Anime Quality Declining?

[Rajani Aishwara]

Is it just me? Does anyone else notice this? Am I just getting older, or have the American currents lost touch with quality? Has Japan itself lost touch with quality?

Full Metal Panic and X were the last two animes that intrigued me enough to stick with all the way through. Sadly enough they were mini-series. Full Metal Alchemist's plot has thickened beyond reconsiliation, and I've never liked Inuyasha. Ghost in the Shell has never striked me as genuine in character development. I have yet to see anything as 'fun' as Trigun, and if there is anything as deep with political and social commentary as Gundam Wing I will give my left nut to see it.

Perhaps I've just lost touch. With most Americans interest in video games and anime goes hand in hand, and I haven't picked up the controller since last June. Any takers?

[Corvus MacCallum]

Eh its all rather varied, I stick to mecha anime myself and can say that for the most part its getting a resurgence of the simpler, effective times with the new Koutetushin Jeeg, Gaiking Legend of Daiku Maryu and then the super robot show that started for kids and then grew to adults GaoGaiGar.

Apart from those three haven't really strayed to new anime much, got my 12 disc Mazinger Z set keeping me occupied along with Getter Armageddon, ah yes theres another good one,the New Getter Robo OVA, excellent stuff.

[Reiko]

I don't think Anime's getting worse.

I collected Samurai 7 last year and it's really fricken awesome, almost as good as the movie it's based off of. Also Desert Punk's great fun if you have a tolerance for it's Raunchy humor. And Utawarerumono only has the second volume out and so far it's the best anime with Furries as the main characters and one of my favorite animes and also has the most mature main characters I have ever seen in anime.

[Koran]

I like Cowboy Beebop...O.o Trigun is cool, but I could never quite understand it. I'm not a big anime fan though...so I wouldn't know.

[Osato]

I love the old anime, but hate the new stuff. I stopped watching lately because there really isn't much to it anymore. Either the plot line is so droll that anyone here could write a better one... or it is so intricate that no one but a diehard fan could follow it.

And I saw desert punk... it's possibly the worst one I've ever seen to date. I mean, I'd rather watch all of the DBZ's on a cassette tape with bad tracking than watch the last three episodes of that... lol.

[Seraphima]

O.O

It's that bad, Os? *now knows what NOT to watch*

[Sok]

Hmm... I don't think it's necessarilly that new anime sucks, there's just a lot of it, and even in oldentimes it was just a few series that were really any good... we just remember the old ones because they were good.

I'll have to second the New Getter OVA though, from what I've seen so far, good stuff. Very true to the original vision of getter. (except for the whole skipping over Musashi thing... poor poor Musashi...)

There are a good number of anime I'll still watch, and a few I'm even following.

You have to realize, there's only ever going to be a FEW series that are good, and will become popular, without turning into a joke.

(I was going to say more, but this isn't a "what anime do you like" thread.")

Also, be a little more cautious with your use of American maybe. There are not a small number of international peoples around. And things like that really don't watch country boundaries. >.>


(PS: If you're not including Fumoffu and Second Reid with Full Metal Panic, I definately recommend them.)

[Reiko]

Well Desert Punk is a love it or hate it anime. And I don't blame you for hating it but don't base my other recommendations on it. It's immature and perverted and will probably offend you and on top of that uses lots of anime humor. But it's funny with decent action scenes and animation. Just an offensive guilty pleasure, yet I enjoyed it enough to watch through the series again. It's not for everyone.

Now the other's are great.

Samurai 7 is really awesome. It has great animation and a great story based off of Kurosawa's most well known movies. The main characters are great and likable, some even more than in the movie. The action is also top notch. Only problem is one villain that shows up in the beginning and the end.

And Utawarerumono is the opposite of desert punk in terms of maturity. Here we have a story of a mature hero and his establishing of a new country while focusing on the relationship with his friends and adoptive family. Again great animation and action and a character driven story with lots of likable characters. The early villains suck but they're so minor it isn't a problem.

Sok's right, you still had to go hunting for the gems. Trigun was great but there was plenty of pop junk back then, Dragon ball Z, even though I like the series. Heck there are some bombs but we forgot them. Heck some of the classics aren't as classic as we thought.

[orphans]

Ghost in the Shell is mostly more philosophical though the meanings behind them are somewhat varied and differe for each person. Mmm.... recent animes though... I'm not too sure. I tend to stick more to just random things, but I love Studio Ghibli things. Also, stuff by Satoshi Kon is pretty good to, for example, Perfect Blue. I've been trying to find more of his things but oh well.

I also tend to watch more animated movies then actual anime series. :x... so... meh?

[Karuka]

The master of anime, hands down, is Hayao Miyazaki. And to whomever disagrees with that, boo on you.

And he has a new movie coming out in '08.

[orphans]

:x Miyazaki is good and all and I love his stuff, but personally I think it's a little unfortuante that he casts such a huge shadow over people like Satoshi Kon whose stuff is about equal or even better than some of Miyazaki's in my opinion ^^

My personal favorite from Kon's is Millenium Actress.

[Corvus MacCallum]

The master of anime, hands down, is Hayao Miyazaki. And to whomever disagrees with that, boo on you.

And he has a new movie coming out in '08.

Umm, this thread is asking the question of "Is anime quality dropping recently", what do you beleive this threads about?

[AdventWings]

It appears... perception of what is Anime in the recent years has changed as well, thus it is harder for us to distinquish what can truthfully be called Anime and what can be thrown away as Anime Junk.

Also, I have seen the decline in Anime quality, mostly with Storyline and Interaction of the characters. It's just like the literature market: The story ideas have all been done to death and new ideas are becoming harder and harder to come up with. So, a lot of times, newer Anime that tries to make it in the market either has to:

1) Go back and remake Old Anime and Stories from the old age (See The Count of Monte Cristo Anime as an example) while putting in a new twist.

2) Make an Anime dealing with how twisted Human Nature is. Frankly, though, that has been so overused you can fill an entire warehouse with Anime of that genre. Then again, Anime is about Human Nature, so that's going to be really easy to find...

3) Make something entirely different and original. This is what the new ones are trying to achieve, though many failing miserably, and is the hardest thing to do when it comes to creativity.

Now, my own assessment of the current "Mainstream Anime"...

*Full Metal Alchemist: I stopped watching after the 30th or so episode. It got boring real quick.

*Maria Watches Over Us: ...Intriguing, especially since I'm trading in my CSI time to watch it. Then again, who doesn't want to watch a bunch o' Catholic School Girls deal with their everyday life? ...I'm still surprised I even watched this...

*Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig: It's pretty OK for the Ghost in the Shell series, though I found more balanced mix of philosophy and humor back in the days when the Major was still a single person... ((Spoiler Averted!)) The newer ones now have a darker, more sinister tone than the first few ones.

*Samurai 7: An Anime worth collecting. Good plot, good character interaction, good philosphy behind it all. Then again, this was made after a rather successful book, so it fits into my "remake" category.

*Black Cat: Read the Manga. The Manga > the Anime.

*R.O.D. the TV: A hilarious sequel to the two original Manga series and the first Anime. It gets pretty dark in the later periods of the series, but quite original and intriguing. If you have the Read or Dream Manga, I hate you. I have been searching for it my entire college life and have yet to find a single one.

*Higurashi no Naku koro ni: If you're into psychotic thrillers, horror/guro or just looking for a good scary Anime without the inherent "Magic and Ghosts" undertone, this is it... If you can stand the blood. The visual appeal is rather subpar, but the story is worth getting into. If you want to watch without going on YouTube (which sux, because they won't load for me), I have 26 English-Subtitled Soundtrack episodes for you to look at. If you dare.

Then again, I haven't been able to watch some of the more recent Anime that can be considered "new" - Most of the ones I've seen were from before 2005 and even then, most just doesn't appeal to me as the older, fresher ones.

[LordLeopold]

if there is anything as deep with political and social commentary as Gundam Wing I will give my left nut to see it.


This is a joke? Watch almost any other Gundam series/OVA and then get back to me.

Also, why has nobody mentioned Evangelion?

[Empyrean]

I honestly don't like a good deal of any anime newer than like....2004, really. Fullmetal Panic is the newest anime I liked.

I mostly watch the old ones, like Slayers, Trigun, and .//hack sign, and the slightly newer ones like Pretear, Fullmetal Panic, Rune Soldier, etc. I usually can't stand the super-popular phenomena like Naruto and Inuyasha and Ouran High.

I do think anime quality is declining a bit. What needs to be dropped - at least a little bit - is the plethora of stereotypes. I mean, I know that's often the main component of anime, but really, everything's starting to look rehashed.

I'd like to se the return of medieval fantasy anime, myself. Two of my friends and I have written at least seven long series of anime by way of RP, and they're surprisingly funny, so hopefully they'll make it to the small screen someday.

[hamnat]

I do agree that overall, Anime is declining. While there are a few like Miyazaki who are drawing some of the best I've ever seen, I've got to say that I miss going to my TV at 4 to watch a couple hours of great Anime like Outlaw Star(better with age) and the Tenchi series, or later at night to see Cowboy Bebop and...whatever that other one was....Big O maybe?

[AdventWings]

In response to Leopold Stevens:

I thought everyone already knew about Neon Genesis Evangelion, Nya?

Best frickin' Anime of the Year 1998. And beyond. In fact, that's the first Anime that I ever liked to watch. Too bad I hadn't seen the entire thing, so now I'm on a quest to find all the episodes in soundtrack with English subtitles. Cowboy Bebop, I like, though Outlaw Star had me only until they started off for the... Final Destination of their journey... (Phew! Almost blew a spoiler back there...)

Then again, I'm very picky when it comes to Anime. So I can't say much that would not need to be taken with a grain of salt, Nya~ :p

[orphans]

Mmmm over all I guess I'm not that picky with anime or movies. If it seems interesting to me, I'll probably watch it...

[Corvus MacCallum]

If only they had done a second series of Berserk, but then they did trim a lot of the supernatural stuff in the first season, real shame one of the best mangas going could have picked up the standards quite well.

[Maia]

Berserk ended at the worst moment. Ever. I screamed at my comp to continue whn the last dic ran out and I saw that.

Terms of anime though. Outlaw star was good, that my my first anime. DBZ was alright too when I was younger. Yu-gi-oh was good until I noticed the GAPING plotholes and that there was way better stuff. Perfect Blue was good. The Cat Returns was a great movie. Howl's Moving Castle was too. Berserk was good while it lasted, then the last dic sucked ass. Hyper Police was alright, though I was a little annoyed at some of the voices at times. Bleach is a solid, enjoyable anime. Naruto is an alright one, though the actual story isn't as good as the world that's being made as the series goes along. Death Note is a pretty good anime, but one of the best Manga I have ever seen. FLCL is hit or miss, but the hit is worth it. I need to get to school now. The Hellsing OVA is just plane cwazy with the "w." Steamboy, and of course the god of anime.

Akira.

Weeeeee.

[AdventWings]

Ya, and that's only what Akira would say, Nya~ :p

Welcome back, by the way.

I have to say, though, Naruto got boring real quick after it dragged on forever. That's one thing I hate about Anime of the recent times - They didn't separate or define their Story Arcs well enough for the viewers. For someone who lack means of getting a continuous dosage, the story just ends up in a pile of mush that I refuse to touch.

What ever happened to good ol' Anime that takes only 20-30 episodes to get the point across? :(

[Corvus MacCallum]

You should keep reading the manga Maia, absolutely fantastic stuff with Guts and his dragonslayer, plus the PS2 game is a very fun blood-soaked jaunt.

[Maia]

Got back from school.

The main I realized about Naruto was simply how much better it was as the manga. Where it takes what seams like a freaking 20 minute explanation of the last 7 episodes, then does a couple minutes of actual plot advancement in the anime, the manga sped along quite a bit more quickly. Granted, I've also realized it's better to read in larger quantities. There are times the story arc just seems to drag on and on, but others where simply how cool the powers mesh rocks. That, and the kids in Naruto get trounced by the bigger more advanced Ninjas consistently in it. That in itself is pretty good compared to what soometimes happens with the "newbie" suddenly becoming the greatest fighter or something.

Still, Death Note, which I am just reminded came out with a newer book a while ago, is pretty good. What I've seen of the anime is pretty solid. That's currently my favorite manga.

One Piece is also really good, though it's also very hit or miss in terms of story and art style. It's a lot more cartoony then most manga/anime, but it is still pretty solid. One of the most important things about this though, is that the 4kids dubbed english One Piece was raped (http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=145) pretty badly.

Cowboy Bebop, which for some reason I haven't watched all of yet, is also pretty awesome. Same with Akira. And FLCL. I think I know why, and that's simply due to the beautiful music and the animation being in synch with the sound. I've seen the Japanese Akira, and it was awesome since it was like I could lip read them.

This post went way too long. Way way too long.

[Cielalune]

It's really just a hit and miss thing in my opinion. It's kinda like music, some do it for the sake of music or some do it for popularity.

But in choice of good stories and stuff, I think I like Bandai and Gainax's choices in shows. o:

I still like old shows though, it's nostalgic in a way.

[Osato]

The newest Naruto's, that are just getting subbed and released, are really good. Naruto and the whiney girl actually grew up, so they are more mature. I don't really keep up with any anime that are a little less mature. I LOOOOOVED cowboy bebop. Watched the entire season in three nights, and then watched it again in three more nights with my friends.

The fight between the main charry in bebop and that clown assassin guy was amazing. As was the fight against the guy with the sword in the chapel. If you haven't watched those, I'd suggest watching the series.

It also has the funniest episode I've ever seen, when they eat mushrooms and get high as all hell. OMG!

[Khalxaen]

Ya, and that's only what Akira would say, Nya~ :p

Welcome back, by the way.

I have to say, though, Naruto got boring real quick after it dragged on forever. That's one thing I hate about Anime of the recent times - They didn't separate or define their Story Arcs well enough for the viewers. For someone who lack means of getting a continuous dosage, the story just ends up in a pile of mush that I refuse to touch.

What ever happened to good ol' Anime that takes only 20-30 episodes to get the point across? :(

Ahh, Kuya, that's because they wasted the stupid episodes on fillers. XD The Naruto fillers sucked, and they took more than a hundred episodes. Like, one of the biggest mistakes anyone could make X(

Oh.

Romeo x Juliet is pretty good, haha.

[Futsuriai]

Naruto :(( Sorry, but no. It's a good time waster, I'll grant you but good? Ahem. I also disagree with Anime quality declining, it's easy to find excellent anime in 20-30 years+ of history and say, huh, no good ones now. But in those years I will bet you we saw horrible, horrible filth that no one even cares to remember. Plus recent is vague: 5 years? 10 years? 2 years? This year? Even in "the old days" I'm sure there were dry years. But even now there are some promising new series (and some old).

Darker Than Black (2007) is shaping up to be excellent. (3 eps so far)
Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) was pretty good, I found.
Last Exile (2003) Awesomes
Melancholy of Suzumi Haruha (2004) was pretty interesting
Monster (2004) Haven't seen, it personally, but have been told by many I should
Mushishi (2005) Good stuff.
Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid (2005) Was also pretty interesting (as were the original and fumoffu, though they don't explore the interesting stuff enough...I wish I could read the novels)
In random stuff
Azumanga Daioh (2004)/Pani Poni Dash (2005) : Both are pretty hilarious

Hm... I hope this disabuses the MISTAKEN notions that anime is teh sucks now. Old anime is about as good as today's.

[Blackjack]

New anime can be just as good as old anime, you just have to look, and you won't find it on cartoon network... at least not that much of it.

I agree with Futsuriai. If you want to see some NEW anime that is GOOD i do highly reccomend Darker Than Black. Its's.. well I haven't even figured it out yet. If you want something fun, Full Metal Panic is the anime to see, although The Second Raid was more serious. For something psycologically intriguing ( i can't spell that word) look to Death Note ( which is one of my favorites).

For these genres i reccomend..

Comedy- Full Metal Panic
Drama/ Romance- Romeo X Juliet
Action- Claymore, Darker than Black, Heroic Age, Blood+
Psycological- Death Note
Mystery/ horror- Ghost Hunt

I don't think any of those will let you down

[Elijah_Morendale]

The animes that truly stick out in my mind are FLCL, Bebop, Samurai Champloo, and Excel Saga (The story has nothing to do with anything past volume 5 of the manga, but the humor is still on par with it's source material).

Noir was alright, it's probably something I'd have to watch again in order to appreciate more.

Trigun was good and all, but the manga totally whoops the anime's ass by a long shot. Same applies for Fullmetal Alchemist.

I love Deathnote, but I'm iffy on watching the anime. All the samples I've seen on YouTube seem like they kept everything panel for panel, and every time I try to find a decent pic of L to put at my Myspace pic, an alarming amout of L/Light yaoi-ish stuff pops up and... well... That ain't really my thing. Kinda' off-putting, if you ask me.