This argument is often used my some anime fans for denoting the increased velocity of bad quality works. But is anime truly going downhill? let’s try to answer that.
Anime has a long and rich history, And its is based on western cartoons. If you watch really old anime, you can see the similarities between Disney’s animation and anime. At this time you can call anime ‘Japanese cartoons’. After some time, anime slowly started to create its own unique style of animation but still looked towards western entertainment industry for reference. This period is regarded by many as the golden period for the anime industry. This period was broad and included shows like legends of galactic heroes, Cowboy Bebop, Neon Genesis Evangelion and much more which are consider masterworks today by many fans. So why animes changed so much?
The answer is simple, people who were making anime changed. Anime was made by people who were an artist with no different identity and today anime is made by the artist who also has the label of an anime fan. Due to change in creators who can only think of anime while making anime, made anime medium inclusive. They started to Reference inside of the medium rather that looking outside for inspiration, this made anime inbred and filled with tropes we all know and hate or love today. Is this a good change?
Anime is probably only medium with such loyal and fanatic following. If you look animes in the so-called golden age of anime you will see similarities between Hollywood-style storytelling and anime storytelling. There are so similarities between these animes and Hollywood movies that I can choose one over other and will not miss anything for not watching one of them. Truth is that anime at this period were so influenced by the western culture that it had lost its originality and uniqueness. It is very hard to find an anime in this period which is focusing on Japanese culture. This period was the gateway for many fans from the west and mostly these fans are complaining that animes are getting worst. But are they?
As I said that anime is still in its infancy, it is growing and learning. Anime of today are inclusive in nature they do not try to cross boundary drawn for them. This thing improved animes in a unique way. Due to this inbreeding anime mutated in variety. Today anime is more diverse than before, there are many options to watch. Anime has become universal medium and can be enjoyed by the person with any taste. We have grown out of action and sci-fi phase and become more grounded in both storytelling and direction, while Hollywood is still in that phase. If there was not shift like this, I may not have gotten into anime at all. Anime has slowly started to explore eastern spirituality and philosophy rather that spinning in the circle with sci-fi, Anime has developed the new techniques to tell a story. slice of life, psychological, sports, comedy, moe, romance, zen animes will not be prominent if anime stayed in that period. As for the quality argument, I think that is a subjective matter. You many not like new animes then those anime is not meant for you, watch old anime or find the new test for anime, criticizing anime is fine, though. For me, anime is better than it has ever been, and if you don’t like light novel adaptation then I will say that not all animes are light novel adaptations and some are good too. Let me ask you a question, do you truly want anime to be Hollywood?
“When we focus within, we open path of uniqueness ”
– Animeindianphilosopher (I cant remmaber who said that, for now I will take credit of it.).
That’s it, guys, let me know your thoughts, am I wrong? do you think animes are getting worst?.
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Animeindianphilosopher 
I kind of agree. There aren’t any good classic anime. Now everything is just okay or could be good. These past season there has been like 1 maybe 2 really good anime . But nothing like omg this is amazing!
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omg this is amazing kind of anime has always been rarity. We tend to think that era was good because of these kinds of anime but matter of fact is that even those animes are spread out in that timeline. These kind of masterpieces normally dont come in groups. After 10 years look back this era of anime and you will have feeling that this era was amazing simply because we humans cant comprehend time in past as we can in present. have a good day.
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You’ve said it. Whether or not anime has become worse is subjective. I wouldn’t say it has totally downgraded compared to the shows in the past, and I agree that brilliant anime shows are spread out in different timelines. But I do think there’s an important shift in the storytelling aspect that pays close attention to fan service.
I’m not saying it’s bad because there are brilliant fan service representations, but compared to the shows a decade ago, the increase of this element in today’s shows is very apparent. It’s when too much fan service is injected in a series that tends to dilute the story (again, not all).
So in general, I think anime has improved. But I can’t say I loved all the enhancements.
Nice post! It’s thought-provoking! Thanks for sharing!
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I am seeing a lot of change in anime, with anime like shouwa genroku rakugo shinjuu, barakamon, Fune wo amu I see the shift towards more well crafted shows and reduction of ecchi and moe domination. We are seeing most violent and volatile period in animetion industry, where industry has to decide between past(Mostly western infulenced animes), present(moe, ecchi and SAO style anime) or future(more phylosophical, grounded, in-depth kind of anime), we shall see who comes to top in next few years, and no need to worry anime will keep evolving until people like us exists. Cheers!!!
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Cheers!
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This debate probably originated from those people who think that the 80’s & 90’s were the Golden Age of anime. Without a doubt, many of the anime from that time are now considered classics. However, I think it’s unfair to say that anime is getting worse right now. It’s just that there are now a LOT of anime titles being released each year. It’s just a matter of wading through these piles and finding the awesome ones. Anyway, good post.
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Thanks,
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Is anime getting worse? In terms of the quality of the animation then yes, it has vastly improved from utilizing traditional pen and paper to the use of the current sophisticated, advanced technology that exists today in which it boils down to the graphics that will be best pleasing to the eyes. But the only thing that it can be debatable, whether an anime is good is bad, will depend on the actual plot and also how a person can enjoy watching the show. For me, everything should be balanced properly: graphics, story, voice acting, the direction the events will turn, and the conclusion. I think most people hold the 80’s and 90’s anime because people utilized anything they can get their hands on and performed beyond the expectation of the viewers that is why they are now considered as classics (also according to the people who commented here). Furthermore, this was the age where people where creative and they gambled on their ideas on making a good anime.
But anime, like any thing that people invests and profits on, is a business, and times are changing because not all people will still want the same story over and over for that particular genre. So no matter how good a concept is for an anime, or how good this particular manga, video game, or light novel is that can be turned to an anime, companies in Japan will just not give it a chance to be adapted into an anime as long as they feel it will not bring money that they need to reimburse them for their costs. If anime right now is sucky because of the shows that exposes so much skin and panty shots on stories that does not even make sense, we can just blame it on the people of Japan because their market is catered to them so companies have no option but to give in to their demands, unless they want to face bankruptcy. And this creates a domino effect in which people outside of Japan will be affected who are watching these shows because they will cringe on the site of the ample garbage they are able to view. That is just how I think things are happening right now.
-DarkdaemonPK2
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is anime getting worse in terms of animation quality? No. As I said anime has become more grounded both in story and animation and it is a subjective field. This question is same as asking are games have low-quality graphics? the answer still stands No!. I love old games and I hate new AAA games why? do they have bad graphics? No, it is because their targeted audience changed. The truth is that old animes don’t have as good as animation as the new one but they can have the good style of animation that new animes. The argument is always about stylized vs realistic, just take a look at the garden of words movie, does it have bad animation objectively, No!, but I still don’t like the movie why? because it has a badly written story. The animation is a tool to express thougths, an animation can be bad only and only if it can’t express what it meant to express. The animation in capeta, lovely complex, legends of galactic heroes, Naruto are objectively bad but they do their work well, so animation becomes subjectively good. Each era has its style and artistic preferences. The point is simple, animation quality hasn’t declined, it just has become more grounded and to the point rather than being flashy for no reason. Today’s anime focuses more on story driven animation that anime for sake of animation neither are bad it is just preference.
Why today’s animes have so much fan service? this question is somewhat wrong, we should be asking why today we have more animes that include fan service? because if you look at some old forbidden animes you will see an extreme form of fan service, I will not name them you can look them on the net(Be warned though). The Later question can be answered with this questions, why people liked SAO? this so-called plague of anime industry be it fanservice or OP Main character are caused by the generation who lack self-confidence and that generation includes me too. You are absolutely right about anime as being business, we can say that product reflects consumer or it should in a good and healthy economy, taking this in mind let me ask you Do you not consume anime? even if you pirate anime is there on one who shares your tastes in the whole world?. Anime is slowly starting to become mainstream, with that velocity of shows also increasing we can assume that 90 percent of anime were crap now they were crap in so called in the golden age of anime. Let us assume that now are 100 animes are being made and in the golden age, only 10 were being made each year. Now let us say that 10 percent good anime is spread all over the chart of 100 and 10 respectively and randomly, you tell me what are easy to find, 10 good anime in the chart of 100 or 1 good anime in the chart of 10 in the fraction of secondes? Secondly, I can argue about the perception of time. We humans inherently view past in more compressed formed that present that gives us the feeling of good anime being more frequent that they actually were. This subject is worth debating over, I hope nothing in my comment have hurt your feeling if it did that we unintentional(Just saying because it is a big comment). Thanks for response, It feel good when someone thinks over you post and tell you their thoughts,
Thanks.
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Thought provoking post, i general i agree with you
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Cheers, happy holidays.
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This has me conflicted. At the same time I see some anime getting worse. While other ones are getting better. I think this is partly down to seeing more anime getting released and all the good anime pushing the mediocre anime to the sidelines, so they get less seen for what they are worth. Maybe my expectations have been raised high because of watching really good shows it puts a damper on other things. Some seasons will be hot, some seasons will be cold.
Nevertheless I still enjoy anime more than ever, with the high hopes that some old anime getting more seasons. (I know everyone must have a long list).
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Happy new year buddy,
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Its getting worse
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