Anime has fallen off in recent years
 

First of all, I believe Sturgeon's Law greatly applies to anime as a category of entertainment. I thought so when I started watching at 10 and I think so now (20 y/o); I just always believed that most anime was garbage and that contrast made me appreciate the good shows so much more.

Now though, nearly every show shamelessly adheres to cliche plot points and archetypes.

Not only that but the poorly written protagonist that plagues nearly every anime is toxic. In good faith I can't recommend anime to anyone under the age of 16 because honestly it'd probably warp there brains. It's that bad.

Someone ten years older than you would probably say the same about the anime you watched at ten verses the anime they watched at ten.

This happens with a lot of things, especially on television. I can find people that think TV today sucks and has sucked for decades. They only like what was on when they were younger (or when they started watching TV). This has given rise to stations like TV Land which shows 1950s and 1960s television, because a large set of people think that stuff on TV after than sucks.

The real thing is that they really only remember the good programming and not the stuff that sucked back then (and there was a lot of suck in every year of television from every country).

Anime is no different. We mentally weed out the crap (or in some cases only get the relatively good stuff imported in the first place), and when we are in the present only see crap (except for maybe this one really good show on this season). But that is the thing. It is normal to have only a few good memorable shows a year with years not having a show that is worth remembering all that much. It happens with all forms of Television.

I don't watch much television anymore. Partly because I've not found anything I want to watch, but also because I spend more time on the internet for entertainment than I did a decade (or decade and a half now) ago. I don't watch a lot of anime, generally only one or two new shows a season. But there are gems I haven't watch. Not because they were bad, but just because they aren't my interests. you can have good TV that you are not interested in. That doesn't make it crap if you aren't interested. It just means you have no interest in it.

You probably should stick to morning/evening-type of anime... some franchises there are very durable.

Rule of thumb: late nite anime = the ghetto block. No holds barred. Expect qualities exhibited there to be no different than viewing the latest lil Wayne or Nikka Minaj's music videos... the kinda stuff that would probably offend your sensibilities:heh:

When quantity is preferred over quality....

Those are some outstanding generalizations right there, I believe.

Perhaps you'd better choose the shows you watch more wisely then?

http://forums.animesuki.com/showthre...36#post4501936 (another thread with the same substance, whether one says 'today's anime' or 'anime has recently fallen off')

Maybe we should ask why so many of these threads are coming up recently - or, I may be wrong and these type of threads were always prevalent ?

^ Because reputation is no longer a hurdle to them.

You have doomed yourself the moment you believed in Sturgeon's Law. I'm a 22-year-old, and I still find enjoyable things in anime. Of course, you have to exert some effort to maximize your enjoyment.

Also, Sturgeon's Law is 90% bullshit.

What's the problem with that? Cliches may exist, but it shouldn't be a problem, actually.

Seriously? :eyebrow:

Maybe he's looking for something original? But hey, originality is overrated, and everything has been done before, so...

There's plenty of anime that appeals to little kids, it's like the OP didn't believe in that. :rolleyes:

Or he DID believe such anime exist, and that's probably the reason he disliked those.

Expanding horizons is the main problem here. I'm sure that the rise of anime series produced during the 12 years that passed is more than enough for him to get a series that he might enjoy, and there's more to anime to "those that only appeals to little kids".

You just have to look for it.

Oh well. As people grow up, their preferred programs differ.

This thread kinda reminded of that topic whose starter tried to "respectfully" aired her opinion about anime AND epically failed.

I think I'll just quote a part of relentlessflame's well-written closing reply to the most recent rant thread.
The last thing we need is yet another rant topic about the perceived drop of quality in recent anime.

How about compiling every threads of this kind into one ? It may maximizes angst ! :rolleyes:

Pointless seeing that the previous ones ended up getting locked.

I'd say the problem of some anime is excessive fan service... yes, I'm a guy and normally I don't mind excessive boobage or pantyshots. but you have to draw the line somewhere right?

The main characters are all the same problem. Yes, they are cut outs of each other because each one is done yes. But realize that people would want to be able to distinguish him/her from other heroes than the members in their harem.

Over hype. When you overhype a series it becomes a turn off instead of a turn on. Sometimes over hype gives you this utterly bad feeling that a series will disappoint you. Some may not be affected by this phenomenon though.

Uninspired writing. Sometimes, anime begins to feel like a bunch of stereotypes just tossed together. It varies from each person's sensitivity to these cliches. It is partially an issue of originality but when you start to feel like there is nothing to the series but hot destined girl to be girlfriend, hero with overpowered ability and many other stuff, but you leave out the character themselves and how people should connect to them, how the story of the series goes but lack that consistency of the situation. Yeah...

All I can say...

> too much reused plots.
> reused fan service techniques.
> shorter series.

I think anime has been doing great these past two years.

True I drop most shows anyways, but there's been plenty of shows with engaging premises.

Everything has been done before. I'm not sure what you mean.