Ask John: Is Adult Anime in a Creative Slump?

Question:
It seems that before you even hit play on any hentai animation in Japan right now, you already have an idea what you’re going to see: disgraced valkyries, elves and princesses; schoolgirls being trained, etc. Do you think the hentai anime industry in Japan is in a creative slump? Or is it just that this stuff sells well enough that doing the exact same thing over and over again just makes business sense?

Answer:
I’ve been a fan of “ero-anime” for a long time, so it pains to me agree with your impression that the contemporary adult anime production industry seems to have lost some of its creativity. It’s ironic that there is a bit of a decreasing variety in contemporary adult anime, but at the same time the art design and animation quality of today’s adult anime may be better, on average, than it’s ever been before. There are still adult anime OVAs released these days that have uninspired character and background art, and obviously limited animation. But the percentage of new adult anime releases with attractive art and smooth animation may be higher now than ever before.

Regrettably, I don’t know anything about the corporate pressures that affect contemporary adult anime. It’s possible that the Japanese consumer market for adult anime has become particularly receptive to a limited number of genres and styles. It’s possible that adult anime producers are increasingly encouraging artists to develop adult anime in certain proven successful formulas and genres. It’s also possible that some of the most creative influence in the production of ero-anime has left the field.

The early days of adult anime were marked by variety. Uchiyama Aki’s Lolita Anime series and the later episodes of the Wonder Kids’ Lolita Anime series were characterized by dreamlike, surrealistic narratives. The original Cream Lemon series included mecha parody (Pop Chaser), sci-fi parody (Star Trap), and super hero parody (Nalice Scramble). 80’s adult anime titles such as Urotsukidoji, Call Me Tonight, and David no Hoshi were primarily erotic stories that included graphic sex rather than graphic sex scenes strung together by a minimal story. It’s arguably in the mid and late 1990s that erotic anime began to lose much of its variety and very expressive creativity by concentrating on becoming more fetish oriented and more careful to adhere to established narrative trends.

The creativity evident in 80s and early 90s adult anime may be a spill-over from the “golden age” that impacted all anime. During Japan’s economic boom during the 1980s, the anime industry had the finances and opportunity to be indulgent and personal, resulting in countless unusual, weird, esoteric, and highly creative productions.

Earlier eras of adult anime may also have benefitted from the influence of highly creative talents. Yuji Moriyama, who has recently worked on Evangelion: 1.0 You Are [Not] Alone, Kurau ~ Phantom Memory, Ouran High School Host Club, Paniponi Dash, and Yawaraka Sangokushi Tsukisase!! Ryofuko-chan; Toshiki Hirano, who recently directed the Angel Heart television series; and Blood: The Last Vampire director Hiroyuki Kitakubo all worked on the Cream Lemon OVA series but haven’t done any recent work in adult anime. Urotsukidoji and La Blue Girl creator Toshio Maeda hasn’t been active in adult anime recently. Masami Obari did some outstanding work in adult anime in the early 2000s on Angel Blade, Soreyuke Marin-chan and Viper GTS, but hasn’t been active with adult anime in the past five years. Satoshi Urushihara’s Front Innocent was released four years ago. Teruaki Murakami is practically the only creative talent in contemporary adult anime to really stand out, and his talent lies in technical animation rather than narrative crafting. It does seem as though the sharing of creative talent between erotic and mainstream anime that used to be frequent is less common now.

I can’t guess whether the contemporary adult anime industry will continue its present trends or whether viewers will see greater diversity and creativity return to the adult anime realm. Very recently the adult anime industry has turned to talented erotic manga artists for inspiration, including Yuki Seto, Yonekura Kengo, Inu, Kisaragi Gunma, and Keito Koume, so with any luck this new trend will continue and grow into a revival of interest in distinctive and creative adult anime.