Should anime abandon otaku and pander to those who don't like anime instead?

Let's start with the fact that "otaku pandering" is a misconception, since in Japan anime is a much more mainstream media format, it doesn't need to target otaku directly. On the contrary, most shows try to attract diverse and ordinary people. Like most Japanese media, for example, in Japan doramas are considered to be regular TV dramas and not the exotic idol dramas found outside of East Asia. Secondly, I don’t think that anime or any media at all should adopt the Western trend of artificially changing or restructuring the audience. Not only does this not work and deprive you of your original audience, but it also negatively affects the brand, which destroys all its connections with the original fanbase.

@RobertBobert

Well for example, the anime I have criticized which clearly pander to a particular audience. Such as "Isekai cheat skill _____" and adaptations of various games with almost no literary or artistic merit; and light novels- are directed at otaku and not a mainstream audience.

Cheat Skill isekai have zero appeal to ordinary viewers who don't know anything about tropes, trends, or games and most likely would prefer traditional fantasy and standalone original stories and movies. The prevalence of so many game and flavor-of-the-month cheat skill isekai drek indicates they are targeting a repeat audience that desires this kind of show (otaku)

@SuperAdventure Such shows are not aimed at otaku, but at typical "male power fantasy" fans. Such works are too mainstream and too dependent on the number of fans to be aimed at a local audience. If you're interested in real otaku anime, then check out CGDCT, idols, fetishized romance, and all-female adaptations of waifu bait games.

@RobertBobert

Those shows are definitely aimed at otaku, "male power fantasy" fans (isn't really a genre that exists), the people who fall into the category of liking that crap are definitely all otaku. There would be no other way for them to find out about those shows, they aren't mainstream. And young males who are into 'power fantasy' stuff is basically a synonym for otaku.
Gamers are all otaku (they are considered so in Japan) and anything adapted from a manga or LN, obviously otaku stuff.

The anime that are not directed at otaku would be Miyazaki films, holiday movies, the Lupin series or things like that which are so old and do not follow any anime tropes and interest people outside the otaku world; super mainstream stuff like One Piece and Naruto/Boruto; and children's shows like Digimon, Pokemon, and various things we will not have heard of because they don't even get imported here.

@SuperAdventure I never said it was a genre. I talked about the people with what fetishes such shows are usually aimed at. But if we expand the term otaku as much as possible as Japanese normies use it, that is, to any anime fans AT ALL, then yes, they are “otaku-oriented.” But in reality, otaku are just those people who in Western fandom are called geeks or superfans. I mean, you can't tell that Star Wars, in its heyday, was only aimed at geeks and not mainstream fans of space operas or space adventures, right? Also here. I don’t know if you watched Masamune-kun Revenge, but in the first season, at the very beginning, there was a joke about the target audience of such LNs.

It's the typical "in real life I'm a teenage loser, but in this fantasy I get cool powers and a bunch of chicks" kind of fantasy. If you pay attention, most of the premise of these works are "suspiciously" similar to the stereotypical description of the fantasies of chuuni characters, which in turn are a parody of the general audience of such content.

@RobertBobert

Yea that's pretty much what I meant, the term otaku as meaning anime fans (and gamers, nerds, etc); and I can't imagine young men who are into 'power fantasy' being anything other than otaku no matter where you draw the line at- and yes ANYONE into fetishes of any kind- otaku.
I just wouldn't expect the general audience (i.e. people who don't watch anime, and families or young children) to watch anything like isekai, or any revenge fantasy stuff or any kind of game or adaptation. I personally like anime that are closer to appealing to general audiences- if it has the ability to cross the boundary and be able to recommend to non-anime audiences, it's superior in my book. I think a lot of people misunderstand how I rate things and what I consider good, because of this. Even though I'm a lifelong otaku (more or less)

Should Reese's abandon peanut butter and chocolate lovers and pander to those with peanut allergies instead?

Imagine wokeness took over anime...

@Tropisch
Aren't there a lot of anti-otaku types like him on MAL though?

@alshu
Video games are doing it to very very mixed results.

@RobertBobert

Exactly this.

These cheaply made isekai that include cheat skills or harems etc. are not really for gamers and otakus either. Actual otakus (and the term is much broader than just anime otakus, in this case gamers) are people, who are heavily invested in their interests. They would want to see a rich and in-depth gameplay and worldbuilding for example.



In general the stance of "if you don't like anime that are written in a "very anime way", you must hate that medium / anime that are not written stereotypically anime are for people, who hate them" is just narrow-minded and excluding lot of anime fans. Lot of fans, who are diehard fans.

Anime is an animated medium produced in Japan. Having certain tropes and moe or anything are not criteria for being an anime.
Also people, who are more open to all kinds of media, and usually are not anime fans, often happen to be more critical of media they consume.
All people I know who rarely watch anime, of course like that kind of anime that can bring a certain value and writing style to the table, not the next cheat isekai / anime girls showing their panties-whatever.

@LittleOwlbear Well, the most trendy "gaming" show in Japan, Sword Arts Online, in the West is considered one of the worst anime about games in general and, according to an old misunderstanding, the progenitor of isekai.

@RobertBobert

Exactly this.

These cheaply made isekai that include cheat skills or harems etc. are not really for gamers and otakus either. Actual otakus (and the term is much broader than just anime otakus, in this case gamers) are people, who are heavily invested in their interests. They would want to see a rich and in-depth gameplay and worldbuilding for example.



In general the stance of "if you don't like anime that are written in a "very anime way", you must hate that medium / anime that are not written stereotypically anime are for people, who hate them" is just narrow-minded and excluding lot of anime fans. Lot of fans, who are diehard fans.

Anime is an animated medium produced in Japan. Having certain tropes and moe or anything are not criteria for being an anime.
Also people, who are more open to all kinds of media, and usually are not anime fans, often happen to be more critical of media they consume.
All people I know who rarely watch anime, of course like that kind of anime that can bring a certain value and writing style to the table, not the next cheat isekai / anime girls showing their panties-whatever.