What is the best trend in anime?

[Oppius]

I already saw someone else made a thread about worst trend in anime and then I came with better idea. I know some trends are bad and some are not. I just want to concentrate on the good ones. Warning! Spoilers ahead.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v507/Kokoro888/th_1970sThrowback.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v507/Kokoro888/1970sThrowback.jpg?t=1199247321)http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v507/Kokoro888/th_1970sThrowback2.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v507/Kokoro888/1970sThrowback2.jpg?t=1199247321)http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v507/Kokoro888/th_1970sThrowback4.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v507/Kokoro888/1970sThrowback4.jpg?t=1199247321)http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v507/Kokoro888/th_1970sThrowback5.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v507/Kokoro888/1970sThrowback5.jpg?t=1199247321)

The 1970's throwback artworks for Blue Drop ~Tenshi-tachi no Gikyoku~. Maybe some of you never understand but for me this is symbolism to look back at 1970's anime. In fact the 1970's is the golden age for Japanese animation industries much like what 1940's did to Hollywood. If their animation industries failed in 1970's, we may never know what anime today. Another thought is it try to tell there is some "super robot" influence and of course spaceships in Blue Drop are equivalent to super robots in 1970's.


I hope someone give much better examples better than this.

[Spectacular_Insanity]

My favorite trend was, believe it or not, an actual improvement in animation in the series Crest of the Stars to Banner of the Stars (all the way to III). Other shows went downhill as production sped up, but not Banner.

Ex:
http://www.ews.uiuc.edu/~dxie2/index_files/image002.jpg
to
http://org.ntnu.no/anime/img/serie/17.jpg
to
http://www.theanimecat.com/Photos/banner2.jpg
to
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p129/atomichaze/bannerIII.jpg

[Kaioshin Sama]

By far the best trend in anime currently is that the ratio of male to female characters is slowly moving back towards a 1.1:1 ratio (Female:Male), rather than the 3:1 ratio it's been for a while. This in turn has allowed veteran Male Seiyuu to come back to the scene and has opened up the job market for new Male Seiyuu by creating more demand. Furthermore it is allowing for greater creativity and variety in characters these days, and is just plan good for characterization in general. I mean it's great that Female characters had been getting more and more billing after the Mid 90's, but the scales tipped way way to far in their direction and for much of last 3 or so years the male character front has been desperately lacking.

[Nenkitsune]

wow Kaioshin_sama, now that i think about it, you're right. there has been a noticeable change in the ratio of girls to guys recently.

this may sound stupid.....but i like vampire girl shows.

like karin, tsukuyomi and rosario+vampire. Not sure why.


But i agree with you Kaioshin_Sama, I do like the fact that there are more male characters now. It makes things more interesting.

[KholdStare]

Best change: originality. Sure there's still cliché shows out there but there's also an outburst of shows that take on a whole new concept, which I like.

[Chiibi]

My favorite trend will always be love-hate relationships. XD It's not new at all, I know but I can't think of recent trends except how well CGI blends in now.:)

[Vexx]

I'm with Kaoishin on liking the resurgence of multiple male characters who aren't just background mattes in ensemble series (like Sketchbook, KKPR, Lovely*Complex, Clannad, Honey&Clover, etc).

[cicido]

I'm not very up to date with current anime, but looks like some new genres are appearing. I think it started with shows like Darker Than Black Pumpkin scissors or even Black Lagoon.
Even if the cliché/standard style anime is sill here (and it has to, otherwise it would not be anime anymore), schoolgirls, love triangles, brother-sister complex etc seem to play a smaller role in anime today.

Although I am almost certain that these sort of genres will eventually create a new cliche someday, just like how EVA was once original with un-confident main character, huge robot with human characteristic, multi-personaly heroines, and etc

[Darklord_bg]

By far the best trend in anime currently is that the ratio of male to female characters is slowly moving back towards a 1.1:1 ratio (Female:Male), rather than the 3:1 ratio it's been for a while. This in turn has allowed veteran Male Seiyuu to come back to the scene and has opened up the job market for new Male Seiyuu by creating more demand. Furthermore it is allowing for greater creativity and variety in characters these days, and is just plan good for characterization in general. I mean it's great that Female characters had been getting more and more billing after the Mid 90's, but the scales tipped way way to far in their direction and for much of last 3 or so years the male character front has been desperately lacking.

Hmm...interesting...I feel like the situation is just the opposite.

Late 90's and early 2000's were full of mostly action, shounen and mecha shows which are pretty unbalanced in terms of gender (i.e. male:female at least 2:1). I feel like this trend has pretty much remained like this, although recent mecha shows feature more and more female characters, i.e. Code GEASS (which is probably the most gender-balanced show I know). There have also been some female-dominated action shows (Mai Hime/Otome, Nanoha Strikers) but those are pretty rare.

However, at the same time more and more romance/harem shows have been emerging lately where the men are indeed hopelessly outnumbered. Shows like Love Hina that used to be unique for a while, are now a commonplace. This has brought about a dramatic increase of female characters in anime to the point that the overall ratio has become in favor of the girls.

I guess I am trying to say that the male:female ratio mostly depends on the genre, but while action and mecha shows are gradually becoming more gender-equalized (shounen are still as male-dominated as ever), harem and romance shows are significantly female-dominated. That's why I feel like the trend is actually the emergence of more and more female-dominated harem/fanservice shows.

I am not sure which shows you are referring to when you speak about the re-emergence of male characters, but in most action and mecha shows, male characters are still and have always been on equal grounds or better than female ones.

[Sheba]

I think that the male/female ratio in s.o.l/moé/comedy and harem show kinda balance the other genres like shonen.
Problem lies in how they are portrayed not in just one genre but also in the industry as whole. Useless, helpless, underpowered, sidelined, stuck-to-damsel-in-distress-role female characters usually found in most of mainstream shonen is as bad as those stuck to their moé tropes (loli, tsundere, etc...) found in harem, etc...

[Deathkillz]

Off the top of my head right now, I would have to sad Manly tears.

I am happy to have had this experience as it is certainly a rare trend nowadays (thankyou GL ;)).

And yea I agree with kaio that it is good to see males coming back into power. Still pretty far from the female dominated side but they are becoming more noticeable (rather than the same old generic male voice for romance leads etc).

[Kaioshin Sama]

I think that the male/female ratio in s.o.l/moé/comedy and harem show kinda balance the other genres like shonen.
Problem lies in how they are portrayed not in just one genre but also in the industry as whole. Useless, helpless, underpowered, sidelined, stuck-to-damsel-in-distress-role female characters usually found in most of mainstream shonen is as bad as those stuck to their moé tropes (loli, tsundere, etc...) found in harem, etc...

This sentence.....huh?:confused::twitch:

I think you are saying that genres balance each other out on the character ratios, but I think Shonen shows generally have a good balance of male to female characters. By contrast I can't count the number of S.O.L shows that feature majority casts of female characters, same with harem.

I will also argue that male characters are portrayed as showing weakness just as much too. Take Simon in Gurren-Lagann. In the beginning he really lacked anything resembling courage and needed a mentor in the form of Kamina, and a significant other in the form of Nia to find the courage he never knew he had all along. We also have many strong-willed female characters in the Shoujo genre as well who even if they aren't physically strong, do what they can in their own capacity, such as Nami in One Piece acting as a navigator or Kinue Crossroad in Gundam 00 investigating and searching for the truth. They are also rarely sidelined and get their chance to shine when the moment is right.

By contrast for the longest time Male characters in a lot of shows were not getting their due, nor did they seem to exist as much in comparison throughout all series airing in those years. I actually did some research on ANN and added up all the major male and major female characters of all the series listed from Summer to Winter 2006 and I came up with a rounded ratio of 2.5:1 for the female characters. That's more than double, but the numer has been heading back to what I said earlier, a more preferrable 1.1:1.

[Darklord_bg]

And yea I agree with kaio that it is good to see males coming back into power. Still pretty far from the female dominated side but they are becoming more noticeable (rather than the same old generic male voice for romance leads etc).

I hope you only mean in the romance/harem/s.o.l genres, since as far as I see it male characters never lost power in the action/mecha/shounen shows. Am I missing something here?

But then again...romance shows are generally not targeted at guys, so it is understandable.


I think you are saying that genres balance each other out on the character ratios, but I think Shonen shows generally have a good balance of male to female characters. By contrast I can't count the number of S.O.L shows that feature majority casts of female characters, same with harem.

While recent mecha and action shows have certainly become more balanced, I still do not think this applies to shounen shows. Think about all the mainstream ongoing shounen shows right now - Naruto, One Piece, Bleach, D Gray Man - the male/female ratio is at least 2.5:1. However, since shounen shows have become more rare and the ongoing ones don't get too much attention, they kind of get neglected and thus people get the impression that there are no male-dominated shows. It's a pity, since there are some really good ones that go unnoticed, such as "Kekkaishi".


By contrast for the longest time Male characters in a lot of shows were not getting their due, nor did they seem to exist as much in comparison throughout all series airing in those years. I actually did some research on ANN and added up all the major male and major female characters of all the series listed from Summer to Winter 2006 and I came up with a rounded ratio of 2.5:1 for the female characters. That's more than double, but the numer has been heading back to what I said earlier, a more preferrable 1.1:1.

WOW, looks like you did a lot of work. I don't think I would have the patience to do something like that. I think the reason for this highly unbalanced statistic in 2006 is the fact that in harem shows the ratio is like 5:1 in favor of the girls, even if it is close to equal in many other genres. I think that's what makes this negative statistic - it's not like girls dominate every show 2.5 to 1.

Also, I still don't see this recent "return of men to power" you are talking about, since most new shows are in the romance/s.o.l./harem genre which are indeed female-dominated. Gundam 00 is strongly in favor of the guys, but Shana and CLANNAD totally cancel that effect. Other recent shows - Myself/Yourself, Kimikiss, Ninomiya-kun, Rental Magica, Night Wizard, Rosario + Vampire, They are my noble masters, and many others are also hopelessly unbalanced. I guess I just want to ask you which shows you are talking about when you say the guys are coming back in power, since I do not think that is the case.

[Seditary]

Never underestimate what Kaioshin-sama would do.

For myself, it wouldn't be strictly the number of men in anime lately, but the quality of men coming out in series these days. Men like Simon in TTGL, like Lawrence in Spice and Wolf, like most of the guys in Gundam 00 etc. Even background character males are more interesting these days, like the Sketchbook guys and the Minami-ke fellas.

Just a few examples off the top of my head.

[Slice of Life]

IBut then again...romance shows are generally not targeted at guys, so it is understandable.
You haven't watched many, have you? Most romance anime a targeted at males.

I'd like to see more actually funny male characters in comedy series, they easily increase the quality of the show. Minami-ke is the best example I think, School Rumble another. But this only works if they are actually integrated into the show, instead of being harem lead, or emanating coolness, or both (Negative examples would be Hayate and what's his face from Rosario to Vampire.)

In action shows I prefer female leads of male any time. Male characters are never given the leeway by the fanbase to actually get some depth.

[Matrim]

I am not sure how much of a real trend it is but - more yuri. :)

I guess I just want to ask you which shows you are talking about when you say the guys are coming back in power

I'd like to ask this too.

I'm not very up to date with current anime, but looks like some new genres are appearing. I think it started with shows like Darker Than Black Pumpkin scissors or even Black Lagoon.

Er, what new genres would that be? Neither of these shows is innovative enough to be hailed as the beginning of a new genre, IMO.

[Lintendo]

I'll be honest and say traps.

Just in 2007 there's a handful of traps I could think of on top of my head: Minami Ke, Shion no Ou, Shugo Chara, Moyashimon, etc...

[Sheba]

Darklord_bg pretty much said what I has in mind. I never got that whole panic over "femdom" or females hogging the spotlight and turning males into an endangered species. From what I have seen in the last years, most of the female dominated shows (that so happens to be harem, slice-of-life or VN-to-anime adaptations) are aimed to a niche market; while shonen, and maybe mecha (not sure about it), are more mainstream.

If anything, shonen needs more females like Balsa, Gally or Motoko Kusanagi for a breath of fresh air in the genre. And I second what Slice of Life said about males in comedy shows. Keitaro getting punched to oblivion =/= funny, fruitless loves of Hosaka and Fujioka + dementia of Hosaka (to name a few of ingredients that made Minami-ke funny) = funny.

[KholdStare]

Also, a good trend is better background music. It makes a good anime excellent.

[tbl]

I'm not sure if it is a trend yet, but I hope it becomes one: evil/somewhat evil protagonists like Lelouch, Light and Kazuma (Kaze no Stigma).

[4Tran]

My favorite trend is probably the rise of the Noitamina timeslot:

Honey and Clover
Paradise Kiss
Ayakashi
Jyuohsei
Honey and Clover II
Hataraki Man
Nodame Cantabile
Mononoke
Moyashimon
Hakaba Kitarō

This is just about as good a collection of shows as there were in the last few years. Moreover, the popularity of these shows (they usually garner the best ratings of any shows airing latenight) means there is an increased chance of seeing more high quality (and perhaps a little quirky) shows in the future.

As for the increased number of male characters, I don't think that the number or proportion is all that important. What is important is how well their characters are written and presented. In that regard, male characters are probably better off now than they have been in a long time (depending on genre), but it'll be a while yet before we progress beyond the milquetoast, sullen loner or brash youngster archetypes.

[Blaat]

In fact the 1970's is the golden age for Japanese animation industries much like what 1940's did to Hollywood. I'm pretty sure the 80s is considered the golden age of anime (well late 70s, entire 80s) all the way up the bubble economy collapse in 1990.

[Supah Em]

great musical scores

ef ~ a tale of memories ~ would pose as the best example for making a common plot into a more interesting story by inserting great musical cues and great timing for other musical scores.



oh and also, mediocre animation but fitted with an interesting story

GTO, anyone?

[Sorrow-K]

I'm pretty sure the 80s is considered the golden age of anime (well late 70s, entire 80s) all the way up the bubble economy collapse in 1990.
Depends who you ask. Some say 70s, some say 80s. I personally think anyone who thought there ever was a golden age is looking at the past with rose tinted glasses. All periods have gold and crap, and the ratio generally fluctuates around an approximate constant.

What 4Tran said. Noitamina is one of the great initiatives in modern anime. We're also seeing the rise of a lot of great directors, IMO, like Kasai, Shinbo, Shinkai and Kon, etc, etc, who are willing to really challenge convention and push boundaries and/or invest incredible thought and care into their works.

We've also seen something in the last six months that just over a year ago I was starting to think wasn't going to happen for a long time: genuinely good visual novel conversions happening on a regular basis. It's still too early to call it a trend, but there was a time where I was getting worried that anime like Air and Higurashi were a fluke, since almost every other visual novel conversion I'd seen up to that stage were mediocre at best. But, in the last few seasons alone we've seen ef, Kimikiss, Clannad, Higurashi Kai and True Tears, all of which stand strong among the better titles in their respective genres.

As far as the gender argument is concerned, I think anime like Red Garden pretty much show that it's moot. There's nothing that says you can't have a gritty action series with an almost all female cast.

[SeijiSensei]

Do you think that the success of Noitamina has helped make it possible for other quirky shows like Oh! Edo Rocket, Dennou Coil, and Bartender to be produced recently as well? I don't have anywhere near the personal viewing history of many of you in this thread, so I can't really speak about trends that extend back much before 2000 or so.

Noitamina seems premised on the belief that anime made for a larger, and more mature, audience can still be successful. This strategy always made sense to me since the mature audience is much larger, and wealthier, than the otaku audience. (Let's not rehash in this context the "why the Japanese hate otaku" discussion that appears elsewhere in this forum.) Falling Japanese birth rates will make the strategy of appealing to older viewers more important as the otaku market shrinks numerically.

Not only do the Noitamina shows draw relatively large audiences despite their time slot and subject matter, they've also done well in the DVD (http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=60985) marketplace. Mononoke averaged about 12,000 units per disc; Nodame and Moyashimon averaged 8-9,000. The initial disc sales for Nodame and Mononoke were over 15,000 units each. Those aren't CLANNAD numbers, but they're highly competitive with shows like Claymore or Darker than Black that have a lot more fans on AS than even Nodame.

(Dennou Coil has, sadly, done much worse than these series, averaging just about 3,000 copies per release. There are no figures available for Bartender or Rocket in eggplant's data.)

Also, like KholdStare and supahem mentioned, I began to notice the background scores for series more this year than in the past. That's what led me to hold a "Best Scores" competition this winter. I suspect that's a trend that will continue. Good music probably costs less than good animation, so it makes sense to hire an excellent composer to enhance a show.

[Matrim]

I am not sure if the good background music is a very recent trend, considering there are series like Cowboy Bebop and Turn A Gundam which are almost ten years old now and have better soundtrack than 99% of today's series. People like Yoko Kanno, Yuki Kajiura and Toshihiko Sahashi have been making anime scores for quite a while. Recent or not, trend or not, I hope the quality of anime OSTs remains good for a long time.

[Supah Em]

no one said that good background music is a very recent trend, its just that most of the recent animes have neglected the musical parts and instead focused more on the storyline, animation, and *cough* SERVICE *cough*


cowboy bebop had a great musical ensemble, i liked the jazzy aspect of it, especially the first OP

[solomon]

I second the noitamina and autership suggestions. I also think it's nice to see more and more shows put more emphasis on interesting animation. Admittedly there are still in the minority as many anime is made for tv and there are precious few good animators in Japan but it's a great thing to see.

[Kaioshin Sama]

I second the noitamina and autership suggestions. I also think it's nice to see more and more shows put more emphasis on interesting animation. Admittedly there are still in the minority as many anime is made for tv and there are precious few good animators in Japan but it's a great thing to see.

Some TV Series these days are looking like OVA's in quality, that's a trend I think is good. One that stands out and I actually thought was an OVA at first just because of what they did with the animation was Macross Frontier. I still am having trouble wrapping my head around the idea that it's going to be a full TV series.

Lately a lot more studios have been stepping up the bar on the animation front. Among the top for me are Sunrise, Kyoani, Gainax and Studio Nue. Not just them though, other studios are stepping up to where they used to be, and may even reach their plateau soon enough. I'm starting to wonder if it's that the drawing software is getting better or if there are just more talents getting signed up.

[Slice of Life]

Seeing all the talk about the so-called Golden Age ...

I'm must admit, I'm feeling a bit competent anime-wise only back to about 1990 maybe. One thing for sure, I don't want to go back to those times. I don't know much about the 70s and 80s (apart from children shows) but if there was a Golden Age back then, I'm failing to see it.

Maybe I'm biased, but anidb has the facts. Certainly, we have more quantity nowadays. According to my quick count, anidb lists 31 anime for 1977, 91 for 1987, 106 for 1997, and 221 anime for 2007. OK, nobody would deny that the number of anime has increased. So what about quality? Has the crap simply multiplied?

This is of course a more subjective question. Among the 40 anime of 10/2007 (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=latestanimes&last.anime.month=10&last.anime.year=2007&last.anime.type=air&do.last.anime=Show), we have IMHO great stuff like Ghost Hound, Kaiji, Moyashimon, Minami-ke, or Genshiken 2. Sketchbook, Bamboo Blade, YUA 3, KimiKiss aren't bad either. Even Mokke, Ninomiya-kun, Shugo Chara are acceptable. And I don't expect Nasu and Appleseed to outright suck either. YMMV, and probably does, but I think that list is at least a diverse one, so you can't blame me to simply have jumped on the xyz genre train, dismissing all the other stuff, present or past.

Ten years back, and we have 17 October (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=latestanimes&last.anime.month=10&last.anime.year=1997&last.anime.type=air&do.last.anime=Show) shows. Among them a classic like Berserk. Miyu wasn't bad, and Virus was ... bearable. And that's it.

October 1987 (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=latestanimes&last.anime.month=10&last.anime.year=1987&last.anime.type=air&do.last.anime=Show)? 11 shows, and not a single one that would interest me. Expanding the search to November and December, there is a least X Train, and a Hi no Tori. Maybe Dirty Pair, if I'm desperate.

October 1977 (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=latestanimes&last.anime.month=10&last.anime.year=1977&last.anime.type=air&do.last.anime=Show)? Don't ask

So bottom line, the Golden Age of anime is right now. All in all, anime has become more, better, and more diverse. That is the most positive trend in anime. When you're whining, you're whining from a comfortable position. If you see a golden age somewhere in the past this is most likely the outcome of mentally condensing a whole decade and comparing it to one single recent month, plus adding a lot of nostalgia.

[Sorrow-K]

Do you think that the success of Noitamina has helped make it possible for other quirky shows like Oh! Edo Rocket, Dennou Coil, and Bartender to be produced recently as well? I don't have anywhere near the personal viewing history of many of you in this thread, so I can't really speak about trends that extend back much before 2000 or so.I like this idea. It's tough to know if it's right, ie, if shows like Bartender and Dennou Coil were spawned out of an attempt to compete with Noitamina, or if the creators of all such shows simultaneously recognized a hole in the market for more mature and less otaku-targeting shows, but the result is a good one either way, and it's good to know such titles are achieving mild success.

Lately a lot more studios have been stepping up the bar on the animation front. Among the top for me are Sunrise, Kyoani, Gainax and Studio Nue. Not just them though, other studios are stepping up to where they used to be, and may even reach their plateau soon enough. I'm starting to wonder if it's that the drawing software is getting better or if there are just more talents getting signed up.
You forgot Madhouse. Madhouse are right up there with the best, IMO.

[KholdStare]

Seeing all the talk about the so-called Golden Age ...

I'm must admit, I'm feeling a bit competent anime-wise only back to about 1990 maybe. One thing for sure, I don't want to go back to those times. I don't know much about the 70s and 80s (apart from children shows) but if there was a Golden Age back then, I'm failing to see it.

Maybe I'm biased, but anidb has the facts. Certainly, we have more quantity nowadays. According to my quick count, anidb lists 31 anime for 1977, 91 for 1987, 106 for 1997, and 221 anime for 2007. OK, nobody would deny that the number of anime has increased. So what about quality? Has the crap simply multiplied?

This is of course a more subjective question. Among the 40 anime of 10/2007 (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=latestanimes&last.anime.month=10&last.anime.year=2007&last.anime.type=air&do.last.anime=Show), we have IMHO great stuff like Ghost Hound, Kaiji, Moyashimon, Minami-ke, or Genshiken 2. Sketchbook, Bamboo Blade, YUA 3, KimiKiss aren't bad either. Even Mokke, Ninomiya-kun, Shugo Chara are acceptable. And I don't expect Nasu and Appleseed to outright suck either. YMMV, and probably does, but I think that list is at least a diverse one, so you can't blame me to simply have jumped on the xyz genre train, dismissing all the other stuff, present or past.

Ten years back, and we have 17 October (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=latestanimes&last.anime.month=10&last.anime.year=1997&last.anime.type=air&do.last.anime=Show) shows. Among them a classic like Berserk. Miyu wasn't bad, and Virus was ... bearable. And that's it.

October 1987 (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=latestanimes&last.anime.month=10&last.anime.year=1987&last.anime.type=air&do.last.anime=Show)? 11 shows, and not a single one that would interest me. Expanding the search to November and December, there is a least X Train, and a Hi no Tori. Maybe Dirty Pair, if I'm desperate.

October 1977 (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=latestanimes&last.anime.month=10&last.anime.year=1977&last.anime.type=air&do.last.anime=Show)? Don't ask

So bottom line, the Golden Age of anime is right now. All in all, anime has become more, better, and more diverse. That is the most positive trend in anime. When you're whining, you're whining from a comfortable position. If you see a golden age somewhere in the past this is most likely the outcome of mentally condensing a whole decade and comparing it to one single recent month, plus adding a lot of nostalgia.

My thoughts about this are a little bit different. I agree that the golden age of anime isn't way in the past, but I think that it is from 1999-2006. You're welcome to disagree, but I don't think that anime these days can compare to the ones in that time.

[Slice of Life]

My thoughts about this are a little bit different. I agree that the golden age of anime isn't way in the past, but I think that it is from 1999-2006. You're welcome to disagree, but I don't think that anime these days can compare to the ones in that time.

When you say "from 1999-2006" I assume you see the peak somewhere around 02-04. At least I can't see a significant and sudden drop in quality from 2006 to 2007 (and even if there was, one could dismiss it as fluctuation). I wouldn't say that 2007 was definitely better than 2003. On such a short timespan (which is all "now" in my book compared to the 70s-80s) things become fuzzy and I would have to go back to anidb again and actually rate a significant sample of anime instead of just glancing over them. And even then, I wouldn't claim my findings to mean anything for anybody except myself. At the very least, I don't see a negative trend over the last few years. So yes, I think I disagree with you but that's more gut feeling than hard data. Ask me again in 2017. ;)

[Kaioshin Sama]

87 had Kimagure Orange Road, Metal Armor Dragonar, Hokuto No Ken 2 and Wings of Wings of Honneamise. The era had it's standout series just like this one.

77 had the Uchuu Senkan Yamato Movie.

97 had Gundam Wing Endless Waltz, Yuusha Oh Gaogaigar, Pocket Monsters (Soon to be a monster franchise), Slayers Try, Mononoke Hime, Flame of Recca, End Of Evangelion, Jungle Taitei (New Movie), More Slayers, that Yamato parody....

Basically yeah, as he years go on the number of titles increased and with that the likelyhood of more that would catch peoples eyes. I think I've said before though that each age couldn't have existed as it did without the previous one.

[KholdStare]

When you say "from 1999-2006" I assume you see the peak somewhere around 02-04. At least I can't see a significant and sudden drop in quality from 2006 to 2007 (and even if there was, one could dismiss it as fluctuation). I wouldn't say that 2007 was definitely better than 2003. On such a short timespan (which is all "now" in my book compared to the 70s-80s) things become fuzzy and I would have to go back to anidb again and actually rate a significant sample of anime instead of just glancing over them. And even then, I wouldn't claim my findings to mean anything for anybody except myself. At the very least, I don't see a negative trend over the last few years. So yes, I think I disagree with you but that's more gut feeling than hard data. Ask me again in 2017. ;)

I had to include 2006 to include what I really call a masterpiece out of all those years, Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu. And of course, I started 1999 to include the last half of Cowboy Bebop.

[Kaioshin Sama]

I had to include 2006 to include what I really call a masterpiece out of all those years, Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu. And of course, I started 1999 to include the last half of Cowboy Bebop.

Those are the sole masterpieces you saw in all those years. Really?

[Terrestrial Dream]

Seeing all the talk about the so-called Golden Age ...

I'm must admit, I'm feeling a bit competent anime-wise only back to about 1990 maybe. One thing for sure, I don't want to go back to those times. I don't know much about the 70s and 80s (apart from children shows) but if there was a Golden Age back then, I'm failing to see it.

Maybe I'm biased, but anidb has the facts. Certainly, we have more quantity nowadays. According to my quick count, anidb lists 31 anime for 1977, 91 for 1987, 106 for 1997, and 221 anime for 2007. OK, nobody would deny that the number of anime has increased. So what about quality? Has the crap simply multiplied?

This is of course a more subjective question. Among the 40 anime of 10/2007 (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=latestanimes&last.anime.month=10&last.anime.year=2007&last.anime.type=air&do.last.anime=Show), we have IMHO great stuff like Ghost Hound, Kaiji, Moyashimon, Minami-ke, or Genshiken 2. Sketchbook, Bamboo Blade, YUA 3, KimiKiss aren't bad either. Even Mokke, Ninomiya-kun, Shugo Chara are acceptable. And I don't expect Nasu and Appleseed to outright suck either. YMMV, and probably does, but I think that list is at least a diverse one, so you can't blame me to simply have jumped on the xyz genre train, dismissing all the other stuff, present or past.

Ten years back, and we have 17 October (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=latestanimes&last.anime.month=10&last.anime.year=1997&last.anime.type=air&do.last.anime=Show) shows. Among them a classic like Berserk. Miyu wasn't bad, and Virus was ... bearable. And that's it.

October 1987 (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=latestanimes&last.anime.month=10&last.anime.year=1987&last.anime.type=air&do.last.anime=Show)? 11 shows, and not a single one that would interest me. Expanding the search to November and December, there is a least X Train, and a Hi no Tori. Maybe Dirty Pair, if I'm desperate.

October 1977 (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=latestanimes&last.anime.month=10&last.anime.year=1977&last.anime.type=air&do.last.anime=Show)? Don't ask

So bottom line, the Golden Age of anime is right now. All in all, anime has become more, better, and more diverse. That is the most positive trend in anime. When you're whining, you're whining from a comfortable position. If you see a golden age somewhere in the past this is most likely the outcome of mentally condensing a whole decade and comparing it to one single recent month, plus adding a lot of nostalgia. Well I am not saying that 70's and 80's were the golden age (I still say it's the 90's for personal reasons), but I think the reason why it is consider the golden age, because there were lot of anime that were consider a masterpiece, and many revolutionary animes (though I suppose this statement is unfair to use for the current animes). Right now though there are lot of many animes that are good, but I really didn't see that anime that game me the wow factor of Gundam, Char's Counter Attack, Gunbuster, and Macross DYRL. Only anime that gave the wow factor recently was Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Though I understand your point and I like how anime has become diversed.

My personal favorite anime trend would be, Gattai! I just like it because I just love those combination sequence in anime :p.

[Ermes Marana]

My thoughts about this are a little bit different. I agree that the golden age of anime isn't way in the past, but I think that it is from 1999-2006. You're welcome to disagree, but I don't think that anime these days can compare to the ones in that time.


If there is a golden age of anime it would have to include 1998. The top 5 alone (that started in 1998):

1. Cowboy Bebop
2. Serial Experiments Lain
3. Trigun
4. His and Her Circumstances
5. Outlaw Star

Then you have continuing shows like Berserk.


As for whether the golden age is still going, it is too early to tell. That kind of thing takes years afterwards to become clear.


A trend I see is a lot of anime becoming more self referential. Referencing other anime, referencing anime cliches, referencing and using fanservice cliches, etc. This trend isn't always a bad thing, for example it can make for a great comedy, but hopefully it doesn't become too overdone.

[KholdStare]

Those are the sole masterpieces you saw in all those years. Really?

Yup. I rarely call anything a "masterpiece" unless I really think that they're masterpieces. By levels of enjoyment, they're not top on my lists, and the ones that are top on my lists I wouldn't call them masterpieces either. Those two anime are the ones that pop up in my mind immediately along with the word "masterpiece," so they are the most memorable I might say.

And I agree that it should include 1998 as well, since Cowboy Bebop did start in 1998. I think that 1999 had major changes in animation and art styles though.

EDIT: No no, I've seen more masterpieces between 1998-2006, but I just put down Cowboy Bebop and Suzumiya for 1998-1999 and 2006, respectively. There are more in-between.

As for whether the golden age is still going, it is too early to tell. That kind of thing takes years afterwards to become clear.
It might be early to tell, but I've seen nothing in 2007 that I would consider on the same level as Cowboy Bebop and Suzumiya. Good candidates include Claymore, Nodame Cantabile, and Byousoku 5 Centimeter (of course, these are just my opinions, especially the last one), but they're not in the same league as the first two I mentioned. No I'm not a hardcore Haruhi fan or anything, but I do appreciate the series very much.

[solomon]

Some one had said that Noitamina has prompted the creation of shows somewhat outside the normal otaku realm of consumption. It's not impossible but I doubt theres any real correlation. After all, I think the big rise in shows made primarily for an otaku audience started in the 80s (particularly with niche OVAs) and really hit paydirt in the mid 90s on (OVA production went down, late night tv became otaku time).

I remember reading an article with Kazuhiro Furuhashi and Tow Ubukata (director and writer of Le Chevalier D'Eon) about the anime they set out to create. Furuhashi said that back when he was growing up, there was more "general" anime, citing World Masterpiece Theatre for example. "General" here means productions aimed at a wider less niche hardcore audience. NHK (station who did Denno Coil) seemed to be doing that with Twelve Kingdoms, Coil and Planetes. NTV has aired various late night anime that were popular with general viewers as well (Hajime no Ippo, Monster). I think that some creators notice the sheer rise in popularity of more "otaku" shows and want to make works to try and diverge from that.

Aside from my own tastes, I am interested more what creators and audiences would see as much more general, (but not the childish stuff like one piece, etc.) such is why I enjoy the Noitamina initiative by Fuji TV.

As for animation, well digital techniques and CGI work have come a long way, making many shows look worlds away then they did 15 years ago in terms of luster. Animation wise, well it's still scatter shot but a rise in concentrated proffesional animators means more work to look forward too, even outside of Ghibli. I.G. is a consistent pleaser. Gainax can has some good staff too, Gurren Laggan like or not has the best animation produced for a TV show, ive seen probably from any country in many years, (cant believe the wasted talent on Mahoromatic though, blech). Bones does some good stuff for tv, although I thought some of their later stuff was kinda meh animation wise compared to their ealier work. Madhouse can and will make awesome looking stuff (Kemonozume, Coil, Kon movies) as well. However, I find that outside of Ghibl, IG and kinda Bones/Gainax, great animation is facilitated by the individual and less the studio. Which is why although the vast majority of shows may have good rendering finish and maybe smooth frame rate, the movement/acting/drawing probably won't be anything to scream about.

I also agree that based off what i've seen and read in the history books, that the golden age of anime is probably NOW as opposed to the 80s. There just so much more inventiveness and diverse genres in both general and otaku anime circles. That's one thing that Japan has over us, even though it's really due to their manga culture.

[Blaat]

Depends who you ask. Some say 70s, some say 80s. I personally think anyone who thought there ever was a golden age is looking at the past with rose tinted glasses. All periods have gold and crap, and the ratio generally fluctuates around an approximate constant.Okay, didn't know that. Ah well it seems my comment spawned an off topic discussion, sorry about that.

[felix]

Big eyes. Don't know why, but it gives a character a much more tangible personality IMO.
I guess KyoAni is more into this lately...

[Deathkillz]

I tend to favor more angular eyes than just big round ones.

Just to name a few:

Gin sama(RM), Shinra(Kimiaru), kyou(Clannad), kagami(LS).

[Kaioshin Sama]

Big eyes. Don't know why, but it gives a character a much more tangible personality IMO.
I guess KyoAni is more into this lately...

I could swear eyes were biggest in the 90's. That's were anime became known in the west more as "That artstyle with girls that have saucer like eyes". There was even a tabletop anime themed RPG called Big Eyes Small Mouth.

[4Tran]

Some one had said that Noitamina has prompted the creation of shows somewhat outside the normal otaku realm of consumption. It's not impossible but I doubt theres any real correlation. After all, I think the big rise in shows made primarily for an otaku audience started in the 80s (particularly with niche OVAs) and really hit paydirt in the mid 90s on (OVA production went down, late night tv became otaku time).
Noitamina is new enough that I don't think that there's any direct correlation between the two. However, what it does is prove that there's a commercially-viable alternate audience out there. Where this'll make a difference is whether an offbeat show will get a green light for production or not.

I also agree that based off what i've seen and read in the history books, that the golden age of anime is probably NOW as opposed to the 80s. There just so much more inventiveness and diverse genres in both general and otaku anime circles. That's one thing that Japan has over us, even though it's really due to their manga culture.
That's pretty much it. While there are quite a few good titles in the late-70's and 80's, these works are outnumbered, both in terms of number and of diversity, by the current crop. The overall percentage of quality works to mediocre ones may have arguably fallen between then and now, but there's so much more out there that it shouldn't matter a whole lot. The only exception would be OVA works, but I don't think that that's a great loss.

[felix]

I could swear eyes were biggest in the 90's. That's were anime became known in the west more as "That artstyle with girls that have saucer like eyes". There was even a tabletop anime themed RPG called Big Eyes Small Mouth.

Now if I'm not mistaken back then they were more wide then big. Meaning the eye was large but the pupil was pretty small. Correct me if I'm wrong.

@Dethie: My favorite as well. I don't watch a lot of shows where round dominates so basically the angled version is what I was thinking of when I posted.

[Sheba]

Now if I'm not mistaken back then they were more wide then big. Meaning the eye was large but the pupil was pretty small. Correct me if I'm wrong.

@Dethie: My favorite as well. I don't watch a lot of shows where round dominates so basically the angled version is what I was thinking of when I posted.

Ranma 1/2 characters has big saucer eyes.

[SeijiSensei]

Noitamina is new enough that I don't think that there's any direct correlation between the two. However, what it does is prove that there's a commercially-viable alternate audience out there. Where this'll make a difference is whether an offbeat show will get a green light for production or not.

4Tran's observation is really what motivated me to ask the question about Noitamina's influence in the first place. It's not that I think producers are trying to duplicate Noitamina, but that the financial success of Noitamina shows may give someone trying to sell a non-mainstream idea more leverage in negotiations with the studios and production companies.

[StriderZ]

Hmm.. The best trend now might be that the antagonist is extremely powerful. Unlike in the past where antagonists get defeated easily. Now the antagonist pwns the main characters. lol

[DragoonKain3]

Best trend in my (quite heavily biased) opinion?

Childhood friends archetype is still going quite strong in anime. Last year alone they appeared in 20 some odd shows, and so far their win:loss ratio is around 60:40 so far last year (I'm waiting on 2 more shows). While yes, it's down from the 70:30 average from 2000-2006, at least 2006 was spectacular now that it 's basically 75:25. As it is, 2000-2007 is 68/97 'wins/loss' record for the childhood friend archetype, with 2 more shows pending.



For the record (changes/additions/corrections are welcome as always):
Boys Be
Love Hina
Gatekeepers
X - FLCL
X - Escaflowne
Triangle Hearts
Angelic Layer
Comic Party
Touch Crossroad
ONE
Kanon
Pitaten
Ai Yori Aoshi
Asagiri no Miko
X - Gundam Seed
Nanaka 6/17
DNAngel
Last Exile
Mizuiro
X - Ultra Maniac
Da Capo
X - Tsukihime
KonoMini
X - Natsuiro no Sunadokei
Wind: A Breath of Heart
HaniHani: Operation Sanctuary
Fafner in the Azure
Elfen Lied
X - Mai-Hime
To Heart: RmM
Kakyuusei 2
X - Kannazuki no Miko
W Wish
Futakoi (consider as a win, as main 2 contenders are BOTH childhood friends)
Genshiken
Onegai Twins
X - Ichigo 100%
Tsubasa Chronicle
X - Basilisk
X - Suzuka
X - Shuffle
Comic Party Revolution
Honey & Clover (eventually)
FF7: AC
X - Canvas 2
To Heart 2 (consider as a win, as main 2 contenders are BOTH childhood friends)
Lamune
Noein
X - I''s Pure
X - Magikano
Kage Kara Mamoru
Shinigami no Ballad
Kyou no Go no Ni (eventually)
Ouran
Zegapain
Soul Link
Nishi no Yoki Majo
X - Yume Tsukai
Kamisama Kazoku
Tsuyokiss
X - Muteki Kanban Musume
Tonagura!
Crescent Love
Kanon 2006
X - Code Geass
Gift: Eternal Rainbow
Kujibiki Unbalance (not finished subbed, but the 2 contenders are both childhood friends)
Tsubasa 2nd season
Sumomo
x- Super Robot Taisen OG (And that my friends is one of the reasons why Ryuusei sucks :P)
Akazukin
Kenichi
Nana (no I'm not talking about Layla :p... there is that guy that Hachi liked that married his osananajimi)
Happiness
Major 3rd season (after 2 seasons it FINALLY went somewhere, not far, but at least it's a start)
x- Shuffle! Memories (probably the only series in memory that repeated a loss from a previous season)
x- Byousoku 5 Centimeter
x- Heroic Age
x- Reideen
x- Seto no Hanayome
Koutetsushin Jeeg
Kishin Taisen Gigantic Formula
Shining Tears X Wind
Sola
Tsubasa OVA (And I don't think there'll be an end to Sakura/Syaoran love, third time and counting XD)
x- Lovely Complex
Kaze no Stigma
Dennou Coil
x- Code-E
Kenkoo Zenrakei Suieibu Umishou
Potemayo (them being in middle school, close enough)
Moetan
Myself; Yourself
x- Clannad
Ninomiya-kun (again, both contenders are childhood friends, so auto-win)
x- ef - a tale of memories (AAAAHHH!!! THE PAIN! DAMN YOU HIRO! T_T)
Genshiken 2

Unknown, though both has relatively good odds
?- KimiKiss
?- Rental Magica

[Cytrus]

Best trend in my (quite heavily biased) opinion?

Childhood friends archetype is still going quite strong in anime. Last year alone they appeared in 20 some odd shows, and so far their win:loss ratio is around 60:40 so far last year (I'm waiting on 2 more shows). While yes, it's down from the 70:30 average from 2000-2006, at least 2006 was spectacular now that it 's basically 75:25. As it is, 2000-2007 is 67/97 'wins/loss' record for the childhood friend archetype, with 2 more shows pending.[/spoiler]

While I don't know the reason behind it, your osananajimi fixation never fails to make me laugh :D.

I sympathize about half the time though, so keep it up ;).

[Autumn Demon]

haven't thought about the best, but the funniest trend in anime i've seen is characters trying to speak English. i in no way think it's bad when people misspeak English (i'm learning Japanese and can't speak it well at all yet), but i can't help but uncontrollably crack up in laughter when i hear English in anime. often in school-life anime when i hear characters reading English aloud for class i can't even tell that it's English. it's even hilarious when they have native English speakers in anime but who completely speak English in an over-exaggerated, comical way, like in kasimasi ep1.
(btw i'm only talking about original Japanese audio, not dubs)

ichigo mashimaro inspired me to post about this. i almost fell off my chair from laughter from hearing the characters trying to speak english.

[Saber Cherry]

I like the big eyes too.

Over the years, eyes have been getting bigger and bigger and bodies have been getting smaller and smaller. Consider, for example, Manabi Straight, with perhaps 5-pound eyes on 50-pound "high-school student" bodies, or the various Key characters - which when I first saw them in maybe 2001, seemed to have humongous eyes, but they now seem mainstream! And Digi Charat, a noble pioneer of the trend - not only did they have eye lasers, but Puchiko's body could fit inside either of her eyes! Now compare them to the contorted characters of the 70s, that practically looked... human. Anime head technology - how much brain they can cram in the base of the skull, leaving the rest of the space for immense, beautiful eyes - is improving even faster than computer ships are shrinking. A modern anime character with one eye closed can still have more eye surface area than than Pai from 3x3 eyes, with all eyes open.

I am both scared and excited by the ultimate destination of this trend. How much of an anime character, by mass, can be eyeball before they start looking *worse*, not *better*? I look forward to the day when some mad genius of an artist produces an anime character with an eye bigger than the entire character itself!

[SeijiSensei]

I look forward to the day when some mad genius of an artist produces an anime character with an eye bigger than the entire character itself!

Hakaba Kitaro comes close to granting your wish; take a look at Kitaro's father :)

[Triple_R]

From what I've personally seen, and watched, come down the anime pipe in recent years, anime seems to be trending towards serious, complex, heartfelt, and somewhat realistic romances, and away from shallow, slapstick comedy-esque, "romances".

Bleach, the Nanoha series', Shakugan no Shana, Busou Renkin, the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and a few other recent anime titles have very few, if any, of the "guy accidentally stumbles upon actual/desired girlfriend in a compromising situation, and gets pummeled for it" physical comedy that was simply done to death in harem anime in general, and in Love Hina! in particular. Honestly, Love Hina! has probably ruined the humour in that sort of scene forever for me - it was just painfully overused.

It's a relief to see more realistic, serious, and heartfelt romance in pairings like Shana/Yuji, Yoshida/Yuji, Haruhi/Kyon, Kazuki/Tokiko, Ichigo/Rukia, Ichigo/Orohime, Erio/Caro, arguably Nanoha/Fate, and several others.

[felix]

I am both scared and excited by the ultimate destination of this trend. How much of an anime character, by mass, can be eyeball before they start looking *worse*, not *better*? I look forward to the day when some mad genius of an artist produces an anime character with an eye bigger than the entire character itself!

:) Chibies come pretty damn close these days!?

[Saber Cherry]

Hakaba Kitaro comes close to granting your wish; take a look at Kitaro's father :)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/16/MedamaOyaji.jpg/100px-MedamaOyaji.jpg
http://www.toei-anim.co.jp/tv/hakaba/character/img/img_medama.jpg

I guess anime characters really need the anime hair to be truly cute :) Even if it's just an eyelash comb-over!