Lately, animes have been worth crap. No offense. Most of the animes coming out lately have been turned into senseless fan service. Also good mangas have been turning into crappy animes that have no connection to the manga. The studios have been making their own stories. For an example, Rosario to Vampire. If any of you read the manga, it is a whole lot better than the anime. I just want your opinion on this statement. Give some examples.

I'm not talking about the 2008 spring anime. I haven't watched any yet! Hoping for plenty of good animes.

I agree, I also gave Rosario to Vampire a chance because I was interested in the fact that it involved a school of monsters, something I haven't seen very much. Instead, I see loads of fan service, and might I add, I am not a lesbian so therefore I am completely turned off and can't stand the density of some men.

I'm very picky when it comes to anime or anything else for that matter. The new anime well they all seem like one another and i agree with the fan service comment but i guess thats what sells. It seems like the anime industrie is becoming like the music industrie.

ice

Lately, animes have been worth crap. No offense. Most of the animes coming out lately have been turned into senseless fan service. Also good mangas have been turning into crappy animes that have no connection to the manga. The studios have been making their own stories. Such as Rosario to Vampire. If any of you read the manga, it is a whole lot better than the manga. I just want your opinion on this statement. Give some examples.

I actually agree with you here, as the anime industry has been having a hard time in producing anything of high-quality lately. One of the problems can be blamed on time location, and when I say this I mean the fact that we're now just done with the arguably golden age of anime, spanning from about 1992-2002. The problem is, like any other market in life, once you go up you do come down, and the industry is feeling this. Another part of the problem is a change in tone from ADV, the largest distributor of anime here in the United States. ADV quickly took to the tone of buying up anime licenses left and right to release more and more, not nessecarily flooding the market, but in general bringing the reputation they had for having released some high-quality masterpieces like Kino's Journey, down. Then there was ADV's border-line illegal move to back out of a merge with Geneon, the publisher of many many high-quality products like Serial Experiments Lain and Last Exile. With no marketing division at Geneon, they stopped production of their products, which is understandable, but for now puts them out of the picture. With a giant company releasing nothing but mediocrity and a great company knocked out of the picture, there's not much left to enjoy, except for Bandai and Funimation who have some decent works but not a lot. Lately it's been troublesome to find good anime, but if I must name a few, I'd point you all in the direction of Fate/Stay Night, Lucky Star, and Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni as well as Garuen Laggan (spelling might be off). Point is now that we're done anime's huge breakout of amazing products like Lain, Big O, Cowboy Bebop, Azumanga Daioh, Kino's Journey, .hack//SIGN just to name a few, it's hard to continue the great intensity that was the anime of the 90s and early 00s. This is a time of slow production, but I bet in 10 years we'll be vasking in the glory of great anime again, that is if developers don't swallow up the idea of Full Metal Alchemist getting a like 4th season or whatever and Naruto and Bleach not getting it's like 200th.

The industry is also having a hard time supporting itself financially. If the industry is lacking funds then it will reflect in the quality of the works being made. I'm not just talking about the U.S. here either. Japan is facing massive problems economically, in terms of the animation industry. Therefore if the Japanese are only able to produce mediocre products then the rest of the world gets the short end of the stick by only having those same mediocre anime to translate and bring over.

Fan-service filled anime is one of the more profitable genres. So even though some may think its terrible it does rack in the money for the industry. And of cause there's my idiotic club that hates all genres except for the maiming gore, and violence crap. I tired showing them a high drama once and they did nothing but complain about its dullness. An example of high drama: Banner of the Stars, .hack//sign, etc... All they wanted to see was stuff like Berserk, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Golden Boy. So again what one person sees as dull another can believe to be the greatest thing ever made.

P.S. How was ADV's break with Geneon illegal? As I recall nothing had been officially finalized and yet people got over zealous in anticipation. They were acting like it had already happened.

Well they were oficially supposed to merge but then ADV backed out shortly after Geneon laid off it's marketing and sales division in preparation for the merge and if Geneon goes under, they could make a legal case that ADV is responsible for it because of a move they did outside of competition. Bait and switch components in the case I guess, it could be legally argued that ADV caused wrongful termination of Geneon's sales and marketing division. It'd be a quater-flipping toss-up on who would win, but Geneon could take the chance.

Spudsy2061

it could be legally argued that ADV caused wrongful termination of Geneon's sales and marketing division.

But wouldn't it of been a better idea of Geneon did that after the merge was complete? Also Geneon isn't exactly a small company, couldn't they easily hire new people if they really wanted to, or at least try to hire back some of the people if they haven't already found another place to work?

If ADV suggested the merge and instructed Geneon to do that, then they probably have a case, as it would seem they tried to bump off a competitor through unjust means. If Geneon did it on it's own free will however, they probably wouldn't win. ADV isn't responsible for what Geneon does prior to the merge, so it would be seen as an error on the part of Geneon for taking the risk, knowing that at any point the merge might not go through.

Spudsy2061

Well they were oficially supposed to merge but then ADV backed out shortly after Geneon laid off it's marketing and sales division in preparation for the merge and if Geneon goes under, they could make a legal case that ADV is responsible for it because of a move they did outside of competition. Bait and switch components in the case I guess, it could be legally argued that ADV caused wrongful termination of Geneon's sales and marketing division. It'd be a quater-flipping toss-up on who would win, but Geneon could take the chance.

That's not entirely true. First, it was a proposal for a partnership. In a merger two companies become one, here both companies would still be "independent" of each other (both would still exist instead of one taking over). But that's besides the point, sorry for drifting. Second, Geneon USA was already going under whether ADV did the partnership or not. The idea for the merger was to try to preserve as many of (if not all) of Geneon's titles so that the market wouldn't lose them. That way Geneon could try to focus its resources on solely licensing and acquisition instead of distribution. Somewhere along the line things fell apart though. Now Geneon USA and ADV had announced plans for a "partnership" to take place but plans can and do get altered.

I'm no lawyer but I can't really see how cancellation of something that wasn't even finalized can be grounds for a lawsuit. Geneon laid off workers "before" finalization was made, but that was their problem not ADV's. It's the idea of making preparations ahead of time, only to find out that those preparations were not needed.

Spudsy

Lately it's been troublesome to find good anime, but if I must name a few, I'd point you all in the direction of Fate/Stay Night, Lucky Star, and Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni as well as Garuen Laggan (spelling might be off).

Unfortunately, we'll never see or at least won't see anything finishing up for Higurashi and F/SN for awhile, since Geneon had the reigns of those and decided to let the English dub die when they did. As for Gurren, I'm not too sure what ADV has going on with that, but something seems to be going on as to why they can't release it. So, the only official thing I know of is Lucky Star. One thing that has certainly gained my attention over the past two years is the fact that Funimation has now taken ADV's spot as shelling out the most anime. I bet anyone to go to their local anime store and check out the most current anime, most likely half of it is going to be from Funimation. It's not bad, but so long as they don't get mediocre for the majority (ADV, I'm looking at you) of their production, then I'm fine with it. I am still rather happy that ADV was bringing so much anime over to the States during the late 90s- early 2000s. They brought over quite a large bit of variety and to that I thank them.


As for my opinion, I pretty much agree with nychi002 as where I don't put the blame on the US market. After all, the companies are only bringing over the anime series. It is greatly disappointing how everything is shifting over towards fan service and harem. Granted, I don't mind this (Golden Boy and Tenchi Muyo are two of my all time favorite anime series) but considering the excess amount of mediocrity they've been shoveling out, I don't know. The characters are usually unlikable. The story, if there even is one, is usually very lackluster or a copy pasta of some other more successful anime but not done nearly as well. It's been difficult to find a decent, new series to pick up lately. I still buy a decent amount of anime, but there's just one catch, it's older anime. Mainly series I either watched at the local college anime club, or borrowed from friends and I really liked it. I've tried watching some of the recent stuff, like Kanokon and Rosario + Vampire and I can barely get myself to watch them. It just seems like studios, even Gonzo, just aren't trying anymore. Or at least this is what I've observed from the past few years. Thankfully, not all hope is lost. There are still some great series coming out and that have been released, it's just that you'll have to waddle through the crap to find them. I can only hope that, as Spudsy said, it'll fade out.

One thing I personally am sick of is big series like Bleach and Naruto. Now, this isn't ment as an attack to anyone that is a fan of either series. Honestly, both of these shows are actually rather decent, but they are way too long. Seriously, is it about milking it for everything it's worth, or what? Shows like Shana and Zero no Tsukaima seem to be following similar paths, with both shows getting third seasons. This is something I wish Bleach and Naruto would do as oppose to be filler mania and horribly lenghty fight scenes drug out ala DBZ style. At least then they could let the manga get decently ahead so they weren't nipping at the heels of it. Probably one of the big reasons why I'm a fan of series who chose to start after the manga is finished. If more companies chose to do this, then maybe we'd get less shows that breach the 150+ episode mark, which is absolutely absurd.

nychi002

And of cause there's my idiotic club that hates all genres except for the maiming gore, and violence crap

Too bad you don't live where I do and attended the local anime club roughly five years ago. People there had a good taste for high quality anime and could appreciate it, as well as joke around with it. Everyone I know has a great taste for many different varieties of anime.


I wanted to apologize in case I offended anyone. Sorry in advance.

CrimsonCyanide

Unfortunately, we'll never see or at least won't see anything finishing up for Higurashi and F/SN for awhile, since Geneon had the reigns of those and decided to let the English dub die when they did.

Fate/stay night was one of the few series that was finished being released before Geneon's collapse. I myself have all six volumes. So good news for you I guess.

As for Higurashi...the good news is that the studio did finish the recordings for the frist season and are looking for a new distributor to pick up the title and finish distribution. The bad news is that hasn't happened yet. I hoping someone will pick up Higurashi and release the rest because it makes no sense to of recorded something only to just let it rot on some shelf.

P.S. Can I join your club? It sounds like they are more intellegent people there. Or at least more people with a greater range of interests.

First off, love the topic. Second let's talk:

nychi

And of cause there's my idiotic club that hates all genres except for the maiming gore, and violence crap. I tired showing them a high drama once and they did nothing but complain about its dullness. An example of high drama: Banner of the Stars, .hack//sign, etc... All they wanted to see was stuff like Berserk, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Golden Boy. So again what one person sees as dull another can believe to be the greatest thing ever made.

I know a lot of our more obnoxious members whom shall remain nameless can't stand X/1999, which is understandable in a way if you don't like borderline fan-girlish drama, but then they go the extra mile to SLEEP, F'N (sorry) SLEEP during Serial Experiments Lain, and if they're not sleeping, they're complaining they want to see Fate/Stay Night. Now Fate is good, but Lain if a freakin classic, so Fate has to stand the test of time AKA 7 MORE YEARS, before freakin even being compared to Lain, which aggrivates the crap outta me. We as a club have shown some decent stuff, I mean last semester was Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni, Please Teacher, Kino's Journey, Sister Princess (that was painful to watch, I'll admit it, but when we made it into a drinking (soda of course) game it was a great time), and Grenadier (was ok, not bad, but not great). The year before was ok, but that was before me an 3 friends swept office, where we saw Slayers, D.N. Angel (omg that was so bad), and Azu-freakin-manga Daioh (oh so awesome). It appears the club can't stand series that actually are good like Lain, Please Teacher, and Higurashi, which also helps enrage me.

nychi

That's not entirely true. First, it was a proposal for a partnership. In a merger two companies become one, here both companies would still be "independent" of each other (both would still exist instead of one taking over). But that's besides the point, sorry for drifting. Second, Geneon USA was already going under whether ADV did the partnership or not. The idea for the merger was to try to preserve as many of (if not all) of Geneon's titles so that the market wouldn't lose them. That way Geneon could try to focus its resources on solely licensing and acquisition instead of distribution. Somewhere along the line things fell apart though. Now Geneon USA and ADV had announced plans for a "partnership" to take place but plans can and do get altered.

And

HappyKari

If ADV suggested the merge and instructed Geneon to do that, then they probably have a case, as it would seem they tried to bump off a competitor through unjust means. If Geneon did it on it's own free will however, they probably wouldn't win. ADV isn't responsible for what Geneon does prior to the merge, so it would be seen as an error on the part of Geneon for taking the risk, knowing that at any point the merge might not go through.

I stand fully corrected, I apologize for the accusations. Thank you both for sharing this info.

Crimson

I can only hope that, as Spudsy said, it'll fade out.

It's economics 101. It should turn around within the next idk 10-20 years, but right now we're at the bottom of the curve. Think of it like a bottle just filled with water from the sink, it's moving all over the place but once you put it down the moving and ripples all fade out eventually. The anime market is still expanding and rather new in my eyes, which is why we're experiencing such highs and lows like the huge highs of the 90s.

In the beginning some years ago when I started to watch anime it actually was because I was a lover of romance things, books, movies, series and so on already as young anime's like Sailor Moon and other's gave me what I wanted as they where a mix of many genres which I liked. There was so many good mixed anime series everywhere and it was so nice to watch serie after serie filled with what I liked. But now days there isn't any anime which I long for the next episode or feel the feeling of seeing a really touching romance anime, nowday's everything is about love-triangles which I can't get since how often are you involved in a love - triangle ? does automatically getting an boyfriend/girlfriend mean that you just has to have a rival to fight and make all the feeling go away. Then there is the harem and ecchi series which is drowning me with worthless crap, love isn't about 5 girls fighting over one stupid guy which strangely hasn't ever before been seen of any girl but just because one show's up every one must love him.

Then we have the fanservice problem which makes me wonder, is anime only produced to satisfy perverted guys which just has to see naked girls with gigant breasts. Eventhough I know that money is involved in the fanservice question it still makes me think over how gross it is to know that there is so many guys out there which just have to watch ecchi and fanservice to be satisfied.

The anime market is making me so disappointed now days, and that is a fakt the last good anime I remember seeing was Saikano other than that most of them have been crap.

Good point, but I do disagree with you on Azumanga Daioh, Cowboy Bebop, and a few others.
I personally couldn't stand watching them. Nor do I like the anime that's licensed by the USA.
I think also the anime series's plots are becoming very repetitive; ex- Male character a delinquent, a bunch of females like him, and he has to pick one after going through the arcs of the anime where he helps each one, even if he's never done it before.
Even more so Trigun / Bakuretsu Tenshi, a total gun rip off just a male / female versions.
Being a fan of anime for a while now, and seeing great anime get spoiled by; fillers like Bleach, and Naruto, when they start out well, but sold out for profit. 200+ as many already stated it's ridiculous, and having mindless episodes with talking drama, for the most of the duration.

Personal favorites would be in the list of Code Geass, Utawarerumono, and Higurashi.
At least somewhat of an original plot, interesting to follow.

But the latest ones are just ridiculous, yes the quality may be better, but the content is disappointing, and partially we the viewers are to blame for the high demand, and not giving much time for originality, and creativity.

4n0th1n9

Nor do I like the anime that's licensed by the USA.

You are talking about a great deal of anime. Pretty much almost all of the anime that's released in Japan gets liscensed over in the states. Very few series don't make their way to the US. So, do you hate the series before it comes to the states, or after? I'm sorry to ask, but I am a bit curious.

nychi002

Fate/stay night was one of the few series that was finished being released before Geneon's collapse. I myself have all six volumes. So good news for you I guess.

As for Higurashi...the good news is that the studio did finish the recordings for the frist season and are looking for a new distributor to pick up the title and finish distribution. The bad news is that hasn't happened yet. I hoping someone will pick up Higurashi and release the rest because it makes no sense to of recorded something only to just let it rot on some shelf.

P.S. Can I join your club? It sounds like they are more intellegent people there. Or at least more people with a greater range of interests.

Oh shi-! Only reason I didn't start buying Fate/Stay Night was because I never saw the final volume released. I know they had it on their website, but they also had the rest of Higurashi on there either and I guess they weren't for sale. Well, I know now at least.

As for Higurashi, I heard the same thing, but I figured Geneon took that to their grave when they didn't bother releasing the rest of the series, which disappointed me greatly =/. It wouldn't make any sense to just leave it as is, since it's just wasted money on their part then.

Yeah man! I haven't been to the recent anime club, but yeah. Anime club back in the day was great. I didn't attend that much, but what little I went to was so much fun. No one complained and everyone had fun. Best time ever.

Yeah, im getting pretty disappointed myself too in the animes being released recently. If the problem isnt its low quality/not really my thing animation, its the plot (HAREM). I mean seriously, fine...go harem...but at least make it decent (Kanon 2006, Clannad etc = WIN HAREM). But now? Oh i would not like to name animes (because i might get flamed for it) but some of the harem ones are really $#!^

And im jealous of you guys. I've never been to an anime club before. Partially because there might be none where i live (at least i think. Or maybe because i really dont go out much...lol).

Ah well, imo, i prefer watching anime by myself anyway.