Aki's Taste In Anime: The Do's and Don'ts

     **These are my opinions and guide lines**

Anime. It can be a lot of things, lets take a look at all the genre's available. 

• Comedy

The name sort of explains it. These anime usually have a light hearted plot that can kinda be unpredictable. They draw in other genres to keep things interesting sometimes.  
Examples: Ouran Highschool Host club

• Drama

This genre features lots of emotion and is commonly paired with romance and adventure. The plot is generally well developed and the characters have a lot of "Personal growth" throughout the anime. Meaning they realize their faults and grow stronger for the one they love etc.
Examples: Vampire Knight, Seraph of The End 

• Action

These anime usually lack a strong plot line and character development, however they make up for it by being overwhelmingly exciting and constantly drawing in other genres.
Examples: Naruto, Bleach, One Piece 

• Adventure (There is a difference between action and adventure)

First thing that comes to my mind is...(drum roll)... FILLERS!!!
Sadly yes, Adventure series seem to go on forever! They are well worth the wait though! Adventure series usually give a sense of fulfillment at the end that is hard to find in some shorter one season animes. ( I Am talking to you, makers of Ouran HighSchool Host Club!)
Examples: FullMetal Alchemist, Pokemon (When is Ash going to grow up?), Attack on Titan

• Love/Romance

I don't watch a lot of Romance anime mostly because it ruins my expectations of real people, this is what I have gathered though.
Romance anime features a lot of complicated emotion that usually isn't tackled in other animes. You end up becoming emotionally attached to one character or another and you find yourself cheering on your favorite couple and feel a sense of achievement when they finally end up together! (Or totally crushed when you find out the ship has sailed.)
Examples: Again, Ouran HighSchool Host Club(Remember all those sub genres that comedy has? Yeah.)
Yahari Ore No Seishun Love Comedy Wa Machigatteiru

• Josei

This genre is very new to me, I haven't seen anything that is in this genre however I hear it is supposed to portray the realist side of relationships and life as apposed to the Shojo glittery eyes and fairytale themes.

• Horror/Gore

This doesn't actually mean scary, what it really means is blood and lots of it. Have you ever watched Sci Fi's Halloween line up? Yeah.
There is usually a good plot and decent characters however when they get in a fight and die they don't come back like in most anime.
In fact their death statement probably says "They found most of him".
Examples: Attack On Titan, Tokyo Ghoul (haven't watched), Death Note(More on the mystery side)

• Demons   

This may seem like it is a minor theme, which I suppose it is a sub plot but eh, its on the list! This sub plot genre is seen a lot in anime, everything from good ole Inuyasha to Black Butler. It just ends up being a plus to have a Demon with infinite powers that is really hard to kill, apparently. 

• Examples: Blue Exorcist, Soul Eater, The Devil is a Part-Timer

That is all I am going to cover for Genre's because I won't really be covering much else. I know that there are some more intense genres like Yaoi, Yuri, Harem and that type of stuff but I see no need for those. Sorry if that's your favorite type of anime, its just not my cup of tea.

Ok, Now for my anime standards!!! Yay, you get to look inside my brain! Be careful O.o

Do's

• Do have interesting characters and a good plot line.
• Do continuously show improvement in either the status of the problem or the characters.
• Do give me something to ship, it's not needed but it makes things a little more fun in the fandom.
• Do have a good ending.
• Do teach me something. I don't care if its something about myself that I didn't know before or if its some fun fact about Japan.
• Do be something that I am proud to talk about no matter where I am.

Don'ts

• Don't be cussing. I don't respect it or put up with it, I usually look for subbers who don't sub the cuss words but dubbing is getting worse and worse with it.
• Don't have trashy dressed characters. I expect people to have practical clothing. No one wins a battle in high heels and a mini skirt. If its all about accentuating the wrong things then I am NOT  interested.
• Don't go off and kill characters all willy nilly, (One word. Neji) If you kill off 20 characters and then bring them back how am I supposed to cope when you actually kill someone! Its like whack a mole. He's over there! Nope he is gone, Wait he is back. Nope gone again.
• Don't give me a bad ending. If its only had one season and that ended with a cliff hanger, you better finish it. I am an Otaku and I need closure!
• Don't play for the fans. If your heart isn't in it than don't do it. We love it because you love it.

So by now if you are wondering "What does this person watch?!" Here is your answer. I watch good wholesome anime, occasionally I might watch something that breaks one of these rules but that will usually be because I am cleaning and just turned something on. Or if I am doing a sponsored review and I have to watch it. Trust me, I don't always enjoy myself. :P

No matter what I hold myself accountable. So here are some of my sideline animes, Where I watched some but didn't finish because they broke to many rules.

• Blue Exorcist

This anime was good starting out, it was so entertaining and kept me on my toes. Then the red headed swordswoman got added to the show and they just pushed it to far. I love my twins, but that I would not watch.

• Naruto Shippuden

They didn't cuss in the early Naruto because it was aired on Cartoon Network and other kids stations. At the end and into Shippuden it grew into an unneeded and overused form of communication.

• Parasyte. Lets just say that one didn't last long at all -_-

• Tokyo Ghoul, Episode one and its already a failure.

• Psycho Pass really pushed its limits and something tells me if I go back and watch some of the episodes I missed, it would be at the top of my list of sidelines.

• Soul Eater, I love the art style **but** Tsubaki and Black Star really ran my standards into the ground.

• Deadman Wonderland, I have always had a fascination with prison/ camp related themes so I was interested in this anime. However Shiro's morph suit (given it is more covering than some, its just tighter than some) and the language swiftly doused the flame of fascination. 

• Durarara!!! is pending, its not even the language. Its Celty. Her jumpsuit is somewhat tight as well. There are slightly more suggestive themes (which is a no-no) and it is breaking the "Don't write for the fans" rule. IMO.

• Fairy Tail 

The first episode of this anime is an awful representation of this anime. For it to be focused on the guild and how much of a family they are the first episode really focuses on all the wrong things -_- 

Basically what I am trying to say is, don't think you have to watch the same anime as everyone else! You have options! There are classy anime out there. I recommend Howl's Moving Castle and Wolf Children, even though they are movies. They will give you the right feeling for what anime should feel like.

I am always here to help you find something new to watch, or to help you make what you watch now, better. 

I hope you learned something new today and that it got you thinking.

Also if I offended you, don't take it personally. I am really a nice person. (Sarcasm)
Honestly though, I didn't mean any harm.

Sincerely
            ~ Aki Ame Okami