Anime better than Breaking Bad?

Deadmed

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Breaking Bad is considered the best live action show ever made and puts pretty much every other western tv show to shame. But for the most part, I think anime is more creative, emotionally deep, and less corny than the live action tv shows I see on TV. Usually the acting is sub par compared to classic movies and they try way too hard to be dark and edgy and kind of fall flat because its never actually that shocking and its badly executed, camera angles are always boring and dialogue is stale and boring, characters have no personality and are hardly likable. Breaking Bad is an exception, it was actually good. But imo great anime, like Fullmetal Alchemist (especially first half of the original series), Ghost in the Shell, Monster, NGE and End of Evangelion, Naruto part 1 and the best parts of Shippuden especially everything from Hidan to Pain massacring leaf village (honestly Naruto gets a bad rep because of its mainstream status in United States, it is a phenomenon for a reason), Hunter x Hunter, the good arcs of One Piece, and probably some that I haven't seen yet, all have really heavy themes and great execution, art direction, camera angles, soundtracks, interesting characters, great tension and plot twists and creative settings.

The concept of exploring the drug world is a big thing BB has going for it because it's a really gritty and realistic topic, but it's not like anime shies from that, hell Zabuza was hired as an assasin by a drug lord, Naruto has tons of child death, abuse and genocide (Uchiha, Kaguya clan) it's honestly a very dark anime. Part 2 didn't handle the world as gritty and realistic as part 1, even Naruto himself was a grittier and more realistic character, it's a damn shame. Also Orochimaru was a fascinating villain, as was the mysterious Itachi.

The first half of the first FMA anime had a more realistic take on the personalities of Arakawa's characters, characters like Barry the Chopper were made to be more demented and realistic, showing him as a human and showing the butchered corpses of his victims, Nina's fate was more disturbing with added character development and how her dog form died was more disturbing in the alleyway splattered against a wall. I don't remember if it was in brotherhood but I found it a powerful scene with Roy attempting to commit suicide with a gun to find it was out of ammo. The philosophy behind human experimentation and the human condition is explored in more depth as well, it's less focused on plot and more on the characters and them coping with their broken lives.

NGE explores extremely dark themes, and does so in a mature and no punches pulled fashion. ***, suicide, pedophilia, trauma, adult relationships, it's all there in stark detail, and its executed in a way that really gets to you, great animation, camera angles, voice acting, and realistic adult and teenage character personalities. The final movie is a masterpiece on a technical and artistic level, and really makes you question how we're all connected to each other as social creatures.

I think the best anime has to offer>the best live action western tv has to offer.
 

Ansatsuken

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This kind of comparison is new to me
 

Meee

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I prefer TV shows, I feel anime is more corny, edgy one tbh.

Only Death Note can hang.
 

Deadmed

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I prefer TV shows, I feel anime is more corny, edgy one tbh.

Only Death Note can hang.

you must watch dubs then, Death Note wasn't even that good, failed to make me care about any of the characters. TV shows seem try hard to me, anime seems more natural in its execution and not forced. The characters in live action are so bland it hurts.
 

Cfighter

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Maybe its just me, but anime will never compare to Breaking Bad. While anime may often at times be far prettier to look at, in nearly every case anime faults itself by adhering to the cliches of itself. Even the best anime fails at surpassing the eye rolling tropes such as fan service (girls with large cleavage for no reason, etc) and the general sense of grandiose that anime shows seemingly have to take because they can with animation (what I mean is most things have to be way over the top and exaggerated).

And while it may seem like I'm picking on what makes animation, well animation, thats basically what Im getting at. Breaking Bad was so great not because of the absolute brilliant writing, the great performances, and astonishing attention to continuity and detail - it was the realistic approach to being set in the real world, with real world physics and limitations. It grounds it in a plane of existence that you can connect with instantaneously and that is something anime can and never will be able to achieve.
 

Bling Kai

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Anime is not the only medium that can bring deep emotions and creativity. I highly disagree with you. I also find the anime community highly overrated it when comparing it to other mediums of entertainment as though its on a unreachable level of quality which is a laughable notion.
 
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iNotorious

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Tbh the only shows that I liked from western TV are smallville, 24 hours and the first season of the walking dead. Everything is just meh.

Anime imo is better.
 

Deadmed

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Maybe its just me, but anime will never compare to Breaking Bad. While anime may often at times be far prettier to look at, in nearly every case anime faults itself by adhering to the cliches of itself. Even the best anime fails at surpassing the eye rolling tropes such as fan service (girls with large cleavage for no reason, etc) and the general sense of grandiose that anime shows seemingly have to take because they can with animation (what I mean is most things have to be way over the top and exaggerated).

And while it may seem like I'm picking on what makes animation, well animation, thats basically what Im getting at. Breaking Bad was so great not because of the absolute brilliant writing, the great performances, and astonishing attention to continuity and detail - it was the realistic approach to being set in the real world, with real world physics and limitations. It grounds it in a plane of existence that you can connect with instantaneously and that is something anime can and never will be able to achieve.

Bullshit, watch Monster, Perfect Blue, Grave of the Fireflies, Wolf Brigade and tell me those don't exist in a plane of existence that is realistic. And that's ****ing retarded to say it needs to have a realistic premise to be good, you can have a fantasy world and still have realistic characters with real human emotions and relatable themes. Hell watch the new anime Erased, it has suspension of disbelief elements, but the world itself is the normal world and the themes faced by the protagonist are realistic and grounded in reality. There's nothing wrong with anime being grandiose and high fantasy/sci-fi as long as it still has a good story and doesn't pull punches when it comes to mature themes and violence, but there's plenty of examples of anime that don't have fantastic settings or exaggerated plots.
 
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Deadmed

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It's like comparing chalk and cheese.

hardly, most anime is drama with death and heavy themes just like american tv. Some of it is hokey and dismissible like um Dragon Ball Super, others are great.
 

LBeezy

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I agree with this.

Certain anime have completely better stories than ANYTHING I've seen with real human actors.. such as t.v. shows and even movies..

There are some movies (especially ones that are like trilogies or 8 movies [Harry Potter. Lol] etc.) that are amazing stories that I do hold high up on the list though. Don't get me wrong.

But certain anime are just better stories IMO..


One Piece for example is my all time favorite story. Ever. I think it's better than any movie, book, show, comic, manga, anime, etc.. anything. It is, to me, the best story ever.

Other examples are some that have already been mentioned.. like FMA.
Naruto pt. 1


But a few I'd like to mention that have really good stories, that I find better than t.v. shows are..

Cowboy Bebop (for real! One of the best!)
Sword of the stranger (a movie)
Samurai X (a Rurouni Kenshin movie. And if you have not seen it. I swear it's an excellent story as well)

Bottom line is, I do agree with this thread.


Oh and EVERY arc in One Piece is a "good arc" ;)
 

Cfighter

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Bullshit, watch Monster, Perfect Blue, Grave of the Fireflies, Wolf Brigade and tell me those don't exist in a plane of existence that is realistic. And that's ****ing retarded to say it needs to have a realistic premise to be good, you can have a fantasy world and still have realistic characters with real human emotions and relatable themes. Hell watch the new anime Erased, it has suspension of disbelief elements, but the world itself is the normal world and the themes faced by the protagonist are realistic and grounded in reality. There's nothing wrong with anime being grandiose and high fantasy/sci-fi as long as it still has a good story and doesn't pull punches when it comes to mature themes and violence, but there's plenty of examples of anime that don't have fantastic settings or exaggerated plots.

You clearly misinterpreted what I said. At not point did I say shows need a realistic premise to be good - I merely said a show grounded in realism (for some people, that means adhering to real world laws of physics for example) is easier for people to latch onto.

Most people enjoy Breaking Bad because it presents how an ordinary, average Joe can achieve so much with so little. It also isn't afraid to go places most shows don't (not saying anime doesn't go to those places as well).

Anime however, while may be dark and realistic - LARGELY exploits it's animation capabilities and a lot of things aren't as grounded as a live action show like Breaking Bad. Again, because I fear you will misinterpret what Im saying here, I am not saying this is a negative. I am merely noting that with some stories this may not be the best approach. Anime often utilizes elements that are either full-blown Fantasy, or are borderline Fantasy - and in some cases this may work against the show (no matter how good the show is) to quickly pull audiences in and have them latch onto characters.

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What you are essentially are saying in your post is that most Western TV shows suffer from being live action (uninteresting dialogue, flat camera angles, etc). But thats the thing, those are the rules they have to live by because they are live action. If you're looking at those core elements alone, of course anime - and really, any animated form of entertainment - will be superior because they transcend those rules. And I don't think that's a very fair argument as to why A > B.

Breaking Bad is for all intent and purposes, an anomaly. It had production value up the ass, had absolutely brilliant writing AND acting, and somehow managed to pull it all off without very many flaws. But it still had very strict rules with that it could do, while anime does not. Im not arguing that Breaking Bad > your favorite anime, but I am saying to claim that anime as a whole vs one anomaly is a little stacked and a little unfair.
 
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Nobel

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Anime better than Breaking bad? seriously? I never thought someone would overrate breaking bad this much.
 

Jack Spicer

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BB was amazing.

Death Note is just as good, if not better than it. I don't watch a lot of anime, but DN is seriously some top quality entertainment.
 

Torche

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Easy: Cory in the House.
 
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