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Has shounen anime gotten more better over the years, or is it just me?

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Apr 23, 2021 9:48 PM
#1

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May 2017
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I think with the recent success of Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen, even though they are two different type of anime, it makes me wonder there are more kinds of shounen anime that will re-live the kind of hype and interesting storytelling that that kind of genre had back in the early to mid-2000’s?
Apr 23, 2021 9:49 PM
#2

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Jan 2020
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The long running older ones like One Piece, Gintama, Naruto, hxh have that nostalgic value to it though

I prefer the older ones but the new shounens are definitely pretty nice too



Apr 23, 2021 9:50 PM
#3

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Feb 2019
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Has shounen anime gotten more better over the years?

Answer : hell no
Apr 23, 2021 9:55 PM
#4

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I don't have that nostalgic value everybody else has to the older shounen shows, so personally I do think they've upgraded. I also haven't gotten to too many older shounen, and shounen in general
Apr 23, 2021 10:01 PM
#5

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jujutsu kaisen and demon slayer can barely compare to the likes of HxH
Apr 23, 2021 10:03 PM
#6

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What I can say is that making shounen anime seasonally is potentially better than stretching them into long-running fillerfest with bad animation. So yes in a way, shounen anime are becoming better.
Apr 23, 2021 10:12 PM
#7

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As far as visuals go yes, obviously. As far as stories go, not really. Usually the characters are what make or break it for me. I've only seen 2 eps of Jujutsu and I already like the characters more than KnY. Then there's Black Clover, where I can't decide if I hate most of the characters or not.
Apr 23, 2021 10:32 PM
#8

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Apr 2020
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it's getting better it diversifies i guess?
BNHA is a shounen manga but has plenty of female fans

Apr 23, 2021 10:55 PM
#9

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No, it's not just you. It's actually widely agreed that Shounen anime are getting better over the recent years.

Although I think the complete opposite is happening, you're free to think newer ones are better. Enjoy what suits you.
Apr 23, 2021 11:02 PM

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Animation wise-obviously.
Story wise only Chainsaw man can compete with older shounen imo.

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Apr 23, 2021 11:19 PM

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Mirabem said:
No, it's not just you. It's actually widely agreed that Shounen anime are getting better over the recent years.

Although I think the complete opposite is happening, you're free to think newer ones are better. Enjoy what suits you.


Care to elaborate a bit? I'm interesting in hearing your opinion.
Apr 23, 2021 11:36 PM
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Dec 2017
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the move of new shonen from ongoing weekley to seasonals. this caused modern shonen to have better pacing, more consist animation, better talent managment and more. as for the quality of the stories themself, there is move in mangaka's from telling the story for as long possible (the big 3) to ending the story (kimetsu no yaiba, the promised neverland,chainsaw man). in terms of the mangaka behind the stories, modern shonen prefers new talent rather than old one, with most new mangakas having little to no exipirience with manga creation. they are not amateurs and still takes real talent to pass the magazines tight quality controll but they don't have the expirience older long running shonen has. i forgot to mention it, but digital drawing are easier to produce and allow mangakas more time to think of the story, but newer talents still don't have backup artists to help them.
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Apr 24, 2021 12:28 AM

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No I haven't noticed any significant increase (or decrease) in the quality of shonen anime over the last couple of years.
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Apr 24, 2021 12:51 AM

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While modern shounen is better produced with the benefits of modern technology and experience. I think the biggest difference is priorities.

I think older shounen prioritise world building and having a setting where there could always be a new story to tell.
While newer shounen are much more about what direction their characters will go.

AoT, KnY and BNHA are all fine enough as they are but I don't think they could bare the lengths of shows like Dragonball or One Piece and be even close to as well regarded.

I think JoJo unifies the strengths of both types really well.
Apr 24, 2021 1:02 AM
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plebianfencepost said:
jujutsu kaisen and demon slayer can barely compare to the likes of HxH


It's unfair to compare anything against HxH x)

But compare it to any other shonen.. yes, I think JJK is comparable or even better.
Apr 24, 2021 1:04 AM

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Zeroflamez said:
Mirabem said:
No, it's not just you. It's actually widely agreed that Shounen anime are getting better over the recent years.

Although I think the complete opposite is happening, you're free to think newer ones are better. Enjoy what suits you.


Care to elaborate a bit? I'm interesting in hearing your opinion.

To be as concise as possible, they're soulless. I rarely feel any kind of emotion. A better animation level for some scenes equals nothing when there's little to no substance behind those sparking colors. Being targeted at a certain demographic doesn't mean conformity must overshadow originality. And most of all, making things "cool" isn't necessarily making things good.

For example, I'm not from Kimetsu no Yaiba generation nor from Hokuto no Ken generation. Yet I recall enjoying the latter much more back in 2019 when I was watching both for the first time. Why? It simply wasn't focused on who has the shiniest sword slashes. It rather crafted an original story and made it progress in a thoughtful manner instead of relying on usual conveniences. It gave its characters more than just one generic trait, it made them progress, which means it even changed those traits to make them greater. It did its work by delivering powerful emotions, it tried to create its soul, not to be cool... This also applies to a handful of relatively older Shounen anime and not just to Hokuto no Ken because it's far from being my favorite (although it was very good), and it isn't a passive-aggressive sword slash directed to Kimetsu no Yaiba only, but to many newer Shounen anime I've also seen. Because unlike some people, I'm not just picking a side after I only watched Naruto as a kid and Boku no Hero Academia as soon as it was trending. This is my own and subjective opinion formed after several years spent in the anime bubble.

As it was clearly written, this is specifically about how I feel, and in the latest news, feelings are personal. I'm not expecting anyone to feel the same as me. Feel and enjoy what suits you.

And now it's time for anyone who disagrees to pull the nostalgia card at me and ignore everything I've written.
MirabemApr 24, 2021 1:28 AM
Apr 24, 2021 1:11 AM

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Yes, but also anime watchers also becomes more arrogant and nitpicky especially to animation.
Apr 24, 2021 5:47 AM

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Hrybami said:
What I can say is that making shounen anime seasonally is potentially better than stretching them into long-running fillerfest with bad animation. So yes in a way, shounen anime are becoming better.
Wait. How did you manage to come into this thread, and not mention HxH? lol
If you reply back to me and I never respond, I lost interest and don't care. Sorry about that.
Apr 24, 2021 10:23 AM

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I don't know, nowadays there are very good shonen, people seem to forget the promised neverland (its first season), AOT, CSM or dr. stone when they say that the current era of shonen is inferior to the previous one, just because they focus on the simplest or fighting shonen like JJK, BNHA or KNY.
a wise user of MAL said:
Just to clarify, adaptations should absolutely stand on their own
Apr 24, 2021 10:31 AM
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Obviously, you can't really compare new shounen to trash like naruto
Apr 24, 2021 10:33 AM

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I think they’ve stayed the same, seasonal shonens pass up the long running factor, but feature more concise plots + cleaner animation, at least that’s what I think, you’re free to disagree.
Whoever takes a side is clearly biased against one or the other.
Apr 24, 2021 10:34 AM

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I can't even say, Shounen its too general genre, there is no way to compare shows like Death Note or SNK to other shounens, complete different. Also I don't know how I can compare 25 episodes of KNY or JJK to 900 episodes of One Piece or 500 of Naruto. To be honest first 25 episodes of JJK are far superrior to first 25 episodes of OP.
Apr 24, 2021 10:42 AM

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No, they´re not better. In fact some would argue they´re even worse now, with the exception of SnK. What has gotten better is how the format is presented.
Instead of giving you a single season of 200 episodes with average animation, they put a single season of 24 with good animation and then separate arcs, like MhA is doing. JJK and Demon Slayer are some of the most average shonen I´ve seen in my life, but people love them because monke liek pretti fight.
Apr 24, 2021 10:52 AM

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Aug 2018
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it's definitely not just you. some new shounen shows are pretty good.
Apr 24, 2021 10:52 AM

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CakeMan-kun said:
Obviously, you can't really compare new shounen to trash like naruto

I know Naruto has some faults but for people who grew up watching naruto like me Naruto is one of the most emotional and coolest shows out there. But I am sure if I rewatch it I might feel annoyed by a lot of things. But long running shows will have some bad elements in it.I love demon slayer and Jujutsu kaisen too.New shonen has good animation while in the old ones quality is less so that might me one of the reasons putting people off old anime.
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Apr 24, 2021 10:53 AM

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I think its just your recency bias or how JJK & KnY is STILL trending in the anime community right now.

But in some regards, JJK, KnY & CSM holds up to the old guard of shounen anime. Only time will tell if my thoughts will age well or not.

Apr 24, 2021 11:12 AM
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Naren-kun said:
CakeMan-kun said:
Obviously, you can't really compare new shounen to trash like naruto

I know Naruto has some faults but for people who grew up watching naruto like me Naruto is one of the most emotional and coolest shows out there. But I am sure if I rewatch it I might feel annoyed by a lot of things. But long running shows will have some bad elements in it.I love demon slayer and Jujutsu kaisen too.New shonen has good animation while in the old ones quality is less so that might me one of the reasons putting people off old anime.

Yea if you still like it then do not rewatch, I used to love naruto but when I had a rewatch a lot of things just started pissing me off
Apr 24, 2021 11:20 AM
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I watched some of big shonen in 2015-16, so I have no nostalgic value. And let me tell ya, the newer shonen are still trash compared to the old ones which atleast try to be different.

I think people who say the newer shonen are better should open their eyes and stray away from long-term recency bias(ik this word makes no sense)
Apr 24, 2021 11:23 AM

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No shonen is better than Ashita no Joe.
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Apr 24, 2021 11:25 AM

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"Has shounen anime gotten more better over the years, or is it just me?"

If we talk about battle/sport shounen - same soap opera disguised as "action". Less fillers makes it look more concentrated.
Apr 24, 2021 11:25 AM
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Naren-kun said:
CakeMan-kun said:
Obviously, you can't really compare new shounen to trash like naruto

I know Naruto has some faults but for people who grew up watching naruto like me Naruto is one of the most emotional and coolest shows out there. But I am sure if I rewatch it I might feel annoyed by a lot of things. But long running shows will have some bad elements in it.I love demon slayer and Jujutsu kaisen too.New shonen has good animation while in the old ones quality is less so that might me one of the reasons putting people off old anime.
I watched it at 2015, no nostagic nothing involved. The newer shonen are absolute garbage compared to it. The newer shonen basically adopted Naruto's elements for their shows and made it worse, like hell newer shonen are better..
Apr 24, 2021 11:30 AM

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Shounen Jump has always been pumping out bangers


Hokuto no Ken
Dragon Ball
City Hunter
Slam Dunk
One Piece
Naruto
Bleach
Death Note
Bakuman
HxH 11(also the original)
Kuroko no Basket
Haikyuu
World Trigger
Assassination Classroom
Foodwars
MyHero
Black Clover

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Apr 24, 2021 11:35 AM

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Shounen in general....no they're as mixed quality as ever, some are mid, some are good, and odd ones are amazing.
Have adaptations gotten better? Sure some are.
They are being given to better studios, to give them better animation and put them out in shorter series so material isn't stretched and filler isn't needed. (unless your Pierrot or Bones)
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Apr 24, 2021 11:52 AM

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Shounen in general....no they're as mixed quality as ever, some are mid, some are good, and odd ones are amazing.
Have adaptations gotten better? Sure some are.
They are being given to better studios, to give them better animation and put them out in shorter series so material isn't stretched and filler isn't needed. (unless your Pierrot or Bones)
wait, why bones? Most of their shows are seasonal, the only ones that were long-lived were Soul Eater (I had heard this had an original ending and they screwed it up there, so you have a point) and FMA 2003, which was supervised by their mangaka, for later animate brotherhood and there they made it incredible.
a wise user of MAL said:
Just to clarify, adaptations should absolutely stand on their own
Apr 24, 2021 2:51 PM

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They're getting prettier if that's what you mean.

Apr 29, 2021 1:05 PM

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I enjoyed Demon Slayer's animation but.. that was it. None of the characters really intrigued nor interested me much.

Jujutsu Kaisen not only has a much richer cast, the overall plot of the story was just soo much more enjoyable to watch and yes shounen for sure has gotten much better lately.
Apr 29, 2021 1:12 PM

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they've been the exact same since DBZ lol
I said with a posed look
Apr 29, 2021 1:16 PM
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i like the fact that most shonen these days follow seasonal route instead of weekly, aside from few
Apr 29, 2021 1:39 PM

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Yes, quality of adaptation has improved in comparison. They used too much of filler back in 1990s. Some anime don't even follow manga properly, nobody notices since olden manga are harder to get. Nowadays anime more faithfully follows manga compared to back in the day. It's don't really apply only to just shonen though.
Overall no of anime has increased too, but then again it also not just for shonen.
For Shonen, content wise I think it pretty much same even now and even in past, there were good shonen every era.
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Apr 29, 2021 1:52 PM

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It's become more generic but still good.
Apr 29, 2021 2:02 PM

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There's probably a pretty big new shounen that comes out every year, but I think it wouldn't beat the OGs due to nostalgia and how it impacted alot of people. Jujutsu Kaisen and Demon Slayer still be one of my favourites though. Though I don't think it beats Aot, FMAB, Code Geass, Death Note, Naruto, Gintama, One Piece, and so on and so forth. It's pretty hard to top those.




Apr 29, 2021 2:10 PM
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bnha and demon slayer are absolute garbage, bc is avergae, they dont even compare to the old ones (op is overrated af too, but not as bad as the ones mentioned)
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Apr 29, 2021 2:15 PM
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As for production, yes and it's incredible.
If you talk about story quality from the original source obviously not, publishers look for much faster plots and full of superficialities to cover the deficient narrative since the current viewer is more used to everything being faster due to the technological growth of the last years and a "better product".
Apr 30, 2021 7:50 PM
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Animation/production wise? Absolutely. But story quality wise it depends. It didn’t necessarily get better. For example look at ANJ, it’s a pretty old shounen but it’s a well written show with an amazing cast, very few shows compare to it nowadays.

btw only JJK and Tokyo Revengers are great, Demon Slayer besides the production is trash.
androgenikkApr 30, 2021 7:57 PM

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