Glory to Anime… Glory to Our Culture
I have been screaming this from the rooftops with absolute passionate fervor. I’m pretty sure you are well aware if you’ve read my musings in the past. We are in a glorious golden age. Stories and characters are reaching exceptional levels across nearly all genres. 3D anime have become forces to be reckoned with. Games are plentiful and game makers have really been casting sizable bets as of late. There are stage plays, there are concerts. There are even massive award shows held to honor the anime, talent, and minds that brought them and their characters to life. Even the English Dubs have stepped up immeasurably compared to decades ago. It appears quality vocal talent have really been groomed with money and time. Years ago it was a cardinal sin to dubs. But today, it can either be great or even preferred to subs we are used to. My current standouts are “Love is War” and “Devil Dances with Foolish Angel”. Both of these are so good and distinct, I would rather listen to Dubs than Subs. A far cry from days when I was mere fledgling.
Just a reminder… this old sage has been tied to the hip with anime since preteens. And now he approaches the midpoint of his life only to rediscover how much he adores it and continues to be stunned by its maturity, growth, and imagination. And it continues to stun me with just how much of a global mainstream it has become. Massive players like Sony, Disney, Amazon, and Netflix are all trying to expand the pie and bring slices to the mainstream. Of course money is the motive, but of course it’s an evil I’m willing to live with because decades ago, anime wasn’t even as valuable or respected. Now it’s even seriously being used to expand and adapt game IPs like Netflix’s Devil May Cry, Castlevania, even Playstation’s Gravity Rush. I would be remiss to not mention these have been attempted before with older Bayonetta or Devil May Cry. But this appears to be a much more committed effort.
And i mentioned award shows. To my amazement, CrunchyRoll’s award show was hosted on a grand stage like the Oscars by a current mainstream Pop/Rap sensation Megan Thee Stallion (Insert clip and pictures). I have a major celebrity crush on this nerdy thicc queen upon discovering this interest. I really hadn’t paid her much attention before, but she earned herself a new fan. For Megan I stan because she may very well act as a bridge to bring these cultures even closer to mainstream. The Golden Age continues… and I am absolutely here for the ride.
Megan is a lady after my after my own heart. She’s pulled off the fantastic Bruno cosplay from JoJo Stardust Crusader for the award show, Todoroki cosplay from My Hero Academia, 2B from Nier Automata, and Jolyn Kujoh from JoJo Stone Ocean. Her anime taste isn’t bad at all, having me vibing with her Inuyasha, Hero Academia, and Blue Exorcist picks. She even has common beginnings as many of the anime community. Taking their first adventurous steps from Adult Swim. Speaking of them, they’re throwing their hats in the ring with original anime like Ninja Kamui, Uzumaki, and Lazarus.
I know some dread the idea, but I think we’re absolutely fine. We’re still producing anime with delivery men being reincarnated as vending machines (which is getting a S2 mind you), a man being reborn as a pig, and an anime about a Demon lord (reincarnated as a girl by the way) living with a washed up hero that slain him years ago. Those are but a few examples of pure quirkiness that accompanied very thought-provoking anime, heavy romances, excellent action, or just plain glorious laughs. And that doesn’t appear to be slowing down this year. We already have standout anime even in the Winter such as “Delicious in a Dungeon”, starring a cast of adventurers creating cuisines from monsters he slain, the second coming of FLCL in my opinion in “DanDanDan”, A “Sign of Affection” is a romance that transcends the boundaries of language and communication, “Sasaki and Peeps” which is anime about Salary man becoming a magical… man?
We are More Than Fine…
Until further notice, we are more than fine. We have been explosively, infectiously, and massively, growing in the recent decade and half. My criticisms are practically none existent. . Correction. I do have one main criticism I levy, which is certainly due to anime’s explosive popularity. And this is a nagging annoyance since they are persistent to cram them down our throats. The quality of Live Actions, especially Western produced, is generally substandard and content is often not faithful at all. The liberties these directors are taking, shows a immense lack of respect for the IP and its fans. There are standouts like One Piece or Rurouni Kenshin. But far more often than not, they’re just meh. I’ve criticized it quite heavily in my prior musing: https://planetwu.com/majesty-and-magic-lost-with-poor-adaptations-to-the-flesh/ But it appears these fat cats are still so insistent to put cheap uninspired content on their platforms or theaters (primarily Netflix and Disney). So I have come to accept that these aren’t going to cease. An excessive deluge of Live Actions are destined to spawn from our most beloved IP. I wish they’d at least make them good. They don’t even necessarily have to be great.
Alas…
Niggles aside, a Golden Era we are in. Overflowing with too many positives to be weighed down by fleeting negatives. I struggle now to choose my AoTY (Anime of The Year) 2023 categories as my last series approach their finality. The competition for numerous categoriesare arguably even fiercer than 2022’s in my opinion. But struggle I must. For the sake of both thoroughness and completion, we chose to wait so long to make our submissions as it’s only appropriate to wait until Fall’s new entries achieved completion before we cast our final winners. And due to this, much time is granted to reevaluate and reconsider last year’s offerings. And unlike typical award shows, we choose to focus on nothing but new anime contributions. That way our choices are not only fresh, but focuses exclusively on standouts of that year. I personally adore this format because there are countless anime that are often overlooked yet fantastic. Maybe we can refine categories. Constantly improvements and optimizations can be made.
And 2024 has much promise and looks like another phenomenal year for anime to grow, and expand. Another excellent year to write about and formulate commentary. Another year to laugh, to enjoy, to rage, and to cry at our favorite medium of entertainment. It is a fever dream to me and pondering on is just baffling because an immense amount of evolution, creativity, and growth has happened in my lifetime of 30+ years. I remember decades before when these were restricted to VHS tapes at Suncoast and Sci Fi channel Sundays, Saturday morning cartoons. We have come so far.
Sooo…
Have I made a case? Are you perhaps a new adventurer to this genre? Are yall excited? Enthused? Bewildered? Terrified!? There is so much to discuss and so much input to be had. Chime ya thoughts down below