Director Yamamoto Yutaka Is Pessimistic about the Future of Anime

Anime is getting better, it sucked back then and it's epic now :O

Wow I can name so many great manga that still need a good anime. Also I agree that some could use a continuation like Berserk. An original is always welcome. Western material though would be soo fricking awesome!!!! Steven Erikson...if his epic novels could be made into a good anime I could die happy..Yamamoto Yutaka doesn't know what he's talking about...he sucks hard...go away Yama.

maybe they could do something original. idiot directors.

try finishing the show, it picked up afterword.

Toradora was shit. IMO.

I don't knowabout you guys, but I don't find Kannagi anywhere as good as ToraDora!

I only laughed once when watching Kannagi and that's when...

what? toradora and to aru was aswell

But it's true.

what... did he just said Kannagi is better then ToraDora????

How come the anime industry is finished just because there are no more light novels to adapt? Please don't give that crap. There are dozens of original shows a trillion times better than those stupid novel adaptations! Besides, the only purpose of those adaptations is feeding the starving anime otakus some bishoujo fanservice *sigh*

*points at Halo*

I don't know about Index, but Toradora>Kannagi. Toradora actually had some scenes that really captivated me (but the ending was just too damn cliche and predictable); Kannagi overall, is just an enjoyable slice of life show.

And... unlike most people here, I do not hope for another season of FMP, one of the most overrated shows ever that I don't even bother to put it on my "Dropped" list.

C'mon, people, you can make quality anime if you just TRY. I mean, I'm still here, and I still consider myself a hardcore fan of modern anime.

So does this mean they're going to start writing original shows? Or maybe adapting more sources from outside Japan?

It depends on what you mean by potential.

The anime iterations of Toradora! and Toaru Majutsu no Index were both highly regarded and commercially successful within the light novel niche. In that sense, they fulfilled their potential in terms of how well they pandered to fans. All the popular light novel adaptations (Shakugan no Shana, Spice & Wolf, etc) sell around the same level, so it would be incorrect to classify them as failures.

Now the problem is that neither managed to make many inroads into the market at large (people who have no interest in light novels), despite such expectations from the publishing industry. From the perspective of these companies, the goal of any anime adaptation is to convince new audiences to start buying light novels. If the shows are only popular with the people who already read light novels, then why make them at all?

Indeed, the pattern holds true for most manga adaptations, regardless of whether they're good or bad. Few of them can successfully reach out to new audiences even if they're successful with their own fans. As the supply of popular IP dries up, it'll become more difficult to release a hit adaptation.

There's also the fact that what's popular in one niche might have limited potential in another market. Take Toaru Majutsu no Index, for instance. Within light novel circles, the books are very popular. However, they're regarded as shit by outsiders. IMO, it should come as little surprise that both the manga and anime adaptations (again, well received by source readers since they're quality reproductions, but still shit to those who wouldn't like the novels in the first place) are only popular with existing fans. In this case, I think the property has less potential than what the publisher assumed.

Yamakan is right that producers need to start thinking about how to make anime that sells on their own. After all, KyoAni did it with Haruhi (mostly via gimmicks and drummed up otaku hype - that formula isn't foolproof especially if they keep doing it over and over again). However, since he notes that True Tears failed even though people liked it so much, quality alone isn't going to be the answer.

How'd you make that work in your head? I'm curious.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but they're still trying to adapt Bleach as it goes along. Granted, it leads to a lot of filler (and I still feel like they'd do better if they "took a season off" like Sunrise has been doing with its mech series), but its not like they decided that they wanted Ichigo to beat Byakuya and Renji and save Rukia so she never gets kidnapped and then they go on living ordinary HS life, so they could stop before the Soul Society story arc starts.

He's saying my anime is selling better than your anime therefore the anime industry is ruined? Because that's what it sounds like.

Wouldn't the fact that a shows popularity is independent of the popularity of the source material open up more possibilities for creating shows?
Besides much of the time the people who hate a show the most are the biggest fans of the source material.

Personally I'll like Wheel of Time to be finished...



Clearly. Surely you could name heaps of them than? Oh and don't bother naming stuff that are more than likely being negotiated right now like 20th Century Boys. And maybe you should name stuff that is actually finished and can air on tv...

Dont worry Naruto will still be around for another 10 years.

Sword of Truth was okay at the beginning but downgraded with each volumes. Nope, I'd prefer Wheel of Time anime first....

SoT is a shitty series that would make a shitty anime. That link briefly details why it's shitty.