For the same reason karate=super powers; it seems dramatic and cool on paper then nobody realized how retarded it looks until the show airs.

Yeah, I can understand that. Understand it in that I see how the mistake could be made, but I do not condone it. >8( I'll never forgive them.

Because drama = awesome, somehow.

Drama does equal awesome, but only if you do it right. Dx Buncha hacks...

Also, every Anime that involves fighting revolves around it entirely. Everything is decided with a contest of skill, which amounts to headbutting into each other like big-horned rams.

Yeah, you'd think that somebody would have the ability to make it just a teensy bit deeper than that. =/ Fighting is all fine, and good, but why can't the Japanese just make it semi-realistic once in a while?

Because it's Japan.

Point conceded.

and china is guilty of this too.

I did not know that. I don't think I've ever seen Chinese shows.

It was only half redundant. >_> I do wonder why they do it, 'cause it's stupid, but I feel like there's no good reason. Just kinda venting I suppose.

I don't think they'd do it if they knew it was stupid. xD Maybe Japanese people just like their cheesy, over the top melodrama served up in a different way than us.

This is why I loved the one scene from Threaded Fates where they actually made it somewhat decent. The heroes are running down a service tunnel, and their partner ended up telling them to go on, that he'd catch up, when in reality he wouldn't. He ended up piling up bodies and making a makeshift barricade. Held back the enemy for a good few minutes, more than enough to provide an actual advantage to the hero, before a single M203 round took out the entire fleshy construction. I do have to say, it also had one of the best hero deaths ever in that scene.

As for Naruto(and similar shows), the final stand more of a plot device to pull audience emotions toward that character. It worked well when series began using it(back in the 80's at the start of anime), however overuse has turned it into a cliche. Anime has really crumpled to nothing over time. :C

Yeah, something like that would be good, because it's not as if the enemy just decided to give up the chase, and fight one guy. They HAD to take him out before they could continue pursuit, as there was no way to get around him in the tunnel. That makes sense. Now I want to see Threaded Fates. Got a link, or something?

I kinda have to agree with you. Anime does seem to be going downhill. Especially any anime that runs on and on. Those are always the most popular ones though, because they bring them to America, and milk them forever. Naruto, Bleach, and DBZ being the first three that come to mind. They just drag on, and on, and lose their charm.

I'll see if I can't find a link for ya. A youtube/hulu/netflix search is proving to be futile for it, pulling up Threads of Fate instead of Threaded Fates. If all else fails, I'll go try to dig the VHS out of the closet.

Well, not only that, but have you noticed how the amount of "fan service" in anime has gone up? In the 80's you were lucky to find a female warrior with an armored corset, but now they have every wide hip, EEE bust woman running about in a string bikini while giggling and hopping like a jackrabbit.

Thanks for taking the time to look for me. =)

Yes, I've noticed that as well. Just about every anime has some form of fan service. However, I'm not gonna lie, and say that I hate it. x3

Good news and bad news. Good news is, I found the tape! :D Bad news is, it's betamax, and I don't have the player anymore.

Well, it's not that I hate it, but it seems like EVERY anime has it now, in one form or another, and the number of fan service skits per episode are increasing heavily.

Betamax, huh? xD Well that is unfortunate. I'll have to try doing some research or something. There's gotta be a way to find it.

Yeah, I can't argue with you there. It's kinda getting heavy handed. Relying too much on sex appeal is just in poor taste.

It's not just anime that's guilty of it. The Matrix has done it several times.

Then again, The Matrix could just be considered one big live-action anime, I suppose.

I haven't seen the Matrix movies in so long I'd forgotten. In some instances I could see it almost making sense; like if it's going to be one-on-one, and the hero is still good for a fight. Then the single enemy doesn't have much choice but to deal with the immediate threat before they can move on. However, if your enemy is falling over already, you could just... run around them. =/
Or if there's more than one enemy they could split up to pass by the obstacle. Which was the case with the example in Naruto that bugged me. There was no less than SIX bad guys, and only three good guys. Two of the good guys ran away at the behest of their leader, but all six of the bad guys stuck around to fight ONE guy. xD

I suppose it's one of those "all of us together can beat the hell out of one guy faster, then still catch up to the others" thing.

Yeah, that makes sense too in a way. I guess it depends on their overall goal. If they just wanna kill everybody then sticking around to take out one guy quicker works just as well.

Actually it depends on which one you are watching, take Akira for explain. The dude's body consumes his girlfriend's as well as several other people that tried to pull the stand off. And Berserk, Judeau dies trying to save Casca, who ends up raped....A live action, Bloody Monday, one of the main character's friend tried to pull, 'I'll save you' dies.
In Samurai Seven: Kikuchiyo dies trying to stop a ship, all you see left is his feet, Katayama dies from bullet fire trying to save the rest, Kyuzo is accidentally killed by Katsushiro, Hayashida is crashed to death....Though the series is loosely based on the movie a good group of the seven dies...
It is all in which audience it's aimed for and the rating as well as the company.....

I agree 100% that it depends on the anime. Some of the examples you gave don't really match what I am referring to though. I am specifically talking about moments when one good guy tells another good guy to run away from a fight so they can hold off the enemy alone. Berserk did that once when Guts killed 100 men by himself so Casca could get away. None of them went after her if I remember correctly (though I could be wrong.)

It just bugs me when an enemy with overwhelming force, who should easily be able to take out one person, or even just go around them, choose to stop, and fight that one person instead of pursuing their goal.

In the manga that happen. And all the deaths in seven samurai came from one of them trying to protect the other. With the girlfriend thing she was told to run away....

Aaah, ok. I guess I will have to check out Seven Samurai.

It's an awesome one....to me anyway.