Why has japan stopped making anime with adult main characters?

Why has japan stopped making anime with adult main characters?

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myanimelist.net/anime/season/2016/spring
myanimelist.net/anime/season/1998/spring
twitter.com/AnonBabble

Because being an adult isn't so fun after all.

There was literally a show with a grandpa as its main character just now.

Oh, so the point of all anime is to be fun and only fun? Doesn't that mean it's a shitty form of art? Isn't art supposed to explore multiple facets of reality and life? Not only the positive ones but also the negative ones?

Shouldn't art try to maybe teach you something about your life?

Okay, so that's like one... out of everything in 2017?

But they haven't...?

>Okay, so that's like one... out of everything in 2017?
Look at seasons in the past and see how many had adult as main characters. Seasons not years.

Example? Because I browse Sup Forums from time to time and all I see is moe shit, highschool harem shit, and magical/isekai shit with teenagers.

You're not looking hard enough

Anime is not art you gay faggot, it's a commercial propaganda to sell you something.

Then kindly fuck off back to Sup Forums or whatever shithole you came from, retard.

I'm browsing mal right now and I can't see shit:

myanimelist.net/anime/season/2016/spring

I've scrolled through half of it and maybe saw 3 titles that maybe kinda had adults in main roles.

>I browse Sup Forums
Ever tried watching anime instead?

Like every whiny bitch, you don't care enough about anime to realize that's wrong.

because mostly children watch anime. Most adults just read manga.

I used to watch anime around 2000-2009, nowadays i rarely seen anything that looks/sounds watchable.

Nice argument there bro.

No, I don't "care" that much, since it's just a form of entertainment.

>3 shows only this season
You lazy bum just wanted recommendations.

>not liking magical/isekai shit with teenagers

Is this a shitpost thread? Check my 7

checked

check my 5

Not really, I doubt you could possibly show me something worth watching. The last okay thing I saw was the one with the magician with skull head, whatever that's called.

I'm not shitposting, but I am trying to stir shit up.

all anime right now is kinda lame desu, i'm not going to spoonfeed you but look into manga and LN's, that's what i'd recommend

I agree with , and that's also what I do, i've been mostly living on manga-mostly diet since 2009 because all anime looks really trashy.

But your suggestion on going back to LNs is actually a very good one, thanks.

Better question. Why do you care? The market doesn't pander to YOU, the market panders to the common denominator. Sorry, maybe it'll swing back to your taste, maybe not. C'est la vie.

At least 2 every season, lurk more.

I'm mostly wondering. There's plenty of examples of anime that achieved great success and also had adults and adult related themes, yet it seems like less and less of those are made.

Are you saying anime wasn't targeted in a similar way in early 2000s? Because I think it was.

>lurk more
And what am I doing right now?

No, it wasn't as mainstream then. Anime was still 'weird'. They couldn't flood the market with adolescents in panties. It was for mature adults with mature taste in cartoons. Like I said, the market evolves.

Hmmmm, you are probably right. So I guess the lesson is, the more popular something becomes the more shit it becomes? Well fuck, maybe the hipsters are right.

there are plenty of anime with adult appeal that reach mass acclaim but not only do they require effort to make because you need an actual writing team but they just don't sell merchandise to the obsessive otakus like moe shit does

spook city

No, it's just not to your taste. That's why hipsters are dumb. You're an adult, if you don't like this market, don't buy into it. When something comes along you do like, support it and show producers you want more of that. That's all there is to it, and that's the only way for everyday Joe to influence the market.

Oh god... that picture hits hard.

Sure, and that is why I have my own copy of OPM, which is the only anime I ever actually bought. But you do make a very important point.

i mean i have a normie friend who's the typical young horny teenager type and he looooves the new anime that comes out, so is right that it does come out to taste, the anime that sells just doesnt appeal to you

>Oh, so the point of all anime is to be fun and only fun?
It's supposed to be escapism largely

> Isn't art supposed to explore multiple facets of reality and life? Not only the positive ones but also the negative ones?
Why are you on Sup Forums?

Oh look it's another "I don't actually watch anime but I wanna whine about it as if anything I say will matter" thread

>I used to watch anime around 2000-2009
Clearly not seasonally

>Why are you on Sup Forums?
Why do people procrastinate?
Why do I keep coming back to this shithole?
Am I broken human being?
What is love?

I'm not whining, I'm trying to see what Sup Forums thinks about this topic. Why do you project these emotions on my intent?

Is it just adult main characters and mature themes or just a general complaint about there not being enough mature, good series being made every season?

i think everyones just bitter, it's not like our opinions matter, we're westerners, we don't pay for our anime nor do we buy the merchandise, we have absolutely no say as to what happens to the industry thus all discussion will amount to fruitless crying unfortunately

That's a fair point. I guess discussing this does feel like we are doing it from a position of powelesness.

I gues either or? I like animation, and I like animation with adult themes. it's hard to fine because it too often goes into comedic route, or is just childlish or shallow from the start. I wish it wasn't so but it is.

The better question would be why has Japan stopped making anime with adult main characters that also treat their themes with some seriousness and maturity?

The problem isn't that there aren't Adult main characters, there are shows every season with them. The problem is that these shows are just as shallow as the rest by and large.

You've already got your answers.
>there are still shows with adults airing this very season
>demographic changes, market evolved around to carter to it
>people want to watch cute girls archiving their dreams of being top idols
>people want to self insert into tired salarymen who suddenly got into fantasy world and succeeded there because muh escapism

Interesting stories are still made. Stories with mature themes are still made.
You stopped watching what is airing and look through information and just downgraded back to the casual newfag that don't know shit anymore.
That's why everyone is annoyed with you. Lurk more. Harems aren't even a thing anymore since the beginning of 2010's

You're right, my question is malformed in that way. It's just that that was the observation which made me create this thread. I could have framed it better though.

Nothing wrong with being annoyed with me.

It's not going to make up the bulk of the shows each season but you should be able to find at least one or two shows per season that fit that criteria

i think it has to do with the japanese as a culture with soulcrushing hours at dead end jobs among other pressures that make a bull market for escapism anime that adult themes does not provide

>can't you see, it's escapism, it's not healthy.jpg

Just because you dont watch anime with adult main characters doesn't mean others don't.

Stop making shitty recommendation threads.

You can't tell me what to do, you're not my real mom.

Because Japan stopped wanting to become adults. The absolutle peak of life in Japan is the glorified Highschool. There are very few things out there actually willing to show the realities of being adult because they expect you to figure it out yourself. Which is why things like Isekei begins with people killing themselves - they can't actually stand not being a child anymore because nobody bothered to teach them how to be an adult, or give them coping stratergies for when things go wrong, they just straight up threw them into a grinder after years of telling them that the "best is yet to come" and "sure, we'll always be here for you when you need us :^)" and other such hippy-dippy happy thought phrases. But of cource, it's their fault for not dealing with their own problems and becoming a shut-in.

>And what am I doing right now?
Posting?

You monitor only one thread at a time?

Now that's more like the kind of an analysis that I was hoping to read here. And I think you are probably pretty spot on, especially with the isekai part starting with suicide. It's LITERAL escapism out of real world into a magical world by cosciously discarding the real one.

>can't you see, it's escapism, it's not healthy.jpg
I got you user

But yeah, I just realized years ago that the shows I liked in the past that handled themselves better than stuff like Net juu weren't popular in their native country. And with how much easier it's been to follow seasons in Japan you just start to realize it's as bad as american YA fiction just with less Disney channel abominations, or Hunger Game/Twilight rip-offs.

The truth is I'm always going to be chasing that high but I won't get it much anymore. It's the rare show like Thunderbolt Fantasy that I really just fall in love with nowadays, and that was a couple years ago.

>You monitor only one thread at a time?
What? Lurking means a complete abstention from posting.

You could lurk in some threads and post in others.

"Lurk more" is not offering you a pick-and-choose scenario, it's telling you to shut the fuck up and absorb information rather than shitting up the board.

Violet Evergarden
Overlord II
1/2 of Koi wa Ameagari no You ni
Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens
Killing Bites
Gintama
Basilisk
Nanatsu no Bitoku
25-sai no Joshikousei
Dragon Ball Super
One Piece

> if i don't watch it it doesn't exist
>t. brainlet

user i think OP is talking about recent anime, and ones with mature themes rather than simply adult age characters, try reading the rest of the thread if you so wish

I will shit up whatever board I want sonny.

7/11 watched

i just put up super and one piece because generic shounen everyfag at least keeps up with occasionally (muh nostalgia)

everything else on that list.

user are you even trying?

You missed a few. Six I think, though with some it's hard to tell because their fantasy world doesn't have school.
OP doesn't deserve recs though so he can work them out himself.

That was even the point of cowboy bebop itself.

Now check how many shows had adult protagonists the year Bebop aired.

That show really should have been more about old man and that old lady.

pretty much this. Its either kids or manchilds that watch anime

They haven't. It's just more rare. There at least one or two shows every season with an adult MC.

>It's just more rare
How is it more rare? When was it more common?

myanimelist.net/anime/season/1998/spring
>Cowboy Beebop
>Trigun
>Lodoss-tou Senki: Eiyuu Kishi Den
>Android ana maico 2010
>Beast Wars second Chou (This counts right?)
>Outlaw Star [continuing from previous season]
> Rorouni Kenshin [Continuing from previous season]
>Kochira Katsushikaku Kameari Kouenmae Hashutsujo [Continuing from previous season]
>Sazae-san [Continuing from previous season]


So of new shows we got 4/27 and I could probably add at least three more depending on how young we classify adult. I kept the threshold as above 20, and the main character not supporting cast. And I don't have great knowledge of all these shows so stuff like Moby Dick might actually qualify.

From continuing shows we get as low as 4/24 with again, at least 1-2 possible additions depending on how low an age we're talking about.

Also 1998 was a great year for shows.

>Isn't art supposed to explore multiple facets of reality and life
It's because of this dumb ass logic that all modern art is completely disgusting garbage, fuck you.

So spring 1998 had nine (four new) shows with adult protagonists this season has also nine (seven new). I don't see how that much has changed then.

I'm not the guy arguing that things had changed. But I noticed nobody actually went to look at that year and decided to drop that for the benefit of the thread.

The reality is something I mentioned earlier, a lot of the shows that we think we're really big deal just weren't and they were equally drowning in a sea of other shows aimed at younger audiences.

The main difference I think occured, is that the quality of these adult focused shows dropped but that's a market problem. Having heavier themes was less preferable and less profitable.

I count at least 10 new ones and a couple of second cour ones, never mind longer stuff like DBS. Probably missed some I'm not familiar with.
There are also a lot more shows, so it's probably a similar proportion.

They haven't, you have no idea what you're talking about.

>The main difference I think occured, is that the quality of these adult focused shows dropped
I don't think that's the case in any objective manner. It's just that most people here have been born in the early 90s probably. That means that while getting into anime we would watching shows from the late 90s and up till the mid-late 00s. By the time we'd watch shows from the 10s up till now they just wouldn't provide as fresh of an experience. If we'd be born in the beginning of the 70s we'd primarly have seen shows from the late 70s and 80s growing up and the anime from the 90s and 00s wouldn't be as impressive for us.

> If we'd be born in the beginning of the 70s we'd primarly have seen shows from the late 70s and 80s growing up and the anime from the 90s and 00s wouldn't be as impressive for us.
This literally what happened with Anno (for the '80s and the '90s) and Miyazaki (for the '60s and '70s)

>the quality of these adult focused shows dropped but that's a market problem. Having heavier themes was less preferable and less profitable
Did you look at this list you just posted? You've got wacky action series, multi-hundred-episode comedies, a Transformers spinoff, and a show about a cute sexbot repurposed into a radio host. Anime never had much heavy themes.

>By the time we'd watch shows from the 10s up till now they just wouldn't provide as fresh of an experience.
I'm going to disagree here because things like "how a show handles it's themes" is something a bit more objective to measure over the years. In particular compare shows like Cowboy Beebop, Trigun, and Kenshin; I don't see shows in [current year] that incorporate heavier subject matter like that. At least not in the same numbers on a season by season basis.

I'm willing to be wrong of course.

To be fair I did specifically state that I don't have familiarity with all those shows and only looked at the age of the characters to see if the number of adult-featured shows had changed. I'm also not saying that an adult-featured show is automatically going to be "serious" just because of the age range. I am however saying that I don't see as many comparable shows thematically to older seasons than I do in newer ones.

And to reiterate; the shows that people (myself definitely included) think are big deals or shining examples of the medium are the exceptions not the rule.

Rakugo S2 was last year. Stop showing how much of a pleb you actually are.
Also you use Cowboy Bebop as an example but how many anime with adult protagonists aired the same year that Bebop? Anime always had few stories around adults.

>how many anime with adult protagonists aired the same year that Bebop
About 9 out of about 60 combined new and ongoing shows in 1998.

Garo and Kokkoku seem at least as "heavy" as Bebop and Trigun. Which isn't very, most of the time. They might not be as good, but that's a different issue.
I don't remember what I saw of Kenshin being an heavier than other Jump titles, apart from the OVA.

>60
I mean about 50

>muh adult shows like cowboy bebop and monster

That's like asking why western cartoons don't make cartoons with adult main characters.
The largest demographic of anime has been, is, and always will be children.

Well, Last year we had:
>Rakugo S2 (almost all the cast were adults)
>Inuyashiki (the main protagonist was an adult)
>Seikaisuru Kado (cast full of adults)
>ACCA (cast full of adults)
>Alice to Zouroku (one of the protagonist was an adult)
>Sakura Quest (MC is an adult)
>Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon (MC is an adult)
Demi-chan wa Kataritai (MC is an adult)
>Bersek (MC is an adult)
>Gintama (MC is an adult)

>mature themes
What's the difference between mature themes and immature themes?

Probably because being an adult fucking sucks, and anime is ultimately a form of escapism

Mature themes have to be boring ,have ntr, cuck, rape and gore.
Old men can't get it up otherwise.

Anime has always had teen main characters most of the time, even the most notable ones back in the day. What is this nigger smoking?

If you're able to use your brains you shouldn't be asking these sort of retarded questions. There's at least three or four shows this season alone with adult main characters.

>Oh, so the point of all anime is to be fun and only fun?
No, but un-fun stuff doesn't sell as well.

It's probably just getting older, and some anime doesn't speak to you once you're not in high school anymore

>I'm going to disagree here because things like "how a show handles it's themes" is something a bit more objective to measure over the years. In particular compare shows like Cowboy Beebop, Trigun, and Kenshin; I don't see shows in [current year] that incorporate heavier subject matter like that. At least not in the same numbers on a season by season basis.
If you were born two decades earlier you would have considered Ashita no Joe, Gundam, Galaxy Express 999, Ideon or Rose of Versailles the stallar go to examples of shows that deal with heavier themes and are more realistic. Cowboy Bebop, Trigun and Kenshin would be the shows that you'd call "pretty good, but let's be honest not as good as Rose of Versailles, Joe etc.".

Just look at the the top 100 anime from the laputa convention from 2003. It was made by directors, animators, critics and scholars of the time so probably people mainly in their late 30s and older. Among those 100 there were barely any anime from the 90s (only Eva, GITS, Patlabor, some Miyazaki films and a few indepentent shorts I think). It was mainly compromised of anime from the 60-80s. None of the shows you mentioned were there at all.

>all modern art is completely disgusting garbage, fuck you
No, fuck you. We're on an anime image board, I don't know the first thing about modern art and neither do you. What, did you read some Buzzfeed article about a framed blank canvas that sold for 100K or something? You just like shitty anime and feel compelled to cry about how "modern art," which you're using as a stand-in for ambitious TV series, is bad. Castrate yourself.

I think you're just wanting a specific kind of show. I'm actually pretty newfag at this point to airing stuff, but even the stuff I've touched on is good in it's own ways. Flip Flappers has great atmosphere and action, and is fun while feeling its got something sinister (havent finished). After The Rain is pretty good for a fetish anime, feels genuine. Maria Virgin Witch is ecchi, but also pretty historical and unique.

You just gotta step outside the box OP, with some optimism

Anime (and manga too) is generally for people that are small children, teens, or young adults. So depending on the audience the main characters reflect that. It's the same in American media too with stuff like Harry Potter and others. And Sup Forums mostly talks about shonen so its main characters will be children or teens. But even if you go read some seinen the characters are still pretty young depending on the series. It's just a case of appealing to your audience.

>I don't know the first thing about modern art and neither do you
You don't know anything about me you pretentious cunt, I literally studied art for years.
>You just like shitty anime and feel compelled to cry about how "modern art,"
I didn't say anything about what shows I like or hate you insecure faggot. I took issue with the fact that OP seems to think there's rules for what composes good art, such as having "serious" themes.

You're still missing my point user. All those older shows you mentioned did with what I'm not seeing as frequently or as well executed when compared to stuff that comes out now. I am aware of the age bias but there is something to be said for a quality show enduring past it's time. It's why I can go back and watch Rose of Versailles despite the show being older than I am and still liking it.

If you're just going to argue that I only like the stuff I grew up with you're going to be wrong because the argument isn't that I only think the stuff I grew up with does what I am pointing out. And if you're going to use a list made by people not me, then I can't help you when you notice a discrepancy between what people who are in the industry value over a consumer. Not to forget the age gap between them and me even at the time they made the list.

Haven't we established that you don't actually know what's airing because you didn't realise there were a large number of shows featuring adults airing right now, never mind in the last year? And that those things were never frequent, because you have maybe a dozen examples from the whole of the 90s?
These shows still exist and you're too incompetent to find them.

>Haven't we established that you don't actually know what's airin
No because I'm the guy who did look back at 1998 and has been stating that nothing has changed regarding adult-featured shows.

Stop trying to strawman and either address my points of stop replyiing.

>I'm not seeing as frequently or as well executed when compared to stuff that comes out now.
I think is almost as frequent as before, the problem is that back then you watched one after another, you didn't have to wait years between then and so you felt it was more frequent when actually it wasn't.
On the other hand, it is true the anime industry has had a few changes, first of all thanks to digital animation there are more small studios that create anime mostly for a broad audience, which are mostly young people, so the more niche series are harder to find if you don't pay attention. And second there is obviously a change in this generation's idiosyncrasy but I don't think that makes the shows better of worse, just different.

>All those older shows you mentioned did with what I'm not seeing as frequently or as well executed when compared
Probably because you don't watch anything.
>It's why I can go back and watch Rose of Versailles despite the show being older than I am and still liking it.
You can go back and watch it because it's one of the most critically acclaimed shows of the '70s. You didn't have to sit through all the shitty shows airing at the moment and since time already forgot about all that garbage and now people only remember the good stuff.
>And Sup Forums mostly talks about shonen so its main characters will be children or teens.
Sup Forums mostly talks about late night anime, seinen and shounen manga. Actual kid shows get ignored. Even if precure has a constant general the threads are dead as fuck.

If you think nothing has changed, why are you claiming anything is less frequent? Those two points seem to contradict one another. What is the problem?