It’s unfortunately a sentiment I run into all too often in the community.
“New anime sucks. This upcoming season is bad. Anime is dying. Why are you watching that when you could be watching (insert older more renown series here).”
The phrasing may vary but the core message is the same:
And I get it, some people are just cynical or really attached to previous eras of this medium we all consume.
Others are straight up unsatisfied with the ratio of “good” anime to “bad” being churned out on a seasonal basis.
Whatever the case may be, their vocal distaste for new releases never fails to turn up, and with that, what’s become a bit of a stigma around seasonal anime.
Many come to a misconception that new anime is of less value to its similar and already established fellow works.
If they reside in the same genre space, lean on the same narrative mechanics and tell roughly the same story, the older already successful title is almost always perceived and entrenched as “better” while the newer title hops through criticism hoops of riding its identity and not living up to its quality.
“It hardly does anything original and it’s not innovative.”
“This is already done and so much better.”
Lately I’ve seen entire series, and even in some cases, entire genres completely written off like this.
I personally know viewers who won’t engage with – yet still disparage – Isekai, Shounen and Harem shows because “they’re all the same and there’s nothing good or original with them anymore.”
First off, many people with such an ideal are generally closed-minded to begin with – you shouldn’t write off an anime (much less a whole genre) and dump on its quality before even seeing it under the reasoning “it’s not original.”
Hardly any narrative is honestly original in a purposeful manner. What delineates a narrative is how well its execution grants beauty, emotional volume and distinction to the ones we all interacted with previously, and there’s plenty of value to be found in a series beyond its novelty.
Second, simply having a similar composition to a previous title shouldn’t automatically be met with negativity out of the box. In a similar vein as right above, a series should be embraced on how it conveys its story and utilizes its touchpoints, elements and other hallmarks both visually and textually – rather than just the freshness of said story itself or how well it compares to its older peer.
Equally as misguided and nearly as popular of a misconception is the notion that new anime is generally of lower quality in comparison to its older counterparts – alongside several other foolish beliefs such as the bulk of it being soulless, generic trash.
While there’s certainly those who will point to specific instances in different seasons to support that, it’s really short-sighted to paint with that broad of a brush for upcoming waves of releases.
Clearly, each season’s “quality” will vary; There’s times where we have a sizable amount of competent, passion-infused works in relation to their intended goals, and of course, there are times where we have few.
The reality is, no side is really a concrete standard.
This stance that the batches of new anime we get are largely awful tends to be perpetuated by those who really don’t watch much seasonal to begin with, and at best, is a case by case scenario rather than a firm rule when actually examined.
As seasonal anime gets produced at a larger rate, and discussion from the bigger voices in our community only narrow down to the 4 or 5 most popular new titles (if that) to talk about with any consistency – it becomes easier and easier to acknowledge a season as poor to the casual eye.
After all, the other 40+ airing titles really don’t get any notable exposure or healthy discussion so they must not be worth it right?
Compound this all too common thinking with the previously mentioned misconceptions, and it’s almost effortless for someone to gravitate to the “new anime sucks” mentality bandwagon.
But please don’t automatically buy into this.
Take some time to actually view a new season before deeming a great percent of it bad.
Take some time to actually view that new anime instead of saying “it remotely looks like Sword Art Online from the pv so it must be terrible” and leaving it at that
There’s plenty of newer titles that are worth a shot beyond the surface layer of those that are most popular in their season.
These titles aren’t necessarily inferior to their older peers “who did it first and better.”
Nor are they superior for that matter.
They’re just pieces of media like all others in the medium that have the potential to bring you a good time.
But only if you give them a chance.
11 thoughts on “New Anime Sucks, Why Are You Watching That?”
I find the argument that new anime sucks interesting because it really doesn’t hold up under any kind of close examination. But it also goes along with the argument some people make that old anime suck because they aren’t as visually impressive. Both camps (the old anime sucks and the new anime sucks camps) kind of limit their viewing possibilities by refusing to examine a huge volume of titles just because they fit into a preconceived idea of what anime is. But if that’s how they want to enjoy anime they are welcome to do so. For me, I’m just going to keep trying to take each title as it is.
Agreed, and yeah – a reworking of this argument is often pushed against older works as well. They generally receive flak for “outdated animation and storytelling” which is quite silly in its own right.
I really like your approach of taking each title by itself. It’s a good one.
Good article all around, as this is something that annoys me as well. I’d like to bring up some more thoughts about this though, just as some additional things to consider.
As originally stated in your article, I think this mindset does come from people that haven’t seen too much seasonal anime to begin with (although it is pretty difficult to keep up with so many shows). Something I find interesting though is that while there’s so many of these people out there, there’s also the people that only watch seasonal anime. While this may seem unrelated at first, it’s kind of interesting from a community standpoint where we have people that won’t even touch seasonal anime to people that are obsessed with it to a great extent. It’s just kind of amusing to think that all I see is seasonal anime content and discussion about it, so much that I wish I could see more about older shows too. In reality though, the viewpoint you speak out against in this post isn’t the viewpoint I see the most, if only because of the community I’ve surrounded myself with. That’s what I find interesting; the disparity between most of the anime community and the AniTwitter folk.
My second thought is a bit more directly related to the article itself, pertaining to the line “Second, simply having a similar composition to a previous title shouldn’t automatically be met with negativity out of the box.”. I agree with this statement wholeheartedly, but I also understand having preconceptions about a series before it even airs, and that can affect viewing in multiple different ways. That could be through oversaturation of that particular show’s content/presense in discussions/content/social media and becoming tired of the show, or it could generate a sort of confirmation bias, thinking that a show is particularly good/bad only because it’s being talked about more/less than other shows, which you do touch on later in the article. My final point is related to this.
While there’s no way to really prevent only certain shows being talked about each season, as I think that’s just the nature of conversations and people in general, I would love to see some content by anyone touching on some of the other shows from the season, even if they aren’t particularly amazing. Not only would I think that would spice up the season a bit and get some attention to other shows, I feel like it’d at least prevent some actual good less-popular shows from dying into obscurity after the season is over. It’s something I think about after going back through past seasons and finding shows that were never mentioned by anyone except one or two people and realizing that these shows are just AMAZING. I feel like without any sort of show promotion, it will be difficult for people in the future to find good shows beyond the popular ones at the time, which I feel like goes hand-in-hand with your point about there being “ewer titles that are worth a shot beyond the surface layer of those that are most popular in their season.”
I realize none of that is truly related the point you’re making in your article, but your subpoints and examples made me think about some of these things, and I wanted to throw them out there before I forgot (like always). Thanks for the good read!
“While this may seem unrelated at first, it’s kind of interesting from a community standpoint where we have people that won’t even touch seasonal anime to people that are obsessed with it to a great extent…”
It really is and I sort of wish there was more discussion around this dynamic.
“I agree with this statement wholeheartedly, but I also understand having preconceptions about a series before it even airs, and that can affect viewing in multiple different ways…”
Happy that you agree, and you pretty much hit the nail on the head with the thoughts that follow this part up in your second point.
“I would love to see some content by anyone touching on some of the other shows from the season, even if they aren’t particularly amazing. Not only would I think that would spice up the season a bit and get some attention to other shows, I feel like it’d at least prevent some actual good less-popular shows from dying into obscurity after the season is over…”
YESSSSSSSS
That would be lovely if more people could give those kinds of titles some light.
“I realize none of that is truly related the point you’re making in your article, but your subpoints and examples made me think about some of these things, and I wanted to throw them out there before I forgot (like always). Thanks for the good read!”
A lot of what you’re outlining here is actually pretty relevant to the original point, and I’m happy that you brought them up. I hope people check out your response here because it’s solid.
I mostly agree with you. I don’t think anime is dying or that modern anime sucks. A lot of my favourite shows came out in only the last five years. I am also sympathetic to the idea of many shows falling by the wayside, but this shouldn’t be hard to understand as more anime is being made every year now more than ever. There’s too many shows for any one person to watch without making it their day job (and even then, they’d probably become fatigued). And naturally, the shows that everybody will want to watch are the ones with the major points of discussion surrounding them, so of course the shows that lack this sort of water-cooler treatment will be more likely to go unwatched. Unfortunate, but that is the reality, and I think rather than encourage everyone to pick up these shows, it’s perhaps for the best that these failures continue – so as to drive home the message to the people making them that unless they cut back on the amount of shows released each year, there’s going to be a continual loss for most, if not, a great deal of them. I don’t assert this with absolute confidence and the numbers to support my claim, but this is what I have observed, and if things continue like this, I can’t imagine it panning out for them.
Having said that, I do not think it is necessarily wrong for anyone to have this attitude of writing off shows or entire genres and labeling with whatever negative connotations they see fit. Consider this outlook from a pragmatic perspective, where they generalize shows so as to make it easier on themselves not to watch everything. They are owning their tastes and be open about what they like and dislike in a confident (perhaps disrespectful) manner. Those who subscribe to this approach to dismissing that which falls outside their tastes/preferences aren’t doing anything wrong, from where I’m standing. Unless they make audacious statements about the people watching them like “everyone who watches [X show] is an idiot” or “if you watch [X show] don’t talk to me” or telling people that they shouldn’t watch certain shows for whatever reason (with the exception of people they’re familiar with and share similar tastes, of course). This is the kind of behaviour I see as more of a problem than voicing dislike/hate for a show or declaring it’s “terrible”.
That’s my late-night unorganized thoughts on the matter. Might do a post of my own sometime to better explain how I see things, but in sum, I think there’s a distinction to be made in the behaviour of anime fans – i.e. the difference between that of a liberating mindset where they know what they like/dislike, are open about it and don’t berate others for thinking otherwise and that of a judgmental mindset that sees their way of viewing anime and preferences as ‘superior’ to everyone else’s and anyone who falls out of that circle of taste is ‘wrong’ and needs to be ‘corrected’ (high-tier elitist)… I may have gotten away from the present topic.
Good anime is still being made as far as I’m concerned, giving them a shot and trying out new things is cool, but there’s also too much to keep up with, so I don’t disparage others for not watching them at all.
This was a really good read!
This is definitely a valid point you bring up, and I think it’s a crucial one to keep in mind.
People knowing their own tastes isn’t something to be ashamed of at all. Because of the amount of anime, it’s hard to get to it all, so I understand just passing on particular shows/genres they don’t like. Most people’s gut reaction for new seasonal shows is to go for the things they know they will like first, although this can sometimes end up for them only watching the most popular series. This is fine under most circumstances and is something I have no problem with! I do it myself with most shows that have very heavy focus on fantasy-esque settings, no matter how popular/good the show is. I always seem to have them on the backlog because they’re just… not my thing, and that’s fine. Everyone has shows like that!
I think this can only be an issue under a few circumstances. One of these being, like you mentioned, someone that is very outwardly vocal towards demeaning the people that enjoy watching these shows or overly vocalizing that they dislike these shows in very ignorant manners (i.e. “I hate this. It’s bad and I don’t know why anyone would watch this garbage”).
The other issue would arise only if you were presenting yourself to be knowledgeable on the subject of those sorts of shows (AKA writing a review, critique, ect.). This is *not* me saying that you absolutely cannot do this if you haven’t seen the sorts of shows you’re writing about, but the writing would need to be clear that it comes from that perspective. For example, I couldn’t write a review or post about how I dislike Sword Art Online, not because I couldn’t possibly write about it in an interesting way, but the post would end up being more about my sheer anger towards the show and would end up being mostly unrelated to the show in question. Negative criticism can be done right with the right tone, but everyone has those shows that the right tone just cannot happen when writing.
Either way, I think the philosophy of “if you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say it at all” would cover both scenarios quite nicely. I do think that negative criticisms of shows have their value, but there’s a time and place for them and a necessary tone that must be evoked when doing so. I think the article may share that interpretation as well, even though it wasn’t the main focus of it.
”I am also sympathetic to the idea of many shows falling by the wayside, but this shouldn’t be hard to understand as more anime is being made every year now more than ever.”
Likewise
“There’s too many shows for any one person to watch without making it their day job (and even then, they’d probably become fatigued).”
Well I’m certainly an outlier, but virtually I watch everything that comes out each season outside of stuff geared towards really little kids and deep sequels of works that I haven’t seen their earlier material. It’s not my actual job and as I said, i’m in the minority here so I agree where you’re coming from for the typical viewer, but I just wanted to put this side quick note out there.
“I think rather than encourage everyone to pick up these shows, it’s perhaps for the best that these failures continue – so as to drive home the message to the people making them that unless they cut back on the amount of shows released each year, there’s going to be a continual loss for most, if not, a great deal of them.”
Sorry Humble, but I’m going to have to disagree here. I rather not send that message (especially via those means) that they need to cut back on the amounts released each year. Simply, this is because I don’t believe the current amounts are problematic to begin with (it’s not like anyone is forcing anyone to watch it all) and actually, I much rather have a wider option of titles to choose from than not.
“Having said that, I do not think it is necessarily wrong for anyone to have this attitude of writing off shows or entire genres and labeling with whatever negative connotations they see fit…”
I think so, even in the pragmatic sense that you frame this from. Ultimately it all results in really closed minded thinking and uninformed shallow judgments. Generalizing a whole genre’s quality and thus tangentially, any future work that comes out in its field without actually interacting with it, is a terrible approach to the medium in my opinion. It’s one thing to know what you like / dislike and consume accordingly to that, but it’s a whole different ball park to speak on the quality of a work you haven’t even engaged with due to preconceived notions (genre related or otherwise). The latter here is purely a matter of ignorance.
“Might do a post of my own sometime to better explain how I see things, but in sum, I think there’s a distinction to be made in the behaviour of anime fans – i.e. the difference between that of a liberating mindset where they know what they like/dislike, are open about it and don’t berate others for thinking otherwise and that of a judgmental mindset that sees their way of viewing anime and preferences as ‘superior’ to everyone else’s and anyone who falls out of that circle of taste is ‘wrong’ and needs to be ‘corrected’ (high-tier elitist)…”
It would be really cool if you did make a post on it. I would be interested to read it 🙂
“Good anime is still being made as far as I’m concerned, giving them a shot and trying out new things is cool, but there’s also too much to keep up with, so I don’t disparage others for not watching them at all.
This was a really good read!”
Happy you enjoyed the read. Thanks for your thoughts Humble!
I feel sorry for folks who feel like this, if it’s an indication of what I think it is. My Facebook feed’s full of posts trying to recall the “good old days,” when kids could play with horrifically dangerous toys (well, we lived, didn’t we?) or (and yes, this is a quote), “We didn’t have Tide Pods. We ate mud.” It sure seems like fear of change, and that’s sad. The new shows don’t invalidate the old. As you said, there’s nothing really new, narrative-wise. The tropes/constructs have all been done. But each show brings the possibility of something new and interesting; of something that while not new, is at least a slightly different combination. The royalty of Stella Vermillion versus Julis-Alexia von Riessfeld. The harem anchor of Kimihito Kurusu versus Raku Ichijou.
At least for me, the details are important, and it’s the details that drive amazing character moments.
Not trying to show any disrespect for the older shows. There’s a lot of great work out there! But folks who inoculate themselves against the new are artificially limited themselves — and it’s worse if they try to berate those of us who are trying to have fun with the new stuff!
“At least for me, the details are important, and it’s the details that drive amazing character moments.”
Good comment on a whole, and I may have chucked at the pods part more than I should, but this quoted bit above stood out to me and I just wanted to highlight it because I want more people to see it.
The whole originality argument is also one that is, as far as I am concerned, an unoriginal and jejune one, so you’ll find no opposition from me. I never bought into the idea that every anime must be completely unique in all aspects, and similarly, I give all shows I watch a fair chance. Of course, not everyone shares this perspective, and I think it’s probably useful to figure out why this might be the case.
I’ve had my share of run-ins with people who did believe that new shows were the bane of the industry. This was shortly after the K-On! Movie was released; I encountered one of the most unpleasant individuals who remarked the movie was a complete failure for not pushing the boundaries, and that the movie’s “lack of ambition” in presenting something never done before prevented it from realising its objective. It was evident that this individual did not understand what the movie’s goals were, and as such, deprived themselves of a positive experience by going in with a closed mind.
Of course, this is only one such perspective, and personally, I enjoy watching shows of a particular genre or type: like a burger, or poutine, there are many ways of preparing things that result in a familiar but simultaneously unique product, and anime is no different. Of course, if folks should find that anime becomes derivative, one has to wonder why they don’t pick up a new hobby?
I can certainly relate to your K-On! experience but I think what you asked at the end is very important – so I just want to quickly bring it up:
if folks should find that anime becomes derivative, one has to wonder why they don’t pick up a new hobby?
It’s a good question and one I feel particular individuals that reach that point should give some fair consideration.
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