Thoughts on the current trends.

[Angantyr]

Let's discuss the current state of anime, personally I like the current theme with Slice of Life but it's not for everybody and has lead to some opposition of what people think anime should be and label it things such as Otaku pandering forgetting it was much worse with the whole Mecha series as well as the fact that it has become much more acessible within the past 10 years.

It's like any form of media really, it's foundation is built on series which you could be considered cheap but caters to the basic premise of whats popular and easy to produce. Every few seasons there is a real gem which has a huge following and sometimes sets the trends or is part of the current trend and continues to purpetuate it.

There are several shows which go un noticed usually due to bad dubbing or just not enough exposure to the west. For instance One Piece is huge in Japan (I believe it's close to the best selling manga of all time) but under rated in the west due to the poor dub, instead Naruto is more popular in the west with weeaboos dressing up as their favourite chars lining up.

Shonen will always be popular, ever since Fist of the North Star people have been lining up for the newest adventure. I used to follow the Big 3 but dropped all but One Piece (though only seen the first 60 odd episodes) but there has never been room for much beyond that. Berserk and Claymore I considered to be the evolution but whilst they continue to be popular there is not much outside of that. The other alternative is shows like Fairy Tail which is flooding with fanservice (I like a bit of fan service) but is afraid to go beyond that because of it's intend audience.

As for Slice of life to most people Azumanga Daiou will be what really defined it and for good reason but to me personally Minami-ke (1st season only) is one of my favourite series. What can I say? I love it. Though for the most part Haruhi and then Lucky Star is what really defined it and K-on! is it's current baby and may lead to the evolution (though to be fair it's not that innovative it has become quite popular).

Comedy seems to be their weakest point as it is done via missunderstandings, absurdities and parodies but not beyond that. Don't get me wrong I am big on stuff like Gintama, Mitsudomoe and Sayonara Zetsobou Sensei but it can be kind of cliche and dull at times. Some of the tired gags like falling onto a tit and running with toast gags just become cringeworthy after so much times.

There is so many great shows that don't get noticed due to the nature of fansubbing and dubbing but from what you have watched what is your thoughts on the past 10 years of anime compared to 90s, 80s and even 70s anime?

[ultima_trev]

It's been so long since I've seen an Anime series from start to finish (3 or so years), that I don't even know what these trends would be. I do see lots of reboots/remasters these days though... (Berserk, Evangelion, DBZ, etc.)

[ZantetsukeN]

There really has been some great series over the last couple of years. I mean, all of my favourites are from the last 3-4 years.

I am big on the whole Slice Of Life genre, especially Lucky Star and K-On!. They are two real stand out series, even though Lucky Star really has no set story. Haruhi Suzumiya is also a favourite of mine.

I think anime has gotten really obsessive over the last couple of years though. While I am a Bleach and Naruto fan, I feel they are both pretty overrated.

Comedies have been pretty lapse over the last couple of years. I've never actually seen Gintama, so I can't comment on that. I do like Shinryaku! Ika Musume a lot, and is probably the funniest anime I've seen lately.

Two real standout animes I'd also like the mention are The World God Only Knows and Death Note. The World God Only Knows is a nice mixture of a lot of different genres, such as Slice of Life, Comedy, Romance, Otaku etc. The end results is great and should not be missed. Death Note, which is my favourite series, is a fantastic story with twists galore and really great characters. Probably the strongest characters I've ever seen in anime.

But then you look back on past anime, and I feel newer anime is better than most of the series, with probably the exception of Gundam Wing. Wing was and still is the best Gundam series. Although, the older movies are much better than the newer ones. Ghost In The Shell, Akira, Princess Mononoke will never be beaten in the movie area. Although, I'd say Paprika is the best newer film I've seen.

[Angantyr]

Rebuild of Evangelion was really well done and was one of my first experiences with 720p videos so I took a lot of notice with the quality done to it. I don't like it when anime doesn't follow the anime as well as it could so I'm glad to see shows like FMA: Brotherhood (though I have yet to watch it) and Hellsing (afaik) which actually follow the manga much closer, granted there are times where it just doesn't translate as well. I'm not sure what to say about Berserk, it seems the industry wants to head into the movie format but in most cases I'd prefer an actual series.

I'd suggest you keep an eye on A Channel if you like Lucky Star, I've only seen the first episode so far but it looks quite promising. Nichijou also looks like it will be in the same vein but with more weird and whacky stuff going on, as people have mentioned it's reminiscent of Azumanga Daiou. The particular season is only just starting to air so there's not much to go off yet but other than shows like Madoka Magica it looks to be better than the last season.

I completely agree with both Naruto and Bleach being over rated, generally when it comes to stuff like that I would much rather watch Railgun/Index or even stuff like Fairy Tail/One Piece.

Shinryaku! Ika Musume I went into thinking it was about enviromental awareness then found it was much more than that, good choice sir. Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei might be up your ally for comedy though it has a lot of obscure references similar to Lucky Star. Same with Gintama but it has a lot of episodes, the first 25 or so are mediocre but it's rather episodic so you don't need to start from the beginning.

It's been years since I've seen Death Note BUT it was one of the shows that got me interested in anime and I wanted more like that but there simply isn't. TWGOK I went into with little expectations but ended up coming out of it better than I anticipated, the new series looks promising though I haven't read the manga so there isn't much to go off at this point.

Things are constantly changing and evolving so to some extent things will improve but I don't think it's wise to discredit the older generations as well, after all the inspired the current generations.

[Lucid]

I think bad dubbing is the downfall of all good anime.
But seriously, I think it just depends. Some Slice-of-Life anime can be so interesting that I can't wait to see more, but some of it just bores me out of my mind!

The last good anime I saw was House of Five Leaves. The style is a little different compared to most anime, but the story really kept me watching.

I also recently tried watching Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu (Denyuuden) because I thought it was going to be a good fantasy anime, but the first episode already had me raging because of the obnoxious and annoying characters!

[IdiotWithHair]

I will only watch an anime series if it involes:

*Huge swords
*Huge robots
*Huge boobies

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann passes this test, having all three. It is the best original anime series to come out in the best three years, bar none. Need more shows like THAT.

[Angantyr]

I think bad dubbing is the downfall of all good anime.
But seriously, I think it just depends. Some Slice-of-Life anime can be so interesting that I can't wait to see more, but some of it just bores me out of my mind!

The last good anime I saw was House of Five Leaves. The style is a little different compared to most anime, but the story really kept me watching.

I also recently tried watching Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu (Denyuuden) because I thought it was going to be a good fantasy anime, but the first episode already had me raging because of the obnoxious and annoying characters!

I agree and they've shown that dubs can be done well (FMA, Cowboy Bebop, Baccano* etc) but they just put such a poor effort into it and don't really trying to make the voices and translation fit fluidly.

[Diyala]

I don't know but lately most anime seireses don't seem to grasp attention , it's all dull that you can hardly find the one that suits your interest as I myself started to look for some episods of old anime I used to watch when I was a small kid !

[Angantyr]

Steins;Gate is the most recent anime that really captivated me and I even managed to marathon it again last weekend (Though that was in part due to being without Internet and only had access to stuff on my laptop).

As for older anime the original version of Cardcaptor Sakura is much better than I thought. It has that typical Clamp QUALITY but it's easy to get used to and it's not as bad as their other series.

[Rhaps]

I'm not really one for Slice of Life, but I can enjoy one every now and again. Kaichou wa Maid Sama was the last one of that variety I watched, and it was decent at best. I just really don't like when girls get obsessive over anime males and want all men to become that, and Usui was the perfect character for that cause.

Anyway, Paradise Kiss was another fairly recent anime that was actually really good for being Slice of Life. Those are the only two I can think of that I really enjoyed watching. As far as the trend goes, it's a trend. That's what the majority wants, it's what the majority gets.

With your point on the comedy animes, Excel Saga was the last good comedy anime I saw. Purely original, and completely hilarious, if not a touch over the top.

[Angantyr]

I haven't gotten around to watching Excel Saga but I'm going through Pani Poni Dash! at the moment and it can be quite funny when it wants to be and though its older it's up there with SZS. Though lets be honest; pretty much everything Shaft does is gold.