Thread: Pretentious mangas

This can be called completely pointless, but I'm interested. Which would you say is the most pretentious of all the mangas you've read? Animes count, too, of course.

For definition (number 1; a and b): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretentious

Now... I found Code Geass to be horribly pretentious and I know many here will hate me for that. I just found the story to be flat, the dialogues inflated with self-importance and the characters bland. The setting was nothing but silly.

Although pretentious, it still managed to be enjoyable, I guess it deserves credit for that at least.

Angel Sanctuary, possiby. Hmm. Have to think. I don't tend to stick with pretentious unless it looks like the author has a chance of pulling it off.

Ever read Akuma Na Eros. Its fairly pretentious and downright strange to boot.

Neon Genesis Evangelion. Thread over.

Apart from that I'd have to say that any anime film directed by Mamoru Oshii post 1992 is a (very)poor man's lecture on philosphy/political science. I don't know if he had a mid-life crisis or what but after that all the enjoyment and fluidity of his films went straight out the window. Patlabor 2, GITS, GITS 2? They all have the same verbose, dragging style of direction and are chock-full of unconvincing speaches and even less convincing plot twists. Take Patlabor 2 for example, he clearly knew the characters and dynamics he was working with, yet he still decided to throw almost all character interaction and dialogue out the window. What the flying fuck was he thinking?! The result is a pretentious and wholly unbelievable product.

Evangelion is pretentious, but it has its shining moments, too. I have some bad premonitions about the remake, though. It could be true unawesomeness with good animation. I always say that FLCL is superior.

The Final Fantasy Unlimited (if I remember the name correctly) anime was also extremely stupid, generic and pretentious. But it is barely a footnote, though.

I would say Ergo Proxy =/

Now mangas I can't think of just yet; but, anime? No problem.

I have to say, hands down, explosion, and then a pointy neon stick at ...

*drumroll*

...

X!
If there was ever a movie I regreted watching, and seriously, I enjoyed the hell out of a lot of stuff other people would turn their noses up at.
X is by far the most annoying, pretentious, "what the hell did I just watch?" of them all.

EDIT: It wasn't just bad though, noooo.... It was like eye-scraping, sulfur dripping, gut-decimating, self-obsessed, seemingly self-destructing, gonad grindingly bad.
I died a little inside after watching that...Died... That part of me never healed and to this day it rots within my bowels like a rusty blade that cuts me ever deeper with each day and every motion I make.
Oh...had I not watched X. What a life I could have led. Do not follow me down this foggy road without a single side path. No, remember me as I was, long before I reached the end; and felt my way along the brick wall that encompassed all my vision when the road traveled no further. Ney, do not join my horror in the realization that my very movements caused my strange transition through the wall and into a world in which I will never escape.


Sometimes at night...I wake up in a panic driven sweat. Eyes still searching for the way out of this kaleidoscopic hell I've driven myself into. I have nothing anymore, save the sound of children crying in my ears when no other sound can be heard. Not even the very wails of my lamentation are found by my ears. I know of no comfort anymore. I simply lie here, face first against the wall: waiting, scratching, hoping...rotting; and I think to myself........X.

Seriously, totally didn't find it to be a pleasant experience.

You know, now that I've been thinking about it, I think this is precisely the problem with Oh!GREAT's stories (specifically, Tenjou Tenge and Air Gear). He's got a good art style, the makings of a great shounen sports/action story, but he has to go and add in all these extra philosophical and angst-driven backstories which mess up the flow. Not that I mind philosophical and angsty backstories to sports/action mangas (compare Touch or Katsu, for example), but Oh!GREAT's explanations make about as much sense as the local compost heap. And that just smacks of pretension to being seen as "a deep, character-driven" mangaka. If all you've got is style, then STICK to style and don't try to add in substance.

-Dizzy-

Hmm.. I rather could name some books, but manga?

Alichino is quite pretentious or... Stigma!! of course.

Full Metal Alchemist.