Hey Scamp, do you have a MAL account? I’m curious as to what these new “youtube generation” fans are into these days.
I had always seen myself as the latest generations of anime fans. Not an incorrect assumption either. I only started watching anime mid-2007. The Youtube Generation was symbolised by the ever-present and easy access of every and any anime thanks to the rampant presence of illegal streams, normally on Youtube (in fact, you could look at the progress of the Youtube generation through which streaming sites they used. Youtube to Veoh to Megavideo to what next?) You could also call it the MAL generation in how the focus changed from a small amount of anime being precious to focusing on consuming as much anime as possible. But, more importantly for the purpose of this post, it was the latest generation. This meant that everything that is, always was. A description of a show remained the same. Fan opinion of certain anime remained the same, because that’s what they were always like in my memory of fandom. However it appears the next generation has arrived.
The realisation only dawned on me yesterday but the signs had been there already. Azumanga Daoih being considered a classic? I mean, it’s not like I was around when that aired but certainly I had never seen anyone refer to it as a classic before. Or seeing Hellsing mentioned as a newer anime fan as something old and ugly looking. I suppose it is 9 years old now and I guess looks a little bit dated compared to the most recent anime, but really?
This is meant to symbolise different generations. Or something
It goes beyond just certain anime aging in the eyes of fandom. Other anime are being spoken about in different ways. When people discuss the long-running shounens, nobody seems to list Inuyasha anymore, far more often referred to as a show with crazy fangirls. Elfen Lied was one of the most opinion-splitting anime and would prompt rage discussions between admirers and haters. Now bring it up in conversation and you’re far more likely to get intelligent discussion, or at the very least some mentioning of the shock factor of the first 10 minutes. When listing out the all-time great anime, I just don’t see the Kenshin Trust and Betrayal OVA mentioned anymore . It’s not like people have stopped liking it as much. Conversely I see Galactic Heroes talked about far more often. I used to believe that there was a certain amount of contempt reserved for Samurai Champloo but now it appears to be remembered more fondly.
It’s hard to talk with any sort of full authority here because sometimes your mind can be warped by what only a few comments say, but fan opinion has certainly changed. I am no longer the latest generation of anime fans. Everything I believed to be true is no longer so. There is a new generation with a different perception to everything I once held. This doesn’t mean I’m disenchanted or anything like that. It was just a shock when I had realised what had happened.
When I mentioned this dramatic change in my identity as an anime fan on twitter, I got responses that essentially said ‘been there, done that’. I’m sure that many of you reading this post have been any fans longer than me, long since having passed this stage in anime fandom and all I’m doing is making you feel old. But screw you guys. This is a big deal for me.
49 Comments
Well, on the bright side, you haven’t reacted in that classic grognard fashion so common to our kind– i.e. the “Everything sucks, anime used to be so much better” reaction. Which means you can adjust and learn to love the new.
Actually, speaking of Galactic Heroes, I am noticing a bit of throwback-ism among newer fans, or at least the ones who talk on the Internet. It’s something I want to talk about at greater length some other time, but I’m glad you brought up that title.
I’m going to rely on my readers to warn me if/when I start heading down the path of grumpy oldfag.
I look forward to the Galactic Heroes post. It seems almost none of the praise around the series comes from those who watched it back in the day
I didn’t watch Galactic Heroes back in the day. Or at all, actually. Sorry to get your hopes up… What I’m talking about is the phenomenon of “new” fans who purposely gobble up older series, for credibility or because they actually find it more interesting. But hey, I hope you look forward to that too!
And I’ll keep you on your toes, young man, don’t worry.
That’s what I meant actually…=/
(Lurker delurking.)
I didn’t start watching anime more regularly until DDLs become more accessible, so in the past 2 years or so. Before that, I watched a few series on TV/DVD and was mostly a manga reader. Technology is moving fast enough that I’ve been spoiled by all the HD episodes, so going back to watch older anime (meaning early 21st century) /does/ make me think the animation quality is “old.” Then again, 8–10 years (a decade) is a long time.
Though I’ve never really thought of myself as the “latest generation of anime fans.” For some reason, I tend to relate “generation” to “age.” Most of the people my age, if they watch anime at all, watched Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z when growing up, so I’d refer to myself as the SM/DBZ generation, even though I never really watched anime back then…
Defining your own generation is indeed another topic of discussion. You could technically be in your 40’s and be part of the Youtube generation. I suppose it’s defined by whenever you became aware of anime fandom, although that’s a very foggy definition. I watched DBZ when it was airing but I was never aware of its anime status so I don’t consider myself part of that generation.
Also, even with all these HD quality episodes around, I still think Evangelion looks better than most series released today
I don’t even remember when I came to this realization … probably when I started getting heavier into anime, and then I suddenly noticed that the fandom had completely changed compared to when I was a casual fan, haha.
It is kind of weird which titles carry on through the ebb and flow of fandom, and which are left behind. Someday there’s going to be an entire generation of fans (dear god I hope this isn’t happening right now) that hasn’t seen, say, Cowboy Bebop, which is utterly bonkers to me.
Some shows get lost in the ebb and flow of fandom. How many people nowadays care about Tenchi Muyo? That was HUGE back in the day, yet it’s been totally swept away.
I think series like Bebop and Evangelion are too highly reguarded to get swept under for another decade or so. It’s the shows that everyone knows but doesn’t nessesarilly reguard highly that will get swept away. Elfen Lied will be forgotten in the next few years. So will Full Metal Panic, Claymore, Trigun, Spice and Wolf, K-ON and so on. People will remember Haruhi, Death Note, Geass and Gurren Lagann for a long time yet
I still remember the early moe days where over-done violence towards anime men was still considered a little grotesque and shocking. And the pre-moe Eva days where everything had to be a mindfucker and/or have mecha. And the pre-Eva/Bebop days, where I’d be all up on the VHS for my fix. And I won’t go back any further for fear of oldfags calling me an olderfag (my wife is already doing so as I type this).
But you know what? It just makes the parodies more fun to catch. It’s alright to be the only oldfag cracking up at a reference that might be older than the people who are watching it with you. You can be the one that catches the newfags as they turn into oldfags, and introduce them to worlds they were too snobbish to explore because they couldn’t stomach the thought of watching something that wasn’t HD.
I’m jealous of your experience…
10 years time. In 10 years I will make the most awesome set of decade roundup posts that will be told from the perspective of a man who sat right in the middle of all it. Until then I’ll have to basque in my newbie light
I guess you could say that I’m this new generation too. I first started watching anime seriously back in 7th grade, which was about 5 years ago. The first anime was the original FMA. Though, before that, I’d seen several episodes of Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo on Adult Swim, never knowing what ‘anime’ is. To be honest, I don’t know what Generation I am…
Sounds like the same generation as me. It’s just I flew through series at an incredible rate so I guess I progressed faster
I started getting into anime around 2000, when dubbed anime was flourishing on U.S. TV, computer fansubs were just starting out, and YouTube streaming didn’t exist. In my early years, I was a bit more of a fangirl and was always like “Every anime is so cool!” and was just pouring out love for every anime I watched all over the place. Nowadays I know that there are plenty of crap anime too and I’m much more analytical. I’m still not too critical of anime though, and I don’t think I could ever fall into the “Everything sucks, anime used to be so much better” phase that 2DT mentioned above.
In my mind we have this new generation. Then before that is the Youtube Generation. Then the Naruto/Adult Swim generation. Then your generation, which is arguably defined by Love Hina seeing as it was the first digitally distributed fansubbed anime. It marked the new era.
How about myself? In 2003 in the UK, anime was SO hard to find it was ridiculous. Either go to a shady trading shop and pay about £20 for a DVD since they could set the price at whatever they wanted… rootle through ‘world cinema’ and feel lucky to even find an anime movie. I remember going to Wells in early 2004 and being amazed when it had one carousel of manga.
So I kind of had to use the Internet when we first got broadband. We used AOL, and AOL had this integrated video search, and I typed in Sailor Moon. Luckily for me, someone had added pretty much all the DVD-subbed episodes (which is amazing at 200 episodes). So I’d fire up my computer and the internet, wait for 2 or 3 episodes to load while doing my homework, and watch them. It was so cool. <3 (Well, to me anyway.) I had to wait until the anime boom to get interested in other things.
And yes, I am of the generation where people loved InuYasha. It was on Adult Swim so all my American online friends in anime chat-rooms were talking about it. I watched an episode and really disliked it. I think that because InuYasha’s manga finished, people didn’t really care about the recent anime that came out. When Bleach’s manga finishes (as apparently it will be soon), and Naruto follows suit, I actually can’t imagine the future for anime then. Japan will still put out quality titles, but the audience will diminish, since quite a few anime fans I know watch/read Bleach and Naruto and nothing else. I just don’t see anything succeeding it. :<
It was remarkable when that last season of Inuyasha came out recently how little fuss was made over it. I put it in my Fantasy Anime League on MAL so I know exactly how few people were watching it on that site. Remarkable really.
Nothing has followed Bleach/Naruto really. The closest since Bleach would probably be D Gray Man but that ended about a year ago already so eh. Something will come along if one of those two end. One Piece is still running and according to the mangaka has only reached halfway. I’d be shocked if someone else didn’t try start another long-running shounen. Fairy Tail was suppossed to be it but that was crap
I’m drawing a huge blank on what to write, so I’m just going to go all stream of thought on you. And it’s 3am, that’s a nice excuse for the crap I’m about to write.
I belong to the the Youtube/MAL generation. Starting anime seriously in mid 2006 via streaming sites and hiring DVD’s, I never seemed to spend a whole lot of money to get my anime fix. I’ve been a member of MAL for over 3 years, and have noticed a lot of changes over fan opinion, so I definitely agree with you that a new generation is starting to bloom.
Mid 2006 — Mid 2008: 85 anime completed
Mid 2008 — Mid 2009: 5 anime completed. Started a lot but ultimately put on hold.
Mid 2009 — Now: 0 anime completed. Less than 10 started.
And yet there’s a strange problem with me at the moment. As soon as I tried to switch from low quality streams to high quality files back in 2008, I’ve been watching less and less, until I decided to just focus on manga until I got a decent internet plan. If I tried hard enough, I could be watching just as many anime as I used to. I don’t think I’ve become an arthouse snob (pfft, the last anime I completed was the second season of Tower of Druaga lol), or become burned out on anime (I still have the urge to watch anime and I still enjoy the medium). I feel like I’ve gone backwards, to an older generation that, as you said, focus on a very small, precious amount of anime.
And the anime I’m currently trying to watch and complete (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Paranoia Agent), I bought DVD box sets with my own cash.
That’s a very strange part of fandom to be in. What makes anime stand out over many other mediums is how it’s one of the only ones that has both long and cohesive narritives. No other medium has so many series like FMA that would continue for so long but with a constant story. So it seems strange that someone would throw aside that very part of anime by never completing a series.
I’ve watched (consumed?) anime in a rather haphazard manner, so I feel like I’ve never been a part of any kind of a “generation” or even taken much of a part in any trend in viewing that’s come and/or gone over the past decade. But I think I know what you’re talking about. I haven’t seen Azumanga Daoih yet, but I remember when it was new, and now I totally get the feeling that entry-level fans today consider it to be utterly and completely ancient, despite being released around the midpoint of the past decade.
I was the first kid on the block to have a DVD player — just after they were introduced too, probably the first and last time I’ve really been in on the ground floor with any new technology/format — so that was really important to me and kind of defined how I’ve come to value both image quality in what I watch as well as physical media in general. So it’s been disconcerting, to say the least, to watch this generation (perhaps even the one before it) not only disregard the importance of owning anime on physical media, but actually prefer collecting it as digital files rather than as discs to line up on a shelf. Perhaps we haven’t reached that point just yet, but it feels like the inevitable next step.
I don’t begrudge any of these new/younger fans, I just hope that their way of watching and understanding anime doesn’t lead to an early burnout.
The problem with the burnout is you don’t hear from people who experience it so it’s hard to gauge why it happens. It’s like asking dead people what the afterlife is like.
Physical media probably will die eventually but it will take its sweet time to do so. Thing is, we don’t know what direction technology will move. Whodathunk we’d be storing our anime digitally back when Evangelion was airing?
(semi-related note: Yikes these comments are taking ages to reply to. I’m only halfway through!)
I get the sense that the generational turnover period is getting shorter and shorter. Where once in the early 90s a 10 year gap in viewing experience (in the Western hemisphere, I’ve no idea about Japan) wasn’t as big as even 3 years today is. It’s this blasted internet thing, making every series made available so quickly that the collective short term memory of this show or that show is being truncated further and further. Where the rule for spoilers might have been a 5 year minimum a decade ago, today you’d be lucky to make it through 1 whole year of constant vigilance to not get ruined of some major twist.
And you misnumbered my name! rawrarwar!!
Yeah, I was thinking about this earlier … way back in my day (aged 15 years writing that), DVDs were expensive and came mostly in singles (the wait for boxsets was excruciating), and the Internet/file sharing wasn’t nearly as efficient as today (and damned if I could have figured out how to do that shit back then, anyway), so TV was my main exposure to anime. You’ve heard all the stories about generations prior, too.
So, exposure to anime and information about anime was just a hell of a lot more limited; unless you were way ahead of the curve, you weren’t oversatured with shows/information, so the good stuff stuck in your head for a long time after, because you almost HAD to wait for local companies to officially release the shows.
But now we have access to so much shit — and people have a tendency to focus most shows created in their time — that older series fade away (or at least become a bit less influential on fandom) much quicker because of that saturation. Even in a shitty season, I’m watching five shows. Just a few years ago, I would watch maybe one or two shows a season. And I have a lot of anime-watching experience, but most of what I have seen is still from a specific period of time. There’s just so much out there, and a lot slips through the cracks because so many people (including myself) probably do not filter enough.
It’s not really a problem limited to anime either — you’ll see it in pretty much every fandom, and in areas outside of entertainment as well. There’s a benefit to having a lot of information available to consume quickly, but there’s a clear downside to it as well.
Totally agree if you everything you’ve said Shinmaru, the turnover is so quick and even with a season as crappy as this the consumption is far greater. I’m currently watching 6 shows while 30+ well regarded anime sit unwatched on my hard-drive. I haven’t even watched Honey and Clover which is probably considered criminal in some circles.
Also, if you thought finding anime in your youth was difficult in the US then spare a thought for the UK back then. Anime was (or is) never shown on tv and most anime vhs/dvds where v. limited releases, if released at all. I remember if took me 5 months trying to find Evangelion on vhs, before giving up and exporting a dvd boxset from America. And that also required me buying a new 60hz tv to watch it. Grrrrr.…
Haha, yeah, even when access was limited by the market/technology in the U.S., we had it pretty damn good. I can’t even conceive of the impact the Internet has had on fandom in areas where legal access to anime is limited/non-existent.
Yeah, I suppose it could have been far, far worse. I had two friends back then from Greece and the Philippines; just listening to how they got hold of anime (i.e. they pretty much didn’t!) made me want to cry like I was watching Grave of the Fireflies, lol
I think it was on one of the ANNCast’s where someone said the big difference between now and back in ye olde days is being incapable of getting your hand on so much anime, those you did see meant more to you. Now we can watch everything that’s airing, everything that has aired. On top of that there’s such a huge amount of anime being released nowadays compared to the past. I think what’s happening is anime is regressing to release fewer and fewer anime each season compared to 06/07 but we’ll have to wait a few more years to see if that becomes a trend
You know, something else I recently noticed… Ranma 1/2 and Maison Ikkoku were ridiculously popular in the US in the 1990s anime fandom. Nowadays, nobody talks about it.
I’ve even seen people say that Rumiko Takahashi’s characters all look the same and that her plots are very similar and blah blah blah.
I even remember when everyone loved Kaori Yuki, the manga artist behind Angel Sanctuary and GodChild. You badmouthed her in a chat/forum, people would get really mad at you and think you were stupid. While her manga are pretty good, I’d have to say the artwork saves what are usually very dull and confusing plots. Now, I’ve seen people like me who don’t like her anymore.
I think the day any manga artist stops producing work (or goes on hiatus/makes really slow releases), the anime/manga based off it tends to gradually lose its popularity. ._. Yami No Matsuei’s manga was all but forgotten about in Japanese fandom because it was on hiatus for 11 years.
The newer anime fans want something that looks shiny and new, they want the doe-eyed, soft-curved, pastelly characters. I’ve tried showing my friends Galaxy Express 999, and they all say it’s awful. Give them any anime produced after 2000… it’s a different story.
I was literally just thinking of Ramna. That show seemed to be huge back in the day.
I wonder if there’s some magical formula to keep something in anime fandoms memory. The obvious one would be to keep making it, like Evangelion or Naruto. Heck, or even Mobile Suit Gundam. How many other shows from that era get watched by people nowadays? Probably many far better shows as well
I’m from a much older generation of fans. I cut my teeth on Kimba the White Lion. This was not only prior to the Internet, it was prior to cable TV. In fact out TV was B&W, and only received VHF, so there were only 5 stations (two were PBS). Needless to say, this was well before DVDs and when I first handled videotape it was all reel-to-reel.
My point would be that there is a material difference in the conditions of fandom. There simply was no way to collect anime when I first started watching it. There were no choices about what to watch. If you didn’t catch the broadcast, you missed that episode.
Nowadays you are accused of being a bad fan if you don’t collect. You are forced to make a choice, not only between the wealth of new shows being created every season, but also just about every other show that has ever been created. Now you can “marathon” shows, watching an entire season in a day or two. Not only are you guaranteed to see every episode, but you can rewind and rewatch any portion you want / need to to your satisfaction.
I’m sure these changes in material conditions create different kinds of fans.
I’m amazed at how old some of you commenters are (sorry for that~). The grumpy oldfags tend to drown you reasonable people out. And yet again, you’re making me feel unworthy to try discuss anime in any sort of knowing manner.
[shrug] well if you’ve all been reading me this far then I guess I’m doing something right that older fans appreciate
weird. i’ve been watching anime for like, a bazillion years now but i still consider myself an anime n00b since i’ve seen so much fewer series than everyone else has, despite the overflowing abundance of anime available online. i guess im just incredibly picky ;/
sailor moon was the shit back in the day though. fact.
maybe im old since i dont have a MAL account D: (actually, i think i have one…but meh. too lazy)
I don’t think you have to watch that much anime to get a sense of anime fandom at all. My personal experience is that after watching 15–20 series I already had a fair grasp on anime in general.
MAL is incredibly useful but a bitch to set up the first time around. You spend your time staring at a never-ending list of anime series thinking ‘did I watch Martian Succesor Nadesico? I think I did but…’
i wonder if i’ve even watched 15–20 series total…lol. *tries to count and remember* i do remember that my first significant experience with anime was watching robotech when toonami first aired. i mean, sailor moon was awesome and everything, but robotech opened up a whole new interest in sci-fi in the 9-year-old me.
i think i gave up trying MAL since it took too long to try to remember all the series i might have watched (even though there weren’t that many). years between watching series doesn’t help memory at all.
My first exposure to anime was when I was 16 and Pokemon was at its peak; but my gateway series were DBZ, Sailor Moon, Gundam Wing, Escaflowne and Tenchi Muyo. The internet was in still quite new phenomenon and we only had dial-up at home so I had no clue what fansubs or torrents were!
I bought the DVDs for my gateway series with wages from part-time jobs and they saw me through Uni. It was only when I graduated and discovered the internet properly (Youtube to start with, moving on to torrents & DDLs later) that I started tearing though series like there was no tomorrow. And now here I am 11 years and over 600 series after my first exposure and showing no signs of easing up!
I never really felt the generational thing you’re talking about though, probably because I didn’t really engage in the forum/blog side of the anime fandom until about 2–3 years ago.
Your experience is similar to my introduction into anime. Sailor Moon on UPN at 6:30 in the morning before school, that’s what I remember. And when the Sci-Fi channel first appeared I believed they showed one anime movie every saturday morning in the likes of “a-ko” or “Demon City Shinjiku.” I was so hooked, I ordered tapes from a video store that recorded them from Japanese TV broadcast. No subs, bad quality but the commercials were wonderful. I’m very happy the days of SASE for fansub tapes are over. I’m also still glad I’m an anime fan and welcome the new shows. Now off to find out what I’m missing since I don’t know what MAL is…
I know older fans often complain at how people keep making them feel old, but you lot are making feel like a real newbie. I’m honoured that older fans actually enjoy reading this blog of mine in all its noobishness. Just thought you should know that
Excellent article, it made me ask myself the question of exactly what generation I belong to, with the answer being that I have absolutely no idea!
Similar to Joe i’ve also watched anime rather hapazardly. The greatest cartoon of my hazy early childhood was the Japanese/French produced “The Mysterious Cities of Gold” which I didn’t even realize was considered anime until much, much later. I was an anime fan before knowing I was one so I could never consider myself part of the 80’s generation.
The mid 90’s (highschool) introduced me properly to anime (then called manga) but with more western style kids shows like the Guyver. Friends lent me the big movies available such as Akira and both Patlabor films but most of the concepts went over my head and I never really understood anything about the culture they came. My interest waned, only to be rekindled in 2003 (second year uni) when, through friends, I joined an anime club in Liverpool.
That period is probably as close in my youth to what could be called “my generation”. For the first time I watched subbed anime and stuff other than movies or kids shounin; series like Eva, Fma1, Get Backers, Galaxy Angel 2, Azumanga Diaoh, Last Exile, Wolf’s Rain and Hare + Guu. However, even though I became fully aware of anime, it’s terminology and what are now considered modern classics, it was mostly a social thing for meeting people and was never really part of my life beyond those one-evening-per-week screenings.
That leads me to the present where it’s only the last year or so that i’ve started watching series as they’ve aired (thanks modern fansubbers) or discussed stuff in forums, blogs etc, and while anime still isn’t the main interest in my life, I have a greater affinity with it than ever before. Does that mean that this is my generation?
Ultimately I guess it doesn’t matter that much (so sorry for sunjecting you to my boring personal history). I think as long as theres good shows i’ll continue to watch regardless of what considered popular or how quick the new/old fan turnover is these days. Afterall new bloods as welcome as old. We just need people around making fans aware of the classics that are are still worth watching despite modern shows and ungraded animation. The fact that psgels won the tourney, to me, highlights the demand for both old and new anime, as well as fans.
Huge props for mentioning Hare Guu in there!
…but I don’t have anything else intelligent to reply with though. Sorry, my brain has sorta died replying to people
We were performing Whose Line at Acen this year, and eventually got to an Evangelion scene. Usually when we read off the scene, we get at least some reaction. We got nothing. So my cousin asks, “How many of you are familiar with Evangelion?”
10 hands went up. Out of about 1000 people.
The times have changed alright.
Thats so.… </3
Then again, I watched Evangelion for the first time this year too, so it’s too be expected I guess..
Even Evangelion is falling? Seriously? You would think with the movies being released that interest would be up. Or maybe it’s become like Gundam and people are afraid of delving into the franchise (although the starting point seems really obvious to me)
I don’t consider myself a newbie (especially since I’m reaching that stage where I’m lamenting newer anime…), but I do think of myself as more of a casual fan. For me anime started back when the U.S. still showed decent Saturday morning cartoons (Digimon, Medabots, etc.) and continued with Adult Swim. So staring point is around 1999 (man…I guess I really am that old). I don’t think I branched out into subs until about 2006 though.
I’m surprised to hear that you started watching anime fairly recently, usually your posts seem to give off the impression that you’ve been an anime fan for a fair bit longer.
Heh, I really try to just sound like a layman in my posts and never act like I know more than the reader. The only time I consciously do that is for season previews. Sorry if I ever come off sounding like I know more than I do. It’s the blaggers gift, all Irish people are born with it
I would be of the love hina era, but back in 2001 or so the only channel available with anime wasn’t on my cable
Before that I was too young but I still watched DBZ, Sailor Moon, Magic Knight Rayerth, Saint Seiya… Well enough anime I think, but my real fandom came while in college (like 5 years ago). Cuz you know college bandwith is awesome 
Anyway I don’t think I’ll be saying things like “older anime is better” since I still enjoy the new stuff that comes out, I guess I have some more years before I star to become and oldfag when it comes to anime.
Hmm…
I watched some episodes of Elfen Lied when i was younger… twelve or something, on MTV (in Germany.) And I watched alot of Sailor Moon episodes. But the anime, that really got me into anime fandom was One Piece… and I watched it all on youtube… so I guess I’m in the “Youtube Generation” then?
I started watching anime 3 years ago when I was on 9th grade. My first contact with anime was with harem series such as Maburaho, Girls Bravo and stuff like that. Then I started watching bleach and some other shounens and one year after I got a MAL account.
Right now I have seen about 150 series according to MAL.
I used to watch anime in Youtube and Megavideo until I found out about watchanimeon. My Top 5, with no specific order is:
1. Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal ( Tsuiokuhen)
2. Death Note
3. Cowboy Bebop
4. Bakemonogatari
5. The place promised in our early days
The fact of putting Rurouni Kenshin ova in my top 5 would make me a Youtube generation fan?. What generation do I belong to , according to the info I wrote above? When did the present generation appeared and when did the Youtube generation appeared and finsihed? What is the main component of this new generation, what do their fans have in common?. Youtube generation had youtube, what does this have?. What animes could we relate to this new generation?.
It’s sure a lot of questions that I make myself, though I cannot answer them.
There’s the really oldfag generation: the Space Battleship Yamatos, The Rose of Versailles, Galaxy Express 999. The EVA generation that laid the foundation of modern anime fandom in the US with cons and webcomics. The toonami generation then got anime internet popular. Subbers and scanlator drama everywhere. And the streaming generation that is current. I’m part of the toonami generation and remembering downloading series encoded of rmvb because avi was too big. Now, 250+mb mkvs are the norm. I’d say the streaming generation is less inclined to piracy, anime is near mainstream with some obscure series hosted on hulu and simulcasts on Crunchy and other distributor sites. Does the current generation have worse taste? I don’t think so, they just accept whatever they can get without too much effort. Some great series like Eve no Jikan are being streamed but of course the streamers miss out on some of the older stuff.
To anyone trying to work out what generation they are part of, I’d link you to this post
http://animeyume.com/blog/2010/07/26/listing-the-generations-of-u-s-anime-fandom-help-would-be-appreciated/
I list of all the ‘generations’ of anime fans. It can be difficult to pigeonhold yourself sometimes but that should give you a good insight
Oh wow, Scampie, we are officially oldfags now, right? \o\
OK, now let’s commence newfag-hating *prepares beard and grim look*
…Since that’s the best part of being an oldfag anyway.