Action Anime is Dead

T

The_Shape

Banned
Nov 14, 2006
60
0
0
Seriously, action anime is dead. The last decent action anime was AirMaster, and before that i can't even remember what actually had good action scenes and fluid animation.



Stuff like Bebop, GITS:SAC is great and all, but doesn't have that balls-out "blow you away", kinetic feel the 90's stuff had. It's all too subdued, too small, too soft. I was watching Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer, and the action in that blows everything being aired nowadays away. Hate the designs if you want, hate the plot... I'm talking about the way fights are animated, and how kinetic everything was. I couldn't find a single flaw in any of the action scenes.

Stuff like Yoshiaki Kawajiri's (Vampire Hunter D, Wicked City, Ninja Scroll) and Masami Obari's (Gowcaizer, Fatal Fury) - those knew how to direct action. But even Obari seems to have been left out of the game (after Gravion, which wasn't that good, he only did the hentai stuff, which had no real action)...

It seems like if i want to see some decent action, i'll have to wait for Kawajiri's Highlander and Ninja Scroll 2 movies... Which is just sad. It seems they forgot how to make anime, and now it's all cutesy moe crap or action anime with no actual action, just posing (shit like Ikkitousen and Tenjho Tenge make me sick)!
 
Have you seen Batman: Gotham Knight? its great in action scenes, especially
the first short "Have I Got a Story For You", its superb in terms of animation (its animated for studio 4c, after all), also the last segment "Deadshot" from Madhouse its way cool!!!
mmm...I can't think in another action anime at the moment, maybe Claymore, but its not really well animated...
 
I just miss the feel in recent fight/action anime, nothing quite compares to 'hokuto no ken', not even 'souten no ken' matches it.

shadowskill is also a good anime, pre 'total-cgi' anime era
 
The_Shape said:
Seriously, action anime is dead. The last decent action anime was AirMaster
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Anyone else stop reading because he lost all credibility there with the air master comment?

Anyways, sure if you stick to formulated type battles. Shonen isn't going to give you crap besides the same old stuff. Same with stuff that's focus is on everything but the action like air master or ikkitousen.
 
here are two that have great fight scenes
Seirei no Moribito (use real fighters to choreograph the fights)
Soul Eater - the fights are just awesome, showed all my friends and their range of what anime they like are on very different spectrums (even yaoi :sick:)
 
whenever the artist feel overcowrd of a type of anime,the will change to other market^^
and also a lots of action manga not being pick up yet...no worry
 
SdeO said:
Have you seen Batman: Gotham Knight? its great in action scenes, especially
the first short "Have I Got a Story For You", its superb in terms of animation (its animated for studio 4c, after all), also the last segment "Deadshot" from Madhouse its way cool!!!
mmm...I can't think in another action anime at the moment, maybe Claymore, but its not really well animated...
Click to expand...
The animation was good, stories should have been better. Good story + good animated action are rare nowadays. But BLEACH is still on the top of my list!
 
iCake said:
You Sir, have just ruffled my feathers.
Click to expand...

While he might have gone about it the wrong way, The_Shape is right that today's anime market is over-saturated with "moe for the sake of moe" anime at the expense of other genres and that action anime is especially hard-hit. The problem is straight-forward:

  1. People are predisposed towards liking that which is rarer over that which is more common.
  2. Eventually enough people like this rare "niche" element that their voices are heard by the industry. And the industry doesn't hear voices -- rather, it sees profits waiting to be made.
  3. The industry gives the fans what they want: it showcases the niche prominently in a new series or two.
  4. Fans respond jubilantly and (from an economic standpoint) vigorously, spending their money on the DVDs for this series.
  5. All the companies now want a piece of the action. Those who already showcased the niche keep on doing what they're doing while those who had ignored it realize that they need to go with the flow if they're to survive the current market trend.
  6. As the industry overcompensates to meet fan demand, two bad things happen:
    a) the fans who liked the niche grow bored of it / are less likely to spend money on any one studio's presentation of that niche. When supply is plenty, demand drops off.
    b) the fans of the other anime niches -- those that were abandoned for the sake of the new kid on the block -- become bitter and clamor for a return to the old ways. (Which never happens, btw.)
  7. What does eventually happen to break the downward spiral is that, quite by accident, some other company produces an anime which appeals to another niche, and we're back to Steps #1, #2, and #3 all over again.
The recent history of the anime market fits this model pretty snugly: 1980s, Gundam, "the age of mecha"; early to mid-1990s, Magic Knight Rayearth and Sailor Moon, "the age of mahou shoujo" (climaxing with the late '90s CCS); mid-1990s to early 2000s, Neon Genesis Evangelion, "non-traditional action and cyber-punk anime", the era which brought us Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell, Trigun, Hellsing, etc.; early 2000s, Love Hina, "the age of harem anime", bringing us titles like DearS and Maburaho before the fan market screamed "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!"; and finally mid-2000s through the present day, "the era of loli moe."

The fact that every single studio is trying to capture the loli moe market is suffocating all of us, fans and haters alike. It reminds me of when I went to a restaurant the other day where I was offered all-you-can-eat pork ribs. I greedily ordered this and when my order arrived I was upset to discover that it had come with french fries and cole slaw. I was then excited to learn that I could shove those to the side of my plate and the waitress would still bring me a new basket of ribs. I got through 1½ servings of the ribs before the taste of cheap pork and BBQ sauce was starting to make me feel sick and I was dying for something else, anything else tasty to replace the taste in my mouth. That was when I tried out those previously-disappointing french fries and cups of cole slaw. And oh my god did they hit the spot. I didn't even ask for any more ribs -- I had had so many that the mere smell of the sauce made me sick to my stomach.

So yeah, you may like "moe crap" and take offense to The_Shape's words, but just remember that even if he did like moe anime, he could still have said what he said -- because there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.
 
To put it into perspective, Kyoto Animation selected to animate the second season of Clannad first and put the second season of Haruhi on hold. When you consider that Kanon, Air, and Planetarian are all three of them more popular traditionally amongst Key fans than Clannad is (i.e. I am suggesting that Clannad is not all that high on Key fans' Must Have list), and when you consider that Clannad (as well as the other Key products) is a Japan-only phenomenon vs. Haruhi's international popularity and greater at-home popularity, it really does say a lot about the current state of the market. Namely, that even Kyoto Animation must take profitability into consideration and has to go with the way the wind is blowing.

There hasn't been a good action anime in a long time, but Kaiji was a great man's anime. As far as action goes, meh, all that comes to mind is Geass R2. Not really a valid answer. =\
 
Action anime is dead! Long live Black Lagoon!
 
Sakunyuusha said:
While he might have gone about it the wrong way, The_Shape is right that today's anime market is over-saturated with "moe for the sake of moe" anime at the expense of other genres and that action anime is especially hard-hit. The problem is straight-forward:

  1. People are predisposed towards liking that which is rarer over that which is more common.
  2. Eventually enough people like this rare "niche" element that their voices are heard by the industry. And the industry doesn't hear voices -- rather, it sees profits waiting to be made.
  3. The industry gives the fans what they want: it showcases the niche prominently in a new series or two.
  4. Fans respond jubilantly and (from an economic standpoint) vigorously, spending their money on the DVDs for this series.
  5. All the companies now want a piece of the action. Those who already showcased the niche keep on doing what they're doing while those who had ignored it realize that they need to go with the flow if they're to survive the current market trend.
  6. As the industry overcompensates to meet fan demand, two bad things happen:
    a) the fans who liked the niche grow bored of it / are less likely to spend money on any one studio's presentation of that niche. When supply is plenty, demand drops off.
    b) the fans of the other anime niches -- those that were abandoned for the sake of the new kid on the block -- become bitter and clamor for a return to the old ways. (Which never happens, btw.)
  7. What does eventually happen to break the downward spiral is that, quite by accident, some other company produces an anime which appeals to another niche, and we're back to Steps #1, #2, and #3 all over again.
The recent history of the anime market fits this model pretty snugly: 1980s, Gundam, "the age of mecha"; early to mid-1990s, Magic Knight Rayearth and Sailor Moon, "the age of mahou shoujo" (climaxing with the late '90s CCS); mid-1990s to early 2000s, Neon Genesis Evangelion, "non-traditional action and cyber-punk anime", the era which brought us Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell, Trigun, Hellsing, etc.; early 2000s, Love Hina, "the age of harem anime", bringing us titles like DearS and Maburaho before the fan market screamed "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!"; and finally mid-2000s through the present day, "the era of loli moe."

The fact that every single studio is trying to capture the loli moe market is suffocating all of us, fans and haters alike. It reminds me of when I went to a restaurant the other day where I was offered all-you-can-eat pork ribs. I greedily ordered this and when my order arrived I was upset to discover that it had come with french fries and cole slaw. I was then excited to learn that I could shove those to the side of my plate and the waitress would still bring me a new basket of ribs. I got through 1½ servings of the ribs before the taste of cheap pork and BBQ sauce was starting to make me feel sick and I was dying for something else, anything else tasty to replace the taste in my mouth. That was when I tried out those previously-disappointing french fries and cups of cole slaw. And oh my god did they hit the spot. I didn't even ask for any more ribs -- I had had so many that the mere smell of the sauce made me sick to my stomach.

So yeah, you may like "moe crap" and take offense to The_Shape's words, but just remember that even if he did like moe anime, he could still have said what he said -- because there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.
Click to expand...

Well stated, but at least we have things like Code Geas R2 up and about. Not exactly a fighting anime, but at least has a decent amount of action.
 
do u read crows (manga)? i was hoping they hv an anime series 4 it..d actions showcased are superb in d manga.
 
Ga-Rei Zero is freaken amazing.
one of the dozens of artist of Haruhi and full metal panic help made this
look up more of Osamu HORIUCHI's and Yoshimi UMINO's work they make amazing anime. all the details from their work are more like movies and they can turn out the same qualities week after week.
 
of all the anime people posted none were quite the regular typical fights that a while bunch of people enjoyed like mike tyson fights... haha my point is no one heard o hajime no ippo although some fights are a bit exagurated, the details of how the fighters train is real and style from different the different fighters in it that are stated are real as well...

well just to let you people know
 
although the anime is a bit old, historys strongest disciple kenichi is pretty badass imo my fav. martial arts/fighting anime even though its rather non brutal
 
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