Welcome to the Fantasy Zone
This Zone is dedicated to the lesser known elements of anime hosted by the cast of Victory Script.
What weapon is the best?
Who will win in this Death Battle?
Is this costume practical?
You name it, it's all covered here in the Fantasy Zone!
Like it or not, I'm old, but as I sit in my lounge recovering from a cold while Retrowave plays in the background, I can't help but reminisce of the Halcyon Otaku Days.
10. Dub Acting
Yes it was raw in places but I found the mix of dubbing teams across America, Canada and even my own UK fascinating, these days it's just crunchyroll and while the quality is better it's not exactly memorable anymore. Also I liked it when it was just acting and no baggage.
9. OVAs
I find too many mediocre anime undeserving of getting 12 episode runs all the time, those are the shows that needed the three episodes at most treatment, they are generally better quality and make more of an effort to cram in the best it has to offer.
8. Advertisement
Above is an image from a magazine promoting ADVFilms releases, this is back in the day where everything was advertised no matter how obscure it seemed.
(I don't miss the absurdity of being charged more for the sub)
7. Trailers
ADV used to put trailers on before every anime showing, I would not have discovered anime without it.
6. Discovery Stories
Gone are the days where you can discover anime on your own and have a story to go along with it, these days you just find out because it appeared in Fortnite.
5. Variety
You'd think it would get better but the variety has actually gotten worse in recent years, another look at the picture, you see a Sci-Fi, a Historical Drama and a Fantasy. These days it's Isekai, a slightly different Isekai or a no this is actually a good Isekai along with a host of other shows with an outstanding waifu as it's main selling point, along with a show just to keep Twitter busy for the season, what ever is still airing despite it being years old and a major anime revived from the dead.
4. Less Long Series
Remember the days you thought nothing could be as long as Inuyasha? Long series are nothing new, they hold the record for it but there are way too many these days, no one asked for a fight to take nearly half a year to finish!
3. TV Channels Playing Anime
I'm a Toonami viewer and a FoxKids viewer, I also lived through the 4Kids era, dodgy censorship aside, I wouldn't know half of the most legendary anime without it having a TV spot.
2. Old Anime Style
I still miss the old styles of anime, it was striking, sharp and felt more adult.
1. Missing the Wow Factor
Anime rarely wows me these days, this plays into why so many modern anime are missing from my top lists.
Notes: Age, changing tastes and how much anime I've consumed has played a role in my recent slumps in watching anime, there are things I don't miss about the past as well. Call it rose tinted glasses but I can't help but miss the old days of anime.
I mentioned eras of anime so I thought it would be good to expand on that meaning especially from a Western perspective.
Early to Mid 90s: Ultra Violent Taboo era
This era is defined by the limited selection of anime available post release of Akira in the west. Most were Sci Fi, most were overly violent and extreme in nature, and was such taboo that viewing it put you in the same camp as those who buy pornography. In short, no one in the west knew what to do with this anime thing.
Late 90s to early 00s: Pokemon Toonami Era
Networks open up to anime with great success due to the ratings winners of Pokemon and Dragonballz; with interest established, curiousity leads to more anime being green lit for home release. Anime is still very niche and some semblance of the previous era remained especially with DVD being in it's infancy.
Mid to late 00s: Otaku Golden Era
With DVDs being default, computers being fast enough for torrents and a number of top tier anime being released including Full Metal Alchemist, Death Note and Naruto. Anime cons were now common place and there was no limit to how much anime that was coming out, being a fan in this era was a dream.
2010s to mid 2010s: The Hangover
The endless party brought on by the previous era was beginning to bite; Anime Distribution holders were starting to go out of business, long runners were out staying their welcome and Western Cartoons fought back with the likes of Avatar and Adventure Time. On the brightside the taboo label it used to have was starting to come off.
Today's Era: Meme, Stream and Waifu Wars
Today's era is controlled by the internet, the popularity of new shows is dictated by how well it can be memed, the waifu quality and how easy it is to obtain through streaming. Meanwhile certain older titles are upgraded to legendary status while today's sensibilities are catching out people who partied too hard in the Golden era, it's also making up dumb controversies which are worth ignoring.
Summary
So to summarise what I like and dislike about each era
Ultra Violent Taboo era
While I didn't like the lack of originality or diversity, one thing you can never take away from this era is the shock and awe of seeing something that was animated and actually being serious, it really did feel like a rite of passage watching these titles.
Pokemon Toonami Era
Most people I know started here and it felt like a second rite of passage because we finally have diverse shows of all types and really set the bar of what can be expected in the future, but I look back with a sense of frustration that the networks did far too much censorship.
Otaku Golden Era
Probably the best era for anime and the one best remembered by fans today, being a fan in this era was the best but it's legacy is being felt later on and you get the sense that you were getting alot of meh among juggernaut titles.
The Hangover
I was sad to lose ADVfilms along with a lot of distribution houses, I also found it was getting harder to like the newer top tier anime especially the high standard that came before, but I least felt I can take my time with what to watch and there more hits than misses.
Meme, Stream and Waifu Wars
The ease of anime is just a click of a button and I kind of feel that anime relies on Memes to be relevant way too much, but my job as a reviewer is easier for it and I wouldn't be doing such over ambitious projects.
End
