We’ve come far from classic anime writings to new styles of anime writing that have evolved over the years. Although we’re blessed to see a wider variety of anime genres available to watch quickly, it’s disappointing to see the quality of anime plots decline in the last few years. We all wonder, “Why is new anime writing so bad?”. Let’s discuss the reasons behind the decline of Japanese anime writing over time.
New Anime prefer more quantity Over quality nowadays
The main difference between new vs old anime writing is that there were only a limited number of anime writers back then. They preferred to write anime with iconic, complex characters and focused on world-building. Since the number of anime released yearly was low, studios did not have an overburden of work. They could spend more time working on more extended series.
However, anime studios nowadays release many new series each year, focusing more on producing a higher quantity of projects than on developing meaningful and mature storylines. The anime writers, mostly the mangaka or writers of the light novels, are also under pressure to submit content within tight deadlines, which affects their quality of work, too.
The new culture of fast-paced Anime
Before so many online streaming sites, people used to wait daily or weekly for anime on TV.
With limited options, viewers would easily wait for the next episode and enjoy the story-building and character development along the way.
But slow-paced anime has become less common nowadays, and people have a wide variety of available anime to watch, so if one seems a bit slow or tedious, they can quickly shift to the next one.
That’s also one of the reasons new anime is so bad: writers are more focused on writing fast-paced anime where a lot is happening in only a few episodes.
https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4474055489327117 (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});Gone are the days when studios had enough budget and viewers had the patience to watch a 30-episode-long Goku vs. Frieza fight. This can not possible for a new anime without an already established fanbase.
An example of fast-paced anime is the new anime, Dan Dan which has become extremely popular amongst anime fans.
That doesn’t mean its anime writing is bad; it is pretty unique and interesting but extremely fast-paced, which is one of the reasons for its fast popularity.
Why is New Anime Writing so bad? New Anime Are Very Cliché
Back then, anime had more unique storylines and focused on niche genres. As there were no set boundaries for having a “successful anime series”, anime writers were able to play around with creativity and imagination, producing all kinds of anime which were ground-breaking at that time, such as Sailor Moon, Mobile Suit Gundam, Akira, etc. Each of the anime series offered a unique storyline.
However, nowadays, anime producers are more focused towards making anime that would be the most profitable. As budgets are tight and there’s a lot of pressure and competition with new anime titles releasing every season.
Due to that, new anime writing has become very cliché. We see similar high-school rom-coms or shonen anime where “protagonist powers up and kills his enemies” storylines.
Even the Isekai anime has gotten boring lately due to cliché storylines. Anime writers are also aware of many more anime releases, so if their anime writing isn’t good enough, they’ll soon have a major loss, and their series will be tossed aside and overtaken by the competition.
More Focus on visuals rather than storylines
Some people might disagree, but the visuals of classic anime are not very good. Of course, the technology back then was way less than the animation tools available in the modern era.
However, they compensated for the poor visuals with the in-depth storylines.
On the contrary, nowadays, anime is more focused on producing visuals that attract an audience than mature storylines, which is another reason for the bad anime writing in the new anime.
The character designs are great, and there are flashy battles, but what about dialogues that touch the hearts of the viewers? Or background stories of heroes/villains that were unexpected? The storylines for new anime are rarely out of the box nowadays.
Ecchi is the New Cool
Everyone likes a little bit of fan service in anime; it was also present in old anime, and it was fun to change the pace. However, the new anime writing has been strongly focusing on unnecessarily including ecchi scenes in anime to get the attention of young viewers and put those scenes up on anime visuals to gain more audience.
https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4474055489327117 (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});These scenes are easier for anime writers to write but also sell well. A big example of this is the anime “Rent-A-Girlfriend”, which has pretty generic characters and plain anime writing, but it sold so well it’s already getting a season 4 in 2025.
Why is New Anime Writing So Bad: Are All New Anime Bad?
No, not all new anime are bad. While there has been a decline in the quality of anime writing in the last few years, with tens of anime released each year, some still provide a unique storyline and have perfect characters.
A few new good anime with exciting storylines, mature plots and unconventional main anime characters would be Mushi-Shi, Fireren: Beyond Journey’s End, Pluto, and The Apothecary Diaries, to name a few. There have even been some anime with different plots, such as Hell’s Paradise and Oshi No Ko. These give us hope that anime writers are beginning.
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