I don't think people are really understanding what Anno is saying. A simple case of reading the title and not the article itself perhaps, because to be fair Anno's involvement with Eva has no bearing on what's being discussed. Anno's disdain for the Otaku culture is no secret, however I don't see this being in any way shape or form related to this at all.
What I see being discussed here is all to do with the industry itself and how its not sustainable in its current format. And you know what? He's right. There's an old quote from Anno in regards to his work on Eva which he ponders the exact same ideas, the notion that sometimes a reset button is need to be pressed, like flushing a toilet, we need to get rid of that old ****, things need to start afresh, with new ideas to rekindle the imagination of people.
–August 2001 issue of Eureka, on Miyazaki’s Spirited Away
In terms of the current structure for the anime industry, I have no doubt in my mind that Evangelion was the start of the fall. Eva was a colossal success sales wise when it came out and blinded a lot of studios. It pretty much killed the (to be fair already declining) OVA format and set a precedence for more adult orientated anime on TV, and lead to the birth and rise of late night anime. A lot of it however has to do with the bubble economy in Japan during the 1986 and 1991 period. After the crash, which is known as the ‘lost decade’, Japan was hurt a lot from a creative point of view. When you look at the bubble economy, you see so many cult series and films that were released during that era, which had a lot to do with how more people had disposable income to spend on tapes and how this stopped once people become more conscious of their spending and funding.
Maybe the regard in which people hold Anno has dwindled over the years, but I think he knows a thing or two about the industry. He's always been negative for sure, but why wouldn't he be? The industry has been in a need of a shake up for a long ass time, and it has less to do with the quality of shows and "anime was batter in the past" and more to do with the other factors that aren't sustainable or attracting new talent. It's been the case for a while. Nobody, not even Anno insinuated that anime would disappear entirely, but that the rest of the world are catching up, and like in the technology segment, Japan are and have fallen behind.
