“Anime sucks.” At least, that’s what I hear. “Anime is dead.” I’m not yet convinced.
In my world, every experience is comparable to food; anime included. Shows centered on fan service are easily associated with fast food. That stuff is cheap, abundant, and can be appear to taste even good, but making it a staple in your diet will destroy your body and soul over time.
Substantial anime, on the other hand, is your home-cooked meal. Often times, yes, the recipe may not work or the finished dish may turn out a bit “off” or maybe the cook didn’t cater to your particular tastes… But at least someone cared enough to get in the god damned kitchen.
Media has a unique quality over food in that it’s inexhaustible. After you’ve consumed it, you can consume it again. And again. And share with others simultaneously. It’s difficult to remember this since access to media has become so effortless; it’s lost much of its value. We consume it, move on, and never think of it again.
At this moment, our culture has grown extremely present-minded. The average attention span is measured in breaths. Our entertainment is treated as just another link in a chain of distraction. Once it’s left our sight, it’s left our minds.
There’s something romantic to the carpe diem, live-in-the-moment lifestyle, but the wisest Bohemian still knows the importance in stopping to smell the roses. Art (anime included) should be absorbed and resonate within us. Our current generation has forgotten that, if anyone bothered to teach them at all.
We as a fandom are quickly realizing this as we find shows are more formulaic and convention attendees increasingly annoying. Most long-time anime fans have turned their back on the genre; leaving it for dead without checking for a pulse.
I believe this is unwise. Judging anime with a broad stroke is the symptom of the same narrow vision that’s soured it. Generalizing new anime as “anime” infects others with the same cognitive worm. The cure is to extend your scope beyond the present, with emphasis on the past. Yes, most current anime sucks…but it wasn’t always this way.
It’s unrealistic to propose seasoned anime veterans attempt to sell vintage shows to the new kids. They’re the Helen Keller of horses and even if you channel both spirits of The Horse Whisperer and The Miracle Worker, the most effective place you can lead them is to the Alpo factory. They can see anime classics, but they won’t get them.
Instead, I advocate using the great anime from the past as a safety net to rescue fans that have fallen from our ranks. The death of the anime industry will not come from the inability to cull new fans or tapping niche fetishists. The new kids don’t need to be reminded to stay—they’re already here. It’s the established audience that needs to be assured that it’s still relevant and shouldn’t abandon ship.
There is decade’s worth of anime content waiting to be revisited…or even discovered, having been previously overlooked. Applying crucial focus on keeping older, nostalgic fans may be what keeps the anime industry vital until Japan can unplug its creative head from its ass. Releases like Dragon Ball Z Kai and Evangelion 1.0 (et al) have shown that repackaging an old product into a practically new product can be quite profitable.
As illustrated through the podcast, I’ve seen some of the most offensive anime ever to be released. Yet as much as I’m sickened by recent seasons, I’m still content with anime overall as a medium. I’ll always have my Macross Plus and Sword of the Stranger—trying to take them from me is risky business. And my heart sings when I stumble upon buried treasures like Orguss 02 or Urban Square.
This is a Dark Age for anime and its fandom. Its future appears dire. But we have enough material to sustain us until its Renaissance. The decreased presence of fan service in this upcoming anime season and increased success of legit digital distribution are indicators that hope is a real, tangible thing. Anime is not dead; it’s waiting to be reborn.
I agree with you! :O
Except…
“It’s unrealistic to propose seasoned anime veterans attempt to sell vintage shows to the new kids”
I was one of those new kids not long ago. My peers and I really wanted to ‘get’ what you long time fans were referencing, so we watched it. I see the same thing in todays new anime fandom.
That’s cuz you’re an exception… ^_~
I believe that most folks under the age of 20 would be as receptive, though. They’ll have to wait till they’re older to appreciate their roots, just as most of us did.
Er, that should read “…wouldn’t be as receptive…”
Good write my friend.
I was listening to Daryl Surat little “one on one” excerpt from AWO today at lunch where he just reads emails and gives his “wise” opinion on his views on anime. One of the things he kinda brings up is what you said about how anime now wasnt always what is was and that if you think about it, only the really good shows survive and the crap dies out and is forgotten. The only ones that remember the crap are the people who probably started out watching anime with that show.
One anime that he mentions that is constantly brought up is Macross: Do You Remember Love, and how that is one , if only, anime that alot of people can come together and enjoy and has really stood the test of time.
Also, if you look in the right areas, you can stumble on some really great treasures that alot of people have forgotten over the years that kinda dont need to be forgotten, but remembered. One anime that i can mention that i did stumble on that i finished last night is the “Wild 7″ OVA. It has Fast Karate (dare i bring that name here) “needs to review this” written all over it after the first 5 minutes of watching it.
All in all, this fanservice trend will soon die out for yet another wave of better anime to come, so just dont stop believing, and hold on to that feeling…
Kevin pitched Wild 7 to me a couple weeks ago and it’s in our near-future.
I’ve also been listening to various anime journalists like Daryl Surat and I tend to agree that we just gotta ride this out. I love the review he just posted on the Otaku USA website on Macross Plus, by the way.
I left a dvd cover on Fast Karate forum, but I highly doubt that they will get to that before you do, you can cater to the fans you have and their comments alot quicker it seems. Shoot, I remember adding Saber Marionette J on one of the comments and like a month later you covered it. Thats some good results there.
I remember watching Macross Plus when i was getting into anime again back in like 03 and that was on my top of the top anime list (if i ever made one) for a few years. I still think its fantastic but its not one of my personal faves right now. I dunno, maybe i need to rewatch that, i do have the movie version just kinda sitting there.
We try to be open to listener suggestions… We’ve gotten some pretty good material and feedback from them.
Though I admit that 9/10 of what we cover is determined by whim. Kevin and I are part of a local anime club, so we get the first taste of most of shows that way. Though I should participate in the Fast Karate forum more than I do…
Kevin had suggested Saber Marionette J pretty early on. It wasn’t until I noticed HezaChan had listened to our Cutie Honey Flash podcast that I was quick to pull the trigger on SMJ, since that’s another one of her favorite shows and I’m a
suckerfan. Though I guess that technically also falls under listener feedback.… man your such a sucker for babes. They seem to put that on guys.
I think the term you’re looking for is “pussy voodoo”, though this is not a case. :p
I don’t mind if you ripped SMJ a new one. LOL all the stuff you said about cutie honey and Sailor Moon where true, and I know that parts are stupid and crappy, or just don’t make since — but I love it anyway :D
I make fun of Star Trek but I love it to hell and back.
I’m very happy you liked that one! ^__^ Cartoons are inherently goofy; so there are plenty of jokes to make, even for the ones we love.
It’s not often (though you wouldn’t tell from our podcast) that we find a show that is offensively bad.
Ironically, the slew of garbage, fanservice-driven shows has forced me to look at the gems from a time long since past. And I’m glad I did, otherwise I would never have watched this little masterpiece better known as Legend of the Galactic Heroes. That’s how I love my anime, well-written and intelligent.
But at the same time I’m too jaded and cynical about this industry that I sometimes (irrationally) wish it would just die, so that the creators who produce all this crap were taught a lesson.
Anime right now is like that punk teenage son you have. Its unruly, stupid, rebellious, horny and has no respect for the people who loves them. But, after the kid makes some dumb choices and gets his butt kicked and finally will realize it will wake up to society, its gonna mature into a respected adult and be something people can enjoy to be around. But you gotta get through the storm to get to the sunshine, then the rebuilding to make it stronger than ever.
You don’t like it =/= It sucks.
Anime “veterans” are just as bad as current anime fans.
I dig what you mean about older fans, since they can be as snobby as younger fans can be obnoxious.
But I dunno about your first statement… There are many shows that are fine, but I don’t cling to them because they just aren’t my tastes. I don’t like them, but mostly I’m indifferent to them.
If there’s a show that I definitely don’t like, it’s because it does suck. Fan service shows are legitimately awful. One of the reasons why I enjoy doing our podcast is because why we’re attracted to the things we are and how it reflects on our character.