The Great Anime Crash of 2010: Moe Bubble Finally Bursts

20 shows is completely appropriate. At least it gives me a chance to catch up.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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?

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...

well, as long as there are still shows that are GOOD, 20 or 60, it's all the same

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

If moe blob bursted, what will come next?
More anime like "Ghost in the Shell withiout Tachikoma?"

Anime only with non-fappable characters?

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.

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 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)

Sankaku Complex, anime doomsayer and moe hating help center.

best konata picture ever

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.

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?

Thank god this is finally over. Fuck this moe bullshit and let's return to the good old days of quality.

こなたを泣かすなっ！

Nothing lasts forever.

Yeaa... dont need those loads of oppai, pantsu, hentai & Co bullshit!
Better Give us a couple of Railguns/TokyoMagnitude9!

cardcaptor sakura season 4 anyone? lol

good. Hopefully this will be the death of those stupid otakus

it seems like the lolicons are controlling the market. also perverts who only want fan service. we need more action/drama without fan service.

IE: Dragon ball series, Code geass, Death note are example of animes I have not seen lately in the market.

weeaboos need to realize all animes are not intended to make your dick (or pussy) happy.

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.

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.

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?

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

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?

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"...

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.

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.

I want anime, but I don't want crap anime.

This is good.

bakuman shouldn't be moe-fied when it comes out

i'm awating bakuman anime hope it doesn't get moe-fied

Basically there's more variety other than slice of life now.

which mean that "Sora no blow my trupmet" is shit

Time for them to go back to basics and start over

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?

More Lucky Star plz

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?

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.

Get ready for K-ON season 2.

Finally. I hope less = more quality.

Comparing figures betwen 2000 to 2010 there is less anime but a higher average of it is moe.
Bubble, burst?