MMO Styled anime. Where they began and what has it become.

Feb 23, 2016 6:28 AM

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Oct 2014

So as we all, hopefully, know that the MMO sub genre of action/adventure anime started becoming popular back when .Hack//sign was released in April 2002 with the game following on June 2002, which came about with the rise of MMORPG games in Japan such as Phantasy Star Online for the Dreamcast.

This sub genre became revolutionary as not only a popular sub-genre was created the sales of MMORPG went through the roof in Japan as everyone started to make their own stories through their own worlds. This is something you don't see much happening now as there are still sub-genres untouched but we have yet to find someone to fit them in with anime.

So .Hack//sign had a really multi layered story with a lot of red herrings and you never really knew what was going on most of the time. Which made it really popular as communities formed to figure out what is happening in this world.

So the .Hack series was going strong for a long time causing spin off's parodies, movies, OVA's and ONA's, then suddenly a competitor came in which began to revolutionise the genre, but for better or worst?

That's right I'm talking about 2009 and the light novel release of Sword Art Online. The anime which fell flat on it's face by the second part of the first season then started to just drag itself along the ground for the second season. But this isn't about the second part, here we keep with the first half of season 1, also known as why it got popular.

.Hack had a major flaw when it came to immersion and that's that the players never had any real life implications due to the game. .Hack was literally nerds in front of a computer. Now we have a brand new system where your brain is hooked into the system and you move yourself like you would in real life. However this introduced a glaring flaw, your body needs maintained but we can't get out to do so. That's why it got really popular, there was a horror aspect as well as a time scale and a punishment for dying. For these reason SAO became an incredibly popular anime which is still popular to this day despite it's second half and second season.

So what has happened to this genre now? Well after SAO came Log Horizon which instead of giving any real threat of your physical life outside the game, all the character where mysteriously put into the game. Which sounds cool but when you find out you can't actually die and you are over powered in this world things just become silly. In fact Log Horizon was an incredibly big disappointment, but this sparked something worse. As no one is going to try to compete with what SAO is doing so why not compete with the losing version.

Thus came the Log Horizon clones; Overlord, Is it wrong to pick up girls in a dungeon (the trash anime), Grimgar, The Rising of the shield hero, Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo!.

All these anime except Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! and Is it wrong to be trash follow the same opening story, we arrived in this world with no idea how we did, derp. Then they find out that they can level up and learn skills. And it all becomes cut and paste. Par Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo!, none of the new anime using this genre has done anything new apart from the story line which is only tweaked a little bit with it's own personal uniqueness such as;

Is it wrong to be trash in the trashworld - Gods
Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! - Pure Comedy, this is actually a really good one and probably the pinnacle of the log horizon clone branch
Overlord - pretty log horizon but the story feels like it's progressing
Grimgar - Weaklings who second guess themselves
The Rising of the shield hero - Accused of rape and wants revenge, again very good and is the pinnacle of the log horizon clones

So what is the future of MMORPG Anime? Well about the same, nothing is in the works to say that something different will come out.

So currently using the genre is like beating a dead horse. A new horse has to come in and bring new things to the table, but I don't see that happening any time soon.

Peace.

Sugoi_SempaiFeb 23, 2016 6:34 AM

May 27, 2016 1:27 PM

Bob_Mercy

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May 2016

Wow. Well, first i think you're forgetting Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu, which is turning out to be pretty awesome in it's own way, as a refreshing thriller/mystery/comedy cocktail.
Also, I think the main selling point of SAO was it's music and animation, which to be honest, is kinda awesome. Where it went wrong was trying too hard to be serious; after the first arc, which would have been beautiful if not for the harem-building, it tried too hard to re-enact the immersement you mentioned due to the real-life implications. The fact is, they should never have gotten out of that place so easily. The arc was lazily cut of, and lacked important content that could have made it amazing. It had all the things people wanted from an MMO anime, and if someone is going to try to challenge that they'll have to find another way to include a sense of danger.
Grimgar... Grimgar tried to do that, by following weak characters instead of strong ones, while keeping fear and death real. And IMO, they did that beautifully, but as a result focused on developing their characters so much, that they forgot to actually satisfy the audience by making the characters actually badass, and having them achieve something or discover their role in the world. If the second season addresses that, their story is complete.
Anyways, I think that although SAO failed badly at being a good anime, it consumed the "satisfyingly badass, overpowered main character" niche in the industry, and those who want to make something better will have to climb around it and make it different. And if they're clever enough to pull that off, I reckon it'll be an interesting watch.

Mar 2, 2018 2:28 PM

Hype

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Feb 2017

Well well. Let me add my two cents on these newly born "MMORPG animes".
There are two kinds of MMORPG animes, the successful one and the rushed/poorly made one.
It's not an easy task to create this kind of anime, you have to take into consideration a lot of different things. You have to create a WHOLE new game inside an anime, of course, a lot of "clichés" are taken still.
The reason why this kind of anime is very popular is because of the concept itself. A lot of games are anime inspired, so why not the contrary? This has especially a huge success on the Y generation (Born 1996 or later) and I personally think it's not a bad thing, the producers knows what they are doing and who to target. It's a smart move, and brings in a lot of income.

It has a future.

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MMO Styled anime. Where they began and what has it become.

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