Spring Season 2024

[MFauli]

Eh, still a couple weeks to go, but I was curious if the next season was gonna be better.

Here's what found my interest:

- KonoSuba new season (yeah, ofc)
- Mushoku Tensei new season (yeah, ofc)
- Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken new season (I'll watch it and I'll hate it)
- Kimetsu no Yaiba new season (ofc, although I hope it comes to an end soon)
- Boku no Hero Academia new season (I'll SO hate it and ofc I'll watch it nonetheless)
- Kaijuu 8 (while the animation looks great, I HATE the comedy that can be seen in the trailer, it totally ruins an otherwise very serious scenario. Hope I'll be able to bear with it)
- Ookami (kinda interesting, but surely it will suffer from "gay hero" syndrome, sigh)
- Hananoi-kun to Koi no Yamai (a "serious" love-story? Intriguing)
- Unnamed Memory (could be fun, could be generic)
- Karasu wa Aruji Erabanai (eh, it looks like it will be shit, but I love the premise of people who transform into crows)


Lots of sequels and no standout new series imo. Hm. Well, it will be a better season for the sequels alone.

[Ryllharu]

Will Watch:
Yuru Camp S3 (even though the design style changed to be droopier and more like the manga)
Spice and Wolf Reboot.

Modestly interested:
Euphonium S3 (though I don't remember MOST of it and didn't watch the movie(s).)
Mushoku Tensei, but I almost don't want to after that trash previous season
KonoSuba S3, but I'm not really that enthused about it either, the last season dragged a bit.

Will try:
I'll probably check out Blue Archive, if only because the fans of the game never shut up about the story, but there was no way in hell I'd ever play the game.



- Ookami (kinda interesting, but surely it will suffer from "gay hero" syndrome, sigh)
Did you seriously not recognize what this was?

[shinta|hikari]

Blue Archive has a story??

I played it and got a bunch of URs when it launched, but the story was crap.

[DarthEnderX]

Where muh chart?!



- KonoSuba
- Mushoku Tensei
- Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken
- Kimetsu no Yaiba
- Boku no Hero Academia
Holy shit, that's a lineup! The 3 isekai I actually care about(just missing Re:Zero). And 2 of the big shounens.

[MFauli]

Did you seriously not recognize what this was?


Guy with a cute fox girl that he's probably never gonna lay a finger on.

[Kraco]

Damn, there really are a lot of series I should be interested in, but I'll never be able to watch them with my limit of a few series.

At the very least I'll try to watch:

Konosuba. I couldn't actually be bothered to watch the Megumin show, but the main series should be okay.
Slime Datta Ken.
Mushoku Tensei. Goes without saying. I didn't even dislike the previous season that much, apart from the depression arc.


I'll at least have a look at:

Maou no Ore ga Dorei Elf. The manga is decent, but it's also the kind where the central idea quickly gets stretched.
The New Gate. The manga is pretty good, so I'll have a look at it animated and voiced.
Spice and Wolf. I have heard it said that this is a reboot, which would be a huge bummer.


The Fable is quite a legendary series, but rather than watching the anime, I should try to finish the manga. Blue Archive has a ridiculous amount of fanart, but none of it really makes me want to see the show. It feels similar to Arknights, which I ended up dropping after a few episodes. I guess these are meant for the fans of the games.

[DarthEnderX]

but I'll never be able to watch them with my limit of a few series.Why the limit? Lack of free time? Or just trying to show moderation?

[Kraco]

Why the limit? Lack of free time? Or just trying to show moderation?

I can't really say. I just can't keep watching that many series anymore. If I try, I unwittingly start stalling some of them. Maybe I just have watched too much anime over the years and don't have the patience for most of it anymore.

[MFauli]

I can't really say. I just can't keep watching that many series anymore. If I try, I unwittingly start stalling some of them. Maybe I just have watched too much anime over the years and don't have the patience for most of it anymore.

Just means there too much bad anime. Same for me. When there's great shows, you'll watch them.

[Ryllharu]

Just means there too much bad anime. Same for me. When there's great shows, you'll watch them.

Nah. I'll drop well-rated shows too, if they are doing retread plots from the 1990s and early 2000s. It's why I can't watch generic fluffy wish-fulfillment romance series at all anymore. They don't bring anything new that their superior predecessors didn't already cover. But other people love them because they haven't seen that stuff before a dozen times. It's not bad, it just isn't treading new ground.

Or I'll drop series if their pacing is too drawn out. From my perspective these days, anime production companies have an obligation to manage the pacing better than the source material if it was lacking.

In the last few years, I struggle to watch anime of manga I've previously read if the adaptations don't elevate anything in particular (e.g. Spy x Family, Mahoutsukai no Yome both fell into this). I still really enjoy the material, but a faithful adaptation doesn't really add anything.

[DarthEnderX]

I can't really say. I just can't keep watching that many series anymore. If I try, I unwittingly start stalling some of them. Maybe I just have watched too much anime over the years and don't have the patience for most of it anymore.My solution to that was I started watching slower series on a higher playback speed. :p

I like you, Ancient Magus's Bride, but I got shit to do!

[MFauli]

Nah. I'll drop well-rated shows too, if they are doing retread plots from the 1990s and early 2000s. It's why I can't watch generic fluffy wish-fulfillment romance series at all anymore. They don't bring anything new that their superior predecessors didn't already cover. But other people love them because they haven't seen that stuff before a dozen times. It's not bad, it just isn't treading new ground.

Or I'll drop series if their pacing is too drawn out. From my perspective these days, anime production companies have an obligation to manage the pacing better than the source material if it was lacking.

In the last few years, I struggle to watch anime of manga I've previously read if the adaptations don't elevate anything in particular (e.g. Spy x Family, Mahoutsukai no Yome both fell into this). I still really enjoy the material, but a faithful adaptation doesn't really add anything.

I didn't say "well-reated", Ryll. I said "great shows" as in "shows you find great". When those air, you'll watch them. Simple as that.

[neflight86]

I just noticed that the top 12 series (by audience vote on MAL) for spring were all sequels. I made a discussion thread a few years back, but I'm still not over just how many anime are getting continuations nowadays when there was a time no so long ago that it was pretty much one and done. On the one hand, It's great to get more of what you love, but on the other, I can't get excited about long running series I'm not already invested in... but given the volume of shows coming out each season, I should probably be thankful for another easy way to shave off a few more shows from the watch list.

That said, looking through the list, it would be shorter to list the few series I don't intend to sample.

[DarthEnderX]

I just noticed that the top 12 series (by audience vote on MAL) for spring were all sequels. I made a discussion thread a few years back, but I'm still not over just how many anime are getting continuations nowadays when there was a time no so long ago that it was pretty much one and done.That's because most anime used to just be elaborate ads for manga.

But now that anime is so successful in NA, studios are adopting the methods of NA studios. i.e. "people want more of the shit they already like".

[neflight86]

I wonder how it's monetized? I recall back in the day that studios would reach out to manga magazines for the rights to popular series and it was the manga's owning company that was paid for the green light; not the other way around. I recall/heard that post air dvd/bluray sales were the money maker anime studios pinned their hopes on for profitability. That market doesn't exist (physical media) in NA much anymore...

[MFauli]

That's because most anime used to just be elaborate ads for manga.

But now that anime is so successful in NA, studios are adopting the methods of NA studios. i.e. "people want more of the shit they already like".

Makes me wonder if that also caused the decline in animation quality. When anime used to be elaborate advertisements for the manga, there was more incentive to make the ONE season of the anime as great as possible. Now that the focus shifted to the anime entirely and a longterm needs to be maintained, that possible brought us the shitty, generic animation we now see in the majority of currently airing anime.

[Ryllharu]

Makes me wonder if that also caused the decline in animation quality. When anime used to be elaborate advertisements for the manga, there was more incentive to make the ONE season of the anime as great as possible. Now that the focus shifted to the anime entirely and a longterm needs to be maintained, that possible brought us the shitty, generic animation we now see in the majority of currently airing anime.

The decline in quality is from the sheer volume of series being aired every season, no other reason.

For the Winter Season (Jan - March) and which is usually the sparse season compared to Spring/Fall:

2024 - 47 series started

2014 - 43 series started

2004 - 19 series started

1994 - 4 series started (for reference: Spring 1994 - 18 series started)


Saying the quality declined is also subjective, because the average animation quality has absolutely improved with notable individual exceptions being a big deal. A lot of TV anime used reused key frames, reused backgrounds, just as many still sequences that people bitch about today.

But everyone remembers the standouts, or actually remembers OVAs as "TV series"

[shinta|hikari]

With the increase in volume was also the increase in outsourcing of animation and other aspects of production. Those have varying quality with no real minimum standard. When you see clearly anatomically incorrect frames and just trash art in general, it is usually outsourced parts.

[MFauli]

The decline in quality is from the sheer volume of series being aired every season, no other reason.

For the Winter Season (Jan - March) and which is usually the sparse season compared to Spring/Fall:

2024 - 47 series started

2014 - 43 series started

2004 - 19 series started

1994 - 4 series started (for reference: Spring 1994 - 18 series started)


Saying the quality declined is also subjective, because the average animation quality has absolutely improved with notable individual exceptions being a big deal. A lot of TV anime used reused key frames, reused backgrounds, just as many still sequences that people bitch about today.

But everyone remembers the standouts, or actually remembers OVAs as "TV series"

Eh. Not sure whether I agree with the "average animation has improved". At the very least, the standouts have become rarer. And, I mean, even stuff that didn't look good back then like "Clannad" or ""Ranma 1/2" would be considered great-looking by current standards of animation.

The increase in anime volume that you display is crass, though. Feels like 20 would have been a reasonable number to stay at. Over 40 is just madness.

[Ryllharu]

Eh. Not sure whether I agree with the "average animation has improved". At the very least, the standouts have become rarer. And, I mean, even stuff that didn't look good back then like "Clannad" or ""Ranma 1/2" would be considered great-looking by current standards of animation.
Objectively false.


https://youtu.be/QWQkKPlNNBo&t=139

You know who worked on this? MADHOUSE. Yeah, the studio flexing with Frieren this past season.

This was 2002 and it has the quality of 1997. Stills, pans, zooms to cut costs and shave production time. Trigun and Galaxy Angel this is not.

[shinta|hikari]

Agreed. Whenever I watch old classic anime with my wife (I don't ever rewatch alone), I am shocked how ugly it was and how most of my memories of beautiful art is just nostalgia.

[DarthEnderX]

I am shocked how ugly it was and how most of my memories of beautiful art is just nostalgia.Or it WAS beautiful...for the time.

[Kraco]

Or it WAS beautiful...for the time.

Yes, just think about old games. An early 2000's AAA game in its own time would have looked amazing, but if you get it to launch today, it will look like a pile of pixel trash. The difference is not as huge in anime, but the psychological viewpoint effect is the same.

[MFauli]

Agreed. Whenever I watch old classic anime with my wife (I don't ever rewatch alone), I am shocked how ugly it was and how most of my memories of beautiful art is just nostalgia.

I mean, depends on what old anime you rewatch. I usually have the opposite in that I realize "damn, anime looked so great". Just recently rewatched "Now and Then, Here and There", and it's still a beautiful anime.

Regarding that anime posted on the previous page, I don't know that one, BUT: I still think this looks better than similar school gag-anime of today. The animation isn't better per se, but it's more cleverly applied. I watched the entire video and there's never a boring moment, the animation really keeps things moving. Compared to today's anime where the camera would just pan forever along a still image and nobody would move in that scene.

Comparing individual anime isn't useful anyway. I'd stay with the claim: The number of standouts was greater back then and has been decreasing. That something like Sousou no Frieren is being praised is proof of that. Outside of the battle animation in the past 2-3 episodes, there really wasn't anything special animation-wise in that anime. But compared to all the rest that's airing? Yeah, it's kinda nice.

[Ryllharu]

Comparing individual anime isn't useful anyway. I'd stay with the claim: The number of standouts was greater back then and has been decreasing.

This is your nostalgia bias. That's why I also mentioned Trigun (1998) and Galaxy Angel (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004) that were both made by Madhouse. The first hailed as one of their true masterpieces. The second is in a similar genre to Rizelmine (slapstick comedy) and with a similar visual aesthetic but is substantially better animated. Rizelmine looks like trash to anyone being fair about it. It uses shortcuts that fans tear series apart over today for being shit or lazy animation. Pan, mouth flaps, pan back, mouth flaps while staying on the same key frame for long stretches. It certainly does not look better than gag anime today.

You know what else aired in Spring 2002? .hack/sign, Chobits (also by Madhouse), Azumanga Diaoh, Tenshi na Konamaiki, and the original Tokyo Mew Mew. All highly acclaimed, well remembered (maybe not Tenshi na Konamaiki, but I still like that one), and continuing to come up in conversation or memes. Not for being visual powerhouses. They're plain, their line art is blurry, and backgrounds are full of soft focus.

The overall floor for visual quality has been raised whether you want to admit it or not.

Then, how many people remember Baby Baa-chan, Bakutou Sengen Daigander, Bakutou Sengen Daigander, Full Moon o Sagashite (I do), Happy Lesson, The Twelve Kingdoms (more people should), King of Bandit Jing, Tenchi Muyou! GXP, Tokyo Underground? Not a lot.

You can argue that this somehow translates to "less standouts" but that's also not true. There's just fewer series you're interested in today. I have the same problem. I dropped hack/sign back then. I watched maybe 5 episodes of Tokyo Mew Mew back then because I've never been into Precure-style shows. People gushed over a few shows the last three seasons that I couldn't stand more than a single episode.

You try to make this argument every season, and it simply isn't true because you're either moving the goalposts, viewing everything through nostalgia bias, or simply unaware of the absolute trash the industry used to put out. I watched 10 series in a single season just a few seasons ago, which is more than I used to ever consider in the mid-2000s.

[MFauli]

This is your nostalgia bias. That's why I also mentioned Trigun (1998) and Galaxy Angel (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004) that were both made by Madhouse. The first hailed as one of their true masterpieces. The second is in a similar genre to Rizelmine (slapstick comedy) and with a similar visual aesthetic but is substantially better animated. Rizelmine looks like trash to anyone being fair about it. It uses shortcuts that fans tear series apart over today for being shit or lazy animation. Pan, mouth flaps, pan back, mouth flaps while staying on the same key frame for long stretches. It certainly does not look better than gag anime today.

You know what else aired in Spring 2002? .hack/sign, Chobits (also by Madhouse), Azumanga Diaoh, Tenshi na Konamaiki, and the original Tokyo Mew Mew. All highly acclaimed, well remembered (maybe not Tenshi na Konamaiki, but I still like that one), and continuing to come up in conversation or memes. Not for being visual powerhouses. They're plain, their line art is blurry, and backgrounds are full of soft focus.

The overall floor for visual quality has been raised whether you want to admit it or not.

Then, how many people remember Baby Baa-chan, Bakutou Sengen Daigander, Bakutou Sengen Daigander, Full Moon o Sagashite (I do), Happy Lesson, The Twelve Kingdoms (more people should), King of Bandit Jing, Tenchi Muyou! GXP, Tokyo Underground? Not a lot.

You can argue that this somehow translates to "less standouts" but that's also not true. There's just fewer series you're interested in today. I have the same problem. I dropped hack/sign back then. I watched maybe 5 episodes of Tokyo Mew Mew back then because I've never been into Precure-style shows. People gushed over a few shows the last three seasons that I couldn't stand more than a single episode.

You try to make this argument every season, and it simply isn't true because you're either moving the goalposts, viewing everything through nostalgia bias, or simply unaware of the absolute trash the industry used to put out. I watched 10 series in a single season just a few seasons ago, which is more than I used to ever consider in the mid-2000s.

I will take the time at some other time to search a couple of animation standouts, because I really think the peak of anime was better 20 years ago or so.

What I'll concede for now is that you're probably partly right when you say "I liked these anime better, therefore you mistake it for better animation". That might be true: anime had better stories back then and knew how to present them better with the level of animation available. I mean, just look at a show like Chiyuu, the healer isekai. It looks like trash animation-wise. But MAL has it at a shockingly high 7.46-score and there are actual fans of this anime. Or what's this other hyped series, about elite classes fighting each other, hero name being Ayanokouchi, the animation is absolutely generic. You'd think action-anime would be different, but honestly, even something like Ishura is only slightly better than the rest. So where I can't agree with you is when you say "the overall floor has been raised".

[Ryllharu]

What I'll concede for now is that you're probably partly right when you say "I liked these anime better, therefore you mistake it for better animation". That might be true: anime had better stories back then and knew how to present them better with the level of animation available. I mean, just look at a show like Chiyuu, the healer isekai. It looks like trash animation-wise. But MAL has it at a shockingly high 7.46-score and there are actual fans of this anime. Or what's this other hyped series, about elite classes fighting each other, hero name being Ayanokouchi, the animation is absolutely generic. You'd think action-anime would be different, but honestly, even something like Ishura is only slightly better than the rest. So where I can't agree with you is when you say "the overall floor has been raised".
You're mistaking "character design" for "animation". They're different and the former has very little important compared to the latter.

Character design trends come and go. The 80s and 90s were generally normally proportioned compared to the late 90s and early 2000s dinner plate eyes before drifting back to something more normal. Female characters went from ultra skinny to ultra top-heavy and now have leveled off again like the 80s but with less hips. Male characters went from top-heavy to rectangular and stayed there. You call it generic, I call it balanced.

But the animation has fundamentally improved on the average despite the quantity of series per season doubling or quadrupling (if you count Winter/Summer no longer being the "off seasons"). The lines are sharper, the backgrounds are more detailed when the stylistic choice isn't watercolor-esque. Think visible forests versus green smears with some lines in them to give the impression of trees.

There's cuts in all the sequences today. They don't pan and scan. They don't frame it so they can reuse the backgrounds. They'll frame dialogues in Reverse Angle shots now.

Most of all, characters move during dialogue. They didn't used to nearly as much, just mouth flaps and jerking abrupt movements.

A good example of all these newer techniques is in Kanojo mo Kanojo. Very simple character designs. Very simple "animation" at first glance. But the cuts are constant and rapid, there's always something moving in frame beside the character mouths, and there's simply rapid motion constantly, which reinforced the frenetic pace of the series. That didn't happen before. Many series were methodically slow (e.g. Chobits), and there are still some like that today, but the art is still crisper, even within CLAMP series.

That's why I picked Rizelmine as an example. A then and currently still prominent studio, using techniques to cut costs widely spread by JC Staff and Gainax's 2nd rate offerings. Stuff Madhouse didn't do before or after that particular series. There's more motion reference key frames nowadays, characters were always stiff and still before. The majority of the rapid "animation" movement in Rizelmine is zooms and pans on a wider frame to simulate what animators are doing now natively within frame.

Or look at the fluidity of Urusei Yatsura's remake compared to the original. Same scenes, huge differences in the techniques employed. Both very well-funded series for their respective times.

Classroom of the Elite is trash though, I'll concede that. It's had progressive downgrades since 2017, and it was of average character design then. LN fans are displeased at the direction and adaptation. I wouldn't say the series is hyped after Season 2 lost the majority of its previous fans, including me.

The healer iseaki is novel in concept and execution. The protagonist isn't whiny, has to actually work and train at his rare talent, and while it is simple in plot, it is well executed. The rare talent doesn't make him invincible; the mentor is clear to point that out. The character design is average and certainly a bit nostalgic to me. You're just butthurt it isn't more of Redo of Healer.

And 7.5 is at best "average-good" for the notoriously skewed MAL ratings. MAL is just like video game review scores. 'Anything less than a 7.0 is dogshit.' MAL's entire range is 5.5 to 9.2 (whatever FMA:B is at or needs to be pushed to over a series that temporarily dethrones it). You have to go to 4200 to get below 7.0
I'd be surprised if anyone knew of the series that are below 6.4, a quick glance seemed to be mostly very old minor shows and single episode specials that have their own entry for some stupid reason. It is highly amusing that FBA:B has 1.2 million more reviewers than any series near it in the rankings, all sockpuppet accounts of the cult.

[MFauli]

Yeah, I don't know what's with the FMA-hype. It was fun to watch and I probably liked it better than One Piece or Bleach, but it shouldn't be the best anime in any ranking other than maybe a "best shounen"-ranking (which I'd give to HXH).

[Ryllharu]

Yeah, I don't know what's with the FMA-hype. It was fun to watch and I probably liked it better than One Piece or Bleach, but it shouldn't be the best anime in any ranking other than maybe a "best shounen"-ranking (which I'd give to HXH).

HxH's cult isn't as strong on MAL as FMAB's. It was one of the series I was referencing when I said, "1.2 million more reviewers than any series near it in the rankings"

[MFauli]

HxH's cult isn't as strong on MAL as FMAB's. It was one of the series I was referencing when I said, "1.2 million more reviewers than any series near it in the rankings"

But in HXH' case it's not a cult, the anime is just legitimately that good :P:P:P

[Ryllharu]

But in HXH' case it's not a cult, the anime is just legitimately that good :P:P:P

I know you're joking, but every top 10 anime list has the same shows in it, and it isn't solely because they're legitimately good.

FMAB, Gintama, Steins;Gate, and Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Those are the four active anime list management cults. Rurouni Kenshin Reminiscence used to be the fifth.

MAL thankfully provides easy views on the number of votes. Twice as many votes as any other series that "threatens" their dominance of the ranks. Very prolonged pointless battle when Kaguya-sama unseated FMAB through its smaller but avid fanbase at a number of sites. There will be another with Frieren soon.

[DarthEnderX]

Character design trends come and go. The 80s and 90s were generally normally proportioned compared to the late 90s and early 2000s dinner plate eyes before drifting back to something more normal.Man...I pine for the days when I still thought Yugioh was the bottom of the character design barrel...


Yeah, I don't know what's with the FMA-hype.It's a personal favorite of mine.

It has everything that's good about anime. Avoids most of what's sketchy about anime. Has great characters. A great story. Is a manageable length. And has a satisfying ending.

It's my go-to choice when asked what someone's first anime should be.

[MFauli]

I mean, "Legend of the Galactic Heroes" deserves any high top spot, too, it is THAT good. Added benefit: It filters out casuals who have the attention span of a Tiktok-user.

@Darth: I'm not saying FMA is bad, but I think anyone who puts ANY shounen-anime as the #1 should probably watch more anime. Shounen is the absolute beginner genre of anime, the real good stories are from other genre, any other genre.

[Ryllharu]

@Darth: I'm not saying FMA is bad, but I think anyone who puts ANY shounen-anime as the #1 should probably watch more anime. Shounen is the absolute beginner genre of anime, the real good stories are from other genre, any other genre.
To be fair, FMA proper (which FMAB is an adaptation of), is really good. It has pretty flawless planning from the very start through to the epilogue, good character development for both main and supporting cast, and consistently paced with very little if any padding because it almost always gets a callback. It's certainly Arakawa's best work.

But it isn't better than any anime ever, for all time. I still give it a hit for not starting over and making you go back to the original anime for the first several arcs.

I'd still put ARIA above it by a hair. A slice of life show and the only series to truly shock me with a plot twist. If Dungeon Meshi gets a full adaptation of the entire story, it will top FMA:B for me too.

[MFauli]

To be fair, FMA proper (which FMAB is an adaptation of), is really good. It has pretty flawless planning from the very start through to the epilogue, good character development for both main and supporting cast, and consistently paced with very little if any padding because it almost always gets a callback. It's certainly Arakawa's best work.

But it isn't better than any anime ever, for all time.

I'd still put ARIA above it by a hair. A slice of life show and the only series to truly shock me with a plot twist.

Wait, so you're saying the first anime adaptation is better than Brotherhood? Despite everyone else saying the opposite?

[Ryllharu]

Wait, so you're saying the first anime adaptation is better than Brotherhood? Despite everyone else saying the opposite?

FMA Proper = The manga and the only complete version of the story as intended by Arakawa.

I did make an edit to clarify, but was too slow. I'm not a fan that FMAB still makes you go back to the original series to get the complete story.

[DarthEnderX]

Wait, so you're saying the first anime adaptation is better than Brotherhood? Despite everyone else saying the opposite?The original is better...up until the point it diverges from the manga. Mainly because, Brotherhood kind of...rushes it's way through the parts the original already covered, even skipping a few(which then have to be shown in flashback later in BH, when they become relevant to the plot again).

The original has a more satisfying pacing for those parts of the story. Things like Nina and Hughs hit harder in the original because you spend more time with them first.

The optimal viewing experience for FMA would be something like:
Watch the original up to episode 25.
Switch to Brotherhood and start at episode 11.

[Buffalobiian]

Rizelmine looks like trash

That was some hentai level animation lol.

Anyway, I agree that animation quality these days are way better than before. Gundam 0079 or something (the original) was hard to watch. As for MFauli's "generic", there's generic stuff from all eras. Generic stuff from this era is way better animated than previous. The generic artstyle is more consistent though since it's so heavily computer aided.

FMA:B deserves top spot in my opinion. As a complete package it's great. I think anime should have a shortlist of top ones since it's hard to discern the very top one, but it's up there with HxH etc, assuming HxH finishes.

[MFauli]

But Buff, would you really say that there's the same number of standouts nowadays as in the past? This is probably the core of my contention to today's anime' quality. Maybe the base level is higher, but it's never been about the base layer, it's always about the truly great shows. Like, how many anime this season would you say have truly great animation? If you say Frieren, then we already disagree. Even an action-anime like Ishura only has glimpses of better than average-animation.

[Buffalobiian]

But Buff, would you really say that there's the same number of standouts nowadays as in the past? This is probably the core of my contention to today's anime' quality. Maybe the base level is higher, but it's never been about the base layer, it's always about the truly great shows. Like, how many anime this season would you say have truly great animation? If you say Frieren, then we already disagree. Even an action-anime like Ishura only has glimpses of better than average-animation.

I don't really notice amazing animation per se (with exception - like One Punch Man S1 had clearly amazing fight). I tend to notice when a scene should be animated well but doesn't.

I'd notice that I like a show, and then work backwards to figure out why - atmosphere, artstyle, story/plot/pacing, humor or animation (or anything else I missed. VA I guess). I'm not really able to comment on how many this season have great animation because I"m only watching 4 shows (Solo Levelling, Frieren, Dungeon Meshi, Apocathary). None of those shows have animation issues except for a brief part in Frieren E26, 0200 where some orbiting rocks looked slow, as if not enough frames were used to make that layer look smooth (despite Frieren's hair in the foreground animated well and moving at a different pace).

You mention "better than average-animation". Again I'll just highlight that the average is much higher these days, so on an absolute scale I don't know how you're trying to rate it.

Without going back and actually counting shows, I'd say that the standouts across time are probably relatively stable. I don't think they've dropped. There's just a lot more shows to sift through in order to find them so it feels like they're proportionally less common.

I watch less anime and seem less keen to follow new shows as they come out, but I'm not sure that anime quality is to blame there. Sequels aside, I get interested in a show if I see an interesting artwork or title. A promising studio or word-of-mouth also lends it weight. Sometimes the premise helps too. Sometimes this doesn't work out.

This season I branched out from the above 4 and I checked out Kekkon Yubi Monogatari because I liked the title (Ep1 didn't engage me), and I checked out Witch and the Beast because the setting and title sounded cool, but again Ep1 fell short of expectations.

I might like the subject matter and individualised styles of some begone decades because I like adventure/fantasy/robot anime with pointy chins etc, but that's not an animation issue. I do think Pre-timeskip Naruto's art looked better than Shippuuden though. I like a gritty look. Shippuuden looks really clean and I didn't like that.

[Ryllharu]

Like, how many anime this season would you say have truly great animation? If you say Frieren, then we already disagree. Even an action-anime like Ishura only has glimpses of better than average-animation.
Do you have examples of previous decade(s) shows that hit this mark?

Because if you say Noein or Naruto, we have an irreconcilable different of opinion.

[MFauli]

Do you have examples of previous decade(s) shows that hit this mark?

Because if you say Noein or Naruto, we have an irreconcilable different of opinion.

This is difficult, because often times, it's the actually interesting story that elevates the animation, be it due to scene composition or actual design content of a scene. For example, even if the animation on a technical level isn't better in older anime, the stuff you are shown is visually more exciting than the n-th classroom or generic Japanese sight.

As for your examples, I would absolutely call Noein's animation a standout, it has both a unique artstyle and a "living" feel to its animation where stuff is always moving, and the fighting scenes are phenomenal. Naruto is generic and doesn't deserve any special mention, outside of rare episodes like Rock Lee vs Gaara, Rock Lee vs Kimimarou or Naruto vs. Sasuke.

But if I had to name a few anime from various genres that I think stand out animation-wise:

- True Tears (I haven't seen that level of detail and smooth animation in a romance anime since)
- Tenjou Tenge (its animation has such "springiness", similar to, say, Ranma 1/2, except with more realistic character designs)
- Eureka Seven (still sad we never got a good video game)
- Air Gear
- Death Note
- Fushigi no Umi no Nadia
- Highschool of the Dead
- Oreimo
- Hanasaku Iroha

And those are only the somewhat newer ones. If went back to the Golden Age, then anime like Neon Genesis Evangelion, Agent Aika, Golden Boy, Vision of Escaflowne, and such would decimate today's anime.

[MFauli]

Added the shows I'm interested to my livechart-account. DAMN, there's a fuckton of isekai or similar anime this season. WTF.

[MFauli]

Guys, feel free to make threads for new anime you watched at least an episode. Even if you quit it later on, a thread doesnt hurt. We need some more activity here! <3

[MFauli]

Unnamed Memory Episode 1:

So first we get a Goblin-anime where goblins are made to not behave like goblins. And now we get a fantasy-anime where everyone knows that the witch kills those who fail to climb the tower, and immediately we learn: that was all fake, they all survive, just have their memory changed.

What is it with modern anime where we can't have stories with CONSEQUENCES anymore? Everything seems to get sanitized so every character is morally clean, no viewer gets challenged, nothing of surprise happens. :/

[shinta|hikari]

You have this boomer screaming at the clouds vibe.

[MFauli]

You have this boomer screaming at the clouds vibe.

Because I point out proper flaws?

Anyway, just skimmed through episode 2 of Unnamed Hero, dropped. I won't put up with entirely generic shows this season.

[DarthEnderX]

So first we get a Goblin-anime where goblins are made to not behave like goblins.Lol, wtf does that even mean? Goblins are different in every setting.

[MFauli]

Lol, wtf does that even mean? Goblins are different in every setting.

Sure, but all the worst, cheapest writing choices come together in this.