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Jan 23, 2019 2:01 AM
#1
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Apr 2018
7
People have been sounding the death knell of anime since “Cowboy Bebop”. An especially persistent public opinion (from what I’ve seen in forums and comment sections) would suggest that anime has always been in decline since forever and it has been/or about to be taken over by ecchi/fanservice. Anime seems to be always in its death throes. For someone always on deathbed, it’s surprisingly resilient. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard (both online and offline) people claiming that they don’t watch anime nowadays because all anime nowadays is shit/ has too much fanservice/animation gone downhill or some other over-generalised groundless BS. Now, this “on decline” narrative is prevalent in every other media (TV shows, movies, songs, video games??), “They don’t make them like this anymore, right?” but I think it’s much more pronounced and peculiar in nature with anime. The reason I suspect is that people subconsciously can’t accept that something so good, weird, ingenuous exists from a foreign country they knew hardly anything about in a medium usually reserved for kids, so that they try to reconcile the dissonance by dismissing it as an aberration, or assign it to an imaginary golden age on a downward slide.
I have not studied psychology but I’ve read a book on cognitive dissonance, so obviously I consider myself an expert and I feel pretty confident in my reasoning. This unchecked pessimism is highly contagious and harmful and is very difficult to treat, because you can convince a person who has seen not so good animes to try a good one, but how do you convince a person who has watched some of the best of what anime has to offer and then arbitrarily decided that anime has gone downhill and not worth it anymore?? Of course, all anime can’t be like Cowboy Bebop, Death Note or Aku no Hana, it’s like expecting all sitcoms to be like Seindeld or all movies to be like Shawshank Redemption, that doesn’t mean they are dead as a medium. Another symptom of this disease is that people don’t explore, pessimism prevents exploration. Why would anyone explore what one thinks is now a barren desert? All media rewards exploration, Anime even more so. It also encourages innovation and risk-taking on the creator’s side. Imagine if people watched only Dragon Ball or Naruto??

Sorry for rambling, but I feel it’s up to me to be a Steven Pinker for the anime industry. I’m not an optimist by any measure. I’m a proud sceptic. I’m advocating cautious optimism. One day, Anime might really start to decline, but now, it is at its golden age, Enjoy it and spread the word. Anime like all other media (Tv shows, Movies) is now getting better and more mature and more progressive. It’s just how it works. Innovate constantly or get swallowed up. For me, 2018 has been one of the greatest years of anime with numerous mind-blowing shows and I believe 2019 will be even better.
Jan 23, 2019 2:04 AM
#2
Offline
Jul 2018
564646
I don't know what you're on about but I agree with this.
eulerhisoka said:

For me, 2018 has been one of the greatest years of anime with numerous mind-blowing shows and I believe 2019 will be even better.
Jan 23, 2019 2:07 AM
#3

Offline
Sep 2016
192
Anime is bigger than it's ever been, and as a result so munch more can be done. There's honestly something for everyone now.
Especially when you consider the rise of ONAs,

300th pun
xchyssa said:
You got some nice viewpoint there, I always know I can't fool you with my sharpest tagging skills



Jan 23, 2019 2:25 AM
#4
Offline
Jan 2012
2782
I actually think this is less relevant in 2018, because while not everyone would consider it the best year in anime, almost everyone agrees it's been the best in the last few years.

It's just easier to remember the comments about not liking a show than the ones praising it
Jan 23, 2019 2:29 AM
#5

Offline
Apr 2017
1279
I agree with this. When people claim that anime is worse, they aren't painting the true picture. There are, and will continue to be, good shows coming out each season. Obviously some seasons/years are better than others, but on average it's more or less the same for decades. It's true that with the increase of overall production more bad things are coming out, which makes it harder to find the good ones, and there are personal tastes to consider as well. But one can't claim objectively that anime is worse, because it's not.

One just has to learn how to search for good things, and understand that it's not necessarily true that popular equals good. Problem is imo that people are lazy to search, they watch 2 or 3 popular shows that they in particular didn't like, and then they claim that anime is shit. Some people may be too bitter on the other hand, and dismiss even good shows too early before giving them a proper chance.

Pessimism is very harming people in general, in every part of life, including hobbies such as anime. People need to learn how to be healthily optimistic, even if it often takes some training, as mind is naturally prone to pessimism. Emphasis on the healthily, because too much optimism can also be harmful.







Art by ギャット GFX by aryandil
Jan 23, 2019 2:30 AM
#6

Offline
Dec 2015
400
The reason why people say "anime quality is declining" is because of the stagnation of the medium as a whole. Every season, around 40 new anime are released and only a few of them are worth watching. This fact might also have been present in the past, but since we only watch the good shows from the past and ignore the mediocrity, we tend to think that anime was much better in the past. But, if we compare today's good shows to the shows from the 90's and the 2000's, I have to agree that anime was better and more experimental in the past.

Anime of 2000's tended to be more mature and actually felt more mature, unlike anime nowadays that have cute characters on one side and gore on the other in order to be more "mature". How many anime came out in 2018 that were actually targeted towards a mature audience as opposed to teens? Two? Maybe Three? It's the people who watched anime as kids or teens back in the day who complain about anime now not being mature enough for their taste. They have grown up, changed and so did their taste. They most probably feel left out as most anime nowadays are targeted towards young adults. This is only my conjecture though.

Jan 23, 2019 3:01 AM
#7
Offline
Apr 2018
7
Johan_Liebert_ said:
The reason why people say "anime quality is declining" is because of the stagnation of the medium as a whole. Every season, around 40 new anime are released and only a few of them are worth watching. This fact might also have been present in the past, but since we only watch the good shows from the past and ignore the mediocrity, we tend to think that anime was much better in the past. But, if we compare today's good shows to the shows from the 90's and the 2000's, I have to agree that anime was better and more experimental in the past.

Anime of 2000's tended to be more mature and actually felt more mature, unlike anime nowadays that have cute characters on one side and gore on the other in order to be more "mature". How many anime came out in 2018 that were actually targeted towards a mature audience as opposed to teens? Two? Maybe Three? It's the people who watched anime as kids or teens back in the day who complain about anime now not being mature enough for their taste. They have grown up, changed and so did their taste. They most probably feel left out as most anime nowadays are targeted towards young adults. This is only my conjecture though.

Now that I see, 2004 was a ridiculous year for anime, Paranoia Agent, Elfen Lied Monster and Samurai Champloo, Are you fucking kidding me? But again I'm talking of the medium as a whole. The medium has matured a lot. The genres itself have matured a lot as a response to their ageing fanbase. The discrepancy between hyper mature shows and kids shows is now a bit narrower. Stagnation of medium would imply that end of variety. Would you say that anime nowadays have no variety?? Better is highly subjective, and I don't think anything can be better than monster or paranoia agent or Golden Kamuy or Aku no Hana or Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju for that matter. But I sincerely disagree with the statement that anime is any less experimental today, different surely but no less experimental
eulerhisokaJan 23, 2019 3:37 AM
Jan 23, 2019 3:09 AM
#8

Offline
Oct 2017
404
i can only speak from a western perspective but to me it feels like ppl who say this always have some sort of contempt for anime even if they're fans. like they have to apologize for being anime fans or something, so they have to be extra critical of everything to convey an image of anime not being just "japanese cartoons" or something. and to say that every anime is shit nowadays is just lazy, it's literally attesting that you think you're too good to actually expose yourself to the medium and find yourself in it

also i think a lot of ppl seem to say shit like that bc miyazaki says shit like that since like the 60's so ppl think if they say it it'll be like miyazaki is backing them up but just...........sis no
[url=https://myanimelist.net/profile/mifti]
[/url]
Jan 23, 2019 3:38 AM
#9

Offline
Oct 2014
2354
eulerhisoka said:
Johan_Liebert_ said:
The reason why people say "anime quality is declining" is because of the stagnation of the medium as a whole. Every season, around 40 new anime are released and only a few of them are worth watching. This fact might also have been present in the past, but since we only watch the good shows from the past and ignore the mediocrity, we tend to think that anime was much better in the past. But, if we compare today's good shows to the shows from the 90's and the 2000's, I have to agree that anime was better and more experimental in the past.

Anime of 2000's tended to be more mature and actually felt more mature, unlike anime nowadays that have cute characters on one side and gore on the other in order to be more "mature". How many anime came out in 2018 that were actually targeted towards a mature audience as opposed to teens? Two? Maybe Three? It's the people who watched anime as kids or teens back in the day who complain about anime now not being mature enough for their taste. They have grown up, changed and so did their taste. They most probably feel left out as most anime nowadays are targeted towards young adults. This is only my conjecture though.

Now that I see, 2004 was a ridiculous year for anime, Paranoia Agent, Elfen Lied Monster and Samurai Champloo, Are you fucking kidding me? But again I'm talking of the medium as a whole. The medium has matured a lot. The genres itself have matured a lot as a response to their ageing fanbase. The discrepancy between hyper mature shows and kids shows is now a bit narrower. Stagnation of medium would imply that end of variety. Would you say that anime nowadays have no variety??
Your OP is mostly just a statement, but this post has a question. I disagree that discrepancy has narrowed in the broad sense of anime, maybe for the standouts but you can argue there aren't many of those that exist, as most anime follow an established cookie cutter structure that must pass a list of checkmarks, hence the less experimental anime nowadays. These things include over dramatization in humor, music, emotion to more forcefully guide the viewer on how to feel on a scene and not to mention how to think with expository dialogue. Something i've noticed watching seasonals now is that more often than not anime are not character driven but driven by plot instead, thus more disingenuous experiences.

This is a result of anime becoming evermore popular and the same happens in movies and tv shows, it dramatically increases the amount of mediocrity produced, not that it's inherently a bad thing. We get more chances for good anime, but also get more chances for bad anime, but this is the stagnation that permeates the majority of all these mediums. Variety in this sense would presume there is less of it, in stories there is more variety because there is more anime, but not in where the stagnation lies.


I don't believe in the Devil.
You should. He believes in you.
Jan 23, 2019 3:55 AM
Offline
Apr 2018
7
Lunilah said:
eulerhisoka said:
Now that I see, 2004 was a ridiculous year for anime, Paranoia Agent, Elfen Lied Monster and Samurai Champloo, Are you fucking kidding me? But again I'm talking of the medium as a whole. The medium has matured a lot. The genres itself have matured a lot as a response to their ageing fanbase. The discrepancy between hyper mature shows and kids shows is now a bit narrower. Stagnation of medium would imply that end of variety. Would you say that anime nowadays have no variety??
Your OP is mostly just a statement, but this post has a question. I disagree that discrepancy has narrowed in the broad sense of anime, maybe for the standouts but you can argue there aren't many of those that exist, as most anime follow an established cookie cutter structure that must pass a list of checkmarks, hence the less experimental anime nowadays. These things include over dramatization in humor, music, emotion to more forcefully guide the viewer on how to feel on a scene and not to mention how to think with expository dialogue. Something i've noticed watching seasonals now is that more often than not anime are not character driven but driven by plot instead, thus more disingenuous experiences.

This is a result of anime becoming evermore popular and the same happens in movies and tv shows, it dramatically increases the amount of mediocrity produced, not that it's inherently a bad thing. We get more chances for good anime, but also get more chances for bad anime, but this is the stagnation that permeates the majority of all these mediums. Variety in this sense would presume there is less of it, in stories there is more variety because there is more anime, but not in where the stagnation lies.


I agree with your second para completely. Anime is like any other medium and hence has similar problems. My article was meant to be against pessimism. However, I slightly disagree with your first para, but I think it's more of a personal opinion. For me good anime has always been character driven(what I mean is that the actions of the character is in accordance with the personality of the character, not just because the plot demands it). I think the newer anime are more character driven than the older ones. About over dramatisation, given the recent barrage of comedy/slice of anime, I don't think it's bad when used judiciously but I never thought that it was forcing any emotion or anything but mostly for comedic effect. Melodrama/forcing of emotions is much more prevalent in older anime. One of the reasons I like modern anime because it doesn't tell me how to feel or think or who to root for. For eg. Golden kamuy/ Overlord.
eulerhisokaJan 23, 2019 4:03 AM
Jan 23, 2019 4:08 AM
Offline
Apr 2018
7
MrZawa said:
I agree with this. When people claim that anime is worse, they aren't painting the true picture. There are, and will continue to be, good shows coming out each season. Obviously some seasons/years are better than others, but on average it's more or less the same for decades. It's true that with the increase of overall production more bad things are coming out, which makes it harder to find the good ones, and there are personal tastes to consider as well. But one can't claim objectively that anime is worse, because it's not.

One just has to learn how to search for good things, and understand that it's not necessarily true that popular equals good. Problem is imo that people are lazy to search, they watch 2 or 3 popular shows that they in particular didn't like, and then they claim that anime is shit. Some people may be too bitter on the other hand, and dismiss even good shows too early before giving them a proper chance.

Pessimism is very harming people in general, in every part of life, including hobbies such as anime. People need to learn how to be healthily optimistic, even if it often takes some training, as mind is naturally prone to pessimism. Emphasis on the healthily, because too much optimism can also be harmful.


Finally!! somebody gets it. My article was never that the older anime are better than newer ones or vice versa. It was against the pessimistic "on the decline" approach to anime which many people seem to have.
Jan 23, 2019 4:10 AM

Offline
Oct 2014
2354
eulerhisoka said:
Lunilah said:
Your OP is mostly just a statement, but this post has a question. I disagree that discrepancy has narrowed in the broad sense of anime, maybe for the standouts but you can argue there aren't many of those that exist, as most anime follow an established cookie cutter structure that must pass a list of checkmarks, hence the less experimental anime nowadays. These things include over dramatization in humor, music, emotion to more forcefully guide the viewer on how to feel on a scene and not to mention how to think with expository dialogue. Something i've noticed watching seasonals now is that more often than not anime are not character driven but driven by plot instead, thus more disingenuous experiences.

This is a result of anime becoming evermore popular and the same happens in movies and tv shows, it dramatically increases the amount of mediocrity produced, not that it's inherently a bad thing. We get more chances for good anime, but also get more chances for bad anime, but this is the stagnation that permeates the majority of all these mediums. Variety in this sense would presume there is less of it, in stories there is more variety because there is more anime, but not in where the stagnation lies.


I agree with your second para completely. Anime is like any other medium and hence has similar problems. My article was meant to be against pessimism. However, I slightly disagree with your first para, but I think it's more of a personal opinion. For me good anime has always been character driven(what I mean is that the actions of the character is in accordance with the personality of the character, not just because the plot demands it). I think the newer anime are more character driven than the older ones. About over dramatisation, given the recent barrage of comedy/slice of anime, I don't think it's bad when used judiciously but I never thought it was forcing any emotion or anything but I believe, it's more prevalent in older anime.
When you strip down my first statement to "good anime" you're missing the point, since it's talking about the industry as a whole today. It also may not feel like forcing but it is because they're following the formula, if they made it obvious it would hinder the experience and anime do that at times. Agreeing with the 2nd paragraph completely but disagreeing with the 1st doesn't work, as the 1st paragraph is what contextualizes what the stagnation is and is elaborated on during the 2nd paragraph.


I don't believe in the Devil.
You should. He believes in you.
Jan 23, 2019 4:31 AM
Offline
May 2016
975
*sip*
yep, they just don't make 'em like they used to...
different medium, same thing

tl;dw don't listen to anyone with hayao miyazaki on their favorites
Jan 23, 2019 4:43 AM
Offline
Apr 2018
7
Lunilah said:
eulerhisoka said:


I agree with your second para completely. Anime is like any other medium and hence has similar problems. My article was meant to be against pessimism. However, I slightly disagree with your first para, but I think it's more of a personal opinion. For me good anime has always been character driven(what I mean is that the actions of the character is in accordance with the personality of the character, not just because the plot demands it). I think the newer anime are more character driven than the older ones. About over dramatisation, given the recent barrage of comedy/slice of anime, I don't think it's bad when used judiciously but I never thought it was forcing any emotion or anything but I believe, it's more prevalent in older anime.
When you strip down my first statement to "good anime" you're missing the point, since it's talking about the industry as a whole today. It also may not feel like forcing but it is because they're following the formula, if they made it obvious it would hinder the experience and anime do that at times. Agreeing with the 2nd paragraph completely but disagreeing with the 1st doesn't work, as the 1st paragraph is what contextualizes what the stagnation is and is elaborated on during the 2nd paragraph.


My mistake. I should have phrased it more clearly.

In the first para, you talk about two specific problems of modern anime, over-dramatisation and being less character driven which I think are problems more prevalent in older anime(medium as a whole), In fact, shift to more character-driven/less-melodrama stories have been true for almost all media.
In the second para, you talk about increasing mediocrity due to the larger number of animes and increasing popularity which I agree, not because more anime are plot driven or over -dramatised because they are the characteristics of any media.

I am more conflicted with the stagnation part though, because innovation is the only thing anime has going for it. When anime fails to subvert our expectations, it wouldn't survive the competition. It doesn't have the luxury of stagnation. And by stagnation, I mean lack of variety of stories, plot structures etc, though not absent still much less than any other media. Also, the stagnation which you is the natural consequence of the development of any media, which fuels innovation.

The above statements don't make much sense I know, but I hope I can convince you to not give up on anime yet.
Jan 23, 2019 5:03 AM

Offline
Oct 2014
2354
eulerhisoka said:
Lunilah said:
When you strip down my first statement to "good anime" you're missing the point, since it's talking about the industry as a whole today. It also may not feel like forcing but it is because they're following the formula, if they made it obvious it would hinder the experience and anime do that at times. Agreeing with the 2nd paragraph completely but disagreeing with the 1st doesn't work, as the 1st paragraph is what contextualizes what the stagnation is and is elaborated on during the 2nd paragraph.


My mistake. I should have phrased it more clearly.

In the first para, you talk about two specific problems of modern anime, over-dramatisation and being less character driven which I think are problems more prevalent in older anime(medium as a whole), In fact, shift to more character-driven/less-melodrama stories have been true for almost all media.
In the second para, you talk about increasing mediocrity due to the larger number of animes and increasing popularity which I agree, not because more anime are plot driven or over -dramatised because they are the characteristics of any media.

I am more conflicted with the stagnation part though, because innovation is the only thing anime has going for it. When anime fails to subvert our expectations, it wouldn't survive the competition. It doesn't have the luxury of stagnation. And by stagnation, I mean lack of variety of stories, plot structures etc, though not absent still much less than any other media. Also, the stagnation which you is the natural consequence of the development of any media, which fuels innovation.

The above statements don't make much sense I know, but I hope I can convince you to not give up on anime yet.
I don't think there is a lack in variety of stories and narratives, just by the things i described, which when it comes across it's a feeling of compulsion from anime, that they always follow this modern beat. Fueling innovation or not, it's never going to go away, and it won't stop most anime being fluff. Structurally and the old anime point i just disagree with.

Don't know why you think i've given up on anime, these are just my thoughts on the industry.


I don't believe in the Devil.
You should. He believes in you.
Jan 23, 2019 5:06 AM
Offline
May 2018
341
While I personally think the Golden Age of japanimation were between 2000 and 2010, the medium as a whole has actually become more and more popular.
People have been more and more open to this medium, many anime franchises now become mainstream (maybe not as much as movies, but definitely more than the previous decades). The multiplication of anime airing on national channels shows that japanimation is commonly accepted.
So I wouldn't be pessimistic about japanimation ^^. In fact, I hardly believe this is "an especially persistent public opinion".

As for the overall quality of the anime... As someone said: each season, there's very few anime (among several dozens) that are actually worth watching. But hey, it may not be a bad thing. Sometimes, all it takes is ONE good show!

Now, the moe culture did take over japanimation. It's almost impossible to find an anime without a single moe element today. Even f*cking Goblin Slayer has cutesy stuff. It may have always been true, but it's definitely more present today. Just look at any anime list and drink whenever you see a picture of a loli, you'll get drunk fairly quickly...
Is it that dramatic though? Personally, I think it is a superficial problem. I do think it is annoying sometimes (the cat girl in Stein's;Gate, for example), but most of the times it's easy to ignore.


But the real problem for me, overall, is the animation quality. Let's be honest, japanese animation is cheap. Even today it's still rare to find an anime show as well animated as The Lion King for example.
Of course there are plenty justifications for that (low budget, lack of time, harsh job, ...), but the fact remains even the best animes are mostly still pictures (with a 2 minutes awesome scene every once in a while). Things do get better with time, but... frankly, it did not improve that much. Death Note, who is know 11 years old, is still one of the best animated series.


Anyway, that was just my point of view on japanimation ^^. I did prefer animes in the early 2000's, but overall, it's easy to see the rise in popularity of the medium. I definitely don't worry about that. Animes are everywhere now!


On a bit more personal note : "I’ve read a book on cognitive dissonance, so obviously I consider myself an expert and I feel pretty confident in my reasoning. "
Maybe you were joking (in that case, ignore what I'll say ^^), but I REALLY hope you don't believe that.
Everything changes. Even the happy and funny things eventually disappear. How can I still enjoy this place then?
- Furukawa Nagisa (Clannad)

You have to make a choice. Either you give up on your soul for the sake of science, or you give up on science to save your soul. In my case, the soul was already in pieces.
- Lloyd Asplund (Code Geass)

Do you understand the meaning behind Nunnaly's smile? She can't see or walk. So there are things in this world that she knows she can't do alone. Her smile... is her only way to show gratitude.
- Lelouch Vi Britannia (Code Geass)

Death is part of Life.
- ... Me.
Jan 23, 2019 5:08 AM

Offline
Dec 2015
2420
Anime isn't dead, it's just different from what it used to be. People often forget this but five years is a long time in any medium and over this course lots of things can change. Now I personally don't really watch seasonals because I'd rather watch complete stories but I bet that anime isn't different from this at all.

The people that say anime is dead are just those that won't look past their own favorites. Your theory is completely right in this regard. However they don't realize that anime from back then had lots of lesser quality titles too. Just watch the original Vampire Hunter D or the Japanese version of Gakkou no Kaidan and you'll see what I mean in no time. It's their fault for not wanting to dig further and realize what they could've seen. I know that I've missed some great stories by not watching seasonal but I'll watch them later. I still have time.
Jan 23, 2019 5:51 AM
Offline
Apr 2018
7
Dante012 said:
While I personally think the Golden Age of japanimation were between 2000 and 2010, the medium as a whole has actually become more and more popular.
People have been more and more open to this medium, many anime franchises now become mainstream (maybe not as much as movies, but definitely more than the previous decades). The multiplication of anime airing on national channels shows that japanimation is commonly accepted.
So I wouldn't be pessimistic about japanimation ^^. In fact, I hardly believe this is "an especially persistent public opinion".

As for the overall quality of the anime... As someone said: each season, there's very few anime (among several dozens) that are actually worth watching. But hey, it may not be a bad thing. Sometimes, all it takes is ONE good show!

Now, the moe culture did take over japanimation. It's almost impossible to find an anime without a single moe element today. Even f*cking Goblin Slayer has cutesy stuff. It may have always been true, but it's definitely more present today. Just look at any anime list and drink whenever you see a picture of a loli, you'll get drunk fairly quickly...
Is it that dramatic though? Personally, I think it is a superficial problem. I do think it is annoying sometimes (the cat girl in Stein's;Gate, for example), but most of the times it's easy to ignore.


But the real problem for me, overall, is the animation quality. Let's be honest, japanese animation is cheap. Even today it's still rare to find an anime show as well animated as The Lion King for example.
Of course there are plenty justifications for that (low budget, lack of time, harsh job, ...), but the fact remains even the best animes are mostly still pictures (with a 2 minutes awesome scene every once in a while). Things do get better with time, but... frankly, it did not improve that much. Death Note, who is know 11 years old, is still one of the best animated series.


Anyway, that was just my point of view on japanimation ^^. I did prefer animes in the early 2000's, but overall, it's easy to see the rise in popularity of the medium. I definitely don't worry about that. Animes are everywhere now!


On a bit more personal note : "I’ve read a book on cognitive dissonance, so obviously I consider myself an expert and I feel pretty confident in my reasoning. "
Maybe you were joking (in that case, ignore what I'll say ^^), but I REALLY hope you don't believe that.


When I say "pessimism", I don't mean people will stop watching anime. Popular series will be popular, I am mainly concerned about the unpopular weird ones , that for me
Dante012 said:
While I personally think the Golden Age of japanimation were between 2000 and 2010, the medium as a whole has actually become more and more popular.
People have been more and more open to this medium, many anime franchises now become mainstream (maybe not as much as movies, but definitely more than the previous decades). The multiplication of anime airing on national channels shows that japanimation is commonly accepted.
So I wouldn't be pessimistic about japanimation ^^. In fact, I hardly believe this is "an especially persistent public opinion".

As for the overall quality of the anime... As someone said: each season, there's very few anime (among several dozens) that are actually worth watching. But hey, it may not be a bad thing. Sometimes, all it takes is ONE good show!

Now, the moe culture did take over japanimation. It's almost impossible to find an anime without a single moe element today. Even f*cking Goblin Slayer has cutesy stuff. It may have always been true, but it's definitely more present today. Just look at any anime list and drink whenever you see a picture of a loli, you'll get drunk fairly quickly...
Is it that dramatic though? Personally, I think it is a superficial problem. I do think it is annoying sometimes (the cat girl in Stein's;Gate, for example), but most of the times it's easy to ignore.


But the real problem for me, overall, is the animation quality. Let's be honest, japanese animation is cheap. Even today it's still rare to find an anime show as well animated as The Lion King for example.
Of course there are plenty justifications for that (low budget, lack of time, harsh job, ...), but the fact remains even the best animes are mostly still pictures (with a 2 minutes awesome scene every once in a while). Things do get better with time, but... frankly, it did not improve that much. Death Note, who is know 11 years old, is still one of the best animated series.


Anyway, that was just my point of view on japanimation ^^. I did prefer animes in the early 2000's, but overall, it's easy to see the rise in popularity of the medium. I definitely don't worry about that. Animes are everywhere now!


On a bit more personal note : "I’ve read a book on cognitive dissonance, so obviously I consider myself an expert and I feel pretty confident in my reasoning. "
Maybe you were joking (in that case, ignore what I'll say ^^), but I REALLY hope you don't believe that.


I realize that the article is quite out of place and redundant here, because whoever is in the forum clearly likes anime a lot and will be optimistic about it. Anime is quite popular now, but that doesn't extend to all of the medium. For many, it's still mostly constrained to at most two r three series. That I feel, is a problem. Given the quality of their stories they deserve to be much more popular. One of the factors I feel is the lack of exploration which I conjecture is partly due to pessimism about the industry.
I think that the loli situation has gotten better over time. It got bit out of hand around 2010. It's improved a lot since then, I mean there's still loli here and there but as you said can be ignored in most cases

As regards to the animation quality, though I've heard many people express the same opinion, I personally don't care about animation that much unless it's not berserk 2017 level atrocious, hence I can't comment on their effect on the quality of the medium.

Also, apparently I've to improve my writing so people unequivocally understand a joke
Jan 23, 2019 7:02 AM

Offline
May 2017
855
You wrote almost 20 lines of text, even so, there is nothing about "why anime still good, and why people are wrong",
It just a text about you displaying how you can't stand for people who say "anime nowadays is shit" and trying to be some kind of psychologist.
I think it's some kind of attention whore, every time when I see things like that.


"というわけで。待望の、体 操 服! でっあ~る。祭りであれば、余も着飾ってはいられぬと用意したが……うむ! 心身ともに軽くなったようだ。どうだ? 似合っているであろう、マスター?" - Random Quote From Internet by Saber Nero

Jan 23, 2019 9:19 AM

Offline
Feb 2010
34597
You can never stop people from mistaking their personal dwindling interest in something as the objective decline of that something. Cause why else would anyone lose interest in something aside from it being in decline? It's not like humans are whimsical by nature and go through different phases of interests in their life...
No, it's always more satisfying to blame something outside of you. Quick, short, easy, fingerpointing and often wrong answers are what people like. Not reflecting on themselves as to why they have lost interest in something on a personal level.
I probably regret this post by now.
Jan 23, 2019 9:28 AM

Offline
Aug 2015
1453
I do watch anime less nowdays, but not because the anime quality declining for me, but because I'm kind of "bored" of it for a while and too lazy to find a hidden gem. But once I did find a hidden gems like the recents one I watch (BSD and Neverland), I binged it to the latest. And since these "hidden gems" are usually a relatively or even a straight out new anime's, I don't think the quality for some cases doesn't really declining...


I'm starting to get embarrassed by my own forum signature line.. XD
Jan 23, 2019 9:37 AM

Offline
Aug 2018
2136
It's just personal biase, besides a lot of people talk about how good old anime is without realizing they are talking about the period of 1985 - 2000 and if you compare it to 2004 - 2019 you can find the same amount of masterpieces.

Besides in the old days, you couldn't find bad shows because they were bad, so they never reached west.

Anime is as good/bad as always, just some people can't adapt to it or just are being assholes. Change always make people uncomfortable and it will continue to do so.
Jan 23, 2019 9:41 AM
Offline
Jul 2018
564646
zBluee said:
You wrote almost 20 lines of text, even so, there is nothing about "why anime still good, and why people are wrong",
It just a text about you displaying how you can't stand for people who say "anime nowadays is shit" and trying to be some kind of psychologist.
I think it's some kind of attention whore, every time when I see things like that.


Shade thrown!! Hahaha
I appreciate you reading those 20 lines of text so I didn't have to <3

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It’s time to ditch the text file.
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