We can’t overlook the overall execution of a series. I have mentioned several times how presentation is far more important than premises but that means jack shit for tasteless casuals. Like this classic example with Shirobako. So many like it because it is real for talking about the anime industry but it presents everything as light as it gets, with moeshit comedy.

You can also find countless examples where all it takes is to have fancy visuals. Just look at these guys calling Yozakura Quartet a hidden jem when it’s nothing more than yet another fan service piece of shit. But nope, the setting looked nice, and the visuals were pretty, so it’s a masterpiece.

And yes, you can say that is part of what makes something to have good execution but it’s just a small part of the whole and it’s very easy to miss it if you don’t look at something from a very specific angle. Like this guy, who is wondering why is Hellsing Ultimate so highly regarded by most when its story is incoherent? It’s because the story doesn’t matter, it is a cheesefest, you are supposed to have fun watching crazy stuff with cool visuals and poser characters.

So going back to Parasyte, you can find issues with it if you like, here they are, I even listed them for you.

• Dubstep music
• Weak CGI in crowds
• Repeat of the same words
• Weak philosophy
• Less interesting second half
• Killing the best characters
• Convenient outcomes towards the end

You can claim that a single one of them is enough for not enjoying the whole show, but you can’t claim all of them put together ruined what the show was going for. It wasn’t just fancy visuals, it wasn’t just an interesting premise, it wasn’t just an uncommon setting, it wasn’t just poser characters, it didn’t treat the theme as nothing more than cute girls doing cute things, and it didn’t become a trainwreck like most shows do. It’s the same things which make shows like Shinsekai Yori, Ghost in the Shell, Tatami Galaxy, and dozens more to deserve my praise.

I even went as far as calling Parasyte a deconstruction of the fighting shonen formula when confronting this filthy pleb who thinks it’s just an entertaining show and nothing more, unlike Shirobako, which is a masterpiece that comes out once a decade. It’s the same crap they were saying about Bakuman a year ago. It talks about the industry but it shows nothing about the reality of the industry.

People say I am beating a dead horse when I don’t stop making fun of certain titles. One of them is SAO, which many of you believe that everybody knows it’s bad so there is no point in repeating what everybody agrees with. And yet here I am constantly finding people defending it on reddit. The reason most, not all, anime fans know SAO is a bad series is because people like me pointed out its flaws back when it was considered a masterpiece. There are still thousands who keep trying to present it as a masterpiece, thus I am not going to stop.

With that said, the latest defense has to do with this guy not understanding why people dislike Asuna in the second arc just because she was kidnapped. It’s not her fault she is imprisoned and powerless. Abductions are something that happens all the time and it’s unreasonable to dislike the victim just for being abducted. It’s like hating a movie because it has a mountain climber as a protagonist, and you happen to be afraid of heights.

What this idiot doesn’t seem to understand is that nobody hated the premise of the abduction. They hated the way it was framed. Any premise sounds great on paper and it’s the presentation of said premise that makes all the difference. Of course and the suspension of disbelief is going to kick in if it’s too much to handle. It’s not Asuna being a damsel in distress that was making the arc bad, it’s the way she was portrayed as a trophy for men.

If the villain of this arc was not constantly treating her like a sex object while behaving like a one dimensional rapist, if she wasn’t sexually molested by tentacles when she tried to escape, if she wasn’t there as a simple objective for the protagonist, while he was constantly side tracking to increase his harem, this wouldn’t be an issue. If these things didn’t happen, the arc would be better… but still shit.

This is why you should never accept something at face value. Don’t just look at the price, look at the product as well.

A show that is not following its own premise is often considered a betrayal of trust. It’s like they are selling you a product where the package is showing something irrelevant from what the content actually is. This makes me dislike a series since it’s lying to its audience. Yet there are lots of titles which are still highly regarded despite that, as if the audience doesn’t mind being betrayed by what the show promised. Lets mention 5 examples from shows most are familiar with and yet still like a lot for some reason.

1. Naruto, one of the most popular anime in existence, and the notorious prophesy of the chosen one. It betrayed the premise of the protagonist being the underdog, the element which made tens of thousands of viewers to fall in love with him despite being an idiot, and rendered pointless everything he achieved throughout the whole series, since it was meant to happen and not because he was struggling against the odds. It even went as far as killing Neji, the person who pointed out this bullshit, so he won’t be around to expose the lies the series was feeding us with for over a decade. Everything after this reveal is a betrayal, including Boruto since it’s a natural continuation and is also doing the exact same mistake in its own chuunin exam. Why is using that chakra enhancing devise forbidden when everybody is using tools throughout the series? Why is Choji eating chakra enhancing pills ok, why is Sakura storing chakra in her forehead fine, but a machine doing the same thing is not? These bullshit contradictions are what make the entire franchise to be based on lies and proves why whoever is still enjoying it, he does it just for the eye techniques. He doesn’t give a fuck about the themes or the characterization, or the consistency of the powers, which has been destroyed by power creep a long time ago. It’s just for the eye techniques. And if any of you disagree with this, you are lying to yourselves.

The thing with the first example is that it becomes evident late in the series, after hundreds of episodes, so it doesn’t damage it until you get to that point. Lets mention another example which happened in 12 episodes after the show began and it’s also one of the most popular anime in existence.

1. The finale of Madoka Magica is essentially using a wish to fix the problem. If the big twist of the series is all about taking the silly formula of magical girls and being more mature and realistic about it, the ending betrays it by using an immature and unrealistic way to end the conflict. The movie sequel was nothing but yuri fan service and rewriting character relations, essentially undoing everything it was going for throughout the series. Anyone who likes Madoka Magica after this, does it for the pretentious overthinking, the yuri fan fiction, and the sakuga animation. He is definitely not doing it because the show is well written or has great character development. And if any of you disagree with this, you are lying to yourselves.

The thing with the second example is that it becomes evident in the finale, so it doesn’t damage it until you get to that point. Lets mention another example which happened in 8 episodes after the show began, way before anywhere close to its ending, and it’s also one of the most popular anime in existence.

1. Attack on Titan and the infamous Eren was a titan. It betrayed the premise of humanity trying to survive by using speed and wits against an enemy that is huge and mindless. It became mystery bait and rule of cool about people turning to titans and punching each other, while the impossible to defeat titans became cannon fodder before a bunch of steampunk spidermen. Not only that, it lied about not having any plot armor, since the protagonist and his close friends survive all the time. And even late in the series, the whole humanity is in the verge of extinction was betrayed as well, since this is just an island and countless people live in comfort beyond the sea. It’s a self parody of the initial premise at this point, and anyone who is still watching it, does it because he wants to theorycraft a bunch of bullshit and see some damn titan shifters goddammit. And if any of you disagree with this, you are lying to yourselves.

The thing with the third example is that it still takes some episodes to betray its premise, so it doesn’t damage it until you get to that point. Lets mention another example which happened in the first 3 episodes after the show began. It’s a perpetually on-going fighting shonen, that is currently the most hyped in said genre.

1. My Hero Academia starts with the premise of the protagonist not having any superpowers yet wanting to become a hero. The premise is betrayed when he is given a superpower. And yes, it is a betrayal as we can clearly see from the very title. The show is not called my Superhero Academia, and there is no rule that forbids people with no superpowers to enter it. Furthermore, why do you need superpowers in order to become a hero? Heroism is defined by what you do, not what special power you are using. The protagonist should have been Batman, the only guy in Justice League that doesn’t have superpowers, defeats his opponents with stealth, cunningness, or intellect, and is the most interesting of the bunch. What makes him special is not having superpowers, yet being a hero amongst superheroes. But no, the show goes for the mundane “get superpowers like everybody else, and become one of the same as everybody else”. Heroism has nothing to do with that. Let’s face it, anyone who likes the series does it because as far as fighting shonen go, there is nothing better airing at the moment. Even a mediocrity seems amazing compared to Fairy Tail. Other than that, Naruto was ten times better than this and Naruto is shit. That is the only reason you hype it and if any of you disagree with this, you are lying to yourselves.

The thing with the fourth example is that it still took a couple of episodes to betray its premise, so it doesn’t damage it until you get to that point. Lets mention another example which happened right in the very beginning and yet it’s one of the most lovable cartoons of the previous decade.

1. Samurai Jack betrays its own premise from the very opening theme. If you know the objective is to go back to the past and erase the future the bad guy has created, what is the point of helping out people in said future? What is the point of caring about any of them dying or surviving, if they are all going to be erased regardless of what happens? The entire series is about the protagonist wasting his time with characters who don’t matter, and even refusing to enter portals going back the past just so he can help some nobodies. Zero tension, zero point, betrayal in the very first episode. The only reason many hyped the series was because of nostalgia, and because it’s art for the sake of art so you are not allowed to criticize it. The nerve you got when you say that. This is the bitter truth and if any of you disagree with this, you are lying to yourselves.