With the news that announced anime for spring 2010 total only 25, down from an incredible peak of 60 or more in the heady spring of 2006, many cannot help but conclude that the anime bubble has finally burst.
Having approximately 25 titles announced so far (with at most a further 5-10 unannounced titles thought possible), the spring 2010 season is dwarfed by the output of previous years in the same season, which exceeded 60 shows by some counts, and represents the most precipitous decline yet.
With the bulk of recent titles made up by the products of the so-called “moe boom,” most observers seem to consider the collapse to have been caused by a surge of nondescript or outright dubious titles flooding the market.
Recent years have also seen the worst excesses of the anime industry reach absurd proportions, with the Endless Eight fiasco a case in point.
Sentiment increasingly seems to view this not as a debilitating crash but instead as a much needed return to normalcy, with the industry now having the chance to replace an unsustainable torrent of vapid and low quality shows with the kind of quality franchises which projected the industry into its boom in the first place.
Father Killed Daughter’s Boyfriend – Judge “Sympathises”
The Wedding of Aya Hirano
Tokyo Loli Ban Fails
Osaka Mulls Loli Ban “Free Speech More Harm Than Good?”
Pregnant Schoolgirl Made Into Sex Slave to Pay for Abortion
“Haunted Room” Hikikomori Horror
Cross Days Finally Reveals Shocking Sexual Secrets
Healthy Women “Prefer Feminine Men”
Ladies Versus Butlers! Eel Raep Action
Square Enix Fury at TV MMORPG Lies
2009 – Manga Sales Plunge Biggest Ever
Girls Mount Huge Penis as Crowd Looks On – Uncensored
Banning Loli Brides “Bad for Society”
Australia “Recognises New Sex”
KyoAni Reveals Own Ritsu & Mio Figures
Top Mangaka Blast Loli Ban
“This Can’t Not Be a Photoshop… Can It?”
iPhone Idol Ero-Wallpaper Gallery
“Make This Boy Cool” Vipper Challenge
Goddess of 2ch: “Don’t Say I’ve Got No Breasts!”
“Let’s Make 3D into 2D Moe!” Vipper Challenge
Weird Weapons Gallery
Kana Kurashina: Sony’s Hottest Product
Buriki
Goddess of 2ch “Anna”: “I’m Going to Take a Bath”
Sexy Beach Amateurs
Adapt or Die. It's that simple.
Let us hope the Video Game Market bursts in the same way. From the ashes, may old fashioned goodness be revived!
Be careful what you wish for. When the Video Game Crash occurred, Japan game to power in the gaming market. If the anime crash is happening, then you may find that the anime knockoffs in the US right now may become popular... *shudder*
Like what? Thundercats? Exo Squad? Transformers?
Avatar: The last Airbender has its merits.
Fucking Weaboo
I'd consider it a burst if percentage of moe series in total number dropped, but as it is now it's still rising, currently with majority of spring 2010 anime being moe...
Oh, and I'd love to see the casual gaming bubble burst as well, but it just ain't gonna happen :(
Thundercats and the old Transformers series were animated in Japan.
Why did Random Guy get called a weeaboo?
You obviously don't know how reply comments work here.
It will, it'll just be darkest before the dawn comes.
All industries work the same way. Remember how American TV was absolutely flooded with reality shows? It all seemed to go away when no one was watching, and now that plague is gone.
Of course, before that happened, every channel had reality shows, and they usually took up 80% of the available time slots.
So, yeah, the anime industry will eventually cool down on the Moe Fan-Service Anime and video games will eventually see less Open-World Adventures, Rhythm Games w/ Plastic Instruments and First Person Shooters - it just won't happen until we've reached absolute critical mass. They never learn until it's too late.
Companies like Activision are in it to milk and it's ruining the games they already have. I hope the FPS and rhythm games start to slow down and devs start making original games.
Shareholders don't care so long they get enough cash then off to the next thing to exploit.
Whoever made Konata cry will feel the wrath of all Lucky Star fans.
I love everyone in this comment branch :'(
Sometimes I think I'm the only person who realizes how fucked games are right now.
I SERIOUSLY doubt it's some case of moe overflooding or 'lack of quality' and some such. Yes, though there has been many anime that has gone under the radar in the past years, it's not entirely because of bad quality. Many incredible anime didn't have the audience because it wasn't moe enough or did not have a family appeal. That is no fault of the anime at hand.
Also, every anime creator out there has mentioned the tough sell of today's economy being the biggest issue alongside the cooling visual entertainment and games in Japan today.
It's somewhat inexplicable as to why that is, but I don't think you can pin it solely on moe or the quality of anime.
For anyone who missed the story below, this is a big deal.
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2009/05/05/the-anime-bubble-is-burst-moe-fansubs-are-to-blame/
For those of us who saw it, we have expected this for damn near a year. This quality control is much needed and should be applauded, not met w/ cries of "zetsuboushita!"
Plain & Simple.
When the good stuff was out (Anime/Video Game). Nobody had no money (and we still don't), everything is failing. Manga/Magazine companies in japan are slowing going out of business, next it will be big anime companies. It's so bad in towns I'm seeing businesses going one after the other. Nothing is getting better. My friend at Mcdonalds, worked there for 4-5 years, employee of the month, lost his job because of slow sales after the holidays and the holiday ended like 2 weeks and the let him go. This is !@#$ing bull!@#$!!! Actually all my friends have lost their jobs last year and this month. I got a feeling i'm going to lose my job, because we're sure as hell are not getting that much business at the grocery store. Food is like skyrocketing to kingdom come. Grapes for $3 Dollars!?!? WHAT THE MOTHER!@#$!!! It used to be like $1.15 and it shoots up to $3 dollars. It !@#$en blows.
This isn't a Anime bubble, THIS IS A HUMANITY BUBBLE!!!
Yeah we're heading into some dark times, so dark that you'll have to drink water from a puddle of dog piss.
I mean come on, everyone is downloading everything where physical merchandise isn't making no profit whatsoever. I love the download era, but companies should've done this more carefully. Anime, video games, comic books, trading card games...it's all over even regular Theatres are losing money like National Amusements, they were in money trouble and got bought out by some weird company overseas cause they couldn't pay their bills.
This is a shit storm that's about to happen man, and i'm not goiog to be happy to see this.
just... AKUMETSU it!
byNiktesla
When most of the shit productions disappear that means there will be more ressources for the rest. I'd love to see some great titles emerge like phoenix from the ashes...
Most of you little fucks didn't start watching anime until the 2000s anyway. What the fuck do you weaboo brats know.
Talking like that shows no matter how old you are you still have the mindset of an elistist 16 year old.
Why does it matter when you started watching anime? It's not some sort of competition - people should do what they enjoy. It's also perfectly normal to watch and appreciate things that happened before your time.
This is very true. I happen to enjoy most anime with the exception of the mecha and horror genre. The moe genre appeals to me as to romantic comedies, harem, ecchi :P, action, adventure, etc. And you can't say that it's all bad. If the bubble bursts, in 5-10 years, it'll rise again. And the first burst has had an influence on people and how they think about such things. I think that most of the anime that rises from this so called "burst" will have many roots from this time.
Everything works in recessions and booms; why would anime be any different?
Because the fans care when the anime stopsa coming.
I agree. Even if all 60+ shows from around 2006 were of incredible quality and writing, I still don't see it being sustainable in this kind of economy.
As far as I can tell, it seems like not only do we have less than half the shows now, but the quality of the shows have gone down as well. Maybe we won't get disasters like Rosario+ Vampire but nothing new this year really stands out. No Blood+, no Ergo Proxies, no Ghost Hounds. Durarara might be good, but 1st episode was pretty lame. Railgun I do like but that's not a new title for the year.
I dunno, I don't think the market was flooded with "moe" at any point in time as I believe very few shows were considered that, just that they had a very devoted following. If anyone can list all the anime from the past 5 year and point out which ones are moe then we can see if they make up the bulk of the releases otherwise it's just simply not true.
I agree. Really what was moe last season? only thing i can think of was saki and k-on. Two out of how ever many shows there were and unless there under ten shows thats still only 20%. Also for a boom to happen its usually the most popular shows that cause it. I mean k-on could be a factor, but a boom is most likely to come from bleach or naruto; something in the shounen catagory because it appeals to more people.
If Saki and K-On are the only moe shows you can think about last season you neither read this site very much or watch much anime. Its all shit to cater to fat lonely weaboo these days.
then Thanks God i only watched those two. those two aren't bad. those "all shit to cater to fat lonely weaboo these days" are but mere portions of all trash animes in that season. trashes are trashes, moe is moe, no relevancy. most moe animes are trashes, so are most non-moe animes.
Because apparently when there's only two dozen anime floating around at one time, it's the end of the world.
Couldn't be that people are making something currently or just don't want to.
It's apparently the end of anime, full stop.
Probably caused by Final Fantasy 13 or something, it's hard to keep up on this site.
Of course, we don't want people having the choice to see different kinds of anime. Choice is good people, it encourages competition. Study ecomony.
/sarcasm.
Adapt or die from drowning in the tears of butthurt Haruhi fans apparently.
Moe whingeing ~ Check
Haruhi whingeing ~ Check
FF13 ~ Surprisingly absent
What the fuck is 'whingeing'? Your browser doesn't have a spell check? Oh my bad, you're probably in grade 11, and 11th graders aren't literate these days.
I'm sorry that the meaning of a word is completely lost to your genius level intelligence because the "e" wasn't dropped upon making the word pural.
You'd think such a smart person who types number due to his inability to be able to spell them would understand.
It's because they keep making HORRENDOUS decisions..
Where's that article on here about K-on getting a 2nd season..
uh oh this is bad.....I want my anime........and if it goes away I don't know what'd I do
*crys in the fetal position*
I'm sure there's still a shit ton of older anime that is a lot better then what comes out today that you haven't watched yet.
Old things suck cause they're old
the best things are the classics
without them
we wouldnt have the stuff we have today
Or would we?
nope, you're right considering the more popular anime from '05 to '09 are parody anime
That's right. As a matter of facts there are lots of anime out there and I won't be able to watch them all. I'd say 25 anime per year is still a lot of anime, but even if anime dies out I have like, more anime I could ever possibly watch at my disposal. (And don't get me started on manga,... )
It's people who swim with the mainstream that loose, cause they are the ones too to find good anime for themselves.
*sigh*
It was suppoed to mean "cause they are the ones too 'insert word' to find good anime"
But somehow the "insert word" didn't make it. >< ... is something wrong with those characters? >< >< ><
already digging deep
re-watching old gundam (good old UC and not any of this seed shit) some old fashioned LOGH and HnK
When the moe boom ends nothing of value will be lost.
Too true.
disagree, the sad fact you said that doesn't mean that nothing will be lost. i rather watch moe than pretentious crap like ergo proxy or other lame boring drama like nana any day of the week.
AND NOTHING OF VALUE WAS LOST
That's why you fail, dear Anon.
Three words. Axis Power Hetalia.
As much as I love K-On this blows K-On out of the water as it's humour with meaning with cuteness.
Moe artstyle isn't a bad thing. It just depends what you do with everything else. Good to see Sora no Woto is focusing on both cute characters while expanding on background.
And if that's not to your taste as satire.
Mudazumo Naki Kaikaku
Gross misinterpretations of history mixed with quasi-sexualized kawaii bullshit = "humour with meaning"?
Good lord.
Your bad taste is showing, anon.
YES! And so comes the long-overdue return to NORMALCY and the death of moe.
Hopefully this means that more quality and thoughtful series will be produced now. Yes, that DOES imply that moe was (and still is) mostly shit.
I'd rather have no new anime than any more of that trashy, mindless, single-dimension moe anime. It's nothing more than cuteness porn.
Sadly, just because it's dead doesn't guarantee return to normalcy, if there was ever any in the first place T_T
It's high time anime stopped being a socially unacceptable niche medium, full of fanservice, moeblob and pedophilia! Enough with the moe, we want something better!
All this moe crap was getting rather annoying. This was just a way to make money out of a program when they can't think of a good storyline. And as proven several times, all these 'moe' characters look the same!
I hope more 'normal' anime will resume, and that moe has not killed the anime genre.
I for one think that even if we get less anime broad-casted, as long as they are satisfying with more than just "moe" slathered all over it I'll be happy.
i'm also hoping the aphorism of "quality over quantity" remains true.
That, Japan's change of anime viewing habits AND now-close-to-stringent terrestrial TV broadcast standards.
Less anime is great.. It means I can have more of a life...
Anon 14:37 is right
2010 will be the Indie Movement.
The wha?
The Indie Movement; of course you've never heard of them.
I mean, more great animators like Makoto Shinkai would sprung up and become popular since they aren't bound to marketing strategies by the big companies...
Makoto Shinkai is overrated, gay and boring. He is so afraid to get out of his comfort zone that he did the same movie almost 3 different times. Yah yeah, missing the girlfriend, love can overcome distance, the same corny bullshit over, and over, and over...
But love DIDN'T overcome distance in 5cm per second. It died. The movie was about the guy finally dealing with that...and that chick who failed to confess to him wasn't distant at all.
He is hitting on the same theme, but from differant angles. There's nothing artistically wrong with that.
Anon @ 21:25 has it right. Makoto Shinkai can make some kick-ass environments (I'd go so far to call them some of the best-designed ones I've ever seen in anime), but his stories and character designs are very flat. I wouldn't mind if someone hired him for designs and left the writing to someone who isn't fucking boring.
And I'm a retard for assuming that ShikakuSyndrome was an anon. Sorry about that.
Shikaku hits Shinkai on the nose. He's a shitty writer, character designer, and director, but he can make some really, really great environmental designs.
Get him a new writer and director and he'd be good to go.
I still don't know which anime to watch in this season...still waiting for Bakemonogatari 14 though.
Durarara!!
All of em
though baka something is probably the most entertaining
anyway http://www.sankakucomplex.com/forums/topic.php?id=5538&page=5
Wait, did you just shill your own forum thread?
Advertising
Yes everyone knows Tsundere is the way forward
What a headline, there is no crash and no bubble
The entire industry has just been in slow earnings decline for some time, moe has been life support.
Anime is still viable is an industry but this overabundance of titles was bound to end, overall anime amount went up and peaked then started to decline but its still higher than what it used to be.
But a moe crash? Oh no, if anything the industry is passing into moe overdrive with more than 75% of this and next season being moe
Its also less moe, it seems the new trend is towards variety.
There are less titles but either covering more demographics or fully embracing a niche.
With sales like those of bakemono and k on don't expect any moe crash soon.
You mean "don't expect any growth in sales soon."
If all the anime industry can hold up as its greatest work is a fetish show like K-ON! it will understandably lose all further credibility beyond its existing "Type B" audience.
K-On is a comedy and comedies do well. Whether you think it's trash has little to do with the fact that a free market will move to where the money is. I enjoyed K-On as a watch and forget comedy with friends and if the industry hails it as a hit I don't see what the problem with it is.
If the industry hails Serial Experiments Lain (one of my all time favorites) as a hit, I'm fine with that too.
People hating moe is the exact same mentality that some of my friends absolutely hate anime because it's "too cute". They thought everything was "moe" and thus had no legitimacy, even really gory and bloody stuff.
If shows like Everybody likes Raymond and Friends can be hit shows when all they are are sitcoms focusing on characters I don't see why K-On can't be the same.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a "moe" junkie since there are a lot of "moe" shows that I really don't like at all, but the lack of quality has very little to do with them being "moe".
Nobody said anything about a lack of quality in "moe" titles like K-ON! - clearly it is the genre paragon. The issue is that it (and by extension an industry based on such titles) will never give rise to the "next Evangelion," GitS or otherwise, and is not going to innovate or breakout into wider markets.
It is very hard to imagine an industry remaining healthy and vibrant based on an endless rehashing of schoolgirl titles.
k-on! is not the one to blame for the endless rehashing. blame the industries, artefact! the imitators are to blame!
k-on! itself is a masterpiece in its genre. it is one of very few watchable and enjoyable moe animes. very fine comedy. moe is a good thing, but never essential.
personally i say:
bad moe animes = regardless of moeness, nobody wants bad animes
2-3 good moe animes per season = preferable
>10 good moe animes per season = boring, lacks creativity
no moe animes at all (let's say >10 complex animes per season) = just as boring, non moe animes will eventually reaches their own saturation of idea if the market is filled by them and them only.
the "moe boom" issue and the "rage against moe" sentiment are too much exaggerated. the condition of today isn't that bad tbh. total elimination of moe anime is just as bad as moe anime domination.
@Artefact:
What about shows like Darker than Black, Trapeze, Phantom, Sora Kake Girl, Eden of the East, Cross Game, Fullmetal Alchemist, Inuyasha S2, DBZ Kai, Sengoku Basara, Eden of the East, Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, and CANAAN.
Are you just going to ignore those shows? Do they not exist just because K-ON sold some of the most DVDs of 09? Do shows like Gurren Lagann, Mononoke, Darker than Black S1, Kaiji, Baccano, and Dennou Coil not exist in 2007 because Lucky Star the biggest otaku anime that year?
Most of all anime is shit and it's always been this way forever and is the same way in any other industry. You will always have others experimenting and trying something different.
I know you were probably saying that just as an expression but things weren't that pretty back then when EVA aired. It was an unexpected success.
EVA also knew how to play thing right to be loved by both types, weather its because rei chan is cute or because of the complicated sub plots.
It would be great if there was lots of good anime that didn't have to rely on selling toys or merchandise and could stand as a respectable medium but for most high budget entertainment industries that is rare and just an idealistic wish.
Important fetishes in K-On! for me is Gibson Les Paul Standard Cherry Sunburst Heritage 1959 reissue and Fender Standard Jazz Bass leftie and other music gear, and following girl rock band improving their skills, albeit in comedic fashion.
Well, i must confess girls are quite likable and cute as well.
I have been into anime since mid-80s, i enjoy A type stuff very much, but don´t see any reason to fight being cool at any price. That attitude is just plain stupid, and utterly false.
I thought you liked that show given how often you blog about it.
Oh well, hits is a sign of a great website is it not?
I like this news.
Hoping for new animes with a cool and deep storyline.
Yeah they could do some good book adaptations.
Yeah right if everyone could make cool and deep storylines everyday than NGE would be worthless
Indeed, NGE plot is as deep as an arse.
To be completely honest, the human arse is pretty deep. The arse of certain other animals, on the other hand, are on a different level.
reply fail
If it means a decline on the 90% of all the crap out there in anime, then I'm all for it. Quality over quantity.
Except this season is pretty mediocre filled with moe fanservice anime except for a couple.
only 25 new anime in spring eh? I hope the quality increases.
Let's see now....ikkitousen XX, mayoi neko over run, kissxsis, D.C, koihime musou, kaichou is a maid.....
nope, I don't see the quality here....
Neither I am. Not a single mecha anime show, and few Sci Fi themed anime...
Perhaps the Legend of Koizumi OVA is the most interesting tittle to come this season.
mecha-shit sucks anyway
You suck, if you don't like at least a couple of mecha shows, you are a POSER, not an anime fan.
Not having a single rigid opinion of a fandom makes us the posers. Huh, good one.
anon is a pedophile
It's about time for Japan to downsize it's cartoon bussiness, really.
It's about time for Japan to downsize it's ANIMATION bussiness, PERIOD.
Happy now, fags?
Don't know for you, but for me it's quality over quantity.
Explain the word quality. Not so simple you seem to think.
Less fanboy masturbation (constant in-references to other anime and manga are getting old), more variety in plot and character designs. It's that simple.
Its about time. Im tired of thoughtless animes with no story being produced.
Hopefully now we can get back into some actual good stories.
Maybe you don`t understand stories? Or you can understand only one type of story.
"...now we can get back into some actual good stories."
Actually they already did.. and always do, it's just that you are blinded by the popularity K-on! that you think that's the one and only anime existed in 2009.
Moe-shit finally broke everything..
Good luck for your fight for ugliness!
Shut up. Just because it's not "moe" doesn't automatically mean it's butt ugly. There are plenty of shows with BOTH admirable characters and quality ideas/story.
The problem in moeshit is moe-SHIT. There are too many shows with harem/loli/unrealistic/underdressed characters where the show itself is rehashed, shitty in premise or shallow in concept. Well-rounded quality shows is what this recession needs to make a comeback with.
Ya know I don't think this is a really bad thing. The industry was moving in the wrong direction. So rather than continuing to do that I think they're slowing down and and working on changing the direction.
I am liking the sound of this news. From the start of the current season, all the animes are of awesome quality and animation. I would rather have lesser anime than alot of crap series.
You can decide for all ppl what are crap series?
I resent this being blamed on moe; correlation is not causation. Also, Haruhi is not a moe show no matter how much mikuru fondling they put in it.
Haru-bitch not being a moe fest? Come on, do you really see it as a Sci Fi anime? You make me laught, bro.
Haruhi is more believable Sci-Fi than many mecha Sci-Fi animes. You need a brain and education to comprehend that.
Read the novels if you dare.
erochichi blindness towards Haruhi makes anon laugh.
Many people's blindness towards Haruhi makes anon laugh.
Haruhi>Anon
haruhi sucks
Anon sucks MOAR!
In recent shocking findings eminent scientists and statisticians have determined that 9 times out of 10 correlation IS causation!!!
Internet commenters go into profound meltdown as a favorite cliched response is invalidated.
Comparing figures betwen 2000 to 2010 there is less anime but a higher average of it is moe.
Bubble, burst?
But most of the titles not made would likely be moe, would they not?
It is because of the economy. If non-moe anime dominated, then those would also be cut down.
It's actually still a moe boom because they make a up the majority of shows. And that's what people want; it's what sells.
Basically there's more variety other than slice of life now.
which mean that "Sora no blow my trupmet" is shit
Pretty much is it. Almost as awful as that gay thing... Haibane Renmei.
i'm awating bakuman anime hope it doesn't get moe-fied
Unfortunaly J.C Staff is the one making the anime, and do you remember what happen when J.C Staff doing an anime adaptation?
It becomes good?
bakuman shouldn't be moe-fied when it comes out
I want anime, but I don't want crap anime.
This is good.
Are you paying for what you demand?
In a way, this may teach better budget planning and perhaps something more motivating for the producers to make another masterpiece, should it ever happen again.
Eden of the east only came out last year
and it was mediocre, your point?
It's impossible to please these days
Zetsubou shita!!!!
Eden of the East mediocre? What the hell were you smoking when you watched it?
Reminds me a bit of the so called "casual gaming boom" for the Wii. You got First Party Nintendo making high quality "casual" gaming, and suddenly everyone wanted to throw in their shoddy, no effort trash, thinking that everybody will eat it up. And surprise surprise, people didn't.
Moe is where it's at, but that doesn't give anime companies an excuse to be lazy.
I'm leaning on the idea that everything will coexist in the future. Moe, Mech, Romance and all will simply be common throughout the year and not just in stronger seasons. Less Moe doesn't mean zero moe.
Nothing wrong with cutting down to the bone and regrowing it for a new generation.
Finally. I hope less = more quality.
Me too, but doesn't seem so yet... hopefully it gets better.
looks like it already starts getting better this season. yeah, hopefully still better and better in the future
Get ready for K-ON season 2.
Lol. That's what I'm saying...
It was announced a while ago so yeah
Rumoured to have been announced.
im confused so "moe" means slice of life no story but cliche characters?
maybe darker than black and railgun snapped the industry out of being retarded?
You're quite off on the definition of "moe" there.
Time for them to go back to basics and start over
More Lucky Star plz
Ya plz
Oh boo fucking hoo--Every industry is hurting right now. Even the videogaming industry is hurting right now thanks to the worldwide economic conditions nowadays.
Since the economy is in pretty bad shape right now, the anime industry has to allocate its resources so they can bring in the most money. They can either appeal to:
The hardcore otaku crowd that watches every moe title the companies throw at them, as well as buys the overpriced DVDs, manga books, light novels, videogames, drama CDs, figurines, dakimakura and other merchandise that come with such titles.
OR
They can satisfy the discriminating foreign audiences who cherry-pick what titles they watch and only buy DVDs at 1/3 of the original R2 prices.
Even the hardcore moe-moe otaku have limits as to how much money they can spend, but like hell the anti-moe crowd is anywhere near as capable of providing enough money to the R2 companies to justify doing away with moe anime altogether. In an economy such as this, do you morons really expect the anime industry to suddenly abandon an established fanbase with a track record of buying over a much weaker fanbase that has no guarantee of buying anything at all?
Unless something this "anime crash" is occuring in a stable economy (like with the videogame crash of '83), the argument that a perceived lack of quality in these "moe" titles has attributed to this "crash" is nothing but bullshit spewed by fans who have their own heads shoved far up their asses to believe that any title that of the "moe" label has the capacity to be of any redeeming value whatsoever. Even if every "moe" title was that shallow, a lot of "deep" and "artistic" titles aren't usually anticipated to bring in very wide profit margins--How the hell is replacing titles with high profit potential with titles of low profit potential going to do any good, other than to satisfy your own egos?
God, even the high-and-mighty artsy folk can be so stupid at times. Do you Type-As even have a clue as to how businesses/economies work?
Nice to read a sensible comment too, in contrary to some stuff written here.
Who the hell comes here to read sensible comments or articles?
What a preachy "article".
It's like you're not even trying to hide it anymore.
What a patronising "comment."
It's like you're denying the obvious.
You say that like there's any substance in the article to begin with. It's obvious that this is nothing more than a thinly veiled rant.
fail
I smell troll breath.
I smell cock. You should take a break.
Nobody will mind if you call out bullshit when you see it.
Some of stuff aimed to be serious, deep and artistic is not so very good indeed.
I don`t want to use "c" word. It is already overused here. I am AB type myself but grgpsunk`s comment is well-thought and sensible and i agree with it fully. You need time and perspective to get down from your high horses.
Maybe you will understand someday what quality anime really is.
You tell me to get off of my high horse and then proceed to act like a patronizing douche?
Give me a fucking break.
Let me just put it this way. The sooner you're able to see past SC's sensationalist tabloid articles like these, the better.
But I doubt this will happen any time soon. Hell, you're even using the 'A - B type' classification.
Suspected this was coming... While moe shows sell DVDs, but it alienates a lot of the older audience who seek something a lot more substantial, and also the general casual viewer. Those viewers can't connect with shows where nothing really happens, except to show how cute some female is. This only results in making the market smaller and niche. Moe shows are in reality a death trap for the industry, not a saviour like how some will believe. It is just a short term cure, but ultimately it actually stops new audience from being fans and cuts off the older more established viewers.
On a personal note, all of my anime friends have pretty much given up on following any new series, only watching completed series with good reviews. Every season has been such a disappointment, we don't even bother to any more.
I am 62, have watched anime since mid-80s. I can enjoy moe as well as serious stuff, if it`s good.
Please don`t talk for all of us veterans here, we have different tastes also.
As a veteran myself I also lost some of my faith to anime. In the last 4 years I only really enjoyed movies like "TokiKake" and the last good show I remember was Gurren Laggan.
I have NOT lost my faith to anime. For me, it has been 15-20 really good titles every year in 2000s.
But you have definitely right to have your opinion. I feel you need to eat more vitamins...
Because you are an erochichi? Hahaha... On a serious note, I am sure there are older audience who likes moe, but in my circle of late 20s and early 30s (who have watched anime since we were kids), everyone is fucking pissed off about the lack of substantial storyline.
But of course, there will always be fans of whatever is produced.
There is good anime with substantial storyline, which is good. But there is also pretentious anime with substantial amount of nonsense, which some ppl think is intellectual.
What comes to the future of anime, it depends whether somebody really buys it, not of which genre is being made. Free downloading of anime does not decide style direction of productions. What sells, will be produced, it gives resources for other types of anime also.
I think the issue here isn't what sells DVDs. The issue here is that they are running on an outdated model. The DVD sales model only works well enough during the nineties before things were so freely available for online downloads. Crunchyroll is one of the newer and more viable ways to get fans who want to support the industry but yet want the newest episodes to pay back the industry. I think tie ins and promotions with sponsors are another great way to earn revenue, eg. Freedom.
Trying to stop people from ripping and trying to rely on sales on DVD in this current tech era is completely and utterly stupid. Only limits people to quick solutions that might ultimately limit their fan base growth, even though the sales figures are decent.
Now awaiting for the monster breast bubble to burst!
Oh great, another Moe Blame article (just because of a case of the numbers of anime produced per time).
*Readies popcorn and watch over barrage of comments of ppl keeping on misinterpretating the term appearing as I hit the F5 button..*
Even the anime industry is not recession-proof and the smaller allocated budgets show it.
Will KyoAni ever learn from the debacle called 'Endless Eight'?
Also can Gonzo survive its financial woes...
I doubt Gonzo can survive--They lost Strike Witches. That was their only series keeping them out of bankrupcy.
Gonzo already went bankrupt.
yaaaaaaay!
hated how they made Montecrist gay in the end... just to trow an example.
And much of their bankrupcy woes was attributed to making a bunch of poor-selling titles that exclusively appealed to western non-otaku audiences AFTER the R1 anime boom had already cooled down.
I did like Tower of Druaga series though despite maybe animation quality. But yes, majority of what I watched from Gonzo wasn't all that great.
hmmmmm anyone see black rock shooter anime in the spring anime list? cuz i can't find it unless its under some other title...
Wasn't that just a special OVA of one episode being shipped out from the main goodsmile site? I'm not sure but I thought that was a music video. (I know about the anime since I saw a preview of it)
Is there a basic understanding of economics? If not, do you at least read the papers and realise the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression has hit the entire world in 2008? In 2006, Japan's GDP grew by 2.8%. For 2009, it's expected to shrink by as much as 5%!
Unemployment in Japan has grown. As the Japanese government count even part timers who work very little, the actual unemployment rate is almost certain to be much higher. Average working hours and wages has fallen. When people are living in fear of their job security, you think they'll still freely throw 50,000 yen (550 USD) to buy an entire anime dvd series in 2010?
You're trying to explain economy to faggots? They found moe to blame for some of their pretentious crap not selling and they'll keep doing it.
We had 120ish shows last year not to bad at all actually
Sick of these shit articles by you. There are more quality anime this season than there was in 2006.
if by quality you mean shit
i have to agree with dr faggot. fall 2009 was shit, but this season is really quality over quantity. maybe anon should try watching some from this season.
Like what? the sexplotation animu "dance of the nude infant vampire"? you will get in hell for fapping to that... and before that you will be Bubba's bitch for a few years in prisson =D
Well, 25 anime for one spring is far too much to watch anyway. Let alone 60...
@shikakusyndrome
well, i'm not trying to be pretentious here. but if animes are that "relevant" to fapping, i really don't have anything more to say. go and watch hentai instead, my friend.
dance in the vampire bund has a LOT LOT more to watch behind the loli nudities. akiyuki shinbo made that one, and i have a big faith in him for not being an asshole who makes a sexploitation fanservice anime. the directors from baccano also made durarara and sora no woto. so far those 3 animes showed very significant and strong potentials.
about time this whole moe thing starts to slow down a bit.
It's about time they release "quality" anime title than just "moe" ones. I hate shallow anime titles.
I'd enjoy a quality moe anime.
So called deep, serious and artistic animes are not always good, they can easily turn to be only pretentious.
And anime with moe characters is not always bad.
This isn't necessarily bad...I mean fewer titles, but that also means more of the money from the market is being distributed to those titles which hopefully means high quality anime. Honestly, too many titles are just rushed out onto the market =_=
With that list, I can only be sure that I'll only watch Mayoi Neko Overrun! and Angel Beats.
Where's my Noitamina anime?
Anime is terrible. Occidental animation ftw
Oh look a troll
But even the worst of the trolls can say some hidden truth beneath its provocation. I agree that Japanese animation as yet to match the digital wonders from PIXAR.
And please don’t be FAGGOTS, at least try to argue instead of pushing a gay “minus” button.
I pushed the minus button. Japan is far more advanced in the CG world than PIXAR is, too.
And where do that actually is reflected on anime? You are liying to yourself if you really think "Tekkon" looks better than, say Ratatouille.
"Japan is far more advanced in the CG world than PIXAR is, too."
HAHAHAHA OH WOW! Have you really been watching animu at all? The only 3D models in most animu are for vehicles and occasionally a semi-complex machine and the only animation of these objects is simple mechanical motions. The only 3D models of characters I've seen are background soldiers in Utawarerumono and they looked like this:
http://i48.tinypic.com/110g2kp.jpg
Their animations consist of repeated running and attacking and that's it and they don't get much closer than in that screenshot.
Pixar's level of detail is remarkable especially considering the fact that they almost never use motion capture.
Check Illusion`s hentai 3D games. That should enlighten you a little. Or check my uploads including AG3 images in Sankaku galleries.
Pixar`s designs are for children. They`re very ugly too. Some detail trickery doesn`t help any.
"Have you really been watching animu at all? "
... have you?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appleseed_Ex_Machina
One of many that uses CG well.
But what about CG outside anime? The first thing that comes to mind is Advent Children. That was amazing. Rattatouille was very impressive, but the CG of Advent Children is still better.
I've played Illusion's games before, but we're talking about 3D animation that goes into movies and television series' not videogames. If I judged Illusion's games by videogame standards then they'd be shoddy at best.
The first Appleseed movie looked a few years behind The Incredibles which came out the same year. The second one managed to close the gap considerably but still didn't look as good as Ratatouille.
"One of many that uses CG well."
Provide more examples please.
Shoddy? Well maybe in purely technical terms, but if you take character designs in that really beautiful Japanese animation style and used-friendly alteration possibilities in the consideration the whole picture of 3D becomes different.
I`d rather watch Japanese designed 3D than ugly gaijin drivel. It is a question of taste in visuals.
weeaboo alert
Amusing that you're citing 3D as the pinnacle of animation technique.
The computer does most of the work in all cases of modern 3D. Compare that to people who actually do animation 100% by hand - you will find that it takes more skill to draw something in 2D than it does to slap a texture on a shitty 3D model and call it metal.
Now, I'm not saying 3D's not pretty - it's just not HARD. If you want something really complicated and realistic, just add more processing power and use a powerful program that can handle setting it all up and rendering it.
3D is a work of numbers, 2D is a work of hands. Apples, oranges.
true dat
It is incredible that fags younger than 50 still beleive in that bullshit that 3D animation is just pressing "ENTER" and waiting for the render to end. Any PIXAR movie takes equal if not more artistic human work than any Ghibli film and that's the reason they release one movie a year or less.
Except it's not. There's a reason why people don't bother to "draw" things when they could just make it CG.
pixar is better
but their movies are so few.
also advent children was technically impressive but lacked any artistic merit (and soul).
I'm hoping that series like K-ON and other similar titles don't suffer from this. K-ON seems to be so popular now it looks unlikely, though there have been similar trends where anime series seem to go down a lot in the past as well, I noticed that in north america a lot of companies aren't really getting any titles either.
By that I also mean a big chunk of them aren't being dubbed as well, and love it or hate it dubs are in demand for anime in north america more than subs mostly because subs can be downloaded off line for free too (not saying it's right but it's fact). Where as people who don't get dubs for famous anime, like rocket girls for example, feel cheated.
I feel that now moe is here it won't go away, it's just over saturation and when you shove too much of the same crap down a market's throat sooner or later they'll get sick of it. But by no means is it a single anime so it's by no means as a style, gone.
I think the real issue is that a lot of anime has the same kind of formula to it: if you're a harem anime you do this, mecha do that. How many people have honestly been surprised by a Gundam anime? The plot has been the same damn thing for almost 20 years, with the same sappy drama, and the same moral: war is bad and people die. And ice is cold and fire is hot. Then there's "alien" girl anime, where a guy meets an alien girl and ends up hating her guts and getting embarrassed, waits for her to go away and when she does he gets all upset and regretful and oh look she never left. Then she does other things that drives him nuts and they eventually live happily ever after.
I don't think this "bubble burst" has anything to do with moe with that being said, but totally being unoriginal. Let's hope with this that there's more creative and original thinking in anime next time around and not something that is taken from plot-line's past..
Moe bubble? hah, k-on did this.
What's wrong with 'moe'? All I see here is people complaining about how it ruins 'quality' anime, but the very definition of 'quality' is a matter of taste and a majority thinking 'moe = lack of quality' is no evidence that it indeed is.
And even if it didn't have anything to do with the current economic turmoil that japan is still in, if that's what the majority of Japanese viewers want, why argue with them? You can pretty much bet that this will eventually die down and make way for another 'craze' that will have Western viewers (and maybe the occasional Japanese) up in arms about how it destroys the anime industry.
The only way this can be 'fixed' and the 'moe bubble to finally burst' is for Japanese anime fans to stop buying moe titles and all sorts of related merchandise. Once companies catch on that moe is dead, they'll move on to the next popular craze (aka, whatever the majority of Japanese anime viewers want).
So complain about moe all you want, it's not going away until Japanese otaku want it to.
You said exactly what i would. Well written.
MOE IS DORAEMON!!!
doraemon is always good to help you enhance your result at the right time and the right place. but when an anime industry starts to rely only on this doraemon, that's the time he becomes an idiot called nobita! (shit i just remembered nobita stayed at elementary school all this time, what an idiot)
morale:
DON'T KILL DORAEMON! JUST DON'T ABUSE IT!
Super-cool sensationalism, bro.
You're such a pessimist, Shikaku. I love SanCom for its articles. You'll dislike some, and like others. Stop complaining about something that is being done for you. I wonder why you're still visiting this site if you really think it's bad sensationalism.
Din't literally wrote that is "bad" sensationalism.
You just can't deny that sensationalism it's a key fact to this page.
Isn´t Heisei Democracy almost dead?
I checked it and last article was from 15th June. I liked it before, but it is a dying place now.
I don't get it. Why do people give moe the blaim because there is excess of it? Isn't there excess of it because it sells? Isn't there a fall in ''quality anime'' because it doesn't sell? If ''quality anime'' WOULD sell then companies wouldn't have a problem producing it, right? So who is to blame, people who want ''quality anime'' and don't buy it or people who want moe anime and DO buy it.
Because its easier for people to blame "moe" than to actually think, and use reasoning.
The problem is that a lot of the moe anime that does sell, isn't quality. Thus, the market is split - most the anime out there is just low quality drivel made to take money away from the die-hard moe fans who'll buy anything moe, while the people who just want quality anime are going unserved.
It is very possible to make quality anime with moe characters. Hell, most quality anime do have at least one moe character, if not more. It's just that the studios that make these pure moe anime don't need to make them quality - people'll buy them regardless.
I request a poll.
well, I truly have to say moe has had to much affect on the industry with the popularity of K-ON and assumes they need to use the same antics that kyoani did to make any business and profit out of the animes. Look at the case of Haruhi S2 the character design was k-onified and was shity with the failed endless eight... But look the DVDs sold pretty well concidering it was bad I don't think the industry will be able to give that away since it selled when good series like eden of the east/full metal alchemest had bad sales.
I do hope less moe occurs but I have to say a little won't kill an industry they just went too far with it that you assume it will. Quality over Quantity is good but I really doubt it will happen considering very few decent animes are coming out, but when I think about it The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya is coming out in a few weeks so it might come back and kill the moe market and continue the popularity it ounce had but don't forget there is also the new code geass anime coming out at some point this year or next year that could change the market back but odds are that it won't Moe will either kill the industry or make a better one.
If only another anime like death note could come out.
Not to say the Haruhi S2 wasn't pure fail with the E8 thing, but FMA:B and Eden weren't really top tog quality either. From where I stand, it's not these series did too bad compared to their perceived value, it's that stuff like Haruhi did unjustifiably too well.
Also, I'd like to point out that Haruhi is first and foremost moe, and it exploits that fact on every chance, even from S1. They just went way too overboard with E8.
You can't argue that normalcy is something at the bottom of a bubble....
The whole moe boom thing is why animes declined in quality, but no one noticed. As long as the character list has cute girls, then the quality of the story line won't be important. Hopefully that won't be the case anymore, but one can only hope.
Oh yeah!! Kill it with fire!!
what moe bubble ? don't give me that shit.
2006 had quantity, quality and moe altogether, so I don't see how moe can be a bad thing in anime. Actually, moe/servicey/nipples anime, just like tsundere, exists since decades. You just didn't have the words 'moe' and 'service' for them yet.
what is happening now is that studios have been relying too much lately on eroge and light novels adaptations and aren't capable of doing any good original anime anymore. And now that they run out of good materials they face a creation crisis. See, they're so desperate that they even animate half-assed light novels such as Kampfer, Baka to Shit and Blacksmith. Same goes for manga : if a manga is a bit popular it gets an adaptation even if there're only a couple of volumes released (K-On, Nyan Koi...). And for these reasons we end up with tons of half-assed ending-less 12 episodes anime. Shit I don't even remember when was the last time I saw a anime with a proper ending... Gurren Lagann maybe
And to people thinking that now quality will get over quantity, keep up dreaming. As I said, 2006 had both quality and quantity. So since studios don't know how to make good anime anymore, it just means that less anime -> even less good anime. After all, when facing crisis, the natural reaction is to aim for easy-sellable moe/servicey anime, instead of taking risks at making deep anime...
Anon I agree 2006 had the best anime in years
I doubt the moe beast is fully slain. Keep up the fight people. We can win this. I'm not saying we can kill it fully but at least we can seal it.
25 is actually UP from the 15 shows that were announced for winter at this point back in the fall, though. Sure, spring usually sees more shows than winter, but it's at least a sign that the dire predictions of last fall about the "end of anime" were a tad premature.
Besides which, it seems to have less to do with any "moe bubble" and more to do with the Japanese economy in general.
Also, I might point out that, fiasco or no, Endless Eight seems to have sold well enough on DVD, so perhaps it's not the best example to cite.
If quality animu stops appearing for a while, I wouldn't mind. I haven't watched very much older stuff beyond Slayers, Dragonball, and SSE and I imagine I could last a few years on "classics".
I think this might not be a bad thing. I prefer quality over quantity.
more yuri/yaoi, more sci-fi, more action, more DRAMATIC ROMANCE. More pure [slapstick] comedy.
LESS shit like K-ON. (lucky star was godly, it can only get worse)
What's with everyone saying that quality is a matter of taste? Big news, it isn't! Quality isn’t subjective, it’s something that can be measured by the analysis of its different technical aspects - from the quality of sound, animation, character design and narrative and many other things, it just take someone who knows their business (like someone with a grade in cinema, literary studies, etc for the analysis of plot and the writing of a series) to evaluate the quality of something.
Anyone with a minimum of critical sense can see that most moe shows have uninspired character designs, abusing of character archetypes, the animation and overall sound is cheap (with exception of catchy opening and ending sequences) and their “slice-of-life-comedy-with-a-twist' narratives is lacking in so many ways (if you really want to compare a quality plot of this king, take Yotsuba&! against any show such as K-on and see the difference in quality).
Oh, and BTW, quality does not equal to popularity, neither how enjoyable something is since those are a matter of taste. Like… let’s say Dan Brown, his stories sell, people buy and read that and think it’s amazing, yet it severely lacks literary quality.
I bet you don't even understand what "moe"means. And either way, replace "moe" with ANY OTHER TYPE of anime--or rather, any type of entertainment period--and everything you said would hold true. Everything is mostly shit.
Yeah, I do undestand what moe means. And yeah, you're right, maybe in the days before bittorrent and highspeed internet connections, the anime titles that reached the western hemisphere was better filtered for quality and better sales potential.
fail anon. the moment you said that quality is not subjective is the moment you ruined your whole arguments. who said that using character archetypes, cheap animation, and cheap sound can't yield any quality? you said it yourself "lacking in so many ways", without being able to compare anything in details about what parts are definitely worse or better. that is SUBJECTIVE!!! seriously, people like you who thinks education can perfectly judge a piece of art will die in an argument fight over a painting by picasso. i've watched both k-on and yotsuba, hah! and they're both better in their own ways cause they're never meant to be good in the same way.
the day people think education can be used to perfectly determine the value of art, that's the day creativity died. even the juries in oscar nominations admitted that they are highly subjective, despite their educations and experiences (not to mention that experience itself leads to another subjectivity)
We're not dealing with art here, we're dealign with mass media productons that can be judged by its technical merits (or lack of it). Thats why its called animated INDUSTRY, and thus it's quality can be measured by technical means.
They may be recognized as art, but it takes time and recognition, and even art can be subjected to , and is object of, analysis, and it's quality, value and technique can also be measured (but art people don't like to admit that).
Welcome to Captalism.
Angel Beats! Haruhi Movie, KissxSis anime, Mayoi Neko Overrun, Ikkitousen Xtreme Xecutor, Koihime Musou 3rd, Black Rock Shooter, Da capo 3... to say only some.
This will be a Moe Spring, even if you say that Moe is cancer, it is the future.
more ikkitousen? FUCK YES. i only watch for Kanu Unchou and whatever the fuck their doing in the anime.
I still have loads of old anime shows to watch so really this does not bother me as long as to aru kagaku no raigun continues then im happy but i would like to see somthing new but with the depth of NGE, but until then im just gonna keep watching the old stuff, most of which is better than the new shows anyway.
If moe blob bursted, what will come next?
More anime like "Ghost in the Shell withiout Tachikoma?"
Anime only with non-fappable characters?
But Motoko Kusanagi in stand alone complex is very fappable same with characters like Ryoko from Tenchi Muyo and Faye Valentine from Cowboy Bebop.
Considering the repetitious, mindless rubbish they've been making over the last couple of years, I'm not really sorry about this.
Maybe big-breasted schoolgirls who specialize in panty shots are interesting the first 5,000 times or so, but seriously, even that can get old after a while.
Never!
The last paragraph sums up how I feel perfectly. Now their wont be quite as much crap and a show that is good might actually be watched.
Waiting for the Oppai bubble burst.
DFC will never suffer the same fate since it's trend is linear and flat!
but the oppai bubble did burst, in Queen's blade.
Butlers, Qwaser, Himari have more than enough boobs. The bubble's holding pretty well.
And? Out of the 60, how many were good? 10? 20? Personally, 20 is being generous. It's like the recession in the US, it's going to cut the fat. The good anime will stay, the bad will die off because who the fuck wants to see another Aquarion or Natruto?
Yea... Thought so.
What do you mean, Aquarion was hilarious
it's not just anime, the entire entertainment industry seems to be stagnant, with new media being the only perpetuator of consumerism.
Look at Avatar- Dances with Smurfs of Ferngully
The videogame has FF13- and all the other titles that don't really get the interest of easily-bored-short-attention-span nex generation of gamers
Anime has this, real stagnation. People have done just about everything with anime; created it (astro boy), constructed it (Super Robots), deconstructed it (Neon Genesis Evangelion), and kitschified it. (K-on) What else can be done?
I guess we go back to reading? I will lol when people start to whack off while reading a novel.
More like that we reach "THE REAL STAGNATION OF HUMAN IMAGINATION" of this planet. I mean even American Comic books does the same shit over and over and act like none of the backstories ever happened...I think we have killed it. It's amazing that Japan took Sci-Fi-like elements with Anime and Video Games so far...and Now we're like "...okay someone already done this story" or "They copied after 'Blank' Show to that 'Blank' show...
Entertainment & Storytelling is dead...unless you're a newborn or something...
Don't you guys think the dip has more to do with the fact that no one wants to take risks in the current global marketplace? I'd be willing to bet that people feel safe investing in producing new anime, the number of titles will rise again.
20 shows is completely appropriate. At least it gives me a chance to catch up.
I say it has nothing to do with "moe" or anything like that, K-ON and other anime similar to it are clearly still popular, however it has more to do with the quality of anime that's being put out. By that I mean the anime industry, and perhaps some japanese industries in general, who use the same plots over and over again and again in order to just sell titles.
For example, when is the last time you picked up a really good original Gundam title? Aren't all the stories basically the same, people whining about how war is bad but they don't know how to do anything else? Then some guy wearing an trash-can mask shows up and he's a bad guy, oh then he turns into a really bad guy. Well, that's basically every plot for Gundam, but this isn't just about the Gundam plots. It's also about the harem anime plots, alien girl plots, romance anime plots, they're all the damn same.
It would be less surprising if it had something to do with the economy instead because it's still not 100% yet, though with that said.. I can only hope, please god let Kyoto animation go bankrupt!
Maybe we'll see a return to the good ol days of anime.
Where there were GAR characters and epic story lines.
Stuff like the classic Gundam,Gatchamen,Galaxy express 1999,Cpatian Harlock,Space battle ship Yamato/Starblasers, DBZ before the Buu saga.
Even stuff like Tenchi Muyo where even the loli characters were bad ass heck even the pet was badass in that series.
Really I'm sick of anime that takes place in a Japanese high school I'd welcome a change.
You are joking, right? Sasami as a evil loli? That was good! Ryohki, too.
Old time anime was not always good, we tend to remember only the best.
I still love Urusei Yatsura.
How can they call this a bubble burst?
It's a steady decline over 4 years.
No one would say "the housing bubble burst steadily over 4 years"
The Asian debt bubble burst suddenly, in a matter of days.
The 2nd reason you can't call it that, is because there are still new successful crappy moe anime being made.
So how can you even reason that moe is the sole culprit?
If anything the title should be "Even fewer new anime this year evidence of economic decline"
I think Moe anime is a result of the economic climate, not the cause. So many studios producing cheaper moe shows that sell lots of moe goods.
Yay, let's blame moe for all our problems again.
Sure, companies are producing stuff like Strike Witches and K-ON! because they sell, but WERE IN A WORLDWIDE RECESSION!!! Companies want to keep from going under in a time such as this, so they're producing Anime which they know will sell. Moe is not the problem, it is a symptom of the problem. Just concentrating on moe as a problem is like trying to just get rid of a sore throat when you have the flu. You still have the fever and the body aches, and the virus is still there. It is possible to have a series that integrates moe with an interesting story and good characters, like Haruhi Suzumiya (Let's put Endless Eight aside for right now. That was a marketing problem primarily, but I know, It's hard for me to forget too). And must I remind you people what moe means in the first place!? While literaly meaning budding (as in a plant), it's used in the context of having an extreme, burning passion (moeru, to burn) or a fetish for something. That something could be anything. You can even consider some foodies (like me) to have a moe for a certain ingredient or dish, like Truffles, Foie Gras, Chocolate, Curry, Bacon, or a Noodle Soup of some kind. (I definetly fall into the catagory of having a Noodle Soup moe, particularly Pho and Ramen). Moe has just come to mean a very "KAWAII!!" drawing style and character manerisims. But cute to who? You, me, some hikikomori otaku or to someone just descovering Anime and Manga for the first time? However, the industry is obviously going to pander to the "moe" of the audience that sends them a lot more money, which is the rather erroneously named "type B" otaku. The ones who buy all the DVDs, character CDs, figurines, etc. Instead of the other extreme end of the scale, the "type A" otaku, who mostly exists overseas (and therefore buys the much reduced in price DVDs, if they buy them at all. Which unfortunatly is not that common). Not only that, the extreme "type A" will in all likelyhood totaly forsake a series if it doesn't meet their high standard, and the extreme "type A" is not a loyal fanbase. Constantly searching for the next Eva, they throw away any series and studio that they deem unworthy, and quickly drift to the next series and studio that shows and promise. If you owned an Animation studio, and your company was tanking due to the bad economy, who would you cater to, to save you livelyhood and your nest egg? I know who I would choose, cause it's pretty obvious to me.
Hunt for next Eva is totally brainless. It will never come.
But better future anime than Eva was does not have to be similar at all. 1995 - 2010 many better anime than Eva may already exist, but they don`t see it, because they see only old Eva.
I have seen many animes during that time better than Evangelion. But nothing is enough for freaks.
well, as long as there are still shows that are GOOD, 20 or 60, it's all the same
I think the "epic" storylie has deid of previous decade. Considering how bad some of those "epic" story lines were in the past it's a good thing we have a moe boom. Even a classic like macross isnt very good compared to todays anime.
Well, it's the ugly face of the recession, that took us down. The anime market is having a hard time adapting since these things take about a year in advance to plan out and execute. So, we're still in this "quasi-recession" mode, even though many developed class countries are already recovering (might I take this time to give my blessings to the Haitians... poor them). Still, life is pretty tough enough for the commoners of these lands.
I believe the next phase should go into more of the chronicling of the lives of certain persons, maybe add problems like debt or death or the dubious things of today as major plot twists...
Dude I think it's going to be the longest recession ever man, I'm telling you "Does it really look like everything is going back to normal soon?" Because I Don't Think It's Going To Be That Easy...1 year..Haa...that's a laugh...
That nasty POS NINE episode BullShit "ee" in Haruhi still fucking pisses me off. I read here that the first release did well, but since then I've heard no mention of any updates to the following nasty releases in Japan from Sankaku~.
Please fill me in on the further "successes" of those too ugly to mention again episodes. Did it do good business, or did it implode by the Otaku disdain?
I don't know, how does over 10k+ sales for each E8 volume seem to you?
Bullshit.
If the anime industry blows up suddenly, if we are to follow all the latest statistics, the animes that will remain will be the ones with moe, whether type A otaku like it or not.
But I really hope the general anime blob bursts.
The one thing I appreciated from the anime industry is that it wasn't as overhyped as Hollywood.
Hollywood produce piles of crap with few hidden pearls lost in it.
Anime, imo, was the complete opposite 'till it started becoming mainstream.
I kinda miss the days everybody I knew thought less of me only because I liked some weird japanese "cartoons", but at least we had lots of quality stuff and fewer idiots sprouting useless comments on something they knew nothing about (aka mainstream news covering anime and manga events).
Also Hollywood crappy adaptations no one asked for.
I'd be plenty satistied with 5 or 6 new titles a month if only this helped Hollywood keep their dirty hands off the anime industry.
it was over 12k on the first few but not sure about the latest ones. The sales will go up more on the last few DVDS because sigh 1 is about to be releases. I read on some website don't remember where though sorry.
An end of an era gives hope for a new and better one.
Can we get an article on the status of hentai? For the last two years fucked silly faces and netorare has increased. Ameno's and Ootsuka Kotora's stuff in 2006-2007. Not staples yet. Then after Chunrouzan's graduation onsen trip chapter in 2008 more NTR stuff found its way in to vrious magazines. Good for legends like Sanbun Kyouden who now have more audiences. Perhaps X-ration would consent to draw in magazines. How far have the genre come and how long before they get past the summit?
status of hentai: it's awwright
I feal like the anime market in usa is diminishing i see many more fan subs and anime released in japan then stateside.
I think with the recession has caused quality and lack of goods to demise.
I also seen a drop of titles from Dojin games and Hentai anime. Nothing much lately i see only one or 2 good pc games in japan.
I just think the market is over saturated in usa. and with prices so high in inflation nobody is buying. most of the time i see dvds still sitting on shelfs even used dvd dont sell as much
What ever happened to OAVs ? now they are all just tv series with lame and low quality artwork?
I still say the old stuff was better better music,animation,Story lines i mean come on i haven't even seen any good story lines.
I feel like i watch computer generated lazy animation what even happened to quality drawings?
Just the same I think we are far from the heyday of OVA's with tittles like BGC or Gunbuster. If japan anime industry really wants to use computer animation why they can at least make a decent work like PIXAR and DreamWorks do?
Pixar`s & other gaijin producers character style is , very, very, very ugly.
Never want to see that shit.
You are a fetichist that knows shit about cinema or storytelling. You only want characters with big tities to have them in a poster for you to fap.
You don`t have a big full-hd flat tv and HDMI DVD and BD player & hd cable from your tv don`t you. I can assure you drawings have never before been so finely crafted. Watch one episode of Sora no Woto in 1080p.
Here's hoping the industry gets out of this slump sooner rather than later. Doing that may very well mean the crap titles will increase again, but I'd rather have to swim through that crap than hear more about studios closing down and animators losing their jobs.
It's always interesting to see how an industry progresses and definitely looking forward to how the current industry "leaders" react and adapt to this situation. I'm not a moe hater, or at least I don't think I am seeing how I always seem to watch at least one or two per season, but different variety definitely doesn't hurt.
hmmm... let's see...
let's say that most men in the world have a fetish for girls in thighhighs...
having a beautiful girl in thighhighs is a good thing. nothing bad here...
the real problem comes when all girls in the world try to wear thighhighs...
so i guess the rage of people here is misdirected...
it should be "rage against imitators" instead of "rage against moe"...
"hmmm... let's see...
let's say that most men in the world have a fetish for girls in thighhighs...
having a beautiful girl in thighhighs is a good thing. nothing bad here...
the real problem comes when all girls in the world try to wear thighhighs..."
1) Wouldn't that be heaven?
2) Good point, then people end up blaming the existence of thighhighs because some ugly, fat chicks try to wear them.
1) that is going to be hell, if u ask me... "global rule: 90% of anything are bad" applies here. just like moeness, thighhighs here amplifies the real deal. if a girl is fugly, then she'll be FUGLY in thighhighs!!! then continue to number 2...
2) yes, damn right. people will eventually end up blaming the existence of thighhighs because 90% of girls in thighhighs they saw are FUGLY. and the 10% beautiful girls will become the victims due to this thighhighs trend.
so yes, in the end... FUCK IMITATORS!!!
こなたを泣かすなっ！
Thank god this is finally over. Fuck this moe bullshit and let's return to the good old days of quality.
Nothing lasts forever.
Yeaa... dont need those loads of oppai, pantsu, hentai & Co bullshit!
Better Give us a couple of Railguns/TokyoMagnitude9!
Actually we need loads of oppai and pantsu, as long as the story isn't totally lame (like some very recent anime).
But yes, give us more of the other stuff.
Sankaku Complex, anime doomsayer and moe hating help center.
I never realized so many other people were getting tired of all this moe fanservice, grotesquely giant fucking bouncy boobs, panty shots in your face, unoriginal character archetypes, rehashed perverted situations, and overused jokes. Not to mention any combination of school girls, magic girls, and parodies with a lame excuse for a plot just so they can reuse any old character archetypes and perverted situations.
Does this cover all the reasons why most anime sucks these days?
Yeah ... I'm a fan of all forms of Japanese television shows and movies. Meaning I watch animated and live action Japanese media. New and old. There are tons and tons of shows and movies I've watched. And many, many, many more I have yet to watch. So a current decline in a portion of Japanese media barely phases me. It still leaves me with a ton of shows and movies I can watch.
It's only the anime fans that have anything to worry about. And even so, if you're running out of new shows and movies to watch, just watch older stuff you haven't gotten around to. Or better yet, branch out into the rest of Japanese television.
best konata picture ever
cardcaptor sakura season 4 anyone? lol
I think its too early to say sth like this. I mean, its just a season lol. I also hate this moe boom because all the shitheads and immatures gather and mess up the anime community's atmosphere -_-;; They just don't know how to get the best out of all the great anime out there cuz they stick to popularity and looks...Gotta evolve some sense.
good. Hopefully this will be the death of those stupid otakus