Anime creators have it harder than most creators in the entertainment business. If you know enough about the
But nobody cares about that. And this is the harsh reality of the
- Some
anime fans care about the conditions creators are in. - Some fans don’t care about
anime studio’s, their lack of budgets or any of that stuff.
In the end:
And yet: those are some of the reasons why
This is why “good” anime is so hard to make in 2018:
1. The anime industry is still in its “startup” phase
I wrote an article about this: Why The
What does that mean?
Simple: the
In the startup phase of any business, most companies aren’t even making any
At best they’re “breaking even” but in most cases it’s worse than that.
That’s why so many of these companies have funding behind them, to help ease the financial burden in the short-term.
What’s this got to do with making “good” anime ?
A LOT actually. It’s easy to think about making good
- Focus on good character development.
- Pay attention to the designs of each character.
- Create beautiful animation.
- Make the story compelling, unique and so on.
But before any of that can even happen, money needs to be invested.
How many
And how many
The
Ironically, that’s the same reason making good
2. Creativity is NOT scientific
You know what’s so great about numbers? They don’t lie.
The same is true for anything statistical or scientific. There’s always some way to predict the outcome with 100% accuracy.
If only that was true for the process of making good
Creativity is an art, not a science.
That’s why for each
Let’s take an anime like Attack On Titan for example.
You could argue ALL day about how season 1 is better than season 2, and vice versa. But statistically, neither show is equal when it comes to global success.
That’s because each series is unique in its own way. And each season took different amounts of creativity (or not) to make both seasons what they are today.
But the fact is: you can’t duplicate creative success. Because it’s not scientific or predictable.
That’s why it’s more of an art than it is a science.
Even the best
It’s hard because the creative process is unpredictable.
But on the bright side, we have the internet. And whatever you create will receive FAST feedback. Which helps
Read: The 7 BIGGEST Challenges The Anime Industry’s Facing In 2018
3. It’s easy to lose focus
Remember
I didn’t hesitate to create 2 posts about the
I was so hyped about Darling In The Franxx because unlike other shows in 2018,
Just imagine what it could have done for the
Unfortunately, the 2nd half of the series LOST its focus. And did a 360 on the original story.
It was so bad almost every single person who loved D.I.T.F couldn’t bare to watch anymore.
I was one of them.
I love studio Trigger, but they tried to “innovate” while simultaneously destroying the winning formula.
And that, like plenty of
4. Keeping up with the Joneses
This is a bad habit humans have.
You can blame the mainstream media and news outlets for this… But really, you can blame people for going along with it in the first place.
In the
As an example: there are at least 300+
Most of the studios producing these series are producing way too much anime to keep up with what “everyone else” is doing.
You can clearly see this when you realize how many
What happened to the days when there were LESS
I get it. It’s 2018, the internet is here, and technology is moving faster than ever. So as a result, everything is accelerating.
But is that really a good excuse to overproduce just to keep up with the Joneses, and whoever else?
And is it even the right path? Isn’t there a better alternative?
Pressure is tough, but I feel like too many
That approach only leads to a lot of junk
But maybe that’s just how I see it.
5. Too much unnecessary fan-service
Fan service is OK. I don’t have a problem with it… when it makes sense to have it.
The
But where “fan service” becomes a real issue is when it’s shoved into
Usually it’s done for the sake of it. Or because the creators ran out of ideas and decided to use “fan service” to fill in the gaps.
And other times: fan service is used to deviate from the original story. To give viewers a “break” from the action.
But no matter how you wanna phrase or explain it, fan-service is at an all time high. And it’s the reason so many
Imagine how good High School Of The Dead would have been if it weren’t for the ridiculous fan service.
And so many other
Related: 10 Clean Animes That Don’t Include Sex, Fan-Service Or Ecchi Content
But it doesn’t end there
YouTuber – DigiBro has a slightly different take on the topic.
Here’s the video to dive more into the topic:

Why do you think good anime is hard to make these days?
It’s not as if there aren’t good anime shows being produced.
2018 is a stand-out example. But it’s tough, and with time I believe things will get better within the next 10 years.
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Recommended: 4 Of The Easiest Ways You Can Tell If An Anime Is Good (Or REALLY Bad)