The funny this is, the thread was posted back when Anime was really at its best quality wise (2001-2006/7 was where it peaked as far as I’m concerned), and now the question and poll really is justified. I noticed the exact same thing Killmore did. It actually took me three years of downtime to notice it.
Screw you guys I watched the shit out of K-on
that shit is adorable and if you say otherwise you’re probably a nazi
Not all are that bad… just the majority of contemporary ones!
dude,
new berserk,
bro,
If anybody ever thought I was stupid read this whole thread and pay special attention to Xael Sayhe.
I disagree; while Anime has had better periods, I still find plenty of stuff that is original and/or fun. Though I must admit I’m a little behind the times… ironically, now that I have Net access and can get TONS of Anime stuff for free, I find it hard to decide what to watch, and since I like to watch from the start stuff like Bleach or One Piece, that have HUNDREDS of episodes by now, feel intimidating to catch up with.
One Anime I’m going to try is HEROMAN! the one co-created with- Stan Lee! It’s only 20+ episodes and from what I’ve read about it, pretty good (even if Stan’s influences seem minimal; other than being set in America it’s the same as your typical Giant Robot Anime. But it looks like it was written well, especially the villains.)
Dear God, don’t watch Bleach. I would advise against seeing it in any form, but if you absolutely must, read the manga. The anime fillers stretch for HUNDREDS of episodes, and if there’s one thing Bleach doesn’t need any help with, it’s dragging ass. Kubo has a horrendous handling of pacing already, so it takes like ten chapters to make enough content for a single episode… if you stretch it a bit. You can probably guess what this does for the anime’s pacing.
Heroman’s pretty cool though, so long as you can get in the saturday morning cartoon mindset. The first arc is really damn boring, but it really picks up afterwards. In a way, it actually runs counter to what you’d expect of satudray morning shows in a lot of ways, so it’s pretty original at times.
Yes, I myself still have to watch “Heroman”! most likely in the holidays though, way too busy at the moment.
As for anime in general, even if there is originality in a lot of the new ones, another reason maybe that they’re producing too many similar anime at the same time. This has been the case over that past few seasons, and over time the originality factor will disappear and the audience will be left with more and more (almost identical) anime to choose from… which evidently, is already occurring. Either way they have to slow down and come up with better appropriations of past anime… since originality is getting difficult to achieve.
Saw the first Heroman episode (subbed) last night. Yes it’s cliched, and yes it’s like a Saturday Morning Cartoon in its logic (if one of my toys suddenly turned into a REAL robot my first reaction would be “how is this possible?” not “This is so cool!!”) but it’s so fun and honest in its heroism, which is why I guess I like shonen series these days more than American superhero comics… I’m not afraid that the former will shock and disappoint me as much as the latter.
As for variety, well of course there’s a lot of copycat shows out there. The idea is to sell, and you copy what sells, which is another trait of American comics- it’s why there are mostly superhero comics now when there used to be all kinds including (seriously) romance comics. There’s still a few comics that are inspiring in their originality though, like “Wolff & Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre” which is a comedy about a team of lawyers that represent monsters.
In fact I think overall Manga still has more variety than American comics. Last night I also found about “Squid Girl” (which is about a little girl who is the last survivor of an undersea race that comes to the surface to conquer it… except, you know, she’s just a little girl, and pretty clueless.) It’s hilarious, and yet strangely sad. Too bad it’s more a collection of shorts than an actual series.
Actually comics and graphic novels are more varied than ever… Maybe you should read more than a few pages of one or two before you make such a statement. Besides, costumed heroes are an american cultural phenomenon, where as in Japan they are not (not to say they aren’t popular over there to some degree), which is why we have more Superhero stories and they don’t.
Now about which country’s printed media contains better stories… that’s a matter of opinion.
I’ve been reading comics and novels since the 1970’s. Though I agree that the “traditional” superhero is a more an American thing. Although (in my opinion) any character with superhuman abilities who fights for good is a superhero, secret identity or not. Which BTW describes a majority of the Shonen characters… in fact, I’d say that such characters are being written like American heroes used to be. Complete with using their powers in creative ways and not just blasting things with them.
I have found it difficult to find a good anime series to watch that I haven’t gotten bored of.
My fav has been Death Note out of the few I have liked. Then Vampire Knight.
There are still plenty of good anime. Inu Yasha, Bleach, and Yu Yu Hakusho are great anime.
Guess you have to have an open mind. 
Peoples taste change over the generations. Look at what the kids watch these days…