[Maxi]

What do you think creates a masterpiece? Scenery, Voices, plot, etc?

Well for me i think it takes
1. Plot (if the story has no plot then its not a story worth watching)
2. Voices (you cant give a young boy a voice of an old man)
3. The Atmosphere (setting is a definite for me)

What about you??

(Sorry for my long hiatus, i missed you guys though!!!)

[lazyjackass]

I think it takes:
1. Great Artwork: Even if the story is super good, I won't watch it unless the artwork is good.
2. Plot: Every Story Needs a good plot to keep you hooked.
3. Voices: The voices are essential to convey the type of atmosphere the story is trying to get across.

[Anvica]

Since your avatar is Sunohara, I'm assuming you've seen Clannad, which is a masterpiece in my opinion.
Stories were made to serve as purposes of entertainment as well as education.
Hence I would say the morals that you learn from the way a character develops throughout a plot like how Clannad was.
Voices are a bonus, I actually admire the way particular characters come to life with good interpretations of the character from adaptations like manga and the like with a good voice actor, but I wouldn't say that is required of a masterpiece. Katanagatari at least had an awesome voice actor for the main character, which was previously not popular.
Some stories revolutionise the conventions of traditional plot by having the reader play a huge part in the main character's ambition. (I would recommend The Saga of Darren Shan to everyone btw)
In short, anything that lets me think of things in a new light; experiments with settings and characters shown through plot (such as Baccano, seeing how people use their immortality) or perhaps highlights the finer points of life, is a plus in my books.

[grimes123abc]

All your points are spot on, but I think the most vital thing (and often most neglected thing) is original/intriguing/fleshed out characters. Heroes, villains, secondary characters, dead people, all of them.

Anime is one of the few mediums that can pass by with average characters... but it's the characters that usually separate the best from the bullshit (think of how many villains are just evil for the sake of being evil and heroes that are good for the sake of being good).

And when you think about it, everything comes down to the characters.

PLOT just represents what characters want and why. When what they want collides with what someone else wants, we're given conflict. When a characters succeeds or fails we're given resolution (although 75% of anime fails at this).

So to sum it up:

1. Originality/Creativity -- in all aspects (characters, plot, setting, etc). However, it needs to blend the familiar with the original... otherwise it becomes alienating.
2. Characters -- especially villains.
a) Plot -- fleshed out heroes and villains to drive the plot.
b) Setting -- needs to effect the characters, otherwise what's the point? The Matrix wouldn't work in the middle ages now would it?
3. Theme -- what the story is about. Like Anvica said, entertainment as well as education.
4. Tone -- it's a fine art to go from comedy to super serious in the blink of an eye. Even if it is a dark comedy.
5. Everything needs to work together and serve a purpose -- fillers need to be punishable by death.

Although superficial, since anime is a visual medium, high production value is a must. I personally struggle to watch anime older than 5-10 years... pathetic, I know

[Maxi]

you guys are making me feel bad because my description isn't as elaborate...... (-_-)
i really didn't go into depth of what creates a masterpiece of an anime, i really didn't think it was this complicated. Now i will think and come back!

[Voxyn]

Nobody is going to mention the soundtrack?
It's vital to have music that gets the blood pumping when there's action, or makes you feel down when the characters' face setbacks and compliments a scene with humour.

For example, FMA just wouldn't be the same to me without the full orchestra like music.
It's brilliant.

[Hifumiyo]

mm....
A masterpieces for one person may not be for another.
Imho Clannad is not a masterpiece xD

1-Empathy/Emotion:I personally think the ease at which viewers can empathise with the charaters is most important; the plot/story/whatever is useless if it doesn't come across correctly if it is misinterpreted or is not believable. You probably can't get everyone to empathise with all of your characters/scenes but I is always possible to get your target audience. Although this is part of the seiyu's/musician's job, but i think it's more important that the author/director gets it right.

2-Development/Progression:After all you can only look forward to what is to come, so this is self explanitory. Long animes like bleach and naruto fail because they delay the progression with fillers while short animes like FLCL and Elfen Lied are renowned as some of the best of their kind due to their quick and well thought of progressions. Obviously there are exceptions to the length, but it requires real skill to think of and implent many decent ideas.

3-The Name:Name it something stupid like bobobobobobobobo etc. and it'll never be recognised by the masses.

ofcourse none of this matters if you get the wrong target audience at the wrong time.

Enjoy the wall of text *yawn*

[Maxi]

Originally Posted by Voxyn

Nobody is going to mention the soundtrack?
It's vital to have music that gets the blood pumping when there's action, or makes you feel down when the characters' face setbacks and compliments a scene with humour.

For example, FMA just wouldn't be the same to me without the full orchestra like music.
It's brilliant.

Your right, if it wasn't for Clannad's music i wouldn't of really fell in love with the anime (my fav is Dango Daikazoku). Looks like a lot of stuff goes into it.......... (why can't i think of a good one)

Originally Posted by Hifumiyo

2-Development/Progression:After all you can only look forward to what is to come, so this is self explanitory. Long animes like bleach and naruto fail because they delay the progression with fillers while short animes like FLCL and Elfen Lied are renowned as some of the best of their kind due to their quick and well thought of progressions. Obviously there are exceptions to the length, but it requires real skill to think of and implent many decent ideas.

Although i do see what your saying about length that is the EXACT reason i stop watching bleach. FLCL was a great anime, just think if it took 302+ episodes to sum up what FLCL did in 6.
PS: Elfen Lied Scares ME!!!!!!!!!!
great point I commend you for that~

[Ooblagato]

The number one thing for any master piece is the characters, with a story with strong characters alone can make any anime a success. To me a good character is someone who acts reasonably from their perspective.

Second would be the plot. While there are some successful animes that get by with nearly no plot (lucky star) it is nearly impossible to make a masterpiece without an interesting plot.

One of the more obvious but equally important things would be the setting, the setting will set the basis for why your characters are acting the way they do, if your character is using a sword to fight rather than a gun the setting better allow for a sword to be comparable to a gun and not just everyone can't hit them for some random reason.

Other than that so long as the animation quality is good and there aren't any particularly annoying voice actors you can have a high end anime.



Having seen over 100 different series I've only found 4 anime that I can really consider to be masterpieces; Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Spice And Wolf, Code Geass, and Shakugan no Shana.

[DaywalkeR]

In my opinion, the order should be:
1- Artwork
2- Characters
3- Plot
4- Voices
5- Soundtracks/OPs/EDs