How do past years hold up - List your true highlights

[MFauli]

Nice

[KrayZ33]

What's the problem.

[Buffalobiian]

First off, I don't have any data to back anything up. This is just how I feel about stuff. A subjective take.

Some of you are arguing about the top shows of a season (whether it be raw number, or proportion of shows produced), some of you are talking about overall average quality.

I'm not sure that the raw number or proportion has increased. I wouldn't argue with you if you say it's decreased.
There are still some very enjoyable shows each year that I end up liking.
I agree with the sentiment that if you throw enough time and money or talent at a show that it'll be good. That's just how art is.

I do agree that from an animation standpoint, the average overall has gone up.
Technology does have an element to play.
It's not that technology has made the best shows of today exceed that of the past necessarily (unless you're talking about spinning camera angle stuff).
It's moreso that technology has made producing passable quality animation less resource intensive, so it's more easily achievable.

The average isekai show these days have shit plot, but technology helps churn them out with decent animation. Proportions aren't messed up as often these days. Remember back when you'd find some show with weirdly spaced eyes or roadrunner-like junk in between key frames because the pleb animators didn't have enough time to do them correctly? That's what technology solves.
It doesn't help you make masterpieces, but it helps you not animate complete crap (story and 3D shit aside. 3D shit can be horrible, I'm talking about computer assisted animation).


My analogy to this is like doctors these days compared to doctors of the past.
The average is better, because you have lots of tech like blood tests and scans for specific diseases.
Back in the day the best doctor was still amazing and could diagnose people off looking at them etc (and who knows if they got it wrong, because they're the doctor so no one doubts them :P).
But to diagnose a heart attack you had do look at their risk factors, interpret a physical exam and guess at the ECG.
These days, a blood test can tell you if there's sign of damaged heart muscles in the blood (troponin), and if the context sounds like it could be a heart attack you go for a scan/diagnostic procedure.
There's also youtube and online sources (think of Wiki for doctors) so you can look up procedures and diseases that you otherwise wouldn't have known or heard about.

Average animation, like average doctor IMO, has improved across time.
Awesome shows still exist. I'm unsure about the overall proportion or raw number, but I feel like I still see enough good shows pop up to keep me interested in this medium.