[url=Grandfather Clause]Gigguk made a video while I wasn't looking![/url]

And it got me fired up to talk about anime! I'd highly recommend watching it, it has a lot of good points about things like nostalgia and the changing of anime in general.

I used to be of the mentality that thought that anime was better back in the late 90s to early 2000s, when Toonami aired anime every weekday with hit shows like DBZ and Sailor Moon, and Adult Swim giving us shows like Cowboy Bebop. This was back in a time when watching anime online was a completely alien concept thanks to things like dial-up modems.

I didn't know what Japan was doing unless it was specifically brought over here to the West. For all I knew there could be a dozen shows about loli-faced, big-breasted goddesses. The much loathed harem genre was around back then with shows like Love Hina.

I noticed Gigguk has changed his mind about criticizing moe shows like K-On, and I can respect it. They do what they do well enough and if I don't find ANY entertainment value in them, that's my business. It's just that now I'm becoming much more aware of what's being put out in Japan, and when I see the phrase "Four ordinary school girls form a club where they do whatever" I can't help but groan and think nothing of interest is along the way.

And with shows like "Cooking competitions described as tentacle porn" and "girls in super skimpy outfits battling bad CGI dragons using bad CGI mechs" it'd be easy for me to say that anime is on a decline thanks to a wave of otaku pandering and fanservice shows used to coerce people into buying the Blu Ray so they can get their precious nipples.

But I'm sure the 90s had its share of duds too, and only the most successful ones became famous enough to get licensed. Now an anime can get licensed before it even finishes airing.

Another reason I feel that the late 90s to early 2000s period is my Golden Age of anime is because it gave us many of the shows that essentially MADE various genres what they are. Sailor Moon paved the way for magical girl warrior shows to copy it, shows like Bleach and Naruto wouldn't exist without Dragonball Z and Evangelion became a household name for its gritty, edgy deconstruction of the mecha genre, and for psychological mind-trips in general.

While I'm sure there are a lot of great new shows doing amazing things, it's hard to deny that shows like the above codified those genres and even now it's difficult for shows of their genres to shake that influence.

I've always found the 80's to be the big  golden era of anime, not just as a personal preference, but because it was the decade of home video so all sorts of experimental stuff was being made just for direct-to-video content (which is why there's not as many original OVAs anymore since there's been a shift to digital stuff) 
plus the art is gorgeous, look at this stuff


but I guess that just all depended on how much money the production had. Other wise the same franchise from the same era could look like this

so it's all relative. I guess it all depends on what your personal definition of "golden age" is (like whats the standard? the golden age of U.S. animation is typically 1928-1960)

There's some garbage in any era, the problem is that U.S. fans have access to everything now - from Critical Acclaims to the "Why would you do this??" titles. Unfortunately the worst titles are the ones that leave a bad taste in your mouth.

so even though there's a handful of really good things coming out now - we like to bully this current era of anime as the era that brought us 'Astarotte's Toy' and 'Kodomo no Jikan' even though lolicon has been around since like the 80s (in commercially released anime terms anyway)

But yeah, 80's brought me really cool sci-fi anime and really cute magical girls so it'll always be my favorite.

To me it would be the 80s and 90s. There's a charm to anime from the 80s and early 90s. I love English dubs from early 90s anime. I feel like the charm is lost with today's anime. Shows are rushed out and has oh we will fix it later attitude.

Mew Ami wrote:

Shows are rushed out and has oh we will fix it later attitude.

And thus the term "Shafting" was coined. That's another thing used to push blu ray sales.

I've also noticed that A LOT of recent anime are only twelve episodes. I don't know if there was much of that back in the day, but it seems like a lot of titles we're made aware of are shorter than the ones back in the 90s and such. We rarely get shows that go farther than 12 or 26 unless it's another season of something like Precure.

RLinksoul wrote:

I've also noticed that A LOT of recent anime are only twelve episodes. I don't know if there was much of that back in the day, but it seems like a lot of titles we're made aware of are shorter than the ones back in the 90s and such. We rarely get shows that go farther than 12 or 26 unless it's another season of something like Precure.

The thing with that is, remember in the 90s when there were TONS of direct-to-video series (OVA) that were usually 3-6 episodes long (Heck, Tenchi Muyo and FLCL were made this way)

well now instead of putting a short series directly out there, they put it on TV first and make more episodes with the same amount of budget. 
Someone basically just described the TV broadcast as just being an infomercial for the Bluray, I can't think of a better description of that.

Well if you want get down to it anime is just a commercial. BUY OUR MERCHANDISE!!!

Ah merchandising. Because DVD/Blu rays are luxury items and only the TV stations make money from commercials. It's actually the only logical outcome given how anime is shown in Japan. Same thing for the 12/13 episode half season run becoming the new norm. It lets a studio tell a story with less financial risk than renting additional time slots from the TV station(s) but retain the possibility of more reward in the form of a second/OVA season or time to work on another series. And with more series, come more characters, and therefore more character goods. 

This of course is mainly for anime that is made for older fans; high school and up. Anime targeted to young children still typically have year long runs, though the 38 or so episode season and a half run is becoming more prevalent.

Even though I don't watch anime like I used to. I do miss seeing longer running series.

That's a good question My good mate, Link. Truth to be told in many other forums this would be a "Nostalgia vs realism" and if were tubmlr, nuke themselves digitally to death, but I digress...

Quote :

And with shows like "Cooking competitions described as tentacle porn" and "girls in super skimpy outfits battling bad CGI dragons using bad CGI mechs" it'd be easy for me to say that anime is on a decline thanks to a wave of otaku pandering and fanservice shows used to coerce people into buying the Blu Ray so they can get their precious nipples.

That alone would have won you my vote for president, were you running a campaign, in Link we trust.

I would have to back you all up on the 80-90's thing and no, not because I grew up but there are lots of reasons:

1.) Animes back then had a message: "Ther power of love is unbeatable! and it's...fuzzy!"
"As long as we stick together, nothing can stop us!"
"If I give up, I lose all! I can't heroic second wind to me!" etc etc.

While today the may be looked down upon, they had a better message. Animes today:
-"Sure, get a harem! no one's feelings are gonna get hurt! you'll be an alpha male! and while we're at it you have no guilt you karma houdini! Don't worry, doing "this and that" won't hurt!"

or...

-"Life is pretty much boring, let's get emo."(Yes Evangelion, I'm looking at you.) 

-"Life in a game is better than real life!"(Someday you will die by my hand, SAO and especially you Kirito)
So yeah, it had emotions, and I mean real good emotions to convey.

2.) It wasn't that much of a market...not that much. The 12-24 episodes beame a trend because of 2 reasons:

Quote :

Well if you want get down to it anime is just a commercial. BUY OUR MERCHANDISE!!!

That is pretty much reason one. They dared to take a risk and while I'm no that fan of long animes, lest they be worth it, minor shows such as "Marmalade boy" that I grew to watch sometimes had 30 episodes, at least and many more like that have a lot to tell. Also series Such as To love ru which the plot is, fall down touch boobs and get beaten to a pulp, is nothing more than publicity for the manga...but it has 3 seasons due to its intense ecchi content and hillarious situations.

Also, the 12 thingy because it is less dangerous, with it you can withdraw if the public hated you or leave them with more until you can create tension to make more, either way is cheaper and better.

3.) The Loathed harem genre is older than what we think, while originally left for japanese adult tv time but, well it got out due to being "profitable" but there a lot of minor series such as 2x2=paradise, that the fanservice goes to the clouds and at least have "Love triangle" A.K.A 2 girls have the hots for a guy, ZZ gundam is also an early example of this genre.

4.) The feels moments, with those I used to say, "Man that was so amazing." or "Makes me feel fuzzy." Nowadays seldom does an anime make me feel that, they are too focused on merchandise or getting good reviews and what not.

5.) While there are some plots and tropes that don't get old: "Crash into hello", "For teh Evulz" and such, many have been rubbed so hard by today's animes that I've lost count.

And last and maybe not so relevant The trends...Oh...the trauma.
Back in my day, the most we'd do is play we were Saints of Athena or talk about Sakura crying on Syaoran when we were lil' tykes, maybe later we would just talk and get on healthy discussions, that being it but today...
-I've got a waifu
-I'm an otaku, Yandere and I will rape and kill you!
-Hmph. I imitate a jerkass character, get away.

While not turning down for everyone, these are the reasons I became selective with the little I watch.

The Golden Age of Anime in my honest opinion would be the 80s and 90s because the anime from those decades have better storylines along with very well written characters, plus the art styles from those decades are more detailed too compare to the anime from the 2000s, 2010s, and after.