What’s a genre?

No seriously. That’s the first question that came to my mind when I read all that crap about genre and stuff.

It’s mostly because of how I view genre. Personally, I’ve got only one genre, and that’s the “AWESOME” genre. I give all shows the full run, watching them from start to finish before I either file it under “AWESOME” or not. Sometimes, it takes less than 5 minutes, like in the case of Overman King Gainer (under the ’so silly it’s awesome’ OP lies a gem of a show) and Gurren Lagann (no further praise needed), some may take a bit longer (Shana, etc), while others have to run it’s course in order to show off it’s awesomeness (School Days comes to mind). Some, unfortunately, don’t make it to AWESOME status, and I drop it like a hot lead weight (Chocotto SisFUCK, Eva(The irony is that I’m giving Eva a second chance to redeem itself; it’s not looking good for Anno)).

What genre does for me is to give me some pointers of what to expect. For example, if I’m about to watch a mecha series, I should be expecting to see some robots. If it’s a harem, there’s the possibility of some boy being the object of adoration. Comedy? There should be some wacky hijinks. Eh, you get the drill.

That’s how I roll, anyway. And yes, thar be dolljoints and boatlights.

As for genre being antiquated rubbish, well, I don’t really have an opinion on this. But I can assure you one thing: genre’s pretty important to the people who write. No one just decides to write about some pretty picture. It’ll be weird and definitely not very interesting. In fact, for most novice writers, genres are pretty important as they learn the ropes. Without a framework of clichés and possible plot points to build on, how can one improve his or her writing? You tell me the answer to that, and I’ll retract my argument. And no, you may not say a ton of constructive criticism. I’ve already considered that. (And yes I’m aware of the problems with relying too heavily on genre.)