John Kowalski
Banned
Ping Pong is too good for them. They don't deserve it.
Hideaki Anno predicts decline of anime in 5 to 20 years
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Ping Pong is too good for them. They don't deserve it.
striferser
Huge Nickleback Fan
Theonik
Member
Eh, much of the show looks like that.
You can say it was meant to be tongue in cheek, you'd probably be right, but the point still stands.
It's too good for them. Hell, they don't deserve anything.
Theonik
Member
teruterubozu
Member
Eh.
I thought its decline had started years ago lol. I think the last anime I really enjoyed was Death Note back in 2006/2007. Haven't really been watching much stuff after that. Code Geass, HXH, a bit of Bleach, Jojo, Attack on Titan, DB Kai... I don't really know what else I could watch. A friend suggested Terra Formars, so I might look into that.
Edit: Oh yeah, I tried watching Kill la Kill. Had to stop watching that shit after the second episode. Why the fuck does the main character need to have a suit like that? It's clear what the target demographic for anime is now... really sad.
Edit: Oh yeah, I tried watching Kill la Kill. Had to stop watching that shit after the second episode. Why the fuck does the main character need to have a suit like that? It's clear what the target demographic for anime is now... really sad.
RoninChaos
Member
I would still watch anime if the moe shit wasn't out of control.
There are tons of shows that dont have moe
TONS, of course, they are going to be of wildly different quality.
It would be like looking at South Park and going "I wish cartoons these days didn't depend on shock humour"
there's a lot more to it then just that.
MaschinenZimmer
Banned
The nostalgia is real and in full force here. Stuff like M.D. Geist or Lily C.A.T. where the exception, not the norm. The stuff we got to see here in the west were handpicked and chosen to fit western taste.
We're still getting great stuff, I would even argue more and better stuff than ever before. The truth is that the Internet has spoiled you guys. Remeber when you first discovered that you could watch anime for free online? I bet you all were marathoning through all the cool stuff that interested you. You were breezing through decades of the best what Japan has to offer in a few weeks or months and than you suddenly realize that the really great stuff only comes out every few years.
"No, this is not acceptable, fucking moe shit is killing my animu!!! What, I have to pay for it? You crazy? That shit costs a fortune."
Otaku pay for it, so why wouldn't the industry give them what they want?
We're still getting great stuff, I would even argue more and better stuff than ever before. The truth is that the Internet has spoiled you guys. Remeber when you first discovered that you could watch anime for free online? I bet you all were marathoning through all the cool stuff that interested you. You were breezing through decades of the best what Japan has to offer in a few weeks or months and than you suddenly realize that the really great stuff only comes out every few years.
"No, this is not acceptable, fucking moe shit is killing my animu!!! What, I have to pay for it? You crazy? That shit costs a fortune."
Otaku pay for it, so why wouldn't the industry give them what they want?
strangedopamine
Member
There's more to his statement than that.
Newtype-001
Member
Seriously though 2014 had
Barakamon
Terror in Resonance
Parasyte
F/SN UBW S1
Mushishi S2
Jojo part 3
Your Lie in April
Ping Pong The Animation
I dont know what to say other than watch more anime.
Its pretty apt that this Vid was released 2 days ago.
https://youtu.be/hzT3X66FepU
Barakamon
Terror in Resonance
Parasyte
F/SN UBW S1
Mushishi S2
Jojo part 3
Your Lie in April
Ping Pong The Animation
I dont know what to say other than watch more anime.
Its pretty apt that this Vid was released 2 days ago.
https://youtu.be/hzT3X66FepU
jhmtehgamr20xx
Banned
Hate to break it to 'ya but the two bolded didn't really enthrall me. Dandy was mad inconsistent at the start and sometimes the jokes didn't always work. Although I've yet to watch the 2nd season (been considering it), from what I hear the last few episodes suddenly get super-serious and all these big revelations and justifications for his abilities start popping up, but people were complaining that it didn't feel natural and that it was very Deus-Ex, pulled from thin air. I actually remember a large part of Dandy GAF complaining about it.
Sidonia was...okay. I may also need to pick up on that (didn't finish Season 1), but while I enjoyed some of its concepts, I didn't enjoy the way they were executed or integrated into the script. Also the amount of fanservice was a bit jarring given the creator never had that in their other works.
In fact I was honestly hoping/expecting something closer to the BLAME! series, which had shorts done years ago but never a proper adaptation. I can't blame the creator for pushing Sidonia given it's their most mainstream work by far, but it's not their best.
Also I thought the visuals were a bit too clean for the sort of horror it was trying to provoke (this is a problem not just with most anime today, but most stuff in general. Dat HD clarity kind of pretties the revolting stuff up too much), and I am beyond tired of every other anime shoehorning in a faux high-school type of setting. Yeah I get it, education is important, but please stop with trying to frame high school as the epitome of social interaction; it's not.
One of the other shows you mentioned, Psycho-Pass, is decent. But again, given the subject matter it works with, sometimes I just thought it was too perky. It was missing an edge, and the super-clean art style doesn't help. I honestly think the majority of my problem with modern anime is in the art style just coalescing into a vague general template that isn't very unique to me (anymore), combined with the artificial feeling the digital process gives to the visuals when it's used copiously. Like, a lot of shows today just lack an organic feel to them and the visuals are a large reason why. The following comparison may be a bit controversial but I feel it's needed to drive the point home:
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This shot is from 1998's Serial Experiments Lain. I'd of used a different picture if I could find it, but this does a decent enough job of focusing on the background. As you can guess, this was likely hand-painted with either acrylics or watercolors (most likely acrylics) in a matte fashion, then with a decent amount of post-processing touches applied, such as defocus, contrast adjustment, slight vignette effect, etc.
The main point is, to focus on the use of main colors, composition of the colors and objects, and the attention on what receives focus of detail and what doesn't. SEL was a psychological sci-fi/horror thriller, so taking that into account this sort of shot perfectly fits the mood of the story.
More importantly, it feels organic. It's nicely detailed, but you can still tell that it was originally hand-painted, as there is a distinct lack of clarity in some small details, and where impressions of details are emphasized in other aspects instead of minutely recreating them. In lacking tools and processes that could enable pin-point detail and accuracy, the artist chose to emphasize the expression of moods and impression of details through combinations of composition, color usage and brush stroke retention.
As a bonus, given the theme and mood of the show, it results in an image that fits like a glove and also feels "lived in". The imperfections of the acrylics used are utilized as strengths by the story, and the post-processing work is cleverly implemented to aid in that, not cover up "mistakes".
This is a shot from Psycho Pass, a show that while I've yet to finish watching, was entertaining for the brief stint I did see it. Nonetheless, this is about the background art but in this case we can also make it about the character design. On the point of the latter, Akane's design isn't anything offensive, but it's boring. Very safe, plain-Jane and average. In the larger pile of anime designs hers wouldn't stick out, and maybe it was intended that way. However, even for a design purposefully aiming for middle-of-the-road, there should be at least one visual quirk that personifies it, makes it special. That isn't visible in Akane; instead it's a particular character trait (which is a good thing to have for a character, I might add).
The background in this case isn't trying to make a statement like the SEL one I posted above, but a problem I had with Psycho Pass's backgrounds as a whole is they seemed more like props rather than characters themselves. Realistically I can't expect every anime to focus on integrating the backgrounds as vital parts of the story, but when you're working with themes and aesthetics as cool as Psycho Pass's, it's a missed opportunity to not try so every once in a while. Another issue with the background in this shot is that despite trying to give off the feeling of urban decay and uneasiness, it actually looks quite sterile. It doesn't feel organic, as if it's "lived in".
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As you can tell, some of my reasonings are regard larger more typical issues and others are regarding smaller, almost pet-peeve like things. Nonetheless, imho they're all legitimate concerns and cumulatively add to my pessimism around modern anime. I feel like the industry itself has become too much of a well-oiled machine; it's become too commercialized.
When you commercialize anything to a heavy extent it begins to dilute away the more fringe, less mainstream (in relation to the target audience's) aspects, be they genres, themes, char designs, music selection (I really don't dig the soundtracks to most anime BTW; it's either a style of rock I don't care for (like metal) or orchestra. I wish there were more w/ rock like Trigun's or Bebop's OSTs, or more hip hop, jazz and jungle/DnB-themed soundtracks. Those relate with me much better), art style, etc. You've seen it with Hollywood, music, video games, and hopefully you've realized that happening with anime for the past decade or so as well.
It's just a natural result of either becoming more popular or pandering more to a very specific base; in both cases you're attempting to appeal more to the LCD (lowest common denominator), and you can only do that by filtering out more stuff that would otherwise make the product less appealing to that LCD (more niche by relation).
Which is why I think the future of anime in terms of the type of engaging, free-spirit stories I used to enjoy from the medium, won't be coming from Japan, but will - in some ways already has - been coming from other locations in the world, such as France, Serbia, or America even when you look at work like Avatar (read: NOT Korra). And maybe animation from those and other emerging animation markets in other countries can inspire more open-minded Japanese creators in regards their own work, injecting a fresh sense of spirit into the industry that at one point was the bastion for creativity in the animation world.
You could always watch what most people in Japan are watching and not have to worry about that. But then again, you're probably not the target demographic for these either. The time period where popular shows matched your genre interests probably ended over a quarter of a century ago.
Good post, I tend to agree with the general premises, especially this last paragraph. As a huge animation fan I like to go and find things all over the world to watch. I alluded to it in my post and I'm going to reiterate it here. Japan's animation market will shrink, simply because it is too reliant on 1. a small, passionate fanbase and 2. cheap foreign labor. As Korea and other Asian nations start to develop their own animation there will be less and less contracted work for Japanese companies.
You can already see this in some of the increase of animation in Korea (here's a good interview with one of the proprietors of this boom), and other nations. This is going to drive up the cost of anime and also decrease the market, however slightly, as people will look for serious animation outside of Japan just as much as in it.
I can't really see this as being anything but a good thing. If it was up to me, the anime industry would stay the same size and the others would increase, but the fans of animation outside of some casual works are few and far between these days. Japan's industry will have to change (for the better) to deal with a shrinking, more expensive market and we will get new, fresh ideas from elsewhere. But I am an optimist so chances are this change will be far rougher than I am imagining.
To the poster I am replying to: Do you have any recommendations for Serbian animation? I haven't really seen anything from over there and am curious to check some out. Any recommendations would be great : )
orthodoxy1095
Banned
To Gigguk we can respond with Digibro. Both of them really miss the point of the term "Golden Age" though. Treating the idea of a Golden Age with the response "It depends on your perspective!" or "It's just an opinion!" is reductive and ignores that we can identify golden ages in other media movements. We know what the Golden Age of Comics was. There was at least one Golden Age in Hollywood and within Science Fiction writing. There's even a fairly widely agreed upon idea of American animation having a Golden Age. The real response to the idea of an "Anime Golden Age" is that anime is simply too young and too understudied in academia/culture to make or define a golden age, as of yet. Not that there will never be a period that the majority of people can look back at and call a Golden Age.
Anyways, to your list, Barakamon was cute, Mushishi S2 was great, Ping Pong was awesome and JoJo was cool (if you liked previous JoJo stuff). The other four? Mehhhhhhhhh.
Shoutout to The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea which gave me Ghibli-esque vibes. So great.
Megidolaon
Member
Yeah, I actually liked Space Dandy a lot and Terror in Resonance is on my list to watch. Redline looks cool and I haven't heard of the other two. I'll check them out.
I hope Studio 4C continues their adaptation of Berserk. People may have had mixed feelings but I loved the movies. They were pretty and quite entertaining as an abridged version of the story.
FelixOrion
Poet Centuriate
Terror in Resonance is pretty good, imo, though some thought the writing was kinda dumb and really loathed one of the antagonists, but I quite like the cast overall, the show looks really slick, and the OST is absolutely amazing (Yoko Kanno in top form).
Redline is balls to the wall, full out amazing. Everything about that show is amazing. Seven years of hand drawn animation. The writing's not amazing, but it does its job to adequately set this massive F-Zero-esque setting and story. OST is amazing here too.
Gankutsuou is a SciFi anime adaptation of Alexandre Dumas's epic The Count of Monte Cristo. One of the most unique artstyles out there (it looks somewhat similar that CN show Chowder; i'm not sure how to describe the look, but you'll know it when you see it) on top of an already well known work.
Night Raid 1931 is kinda my weak pick to you (it can be pretty boring and dry at times) but it's basically James Bond meets X-men in a film noir set in interwar China. It's a pretty interesting setting that doesn't get explored often and looks pretty great.
Trojita
Rapid Response Threadmaker
Megidolaon
Member
Ohh, Gankutsuou is Monte Cristo. Ok, yeah I've heard of it. I'll have to add that to my list everyone keeps saying it's good.
Redline just has amazing visuals. Had no idea it took 7 years to make, wow.
Night Raid sounds cooler than I thought.
And yeah, Terror in Resonance looks and sounds good. I love Kanno. Thanks for the recommendations. It'll give me something new to watch in the summer.
FelixOrion
Poet Centuriate
Madhouse
Nemesis121
Member
10 years ago i was watching so many animes today I am watching Baby Steps and Diamond no Ace, 2 sports anime, and could turn into 1 anime once Baby Steps season 2 ends..
FlyingSaucer
Banned
Mappa you mean.
Theonik
Member
BONES you mean.
Theonik
Member
Criticising lack of creativity in the industry when you are remaking your hit from 17 years ago is pretty funny when you think about it.
orthodoxy1095
Banned
As much as I personally agree with Anno's critiques of creativity and the Otaku crowd, he really has no moral high ground. He panders to Otaku and like you said, he's been doing remakes for years.
FelixOrion
Poet Centuriate
You need to watch Ping Pong.
Actually the right answer is GONZO.
Brerlappin
Member
I watched stuff like Akira, Perfect Blue, GITS, back in the 90s/early 2000s but then gave up on it altogether. But I watched Space Dandy this year and holy shit I loved it. Ended up watching KLK too afterwards and despite some of the gratuitousness of the outfit changes, I thought it was really cool. I loved how Space Dandy would flit between flat out zany shit and serious episodes
ShirAhava
Plays with kids toys, in the adult gaming world
I'm a Captain Harlock/Outlaw Star kinda guy....Anime peaked in 1998 and its been downhill ever since. These days you get about one good anime a season
...this season its Arslan Senki....I suppose if your a MOE fan this era is some type of golden age...sigh
...this season its Arslan Senki....I suppose if your a MOE fan this era is some type of golden age...sigh
orthodoxy1095
Banned
I don't think it's necessarily as moe as we might think, but the era of Harlock, Outlaw Star, Trigun and Bebop is long dead. That makes me very sad.
Lights and Waves
Member
I don't really watch anime, aside from stuff I saw as a kid. I recently saw an anime called Madoka Magica because a friend recommended it, and it was breath taking. Such an incredible series and it was "moe" style.
orthodoxy1095
Banned
Space action is a generic term for what those shows were, which was specifically more of Space Westerns. Getting a good amount doesn't speak to the quality anyways.
Ok. I'd argue that's just a natural decline of the Western genre which affects settings in space as well. Lots of media changed once the Cold War ended and people turned to other interests, and sometimes it's an ebb and flow.
Of course quantity doesn't necessarily speak for quality, but the likelihood that it will satiate more people's subgenre fancies tends to come with quantity. If it weren't so popular in the heydays, you simply wouldn't have had as many classics to look back on.
FlyingSaucer
Banned
They are still alive ?!? ;p
True Savior
Member
Nothing stops Bee Train.
GifGafIsTheBestGaf
Member
another hobby that joins the doom and gloom list but before it happens, i recommend Arakawa Under The Bridge.
in all honesty it doesnt surprise, even i could tell you it is currently declining.
this post could be full of irony though
in all honesty it doesnt surprise, even i could tell you it is currently declining.
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