The Age of Anime is Over: Fans Who Watch Them Through Reels Have Destroyed What Was Once a Hidden Treasure

SUMMARY

• From being perceived as weird and cringe to becoming a mainstream phenomenon that is everywhere from the Olympics to the Guinness Book of World Records, the anime and manga industry has come a long way.
• While there's no doubt that the growing popularity of anime has benefitted fans with easy accessibility and more ethical ways of enjoying their favorite medium, there's a long list of negatives as well.
• From the cultural essence and general perception of anime to the quality of the community interactions, everything has observed a steep low that most long-time fans have grown to hate.

From being looked down upon to becoming one of the most popular mediums of entertainment, anime has come a long way. The growing popularity of anime is a double-edged sword for its long-time fans, as most of them have some bad experiences of being heavily judged for something they enjoyed. They’ve gone from scouring for people to discuss their favorite shows with, to loathing this ‘new age of anime’.

Haikyu’s worldwide theatre release is a testament to anime’s growing popularity | Credits: Studio Production I.G.

The soaring popularity of anime becoming a mainstream phenomenon is not the problem, but the change in how anime is perceived is rather unpleasant. From its cultural essence to its consumption, everything is at stake. That might sound like an overstatement, but it’s truly not.

The New Age of Anime is Truly a Plague 

Anime is a culturally rich medium, from the way the characters refer to each other to the iconic high school romance, everything is a reflection of Japanese society. Albeit exaggerated, there’s undoubtedly a dominant cultural essence that can’t be undermined.

Sukuna in the Shibuya Arc of Jujutsu Kaisen | Credits: Studio MAPPA

As anime pulls in more and more international fans, the makers might tweak the subject matter to make it more palatable for the West, where cancel culture is quite prominent. Or they could simply make it less Japanese to make it more understandable for different cultures. 

The problem also lies in the way anime is consumed by newer fans. For fans who were introduced to anime through the likes of Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen, everything else will fail to meet the expectations. Given, how these anime are the cream of the crop with hefty budgets. Moreover, many fans popularize anime without understanding the context or history of how far the anime-manga industry has come.

Luffy | Credit: Toei Animation

Watching clips of popular anime through reels or TikTok and treating them like a trend diminishes and disregards the complete context. The hype around Gear 5 in One Piece is a great example of this. Fans watched thousands of episodes within months or weeks to become a part of the Gear 5 reveal in the anime.

If you haven’t followed Luffy, then there’s a high chance that you won’t enjoy Gear 5, as it’s not some exciting power-up but rather a silly one. But it needs to be mentioned that there’s no right way to enjoy an anime, and some fans might have had a better experience with a few weeks of watching One Piece than someone who has been reading chapters weekly for years. 

Many fans watch anime because it’s cool and in trend right now. If anime is being treated like a trend then there will be a point where something else will replace it as a trend. And it might be a stretch but the companies investing millions in popular anime might stop abruptly just because it’s no longer cool. 

Hating Naruto has also become a trend among fans | Credits: Studio Pierrot Co. Ltd.

To bring a close to the long list of complains about why anime shouldn’t have become popular, here’s one last section about the community. With a dearth of options back in the day, fans were much more patient and appreciative of anime and manga. With the easy accessibility, there’s a rise in spoiler and leak culture, which is both unethical and morally wrong.

Fans have become so entitled that they go as far as harassing mangaka and animators when things don’t go their way. Such instances speak volumes about how the community has deteriorated over time. 

There’s a Bright Side Too! 

A still from Tatsuki Fujimoto’s Look Back | Credits: Studio Durian

To end things on a positive note, here are some benefits that have truly blessed the anime community. With the rising popularity, anime has undeniably become way more accessible. There are so many ways to support your favourite creators which didn’t exist back in the day. From having multiple streaming platforms with a wide catalog to being able to read manga legally for free, these options alone are enough to make fans ecstatic. The budgets have increased significantly, leading to better animation quality. 

We can even watch anime on the big screen, which was a far-fetched dream for anyone outside of Japan. Many renowned international directors are collaborating with Japanese studios on anime projects. All these factors greatly outweigh all the negatives, but once you indulge with the fandom, somehow the negatives hit you in the face like a storm. But, hey atleast we recently had Look Back in the theatres! 

Written by Laveena Joshi

Articles Published: 191

Laveena holds a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism with a keen interest in entertainment journalism. Known to defend Naruto with her life, her love for anime has turned into great appreciation for the Japanese Culture. Besides considering herself a veteran weeb, she's also a self-proclaimed coffee connoisseur. Better if the perfect brew is paired with a random video essay from YouTube. Blending her love for anime with the know-hows of content writing, she is now an anime content writer at FandomWire.