'Just ignore the flaws and enjoy the show' [Discussion]

Looks to me like you're living in a world where there is an objective spectrum of 'quality' and 'deepness', whereby there are shows that are relevant because they're quality and deep, and ones that aren't because they're fluff. Where there definable things called 'flaws' that are universally agreed on by everyone.

I am a very very discerning anime fan. I only like a very specific kind of anime, and the show has to work very hard to get me on board. My 3 favorite anime this year have been Haikyuu, Haruchika and Bungou Stray Dogs. Fuck all the rest of anime, I don't care. It doesn't come up to snuff for me.

Those three anime right there? They're far from what most people around /r/anime consider 'deep' and 'good'. But I don't care. I can go in to great detail on each one of them as to why they're the three best anime that have been released so far this year. You can argue back with as much bluster as you want, it won't change the fact that you're wrong and I'm right.

Because what it comes down to is taste. Like literally everything else in the world. You seriously might as well be arguing for a more open and critical discussion of which flavors of food are shallow and which ones are deep. I mean you CAN have that discussion, but what does it matter? It won't change what people like. Most people don't want to think about the flavor of their food in terms of 'deep' and 'shallow'. They just want to enjoy the taste.

'Flaws' are not things you can stick a label on and say 'Aha! Here is a flaw I have discovered'. They're not archaeological artefacts you can dig up and hold in your hands. Flaws are an opinion, and what you identify as a flaw can super easily be the opposite for someone else.

The Bungou discussion thread this week, for instance, had more than one commenter talking about how the show is fujobait. This, in their eyes, was a huge flaw. They were going to drop the series because of this terrible, terrible flaw. But what they're missing by doing that is one of the most incredible uses of queer and feminine gaze in a mainstream anime I've ever seen. It's remarkable, and it's rare. And they don't give a fuck! It's a flaw as far as they're concerned! Nuthin' but fujobait.

It's not to their taste, so off they go. Fine. What do I care? By my taste, I'm still watching one of the best anime I've seen in a long long time. What makes a show remarkable and worth watching is going to differ so wildly between people that a discussion of 'flaws' isn't always--or even usually--productive. Not to put too fine a point on this, but 'randos on the internet' aren't exactly my first port of call for well-rounded analysis. Of anything. Ever. Randos on the internet don't know shit.

/r/anime Thread