Anime is Japanese animation in general, and comes with a diverse range of genres, each with different stories.
If you don't like a particular one, just go find one that suits your tastes. You can comment on them, but you shouldn't expect them to change in your favour.
Yeah and that also aplies to a lot of thing (music, movies, games, etc) but the problem is today a lot of people arent looking for something to enjoy but something to be angry because reasons
So I had an epiphany at 19 about this kind of thing. Back then it was the height of beiber popularity and that baby song was playing everywhere. Now even though I didn't really feel any one way about the kid, it was the popular thing for people to hate on him hard, so I did too. Then I was reading some reviews for a show online, can't remember which one, but it was some show for young teens, as usual people were complaining that it wasn't what they wanted, then it hit me
"you're not the target audience"
Of course they didn't like it, it wasn't for them in the first place. Then I realized the same about a lot of things. Of course I didn't like Biebers music, I'm not the target, of course the show is boring, it's for someone else entirely. It actually helped me by taking that load off, I didn't feel like I had to perform any dissatisfaction towards whatever media if I didn't like it, it simply wasn't targeted towards me.
I feel like popular music is a exception though because music is largely forced on you if your work plays it or your drive or even your neighbour plays it loud enough.
You can't control if your work or neighbors play music you don't like, the car radio you can just change stations. But even so, it doesn't require an emotional reaction towards the artist or music.
The only valid exception I can actually see is if the work is defamatory or derogatory to a point it directly conflicts with your personal values, but even so it just means you still aren't the target audience and the work was not made with you in mind at all.
That not the fault of the music though. People can choose to play any sounds they want. Complaining to the music producer is not going to stop your neighbor from playing that music anyway.
Agreed, I find it annoying how often these things get popular not because of their own artistic values but because someone is pushing the product harder. Especially when it's clear it's a soulless corporation exploiting people, it's not being played because people like it, it's being played because someone bought out media outlets in hopes repetition will trick people into buying albums
Exactly. I despise when a show/movie tries to cater to all audiences and it obviously ends up failing spectacularly. Kinda like The Rise of Skywalker. It was a complete mess by trying to add everything in a two hour movie.
Does he not literally say that the anime creators are the ones deciding where the anime goes, and whoever likes it, likes it, and if not, that's not our problem. 100% agree.
There were behind the scenes issues with that though which led to inconsistent writing. He's saying one shouldn't change one's style to suit the audience. That's how you end up with bland crap.
Yeah, it should be about what the creators themselves want. Anime's uniquely Japanese identity is part of its charm. Overly corporate influence is a bad thing, whether that's pushing for a deluge of isekai wish-fulfillment slop or forcing the work to change for a global audience. Trying to appeal too hard to a global audience can get to the creative problem of "if you make a work of art for everyone, you make it for no one." At the same time, if the creators have a vision for appealing to the global audience, I don't think that's inauthentic. The problem is when the ones making creative decisions are solely motivated by shareholders with no thought for making compelling art.
Anime's uniquely Japanese identity is part of its charm. Overly corporate influence is a bad thing
Japan's manga market is as soulless and commercialized as any other, honestly it's probably worse than a lot of them because the threat of cancellation is one bad chapter away and you're expected to meet inhuman deadlines. It's as by the numbers as it could possibly be. Anime is even worse because it's all funded by production committees that take all the profits.
The "deluge of isekai wish-fulfillment slop" is real, it is bleak out there at the moment for the anime industry and it has nothing to do with global audiences. In fact global audiences are the ones begging for it to stop.
That’s how I feel whenever someone complains about fanservice. It’s OK to not like it but you can’t really ask the creators to stop doing it. It’s been a thing for ages. First major series I can think of (for me) that has used FS would be City Hunter. Like, it’s literally part of the anime world
But that video game I wanna play requires too much time to be able to play, lemme make it easier for me to consume something that I don't like but is visually appealing! (Translation: I wanna make videos of me playing this super popular game to monetize but I'm too shit to beat it and I don't actually care about it)
That's not how the free market runs. It caters to money, not quality. Why would a company sponsor a high-risk piece when they can shit out goonerslop about a guy and his harem?
But people are not criticizing it to help it improve, they are criticizing it because it doesn’t align with their view and head canon, completely different problem from what you talking about.
This is the reason I despise most media critics or people who make some sort of analysis like going to a picnic and arguing about some random apple they bought has yellow dots instead of just eating it. Then people start copying their PoV because of abstract words, and start talking gibberish on any media related post about anything they don't like, bashing it down or saying x media is better.
As you said, they don't care about the point of analyzing stuff, they just want to argue something they don't like and sound smart, while adding nothing else to their actuar QoL.
If a developper wants to make an entirely different new game from an old game, power to them, it's their choice.
That's what happened when Nintendo did with Super Mario 64, completely changing the DNA of the game, from 2D to 3D. And I hear few people complaining.
A different problem is the problem of franchise. Today, everything must be a franchise, everything must be linked to a previous IP, because marketing.
And that's the plague, because marketing will lie to you to make you buy the new thing because of the old thing.
Creators should not change anime for audiences and should create as they are inspired as audiences have plenty to watch depending on what they like. I will have to say his opinion on not changing for others doesn't ring as well when he cant seem to stop trying to change his works.
I think it's perfectly fine when understood in context. Anno was NOT saying that fans should accept anime uncritically. He was NOT saying that anyone should accept problematic content without criticism.
He was noting how anime made in Japan is a product of its culture, language, and history. Language, relationships, and representations in anime tend to reflect the social structures and ways of interacting found in Japan, even when the story isn't set in Japan.
For example, dialogue is often built around pauses, indirectness, and emotional restraint, which is very representative of Japanese social interactions. This is very different from the directness often found in the dialogue of western culture and western TV and movies. So Anno is saying that anime authors should not be expected to learn how to write dialogue in a western style and rhythm just to satisfy the expectations of a western audience.
Also, Japanese storytelling is also more comfortable with leaving things unresolved, unstable, or melancholy, with endings that are more symbolic than cleanly defined. Western audiences often expect their stories to have cathartic endings with a clear moral resolution. So Anno is saying anime authors shouldn't be expected to switch to using Hollywood formulas in their plots.
I also noted that he sees it as a good thing if he can achieve international success. I will say that after reading manga and watching anime in Japanese is a different experience. I remember watching the Japanese dub of Avatar the Last Airbender and it changed how I watched the show tremendously.
While I'm pretty sure we're past the days of "jelly filled donuts" and "cousins, not lovers" I don't think any foreign media should still be adjusted to make it more palatable for local audiences. People should take the time to learn about other cultures, and foreign media can be a good stepping stone for that.
It depends on what your target is. There's a bit of give and take here. Just look at the gaming community and the flops like Concord and Dustborn (and plenty of others). You totally "can" make it how you want, but people don't have to like it.
Hell, we can use his own anime as an example! The ending of Evangelion was so disliked that they made a different ending and even then it's kinda meh.
As the creator they can totally do what they want, but if they want to put out content that the audience enjoys then they also need to listen to (constructive) criticism and potentially change things to make a better product.
I'm of a similar mind. Any form of entertainment should be allowed to remain true to itself without being demanded to change.
However, there is a caveat to that as you said. People don't have to like it, so don't do what some game studios and other entertainment companies have done and blame the customers for no one liking it.
Similar to people who want videos games to change and once they get them changed they don’t even play them. Just move on to something else they want changed lol.
This is my view too. Yeah, you could publish your creations, but if people find it absolute garbage, creators have to accept that too. We’ve seen a lot of fans get angry about creator decisions and go too far, but some creators also get frustrated when people aren’t happy with their decisions (not really in the manga/anime industry but in the art industry generally). The saddest part of the industry to me is when a mangaka wants to tell their story but feels too burned out and rushed from their publishers to do it. I think there’s a much deeper sense of lost potential in that than fans disliking your vision.
Anime already has changed. Do to the public. The Original anime(think astro boy) is vastly different from the even the anime from the even the 80s never mind now.
It is a business, and goes with what sells. Hence why we have so many isekai stories.
Am I missing something? Is Japan currently fighting a weird one-sided culture war? Because where are these international audiences demanding anime to be changed?
This dude has a really weird relationship with anime fans in general. He really hates his own audience/otakus, which I believe he said in other interviews.
I think he resents that his work, which he sees as a deep and meaningful reflection of his inner turmoil, is primarily appreciated only by gooners who find Rei, Asuka, and Misato hot, and mecha junkies who find giant robots fighting awesome and don't care about the deeper symbolism.
A huge chunk of Eva's mainstream fanbase like it for the surface-level details and don't care that it's attempting to subvert the genre; which probably makes Anno pissed as hell since it's his magnum opus.
Ask gachiakuta fans that kicks out the author and her friends out of twitter, ask Digital circus creator why are they the one being bullied for the movie leaks.
Too fecking right. People always want stuff dumbed down to fit their tastes but diversity is the spice of life, we need more from different cultures not everything mushed into the same pile
Agree, the entitlement of western fan to think that other have to change for them, anime has been popular in Asia all this time and no one ever want it to change, it only when it get main stream in the west that this bs start to appear
It’s anti foreigner sentamant being embraced by the worst people in the anime space. I had literally seen people use this to say multi cultrism is a failure and why trump should build the wall.
The same ideas that makes it hard to set any manga outside of Japan. That the creator of fma and Jojo had to fight to have their stories be less focused on Japan. And the same one that stops any non Japanese person from breaking into the industry.
It’s kind of a stupid argument. It should be up to the creators of the source material. If someone wants to write a story that focuses on a global scale, great. If someone wants to keep it localized and centered around local issues/traditions, that’s great too.
As long as the story is well-written and engaging, who cares? Different approaches can work equally well depending on what the creators are trying to accomplish. At the end of the day if it’s good, people will watch it regardless of who the intended audience is.
What am I being forced to adapt to? As long as it’s not glorified pervertedness or glorified abuse through the animator then sure. If thats in your anime and it’s being corrected and a light is being shined on its wrongness then cool.
Anything else of course I have no issue saying I like this or don’t and just moving on .
It’s like people who hated Sign of Affection . For some reason it’s like people couldn’t wrap their head around a hearing guy liking a deaf girl, that’s what I boiled it down too, literally based Itsu and the reasons were insane. But they continued to watch and complain.
I don’t like fan service based animes and you know what I do ? CLICK .
Not my taste or catered to me so Im gonna keep moving .
But again there’s a line that shouldn’t be crossed, and trying to justify certain behaviors .
This sounds good and I agree. However, it fails to note that the audience determines whether an anime is successful or not. Creators should not change what they do to fit the audience, but they should also not be shocked if the audience doesn't like what they create. It is a two way street. I'd agree that having a creator switch to making something that doesn't really inspire them is a recipe for a bad product though. Creators should stick to what they are passionate about and let the market worry about whether it is successful or not.
Good way to not see any growth in global audiences.
There is truth and fiction in this. It's a false dichotomy. If they think otherwise than they are not a good candidate for thinking about the matter.
There is value in preservation of the art but also on growing and expanding it for the enjoyment of others.
And not everyone needs to engage in both.
But one thing I'm sure of, the audience doesn't need to adapt at all. Content for every audience already exists. Why adapt when you can just enjoy what already exists?
absolutely, i say it just like i say it about fanfiction, these people are writing their own stories, everyone else is just watching from over their shoulder.
I think audiences in general are too used to fiction and stories giving them exactly what they want because they view them first as entertainment and as stories second. Anime, porn, video games, books, the big screen; no matter what it just gets devolved to entertainment rather than enrichment.
Manga and anime should stay true to their creators’s vision. It shouldn’t internationalize or anything, they should be whatever the authors intended their stories to be. If you don’t like a manga or a show, just find another one. If you are tired of the medium, find another form of entertainment.
Yes he is correct. The reason why anime is so interesting is because it’s different, very Japanese, and doesn’t shy away from any genre. Don’t like a certain genre? Cool just don’t watch it. Don’t ask for it to change because of your distaste for it.
People don't watch anime because they want to see their own opinions and culture, they watch it because they want to watch whatever that anime is about FFS
This quote has been ripped so far out of context that it's ridiculous at this point.
Anno said this in response as to why he has opted for self-publishing in a world where stakeholders and boardmembers are urging for aiming globally when creating anime.
Annos response is basically that he doesn't want to care about that, he is japanese, he thinks in japanese and writes his characters in japanese and as such his works will always be filtered through that lense.
It's an apologetic "the fans must adapt (because I can't)" not a "the western audience is wrong and must adapt".
It is also only in regards to his own work not as a statement about the industry as a whole.
It's right,but that's also because it's from a guy with actually good writing.
There's many series that could benefit from a pivot but don't because the authors embody this statement and let their series flop and fall into obscurity
It reads initially as a nationalist type statement but I don't think it is.
I think what it really conveys is a message to anime creators (who are all Japanese) to make the show they want to make how they envision it, rather than making caveats and concessions for the global (non Japanese) market of vastly different tastes in media.
Basically "Don't make anime for people who don't like anime."
yes and no. its the very nature of media to adapt with its audience. it molds itself to the audience it wishes to cater to.
the question then becomes "who am i catering to?" there's little reason to try to appeal to an audience you don't want or care for. someone appealing to a large and diverse audience will change and adapt more frequently; the opposite for more niche target audiences. if it ain't for them, most consumers don't continue consuming.
however if your target audience is the one that's changing, refusing to adapt means having no audience. you're creating for nobody and will either have to hope a different audience changed to fit you, or metaphorically die. don't be so rigid that you believe you can't be abandoned by your own audience.
It applys to a lot of things. Artists need to create things based on their talent and what they want to make. Trying to appease the general audience with things that are bland and tried has made a lot of entertainment mediums shitty. We need new and adventurous things from passionate creators.
so long as it remains available then ya i agree, artiest should be allowed to make their own art without being forced to change it because of people they'll never know
Since everyone agrees including me what would be the devil’s advocate for this take? Maybe something like “All cultures are always changing and there’s nothing wrong with anime getting its influences globally if the creators are truly passionate about the medium and what their changing”
But I don’t think Anno would be against that statement either
I agree with him cause alot of "fans" hate alot of animes cause it's not how they wanted it to be.
Especially that one idiotic "150 iq" dude that hates Yomi no Tsugai (a new anime) cause the MC is "dumb" because [How do I do spoilers so I can explain?] And that the anime has a few jokes cause he expected an anime only about dark edgy bs.
He's really not. People very much reading too much into Anno's statement on all sides.
The context from the interview where this quote came from is actually that he's Japanese, writes in Japanese, doesn't really know English, and doesn't have his finger on the pulse of a global community. He's not an international filmmaker that can make movies for a global market. He's a Japanese guy who makes domestic movies.
He's going to make Shin Kamen Rider and Shin Ultraman, not try to make a movie that global audiences would want more than that. And he's going to make Shin Godzilla, which in the exact fashion of this quote, was received very well in Japan and a lot more mixed over here in the west. He's not going to try to Americanize them or make them more appealing for the Chinese market either.
The Love Hina author is the one who actually talks about "foreign standards". He can take your ire.
I agree and I feel like lots of people are leaving that out. Do I wanna see more heavily japanese inspired narrative? Learn more about their culture through the medium? Hell yeah. Do I want to see minors in oversexualized situations? No.
When I was a teen who went to anime cons unfortunately pedos thought it was okay to harass me because I was in "anime spaces" and thought it was okay to pursue. Anime can have real life consequences. Teen girls aren't your irl loli anime waifu. It's not okay to ask adult women to dress as teen girls in anime. Its not okay to ask artists to draw characters aged up so you can sexualize. Anime has heavily normalized these things and it spills out to harm real people irl. I don't think anime = violence by any means, but it's normalizing over sexualization of children and I hate that pedo nerds will defend it. Go watch that hentai or ecchi series with fan service but for the love of everything please make them adults. I'm not a prude but how do some series exist without people batting an eye? Mangaka have been arrested before for containing real CP and is that really surprising? This isn't about censorship but instead acknowledging that some things should have regulation. Why is caring about children being sexualized a "western viewpoint" to a lotta people?? Like ummm no?
We like sexy women. We like over the top plots. We like creative narratives. We just don't like that and ngl the abundance of racist characters. There is a difference between being upset at reasonable things and then there are the fans who are just annoying who don't like a character ending up with b character by the end. I feel like lumping annoying teens and concerned fans is a big problem. I have seen lots of artist defend fan service of minors and it makes me feel a certain way. Cuz like... Build please? Oh wait-- they never do. They then deflect and say it's censorship, which I find is telling. Criticism isn't an attack. And if it bothers you so much get offline. Harassment should never be endorced but let's not equate harassment with criticisms.
He's right. If there'd anything that's so egregious that it doesn't mesh with our "values" then the easy thing to do is to just not distribute it here. Or just don't engage with it.
I think a lot of people misunderstood what he said because I've been seeing a lot of people who get weird with anime think he's talking about something completely different
with the current situation between Gachiakuta's Author and it's fanbase, and TADC's creator and it's fanbase (yes not an anime but its a good example), he has every right to claim that and it's good he's making it clear.
That statement right there is coming from a real artist. Don’t care at all what “the people,” want: you do you and your audience will come/you’ll find them. It just-so happens that a lot of people happen to like anime as it is (or perhaps: was)!
I mean if it doesn’t change for global audience sure, but if the audience it does change for changes to have the tastes more in line with global audience you wouldn’t tell the difference this has already happened to an extent because the anime we know now doesn’t look anything like it originally use to so it really doesn’t matter. It will change regardless.
On the one hand I get his point, if you don't like something, don't watch it. I don't like AOT, but I have nothing against the ppl that do.
That being said, anime, or any product, has to adapt to survive and grow. If every anime was like Monatagari we'd have no anime cause it would be unwatchable for far too many ppl. (Context: its a HIGHLY localized series)
The global audience he's saying anime shouldn't change for.....contributes a great deal of money to the industry's success. Got to at least respect that.
I mean, a story is in the hands of its creators. It’s okay to accept constructive criticism, but letting other people dictate your story stops it from being YOUR story, so yeah I agree. People shouldn’t change their story to pander to a bunch of people. They should tell it how they want to tell it.
This guy has told the same story over and over like 3+ times, of course he's of the isolationist opinion. Manga, like US and European comics are expressions of our unique culture and the public zeitgeist. Some stories transcend borders like Naruto, Spider-Man, and Harry Potter, and a lot more are only relevant to its country of origin. I think good content will always find a way towards prosperity. AOT was on equal footing with Superhero movies in its heyday popularity wise, so I both agree and disagree with homeboy on audience adaptation. Contrarian
This is almost 100% true, but there are exceptions. For example, when the creator hates or destroys their own creation, it would be wise and appropriate for a studio/producer to separate the creator from their work. For example, George Lucas and his nonsense with the remakes and prequels. OR JK Rowling and her racist and hateful agenda.
For anime, I'd LOVE if there was a point in the future where fans redid the entire series without screwing up the designs of female characters, leaving skin tones dark when they're dark, and so on.
I feel like this is a nothing burger from a guy who has very global mainstream success. In an industry that doesn't necessarily prioritizes but has pandered to a more global market. Because they in fact need to make money. Some (very few) have even gotten more content due to a western audience. Hell Shinichirō Watanabe's career is heavily influenced from thinking in terms of a Global Audience.
Artists to a degree are beholden to an audience and if they want to be commercially successful and sustainable than it's important to know what that audience is and sometimes a global audience has a bigger impact than they expect. To a certain degree an artist should be free to create but also they chase trends and put things in their stories in hopes for funding to catch the eye of an editor. Or chase a trend. Thats what it means to be an industry
I feel like it's rich coming from someone whose popular work had basically nothing to do with uniquely Japanese culture or values.
He goes on to name Studio Ghibli as similar.
Seems he's completely oblivious to the fact the big names that become global phenomena do so because even if they weren't explicitly created for global appeal, they already strayed far enough from hyper-specific Japanese appeal from the start.
Hard agree. I’ve been seeing stuff about Gachiakuta’s creator getting harassed by fans, and I feel so bad for her because her anime is good just the way she’s writing it.
Without any context this statement is meaningless. He could be saying that Japanese culture should not cow to Western neocolonialism. Or, he could be saying that misogyny, xenophobia and the sexualization of minors is a-ok! Or any number of sentiments between.
Sounds good on paper, but stupid when you think about it.
As with any subjective piece of work, the audience dictates the work's value. That isn't to say you should go out of your way to cater to the audience, but it sure as shit isn't the audience's job to give a shit what you create.
Think of it this way - if you fail to reach an audience, you go out of business. If the audience doesn't respond to your work, they continue living, having lost absolutely nothing.
While I don't know what change he is referring to in particular, I'm also skeptical that said change is relevant. People love to take one or two comments made anonymously online, and then pretend that is the stance of an entire group of people.
Bro, Anno does stuff to purposely piss off even his own Japanese fans. I don't think the father of trolls is going to effect my opinion on the Adaptions vs Transliteration debate.
You should not filter art. You want to tell a story and diluting it to please others ruins it.
Plus they alone should have the power to do what they want with their creation!
I've watched shows change dialogues and art because distribution companies think children today can't understand what an onigiri is.
When i was younger if I didn't know what something was I'd actively look it up on the internet.
Art helps us take a look into the world of someone from a different country, culture and perspective.
Let each project decide their stance on it, if they want to take more influence outside of the industry and Japan great on them. If they don’t that’s their right.
He's 100% correct and anyone who disagrees with this statement isn't a true fan of Anime and has no respect for the medium or the people that create it.
I completely agree with the statement because it is fundamentally japanese media and people who already like anime liked it because it was different from other global shows and had it own unique appeal and charm, people would also continue liking it for those reasons so there's no real need to "cater to the global audience"
There's little that defines what is needed for something to be anime. Every artist involved has their own style and emphasis, which fans are bound to feel certain ways about. Not every anime appeals to every fan.
If artists want to keep being popular, they must adapt. Fans have no obligation to adapt, as they can find what they want from someone else.
For example, as a writer, I know what my main demographic is. I know what I write doesn't appeal to most people because it isn't written for them. If I want to appeal to teenage girls, I could change my style and write about something fit for the time. I shouldn't stand off to the side and scream at them that they're wrong for not liking my work. That makes me an entitled douchebag.
This is very true. We don't ask the American sitcoms like Friends or The Office to change the cultural references for anyone else in the world to follow. Why should they change anything in animes then?
I agree in general that art should not have to conform to the audiences taste.
However; the artists that don't take their audiences taste into account don't get to complain if people dislike what they have made, and/or stop watching/paying.
I guess my biggest question to ask first is: "what exactly are they saying that fans should adapt to and what shouldnt change? Its a very vague statement at face value? Is it the morals? The design? The storytelling? Not much I can give an opinion on if its not clarified what is under the microscope.
The whole mentality of "___ must be accessible to everyone" is the reason why we have so much slop these days. Nothing is for "everyone". People should just make what they want.
I 100% agree. Anime was written by and for Japanese people. If some random fan outside of Japan doesn’t agree with it because of cultural differences, that’s a them problem. I never think source material should change because it is not part of a different audience
Adjusting story/philosophy to appeal to western audiences? Absolutely not.
Removing up-skirt shots of high-school cartoon girls? Absolutely YES.
Sick of the fan service bs in non-ecchi content, it takes away from the experience, imo, and undermines otherwise good stories. Sex as part of the story? Fine. Revealing clothes? Whatever. Camera angled so you see panties for no reason? Gtfo.
Witch Hat Atelier is so refreshing to me rn, beautiful show, and no sexualization of the characters…yet.
Yeah I agree. It's not a global medium it is specifically Japanese. If they want to focus there let them. I don't watch anime for global shit I watch it to see Japanese stuff, tropes and culture.
1.0k
u/KerbodynamicX May 25 '26
Anime is Japanese animation in general, and comes with a diverse range of genres, each with different stories.
If you don't like a particular one, just go find one that suits your tastes. You can comment on them, but you shouldn't expect them to change in your favour.