Year In Review: Decade In Review Is Kind of Depressing
No, I’m not going to really try.
I will point out, however, that since the turn of the century Japan’s animation industry has been changing drastically. People who worked in the industry for 20+ years are not seeing the same condition as those who are entering it in the past couple years. A lot has happened in the last 10 years, as you all know. This may very well be why industry tops called for a meeting and did some surveys, which came out in the middle of this year.
That doesn’t really matters to most of us in a direct way. What does is this list: ANN Encyclopedia’s list of ‘00 titles. Begin there and plot down all your favorites! Strut down that Memory Lane like it was 1999. Or whatever year people partied hard.
Yeah, there are over 2400 titles. And I don’t even think that list is complete. If we merged the titles by franchise we might have a smaller count, perhaps as little as 1000-1500. But that’s still a lot–possibly as many franchises as there were before the year 2000 from the very first TV anime.
And you know why people complain about how anime today isn’t like anime back then? There is your answer. It is not because production value went down or people draw fewer shades (LOLOLOL). It’s because the anime “industry” is pumping more stuff out, at lower prices, with more time crunching, and with a growing human resources problem regarding raising talent and providing competitive pay. Here I use the term industry because they produce the actual stuff. Not because they license stuff to get pressed on to plastic discs. All that just means the average quality suffers, yeah. Anyone worked for corporate America’s lean and mean machines would know as much.
And it isn’t like things are less depressing over on this side of the pond. I think Kime’s interview says most that all needs to be said, although ADV’s situation is probably more curious than Geneon’s. The term “bidding war” in the context of cost of anime is probably familiar to a lot of industry pundit types like myself years before, but you’re not going to hear it better and with more authority than from Chad’s retrospective.
Anime bloggers, sentimentalists, corporate heads, “just a fan” or “just a writer,” it doesn’t matter. I think it’s safe to say that the fracture (or diversity, take your pick) within the age and experience levels of anime fans in the west generally means people tend to look forward or backward as a function of where they are in life. Older and experienced people look back; younger and inexperienced forward. It makes sense to me. But sometimes I think there’s no point crying over spilled milk. It just gets more depressing and it helps nobody. Yes, we ought to learn from past mistakes, patterns, and victories, but it’s all for a hopefully better tomorrow. Don’t just remember love; do it.
Year in Review 2009:
- Introduction
- Otagei
- Streaming
- Figure Imports
- Retrospective
- #MALKeionbu
- N^2 List
For some reason “Anime is still moving, so will you move with it wherever it goes?” was the thought that popped into my head after reading this.
it very much is moving, and yeah, that’s a great way to phrase the issue.
I’m going to suggest that older and experienced people shouldn’t just look back, they should view things with perspective — “this, too, shall pass” may be said either with resignation or anticipation, depending on one’s own attitude, I guess.
Every couple of years there’s a surprise. For less experienced viewers, that means an interminable wait between surprises, for more experienced viewers, it can be a promise.
Only some people are as adventurous as you. But yeah, a lot of so-called “old fags” aren’t really old fags. They’re just new fags who never moved on.
Anime is a form of entertainment, not a way of life, contrary to popular beliefs of an otaku. That said, I’m seeing a lot of people move on. I’m in my early twenties, so I’m not as old as some oldfags, but I’m still what you call pretty well seasoned by now. While I don’t reminiscent about the past, I’m ambivalent about the future.
Anime used to deliver me into another world. These days, however, it feels as I’m watching a stagnant world (with a few exceptions as always). It might just be what I watch, but I feel a lot of shows ends up playing to typical formulas and old jokes. Calling a lack of originality bad is stupid, but in itself, I feel as though the anime industry has lost a lot of what I call ‘fresh air’/innovation.
Anime producers see failing dvd sales, so they cut cost and corners to save expenses, which in turn then reduces more sales. The cycle continues, until producers are left with no choice but to produce safe titles (ecchi pandering titles) which are guaranteed to sell something. Funny enough, what’s really frightening is that even well-off studios like kyoani, an anime known for animation and budget has somehow resorted to cutting corners these last few seasons (k-on & haruhi simplistic moe pandering and blob designs). In any case, this cycle kills off innovation and leaves the industry stagnant.
I’ve also started wondering whether if the fans are at fault for pirating, or whether its the fact that the companies aren’t being innovative enough. A lot of people have looked into distribution as the cause for falling revenues, but I, for one, think it’s a lack of innovation. While we see a few innovative titles every season, for the most part, we see a lot of conservative execution (with the exception of studios like shaft who’s execution & budget is quite dodgy at times). Not to mention the fact that few studios these days, bar the well-off studios, aren’t willing to produce a series with a budget that exceeds a thirteen episodes.
Another thing of concern is the amount of adaptations of late. While some adaptations are a hit. A lot of them end up failing the transition, and just seem stiff imo (index, shana). Making adaptations just means retelling the story in a different medium, and that’s not exactly what I call innovative. I’m not sure if it’s the lack of willingness to test new grounds, or whether it’s the difficulty in obtaining a sponsorship without a proven fanbase, either way, I feel more anime original titles are necessary to breathe life to the industry.
In conclusion, Anime these days is lacking innovation and budget. Plain and simple, they don’t even try to come up with their own new ideas, they just adapt, adapt, adapt. Even an otaku would grow wary of the cycle that’s hit this industry imo. There needs to be a change in the way things are done. Having a war of attrition with the fans on seeing how much shit (how low budget can go) they can tolerate isn’t what they should be playing at.
They’re not going to be able to change/convince fans. Especially underage ones who don’t have much money to begin with if they don’t work. That said, I think they should try initiating change in the industry itself. While it may mean chaos in the short-run, imo, it’ll benefit them a lot in the long-run. Even if anime goes under for a few years, we all know it’s a proven medium that can stand the test of time. If it ever does go under (unlikely), it’ll revive even bigger and better than before imo.
Also, another point is that the medium used to be respectable art, but because of the perverse fanbase of late, I feel as though, it’s no longer being looked upon as art. This somehow saddens me as a fan of the artistic style in general. It might also be why some people are so reluctant to show their support.
I never really get why people think anime is not innovative today. I mean, there were and still are those artsy and edgey Studio 4C stuff, but just like the 80s and 90s, they came maybe once a year. Actually there are more of those shows now than ever. It’s more like people just “drown” in marketing and not pay attention to the niche stuff in the niche. When they think of anime, they think of the dozens of shows that air each 3 months, and not the offbeat OAV or film. It’s really not that bad if we can have a Aoi Bungaku and Kuchu Buranko in the same season.
Well, I was referring to the premise, rather than direction. A lot of characters are carbon copy of each other these days with protagonists being especially bland self-insert characters even in the best of shows. Worst of all, they don’t do anything to improve upon the original.
It might be a bit too much to ask, but is it that hard for Japan to shift the focus outside of school? Romance, etc. can happen outside of school contrary to beliefs imo. Same with action. Your hero doesn’t need to be some weak teenager with parental issues chosen by fate. He could be your run of the mill employed adult who has responsibilities and people who depend on him. What I’m saying is that Japan seems to be reluctant to tackle different characters from different point of views.
Again, it might just be what I watch, or my perceptions changing with age.
Maybe I’m just sad seeing that there are so few fantasy series with a decent concept left. Still, that’s what I feel. Can you not accuse there being a lack of innovation when a series like Hajime no Ippo and Slayers get revived for no apparent reason? While other series in need of a sequel are left collecting dust never to see the day of light again. It’s sort of like that.
Yeah, but just because there are more anime today (and unfortunately more “bad” anime or whatever), if the % of good to bad shows stay the same, I can’t say that shows are getting worse now than before.
Japan is more than happy to tackle characters from different point of views, and there are plenty of shows like that. Like basically every Noitamina show! I mean, surely you cannot expect every anime to be the way you like.
Anime’s strong point would be the way it caters to people of all sorts. Noitamina’s line up is mostly for women, and I avoid most shoujos like the plague (I have seen quite a few on their line up though, strangely). So, as I said, it might just be what I watch. But even if they’re more than happy, most shows never ever change the character emphasis. As I said already, a lot of shows end up focusing on one age group. Not to sound like a nostalgia fag, but a lot of old animes had far wider age variety in the main cast, and ‘SCHOOL LIFE’ was definitely not the focus.
Maybe it’s harder to make moe old people, but seriously, if that’s why we’re stuck in a redundant loop of rehashing, then Japan needs to get out of this moe phase. When complete mediocre fluff like k-on can go mainstream (lol haruhi revamped animation), that’s when you know moe is the cancer killing anime. It’s not even the good kind of moe. It’s just the “Am I uselessly cute” kind that tries too hard at something meaningless.
A show of the reversed situation is Bakemonogatari which had a decent premise which boasted a more realistic narrative than the typical harem. However, its animation execution was appalling.
Regarding the % of good to bad shows seem skewed in favor of bad these days. Again, age might be playing a role in perceptions. Still, I don’t think I’ve ever accused a pre-2000 show of lacking a budget (they were mostly ovas? was the argument).
These days, shows feel like they’re lacking a huge budget with a lot of them having inconsistent key frames even. While I’m not an artist, I can tell when a drawing looks half-assed. People say I shouldn’t watch anime frame by frame, but usually, it’s an entire episode that looks like shit. An example of an anime with a reduced budget would be the new FMA series. It just looks cheap.
I don’t think it’s alright to just say, “Oh, they’re saving up their budget for a grand finale”. Take Kampfer as the most recent example of lolz budget. If the budget was blown on animating giant animals singing ode joy, I have to question wtf is going on with the producer’s head.
Well, I’m probably not doing you a favor by continuing this dialog as you already confessed of arguing out of ignorance. The first rule here is simply go watch some Noitamia shows. I’m not sure if anime like Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 is really for girls, it’s probably the exact kind of thing that fits your description yet will not do very well in the marketplace. There are plenty of other interesting stuff to see (Aoi Bungaku? Trapeze?) that you seem to be unaware of.
Maybe you can remind me which old anime was meant for a wide age group? Lupin was the only one that I can think of off the top of my head. Most other shows that people enjoyed are usually for kids, teenagers and young adult males, which is no different than most of today’s shows.
Also, I’m not sure you understand how “budget” works in this case. If we were to go by things like key frame counts (as a simple measurement) I’m sure you’ll find higher quality animation watching Doremi or Shugo Chara than trying to say anything from Kamfper. I mean, all of that show probably took as much money to produce as with a couple episodes of Stand Alone Complex.
I thought K-ON is a great show, for what it’s worth. I guess just because you don’t like that particular one, it must mean the show is no good.
I’ve seen every show you’ve mentioned with the exception of Aoi Bungaku. I’ve also seen most of the Noitamia line up with the exception of 4 or 5 titles which didn’t catch my interest the first time around.
I’ll yield to that fact you’re right that most shows people enjoy are the teenage ones. I enjoyed Trigun, slayers, Bebop, some of the Ghibli movies, etc. As for anime that was more mature, I can’t really recall one off the top of my head from the 90s aside from Golden Boy, Bebop, and Sekai no Monshou. Stuff like Excel Saga or Outlaw Star aren’t really that special, but they are an example of shows with diverse characters.
Thinking back, most other shows I enjoyed were from post-2000 era. Planet ES, Paranoia Agent, Koi Kaze, Mushishi, Mononoke, etc. Following anime by the season may have skewed my perception of time. So I guess my current sentiments are a result of my aging perception and biases, rather than an actual objective assessment of the current state of the industry.
I haven’t done much writing in a while, so my thoughts are in disarray. Thanks for humoring me though.
[…] each of these ten years that have grabbed me in some way based on the long ANN list of titles that omo had been so kind to link in one of his posts. Though I’ve completed 350+ titles, and though I tend to like a lot of what I […]
Well I am not sure where people are saying that new anime are not as good as older counterparts. There is goods and bads to both assumptions, so it does take a lot of weeding and what not to say what is good or not. Also to the tastes of the viewer to see what would fly or not. For example, if you would look at my perspective on Kairu’s blog, you’ll see that I was a little too sticker to some titles for that particular year, and a lot of backlogging and fan loving for other titles I never mentioned. Kinda nice thought that you did a series of this thought though. But usually a decade review, while you may see it as depressing, I would see it as an experience gaining.