Sounds like fiction to me. Kinda goes back to Shouta's comment last night about taking risks with modern studios. Like I said, even if they had the budget...It wouldn't be for taking a high-quality risk. They'd likely take a large budget and blow it by creating a 200 episode prequel to some existing series. Seems to be the trend these days (HollyWood does that, too). Right now, I see about 70% of Western anime fans who are really invested into artwork, originality, and new shows for new seasons. That number keeps dropping, though. I know many who were hardcore anime fans in college who have stopped watching anime completely. We were all art students, so it's getting bored of anime. If the fan service and merchandising stopped and it was just the anime...there probably would even be a mainstream Western anime audience anymore. I don't hate modern anime...I just don't understand why animators want to work on something that will be forgotten in less than 10-years (given how low a Japanese animator is paid...which is super low).
Ah yes things sure have changed right. I think the demographics certainly have. Anime always had moe, but it wasn't the overwhelmingly dominant content. They were always limited to certain moments, characters, or shows (C-Ko from Project A-ko comes to mind. Even Lynn Minmay of Macross is kinda a proto-moe character). But you're right, anime is as incestuous as ever. One of the reasons Bebop is so great because its creator reached deep into his love for classic western cinema, music, and pop culture (mostly from the 70s) to create something that had super wide appeal. It really takes the right people to make it happen. It's not like Hollywood is cranking out anything other than PG-13 superhero schtick these days so really who's to blame...
In some way it's probably similar to all the animators at Hanna Barbera or Filmation and such who hated the assembly line stuff they were making but kept up in hopes of getting onto better projects. Though most animation seems to be handled in the slave labor manner anyway. =P
I was in the swing of modern anime until 2012 and that's when I have up on it ever improving. I remember the last thing I watched that was newer (this was likely years after it was released) was Ichi the Killer. The animation and art style was horrid. The story made violent anime like M.D. Geist ll look better. I recall watching it in one of my apartments and something about a young guy who slowly becomes a serial killer. Apparently he mutilates people then wanks himself afterward. I always recall seeing Clannad, Wolf's Rain, Naruto, Excel Saga, and Elfen Lied; finished half of any of those and just started asking myself "why isn't this as good as what I was watching before?" I simply gave up. Every other year I'll skim through Anime News Network and read about newer titles and just pass on all. It's seeker sensitive and it's nothing groundbreaking. I don't even get the people who were able to watch beyond Dragon Ball. Dragon Ball Z to me never lived up to the original and now there's Dragon Ball Super. The creators of GoShogun proved that you can end your own anime and romantically too. No spoilers but just watch the movie and you'll see what I mean. Then read translated interviews on why they did what they did to GoShogun. HereIn some way it's probably similar to all the animators at Hanna Barbera or Filmation and such who hated the assembly line stuff they were making but kept up in hopes of getting onto better projects. Though most animation seems to be handled in the slave labor manner anyway. =P
I think about this sometimes. Years ago I would have killed for such easy access to so much anime. Course now that it's here it's mostly stuff I don't want.
kunonabi
and others like myself are big into Ranma 1/2 and even Ranma 1/2 had more than enough of a run...38 manga volumes, 161 TV episodes, 11 OVAs, 2 TV specials, and 2 movies. Yet, I'm sure there's some idiot out there pushing studios to remake Ranma 1/2 into something like Ranma Z: Extreme! 
I was in the swing of modern anime until 2012 and that's when I have up on it ever improving. I remember the last thing I watched that was newer (this was likely years after it was released) was Ichi the Killer. The animation and art style was horrid. The story made violent anime like M.D. Geist ll look better. I recall watching it in one of my apartments and something about a young guy who slowly becomes a serial killer. Apparently he mutilates people then wanks himself afterward. I always recall seeing Clannad, Wolf's Rain, Naruto, Excel Saga, and Elfen Lied; finished half of any of those and just started asking myself "why isn't this as good as what I was watching before?" I simply gave up. Every other year I'll skim through Anime News Network and read about newer titles and just pass on all. It's seeker sensitive and it's nothing groundbreaking. I don't even get the people who were able to watch beyond Dragon Ball. Dragon Ball Z to me never lived up to the original and now there's Dragon Ball Super. The creators of GoShogun proved that you can end your own anime and romantically too. No spoilers but just watch the movie and you'll see what I mean. Then read translated interviews on why they did what they did to GoShogun. Here
Well, the manga wasn't complete at the time they were making the movies, the series, and drafting the OVAs. The OVAs were the last thing made and they came out about the time Rumiko finally finished Ranma. I think the would have animated it but everyone wanted to see her marry Ranma and Akane. Like actually have an uninterrupted ceremony. She never goes full circle and I think if screenwriters wrote a marriage OVA, it would have been going over the creator's head. So, I get why they stopped.
You sir are correct about that. Art directors have almost all changed the look of Rumiko's characters. The first 50 episodes of Ranma were pretty close to the manga style but ever changing to look more and more like big-eyed 90's anime. Look at the style in the last Ranma T V episodes, it's nothing like the manga aside from the hairstyles. Inuyasha is another. The animated version is a flat 2000's anime style and most of the characters resemble nothing of their manga versions aside from wardrobe.
I agree too. Except, I feel there needs to bigger creative shift in some of the modern trends. There are many story ideas that aren't being used that would look great in an anime. I've always wanted a modern anime writer to adapt some of Stephen King's old short stories into animation. That's never been done well (they tried in Creepshow 2...The animation was C-grade).
Yep. I watched Z, OG DB is just better in every single way. Also I don't mind manga based off western stuff or original anime being adapted. OA has for the most part been a huge hit and miss sadly. There is still decent anime being made every year but it largely gets ignored or it gets the full CGI treatment which hurts it greatly. (Dorohedoro) Like
Dacon
, said the real problem is quality control.
I think it takes a wide variety of interest. The West is pushing animators in Japan to give them more of the same thing, too. That wasn't so much the case in the past. Japan always seemed to wink to a Western audience in older anime but to go about their way targeting the Japanese audience. There's still a lot of ground modern anime can cover like I mentioned earlier. For originals, it would really be nice to see some adaptations of Stephen King's Night Shift or Skeleton Crew. That would blow people away. HollyWood has done a terrible job in the past 15-years of adapting writers and general novels into film. Lensman was made into an anime based on the E.E. "Doc" Smith "Lensman / Triplanetary" novels during the 80's. Which was more interesting: the original novels or the anime? The anime was and although it's never been given a DVD or blu-ray release in the U.S.; it's still being talked about in animation circles. They can still do that. It was also interesting when you'd see an OVA like A.D. Police and say...wow, it's like BladeRunner...but better and with cool songs. Eventually, big guys in the West did start to notice what was going on in Japan. The late Robin Williams listed off his interest in anime in an interview and I remember him being pretty open about the fact that he enjoyed anime. Someone got the famous director Roger Corman (famous for directing the Poe films of the 60's with Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, even young Jack Nicholson) to watch Perfect Blue and his rating was published on the promotional posters. Then just recently James Cameron made his version of Battle Angel Aita. I'd have to think that when you start seeing your work actually influencing the West, even if those animators had been low-paid...they know they were a part of something that the world watched and enjoyed.Yep. I watched Z, OG DB is just better in every single way. Also I don't mind manga based off western stuff or original anime being adapted. OA has for the most part been a huge hit and miss sadly. There is still decent anime being made every year but it largely gets ignored or it gets the full CGI treatment which hurts it greatly. (Dorohedoro) Like
Got the lot of those in my collection. I showed my wife Crying Freeman and she was amazed by how unique the artwork was. Some of the most realistic next to some of Kawajiri's work and almost spot-on with the manga.
Agreed, there came a time when there was too much mecha anime, too many high school romance anime, and too many fighting anime. Those genres had their highlights but I couldn't take them in high doses.
I haven't been watching that closely. So, is Japan embracing that sorta thing, too? Politics need to stay out of anime! The trans stuff was funny back when it was just for comedy and people weren't calling it trans. I remember the term was cross-dresser. Well, remember Project A-Ko? They were never pushing that off as something serious and it was friggin hilarious.
I haven't been watching that closely. So, is Japan embracing that sorta thing, too? Politics need to stay out of anime! The trans stuff was funny back when it was just for comedy and people weren't calling it trans. I remember the term was cross-dresser. Well, remember Project A-Ko? They were never pushing that off as something serious and it was friggin hilarious.
I'm just responding with the fact that they've been super on target about Takahashi's style in animated form. I don't think there's an argument against that but there's certainly room to say it could look better or more consistent. I could just grab another, better keyframe from the same episode instead of using an inbetween.
That's a totally different argument.
Episode in question though it's in Spanish I guess? lol
That's a totally different argument.
Episode in question though it's in Spanish I guess? lol
I haven't been watching that closely. So, is Japan embracing that sorta thing, too? Politics need to stay out of anime! The trans stuff was funny back when it was just for comedy and people weren't calling it trans. I remember the term was cross-dresser. Well, remember Project A-Ko? They were never pushing that off as something serious and it was friggin hilarious.
(Not my captures)
Yes, you are mostly paying for the widescreen and superior audio with these bd's though. (minus the degraining lol)
I'd hate to see what they'd say about the ending to the Prefectural Earth Defense Force OVA.
Also Discotek has announced they're releasing Dancougar on bluray. Unfortunately on twitter they mentioned they're using the newer 2016 remaster which are degrained and kinda look like an internet upscale job =/
(Not my captures)
That's a totally different argument.
Well, if it helps on behalf of Ranma 1/2, I was more find of the TV series than the manga. I noticed a change in the overall work from episodes 1-40, 41-50, 50-161. I didn't check Anime News Network to see how many producers there were but the directors changed after episode 18. Genma's panda form was enormous in the first 16 episodes and then made smaller from the latter to the end. With Inuyasha, I noticed they took away a lot of detail from facial features and the animation seems to get stiffer after that switch in directors on episode 45-169. I guess that's inevitable for most artists though. All comic and manga artists who work over a decade start changing their character design. I preferred Rumiko's 80's style, though. Not just in drawing but in story. I could never connect with One Pound Gospel of Inuyasha the way I could with Maison Ikkoku and Ranma 1/2. Unfortunately, I never got to see very much of Urusei Yatsura other than the movies. I also liked Rumiko's Mermaid Saga.
You will see the changes in style moreso in Ranma 1/2 than in Inuyasha. With Inuyasha the first 100 episodes don't change much. The most I can say is that they start removing certain detail to the characters, cutting down on frames, and have a lot of background characters with cloning. Otherwise, it looks different than the manga but the same as the first TV director (they had two directors for the first 169 episodes and the first director actually knew where they were going). With Ranma, there was a lot going on in the nearly 4-years it was airing. Shouta probably pointed out that they cut down in some episodes. You can clearly tell they were animating more fps in earlier episodes. I still have to say I'm amazed that Ranma TV was written away from the manga by the second season and the TV writers did a great job writing episodes the viewer can have fun watching. You're going to read many review sites on Ranma saying to not watch beyond season 2 or season 3. Don't listen to them. The story may be inconclusive but they made it fun throughout all the seasons. The slowest season is 5, in my opinion but I'll let you draw your own conclusions.
There are a lot of duds here and there imo, but I still think on the whole it's worth watching all of it.
The manga had so much more that I decided to focus on the series instead. I started buying the series as soon as VIZ released the first U.S. boxsets. About the inconclusive stories in both the TV series and the manga, I wrote my own. It's unpublished but I tried to write the characters close to how the TV writers did and put things in real time. Watch the OVAs too if you can. I just started watching them with my wife. They were able to fit a bit more story into the shorter format.
They kept that character out of the TV series completely. I put Ukyo and Ryoga together in my sequel series. It's a creative and difficult way of writing but I was more into the TV series likewise.
digital ink looks nice if it's used from the start of a production. I always liked the crossover look the first seasons of Fututama had. With anime I liked that it looked older and was more traditional. I nearly started a career in animation 12-years ago until the institutions told me they wouldn't be using it after 2010 and I would be making about 15,000 / annual and having to jump from city to city. I couldn't be a part of animation (other than animation I've made from home),so my expectations were that there would always be at least one renegade to push for traditional methods. The sad reality is that they're not going to go back and start doing things manually again. Animation is now something that doesn't require artist talent or ambition. Any average Joe can learn how to use the software and make something out of it. They like that it's faster and cleaner. But, you can't make changes because the human element of variation isn't there anymore. I accept what it is now but choose to watch mostly older animation. There's so much great stuff from the last that still feels new and so much new stuff that just gets old fast.
