Regarding the "Popcorn" Anime

[solidbatman]

American movies sometimes get the label of "popcorn flick." Typically, these are summer blockbusters that are pumped full of action with very little story, or a simplistic story. Some of these type of movies include, Die Hard, Independence Day, Pacific Rim, Transformers, Avengers, etc. In other words, these are just fun action films that don't really require much thought from the viewer to enjoy. 

 

I was marathoning Aldnoah.Zero last night to get caught up, and found myself regretting the fact I had to wait until next week for the next episode. Iy hit me then that this was a perfect example of a "popcorn" anime. Something I wanted to turn my mind off to, and just watch. It has great action, simple characters (in a good way. They have easy to understand motivations), an awesome soundtrack, and plenty of cliff hangers. 

 

These type of anime are hardly masterpieces, but they do have an incredibly high fun factor that gives them such high review marks for the most part. You can easily ignore plot holes and flaws if the show is incredibly fun to watch. Aldnoah.Zero is one of those shows. It isn't the best thing I've ever seen, but holy crap is it a lot of fun to watch.

 

Some other examples of  what I consider to be "Popcorn" Anime:

 

Code Geass

Death Note

Mirai Nikki

Bodacious Space Pirates

Space Battleship Yamato 2199

 

 

What anime would you classify under this made up genre of mine? 

[Fiddle]

I think a good example is shows that include cute girls doing mildly interesting things. Lucky Star, Yuyushiki, Yuru Yuri.

 

But are you sure Death Note is a "popcorn" anime? It was pretty involved, and required attention to understand what was going on. Though somehow, I agree with you on Code Geass; to me, that show was just a constant stream of various entertaining shizzle happening. -_-

[solidbatman]

I think a good example is shows that include cute girls doing mildly interesting things. Lucky Star, Yuyushiki, Yuru Yuri.

 

But are you sure Death Note is a "popcorn" anime? It was pretty involved, and required attention to understand what was going on. Though somehow, I agree with you on Code Geass; to me, that show was just a constant stream of various shizzle happening. -_-

I don't know. With Death Note, you really didn't need to pay attention as everything was explained through monologues. Didn't require you to figure it out. 

[Nosebleed]

I agree with Death Note, it was all explained thoroughly, you didn't need to think for yourself all that much.

Although some people really enjoy to think for themselves and predict stuff before it happens.

 

Let's see..

 

Kill la Kill (beat everyone up until you eventually get to the bad guys, no further thoughts needed)

Tenggen Toppa Gurren Lagann (Robot rights, cool characters, eventually they save the world with more robots, it's shallow but enjoyable)

Date A Live (get girls, beat bad guys, save the world, you're too interested in the cute girls to care for the rest)

Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai (A better execution of the above)

Highschool DxD (The power of boobs will lead me to victory in battle)

[FruitsPunchSamurai]

Gantz. Blowing up aliens and watching their guts spill is so much fun.

[The Major]

Black Lagoon? Plenty of action with some fun moments and interesting characters. The whole show feels like a big action flick to me and doesn't really have a complex story that requires any attention.

[Yukiru]

I don't know why, but K-on came to mind, anyway.

 

Hmm... every mecha anime I've watched so far.

[solidbatman]

I don't know why, but K-on came to mind, anyway.

 

Hmm... every mecha anime I've watched so far.

I think mecha easily becomes this simply because you can't have a mecha anime without the crazy action. That said, not every mecha becomes popcorn anime ie. NGE, RahXephon

[krill]

mirai nikki ? really bats? that aside, id say buso renkin, bakkuman, and genshiken. one action , one slice of life/romance, and one otaku self parody.

[Down]

Usually, I think of popcorn anime as being stuff that doesn't make any sense. Like bad but extremely funny bad and somehow entertaining. Stuff like Guilty Clown, Valvrape or Nobunaga the Fail.

 

Otherwise as we can see in this thread, 90% of all anime end up in the category. Few anime develop a complex story and require thought, and that's not necessary for it to be good or to be discussed (I consider TTGL to be a masterpiece).

[solidbatman]

Usually, I think of popcorn anime as being stuff that doesn't make any sense. Like bad but extremely funny bad and somehow entertaining. Stuff like Guilty Clown, Valvrape or Nobunaga the Fail.

 

Otherwise as we can see in this thread, 90% of all anime end up in the category. Few anime develop a complex story and require thought, and that's not necessary for it to be good or to be discussed (I consider TTGL to be a masterpiece).

I still think that a popcorn anime is actually more rare than that, at least how I classify it. Not all anime without a complex story or characters seem to work. A degree of adictiveness is needed too. The show makes you want to marathon it. For example, High School of the Dead requires literally zero thought from the viewer. However, I never considered it a pop corn anime because it was something i didn't feel the need to marathon or enjoy as a long stretch. 

[Narcosis]

INB4 people tagging almost every single action-oriented anime as popcorn flick.