My father loved the integration of the Ray Charles song. I agree, it was most well fitting! I loved Metropolis.
There's one anime where I think the exaggeration isn't a problem: Ranma 1/2. I haven't seen enough episodes to pass judgement, but I liked the two episodes I saw.
Now I thought of it, another thing I do not like in anime (but also in Disney) is the sterotypes. Hitomi in Appleseed, for example is a stereotype present in too many movies. The "innocent little cheerful sister" has been overused. Also, the heroes tend to be wooden and lifeless. It's the reason I love Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and Metropolis so much: in those movies the heroes are always changing. The stereotyping is even worse for Disney, though.
After eventually saying what I dislike in anime, I feel I should say what I like:
I like the philosophy. In many of the movies I've seen, the fronteer between good and evil is blurred. In Princess Mononoke, for example, there is no evil as such. In Appleseed, the evil is not divided into sides but rather into characters (The military isn't ALL bad as well as the Seven Elders aren't that good). This philosophy is very scarcely used in the western movies.
I like the variety of styles and plots in anime. Discarding 'Mech series, there still are many unique storylines without the sickingly familiar "boy-meet-girl". Even the familiar stories may get an unexpected twist, such is the case of Puss in Boots. The movie is hilarious. Everyone knows the story from their birth, but the anime is given a new dimention with all the humour, setting it miles above Disney.
Have you seen Blood: The Last Vampire, Jaggut?
