Art or Story? Anime Styles VS Storylines

[LunarEmpress]

There has been a long debate about which one is more valuable. In my personal opinion, the artwork displays what the story is about, though, I have seen pretty artwork with little or no storyline. I think those are good for wallpapers, but not worthwhile for entertainment. But... no matter how good the story is, I won't watch it if the art sucks... I'll just buy the text on it.

[ZZalapski]

For me, outstanding writing is better at propping up blah art than gorgeous eye candy making up for shitty plotting. Same with comic books.

[Roark]

This is a fairly recognizable chicken and egg situation.

That said, anime/manga are a visual medium, first and foremost. Quite a few shows succeed on artwork and cinematography alone - Hoshi no Koe, Angel's Egg, The Utena movie, Cat Soup... heck, live action gets away with this, too. Look at Waking Life, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Matrix, Shaolin Soccer, etc.

Then again, I'm not one of those people who requires such contrivances as plot, character, and storyline. If people want to work in the abstract, go right ahead. Art for art's sake works, and doesn't need to be held back by story. Angel's Egg is either great or terrible (pick) for that.

[KiraraKim]

Hoshi no Koe

It is interesting that you list this one as art over storyline. Personally I really enjoyed Hoshi no Koe because of the storyline. I didn't mind the art/animation but I didn't think it was anything that spectacular.

[zarahf]

While I admit that bad or low quality art can be distracting, if coupled with a good storyline it can also often be overlooked. A bad storyline, however, is likely to have me loosing interest no matter how lovely it is to look at.

[Roark]

It is interesting that you list this one as art over storyline. Personally I really enjoyed Hoshi no Koe because of the storyline. I didn't mind the art/animation but I didn't think it was anything that spectacular.
I guess the story just reminded me a bit too much of an updated Gunbuster.

[7Raven7]

Always...

Story > Animation Quality

If the story is good enough, it is very easy to forgive a company with lesser means. On the flip side, no matter how good the animation is, if the story is dull and pointless with few quality moments for the characters to capture the audience or for anything of relavence or importance to take place then it is not worth it.

Unfortunately popular opinion does not always agree with this premise as works like Ghost in the Shell get monster sales for not much more than incomprehensible concept technobabble on rollerskates.

In otherwords, animation should be the cherry on the sundae, a pleasant add that emphasises and makes for a better treat. However, I'll be damned if I'll pay $4+ at a resteraunt to be served just a merchino cherry!

[Dark Lord]

The storyline, for me, is much more important than the artwork, unless the series isn't meant to have a story, which is a completely different matter. I mean, good art is nice but it has to be backed up by a solid and entertaining plot to actually interest me. If good art is what I look for, I'd be better off in some art museum.

[Zashiki-Warashi]

I'll often look at artwork when I'm just starting an anime, but the story and/or characters have to have something worthwhile to keep me interested. As pretty as the movies Akira and Ghost in the Shell are, I find the plots of them incomprehinsible and the characters rather unimpressive. That kind of thing stops me from running to see them again.

[kyubichan]

Artwork>Storyline for me.

If it looks cool, I'll watch it. But I am very picky when it comes to anime and manga. I have my own definition of what looks "pretty" and "cool". (e.g. everyone else I know thought Gundam Seed's animation/artwork was the coolest thing since Eva, and that Kira was h@wt; I thought otherwise. I thought it was pretty bleh.)

[laborpilot86]

Anime is very similar to live-action film and comics. Its most effective when you pair good visuals and good storytelling. One element of the equation can be merely ok so long as the other element is great, however, but that is rarely accomplished

[Milkymagic]

I'm rather glad to see Spider Man didn't make an appearance in this thread...

I like hearing about the debate of productions intended as Art, because it pretty much does depend on the level of the production itself for what the better intended focus should be.

I'm a fan of Angel's Egg and Cat Soup myself, so if there's some inventive art and suggestive images that keep me thinking about them, I can toss the story out the window and immerse myself in such abstraction.

But with more straightforward pieces, even if I would love to have both, the story would have me more worried. I wasn't much into Hellsing for example, and that looked pretty nice when I think about it. And for an example of anime with not so great artwork that kept me completely interested, I thought older shows like the original Macross and Gundam 0079 were harder to immerse in visually, but kept my attention with their drama and characters respectively.

On the other flip of the coin for conventionally told anime, it never hurts to focus on the visuals, so long as there's an active storyline to compliment it, or in Gunbuster's case some quality directing.