What are you Anime “Hot Takes”?
I saw an instagram post today about a guy who made a reel stating that, “no one who has watched anime for less than 10 years has the right judge me and my opinions on anime”. I thought that was interesting and a spot on take. I see a lot of how toxic the anime community can be across various fan bases and just in general. People get ragged on for watching dubbed rather than subbed. Stuff like that. I grew up watching anime for probably longer than most anime watchers have been alive (yes I will say I’m that “old”).
So here’s my hot takes:
If you don’t know what toonami is, you’re too young and not justified to tell me that that my opinions are wrong or invalid.
Dragon Ball Z is the grandfather of Anime (shonen anime)
There’s nothing wrong with watching dubbed over sub and if you criticize someone about that than you’re just being a tool (there was a time when all we had was to watch dub on tv)
Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece are the big three OGs
Even as a DBZ fan, Sailor Moon dog walks goku
I wanna hear more hot takes that can be debated!
So here’s my hot takes:
If you don’t know what toonami is, you’re too young and not justified to tell me that that my opinions are wrong or invalid.
Dragon Ball Z is the grandfather of Anime (shonen anime)
There’s nothing wrong with watching dubbed over sub and if you criticize someone about that than you’re just being a tool (there was a time when all we had was to watch dub on tv)
Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece are the big three OGs
Even as a DBZ fan, Sailor Moon dog walks goku
I wanna hear more hot takes that can be debated!
Commentaires
You can present controversial topics without glamorizing them. That's where the failure is in whatever discussion you are imagining.
Its like how people call dnd "medieval" but the more you read up on medieval history the more you realize its not.
I cant say i have ever seen anyone say they want a perfect recreation of a medieval or viking society in their anime and then get "mad" when they dont just show blatant disregard for human life or sexual assault.
This to me feels like you are trying to move between the lines to say that the people saying the blatant show of slavery in anime is bad are wrong because its "fantasy accurate" which isnt a thing.
I dont think it is, i dont particularly care, but i do think its weird how many use it as the start of a relationship with an uneven power dynamic and its seen as a great thing.
Jk idgaf
Everything else you said were basically the coldest takes possible though.
Watching anime isn't a value, it's a hobby.
I have no problem with people saying "I didnt like x anime" or even something like "Sword art online was bad for these reasons" (just to pick a common one) i can still like it for what it was back when it came out.
But when people come out in full swing of "Only perverted freaks watches this anime" or "Wow thats such an incel anime" that is totally a personal attack.
Yet the problem with online discourse is as always that people come out swinging big and wild because they dont care at all who they affect and will then act ignorant when pointed out on it.
I'm talking about when someone hears "Sword Art Online is bad for XY reason" and treats it like "You're a disgusting freak and should be hunted for sport".
It's to the point that I actively can't watch it around my wife or daughter because how the fuck am I gonna explain that some child looking character is all bent over and shit.
Like I understand that it has become part of the culture but goddamn is it really necessary? Sometimes I want to watch a shonen anime with cool fights, without the egregious amount of zoom ins and "embarrassing" moments.
Like the most recent example that I watched was MF Ghost. Love the racing, love the cars but after every big exciting scene we get an incredibly awkward and uncomfortable scene with the "angels" doing all sorts of ridiculousness. I don't recall Initial D being as fan servicey
You dont see much nudity or anything anymore, especially not compared to 2010-2016. Even ecchi anime has calmed down a lot. Either you are getting really unlucky, or Im managing to miss all of it
Also Initial D? Are you serious? Initial D had straight up nudity in the spin off OVAs. I think you guys misremember how a lot of older anime used to be lol.
That's not a "hot take" though, this is just how it is.
The term "big three" was coined for these three series.
I'd consider dragon ball and detective Conan to be equal of these to be honest. (Personal preference of course)
Everyone knew and watched them in the early 00s. That's all there is to it.
It's not a title to be changed or moved to new series.
And right now, I’m seeing the “banished from hero’s party” trope getting clowned on. I think that’s the next trend people are going to join in on while probably not even watching it.
Daily Life of the Immortal King is the best one Ive seen, and I still think it looks really weird quite often. Rubber bodies
There are plenty of great anime that release every year, with solid animation, but they either dont get much attention, or story wise might suffer, or are written off for being "generic"
It’s 2026 and I still not understand the necessity of feeling superior to others by what you like or not
but people needs to learn that engaging in a public forum means engaging with people disagreeing with you.
If i said "I enjoy watching sword art online" then there is literally nothing anybody could say to me that would counter that, cause its my enjoyment and my personal preference.
but if i go out and say "Sword art online is just an amazing perfect anime and one of the best animes ever made" then thats not just a matter of liking it anymore thats making a statement of quality AND comparison to every other series around, which yes will annoy some people.
Amyway, The Eminence in Shadow is one of the most painfully unfunny anime I ever forced myself to sit through.
I am incredibly tired of the modern generic "moe design". It makes every character look the same. I know it is probably done to industrialize the proccess and make the "I am an average Japanese highschooler isekaied into another world with OP magical powers and harem of generic hotties" slop easier and faster to make, but fuck this noise.
Also, One Piece lost its quality when it became more serious and political rather than a "goofy sea adventures" story that it was before. No, it is not because "politics bad", or whatever, but because Luffy, the protagonist, is a complete fucking moron. Tonnes of things are happening in the OP world, be it political struggles, royal court games or rebellions and instead of following someone more interesting, we are stuck with a child-like, mentally challenged degenerate, whose political leaning is "I am fed by X, therefore X is a friend, therefore anyone against him/her is a bad guy" and who only hadn't alligned with hate groups because the author makes sure that Luffy is fed by the designated good guys of the story arc.
It predates any of the modern isekai/harem titles. In fact, the hegemony of the CGDCT genre predates the isekai slop as well.
Basically, bring back the 1980s.
In Toradora’s defense though, I feel like it’s in the period where the physical violence is treated more like a gag. I’m thinking Love Hina and even Minami-ke too. I don’t think it’s meant to be taken too seriously.
It's neither about time, nor quantity, but quality. You can be an "anime fan" for 20 years, but only ever occasionally watch most popular battle shounen, while there are people that started last year but watch a lot, and huge variety of different series and genres.
Also, in terms of anime knowledge or "proficiency", I'd put someone who watched 1000 anime, but only by mindlessly consuming new seasonals and mainstream titles, below someone who watched 200, but carefully selected, of all types and genres, and from all around anime history, while mindfully digesting and analyzing every single one.
Not to mention the fact that anime is not the only medium that exists. If someone is a huge cinemaphile or bibliophile, and started anime recently, while not an anime expert, they certainly aren't clueless about what a good writing or direction looks like and what makes a good story.
> If you don’t know what toonami is, you’re too young and not justified to tell me that that my opinions are wrong or invalid.
What if it didn't exist in my country? What part about it would make me too young, and my opinions irrelevant? Also, logic and facts don't care about age.
> Dragon Ball Z is the grandfather of Anime (shonen anime)
Anime, manga and battle shounen existed long before it, and pretty much all tropes were already estabilished before DB manga started. Including the stuff that people consider to be "the" Dragon Ball, like powering up with auras that change your hair color, flying around shooting beams and stuff, unrealistic training arcs, tournaments, traveling around collecting magical balls etc. - all of it you can find in earlier manga. It was one of the first title to make it big internationally, but if you look deeper, you will realize it didn't actually bring anything completely new to the table. It might have cooked things a bit differently, in a way that's more appealing to the mass audience, and it did have huge influence on the medium, but it often being talked about as the most important and revolutionary title in anime history is greatly exaggerated.
>Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece are the big three OGs
Anyone who takes that "big 3" crap seriously have no idea what they're talking about. Those are only about popularity, back in the 2000s, and in a single magazine. That's literally all. They didn't revolutionize anything or did anything notable whatsoever. Other titles were popular before, other after it. And franchises like Pokemon or Dragon Ball were always more popular. Yet a lot of people seem to consider this title to be some sort of legendary eternal seal of peak quality, that proves their favorites are better than others.
> There’s nothing wrong with watching dubbed over sub and if you criticize someone about that than you’re just being a tool (there was a time when all we had was to watch dub on tv)
Depending on the title, and translation quality, the experience can be very different. Sometimes it doesn't matter, but sometimes if you watch dubbed, or even just translated, you're not getting the right experience. Some things are just not translatable. And that's not unique to anime and japanese language, it's also true for other forms of art and entertainment. If you like it and are having fun, then fair enough, but if we're talking about level of understanding and validity of opinions, it does make a difference.
I've seen japanese games being localized to include messages about politics and sexuality, when original script didn't have any hint of that.
That being said, translation being good, or even better than original is possible too. I don't watch anime dubbed, so I can't comment on that, but I played some english games translated to japanese, and while sometimes translation was noticably inferior, there are cases when it was actually better.
But in the end, subs or dubs, people experience stuff in many different ways, environments and with different mentality and prejudices, so there's no point in overfixating on the "proper" way. If your goal is to enjoy yourself, and you are, then you're not doing it wrong. Validity of opinion based on how someone experienced the thing only matters in whether you would care about their recommendations/opinions or would want to be friends with them, and that's entirely your business.
(Take it from me, I was very lonely in my late teens)
I mean this is just a wrong take not a hot take lol. Action shonen manga/anime had numerous notable works before DBZ. Fist of the North Star, Devilman and you can go all the way back to Astro Boy. Yeah DBZ formalized a lot of what we know of as battle shonen, and it's one of the most popular anime/manga ever made, however, there is a lot of history before that is equally important, and even works that aired alongside it (Saint Seiya) that are also important
Tezuka is the correct answer to any "grandfather of anime" takes, and there a few other choices too. Toriyama though? As influential as he is, I think DBZ fans kinda forget that the anime industry didn't start in the mid 80s lol.
>Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece are the big three OGs
No one cares about the concept of the Big 3 outside of international, action shonen fans. It was barely a thing, and only really the case in WSJ proper, not the wider anime/manga industry. It’s not a term that would apply in Japan. Bleach only sold top 3 as manga once in it's entire lifespan lol. You guys really need to stop caring about this term.
>If you don’t know what toonami is, you’re too young and not justified to tell me that that my opinions are wrong or invalid.
That's just stupid lol. What an appeal to authority argument.
Frankly, it's not a question of how much or how long you watched in raw numbers. To me what matters the most is how someone articulates themselves while discussing anime. If your vocabulary is all "peak", "aura", "mid", I won't take you seriously. If you care about cinematography, animation techniques, themes, etc, I will put stake in your opinions, regardless of if you watched 10 anime or 1000.
> If you don’t know what toonami is
You can also be... ESL and therefore never had Toonami. Shocking, I know.
> Even as a DBZ fan, Sailor Moon dog walks goku
Well, one is a Satojun while the other is not. That said, I prefer the other Satojuns I watched over Sailor Moon. Aria, Princess Tutu, Kaleido Star and Hugtto all did more for me. I have yet to watch Tamayura and Doremi btw.
*--*
1: Please stop taking shounen so seriously. It's stuff made for kids (not bad) and at best on YA standards (it's okay). No one cares, much less the IP holders. Just enjoy the f'ing show!
2: The fact that it's okay that you watch dub (because of accessibility, taste or you can't/don't want to read) doesn't mean that we *can't* say you're listening to a subpar product that usually damages characterization.
3: Anime youtubers and influencers are extremely damaging to fandom in the West. Maybe it has to be something about American media literacy but anyway\~. We lack good anime talk and even journalism.
4: We need to kill the idea that "Slice of life" is a genre. It is not. It's so broad (because it doesn't adhere to magazine demographics) that it's a useless term to define any drama, from relaxing to significant. It isolates so many good shows just because people think they don't have a story to tell.
( I'm still hurt by the ~~Sony~~CR "Awards" putting Hibike! Euphonium (a huge sports-like drama) in that category)
Lastly: There's NO "true/appropiate" way to be a fan. Collector? fine. Cosplayer? cool. Do you write derivative stuff while not having any merch to show? fine too.
Everyone judges. We use our judgements to fuel our actions. Judge me as a weeb, judge me for watching Mushoku Tensei and liking it, judge me for thinking that there are some ecchi anime with amazing stories, judge me for watching Urutsukodoji as my first anime, judge me for liking Berserk 2016.
My likes are my likes. The things I like are a statement about me, just as things you like are statement about you. I EXPECT judgement. I expect judgement for everything I do whether it's tackling a thief or farting loudly in public.
And this post of yours is... kinda farting loudly in public level shit.
> Dragon Ball Z is the grandfather of Anime (shonen anime)
This is somehow not even a take but both wrong and true at the same time. Like modern Shounen *did* basically originate with *Dragon Ball*, but extending that to all anime and ignoring both base *Dragon Ball* and 20+ years of TV anime history is kind of just insanely wrong.
It doesn't matter how long you've been watching anime, everyone's opinion is equally valid. I feel like that's a pretty hot take these days
I said, “If you don’t know what toonami is, you’re too young and not justified to tell me that that my opinions are wrong or invalid.”
You know what, my mistake I should have changed the wording. Point is, there are anime fans, mainly newer and YOUNGER fans not justified in telling ME that my opinions are wrong or that certain anime’s I watch are trash or that watching dubbed anime makes me not a “real” anime fan. As someone who has watched anime longer than those fans, don’t come at me with your BS and placing it as a fact on me. That’s all I’m saying
It honestly feels like it was written by someone with little to no real knowledge of football. As someone who’s been playing for over 10 years, I’m really struggling with it. I’m only two episodes in and I’m already thinking about dropping it.
The way it views the game is so surface-level that it actually hurts. Maybe I’m thinking too deeply about it, but so much of it feels straight-up wrong. Like, striker is **not** the most important position there all important, no one position is better/ more important, and football (NOT soccer) is 100000% a team sport. What are they even saying 😭
Yes, if you’re up front you need to be selfish at times, but you also need to understand that you’re not better than everyone else just because of your position. Twin, you need your team. There are 11 players on the pitch for a reason.
Episode 2 really pushed me over the edge. They’re told they’ll be playing in teams and everyone’s shocked like, “Wait… teams? But we’re all strikers?” And then the weirdo with the glasses goes, “Well back in the old days football was only strikers ☝🤓”
Like okay? We also used to live in caves and hunt to survive, but that doesn’t mean we should still be doing that now. Evolution exists for a reason, buddy.
I genuinely hope someone agrees with me because their whole view of football feels wrong and completely one-dimensional.