It is highly likely that much of today's anime fans were not even alive when this industry began to gain importance. However, that does not remove the fact that they have been present during the broadcast of important series that marked the market.
The anime industry comes from a long history, from being virtually unknown to its worldwide fame. And it is known even to celebrities in various parts of the world, despite the fact that it has been repeatedly censored from television broadcasts.
So how has the industry changed in the last 57 years? The most obvious changes are in the drawing styles, and that is the first aspect that will be reviewed in this article through a timeline that runs between the years 1961 and 2018.
1961 - Instant Story
1964 - Astro Boy
1964 - Shounen Ninja Kaze no Fujimaru
1965 - Uchuu Shounen Soran
1965 - Jungle Taitei
1967 - Ribbon no Kishi
1970 - Ashita no Joe
1974 - Alps no Shoujo Heidi
1979 - Versailles no Bara
1982 - Waga Seishun no Arcadia: Mugen Kidou SSX
1985 - Musashi no Ken
1988 - Sakigake !! Otokojuku
1991 - Taiyou no Yuusha Fighbird
1994 - Magic Knight Rayearth
1998 - Cardcaptor Sakura
2002 - Full Metal Panic!
2005 - Blood +
2007 - Baccano!
2009 - K-ON!
2012 - Oda Nobuna no Yabou
2015 - Shokugeki no Souma
2016 - Haikyuu !!
2017 - Shingeki no Kyojin
2018 - Violet Evergarden
Before you comment " Why didn't you mention" x "series in" y "year? “And the reason is because I would never finish listing all the series of each year. Leaving that aside, there are several points to highlight regarding how the visual aspect evolved:
- Colors have become warmer and brighter.
- Character designs are becoming more realistic when compared to their predecessors.
- Animation is smoother and richer.
- The artistic style is more detailed and pleasant.
- Finally, there are now even unique art styles depending on the genre of animation, note at this point that a moe art style doesn't quite fit into an ecchi series.
With the exception of horror series (which generally have a darker aesthetic), current anime tends to show scenes and characters closer to reality. However, that is not the only thing that has changed since 1961.
Fan Service
If you compare the old series with the new ones, the fan service has become so stifling that it sometimes touches the limit with the hentai genre. However, although this is not as bad as it sounds, in reality the point against it is that almost all the series resort to the same tricks that the viewer already knows by heart. It's like watching the same striptease a thousand times.
However, it seems that the fan-service has taken a “small” step backwards recently, and note that “small” is a reference to what is being done today.
Drawing styles
Although Dragon Ball Super did demonstrate in some of its initial episodes a disastrous drawing style that several users exposed through the capture of various frames (such as the one shown below), it is worth mentioning that the third season of Nanatsu did not Taizai will be marked as one of the exponents of everything that should not be done in a production.
And although several may say that it was not the fault of Studio Deen , since a smaller studio was sub-contracted to carry out this series, in the industry subjective opinions do not work, and the responsibility never ceased to lie with this studio.
Today's technology is at the forefront of everything we do. Because of this, it's easy to animate, draw, design, write, and basically do anything with less effort. This has made animators more lazy (or at least encourages them to be). Why? Older series never had the privilege of looking good, so back then the animators had to work hard with what they had.
But what about today? There seems to be a lot of room for laziness as animation techniques and technology have evolved. Although it is worth mentioning that the poor working conditions of the animators could be playing an important role in this.
Duration
In the 90s, the series easily reached over a hundred episodes. In fact, a "short" series was around 50 episodes, at least. In 2018 it is not surprising that when a new anime is announced, the viewer already knows that it will have 12 episodes, or maximum 24.
There are a few reasons for this:
- We have less time: Today everything is struggling to get our attention. Internet, apps, online ads, social media, the list is huge. So it is easier to watch a series of twelve episodes than one of more than 300. Many assure that this is why many decide not to give One Piece a chance .
- Budgets: It seems that anime-producing companies are now more aware of where they spend the money than before. And this should not surprise the reader since it is enough to see how many productions are made per year.
- Overproduction: There is so much anime content being produced today, it's no wonder that very few series exceed twelve episodes. If a studio releases five or ten series a year, hopefully each one suffers in terms of duration, or even in terms of having a good script .
