Visual Distraction

H

Holliee

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First time I have ever started a thread, lets see how this goes.

With much poking and prodding from a friend I was talked(forced ) into watching Air TV again in hopes that this time I would finally "See the light" in terms of enjoying it as much as she. But the same problem cropped up once again.....I don't like the character design. Those little girls eye's are just too distracting to me, I mean they are like stain-glass church windows, they look so goofy to me I can't get past it. I know eye's are large in anime but even I have my limits.

Now, I'm not looking to start a thread in order to bash the look of Key Visual works. I'm curious to see if there are character designs and art styles that any of YOU find distracting or annoying as well.
 
I generally have a problem with the really exageratted hyper angular bishonen pretty young boy design aesthetic, especially older series that feature it. If a story is good enough or if the designs aren't so bad that every guy looks like a chiseled arrowhead than I can get past it but I think it was reason I could never get too far into Sailor Moon when I was younger and watching most everything else I could watch.

I also find it funny that while the same design aesthetic that is meant to make the males pretty, often makes the females unattractive. Take Mirage of Blaze for instance (please take it- you can have it). Yes it's a show that is more shonen-ai than bishonen and the guys are the real focus but do the women all have to look so horribly unappealing? The guys have pretty doll faces and the girls look like harsh looking men.
 
I'm might get it for this.

One Piece

I do not like the designs at all. Some characters look better than others, but for the most part I'm just no fan of quirky-looking people. Fortunately enough, the characters (some had to grow onto me) and the way they interact with each other are better than the way the look. And if it had not been for the characters I'd have never even considered giving One Piece a chance. (Actually, I don't watch the anime)
 
I know many ppl are going to hate me on this, but the art design of code geass I can't handle. Everyone is too tall, the eyes are odd looking to the series, its to bright at times, I don't like the color in that series, etc. Its almost up to a "Cut & Paste" art style. Almost.
 
Heh. You thought you were going to get it. Ha.

Let's see, visually distracting anime series...

One Piece - I'm sorry, the colors of characters hair and wackiness of clothes just disturb and distract me. I find absolutely no enjoyment in this sort of stuff (although I did go as far as ep.39).

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - Another one I dropped after a few episodes. It's likely to do with I liked the solidity and I'm used to the 2003 series more. I just felt the animation was off and distracted me a lot for much of what I did watch (dropped on ep.11).

Soul Eater - Another one I felt was "messy" and "uneven" -- man BONES sure knows how not to appeal to me. It tried to be artsy and dark, but failed on many levels and only managed to be a long distraction (dropped it after 4 episodes). Very disappointing for a series that showed promised.

Anything with Hisashi Hirai character designs - I think we've all see enough Kira Yamato variants to last us a lifetime.
 
Actually, you're not alone there, and believe it or not that was going to be what I stated next. CLAMP designs in general tenRAB to just not be good to me, however, from what I've seen of Tsubasa (which I couldn't get into) Code Geass was the only one that actually grew onto me.
 
Yeah, same goes with me on Lucky Star. At first, i really hated the art style in that series. But after watching it, I get the art style.
 
Same here, Code Geass was like a perfect storm for me. I didn't care for the story or how the characters interacted, but the look of it put it over the edge for me as far as not caring at all for it. Not saying it was the worst thing ever, just not at all what I like.

P.S. I go over to ANN's anime board and find someone has started a similar thread to this one. Coincidence? Probably, btw, it wasn't me, just thought it was funny how that works sometimes.
 
I never thought I'd see FMA Brotherhood or Soul Eater dismissed for their animation. Whatever one happens to think about their tone or what have you, the animation is often very fluid and pretty clearly well-produced. Although, dark is not a word I would use to describe Soul Eater in any case; it seems to erabrace its wackiness in the pursuit of comedy and generally not take itself very seriously.

I don't think aesthetics or character design alone have ever turned me off of a series. I think it's interesting, there can be a divide of sorts among fans--there are those that think anime designs are too uniform, and others look at One Piece or a Gainax show and think it's too unorthodox or just flat out bonkers.

Horrible animation can hurt, but for the most part I'm pretty open. I enjoy CLAMP's highly stylized designs for the most part, I like Gainax's exaggeration, and I enjoy the relative realism of Ghost in the Shell. Different methoRAB work for different situations.

Incidentally, is it me or has anime hair gotten less weird? I think that quirk hit its zenith in the 1990's.
 
^^Yeah, I think that anime hair has slowed down nowadays.

God, yes this. As much as I liked Heroic Age, I can't stand Hirai nowadays. I think I was turned off of Fafner because of him.

I am trying to like Katanagatari but....





Also, unrelated but there's too much talking in it.
 
Oh definately. I'm still the type that will drop a series if the animation is horrible. I'm almost at the point where long running shonen series is becoming a turnoff because of the inconsistent animation. Can't say I'm all that open either since I won't touch anything that looks like:

or

(I don't even know what those are) "cringes" That's like kryptonite or something for me.
 
I love Koihime Musou, but I do question the character's designs a bit. Mostly from the size on most character's breasts being about above-average size and all.
 
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