Ask John: Is Modern Anime Getting Stale?

Question:
Do you think over the past 20 years too much manga series have copy too much concept from the Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon series? Naruto and One Piece are an example. Do you think we need more new series to bring back life into the anime industry?

Answer:
Please excuse me if my response seems personally critical, as that’s not my intention. I believe that individual anime and manga fans should have unique, individual perspectives on the anime field, and those perspectives may not always agree with my own. Countless times I’ve heard and read the sentiment that contemporary anime has become too repetitive, unoriginal, and uninspired. Countless fans state that the downturn in the anime industry is a result of the industry itself failing to produce an adequate amount of stimulating, original material. There are too many “moe” anime; there are too many harem shows; every modern robot anime is merely a rehash of Evangelion. With the prevalence of these statements, I simply can’t dismiss all of them as baseless accusations. But my own perspective is that the problem has less to do with the anime and manga production industry and more to do with the consumer perception of Japan’s creative industry. In my own opinion, the anime production industry is not suffering a dearth of creativity; anime and manga fans are simply ignoring much of the diversity and creativity that does exist in modern anime.

Out of the 29 new web and TV anime series to have premiered in Japan in January 2009, only 3 fall into the “harem” anime genre, and none of them are conventional “moe” anime. Furthermore, among those new programs, there were no magical fighting girl anime in the vein of Sailor Moon (granted, Fresh Precure debuted on February 1), and no shonen action adventure anime in the vein of Dragon Ball, One Piece, or Naruto (unless you’re going to count Shikabane Hime Kuro and Kurokami – both titles which I don’t consider stylistically indebted to Dragon Ball). So, by my count, just last month alone 26 new anime series started that are not “moe” or “harem” anime, and are not stylistically descended from the Dragon Ball/St. Seiya style of 80s shonen adventure anime, nor magical heroine teams. I will concede that productions like the erotic game adaptation White Album, the racing anime RideBack, and sequels including Hajime no Ippo: New Challenger, Slayers Evolution-R, Major season five, and Minami-ke season three aren’t the epitome of originality. But at the same time, there are simultaneously new and very original titles like Hetalia ~Axis Powers~, Kemono no Souja Erin, and Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo.

Place anime in relative comparison. How many contemporary American prime-time sitcoms revolve around ordinary families facing trying situations? How many modern American TV police dramas revolve around detectives with unique methods of approaching crime solving? My point is that any television series production industry will be characterized by a degree of redundancy. It’s easy to accuse the anime production industry of lacking creativity, but critics should first examine their own field of vision to ensure they’re not wearing blinders that narrow focus to only a select range. Four of the top ten titles on Mania.com’s list of “most wanted” American licenses, as voted upon by a cross-section of American otaku, are “harem” anime. Likewise, four of the top ten titles are sequels. The Seirei no Moribito television series is a unique masterpiece (I invite anyone to suggest another anime that’s substantial similar to it) yet its free broadcast on a nationally syndicated network was canceled due to poor ratings before even reaching the half-way point.

I can’t argue that every anime production is unique and original. But I can argue that there are thousands of anime from the past 20 years available to viewers. Many of those anime are original and unique. Typical American anime fans aren’t even familiar with a tremendous number of the anime productions of the past 20 years. I think that it’s very short sighted and narrow minded to accuse the anime production industry of lacking creativity without aggressively exploring the actual variety and diversity of anime that’s available. I’m fearful that biased and uninformed opinions turn into self-fulfilling prophecy. When anime fans believe that modern anime is bereft of quality and originality – regardless of whether that’s actually true or not – their eagerness to watch anime and financially support the anime industry diminishes, and that attitude can spread like a virulent plague. It’s absolutely fine to decry the absence of contemporary anime that appeals to your individual tastes. (To appease that situation, either look toward older programs that do conform to your demands, or wait a few weeks until new productions appear that possibly will satisfy you. Or better yet, expand your horizons by sampling genres you haven’t watched before.) However, complaints that the entire anime production industry has become stale, I think, are both inaccurate and unjust. There’s always a variety of anime available to viewers. There are plenty of unique, fascinating, and original anime from the past 20 years waiting to be discovered by American otaku. It is true that the anime industry continues to produce new shows based on the formulae of past hits, but if that’s all you’re seeing when you examine contemporary anime, you’re not looking hard enough.