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And we’re back!
Posted By EthaNox On September 11, 2011
And we’re back!
Greetings fellow readers and welcome to the newest cycle of news and reviews for AnimeMB! We are happy to say that we are going to be resuming our weekly article schedule for your reading pleasure. Now that the introduction has been put aside, we would like to present today’s article; a perfect representation of our columnist’s opinions and a way for you to catch up with the way things go around here.
Anime is F’ed
That’s right! It’s not for the usual reasons most companies shield themselves behind when it comes to making excuses; it’s not the government or its draconian regulations, nor the “rampant” piracy. Not even the current socio-economical situation of Japan that’s slowly draining the industry of life. They all amount to a small chunk of the real problem.
There is a big elephant dressed as a wide eyed schoolgirl standing in the middle of the room, people! It’s time for me to be Captain Obvious and say something I have made clear several times throughout my many articles: Fanservice is doing more harm than good to the industry at this point.
Sure, it’s fun and nice from time to time, and it’s been around forever, but just take a look at the past five years of anime! The spectrum of anime has been moving towards the fan service end of the deal rather heavily, which is a trend that should worry even the biggest fans of ecchi out there.
Why? Because of the simple fact that fanservice sells well domestically, so the industry churns out title after title in the same light and too much of something good can still be too damn much. The blood of the industry comes from “nickeling” and “dimeing” their fans, and the main source of revenue has shifted significantly. Back in the day it used to be about video sales, but now the market has grown thanks to the inclusion of figurines, dakimakuras, and all sorts of memorabilia that used to be far and in-between.
It used to be the case that figurines displayed mechs, the cast and crew, and the occasional (but not common) bathing suit-clad female from a popular show. Nowadays, figurines and other assorted merchandise are flooding the market and the driving force behind them is usually an anime or dating sim.
The thing is that this has gotten to the point where most titles seem to be rushed forward with excessive fanservice in hopes of having a broad audience to sell their licensed wares to. This wouldn’t be a problem if it wasn’t such a mainstream tendency.
Animes featuring air headed, clumsy and cute female characters bumbling about an idiotic male lead meant to serve as a blank slate for the audience to project on are too common now. It’s rare to see a new and fairly original title coming out without a tried and true production cast behind it, which means that any new projects will either be overlooked because of their lack of market appeal or because the people behind it are a bit too green.
The industry is running to the ground and it will find itself stagnating pretty soon as more studios jump on the ecchi bandwagon. It’s not even that the number of fanservice-based animes which is at an all time high, it’s the fact that the industry is shamelessly exploiting it to the point where it could very well take away from the plot or overall experience.
Fanservice is a way to whore anime out for money at the cost of its better qualities, and the anime industry ain’t no gentle pimp.
