LogFAQs > #967661978

MacArrowny posted...

I make a totally arbitrary and inconsistent distinction in my mind between "depressing" and "sad."

I definitely get this, I have lots of arbitrary distinctions too. I mostly share yours, at least if I'm understanding it right. I have several tearjerker anime ranked high that I'd classify as sad, not depressing.

For bleak or grim anime in particular, one of the things that makes or breaks it for me is if it's just used for shock value or if it has a logical foundation in the setting. Something like Hanebado I view as bad because it's being so bleak and torturous about... badminton. MGRP has their lives on the line and there's magical justification for it, so I'm a lot more forgiving of the characters going through hell.

As much as I don't like depressing anime, I have at least one that ranks really high! It's just an increasingly tough needle to thread to get that high, at least for me. Depressing anime need to be depressing in the exact kind of ways I like. Meanwhile I can enjoy the most mindless CGDCT with no problem.