What makes an Anime good?

[Panzerseed]

I'm making this topic to see other peoples view on what they mean makes an anime the best!

For me i think i would rank an anime by the following

01. Plot (boring plot, boring anime)
02. Genre (i get more sceptical if its a genre i dislike)
03. Keeping the main story through the entire serie (fillers are most oftenly crap, thats how i got sick of naruto, bleatch etc etc...)
04. Outstanding ending (this makes me remember the anime for the rest of my life)
05. being able to compare the main character with urself (this makes me more interested to continue watching)
06. Graphics (atleast the animes graphics should be fair or okay....)
07. Eyecandy (i have needs )
08. A comedy with not to much cliches (you get sick of cliches if they show it on every episode)
09. the guy shouldn't be perfect, neither the girl.
10. 24-48 Episodes (12-13 too little, over 50 is too much...)

(You dont have too write about what would make all in general anime the best, but you can also describe what would make ur genre the best, my description of what would make anime the best is based on romance/comedy anime)...

enjoy!  will be fun to see other peoples point of view

[mrdkreka]

Looking at the way you are ranking an anime you must really love Neon Genesis Evangelion.

OT:
My way of ranking is a lot like yours accept for some few changes.
I will put genre on last place
Change outstanding ending to outstanding overall show. 

[Havoc10K]

I'm making this topic to see other peoples view on what they mean makes an anime the best!

For me i think i would rank an anime by the following

01. Plot (boring plot, boring anime)
02. Genre (i get more sceptical if its a genre i dislike)
03. Keeping the main story through the entire serie (fillers are most oftenly crap, thats how i got sick of naruto, bleatch etc etc...)
04. Outstanding ending (this makes me remember the anime for the rest of my life)
05. being able to compare the main character with urself (this makes me more interested to continue watching)
06. Graphics (atleast the animes graphics should be fair or okay....)
07. Eyecandy (i have needs )
08. A comedy with not to much cliches (you get sick of cliches if they show it on every episode)
09. the guy shouldn't be perfect, neither the girl.
10. 24-48 Episodes (12-13 too little, over 50 is too much...)

(You dont have too write about what would make all in general anime the best, but you can also describe what would make ur genre the best, my description of what would make anime the best is based on romance/comedy anime)...

enjoy!  will be fun to see other peoples point of view

all except nr 6 and 10 falls to drama section, 10 is irrelevant depending on story wich falls in the drama section, 6 falls in Artwork, youre forgetting background music, wich is fairly important.

basicaly a good anime falls in 3 sections
1- Sound
2- Artwork
3- Drama

if all 3 are above level 7 it's a relatively good anime.

[Panzerseed]

thats a good point havoc =) didnt think of music.
although i dont think length is irrelevant, remember we all have different point of views =P i dont feel like i get 'to know' the characters on a 12 episode anime, but still ofcourse anime with 12 episodes arent bad at all, i just like it better if they last longer

[manganime02]

FANSERVICE!!! And Lots of it! 

[southerndoom]

Let me take it a step further.
What makes a good anime a classic and a potentally a great anime mediocre.

1-Sound Design/Voice acting.Probably the most important thing for me.A good soundtrack,
compiled with great voice acting can really push a series to the next level.Macross Frontier,
Black Lagoon,Elfen Lied,Blubblegum Crisis all come to mind of shows that have "it" in the
sound design/voice acting department.


2-Episode arch lengths/Pacing-Look at a show like Black Lagoon.No filler all killer in the episode
department.Short and to the point kept it exciting.Then look at Marmalade Boy and the complete
opposite of the spectrum.76 episodes but the story progressed..progres sed a lot actually.
Then you look at some of these animes 10 episodes go by and NOTHING happens.Thats a major
turn off and can kill momentum.I love both Urusei Yatsura and Ranma but both are guilty of
filler episodes.I dont even want to look at shows like Bleach,Dragon Ball or Naruto those go on forever

3-Is obviously a great plot and a good resolution(or no resolution in some cases)
A good anime can be killed by poor plot twists,extremly convoluted situations that make no sense and
piss poor endings.It ties into the second point.

[erious]

Eh...
Most important thing for me is writing. Skillfully written, with developed characters and good dialogue. Either avoiding cliches or using them in conscious way is also important.
Second thing is direction - a good director can turn even a mediocre work into something that's at least entertaining to watch - and good direction is required for truly great anime.
Art direction is also pretty important to me - a well developed and consistent art is always welcome. I don't like trying to be original for the sake of originality, but being bland is even worse.
Music... Needs to fit, and that's that. Sure, good music always enhances the final experience, but I haven't seen anything i disliked just because the music was bad. Same with good voice acting.
Also,
having a plot is totally overrated, yo.
 

[AceD]

You forgot beams, the more powerful the beam, the greater the anime.

[Havoc10K]

You forgot beams, the more powerful the beam, the greater the anime.

MI. MI, MIKURU BEAM !

[Smokeyjr2]

FANSERVICE!!! And Lots of it! 

What they said!!!  Fan service is great

[Nikkoru]

Generally, character is of greatest importance - many anime/manga are dependant purely on character development and interaction with an afterthought on what they'd do. Something like Tenchi Muyo, Slayers, Azumanga, Gintama, and Pani Poni Dash are mostly about creating quirky and lovable characters and working them into situations which make them shine - gag manga thrive on this.

I recently watched Record of Lodoss War, which was certainly not poor in quality - but the plot ran right over their character development - i suspect it would be notably better in its novel form. There are also some which just have far too many characters for them to be fleshed out with any significance - especially some of the weaker harem genera.   

Then there are anime/manga, like Mushishi or Kino's Travels where the characters are pretty much insignificant - they're just there to provide direction - the emphasis is on the ideas which the anime plays with.

Well, the audio/visual portion is important - but I watched Saiyuki, which is both long and generally cheaply produced, because I found myself liking the characters.

[forsaken]

Call me shallow, but Animation and Artwork make or break an anime for me. If I don't like the way it looks and enjoy watching it, I'm less likely to really get into it. Obviously there are few exceptions. After that charcacters, story and soundtrack are all important aspects that determine how great the anime is in my books. But the first impression is a hurdle that needs to be overcome and where many have failed.

It's like with dating. The first thing I look out for is physical appearance. I'm more likely to approach a girl if I find her attractive than if I don't. After that it's the character that counts, but for first contact the physicality does play it's part.

[Enzedder]

Call me shallow, but Animation and Artwork make or break an anime for me. If I don't like the way it looks and enjoy watching it, I'm less likely to really get into it. Obviously there are few exceptions. After that characters, story and soundtrack are all important aspects that determine how great the anime is in my books. But the first impression is a hurdle that needs to be overcome and where many have failed.

It's like with dating. The first thing I look out for is physical appearance. I'm more likely to approach a girl if I find her attractive than if I don't. After that it's the character that counts, but for first contact the physicality does play it's part.

+1

Artwork and characters do it for me. Specifically if they are characters with personalities that are similar to my own or to the type I like. Storyline is the next major thing with soundtrack being the last however that does not rule it out as a reason that I will watch something. If the soundtrack is really good but artwork or story isn't then I will still watch it but preference goes to Art and Characters for me.

Genre is probably the biggest though. Even before downloading a series I check the genre and if its one that I dislike then it will be put on the back burner behind others.

[Havoc10K]

Call me shallow, but Animation and Artwork make or break an anime for me. If I don't like the way it looks and enjoy watching it, I'm less likely to really get into it. Obviously there are few exceptions. After that charcacters, story and soundtrack are all important aspects that determine how great the anime is in my books. But the first impression is a hurdle that needs to be overcome and where many have failed.

It's like with dating. The first thing I look out for is physical appearance. I'm more likely to approach a girl if I find her attractive than if I don't. After that it's the character that counts, but for first contact the physicality does play it's part.

the only problem with dating and anime rating is, if you count girls sound effects, you forget anime lol

[vuzedome]

FANSERVICE!!! And Lots of it! 

What they said!!!  Fan service is great

You can never get enough of it!! 

[Fool010]

There's no need for several criteria, anime is good when it fits your tastes. There's no E=MC² for anime, no sureshot method. Even the "best" series still have a lot of shortcomings.
The most important factor is your willingness to accept those, and value them less than the parts you like.

It's not about being good, but about what you're expecting from a series. Using the same blueprint for all series because it has all that makes anime good doesn't work. Take anything good, turn it into a formula and you've got yourself a brand new crap factory.

About overarching plots ... I don't think it's necessary. I'll gladly take any well crafted oneshots, or short arcs over those bloated, bad paced, pseudo-dramatic attemps at being "epic". A story doesn't have to be all encompassing, it has to be well written, length is irrelevant in that aspect.

[Micharus]

01. Plot (boring plot, boring anime)
02. Genre (i get more sceptical if its a genre i dislike)
03. Keeping the main story through the entire serie (fillers are most oftenly crap, thats how i got sick of naruto, bleatch etc etc...)
04. Outstanding ending (this makes me remember the anime for the rest of my life)
05. being able to compare the main character with urself (this makes me more interested to continue watching)
06. Graphics (atleast the animes graphics should be fair or okay....)
07. Eyecandy (i have needs )
08. A comedy with not to much cliches (you get sick of cliches if they show it on every episode)
09. the guy shouldn't be perfect, neither the girl.
10. 24-48 Episodes (12-13 too little, over 50 is too much...)

Agreed for the most part, number 2 not so much, as I have a wide taste of genres.

Eyecandy (read as FAN SERVICE) is ok, as long as it's not overdone and preferably worked into the story in such a way as to not be IN YOUR FACE, but there if you want to look 

As little 'filler' as humanly possible. There are two episodes in the "Samurai Champloo" series that I consider filler, both of them *try* to fit 'modern' day concepts into the Edo Era. In one episode it fails, it the other it works....sort of. If you have seen the series you know which ones I'm talking about. 

[Havoc10K]

well, l think most of you will agree, a good anime needs at least one Loli !

[forsaken]

well, l think most of you will agree, a good anime needs at least one Loli !

You need a slag with big-tits for real quality anime.

[Havoc10K]

well, l think most of you will agree, a good anime needs at least one Loli !

You need a slag with big-tits for real quality anime.

a loli is a very good thing for any anime, and it doesn't need to be a main character or even a side one at that.