For me it has to have:
Fighting
Humor
Action
Music that sticks in your head
Good animation
Awesome Characters
Good Story
The ability to watch it subbed if the English dub is bad.
Cool Villians
Makes you think
Cliffhangers
To sum it all up, Everything Yu Yu Hakusho and Dragonball have.
Too many things to be listed….
I have to agree with you on most of that stuff…. except the english
but mainly for me great characters, great story/plot
if it has those two things I'm sold :)
with me it's humor,then story/plot
Well, what first attracted me to One Piece, was the pirates. So I guess having pirates is a plus. ^_^
Pirate Age (Under Construction)
Either I like it, or I don't. I don't think there's any type of constant in series that has to be there in order for me to enjoy it. In fact, I think if you use that type of reasoning in your head, you're automatically closing yourself off to works you could potentially find fantastic.
There are certain things that make certain series great, and certain things I consider a ''plus'' if they're there, but I would never write a list on things I think a series really ''has to have'' in order to have me like it. Personal taste is much too diverse to shove it into only a few categories.
I agree with Mog. I can't really find a lot in common between all of the series that I love.
I love fist fighting and wacky humor, as well as cool villains. But I've liked series without these traits, and I've hated some with them.
I'm mostly into "deeper" anime and manga like Monster/20CB/NTHT/Berserk, things that really make you think about the world or life, as opposed to fun-loving shonen, so, for me, characters and plot are always the most important part. Unfortunately most shonen-stuff these days doesn't concentrate on that as much as I'd like it to, instead concentrating on animation/fight or battle scenes and such, which makes it harder for me to enjoy it. Not that they're bad, just that they'd never end up in my top10 list. Well, One Piece is an exception :lol:
Pretty animation is always a nice bonus, but I watched anime from the 70's and 80's with the worst quality you've ever seen, and still loved it so it's never been hugely important to me.
I like a large amount of genres, fighting/romance/comedy/etc. As long as it's not some blatant fan-service ripped off thing I can usually sit and enjoy it…
Normally the characters are what draw me in.
There is only one thing an anime series needs for me to enjoy it:
"Fun"
I don't watch anime to expand my mind, I don't watch for any supposed "artistic value", I don't watch anime out of some deep love for all that is Japanese. I watch anime 'cause I'm bored and want something entertaining to do. Hence, that entertainment value is all that is needed to make a series good in my mind, and it's the one thing that, if missing, will cause me to be utterly disinterested. The doesn't mean that I don't enjoy some of the deeper, darker series. A series can have the "fun", without necessarily being light and upbeat, so long as it remains interestingly written.
It's a broad, highly unspecific term, but it's really the only common theme in what I enjoy.
believable characters
really good animation
long story, i get annoyed when some only last like 3 episodes
good fighting/action if that's what kind of anime it is
definately cliffhangers,
and it has to be original ENOUGH to stand out from otheres
Hmm, it depends I guess. I don't know, sometimes I'll just want to watch a 'good' series. Something I'll end up enjoying and get into the series a lot. I can't say I'm really looking for things in an anime (since most of the time I'll hear about a series and ponder about it, then go check it out myself). However, something I like to see in the anime that I watch include:
Well-developed characters (At least have some feelings for some of them)
Awesome moments (There's many in One Piece)
Funny Factor (Hilarious shows often rank up there for me. Who doesn't like a good laugh now and then?)
Great Story (New, refreshing ideas with lots of plot twists)
Settings (The environment, what it's like I guess. I'm more into those 'near-destruction/post ruin world' kind of settings)
I 'look' for somewhat similar things in manga I guess one could say. Except, when I watch anime, I usually want to watch more 'light' stuff. When I read manga, I go for some of the 'darker' readings, or 'deeper' as jewbagel put it. Plot Twists, Great Characters, Awesome Moments, Settings, Excellent Storylines are what I like to see in manga. 20th Century Boys has this all (and more).
Well, let's see…
Genre doesn't seem to matter for me, I like Shojou as much as I like Shonen...
Neither does length, as a series like FLCL entertains me just as much (and sometimes more) than something like One Piece.
So, I guess what matters is it needs a combination of 2-3 things from this list:
Good Characters (Includes Development)
Good Plot
Good Humor
Good Action
My favorite anime series, Elfen Lied and Fullmetal Alchemist, carry all four of these traits.
I'm kinda in the same lines with CaptainPanda but I guess I want to watch something different -not necessarily better though- than what ordinary television is offering. There isn't whole a lot of series I like though.
Reading is another case. Comic has always been my hobby and right now I'm into alternavite scene, although I'm still fairly new to it. Overally, I like some of the better works in Afternoon, Ikki, Comic Clue and suchs. One Piece is pretty much the only of it's kind I like, at least of those I admit I like :P.
I noticed I like animes most when :
1. The music is good (I can't stand watching an anime with crappy music, like the latest Naruto episodes - fortunately, it's rare).
2. We learn about an existing group of characters that we have to meet, places we have to visit, or items to find, one by one :
and so on…
That's where I get really excited about an anime or manga (well, also movie) : when I know how many characters (good or foes) there are and have to be introduced to each of them, or when I know the characters have to go to x places or gather x items. It's just exciting to speculate on what we know exist but haven't seen.
There are some exceptions to this rule. I love Cowboy Bebop, Death Note, Abenobashi, Maison Ikkoku... and yet they don't have such number symbolism.
Hmm, well there are a lot of factors that go into good anime, but I guess to get me to watch it it has to have a minimum of:
Good/interesting characters– If I don't like or don't care about who the story's about, why am I watching it? At the very least I have to be intrigued by them.
Interesting/intriguing plot-- Having good characters is a good first step, but if I don't like or don't care about the plot, then there's not much point in sticking around to watch them, is there?
Anything else I can deal with, be it sub-par animation, less than striking music, mundane locales, etc. Sure, I like action but it's not absolutely necessary for me to be able to enjoy something, and the same goes for romance or even humor, come to that. As long as it's well-done, with good, solid characters and something interesting for them to be doing, I'll probably watch it.
--Bevin
I'm not too hard to please…
As long as there are good characters. I like good action/fight scenes as well, but it isn't always neccessary.
One word…originality.
Just look, it's what made OP, Bobobo, Hikaru no Go, Dragonball, and Naruto worldwide hits. Originality is always better than what EVERYONE wants.
I just want something I enjoy watching. If I don't have a good time watching it, forget it.
Characters. I cannot like anything fictional (book/film/anime/manga) if it doesn't have characters that are interesting.
I look for one thing decent animation and I tend to like the comedic silly animes. I like anime with some personality in it's comedy.
Oh for me, you can get away with almost any kind of plot concept so long as the character design is good. if they got me hooked by a good, solid character development, then i'm in it all the way.
If you spoiler me, I will eat you with tater tots.
