In a recent opinion piece on Anime! Anime!, animation critic Ryota Fujitsu wrote about the medium’s rapid transformation from niche media to commodity, discussing whether this evolutionary path could be what marks “the end of anime. ”
Over the course of the past 20 years, what was once considered a nerdy art form has now pretty much become a global phenomenon . But with an increase in popularity comes the inevitable commoditization of the media, where works now appear more similar to each other due to market pressure and overabundance. While Fujitsu argues that any anime can be treated both as “art” and a “product,” he also points out that the trend towards it being a product has only strengthened in the past years and shows no signs of reversing. In an oversaturated market, viewers have become quicker to abandon shows if they don’t meet their expectations, knowing there are endless alternatives. With endless choices, audiences have begun selectively watching anime based not on what they like, but rather by what they don’t want to see. The sentiment has stuck around for decades and has only become more prevalent, leading anime to “naturally” lean into being perceived as an interchangeable “product” or a “commodity.”
Changes in streaming and advertising culture have also made their impact on anime, Fujitsu explains. He argues that video ads, short-form dramas and streaming services have used data on attention span and viewer drop-off points to standardize safer, more formulaic structures, and that anime might be pressured into taking on similar methods to compete. Furthermore, generative AI becoming more prevalent could lower production costs and shorten lead times, intensifying commoditization, with quantity and distribution channels mattering more than the inherent creativity of each show.
Fujitsu explains that commoditization has also shifted the viewer’s mindset. The average consumer has been drawn towards the mentality that entertainment can be “anything as long as it’s fun, pointing to the average viewer’s lack of agency to seek value beyond surface-level amusement.” Making works that stand-out from the norm is difficult nowadays, because, as he puts it, “no matter how unique the work may be, if the viewer deems it to be interchangeable, then the work has ceased to be art and turned into a commodity.”
He warns that the sentiment comes from a place of acceptance on the consumers part, that anime is nothing more than a commodity to pass time. If anime is not critically engaged with as “works”, they run the risk of fading into the background of an ever-growing sea of consumable products, drowned out by other more attention seeking short-form media. “When I think about ‘the end of anime,’ I often wonder if it might be a state where, at the end of commodification, people no longer seek meaning in the fact that a work is being expressed through the anime medium . Anime itself wouldn’t disappear, but no one would pay attention to its existence.”
Fujitsu concludes that it is important to have the capacity to engage with a piece of media on its level, in order to balance out the rapidly-progressing commoditization. For the ability to view anime as more than just a “children’s cartoon” is what allowed the medium to flourish, and that there is great value in critical perspectives to preserve the medium’s artistic side.
I have to look at the issue as a very longtime fan who came into the anime world because of a need for something that engaged me on levels that were ignored by mainstream Western mass media. I was attracted because it was different, not because it was comfortable or familiar. But now anime stylings have penetrated American youth culture to a huge degree. This is much more than I could have dreamed 35 years ago when I and my buddies had a watch club.
I recognize that I am not the target audience for any anime today, but I am concerned about the audience being sought by today’s productions. What is really being sold here?
I don’t know why this went to your reply as well
I think the seasonal structure of modern anime has also played a lot into this process as it’s another component of standardizing the process, as it’s built around bulk buying episodes of a series and Blu-ray sales, rather than actually being about making a better animated series, depending on the studio of course. Yes, contrary to popular belief, the seasonal format is NOT a fix to animation and pacing issues, sometimes it even makes things worse as studios try to stuff or stretch arcs that reasonably should be longer or shorter, respectively, into a 12 episode framework that is by no means one size fits all (despite the industry treating it as such.)
Now the seasonal form can and does work for many series, but imagine trying to fit DBZ or other og series into that kind of standardized setup, it just wouldn’t really work (even if you consider something like DBZ Kai which cuts out the majority of filler.)
Er… You do realize that it is not your place to dictate how people enjoy the product right? So what if they only get surface-level enjoyment. You have no right to say everyone need to engage with a media in order to derive value from it.
Sybau
I agree, tbh I only liked what he said here: Over the course of the past 20 years, what was once considered a nerdy art form has now pretty much become a global phenomenon.
But not this necessarily: Fujitsu explains that commoditization has also shifted the viewer’s mindset. The average consumer has been drawn towards the mentality that entertainment can be “anything as long as it’s fun, pointing to the average viewer’s lack of agency to seek value beyond surface-level amusement.”
This comes of as condescending and reducing people of their own genuine feeling of enjoyment, saying we “lack agency” just because we think not everything needs to be the most complex thing or serious thing ever or that we enjoying simple things is somehow shallow is such a bad take and ironically a shallow over generalization. Entertainment can be anything as long as it’s not truly harming others, it being fun or not is subjective.
(entertainment can be “anything as long as it’s fun, pointing to the average viewer’s lack of agency to seek value beyond surface-level amusement.”),🤷🏾♀️ that’s literally what entertainment is. Don’t forget, this is a critic saying this. Mosy of the population doesn’t trust critics. Everything we see value in; they see it as lower class trash. They preach about stuff we can never relate too. Every movie & tv show they prasie we will never see or watch. Every reward they honor so called “real art” is just boring. Pay this critic the same attention we do the others..nothing at all. When was the last time a single one of you watch a movie or a TV show a critic prasie?
Well actually, this isn’t wrong, the Anime world is oversaturated with Mediocrity. Regardless of how you try to splice it that s*** is mediocre stuff that’s coming out and the more we keep adding on to this mediocrity the more they’re going to keep spitting it out and the more people can keep eating it up and that’s why I already said it was the death of anime he just over here proving my point.
I love that Japanese people, especially their “industry experts”, are always complaining about anything, speaking doom and gloom situation of themselves everytime, yet they did nothing or didn’t even try to change that, even in the slightest move. At this point, there’s no need to take their words seriously anymore as long as they still have 0 action or plan to reverse the situation
The problem is with anime that is geared towards pleasing the audience, instead of pleasing its creators. The former is where you get bullshit like isekai and fanservice garbage, the latter is what people like Miyazaki or Satoshi Kon make.
The hell are you talking about tourist, there’s literally many fanservice anime that are genuinely great like Ghost in the Shell, Kill la Kill, Gurren Lagann, etc. Fanservice means pleasing the audience and the creator as well, many creators simply like fanservice naturally. You know what it’s because you guys have become so scared and ashamed as a society you can’t handle natural things anymore.
There’s literally nothing wrong with fanservice or pleasing your audience, even Hayao and Satoshi Kon did fanservice too. It’s because of people like you anime nowadays is getting even more censored.
So you wanna them to make anime that nobody likes it or even ask for??? You want creators who prioritize their own agendas instead of pleasing their audiences with good stuff?? Maybe you can go to She Hulk or other flopped western DEI shows instead.
Miyazaki and Satoshi Kon also pleased their audience very well btw, so they can push their innovative ideas while retaining their style
“I liked anime before it was popular. I want to gatekeep all these newbies so my cartoons are special like they used to be.”
It’s been a commodity since AstroBoy, this dude doesn’t deserve to be taken seriously.
It’s still niche.
The only reason it’s mainstream of a select few titles watched by COVID tourists.
They didn’t like anime before and they still don’t, only watching what’s hip and trendy.
The death of anime as an artwork is certainly going to come from people who treat it as nothing more than an entertainment product. For example, I think there is a very real risk of anime being overtaken by AI animation at this rate.
There are countless trending clips of animation which looks visually stunning but with minor defects and drawing inconsistencies… well, what happens when studios realize that spending less time on animating and drawing allows for more time on storyboarding and writing? What happens when they realize that such a process is incredibly more cost-efficient?
We might get one or two superior ‘products’, but it’ll certainly come at the cost of traditional animating skills as anime is commodified, alongside a wave of even more mindless mass-produced AI slop drowning the medium. And at that point it wouldn’t be a stretch to call it the death of the medium as a whole. Right now, recognition of the value of traditional animation skills is still keeping the medium alive, but I dread the day when that changes.
The main reason why this will not happen is two important factors. Number 1, Japan has robust Employee Protection laws, so much so that they can not be fired at all, and number 2 is that this is more of a mismanagement and misunderstanding of how to utilize Tools in the first place. AI is a tool, much like Photoshop and 3D was back in the day. The main issue here is everything is hugely focused on Algorithms and Data Driven Trends. This is not the main issue at all because it will be a Hybrid workflow, and what they are saying is much worse than you think.
Imagine it like this, Kadokawa and various other Companies are focusing hugely on Global expansion because the Domestic Audience is shrinking, so they use Data from MyAnimeList, Crunchyroll from views, likes, watch time,ratings, and various other metrics to make products for the Global Market. The main issue with this is it results in making template and generic content that nobody likes or will eventually find boring over time thus creating a commodity in the Anime realm and even in Manga and Light Novels themselves at the source because “Our Data and Metrics say it works, so it will sell” by sanding off the edges for safe and sanitized content.
I think your point in #1 is actually addressed by the fact that AI is a tool, as you have said, which will give rise to hybrid workflows. It doesn’t matter whether or not employees can be fired because there will eventually be no role for them in the industry, and new hires become unemployable without AI. The loss of skills over generations of new hires will still happen, because creators who treat anime as a commodity will realize that hybrid workflows are far more efficient. And ultimately, with that loss of skill, future generations will no longer be able to produce anime without AI.
Moreover, just like photoshop displaced artists and 3D displaced traditional animation, AI is also an industry disruptor. However, it’s inarguably more dangerous because, in reference to the main issue you and this article identified, it’s quite literally trained on template and generic content, all while reducing the skillset required to produce animation as opposed to photoshop and 3D which expanded it.
This is a very polite way of saying when everything is run through Algorithms and made for a Global Audience to make everyone happy it becomes disposable than an artistic work. Many people misunderstand it’s not about the amount of Anime it’s about how Anime Production is being done these days to try to fit into this Global Mold overall.