This season I am in awe at the level of beautiful art displayed to me by Insomniacs After School. Every episode seems to deliver at least a few landscapes worth soaking in, however episode four took things to the next level and straight up served my ass wallpapers. My enjoyment of the series really skyrocketed after so much gorgeous detail. However, I then had to ask myself if I’m really enjoying the overall show that much or simply the animation. While the characters are cute and the romance is fun so far, the anime has yet to reach the character depth of Skip and Loafer this season and I find myself mostly here to relax and chill out rather than appreciate a great story. But god damn when the art is so good, I forget to worry about the story anyway. 

Usually I’m dealing with the reverse situation. An anime has a horrendously low budget with garbage animation that looks outdated and bland, yet I still stick with it for the story and characters alone. To Your Eternity is a masterpiece so far in my eyes, or rather my heart and brain because my eyes want to close shut and ignore the poor animation provided for such a fantastic plotline. Even this season, My Home Hero has an extremely bland artstyle with basic animation that clearly takes shortcuts here and there. Still, I tune in every week for the narrative. In truth I think animation can only make or break an anime in EXTREME cases. Like sure if the animation looks like it was completed by the EX-Arm team, then no matter how good the overall production is, I’m going to have a hard time looking past the ugliness meeting my eyes every second. On the flipside, if the animation is gorgeous but is all flash and no literary substance whatsoever  to complement it, I may find myself enjoying it for a while and then falling off after a few episodes. Though perhaps if the art is simply THAT stunning, I’d change my tune. Usually though if a studio bothers to put love into the animation, that means the writing is at a minimum solid and serviceable.

I legit made this my desktop.

Therefore I guess my answer is it’s hard to say. I think it can certainly carry or ruin an anime if it’s either 10/10 or 0/10 level quality, but when we start talking about 4/10 animation I suppose I’m more inclined to stick with it as long as the story delivers. Are you watching Insomniacs After School? Can animation make you watch an anime for its raw quality alone? On the other hand, can it single handedly ruin your enjoyment? Whip out your telescope, gaze at the amazingly drawn stars in the sky, and send your opinion to the great beyond of space in the comments below!