How Realistic Do We Want Our Anime to Be?

Summary:

• Anime is often notorious for being unrealistic and over-the-top.
• The lack of realism makes battle sequences more dynamic.
• Realism is important when it comes to the story and characters, though.

If you're a fan of battle shounens, then you probably don't even understand the meaning of “realistic anime.” But trust us, it exists, and even has its fans.

Realism is not usually the thing we watch anime for, we have real life and other types of media for that, and there are a big number of fans who actually enjoy the crazy and sometimes insane vibe that anime can provide. But there are exceptions, of course.

It depends on the genre

If we go back to battle shounens, probably we can all agree that realism is not a must. Just remember how many times Jujutsu Kaisen or Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) characters fell from a significant height or were thrown into a stone wall with great force.

No real person would have survived that, but this is what makes anime fights so dynamic and interesting. We don't want the fights to be super realistic, we want them to be breathtaking and packed with action.

However, when we're not talking about fight sequences, realism has a lot of advantages.

Viewers should believe the story

It's obvious that stories have to be believable. Even those that have monsters, titans, cursed spirits or demons. Realism is very important for character emotions and motivation, otherwise you just won't care for and relate to them.

What if Vinland Saga's Thorfinn decided to kill the mercenaries just on a whim instead of being driven by the desire to avenge his father? It would have seemed stupid and completely out of nowhere.

That's why sudden story developments may raise a lot of questions among fans. Like, for example, the recent episode of Solo Leveling (Ore dake Level Up na Ken), where the main protagonist went from the weakest to the strongest in just one episode.

Romance anime are usually more realistic than fantasy ones or battle shounens, but even then fans crave for more.

Some couples start feeling something for each other almost instantly (this season's A Sign of Affection is a nice example) and some take time to build the connection between the characters, like in 7th Time Loop (also this season's, by the way).

And both need realism and explanation. For example, A Sign of Affection is a wonderful series, don't get us wrong, but Yuki and Itsuomi's attraction happened almost instantly, without any explanation. While in 7th Time Loop Rishe and Arnold's relationship morphs into something bigger with each part of the story.

So basically what we're trying to say is that balance is the most important thing. When it comes to a well-written story and character motivations, realism matters a lot, but when we're talking about epic battles and anime-typical grandiosity, we're ready to forget about a couple of unrealistic moments.