titans…)

[details=Spoiler]
Good:
[media=youtube]xnGnl-UElVA[/media]
Something for everyone (except women, I guess. Sorry.)
(Beyond) Bad:
[media=youtube]trABtpBnv_Y[/media]
Probably funny to a 16 year girl. Maybe?

Good:
[media=youtube]DLovo-i6UGc[/media]
I have nothing bad to say about this show.
Bad:
[media=youtube]78jeea5Kxi4[/media]
Too much on the faces.[/details]

19

I agree that for a cartoon, having humor for all age groups is always a plus. It gives a cartoon lasting appeal.

I really think that music is part of what makes a cartoon good too. I’ll always remember some cartoons because of their music. And not just the catchy intro music either. Batman the Animated Series was a good example of this.

[media=youtube]8RvEMc45NEY[/media]

Just listen to the effort that was put into writing and performing this piece. This is part of what makes a cartoon good.

20

I also wanna say that I think visual appeal is really important. I think Adventure Time is a really really ugly show. I don’t care how well it’s written, it’s visually unappealing to me on every level so i have no interest in it.