I first got into anime in '96 where it seemed like anime was very much a fringe interest. Have things changed to the extent where its been accepted into the mainstream?
I think anime has been "mainstream" for a long time. There are plenty of Pokemon and Yugioh! fans. Even before then, we had Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon.
Of course, I also feel that the anime fad has receded again. It feels as if there isn't as much fresh new material and enthusiasm has just subsided. You missed the party.
I think anime has been "mainstream" for a long time. There are plenty of Pokemon and Yugioh! fans. Even before then, we had Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon.
Of course, I also feel that the anime fad has receded again. It feels as if there isn't as much fresh new material and enthusiasm has just subsided. You missed the party.
Well what prompted this inquiry was all the media time, the various "Cons" were getting. DBZ has been popular in the past...then again, so has star trek, and I wouldnt call star trek mainstream.
It depends on your definition of 'mainstream'. Speed Racer was a huge hit in the US in 60's. Other shows are quite popular among younger children (Pokemon anyone?). The thing with anime is that it is a medium not a genre. Certain subset of anime are popular with different groups of people. I doubt there are many senior citizens watching the latest harem high school drama as there would be boys in their teens/early twenties.
Overall there has been more Japanese written shows in the US, so anime has increased in popularity since the 90's but it depends on how you define what is 'mainstream' to determine if anime is now 'mainstream'.
Its been pretty huge for a while. Last five years or so especially. all of the cons and conventions add to it
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Has it gone "mainstream"? No. Not until scorcese makes an anime flick. Then it'll be hip, cool, and acceptable. Until thin it's just like M:TG to the mainstream: something dorks, nerds, and geeks do. Which is sad. People miss out on some great films(visually and story wise) because of it.
Because conservative bias is a far, far worse thing. Liberal bias doesn't, statistically speaking, make people stupid. Conservative bias (or at least Fox's version of it) does.
There's a difference here to be noted. Anime is definitely not mainstream. It's not something that's viewed as reasonable for all ages to watch and it's not something that could air on anything other than a specialized network here, which is why it's mostly limited to the online community, streaming services such as Crunchyroll and Netflix, and digital cable channels.
I WOULD say, in a more general sense, it's popular. That is, it's something most people know what it is and have probably seen a little bit of (Thanks to things like Adult Swim and Toonami back in the day).
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Don´t yell at me, I know there is a difference but in contrast to other genres, its very hard for people who know nothing about anime to find a good one (mature one).
I absolutely agree here. Unless you know exactly where to go online or know someone who shares a similar taste in anime as you it's kinda difficult to find the "good stuff." That's more to do with the fact that anime is less a genre and more a form and also because of how many types of genres within anime there are.
I'd give it another 40 years or so, where nearly everyone who currently holds executive power in a TV network or film studio is dead and replaced with someone who saw Naruto or DBZ as a kid is in charge.
Most people know what anime is, but couldn't name any other than Pokemon and Dragonball Z.
Most people in our demographic know what anime is and could name Pokémon and Dragonball Z. But do you really think the Mitt Romneys of the world do? The stodgy, unhip over-40 crowd may be by definition out of touch with pop culture trends, but for precisely that reason they're the best indicator of when something has gone mainstream. I guarantee you Romney knows what Star Trek, The Lord of the Rings, and Superman are.
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Something is main stream if a large portion of the populace across all ages know what it is. I don't think anime is out of its "niche" yet. Not many people outside of either the "nerd" culture or their mid to late twenties know what Anime is. Its still something that appeals to a very specific demographic. That's not bad, it just doesnt mean you should count on it as a topic to bring up when meeting strangers.
Video games are gaining among women in market share, and the older "casual gamer" crowd is more likely to be interested in stuff like Farmville which has more of a traditional American comic book or cartoon feel.
Outside of some really good films, for the most part "no." However to deny an influence would be absurd. If you get stuff like Dragonball Z, people get turned off, if you get more stuff like Princess Monoke or Avatar: The Last Airbender then people are more willing to watch either direct Anime or inspired.
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Well what prompted this inquiry was all the media time, the various "Cons" were getting. DBZ has been popular in the past...then again, so has star trek, and I wouldnt call star trek mainstream.
That's funny. I'd say $385+ box office and an upcoming sequel would say different.
Has it gone "mainstream"? No. Not until scorcese makes an anime flick. Then it'll be hip, cool, and acceptable. Until thin it's just like M:TG to the mainstream: something dorks, nerds, and geeks do. Which is sad. People miss out on some great films(visually and story wise) because of it.
How has it not gone mainstream? Yu-Gi-Oh is still on Saturday morning network television. It's been translated to English since the 1960s. Everyone knows what a Pokemon is. You can win a giant Pokemon at just about every theme park in the US. I know, i have one . Hell, Scorsese is less mainstream than Pokemon.
Most people in our demographic know what anime is and could name Pokémon and Dragonball Z. But do you really think the Mitt Romneys of the world do? The stodgy, unhip over-40 crowd may be by definition out of touch with pop culture trends, but for precisely that reason they're the best indicator of when something has gone mainstream. I guarantee you Romney knows what Star Trek, The Lord of the Rings, and Superman are.
Do you honestly think Mitt Romney doesn't have kids/grand kids/nieces/nephews? If he has had a child in his house for any amount of time over the last 15 years or so, then he knows what a Pokemon is.
To the OP, yes, anime went mainstream a long time ago. It's just that most of the hardcore fans are on the fringe. But, considering my children have dozens of Pokemon, Digimon, Dragonball Z, and Naruto DVDs without me having introduced them to it, I'd say it went mainstream.
Do you honestly think Mitt Romney doesn't have kids/grand kids/nieces/nephews? If he has had a child in his house for any amount of time over the last 15 years or so, then he knows what a Pokemon is.
Okay, yeah, you're right, everybody knows what a Pokémon is. But that makes one franchise*. Everything else is hugely dependent on what the kids are into. If the kids are into Yu-Gi-Oh, he'll know a bit about Yu-Gi-Oh. If the kids are into Dragonball Z, he'll know a bit about Dragonball Z. But the kids being into something doesn't make it mainstream. When I was a kid I was nuts about Asterix the Gaul, so my parents absorbed a certain familiarity with the franchise. But they're probably in a distinct minority of Americans who can even recognize any of the characters. Different kids are going to subject their families to different involuntary pop-culture educations. None of it is necessarily mainstream. I can mention Batman, Captain Kirk, Frodo Baggins, or (yes) Pikachu at a dinner party with strangers and expect them to get the reference. Asterix? No. Naruto? No. Cloud Strife? No. Light Yagami and Luffy? I didn't know those names until I wiki'ed their series just now.
*For which the anime isn't even the flagship, but now I'm splitting hairs.
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I think anime peaked in "mainstream" popularity in the late 90s to early 2000s, as you had Pokemon, Dragonball Z, and Sailor Moon all enjoying relatively large amounts of success, with Pokemon becoming pretty much the only anime to become a big time mainstream success, although that is largely due to it being a tie-in to the video game series. I don't think any show that has come after those has reached the same level of popularity, partly due to the rise in fan subs and piracy, which really hurt US anime distributors (They also went way overboard in licensing in the early 2000s, causing more than a few to go bust). Miyazaki movies are probably the closest currently as they get major domestic releases, but they are far from blockbusters.
Yeah acpc2203 hit the nail on the head there, Japanese Anime/Manga nowadays have basically divided in terms of the Japanese demographic and American demographic. The problem right now is that Japan hasn't been making very many creative series as much as they had back in the 1980's and 1990's which is a huge shame. Now it's mostly just stuff oriented to Slice of Life, Fanservice, J-Pop, and more series being targeted to a female audience instead of a mix between both genders. You could say part of the problem has to do with the kid to teen demographic in Japan, it's not the same as it was back in the 80's and 90's.
I think there has been problems lately in the past trying to correctly distribute Anime/Manga series online to try to solve the ongoing problems with Online Piracy and having to rely more on Japanese Fansubs. People will always prefer Subs over Dubs and vice-versa, that's just how society has been nowadays. The problem is that If you don't correctly distribute Dubs overseas you're going to have major problems. 4Kids used to be good but they haven't been doing their job very well after the success of Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokemon.
Naruto was falsely mainstreamed as a possible successor to Dragonball Z but it failed miserably and with it the inevitable downfall of Cartoon Network's Toonami block. Bleach came along on Adult Swim and did fine but most people labeled it as a rip-off of Yu Yu Hakusho and Rurouni Kenshin but I still enjoyed it. One Piece was the franchise that should of gotten more recognition than it got in the U.S. and 4Kids hurt it's success here the most even though FUNimation tried to make up for it they fell way behind from Japan to catch up unfortunately.
Code Geass is good just not mainstream good, it's too much like a mix between Gundam and V for Vendetta even though it's not Anime. Death Note was pretty good in terms of story and plot, it was like watching a Western Movie Thriller in Anime form which was very interesting for it's time frame. The Internet has basically revolutionized what is mainstream and what's not, it basically made it to where NOTHING is mainstream anymore cause people now have more control of what content they are exposed of and it makes it hard to distinguish If the majority of a said population is into that sort of thing or not.
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Okay, yeah, you're right, everybody knows what a Pokémon is. But that makes one franchise*. Everything else is hugely dependent on what the kids are into. If the kids are into Yu-Gi-Oh, he'll know a bit about Yu-Gi-Oh. If the kids are into Dragonball Z, he'll know a bit about Dragonball Z. But the kids being into something doesn't make it mainstream. When I was a kid I was nuts about Asterix the Gaul, so my parents absorbed a certain familiarity with the franchise. But they're probably in a distinct minority of Americans who can even recognize any of the characters. Different kids are going to subject their families to different involuntary pop-culture educations. None of it is necessarily mainstream. I can mention Batman, Captain Kirk, Frodo Baggins, or (yes) Pikachu at a dinner party with strangers and expect them to get the reference. Asterix? No. Naruto? No. Cloud Strife? No. Light Yagami and Luffy? I didn't know those names until I wiki'ed their series just now.
*For which the anime isn't even the flagship, but now I'm splitting hairs.
As I said, the concept hasn't been niche for close to two decades, if not longer. The fans of certain shows/types of shows are still niche audiences. I do have a tough time imagining anyone who was in college during the late 80s to early 90s having not seen Akira, Ninja Scroll, and/or Ghost in the Shell and those people are mostly parents now. Hell, some of them are probably grandparents. IMO, it's been mainstream.
The Internet has basically revolutionized what is mainstream and what's not, it basically made it to where NOTHING is mainstream anymore cause people now have more control of what content they are exposed of and it makes it hard to distinguish If the majority of a said population is into that sort of thing or not.
I pretty much completely disagree with this. Yes, people can seek out and partake of very specific forms of media, but, given access to so much information, everyone knows everything about everything (or thinks they do). I think the internet is slowly making all of us jacks of all trades but master of none. Everyone can stop what they're doing to look something up on their smart phones when they encounter something they aren't familiar with. I think everything is mainstream, so long as anyone is even slightly curious about it.
Yeah acpc2203 hit the nail on the head there, Japanese Anime/Manga nowadays have basically divided in terms of the Japanese demographic and American demographic. The problem right now is that Japan hasn't been making very many creative series as much as they had back in the 1980's and 1990's which is a huge shame. Now it's mostly just stuff oriented to Slice of Life, Fanservice, J-Pop, and more series being targeted to a female audience instead of a mix between both genders. You could say part of the problem has to do with the kid to teen demographic in Japan, it's not the same as it was back in the 80's and 90's.
Both Madoka and Ano Hana made splashes in the anime world last year with their enormous amount of popularity and creativity. Heaven's Memo Pad, Steins;Gate, amongst other anime series did well as plot-driven anime that moves away from the Slice of Life character driven anime. Gosick was a fantastically written anime as well. Fate/Zero remains amazing even into its current season. Another was an interesting take on horror tropes. Mawaru Penguindrum was an interesting psychological thriller that harkens back to Lain. Shiki does vampires right. It's not that there isn't a bunch of anime that isn't good, it's just that it's harder to find amongst all the fan service. This isn't any different from any other medium where one has to go through trash to get to the treasure.
I have no problems with a series targeted towards a female audience. It's just like how there are series with target to the male audience, which are arguably still more plentiful.
I think there has been problems lately in the past trying to correctly distribute Anime/Manga series online to try to solve the ongoing problems with Online Piracy and having to rely more on Japanese Fansubs. People will always prefer Subs over Dubs and vice-versa, that's just how society has been nowadays. The problem is that If you don't correctly distribute Dubs overseas you're going to have major problems. 4Kids used to be good but they haven't been doing their job very well after the success of Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokemon.
The problem is in price. A season of anime costs more than a season of your average American TV show. Keep that in mind when you're thinking about competition. The problem here is that the companies are moving toward the Japanese model and toward being more expensive than being more accessible (Fate/Zero season 1 costs 350 dollars. Madoka costs 3 separate installments of 85-90 dollars). Just the sheer cost of buying these anime on Blu-Ray is so much that it obviously is a massive barrier for entry. Even manga is too expensive, with American licensing companies pricing the manga at about twice as much as manga that's translated to Chinese.
The issue here is that we've shrunk to about 3 major companies that are very risk-adverse that decided to try to milk as much out of the current fanbase by hiking prices up as opposed to trying to reach out and compete with lower prices against TV shows. You can only do so much with crunchyroll, considering how niche that website is.
We do have one thing to look at as well: how is it that in places like Hong Kong manga is mainstream (i.e. the popular anime/manga stuff are everywhere) whereas places like the US has a lot of difficulty catching the mainstream audience? I don't actually have the answer for that.
Both Madoka and Ano Hana made splashes in the anime world last year with their enormous amount of popularity and creativity. Heaven's Memo Pad, Steins;Gate, amongst other anime series did well as plot-driven anime that moves away from the Slice of Life character driven anime.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica is what happens when you mix Master of Martial Hearts with Sailor Moon which is a HORRIBLE combination. Most of the other Anime/Manga you just mentioned are terrible as it mainly seems to appeal to an Eastern demographic than both Eastern and Western demographics. Sure just because it moves away from the Slice of Life genre doesn't necessarily mean that it's great by any means. New Anime sucks these days because Japan is only going with what's successful in their own country instead of taking risks being creative with something new and innovative that doesn't alienate Western audiences even though they stopped appealing to them since the late 90's and early to mid 2000's.
Gosick was a fantastically written anime as well. Fate/Zero remains amazing even into its current season. Another was an interesting take on horror tropes. Mawaru Penguindrum was an interesting psychological thriller that harkens back to Lain. Shiki does vampires right. It's not that there isn't a bunch of anime that isn't good, it's just that it's harder to find amongst all the fan service. This isn't any different from any other medium where one has to go through trash to get to the treasure.
Fate/Zero was a big turnoff for me, it's not even that good although I may have watched some episodes of it online out of sheer boredom at one point a few years ago. Point being that Mainstream Anime/Manga hasn't been as good as it was back in the late 90's and early to mid 2000's, sure there were a few major successes such as Eureka Seven and Fullmetal Alchemist but aside from that Cardfight!! Vanguard kept me hooked and that's pretty much the only main Anime series I watch anymore these days since I've seen just about every good Anime series out there although I have been falling behind on the One Piece Anime lately. As for Sword Art Online (SAO) it's basically just a .hack// clone that also reminds me too much of the MMORPG genre.
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"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
I'd say the fact that people now debate the quality of dubs (which, in any anime forum, ranges from "bad" to "execrable", and if you like it, that's what "bad" is for) shows that, yes, anime has gone mainstream.
Also, major television networks have had anime lineups for well over a decade now.
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Maybe a little too mainstream. I'll explain: When I first started at the Art Institute, in the Game Art & Design program, it was stated by a few teachers that if all of your art/style is anime, then you might as well leave the school. Geek culture has become so over saturated w/ anime that no more anime designers are needed. This doesn't mean that is unwanted, it just means that game design standards are reaching beyond anime/manga styles. If one is stuck in anime tunnel vision, they will not find any work in the game industry (video games, not CCG's or other non-digital games).
Fate/Zero was a big turnoff for me, it's not even that good although I may have watched some episodes of it online out of sheer boredom at one point a few years ago.
A few years? Clearly you have no idea what you are talking about.
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Of course, I also feel that the anime fad has receded again. It feels as if there isn't as much fresh new material and enthusiasm has just subsided. You missed the party.
Well what prompted this inquiry was all the media time, the various "Cons" were getting. DBZ has been popular in the past...then again, so has star trek, and I wouldnt call star trek mainstream.
Overall there has been more Japanese written shows in the US, so anime has increased in popularity since the 90's but it depends on how you define what is 'mainstream' to determine if anime is now 'mainstream'.
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I WOULD say, in a more general sense, it's popular. That is, it's something most people know what it is and have probably seen a little bit of (Thanks to things like Adult Swim and Toonami back in the day).
Edit:
I absolutely agree here. Unless you know exactly where to go online or know someone who shares a similar taste in anime as you it's kinda difficult to find the "good stuff." That's more to do with the fact that anime is less a genre and more a form and also because of how many types of genres within anime there are.
Its getting there, with Disney distributing Miyazaki films. The latest ad for Disney world is distinctly anime (and quite beautiful, too).
I'd say it has become mainstream when most adults stop referring to it as "cartoons." While, strictly speaking, anime _is_ a cartoon, "cartoon" in this case is often laden with negative connotations -- kiddie stuff.
I'd give it another 40 years or so, where nearly everyone who currently holds executive power in a TV network or film studio is dead and replaced with someone who saw Naruto or DBZ as a kid is in charge.
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Most people in our demographic know what anime is and could name Pokémon and Dragonball Z. But do you really think the Mitt Romneys of the world do? The stodgy, unhip over-40 crowd may be by definition out of touch with pop culture trends, but for precisely that reason they're the best indicator of when something has gone mainstream. I guarantee you Romney knows what Star Trek, The Lord of the Rings, and Superman are.
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Outside of some really good films, for the most part "no." However to deny an influence would be absurd. If you get stuff like Dragonball Z, people get turned off, if you get more stuff like Princess Monoke or Avatar: The Last Airbender then people are more willing to watch either direct Anime or inspired.
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Individualities may form communities, but it is institutions alone that can create a nation.
Nothing succeeds like the appearance of success.
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That's funny. I'd say $385+ box office and an upcoming sequel would say different.
How has it not gone mainstream? Yu-Gi-Oh is still on Saturday morning network television. It's been translated to English since the 1960s. Everyone knows what a Pokemon is. You can win a giant Pokemon at just about every theme park in the US. I know, i have one . Hell, Scorsese is less mainstream than Pokemon.
Do you honestly think Mitt Romney doesn't have kids/grand kids/nieces/nephews? If he has had a child in his house for any amount of time over the last 15 years or so, then he knows what a Pokemon is.
To the OP, yes, anime went mainstream a long time ago. It's just that most of the hardcore fans are on the fringe. But, considering my children have dozens of Pokemon, Digimon, Dragonball Z, and Naruto DVDs without me having introduced them to it, I'd say it went mainstream.
Code Geass- is non-mainstream (Best anime you have to see now!)
Death Note is kind of mainstream and it's good
One Piece is probably the worst mainstream anime I know
Not to mention old favorites like Dragon Ball, Ghost Fighter/Yuyu Hakusho and heck Yu Gi Oh, Pokemon, and Digimon.
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Okay, yeah, you're right, everybody knows what a Pokémon is. But that makes one franchise*. Everything else is hugely dependent on what the kids are into. If the kids are into Yu-Gi-Oh, he'll know a bit about Yu-Gi-Oh. If the kids are into Dragonball Z, he'll know a bit about Dragonball Z. But the kids being into something doesn't make it mainstream. When I was a kid I was nuts about Asterix the Gaul, so my parents absorbed a certain familiarity with the franchise. But they're probably in a distinct minority of Americans who can even recognize any of the characters. Different kids are going to subject their families to different involuntary pop-culture educations. None of it is necessarily mainstream. I can mention Batman, Captain Kirk, Frodo Baggins, or (yes) Pikachu at a dinner party with strangers and expect them to get the reference. Asterix? No. Naruto? No. Cloud Strife? No. Light Yagami and Luffy? I didn't know those names until I wiki'ed their series just now.
*For which the anime isn't even the flagship, but now I'm splitting hairs.
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I think there has been problems lately in the past trying to correctly distribute Anime/Manga series online to try to solve the ongoing problems with Online Piracy and having to rely more on Japanese Fansubs. People will always prefer Subs over Dubs and vice-versa, that's just how society has been nowadays. The problem is that If you don't correctly distribute Dubs overseas you're going to have major problems. 4Kids used to be good but they haven't been doing their job very well after the success of Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokemon.
Naruto was falsely mainstreamed as a possible successor to Dragonball Z but it failed miserably and with it the inevitable downfall of Cartoon Network's Toonami block. Bleach came along on Adult Swim and did fine but most people labeled it as a rip-off of Yu Yu Hakusho and Rurouni Kenshin but I still enjoyed it. One Piece was the franchise that should of gotten more recognition than it got in the U.S. and 4Kids hurt it's success here the most even though FUNimation tried to make up for it they fell way behind from Japan to catch up unfortunately.
Code Geass is good just not mainstream good, it's too much like a mix between Gundam and V for Vendetta even though it's not Anime. Death Note was pretty good in terms of story and plot, it was like watching a Western Movie Thriller in Anime form which was very interesting for it's time frame. The Internet has basically revolutionized what is mainstream and what's not, it basically made it to where NOTHING is mainstream anymore cause people now have more control of what content they are exposed of and it makes it hard to distinguish If the majority of a said population is into that sort of thing or not.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
As I said, the concept hasn't been niche for close to two decades, if not longer. The fans of certain shows/types of shows are still niche audiences. I do have a tough time imagining anyone who was in college during the late 80s to early 90s having not seen Akira, Ninja Scroll, and/or Ghost in the Shell and those people are mostly parents now. Hell, some of them are probably grandparents. IMO, it's been mainstream.
I pretty much completely disagree with this. Yes, people can seek out and partake of very specific forms of media, but, given access to so much information, everyone knows everything about everything (or thinks they do). I think the internet is slowly making all of us jacks of all trades but master of none. Everyone can stop what they're doing to look something up on their smart phones when they encounter something they aren't familiar with. I think everything is mainstream, so long as anyone is even slightly curious about it.
Both Madoka and Ano Hana made splashes in the anime world last year with their enormous amount of popularity and creativity. Heaven's Memo Pad, Steins;Gate, amongst other anime series did well as plot-driven anime that moves away from the Slice of Life character driven anime. Gosick was a fantastically written anime as well. Fate/Zero remains amazing even into its current season. Another was an interesting take on horror tropes. Mawaru Penguindrum was an interesting psychological thriller that harkens back to Lain. Shiki does vampires right. It's not that there isn't a bunch of anime that isn't good, it's just that it's harder to find amongst all the fan service. This isn't any different from any other medium where one has to go through trash to get to the treasure.
I have no problems with a series targeted towards a female audience. It's just like how there are series with target to the male audience, which are arguably still more plentiful.
The problem is in price. A season of anime costs more than a season of your average American TV show. Keep that in mind when you're thinking about competition. The problem here is that the companies are moving toward the Japanese model and toward being more expensive than being more accessible (Fate/Zero season 1 costs 350 dollars. Madoka costs 3 separate installments of 85-90 dollars). Just the sheer cost of buying these anime on Blu-Ray is so much that it obviously is a massive barrier for entry. Even manga is too expensive, with American licensing companies pricing the manga at about twice as much as manga that's translated to Chinese.
The issue here is that we've shrunk to about 3 major companies that are very risk-adverse that decided to try to milk as much out of the current fanbase by hiking prices up as opposed to trying to reach out and compete with lower prices against TV shows. You can only do so much with crunchyroll, considering how niche that website is.
We do have one thing to look at as well: how is it that in places like Hong Kong manga is mainstream (i.e. the popular anime/manga stuff are everywhere) whereas places like the US has a lot of difficulty catching the mainstream audience? I don't actually have the answer for that.
燃える時計秘密めく花の香り
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Puella Magi Madoka Magica is what happens when you mix Master of Martial Hearts with Sailor Moon which is a HORRIBLE combination. Most of the other Anime/Manga you just mentioned are terrible as it mainly seems to appeal to an Eastern demographic than both Eastern and Western demographics. Sure just because it moves away from the Slice of Life genre doesn't necessarily mean that it's great by any means. New Anime sucks these days because Japan is only going with what's successful in their own country instead of taking risks being creative with something new and innovative that doesn't alienate Western audiences even though they stopped appealing to them since the late 90's and early to mid 2000's.
Fate/Zero was a big turnoff for me, it's not even that good although I may have watched some episodes of it online out of sheer boredom at one point a few years ago. Point being that Mainstream Anime/Manga hasn't been as good as it was back in the late 90's and early to mid 2000's, sure there were a few major successes such as Eureka Seven and Fullmetal Alchemist but aside from that Cardfight!! Vanguard kept me hooked and that's pretty much the only main Anime series I watch anymore these days since I've seen just about every good Anime series out there although I have been falling behind on the One Piece Anime lately. As for Sword Art Online (SAO) it's basically just a .hack// clone that also reminds me too much of the MMORPG genre.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Also, major television networks have had anime lineups for well over a decade now.
On phasing:
If you had written Hidamari Sketch instead of Master of Martial Hearts, this might have at least made some sense. But then you state:
A few years? Clearly you have no idea what you are talking about.
It's nice when an academic institution has the honesty to admit that they have nothing to teach.