I'm tired of there being too many fucking teenagers in anime.
When I was a kid, I saw anime as Shounen stuff like DBZ, Naruto and Bleach, but as an adult, I can't stand this power fantasy and "I'm not strong enough to protect my friends" shit. I also can't stand whiny characters like Shinji in Evangelion. Yes, I know "he's whiny because he was a teenager and everybody's emo because something like that would fuck up kids", but the point is kids shouldn't be shoehorned in a story so it would appeal to kids. Ghostbusters was very popular with kids and yet, the youngest actor was around 30 when the first ghostbusters movie was made.
Furthermore, I'm tired of the WAIFU moe shit. All that stuff negates the weeb's claims of "anime is mature". Anime isn't mature, it's for adolescence. Yes, I'm sure there's good Japanese Cartoons out there but, (Yes, anime is cartoons, get over it) It's hard to find the good stuff with 95% being absolute garbage.
You do know all that stuff on the forum is a satire right? no one here was dead serious..
As for Teenagers in anime.. or whatever.. the target audience is for teenagers to young adults.. instead of reading what's being promoted go look around Mangahere and find something.. I read Prison school before it got popular. Food Wars before it got popular.. a bunch of manga that eventually kicked off and some that don't but are still good.
Also you do know, the whole purpose of the Animes is to sell the mangas.. they were never meant to be shows that lasted like 3 or 4 seasons or 5 or 6 like Dragon Ball Z.
It definitely has a pull in a specific direction, part of that I think is like everything, that's where the money is. Thats not to say there isnt more mature anime there is, but like you said, theres less of it than the mass produced large target audience anime.
In response to the title of this thread - yes. Never been able to get into an anime. Not sure why, but most of what I've seen just hasn't clicked and I have no urge whatsoever to spend more time looking into things further :-/
I think if OP really want to get into Japanese pop culture he needs to read Manga, that's where all the mature writing is from. Most anime are strict adaptation anyways, like panel to panel even. There's writing quality in manga that's on the level of Sin City or Watch Men maturity, you just have to look beyond the mainstream shit.
Oh yeah I know that there's a vast array of stuff out there, but its just one of those things for me that I don't get and can't see myself getting into. Not really sure why - perhaps since I don't watch much animated content these days (?)
Probably best to shift your focus over to Seinen, could always go to myanimelist and browse the category. http://myanimelist.net/anime/genre/42/Seinen Or not, up to you, watch what you enjoy, if you don't like any anime in general, just don't watch it. I honestly find it very hard to find a good show to watch now, use to watch what ever the hell was available and did not care about the demographics or context of the show.
2) If the above cuteness does not appeal to you sufficiently, try some of the following:
Black Lagoon
Claymore
Death Note
Btooom!
Ghost In The Shell (3 seasons + 4 movies)
Cowboy Bebop
Outlaw Star
Dantalian no Shoka (warning, includes gothic loli)
Gun X Sword
Hyper Police
Lupin III
Madan no Ou to Vandis (warning, includes maid)
Gundam anything (seed/00)
Owari no Seraph (warning, protagonist not over 20)
Noragami
K
Mushishi
Kenshin/Samura X
Steins;Gate
Book of Bantorra
Uchouten Kazoku
Zetsuen no Tempest (warning, protagonists not over 20)
Zetman
3) And if you had watched "Welcome to the NHK" like any self-respecting anime fan, you would know that characters in such scenarios are not meant to be realistic. Characters can be idealized impossibilities, far beyond what would be appealing in RL and that itself can also be appreciated without restraint. In other words. You know you like moe deep inside! Embrace it!
Yeah, sorry forgot to add in the point that there is going to be some portion of cancerous shows. Just like youtube, you have to sift through the garbage to find some good shows. Or just ask @NonServian who is really the anime recommendation guru afaik.
Those shows are a minority and I've already seen most of them. Me liking those shows is me liking those individual shows and not me liking the medium as a whole.
