The Old School Otaku Lounge

On US TV it's definitely censored...

Is it just me or has seinen action anime been in decline for a while now? Jormungand, Canaan and Black Lagoon are the recent ones I can think of, but those kind of shows kind of drop once every 5 years, which is way too infrequently. I don't need all seinen action to be gunplay shows, but it seems like 99% of anything else is shonen jump variety action. Heck, even finding an action show featuring any protagonist over 20 years of age is a rare occurence.

Tired of checking up on new anime every few months and being bombarded with titles like these:




I've got nothing against shows like this, but it would be nice to have some more anime these days that aren't sitcoms or "heartwarming" fantasies about high school kids, cute schoolgirls, devils and angels masquerading as high school kids or cute schoolgirls, or high school kids saving the world in the name of friendship and teamwork. This is getting as bad as Hollywood's obsession with superheroes. Variety, people! It's the spice of life. A jolt of nihilism is sorely needed in today's anime.

If anyone has any recommendations of shows that exhibit a glee for wanton anime violence perpetrated by anime characters over the age of 20, please post replies.

It does seem increasingly rare to find new anime featuring main characters over the age of 20...or anything that doesn't find itself hitting on some moe/cutesy trend.

Psycho Pass is one of exceptions to the rule, though I was sorely disappointed with the show. I felt that it had great potential, but never lived up to it. Mardock Scramble is another adult-themed anime (however, the main character is under 20), but it digs into some fairly dark territory.

As far variety, it seems like there's been a large decline in new shows like Black Lagoon, Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Trigun, etc. What originally attracted me to anime is the variety of shows that were out there, and ones that pushed the boundaries of their genres by not playing in safe. Nowadays, the majority of anime seems to play it very safe by not straying too far from what's already been proven as successful.

Psycho Pass is something I'll have to get around to someday.

Book of Bantorra is another series that seems to feature over-20 protagonists, but I haven't seen it yet. It seemed to get zero buzz. Space Dandy is another, but it's not as violent as what I'm looking for right now.

The thing is, it's not just Japanese otaku's tastes skewing towards younger protagonists, it's North American fans too. For every hit like Black Lagoon, there are a bunch of other anime aimed at older audiences that simply don't sell as well as the moe or shonen jump shows.

Yeah, I was going to mention Space Dandy. I've never seen it, but my friend in the US keeps talking about it. I'd like to check it out one of these days.

llj wrote:Is it just me or has seinen action anime been in decline for a while now? Jormungand, Canaan and Black Lagoon are the recent ones I can think of, but those kind of shows kind of drop once every 5 years, which is way too infrequently. I don't need all seinen action to be gunplay shows, but it seems like 99% of anything else is shonen jump variety action. Heck, even finding an action show featuring any protagonist over 20 years of age is a rare occurence.

Tired of checking up on new anime every few months and being bombarded with titles like these:

*snip*

I've got nothing against shows like this, but it would be nice to have some more anime these days that aren't sitcoms or "heartwarming" fantasies about high school kids, cute schoolgirls, devils and angels masquerading as high school kids or cute schoolgirls, or high school kids saving the world in the name of friendship and teamwork. This is getting as bad as Hollywood's obsession with superheroes. Variety, people! It's the spice of life. A jolt of nihilism is sorely needed in today's anime.

If anyone has any recommendations of shows that exhibit a glee for wanton anime violence perpetrated by anime characters over the age of 20, please post replies.

Almost word for word this is what basically got me alienated from mainstream anime communities for saying years and years back. The answer to this from most anime fans of the last decade and change in my experience apparently has seemed to be: "No, there's NEVER such a thing as too much flowery friendship and cute high school girls, in fact we need even MORE of it! More damn it! And if you're disturbed enough to actually want something dark or gruesome, you're old, sick in the head, and not welcome here!"

I'm paraphrasing mind you, but that's what it essentially more or less boils down to in a frightening number of anime communities out there. Really though, you gotta love the warm irony of an entire subculture singularly obsessed with wallowing in infantile hallmark sentimentality about friendship, camaraderie, and exploring the big wide world of adventure out there in every last scrap of their art and media intake, only to act like some of the most closed-minded, hostile, intellectually incurious motherfuckers this side of a Tea Party rally when confronted with anyone or anything that even vaguely attempts to challenge them with something even the teeniest bit different.

greg wrote:Yeah, I was going to mention Space Dandy. I've never seen it, but my friend in the US keeps talking about it. I'd like to check it out one of these days.

For an alternative counterpoint: I found it OBNOXIOUSLY stupid. Gorgeously, jaw droppingly, mouth wateringly animated stupidity, but migraine-inducing stupidity all the same. I was all amped up for it when it was first announced and previewed and found out the hard way. Far too much of each episode is made up of the most mind-numbingly pre-school juvenile "Haha, she has boobies!" jokes rendered in the most lush, phenomenal visuals you'll see this side of Trava: Fist Planet or Hells (either of which are vastly more worthwhile in comparison). Incredible animation quality depressingly wasted on painfully grating inanity.

Brain Trash wrote:to act like some of the most closed-minded, hostile, intellectually incurious motherfuckers this side of a Tea Party rally when confronted with anyone or anything that even vaguely attempts to challenge them with something even the teeniest bit different.

Ironically, the exact same can be said about their political opponents. I'm not a Tea Party person, but I've seen the way they are misrepresented. When CNN does an interview of people in a Tea Party crowd, they apparently don't realize that they aren't the only ones with cameras. The media's hypocritical bias has been exposed. There is nothing more disingenuous than posing as a part of a group of people one disagrees with just to make them look bad, but unfortunately trolling has become a pastime for many and the media focuses on those impostors.

Anyhow, I've been a bit lax about not clamping down on political talk, and I've been guilty of making casual comments myself, but I'll have to ask people to refrain from political venting.

Brain Trash wrote:For an alternative counterpoint: I found it OBNOXIOUSLY stupid. Gorgeously, jaw droppingly, mouth wateringly animated stupidity, but migraine-inducing stupidity all the same. I was all amped up for it when it was first announced and previewed and found out the hard way. Far too much of each episode is made up of the most mind-numbingly pre-school juvenile "Haha, she has boobies!" jokes rendered in the most lush, phenomenal visuals you'll see this side of Trava: Fist Planet or Hells (either of which are vastly more worthwhile in comparison). Incredible animation quality depressingly wasted on painfully grating inanity.

Well, nuts. I actually got that impression from what little I have seen of this show. It's the problem I have with City Hunter. For someone who would typically be a total badass, the protagonist acts like a stupid, immature 10-year-old when it comes to women. I don't recall Space Cobra behaving that way.

I liked Space Dandy, actually. TBH, the "omg BOOBIES!" jokes only really lasted for the first 2 eps and then maybe a couple of random times in future eps. I think that was just to trick the mainstream anime fans who like lotsa fanservice to check it out. The second season I thought was especially fun. Some eps are better than others, but the brilliant thing is each ep is written and directed by someone different, so if you don't like one ep, there's probably another you'd like better. It was like Space Dandy was pretty much a playground for different anime industry people to play around and make weird stuff. BUT I know that's not everyone's cup of tea, so it might not be for everyone.

At the very least, Space Dandy's ladies looked like grown women and not 12 year olds.

(I also liked that there was an episode with parallel universes that showed what Space Dandy would've looked like if animated in different eras and/or done in different styles...that amused me a lot. Also, there's subtle hints that tie Space Dandy's universe with Cowboy Bebop's, which I thought was kinda cool.)

I don't have anything against fan-service per se. I have a soft spot for trashy cheesecake, too. But it's just the sameness of the TYPE of cheesecake we usually get that bores me out. It just seems like we're inundated with shows about junior high or high school kids these past 10-15 years.

I'll probably get around to Space Dandy eventually, even though it seems far more lightweight in tone than I usually go for. Cobra is more my type of thing when it comes to "Space Outlaws" type of shows--it has moments of humour but it's not strictly lighthearted. It embraces pulpy drama.

llj wrote:I don't have anything against fan-service per se. I have a soft spot for trashy cheesecake, too. But it's just the sameness of the TYPE of cheesecake we usually get that bores me out. It just seems like we're inundated with shows about junior high or high school kids these past 10-15 years.

Oh I totally get you. I wasn't a fan of the lame Boobies jokes, either. That was really my main gripe, but since they stopped pretty quickly I let it slide.

llj wrote:I'll probably get around to Space Dandy eventually, even though it seems far more lightweight in tone than I usually go for. Cobra is more my type of thing when it comes to "Space Outlaws" type of shows--it has moments of humour but it's not strictly lighthearted. It embraces pulpy drama.

Yeah, some episode writers were more serious than others, but for the most part it was a pretty darn silly show. (I mean, they had a musical episode. A MUSICAL EPISODE!)