51 replies to this topic

[Lustful]

I wouldn't say that anime is dying, but rather than dying it is on a decline.

Nowadays there are too many anime with great scenarios and art, which is wasted on it's poorly written plot...

[Miki]

I don't think anime is dying, if it is there won't be anime new animes each season

[luukia]

For me ,it slowly degrading..
It's just my personal preference though, since I dont really like those .. anime aimed for male otaku.. which has more fan service than any real plot. Or maybe it HAS a plot , but the fan service ruined it.
Seeing panty shots , booby boing2 , and sudden kiss or sudden boob grabbing is so.. lame.

[Liar]

I think we should be happy that we're currently in a decline. The prevalence of moe anime is slowly losing influence that it held in the 2000s, bringing about shows that focus more on the narrative and the characters.

[Viscoun]

I think we should be happy that we're currently in a decline. The prevalence of moe anime is slowly losing influence that it held in the 2000s, bringing about shows that focus more on the narrative and the characters.

 

i thought the decline was going the other way, actually. i haven't seen anything in recent seasons that has got me as hyped as, say, FMP did back in the early 2000s.

[Rol]

Meh.

Every time I see those threads, I think of all those people, in all mediums (books, movies, games) saying "It was better befoooooore".

 

No it wasn't. People saying that usually don't search enough or not in the good places.

Sure there are plenty of moe/loli/etc... anime with fanservice, but nobody forces you to watch them.

 

Just this season I'm watching 6 animes, and most of them are good.

Edited by Rol, 17 March 2014 - 07:34 PM.

[SystematicChaos]

Here's my two cents on the issue:

 

Yes, anime is declining. Yes, there's less originality in anime. Yes, a lot of anime has excessive focus on boobs and panty shots. Yes, animation quality isn't as good as it has been. But there's a really simple fact behind this trend that has to be understood, and here it is:

 

Anime is a business.

 

And like any business, the anime industry has one purpose: To make as much money as possible by increasing profits and decreasing costs. Profits are higher, anime thrives. Profits are low, anime suffers. And right now, anime's in decline because of few profits. Now I'm no business-person or business major so I can't talk authoritatively about all the reasons behind why anime's losing profits, but there's one significant thing that's been at the front and center of the anime industry within the past few decades: The internet, and with it, internet piracy and the fact that Japanese businesses are so old-fashioned.

 

Internet piracy has been a problem in both the US and Japanese anime markets. Now I realize that there's a complex debate going on around how much piracy cuts into profits, if at all, or whether piracy is justified, and I'm not going to get into all that. But the fact is, that piracy makes content more accessible without adding to the profits of the content owner, and that's not something that businesses appreciate very much. What set the US anime licensing companies apart from Japanese anime studios is in how they adapted to the new technology of the Internet. Or rather, whether or not they adapted at all.

 

Rather than seeing the Internet as the enemy, which made piracy possible, US businesses decided to find out how they could use the Internet to their advantage. They figured out how to use the Internet to provide a new kind of service which offered more content than they were able to offer by the old-fashioned methods of VHS/DVD distribution, with less production costs, at little to no delay, all for an incredibly low subscription fee. That service we all know as Crunchyroll. As a result of Crunchyroll and other streaming/simulcasting services, anime became more accessible through legal means, while fansubs became, and are becoming, less and less accessible. They took a risk, adapted to a trend, and sacrificed unit price in hopes of a higher profit margin. The result? An astounding success.

 

Japanese businesses, unfortunately, have not taken the lesson. They realize that piracy is cutting into their profits, but they are unwilling to take risks or make sacrifices to combat the issue. Streaming services are out of the question. Any money they make have to be through DVD/BD sales, because that's all that registers. But they still have to increase their profit margins, so how do they do that? By decreasing production costs and increasing unit price. Now of course, lower production costs means lower quality of animation, but it's the increased unit price that's the big problem. DVDs and BDs are becoming more and more expensive in Japan, upwards of 10,000 yen for a measly two to three episodes. That means they make more for each unit sold, but what they can't wrap their heads around is that this actually makes people more likely to turn to piracy because who can afford to spend 90,000 yen for a 26-episode series? The studios just don't realize that they could have a higher profit margin by decreasing the unit price to something that's at least affordable! Instead, they think their best course of action is to pander to the population that will buy DVDs and BDs at any price: the hardcore otakus. And since hardcore otakus love fanservice and moe, that's what studios keep creating. They don't take risks like they did back in the 90s, when Evangelion inspired studios to create countless experimental anime, many of which we look back on as "the classics". In their minds, if they take a risk and lose the otaku market, they'll take a loss. And don't get me started on the bullhonkey that was the Anti-Piracy Law. So here we see that because of an unwillingness to adapt or take risks, increasing prices to an unaffordable level, and pandering to a "safe" minority, the Japanese anime industry is going down the drain, and dragging down the US anime industry, with its better and more effective business model, with them.

 

TL;DR: Japanese anime studio execs are retarded and Japan needs its own Crunchyroll.

Edited by SystematicChaos, 20 March 2014 - 07:49 PM.

[Rol]

Except that (from what I heard, I never used it) Crunchyroll sucks.

 

But I kinda agree with you.

[LOAD]

Huh. I've never really thought about this. I suppose I agree with how it's harder to find an anime I like, due to so many similarities that are present in a lot of series. 

Still, though, I do really enjoy watching it. Anime's always been a part of my childhood because of my older brothers' influences on me when I was young. I just appreciate the fact that there are still animes out there that are worth watching. I think that whether or not anime is 'declining', people will still be able to enjoy it- or at least some of it.....

I think, anyways.

[REinnocent]

i don't think so...every years a hundred or more anime will released at Japan..to attract viewers to buy or pay to watch an anime,An animator studio  must come with something fresh or some original story's,new arts and illustration....but its till depend on budget an sponsor,if u means about the story,sure i admitted that every years is like a same story and plot,but i don't really care about it,at least i enjoyed watching anime....   

[Fluffyknowsyou]

90 percent of all media is shit, anyone reminiscing about cowboy bebop, dragonball z(which is bad in retrospect) and the HST(which is bad) have deluded themselves if they think the anime industry is just now experiencing a lack of good shows. Cartoons, movies and television shows alike have always been crappy,but it those few outliers which keep us coming back for more.

 

With Log horizon, tokyo ghoul, zankyou no terror, Fate/zero, yowamushi pedal,stiens;gate, Durara II and the hope of Evangelion 4.0 redeeming 20 years of crap, well you can't say the industry is in decline.

 

It would take a miracle to release 200 GOOD cartoons, but factis each year only puts out maybe 5 worth watching and 1 worth remembering. THis has never changed, no matter what media you look at