CNN: Anime decade: From 'Japan Cool' to 'cooling off'

iwakuralain16 · Post by **iwakuralain16** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 12:32 am

http://www.cnngo.com/tokyo/play/decade-anime-682165

I though this article was pretty interesting... thought I would share.

Post by **sensei** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 7:07 am

Interesting, though I don't think the "moe" aka "lolicon" concept has ruined anime. There are a number of classic harem type series (AMG is one, Tenchi Muyo, another, Rozen Maiden yet another) that fit this type. Yet there are other genres that have developed alongside them. (You could equally say that the over-proliferation of mecha series has "killed" anime.)

I wonder if it just isn't the nature of a culture that discovers the possibilities in an art form to "burn through" them in a short period of intense experimentation and audience interest. You could find all kinds of historical and cultural reasons why Elizabethan drama was hot from 1585 to 1605 and then was not later on (Puritans, Shakespeare's retirement, etc.) But maybe it's just that England said what it had to say in this artistic genre, and after that it got repetitive and formulaic.

You could say the same about the early rock'n'roll revolution, or about the "American Renaissance" in short stories and novels, hot from 1845-55, and about a lot of other musical, artistic, and literary "golden ages."

Maybe Japan had a lot to say that had not been fully articulated, and anime was a way to say it, and now it's naturally time for the art form to settle down to more of a steady state. This natural contraction will mean that some creative artists who were drawn to it will now find something else to exploit. And many fans who were simply drawn to the form because it was new, exotic, and unfamiliar to their parents, will latch onto the next craze.

That's the way such things go: and I'm happy I was around for the "golden years." (And I'm sticking around for the "silver" and "bronze" ages as well.)

Sylia · Post by **Sylia** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 11:45 am

Hey! Elizabethan drama is still hot!

Nice article, Lain.

I think it's along the lines of when anything goes downhill... Things get marketed and over-commercialised to death as the machine is perfected... Pleasing the masses typically means pandering to the lowest common denominator and doing what comes most easily. Which in this case has become a manufactured thirst for "lolicon" girls. Unfortunately, offering up a predominantly junkfood diet of something makes some quick, cheap money from a certain niche but is the death of authentic cool culture. My theories of evolution are quite cynical mwahaha...

Lol all joking aside, I think anime has a bit of a problem with manufacturing niches. It's the same thing that made it quite successful, but I also think it limits growth. It's also got something to do with the target audience most of it is predominantly aimed at- 15-25 is a pretty small target window. Most people grow out of it, and as it evolves the new commercially-distilled version of it is too limited to attract as many new people as before. Or else it attracts an increasingly fly-by-night crowd, as a lot of what's produced is pretty disposable. Tastes change. Kids today aren't going to be impressed en masse by pervy moe girls or nostalgic old timers' giant robot fetishes and old-fashioned sentiments. Attention spans will be shortened so much that no-one's going to want to watch anything above the level of a Pixar film anymore XD. Kids want to see what everyone else is watching more than ever so that they can Twitter about it with their friends- outside of a few popular anime series shown on Cartoon Network (or whatever the equivalent in Japan), I doubt they'd bother with too much other anime.

Eh. Basically I blame soulless corporate consumerism XD. It's all just cynical personal theories though. Pop will eat itself?

Keropi · Post by **Keropi** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 3:28 pm

There are so many more ways of entertaining yourself these days. People's attention spans are shorter now too. Every new form of entertainment creates a new niche and pulls people away from everything else that's around. The population is larger than before, but people's time is split between more places.

It's like how there are so many more sketch series available than three years ago. It's harder to make money compared to back then (bad economy notwithstanding). People can wait it out and pick and choose where to spend their money. It's easier to fall into trouble when people's attention is too spread out. It's harder to tell what they want.

cutiebunny · Post by **cutiebunny** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 3:46 pm

I think quality is the biggest issue. Now that most things are done with computers, the cost of making an anime has drastically decreased.

Which means that pretty much anything can have its own series.

It used to be that a manga would have to have a significant following prior to it becoming an anime. There are many exceptions, such as when it's done by a particular manga-ka whose previous idea(s) were popular. But for the most part, sometimes it would be years before a manga would ever be animated.

But now, depending on the idea and how hot the women in the manga are, some manga are barely being released before they're offered an anime. The ideas are rushed, half-baked and repetitive so that the animation company can sell life-sized pillows of the latest anime girl with a DD rack.

While there will always be the group that will fawn over whatever fanservice anime out there, there is a much larger portion that want shows with solid stories that are different from each other. I think that this is the principle reason why anime is in decline.

graymouser · Post by **graymouser** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 4:52 pm

Ditto to cutiebunny. Well said.

Keropi · Post by **Keropi** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 9:08 pm

Well that's certainly true. I can't think of anything better than a bunch of anime that end without coming close to main storyline resolution to get its anime viewship fired up.

Nowadays usually the best we can hope for is that an anime will end at a fairly decent spot in the anime or novel. Not many anime TV series have real endings now...unless they're a made up ones.

Now that I think about it, about the only anime stories that consistently show true endings were the anime based off completed games.

Sylia · Post by **Sylia** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 10:58 am

Ditto to cutiebunny. Well said.

Especially the part about the double-D girly-pillows...

Krafty · Post by **Krafty** » Fri Dec 25, 2009 4:05 am

Anime has got to a stage now where so many original ideas have been done and it's now stale. The 80's-mid-90's saw the best releases because they combined a balanced degree of original stroytelling, inventive characters and the animation technology could express what they wanted to purvey.

Converseley these decades also had their fair share of atrocious titles, the difference with anime today is that the majority is bad.

The loss of talent to the industry is worrying, something that's been discussed before, so I can only hope the companies who commission anime take note of this by putting less pressure & restraints on the creatives and don't emphasise monetary profits and marketing before a show's even made.

Perhaps we do need more strong-willed DD nymphettes to save the day? LOL

iceman57 · Post by **iceman57** » Fri Dec 25, 2009 5:11 pm

Krafty wrote:Perhaps we do need more strong-willed DD nymphettes to save the day? LOL

Robots...
Robots...
and more Robots...

All started with a gentle and young b&w robot. The current vision of feminine gender in anime is a climax of perversion that sweared to regular anime.
This is indeed a one way and not the right way (and don't forget about girls underwear, we are in true fetichism).

I think the answer to this anime evolution of consumer taste is maybe here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc_jDEvGC7s

The cyborg...