Oh no doubt. And I'm sure most of the time they're not landing the projects they want to be working on. There's no way anybody who considers themselves an artist enjoys doing the same boring things over and over again without ever being challenged outside of I guess, like how much pressure you can still perform under. I mean, sure some probably just love to draw and don't care what... ...same as how people in cover bands just wanna play for an audience. But just looking at these shows and knowing what I do about how they're made... ...I know that it would kill the artist in me. Very few creative people actually operate at their best under heavily constraining, high-pressure, high-accountability situations. Especially when all that's at stake is a paycheck. The ones who can are the exception. Good art necessitates a little freedom and encouragement to explore, not hard-line, strictly A-to-B thinking.
I know it's a production but some studios take it to the extreme... ...they treat their releases like nothing more than a product to be marketed and sold, while the artists working under them are nothing more than workers. They move anime like Wal-Mart sells Pepsi and Lays potato chips. To them, it's like it never needs to be more than that. And somehow trying to make something more than that is wasteful.
But that's often how it goes in any medium that lasts for long enough to be recognized as a pivotal thing. As a long time musician myself I swear I can sense the soul-trapping drudgery of the people on the other side and it hurts me. I'm probably exaggerating but its legitimately upsetting to me.
It's really awful to think that the next Satoshi Kon may be out there somewhere, drawing crappy ecchi shows for c-list studios. I don't think talent rises to the top quite like it used to. Very few people get real opportunities to shine. Even the best efforts aren't as strong as they once were. I really don't think the industry is even trying to encourage that anymore. They don't want people who want to do something different. And the people working for them who do want something new aren't going to pour their hearts and souls into uninteresting regurgitations of the norm. They're gonna do the bear minimum, hoping to eventually land on something they can really run with.
I'm biased. Pretty much all of my favorite anime are older. And I think that's because at one point the state of the industry had left a *little* room for people who wanted to do stuff that was really out there. I mean it's always kind of been this towering, sinister hype machine, just churning out derivative stuff in a completely inhuman fashion, but there used to at least be some heart... ...some real, totally unrestrained and often controversial passion projects that would actually make it out there and be remembered. That's how we got stuff that redefined not just anime, but other mediums, and ushered in generations of fans. Stuff that changed the conversation... ...changed how we watched stuff. You don't see stuff like that anymore. There's plenty that's really good, but how many shows have there been recently that people will truly remember as being as revolutionary as so many things in the past were. When's the last time we saw something as completely weird and unlike anything else as Angel's Egg? Weird example, but you know what I mean?
There's no way a movie like that would ever be made now,
There are still shows that focus on solid animation and trying to really stand out. And it looks fuckin amazing... and it's super engaging, but it just... ...it doesn't have the same pull. It still feels a little disingenuous. Like a compromise.
I always wind up thinking "This is REALLY good, but does it need to exist? Is anime different because of this?" Can't tell you how many awesome modern things I've seen that I can't remember after only a few years. It's like, there's stuff that's technically on par with the classics, but the difference is that the classics didn't suffer from most of the flaws that other shows at the time did... ...and they completely subverted whatever was normal. They stood out as their own distinct thing and there really was nothing like them. They're more than just "the best mecha" or the "the best sci-fi" or whatever. All of the true classics are wayy different from each other, too! Seems like the modern classics are just the best versions of what everyone is doing, save for a handful. And most of them still feel like they're not as good as they could've been... ...like they rest more on their hype and potential more than the admittedly highly polished finished product. It's merely "really good for what it is." Meaning, people still have to be sold on what it is to realize that it's actually good.
And that polish, I think a lot of people look at and assume they don't like. But I think it's actually the current trend in imagery and the ideas behind it they don't like. It's not the look of digital, it's the homogenized execution. The fact that its done digitally is not what makes it bland and unoriginal. The artwork itself simply lacks character. Most teams now just seem not to go as far to create a distinct look and feel anymore. Instead the seek to remove it. A few still carry the torch, but not many and not often enough.
Just think, if old classics came out today, would they suffer from digi-itis? Personally I don't think so, because those shows oozed character, style, and creativity in their aestetic that other shows didn't have. The old ways of animating didn't actually look better - they were clunky, and harder to make work, but that old stuff still looks better than stuff today! In spite of being old, not because. The rest of the stuff back then looked god awful!
Like, how is it that animation gets easier to do, but generally isn't as well-done? There's gotta be a reason we don't get stuff like that anymore. Anime has always had major problems with time, money, and creative license, but I think the problem's approaching a record high now. Anime was better when nobody thought there was any money in it. You would get into it knowing that your success would be limited, making you free to pursue what you wanted, since you might as well at least be known if you're not gonna make big money. Now that it's been legitimized as an industry, people take that side of it too seriously to fully veer and barrel into greatness. They just graze it. Don't wanna put up enough bread to get the animation up to snuff, even on stuff that would have been truly great, if only somebody had the perceptiveness or ambition to put their money where their mouth was - if only they recognized what they had and cared about that. It's not about making stuff or being known. Just being bought. They all sold ouut mannnn!
That's my take on why anime tends to look kind of bad these days, even though we all know it could be better. All I can say about it.
