After watching two volumes of a highly melancholy, depressing anime, I’ve come to the conclusion some things just shouldn’t be made into anime, let alone get twenty six episodes.
Some anime have a point to the melancholy drama, and get to it fairly quickly, but they don’t drag it out over every episode. I don’t want to not want to get out of bed in the morning or park the car in the garage and leave the door down with the engine on after watching an anime. Lord knows it can’t all be sunshine and roses, but there’s a point when enough is too much.
Anime concepts can be anything, from mundane (Kanon) to really mundane (Prince of Tennis) to tedious and boring (Yakitate!!) to depressing beyond words (Grave of the Fireflies). So how much is too much when it comes to a concept for anime being too boring, depressing or mundane?
While we all know the list of good ideas for anime are nigh endless, the flip side is also true- a never ending supply of baaaad ideas are forever lurking, waiting to be made into crappy anime. We’ve compiled a top ten list of ideas for anime which should never, under any circumstances, EVER be made, either because they’re too depressing or too boring:
10. Ero Knitting- Purl, purl, left stitch, oh yeah!
9. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle- 1, 2, 5 and 4 which plastic will cost our planet more?
8. Shopping for Flatware- The real danger was, would the store have enough for a sitting of 10?
7. Hair Cut, The Series- Dueling scissors battle for the ultimate prom night-do!
6. Pet Shelter of Horrors- Take one home today or the guilt will haunt you…forever!!!
5. Awkward Silence: I Made Out With Your Mom- How long can a man gape in surprise before the silence destroys him?
4. Tax Time- Uncle Sam knows where you live!! And you, and you, and you….
3. Paint Drying: The First Coat- As the paint dried, lives were lived.
2. Exit Poll, The Movie- Their final opinions prove nothing!
1. Hospice*
Perhaps you’ve been privy to some bad anime ideas in your lonely hours, or someone mentioned something should be made into anime and you strongly disagree. What thoughts do you have on which ideas should be avoided at all costs for the sake of anime? Do you or someone you know have a handful of bad ideas for anime you’ve been keeping to yourselves? If so this is your chance to share: What’s the worst anime concept ever?
*I highly, highly respect hospice and its caregivers. Their sacrifice makes our last days safe and comfortable, but a hospice anime? Worst. Idea. Ever.
Feel free to unburden your bad anime ideas in the comments below!
The fear I have of making such lists is that I just KNOW that someone in power will find said list and go “Hey, now there’s a great idea!”
All of these could make great shows, actually. Especially a hospice anime (Tons of potential subplots… Perhaps Lost-style flashbacks showing how they are connected. The old man who used to be in the Waffen SS. The other old man who used to be a jewish prisoner. Every day, they play chess together, and eventually the truth comes out.)
Yakitate Japan is the greatest culinary science show ever. Actually, the hair dressing one sounds real good. It is certainly possible! The Save the Planet one was covered by Capt Planet already.
@Kidan, if anybody makes an anime from this list, I promise to hunt down the studio who produced it and destroy the original. We really don’t need any more crap anime, and these ideas are truly gawdawful.
@FhnuZoag, I would have to disagree about any of these making good anime. The bad ideas, however, may get someone to thinking about good ideas.
But a hospice anime would have everyone depressed beyond words. Hospice, a valuable service, is really one of those things that must be treated with respect and care, and can’t be diluted. Death is powerful, and one’s own death is personal and powerful. Making an anime about that would dehumanize the experience.
Hey, I like Yakitate!
That said, I think Kanokon has a terrible premise. “Look, the female lead will become a blonde fox-girl and she’ll rape the heck out of the male lead. Who happens to look like he’s 8.”
…Yeah.
It depends on what sort of anime you envision. A moe comedy would be a colossally bad idea, sure. (Actually, conventional cinema already has a comedy hospice film – Bubba Hotep. Personally, I hated it.)
But I think there is scope for tackling death in a way that can be ultimately heart-warming instead of depressing. I’m thinking something like Haibane Renmei, where the focus is on coming to terms with the past, and with the loss of loved ones and so on. Dying with dignity, and without regrets. And so on. Perhaps reconciling with estranged family members, and stuff. It could also be about the staff, about how they resolve their feelings, maybe following a new worker, etc.
However bad it gets, it can’t possibly be as bad as Grave of the Fireflies.
In fact, if I didn’t have exams to worry about, I’d be halfway tempted to write up a script or something right now.
@tj han, I figure someone could actually do something with the hairdressing idea. But Adam Sandler already has a movie coming out this summer about a former Mossad agent who becomes a hairdresser. Guess Hollywood beat Japan to the hairdresser concept. However, if magical girls and giant scissor swords were involved, maybe anime could trump Hollywood….
@gia, I love culinary shows, but in anime? The important thing is, do they teach you to cook? Because if they did, it would take it from the realm of entertainment into something more, and having that “more” would be good. Bread is gooooood.
@Rachel: But Yakitate is NOT a culinary show, so the important thing is NOT whether it teaches you to cook (though the manga has some great breadmaking tips). Yakitate is a *parody* of traditional shounen battle/tournament shows like Prince of Tennis, Bleach, Dragon Ball Z, etc. Nothing more, nothing less.
@FhnuZoag, If I recall, Bubba Hotep (dude, it had Bruce Campbell!) was in a nursing home, something completely different than hospice. Hospice is…the end of the road. It’s for patients, young and old, who are terminally ill. It make their last days comfortable.
@gia, parodies are good too. Wouldn’t it be cool though to have an anime which teaches Japanese cooking? See, I think that would be groundbreaking anime.
@Rachel: In theory it’d be cool, but I can’t think of a good practical way that taught how to cook Japanese food in a way that would actually be useful *and* still have an interesting plot and not be all cheesy and “edutainment”-esque.
Not an anime, but Kataoka Tomo’s two visual novels “Narcissu” and “Narcissu2″ presents 2 stories, on the terminally ill (those who leave) and the carers/relatives/friends of the terminally ill (those who are left behind), in a very caring and respectful way. What allows it to work in that regard is that it is neither judgmental nor conclusive in any of the thoughts or themes that are examined. The author has an opinion, but its not an opinion that he thrusts onto you and expect you to agree with.
Though I doubt whether an anime conversion will be popular, given the subject matter.
The manga beauty pop is about hairdressing, and is surprisingly good Shoujo! I think if it was turned into an anime it wouldn’t be so bad. I agree with the hospice thing though, that may be a little to depressing. lol at awkward silence
I’m seeing a lot of potential for “Tax Time” here. How about these concepts?
Concept A) While pursuing tax evaders, Uncle Sam is forced to swallow a poison pill intended to kill him. Instead, it has the effect of unaging him to a child. Now, as the child tax collector Sammy, Sam helps the tax collection office’s investigation team investigate tax evasion. Whether company or individual, whether charity or preditor, if you’re dealing in money or trade, Sammy will uncover your tax evasion. Oh, and he gets a voice-changer bowtie and solar-powered skateboard (’cause Uncle Sam is all about using alternative energy sources.)
Concept B) Five multicultural tax collectors are out to stop tax fraud. Using five tax-payer funded rings, their powers combine, calling forth Uncle Sam, defender of the economy. (I thought of this being seeing tj han’s comment.)
Was there ever an anime about golf, or billards? I’m sure even those can get interesting stories and characters developed around them. Perhaps a series about the life of a mailman? No, that would be good slice-of-life material. Actually, to be honest, I bet there’s a good slice-of-life waiting to be watched in “Paint Drying: The First Coat”. What happens with Atsuko finishes that last coat of paint onto to realize the shade of blue looks horrible in the evening sun? And how will Gen’ichirou explain the pawprints when his dog climbed all over Eri’s freshly-painted fence? And just which side of the fence DO you start with, the front or the back? That scene can account for at LEAST 8 minutes of dialogue.
As for the number one item, I can see a series about palliative care where each episode follows the doctors spending time with a different patient who have little time left to live. There can be scenes devoted to how the family gets through it.
Let me know when there’s a series about someone running an anime blog =D
so to say,i just finished reading the 35th chapter of yakitake and i am loving the series,you should try it Rachel its very funny,Kuroyanagi is the best because of his reactions when he its the bread of the character(he may be the character with the best reactions in any anime and any manga,i love every reaction)
beauty pop has the worst concept,i dont care about hairdressing so no
@FF, novels and such are absent of visuals, but paint graphic pictures in our heads. Connecting with us on that level instead of feeding us what we’re meant to see and feel, as in film, helps us understand the gravity of the subject.
@Saya, I just knew somewhere deep down a hairdressing manga/ anime existed….
@Christopher Fritz, many props for your inventive takes on such “taxing” subjects, but I wouldn’t watch an anime about any of these ideas.
@xsabin, wow, just how long is “Yakitate!!”?
as far as i know its 195 chapters as of now,but the manga is funny i am on chapter 90 now(Gran Kayser sure has big arms)
http://img147.imageshack.us/my.php?image=55662496ot0.png
heres something you can expect from Kuroyanagi