Does new anime suck? No, just your perception does.
3:30 PM on 03.03.2010 // EBK
[Editors Note: This is a promoted Community Blog, written by one of our readers in response to March's Monthly Musing topic. If you would like to see your own Cblog on the front page, warm up your keyboard and write something awesome! ~Jon Snyder]
It is a constant source of bewilderment to those outside the fandom and a number of those within it how defensive a vocal minority can be about the “desecration” of their precious animes. “It just isn’t like it used to be!” they cry out in alarm. “Why, there’s moeblobs and fan service! Surely we don’t need that many panty flashes? Oh, how I yearn for the good old days.”
They fail to realize that anime is not immune from that common “good old days” fallacy. This is the belief of some mythic past point in which all the problems of the present did not exist and everything was magically perfect. This did not exist, it does not exist and it likely never will exist. Should there be any doubt, it can be proven that this is so.
Firstly, before anything specific is debunked, allow me to touch upon a critical point: Have you watched these old series lately? Have you watched all of them? When you sing the praises of the anime eras gone by, you are likely just remembering the better shows that stuck out. This is especially true if you started watching anime after these eras and are now simply catching up on select series from these periods. Even if you were around for these times and had to face the more limiting selection of sending in blank VHS tapes, you still are likely to have only watched better series based off of recommendations. This is a crucial point: You don’t recall the bad series of the past because you either never watched them or have not bothered remembering them, while bad shows in the present are much easier to notice when they’re currently airing.
This results in a mixture of confirmation and sampling bias. Those insisting that anime used to be much better focus only on the good shows from the past while latching onto the latest “moe girls doing stuff” show to paint all of modern anime as simplistic and out of tune. But, and this may surprise some, there were old shows that sucked. Let us evaluate some of the common complaints surrounding modern anime.
“The fan service! My virgin sensibilities can’t take it!”
Perhaps you are familiar with the common maxim “sex sells.” What is pivotal to understand is that the anime industry is just that, a money making product creator (more on this later). Yes, your precious works of art are commercial products, and they will put in there what sells. Believe it or not, male audiences tend to like boobs and panties. And that little sex joke with the busty female lead is helping to sell DVDs and pay for more anime to be created. But this is not a new avenue anime companies are considering. This is common throughout the history of media, anime included.
“So moe! Why are all these moeblobs appealing to the hardcore otakus?”
See this character? This is Yuki Nagato in an old anime. I’ll admit, this is only from 1995, but 15 years should be enough to constitute “old.” The point is, many consider Yuki to be moe. In fact, many consider most if not all of the female leads in the Haruhi series to be moe. While perhaps not as pure moe as K-ON, you have big tits girl, eccentric tsundere girl, quiet bookworm girl and the list goes on. None of these archetypes were invented by Haruhi. They all precede Haruhi by many years and are, in fact, not even distinct to anime. They’re just portrayed differently in other media.
But why? Why is there so much moe? Just like the fan service, it is there because it sells. And the reason they put in what sells is because, once again, they’re out to make money. The sense of entitlement within the otaku community is astounding. Even on the Japanator AM podcast, there was complaining about the visual quality of Crunchyroll videos. You people are unbelievable with your sense of entitlement. Even when you are provided a legal avenue to watch a number of series shortly after they air in Japan and have them subtitled by professionals, all for free and with the ability to support the anime industry in the process, you all bitch unless it is streamed in flawless Blu-ray level video at the same time it is airing in Japan with no ads and every valuable little “desu” and “kun” left in for the sake of purity. And you express any shock that they cater to the paying hardcore rather than you?
Here’s another phrase: “Vote with your wallet.” If all that actually makes money is moe and panty shots, all they will make is moe and panty shots. These are not altruistic companies making something purely for art’s sake in the desperate hope that you will torrent their shows. At the end of the day, all they care about is whether you buy them. They want something that sells DVDs and graces Pocky boxes and pachinko machines. If you don’t like certain types of shows, do not buy them. But likewise, do buy the shows you actually like! Your purchases speak louder than whining in blogs and forums ever will. Reward those that do what you want and punish those that don’t. Market forces will prevail.
“No! I distinctly remember that they were better when I was a kid!”
Oh, what folly. You’re no different than those that insist that cartoons from the 80s, back when they were a kid, were so much better. Firstly, I should return to my original point that you only remember the good series, not the bad ones. But secondly: your tastes as a child likely don’t match up with your tastes now. Most of the children’s cartoons in the 80s were just made to shill toys. Just like I asked of you with anime, try rewatching these old series. If you like them now as much as you did then, I will eat my hat. Yes, tastes change over time. It likely is not that anime got worse over time, but that your tastes matured and developed. Your shifting preferences are not the fault of anime companies.
My ultimate point is that you are holding all of modern anime to a standard that never actually existed. You’re examining the past through the rosy goggles of nostalgia and complaining that not every modern series is on par with the select best of the past. You’re also labeling established trends as modern ones and refusing to financially support the anime industry, even in such a simple way as watching a series on Crunchyroll.
It’s not anime, it’s you. Are there bad shows in the current seasons? Certainly. But that’s not any different from how anime used to be, just different from how you remember it being. So stop blaming the industry for your lack of perspective and wanting to make a profit.Photo Gallery: (3 images)
Click to zoom - browse by swipe, or use arrow keys
This results in a mixture of confirmation and sampling bias. Those insisting that anime used to be much better focus only on the good shows from the past while latching onto the latest “moe girls doing stuff” show to paint all of modern anime as simplistic and out of tune. But, and this may surprise some, there were old shows that sucked. Let us evaluate some of the common complaints surrounding modern anime.
“The fan service! My virgin sensibilities can’t take it!”
Perhaps you are familiar with the common maxim “sex sells.” What is pivotal to understand is that the anime industry is just that, a money making product creator (more on this later). Yes, your precious works of art are commercial products, and they will put in there what sells. Believe it or not, male audiences tend to like boobs and panties. And that little sex joke with the busty female lead is helping to sell DVDs and pay for more anime to be created. But this is not a new avenue anime companies are considering. This is common throughout the history of media, anime included.
“So moe! Why are all these moeblobs appealing to the hardcore otakus?”
See this character? This is Yuki Nagato in an old anime. I’ll admit, this is only from 1995, but 15 years should be enough to constitute “old.” The point is, many consider Yuki to be moe. In fact, many consider most if not all of the female leads in the Haruhi series to be moe. While perhaps not as pure moe as K-ON, you have big tits girl, eccentric tsundere girl, quiet bookworm girl and the list goes on. None of these archetypes were invented by Haruhi. They all precede Haruhi by many years and are, in fact, not even distinct to anime. They’re just portrayed differently in other media.
But why? Why is there so much moe? Just like the fan service, it is there because it sells. And the reason they put in what sells is because, once again, they’re out to make money. The sense of entitlement within the otaku community is astounding. Even on the Japanator AM podcast, there was complaining about the visual quality of Crunchyroll videos. You people are unbelievable with your sense of entitlement. Even when you are provided a legal avenue to watch a number of series shortly after they air in Japan and have them subtitled by professionals, all for free and with the ability to support the anime industry in the process, you all bitch unless it is streamed in flawless Blu-ray level video at the same time it is airing in Japan with no ads and every valuable little “desu” and “kun” left in for the sake of purity. And you express any shock that they cater to the paying hardcore rather than you?
Here’s another phrase: “Vote with your wallet.” If all that actually makes money is moe and panty shots, all they will make is moe and panty shots. These are not altruistic companies making something purely for art’s sake in the desperate hope that you will torrent their shows. At the end of the day, all they care about is whether you buy them. They want something that sells DVDs and graces Pocky boxes and pachinko machines. If you don’t like certain types of shows, do not buy them. But likewise, do buy the shows you actually like! Your purchases speak louder than whining in blogs and forums ever will. Reward those that do what you want and punish those that don’t. Market forces will prevail.
“No! I distinctly remember that they were better when I was a kid!”
Oh, what folly. You’re no different than those that insist that cartoons from the 80s, back when they were a kid, were so much better. Firstly, I should return to my original point that you only remember the good series, not the bad ones. But secondly: your tastes as a child likely don’t match up with your tastes now. Most of the children’s cartoons in the 80s were just made to shill toys. Just like I asked of you with anime, try rewatching these old series. If you like them now as much as you did then, I will eat my hat. Yes, tastes change over time. It likely is not that anime got worse over time, but that your tastes matured and developed. Your shifting preferences are not the fault of anime companies.
My ultimate point is that you are holding all of modern anime to a standard that never actually existed. You’re examining the past through the rosy goggles of nostalgia and complaining that not every modern series is on par with the select best of the past. You’re also labeling established trends as modern ones and refusing to financially support the anime industry, even in such a simple way as watching a series on Crunchyroll.
It’s not anime, it’s you. Are there bad shows in the current seasons? Certainly. But that’s not any different from how anime used to be, just different from how you remember it being. So stop blaming the industry for your lack of perspective and wanting to make a profit.Photo Gallery: (3 images)
Click to zoom - browse by swipe, or use arrow keys
Follow Blog + disclosure
This blog submitted to our editor via our Community Blogs, and then it made it to the home page! You can follow community members and vote up their blogs - support each other so we can promote a more diverse and deep content mix on our home page.
Setup email comments
Unsavory comments? Please report harassment, spam, and hate speech to our community fisters, and flag the user (we will ban users dishing bad karma). Can't see comments? Apps like Avast or browser extensions can cause it. You can fix it by adding *.disqus.com to your whitelists.
