Commentary: Is Anime being abused?… Not really… but…

After seeing a new, stunning post in the “General Anime” section on AnimeSuki which is in a heated debate, I decided to put my analytical thoughts about the issue…

Is Anime really being abused? Not really, but Anime is a media form like any form of entertainment like movies, TV shows, etc and Anime is basically Japanese animation that focuses deeper topics instead of child cartoons and comedy like American cartoons are mostly about.

Although I have seen outstanding works like most of Miyazaki Hayao’s movies, any of Kyoto Animation’s Key anime adaptations, Suzumiya Haruhi, etc… but I have started to see Anime with some fanservice and then… anime with excessive amounts of fanservice/ecchi like Queen’s Blade which is the most notorious anime series that aired recently that every episode have this type 2 fanservice/ecchi which made the show 100x worse in most people’s eyes.

Why do I say it’s being popular in the WRONG way, you ask? Before, animators created their own creative stories with good characters, good plots, good development, somewhat realistic references, good setting, good plot devices, and many other things. But it seems that ever since 2005-2006, about 70% of anime has consisted of NOTHING but moe, lolicon, useless fan-service, ecchi, chest groping, people shoving their privates in other people’s faces, non-seriousness, lack of discipline, maid outfits, bunny outfits and fetishes!…and now it’s going to go WAY TOO FAR. The other 30% being the anime WITHOUT that useless stuff (such as anime from the like the World Masterpiece Theater).

I disagree to some extent… While some shows have some moe like Clannad for example, the storyline, animation, and character design proved it to be a beautiful series and the main reason why I consider it a masterpiece since it lacks type 2 fanservice… The problem that some people have is that some people think that if a show have moe, it automatically makes the series horrible without looking at the content deeper… which is why I see the same posters that complain continuously about every episode for the same reason for the reason to get people into a heated debate and people defending the series which I wouldn’t like to see, but it happens. While some series can have this content in the series, if the story line comes out stronger than the latter part the poster mentioned, the show can still be successful… as long they don’t use it excessively like Queen’s Blade.

This also brings the part that Miyazaki Hayao’s remark said that most anime today are unoriginal and uninspiring… like mentioned in a earlier post, but again, it depends on the viewer’s opinion what he/she deems original or inspiring… like I mentioned before:

There is always going to be a bunch of bad, unoriginal or uninspiring anime in every genre regardless… Another factor is that people’s opinions on a show is depending on the person’s tastes as mentioned before… so one person can say X show sucks while the other person thinks X show is good. So, I mostly disagree with this statement at the same time agree with some of his points of shows being unoriginal and uninspiring, but not applies to some since this is a matter of opinion.

Closing Arguments

Is Anime truely being abused? No, but the definition of Anime is animation originating from Japan… but the problem that most people are facing is the lack of masterpieces like the ones I mentioned before and the ratio between good and bad anime is off balence, like 80% of anime are bad and 20% of anime is good (7 or better). People got to realize that people have different tastes, so one person can say X show sucks because they don’t like that genre and another person can say X show is good because they enjoy that genre.

If you wish to read the full post I have mentioned, feel free. ¶