State of Anime(My Opinion)

I'll keep this as short and sweet as I can. As a long time anime fan, I've enjoyed many series, and countless memories along the way. Right around 2007 I've started noticing a trend, different anime started to look, and feel the same. Characters started to have the same personality, and overtly cheesy behavior. Stories became less and less intelligent, which in turn suited people with low attention spans. The art style became like a blushing fest, without any organic feeling. Now, I'm not trying to stereotype all. There have been anime of all era that turned out abysmal. I'm just seeing a lack of originality in today's way of doing things. There have been some recent ones I've enjoyed like Tokyo Ghoul, and a little bit of Attack on Titan. Perhaps my view is tinted with a sense of nostalgia, but I've yet to find something that can give off goosebumps, or provoke my thought in this era. http://youtu.be/xTvgo2ZJrdw

It reminds me of music listening habits where lots of people will set themselves firmly into a specific decade or generation of music as being the best kind of music. It makes me cringe whenever I hear a lot of my favorite songs popping up in the classics station. And while it doesn't feel like I absorb nearly as much new music as I did when I was young, there are still current songs that I'll like and download. And similarly, I look forward to the next Dragonball, Cowboy Bebop, FLCL, Soul Eater, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Kill la Kill, One Punch Man, ect. That being said, anime kinda suffers a lot of the same things that video games suffer from. It is a business out to make money, they're targeted at a niche audience, so why risk doing something new when something that's old and easily recycled will sell just as well. http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll287/21wq/emo/complicated_zpsenn8e2ai.jpg

@rOBSCENE I pretty much agree, all of anything business related is there to generate revenue; albeit music, anime, movies, and clothing. Since anime is still rather small, especially in the West I don't expect to see anyone to explore different sets of nuances soon. I have some hope for the future.

I don't feel like anime in general has gone bad, there are so many tons of authors out there of the original manga who make great stories lol I've had several I like that have a compelling, thought provoking storyline. Then of course there are some that were great for entertainment, & some that were just absolutely silly x.x There's too many genres & authors to lump them all together

Indeed, wasn't trying to stereotype them all. Perhaps my tastes have become fairly antiquated at this point. That's probably something I need to come to terms with, even though that makes me sound older than I really am lol. I have nothing wrong with a bit of comedy, and entertaining things once in a while. What I'm really looking for is something with metaphysical content, which Tokyo Ghoul and Attack on Titan presented a bit.

Maybe the issue isn't with the industry but yourself? For one, everything seems fresh and new and interesting when you start off because it's different to what you've seen before and you don't know anything about it or what to expect. Over time you start to see patterns emerge but while they've always been there to one extent or another you only now start to see them. This is why a lot of older stuff seems great at the time but doesn't hold up as well when you revisit it, unless you allow yourself to be blinded by nostalgia of course. That and as you grow and become more mature you're gonna want more mature content usually, which there isn't a whole lot of in anime. Secondly, This is just what happens when you cherry pick the most popular items (or items that suit your personal tastes) only to eventually run out and become forced to scratch the surface of what makes up the bulk of anime outside of your comfort zone. I'd say the same applies to just about any form of media, and I'd wager this is one of the reasons why few people stick around with this stuff in the long run.

Certain fads are just really popular lately but I still find stuff worth watching. I've always been a niche person anyway. Maybe my biggest saddness is anime openings lost that weird 80s-90s aesthetic it used to have. Like when Megumi Hayashibara was everywhere or openings like some of those gundam openings by Two Mix I think they were called? I intensely prefer that over some of these generic J Rock songs like Blood Lad's opening which disappointed me because Blood Lad deserved something cooler like Soul Eater got. What with their similarities and all

Not exactly, and again wasn't try to stereotype the whole industry as I said above. I'm very observant, main reason I watch anime is for symbolism purposes. What I'm mainly seeing today is a lack of originality. That's what I'm pretty much getting at, the lack of mature content. It's backwards these days, there were more when I was a Kid, than the other way around. Now I do enjoy a good entertainment value show once and awhile. I'm not exactly harping on all the Lulzy stuff. Yes, I pick whatever suits my tastes. Fortunately I'll be able to stick with anime forever, a lot of people lose track of mind and forget; not the case with me. There is enough content still left to explore, and such a variety I seen in the past I can still watch over every few years. The one thing I'm more-so disappointed in is the extreme lack of Metaphysical content. Movies, music still have things being pumped out in all genres constantly. Like I said above, I know it's due to the Anime business trying to grow and generate revenue, and the easiest way to do it is to overload people with lulzy content. @Neet-One

There is no such thing as true originality, there are only remixes and copies of things you don't know exist. As for mature content, it's not backwards that notion is just flat out wrong. First off there's a much larger selections of anime these days than ever before. If you take a look back you'd find each season now has around six times as much anime as what aired 20 years ago in all sorts of genre and for all types of demographics. Not counting movies, ovas, or left overs from previous seasons going off anichart.net summer 2016 has 33 tv series announced so far to date. summer 2006 had 23 series. summer 1996 had 5. Those five aired in summer 1996 are as follows: Aka-chan to Boku, a family Comedy/Drama Fly High, a sports comedy Hana Yori Dango, shoujo Harley Spiny, a kids show. Ie Naki Ko Remi, a slice of life adventure summer 2006: Black Blood Brothers, action. Bokura ga Ita, romance Chocotto Sister, comedy Coyote Ragtime Show, action Demashitaa! Powerpuff Girls Z, action comedy Gyagu Manga Biyori 2, comedy Hanoka, sci-fi action Innocent Venus, sci-fi mecha drama Kemonozume, supernatural horror drama Koi Suru Tenshi Angelique, fantasy adventure. Kujibiki♥Unbalance, school comedy Le Chevalier D'Eon, historical mystery Mamotte! Lollipop, shoujo Muteki Kanban Musume, action parody shounen Naikaku Kenryoku Hanzai Kyousei Torishimarikan Zaizen Jotaro, drama Nanami-chan 3rd Series, kids NHK ni Youkoso!, physiological drama. Otogi-jushi Akazukin, fantasy adventure. Pucca, comedy. Silk Road Shounen Yuuto, fantasy adventure. Tonagura!, ecchi school comedy Tsuyokiss, school comedy romance. Zero no Tsukaima, fantasy romance comedy. summer 2016: 91Days, revenge drama Active Raid 2, mecha Amaama to Inazuma, comedy Amanchu!, slice of life Ange Vierge, fantasy adventure Arslan Senki: Fuujin Ranbu, action adventure Bananya, comedy Battery, sports drama Berserk, action horror Cheer Danshi!!, sports D.Gray-man HALLOW, action adventure Danganronpa 3:, mystery Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya, magic action comedy Fukigen na Mononokean, shounen comedy Handa-kun, shounen comedy Hatsukoi Monster, shoujo Kono Bijutsu-bu ni wa Mondai ga Aru!, romance comedy Love Live! Sunshine!!, music slice of life Masou Gakuen HxH, harem Mob Psycho 100, action comedy Nejimaki Seirei Senki: Tenkyou no Alderamin, action adventure NEW GAME!, slice of life comedy orange, romance Puzzle & Dragons X, shounen Qualidea Code, supernatual action regalia, mecha ReLIFE, romance seinen Rewrite, slice of life mystery drama Servamp, supernatural action shoujo Shokugeki no Souma, comedy shounen TabooTattoo, action Tales of Zestiria the X, action fantasy Tsukiuta, music. so... how exactly was there more mature anime before? because I'm not seeing it. You know what I think, I think you like many other people see a few slice of life anime and just wrongfully assume it's taking over anime and that's all there is these days. Meanwhile you cherry pick anime from over the course of decades and compare it to just the last couple years while not having seen or properly review much if any of what has come out recently. After all in anime communities for casuals like this one people hardly talk about modern anime at all and instead incessantly fawn over and romanticize older material from many years past. Anime has gotten more and more diversified over the years with more and more airing every year, but people in places like this are too busy being stuck in the past exclusively watching horrible dubs of decade old shows to even notice and dump on what they know nothing about, this while at the same time having the audacity to call themselves 'otaku'.