Present-Day Anime Animation

[miyabi95_]

I do have an appreciation for the expressions used in Rumiko Takahashi's work (Urusei Yatsura and Ranma 1/2 primarily). Although most anime during the 80's tried to be really dark and edgy, there were still a few comedies that somehow appealed to a large audience. I'd probably say it's due to the silly and over-the-top visuals and expressions. Even Dragon Ball (and Z) utilized it just right. Toriyama's style is really simple, but I still love his classic slapstick-like expressions.
                                   

[CosmicLoop]

Yeah....I have to agree with the "recent new shows are too similar" thing.... even with anime. It seems like with nearly every anime that suddenly pops up and starts trending (except OPM and Sailor Moon Crystal) is some kind of moe/slice-of-life/harem looking thing, with a similar style, semi-forgettable or bland designs, etc. Alot of it feels....empty. What happened to the days where you could easily spot out an anime character/series, and alot had their own style and recognizable design......I mean I get if you wanna be cute, but you can still be expressive/unique AND cute, if you try. But like people are saying, if you're being rushed to make an animated show just because of the high-demand, I guess you really wouldn't have time to dive into the more unique things. At this point it's probably just "hey guys, '16 years old and with 20 girlfriends' was really popular, let's make a show just like that!!"

In terms of cartoons, I've really just stopped watching TV because it doesn't feel like anything interesting is really on anymore, besides Spongebob. Plus it feels like 90% of the (what WAS) cartoon channels feel like just cheap unfunny "sitcoms" that too feel like bland clones. Honestly I don't even know what toons are on those anymore besides Spongebob, FoP, Gumball, Adventure Time/Regular Show and Steven Universe. Everything else seems forgettable, unless it reaches that "so bad everyone starts talking about it" status.

[Dolphman]

The only slice-of-Life anime I really watched were Haruhi Suzumiya, Lucky Star and K-on. Most others lately do feel like clones of either of them.
And studios should do quality control, especially Toei due to how their latest shows need to be redone for the DVDs.

I mean look how infamous the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was. A huge mess of animation, voice, and continuity mistakes.
What didn't help the show's case was bad writing from David Wise as well. He even ripped off plots from other shows he wrote for.
He's also become a huge bigot too, saying he created Bebop & Rocksteady and Krang, which is not true.

The original artwork pitch for Playmates by Eastman and Laird. Only the warthog and rhinoceros were chosen.

More concept art by Eastman and Laird during pitching the toyline to Playmates which was in concept stages before the TV series

Final designs by Stephen Murphy. One of the original Mirage Studios artists and writers.

Early concept art of Krang and his android body, all by Peter Laird. He's also loosely based on the Utroms, which is obvious if you know TMNT.
Someone needs to update their Wikipedia pages, because this is all the proof right here. Sorry if this segued from the subject too much.

Anyway. Have you checked the other cartoons by CN, like We Bare Bears and Clarence? If so, What are your opinions of them?
With Nickelodeon, I only follow the new TMNT, but the hiatuses for that show are ridiculous. Fortunately, the new season continues in January.
As for Disney, I liked Gravity Falls but didn't follow it after the first twelve episodes, sadly. Not sure about Star vs. the Forces of Evil though.
I'm kinda looking forward to the new cartoon that Larry Bundy JR. is pitching for them. Hope they greenlight it.

[miyabi95_]

Anyway. Have you checked the other cartoons by CN, like We Bare Bears and Clarence? If so, What are your opinions of them?
With Nickelodeon, I only follow the new TMNT, but the hiatuses for that show are ridiculous. Fortunately, the new season continues in January.
As for Disney, I liked Gravity Falls but didn't follow it after the first twelve episodes, sadly. Not sure about Star vs. the Forces of Evil though.
I'm kinda looking forward to the new cartoon that Larry Bundy JR. is pitching for them. Hope they greenlight it.

I remember a few months ago when I actually sat down in front of the TV, touched the remote, and watched cartoons on CN - my first time doing this in ages. I saw an episode each of Steven Universe, Gumball, Regular Show, Teen Titans GO!, and Bears. Nothing really pulled me in, but I do appreciate that cartoons these days still have moral value; there's usually, if not always a helpful message in an episode on behaving like a civil person. I also like the abundance of diversity among human or human-like characters (weight, race, other stuff having to do with physical appearance).
I've been meaning to watch Star, mostly because I like the main protagonist's character design, but it's from Disney, so it may not be my cup of tea .

The last American cartoon I was fully-invested in watching was Avatar: The Last Airbender. Best effing cartoon I'd ever seen, and that was some time before I got big into anime. My hair was normally cut short like a bowl-cut, but after I saw Zuko in Book 3, I decided to grow it out a bit longer so it could be all shaggy like his. Not ashamed to say that B).

---

Anyway. Have you checked the other cartoons by CN, like We Bare Bears and Clarence? If so, What are your opinions of them?
With Nickelodeon, I only follow the new TMNT, but the hiatuses for that show are ridiculous. Fortunately, the new season continues in January.
As for Disney, I liked Gravity Falls but didn't follow it after the first twelve episodes, sadly. Not sure about Star vs. the Forces of Evil though.
I'm kinda looking forward to the new cartoon that Larry Bundy JR. is pitching for them. Hope they greenlight it.

I remember a few months ago when I actually sat down in front of the TV, touched the remote, and watched cartoons on CN - my first time doing this in ages. I saw an episode each of Steven Universe, Gumball, Regular Show, Teen Titans GO!, and Bears. Nothing really pulled me in, but I do appreciate that cartoons these days still have moral value; there's usually, if not always a helpful message in an episode on behaving like a civil person. I also like the abundance of diversity among human or human-like characters (weight, race, other stuff having to do with physical appearance).
I've been meaning to watch Star, mostly because I like the main protagonist's character design, but it's from Disney, so it may not be my cup of tea .

The last American cartoon I was fully-invested in watching was Avatar: The Last Airbender. Best effing cartoon I'd ever seen, and that was some time before I got big into anime. My hair was normally cut short like a bowl-cut, but after I saw Zuko in Book 3, I decided to grow it out a bit longer and straighten it so it could be all spiky and shaggy like his. Not ashamed to say that B).

[psychospacecow]

You know, I find it kind of funny how people are seeing things as "samey". Its not unique to this era of animation either.
If you look at Hanna-Barbera, you'll find a lot of shows that file under the same archetypes as Scooby Doo.
The plot could be summed up in 6 points.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooby-Doo,_Where_Are_You!

Josie and the Pussycats
Harlem Globetrotters
The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan
Speed Buggy
Goober and the Ghost Chasers
Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch
Dynomutt, Dog Wonder
Funky Phantom
Jabberjaw
Jonny Quest

There are a good few spin-offs of a few of those and likely one or two that I missed.
Point is, the recycled formatting isn't all that new. The same thing happens with movies when no one's willing to try new ideas. Why do you think we've been getting so many sequels to series that haven't gotten them in decades? Its just a safe bet to go with the "slice of life" or "random" formatting that got really popular in the early 90s and mid 2000s. With the transition from television to the wider internet of recent, it really shouldn't come as a surprise that some of these networks are a little scared.

[Kriven]

The thing about the Hannah-Barbera cartoons is... they were also complained about in their time.

But by the time you got to our generations, which I'm assuming is pretty solidly the 1990s and the first decade of the 2000s, the cartoon stations weren't just playing contemporary shows... they were playing a little of the old stuff, a lot of new stuff, and depending on where specifically on this twenty-year timeline a person falls, a whole lot of old-stuff-that-was-new. By the year 2000 Nickelodeon was still playing most of its 90s Nicktoons, a healthy slew of new stuff, a sizable portion of Kids WB material (I remember Animaniacs, Freakazoid, and Ninja Turtles), and some older stuff... and if you were young enough not to be ashamed to catch the end of Nick Jr., you got treated to Franklin, Little Bear, and the Muppet Babies, too.

And then on Disney Channel you had Recess and the Disney Movie Shows (Aladdin, Hercules, Little Mermaid), but you also had the 1980s Disney Afternoon line-up... DuckTales, QuackPack, GoofTroop, Rescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck, The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Gargoyles, The Gummi Bears, TaleSpin. Then you started getting some of the newer stuff like House of Mouse and Kim Possible, and even though they started phasing out the old stuff in this process, there was still this big pool of cartoons reaching further back into the station's history.

On Cartoon Network you not only had the original Hanna-Barbera stuff (Scooby-Doo, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, sometimes Jabberjaw), but the original Looney Tunes short, the Bugs and Daffy Show, Speed Racer, The Flintstone Kids, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Tom and Jerry, The Tom and Jerry Kids, and all from the point of 1995-2005 you were getting new Cartoon Cartoons that didn't replace these shows but were aired alongside them: Dexter's Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Codename: Kids Next Door, Cow & Chicken, I Am Weasel, Johnny Bravo, Two Stupid Dogs, Secret Squirrel, Ed, Edd, 'n' Eddy... They even ran Speed Racer in the afternoon, which eventually became Toonami/Miguzi, and then you had Pokemon, Sailor Moon, Samurai Jack, Dragon Ball Z, Yu Yu Hakusho, Rurouni Kenshin, and Code Lyoko.

Kids WB and Fox both had their Saturday Morning Line-up (a concept which is sadly lost...)... The Whole DC Animated Universe, the new TMNT, etc.

So when we (or at least I) are complaining about "Sameness", I'm doing that with the knowledge that each station/era has traditionally produce similar content in a similar timeframe... it's just that they used to air the new lineup right beside the old lineup. Instead of having six contemporary shows to choose from, you had five (or more... I remember ABC Family doing something. Did they have Bobby's World?) channels running three decades worth of content. You didn't grow tired of that Hanna-Barbera look, or that Screwball Looney Tunes look, or that 90s Nicktoons look, or that Disney Afternoon look because all of these styles were cut together.

These days all the old programs have either been completely removed or, more common I find, moved to specialty channels like Boomerang and The Nineties Is All That.

So I'm not trying to hate on today's cartoons. There's actually a good handful of stuff that is among the best stuff we've ever had. It's just that all we have in general is a handful of stuff, and that didn't used to be the case. I'm hating more on the network's business models, I guess.

Edit: Lately I've been finding box sets of some of my old favorite cartoons at Walmart and such... for Christmas I even got The Complete Angry Beavers (and then some anime... Dragon Ball GT, Sailor Moon, Cowboy Bebop...). I've seen the Disney Afternoon stuff, a lot of Nicktoons, and a few early Cartoon Cartoons (Dexter and Johnny Bravo and Courage). I've been buying them every now and again, in addition to whatever new shows I like that come out on season sets, and ripping the DVDs so I can kind of cut my own "Channels" (playlists). Turning on my playlists is a lot more rewarding than watching television, just because of the variety. There's even some stuff in there that I don't particularly like but got at yardsales or as gifts, just so I can have that experience of "Eh, I'm not that into this" because that's part of having so much variety.

[Kosheh]

I've been buying them every now and again, in addition to whatever new shows I like that come out on season sets, and ripping the DVDs so I can kind of cut my own "Channels" (playlists). Turning on my playlists is a lot more rewarding than watching television, just because of the variety. There's even some stuff in there that I don't particularly like but got at yardsales or as gifts, just so I can have that experience of "Eh, I'm not that into this" because that's part of having so much variety.

I'm curious how this "channels" (playlists) thing works. Do you settle down after a long day and somehow have that playlist playing all day somehow, so when you turn on the TV there's CARTOONS playing for the true nostalgic feeling?


Or is it like "welp, here's downtime, might as well watch some cartoons" *heats up popcorn, put on onesie, turn on extended shuffled "Nicktoons" playlist*

[Kriven]

Sometimes I leave it muted in the background if I'm currently organizing my shows (so the hard drive is plugged in), but usually if I feel like I want to watch *something* but I don't want to pick something, I'll throw on one of the playlists.

Right now I'm working on organizing them by station or block ("Toonami", "Miguzi", "Nickelodeon", "TeenNick") for when I'm feeling particular, but I'm also making some "custom" channels that kind of group together cartoons from all the sources. For instance, "Adult Swim" wouldn't have The Simpsons or South Park, but my currently-unnamed-adult-swimish Playlist does (in addition to Family Guy and the like).

I'm also hunting down the old bumpers and interludes to give the channels their distinct flavor.

[Dolphman]

The sad thing about Australian DVDs is that it often takes forever for Saturday morning cartoons to get released here. Sometimes never.
We had the first volume of Garfield & Friends but never the rest, and now it's out of print. Had to torrent the whole series because of this.
Our version of Boomerang really sucks now. It no longer airs all those classic cartoons minus Looney Tunes, which are uncut here.
It also now just a place to cram old school CN shows. Got worse when preschool shows like Horrid Henry and Chuck & Friends came on there.
The Flintstones ended up in a channel we have called Fox Classics. Not sure if fellow Hanna Barbera shows migrated to there as well.

With Viz's redub of Sailor Moon. It was originally meant to come out in February, but it got delayed until this month, which is out now. 
Madman was a bit secretive about it. But it had to do with them making a deal with Toei to let them remaster the footage themselves.
So their release didn't end up like how the American DVD & Blu-ray turned out. I've read it received complaints over shoddy remastering.
I've only watched the first two episodes on my copy so far, and I gotta say. The new dub is way better than the DiC(HeD) version.

[Gors]

Let me tell that recycling and repurposing the same things over and over is not a problem at all - it's something that's been with us over and over. Somtimes, recycling past ideas while adding new points can be the next fresh thing.

In the creative world, you'll never be able to produce a fully original thing. There will be always a percentage of outside inspiration, but this is not a bad thing. It's the fusion of these points that make the new things interesting.

for example, playing with spinning tops were one of the oldest pasttimes ever created by mankind. Beyblade got that and made customized tops for anime and actual toys. It ran with an age-old concept, gave it some polish, and it was sold.

The biggest problem however is the quality concerning this adaptation and/or junction of elements. Beyblade, for example, worked because it was made to appeal to young kids. Imagine if this was done poorly, with terrible art and without over the top battles and all the "being the top player in the world" kinda thing. The franchise would topple over, that's for sure. You need to give a new spin on the genre or else you're faded to fail.

[Koh]

I think it's mostly the visuals and progression of cartoons these days that are way too similar. Breadwinners looks like Adventure Time looks like Regular Show looks like Chowder looks like Flapjack. Then most tend to have a bunch of randomness and not as much plot cohesion, so they're even more forgettable. Especially Spongebob; it went way downhill after like Season 3, and it's amazing it's even still a thing.

If you look at a show like Courage the Cowardly Dog, which I hold to be one of the best cartoons made so far, the artstyle was simple, yet there was still hyper expressionism, a cohesive plot for that episode, and a mix of dark and light humor to appeal to all audiences. Other old good shows like Dexter's Laboratory, TailSpin, Ducktales or Darkwing Duck also had this, though not as much dark humor.

[DarkGrievous7145]

Well, that was a lot to take-in...

I overall agree with and understand most of what's being said.
Other stuff I have not even the faintest idea.

I definitely do not watch tv as much as I used to.
Variety is important to me, and it is definitely lacking.
Throwing back the good shows to the premium channels really just irritates me.

Now, to touch on a few shows, seeing as this thread has gone waay beyond anime, I don't really watch spongebob as much. Especially the new ones. It just doesn't feel the same. I once watched a video explaining a great deal of everything wrong with the new series. I kinda have to agree.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force started out interesting/funny. By the time they ended it, no one really cared.

Adventure Time, Gumball, Regular Show, Steven Universe definitely all are pretty interesting. They are worthwhile, not that others can always appreciate it. My sister and brother-in-law have already openly stated something that indicates they don't get them...PERIOD. Much of the following shows are alright, I suppose...but I agree they're essentially just an attempt to clone one of these others.


On with the anime:
One Piece definitely stands-out for the facial expressions and bizarre/unrealistic powers, lol. Sometimes a tad too much. But overall, it's a good show.

Kill La Kill I don't have any major complaint of.


Something that kinda bothers me about all new shows, though. Looks like it's been touched on, already, but I'll just say it... CGI. I mean, not like it's a bad thing (if used right) . But it stands-out, and it ruins the artistic appeal of these shows. Not that modeling isn't an art, but these shows meant to look like, or once were, hand-drawn/painted, it kinda ruins because those models feel out of place.

I would elaborate further, but I really do not have the time to at this very moment, so maybe later.

[Neon Streak]

Something that kinda bothers me about all new shows, though. Looks like it's been touched on, already, but I'll just say it... CGI. I mean, not like it's a bad thing (if used right) . But it stands-out, and it ruins the artistic appeal of these shows. Not that modeling isn't an art, but these shows meant to look like, or once were, hand-drawn/painted, it kinda ruins because those models feel out of place.

I would elaborate further, but I really do not have the time to at this very moment, so maybe later.

I agree completely. One prime example for me is the Timber-wolves from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: during the flashback in the S2 episode Family Appreciation Day, they were portrayed as 2D flash puppets, much like the rest of the show's characters. However, starting from the S3 episode Spike at Your Service and onward, the Timber-wolves were made into 3D models.

Now to be fair, some T.V. Shows can pull of the CGI effect really well (IE Family Guy), however, with MLP, they seem rather off and clash with the rest of the colorful, 2D environment; at this rate, they may as well make the whole show in 3D.

[Dolphman]

Huh, that opinion regarding obvious CGI in 2D stuff is similar to mine about it. So I'm not alone.
The conspicuous CGI was one the main complaints with The Simpsons Movie as It stood out like dog's balls. More so than Futurama's.
Rotoscoping CGI models would be a neat solution. Like trace over vehicles, and landscapes rather than live people or 3D character models.
The famous Betty Boop cartoon Minnie the Moocher has a major example of rotoscoping. Skip to 4:15 on the video for the example.

Those are Cab Calloway's dance moves traced over for the ghost walrus, giving him a very creepy feel.

[Kriven]

Ugh, I've hated the CGI-mixed-into-2D thing since I was a kid... It's the style clash, man. I suspect most TSR denizens will be familiar with and dislike it.

Grievous: Do you happen to know which YouTuber did that SpongeBob video? Sounds interesting.