Favourite Series for a genre/demographic you generally don't like?

[Captain Cadaver]

It's safe to say most of us have genres or demographics we don't like on average. However, are there any exceptions to your rule?

For me...

Ashita no Joe (Sports) - I generally don't like the sports genre as the stakes tend to be far below surface level and lead to it being hard to provide a character with permanent development when most series of the genre tend to focus so much on the sport itself compared to the characters playing it. AnJ, however, is the greatest exception to this with each match having a purpose in the plot, carrying genuine repercussions to all characters involved and the way in which the characters are affected by the sport allowing for genuinely great character development. It's because of this that despite being one of the first Sports series, it still remains the best.

Haibane Renmei (Slice of Life) - Slice of Life is for the most part a disengaging genre unless it has something else to facilitate it and provide it focus. Haibane manages to remain far more than Slice of Life through its fantasy elements and great theme exploration on life's meaning and importance.

Rose of Versailles (Shoujo) - Given Shoujo series tend to have far too much of a focus on appealing to people on an emotional scale or being filled with cliche romance due to the target audience, it obviously isn't a demographic that appeals to me. Whilst Rose of Versailles has a lot of focus on romance and characters being overly emotional, it works here due to the romances leading to complications due to their political importance and the characters genuinely being interesting enough for their emotional conflicts to be engaging. The setting also works well in this aspect, since seeing all these events unfold in the years leading up to the French Revolution is far more interesting than if you told a similar story in a modern day setting.

Princess Tutu (Mahou Shoujo) - What I don't like about Mahou Shoujo is pretty much the same as Shoujo, with the addition of almost all of them boiling down to contrived power ups based on things such as power of love/friendship essentially making them the female equivalent of most bottom tier Battle Shonen. Princess Tutu is an exception for several reasons. It's a deconstruction of the genre that serves to make its cast far more than the archetypes they begin as, the true villain is far more than we're initially lead to believe, the battles actually have choreography rather than just people shooting magic at each other and the theme exploration on things such as the masses wanting mediocrity over creativity or the effects of a damaging relationship being very well done.

 

[Kyo]

I can’t elaborate on these too much right now but here’s some stuff.

Kare Kano (Shoujo romance) - Manga specifically as I’ve not yet watched the anime. The anime is directed by Hideaki Anno, so I was intrigued as to what might’ve compelled him to agree to work on this. Much like FMA is to shounen (though, this isn’t a comparison I enjoy making, nor is it one I even see often in general — it’s just an easy one to make right now), this one still plays some tropes straight (especially at the beginning), it’s still melodramatic in areas, and it gets a little caught up in a bit of corny preaching/monologuing/what have you. It stands out though for its early romantic developments, managing a large cast of characters fairly well by allotting appropriate to their development, and such. The characters have flaws which are treated as such, and while being emotionally charged I never found it to be eyerolly or emotionally “”manipulative”” i.e. it didn’t feel phony/cheesy to me like other shoujos might. The plot was generally good (it’s got a high school setting so it is what it is — certainly some chapters spent on mundane stuff, sorry fam), few issues but yeah I thought it did well. I’m curious to see what Anno did with the series, supposed terrible conclusion aside.

Prison School (Ecchi) - I struggle to even consider ecchi a genre to begin with, especially since the ‘good’ ones seem to be good because of elements from other genres e.g. comedy, but generally I just give in to the internet’s genre tags and let it be. Prison School is very funny, and a lot of its successful humor stems from its creative use of its ecchi aspects. There’s a plot that I think can be called consistent and logical. It’s absurd, but it’s consistent and the absurdity is supported by absurd logic that surely makes sense in some madman’s head (e.g. mine).

Code Geass (Mecha) - PSYCH, that shit blows. I don’t even consider it a ‘mecha’ show but it’s always recommended as a mecha show for people who hate mechas so there’s your joke.

Honestly I don’t think there’s a lot of genres I can’t stomach. Battle shounens I currently dislike just because they’re played out for me. Typical shoujo stuff just isn’t for me (including magical girls). Romance in general is fair game but I’m immediately skeptical of harems. I’ve usually found mecha stuff to be dull but that was probably just my age back then and I never really gave them a fair shake recently. That’s probably about it.

 

[SSJ2]

Ashita no Joe

 

[Let's Go Fearless!]

Maison Ikkoku: Not a fan of romance but with Rumiko's Takahashi's humour it makes a good combination to me. A woman is a widow at a young age and the protagonist is a college student? Not in my taste but like I said RK handled it very well.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

I struggle to even consider ecchi a genre to begin with

That's a major reason I didn't include it, since the subjective nature on how much fanservice or a sexual tone counts to make something an ecchi beyond the average examples is quite hard to quantify.

I guess the one ecchi/harem I like qould be Gou Dere Bishoujo Nagihara Sora, though even that's pretty average overall and just stands out as a self-aware parody of the two genres.

Other than that, there's definitely no harem series I like, except maybe School Days slightly in the sense it's the only one that treat the act realistically. You could also make the argument of NGE's early and mid section being a deconstruction of harem comedies in some ways or HnK having reverse harem elements due to Yuria, but that's a reeeal stretch to make when both are very minor elements of the shows.

 

[SSJ2]

Tf is harm?

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Tf is harm?

Harem refers to a series in which the majority of the female cast serve as a love interest to the protagonist, whether their love is requited or not, with the opposite (1 girl attracting all the guys) being a reverse harem. Most low effort ecchi series fall into this category.

As expected, the genre is as it's almost always just empowerment fantasy for beta losers. Bastard!! is the only exception in that regard due to also being a dark fantasy action series with a manly meng as its protagonist.

 

[SSJ2]

 

[Kyo]

I struggle to even consider ecchi a genre to begin with

Other than that, there's definitely no harem series I like, except maybe School Days slightly in the sense it's the only one that treat the act realistically.

I’d forgotten about School Days. I have a lot of other issues with its plot but I’d probably include it as well. But yeah not much else.