Has this depression sank into the Japanese Soul?
 

I admit I am not that huge of an anime fan, but I noticed after reading some manga ,LN, and play various anime related games


-If this series is

-MC = Male and above high school age.

-Environment = Lack of Magic (at least immediately)

-Setting = Modern Day Japan.

-Results = An recession/or depression has to mentioned in the intro plot.

What is going on these days? :upset:

I miss the days in Doramon where everything is rainbow and sunshines. :(

I haven't read many mangas, I am only watching anime but I agree with you there is too much depression in fiction. Even in schools and universities only sad works of fiction are read by students, the happy ones aren't considered serious enough. I personally prefer optimistic kinds of fiction, there already is too much sadness in real life.

Haha....I recommend watching AKB0048 where love and sparkles literally saves all. :rolleyes:

That should lift you right out of it! But beware of....

There was a lot more certainty when there were only two Super Powers. You have preset ideas of good guys and bad guys. Plus you can avoid grey areas without the audiance caring all that much.

Today? One Super Power and a bunch of potental enemies and shadowy peoples. Lots of shades of grey. No more good guys and bad guys if everyone could be equally bad. Gritty just to be gritty. Economies are bad on top of that leads to a general emotional depression on national...perhaps international scales.

And for some reason the audiance and authors don't want to go back to a happy place to forget about the worlds troubles. They use to try to do that in the 1930s and to the 1960s, and got back to it a little in the 1980s, but otherwise there have been a lot of feel bad movies...depending on country of origin. Anime and manga has gotten some of that too.

I think whatever sense of realism they add potentially lets the audience empathize with the characters more. I started watching Chunibyo, for example, and the MCs paranoia over "normalcy" really hits home. I never had an eyepatch waifu though. xD

I find it funny how this topic antithesizes most of the criticisms of anime today being too kiddy. Just saying.

I think you're looking at something that is meant for a different demographic audience.

I would like to see an example for this before a generalizing statement.

Hey guys I watched this film called Chronicles and boy, has teen films gotten dark and depressing. What happened to my Bill & Ted adventures!?

.... Or you know ↓

I don't know about depression. I think it's more of WHAT IS IN and WHAT SELLS....

I remember hearing once about how, during times of depression, entertainment actually tends to become even more upbeat and happy as a way of taking people's minds off of the depression around them. So if were true that more entertainment is restrained and introspective (which, granted, is far from established), does that suggest that it's actually because people are feeling more comfortable to contemplate such things?

That being said, as others have suggested, this reeks very much of selection bias. There are a lot of happy, uplifting, fanciful Japanese manga, novels, games, and anime even today. Perhaps try the Suggestions forum for some recommendations.

One thing you need to notice: It's usually when the main character is cynical that we hear about recession/depression.

Why use Doraemon as the example?. It's aimed primarily for little kids, and you surely cannot show depression to little kids unless you want the enraged parents to burn your office

I agree. If something is all sunshine and rainbows it's likely to be regarded as childish. The "grown up" version of such stories in anime are comedies, and tend to be harem-type series. But how original are those?

Anime series have always included some forms of anguish and suffering. Nearly every form of entertainment has. It doesn't have to do with current events, either, it's just life. Characters who never struggle and never have a setback are unrealistic and can be difficult for the audience to relate to. In many cases the audience identifies with characters through their struggles and experiences and then feels inspired when the fictional characters work through their problems.

What makes anime unique (or perhaps, what made anime unique back in the 1990's and early 2000's) is the willingness to have endings that aren't 100% happy.

In my opinion, it would be more impressive if there was a dark plot with suspense, but a happy ending.
Most people think for some reason that happy endings are inferior to sad ones from the artistic point of view.

Guys, I think you are getting this wrong, I meant ECONOMIC recession. And Economic depression. If it is about college/real life stories, it all starts with Job is so hard to find these days, people are desperate, unemployment rate is low.

In effect, sadness :upset:

Wait...What depression?! :heh:

Everything I've seen is usually lighthearted for the most part...other than a few dramatic scenes....

Seriously, what are you watching that's so depressing?

I'm starting to wonder too... Are there really that many works these days that focus on the realistic struggles of finding jobs and dealing with a depressed economy? If I were to pick like "Top 10 most common themes in anime-related Japanese media", I don't think that would be on the list...

Actually, if you are talking economic depression then I too have noticed an increasing mention of this in anime.

Similar to how the declining population started to creep it's way into anime as well.

Not that either are a main theme, but rather it seems to be a "fact of life" that exists in fiction now as well as the real world.

Yeah, it sounds more like live action TV drama than anything Anime.

Genshiken maybe? Yeah, can't think of any anime like that.

Honestly, this thread feels like a flamebait.