Is anime stagnating? Evangelion's Hideaki Anno speaks out

[Martin]

Well, my initial reaction was that his stance is ironic as they come...if he's going to rehash NGE I sure as hell hope he has an ace up his sleeve because many fans, as demonstrated here, will be sceptical.

On the other hand, I agree with him that the industry needs, for want of a better term, a kick up the backside. There are some spectacular shows that stand up well with the classics - the likes of Yoshitoshi ABe, Satoshi Kon and Makoto Shinkai have allowed me to believe that there is and will continue to be a lot of good quality anime for us to enjoy...yet the fact remains that a vast majority of anime produced is throwaway, commercial tripe.

If anyone is going to shake things up a bit, who else but Hideaki Anno? He's outspoken, unconventional and produces original work that, for better or for worse, is remembered for years afterwards. I trust the man enough to give him a chance.

 

[Ark]

If anyone is going to shake things up a bit, who else but Hideaki Anno? He's outspoken, unconventional and produces original work that, for better or for worse, is remembered for years afterwards. I trust the man enough to give him a chance.

It's true that these new films could turn out to be land marks but what change could they possibly effect in terms of the wider industry?

Do we really wanna see more Eva clones as a result?

 

[Martin]

By the looks of things, Anno asked himself the exact same question so my guess is that he has something pretty special planned. Of course, that's what I'm hoping and my admiration of pretty much everything he's done might bias my view a bit.

That said, it might prove to be a solid financial foundation for this new studio of his. I've been hearing rumblings of 'Anno's new studio' for months but dismissed it as just rumours - when he actually finishes a show properly he creates a masterpiece but I'll be interested to see what he does with an entire studio behind him 100%.

 

[Ark]

By the looks of things, Anno asked himself the exact same question so my guess is that he has something pretty special planned. Of course, that's what I'm hoping and my admiration of pretty much everything he's done might bias my view a bit.

On a slightly related note I hope he keeps the superb character interaction that made the original Eva so great. That's one thing I feel is missing in a lot of anime nowadays. Some of the dialogue is just unbearable to listen to especially with teenage characters.

 

[butch-cassidy]

If anyone is going to shake things up a bit, who else but Hideaki Anno? He's outspoken, unconventional and produces original work that, for better or for worse, is remembered for years afterwards. I trust the man enough to give him a chance.

I have to disagree, he is not that unconventional. Lets have a look at his directorial résumé,

Cutie Honey (2004)
Kusoh no kikai-tachi no naka no hakai no hatsumei (2002)
Shiki-Jitsu (2000)
His and Her Circumstances (1998)
End of Evangelion (1997)
Evangelion: Death & Rebirth (1997)
Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995)
Take Care of Yourself (1996) [Single episode]
Fushigi no umi no Nadia (1990)
Gunbuster (1998)

Eva is marked in red. His and Her circumstances was not his source material [Note, Kare Kano Manga] though 'Gunbuster' is gold. Other than Eva and Gunbuster he hasn't done anything that notable.

 

[Martin]

It depends on what you mean by 'notable' I suppose. If you're judging it by merchandise and DVD sales or creating a series/film from scratch, Evangelion is pretty much his only significant achievement.

I was thinking more along the lines of bringing a concept to the screen and having a style of direction that viewers can spot a mile off - I haven't seen Cutie Honey or Nadia I'm afraid, although the latter had some favourable reviews stateside.

 

[Ushio]

I was thinking more along the lines of bringing a concept to the screen and having a style of direction that viewers can spot a mile off - I haven't seen Cutie Honey or Nadia I'm afraid, although the latter had some favourable reviews stateside.

Nadia is very good, and is still a a bit of a fan favourite in Japan. It's easy to see where Eva got a lot of its material from when you watch this, especially in the last couple of episodes.

The third quarter of the series was a bit iffy, but the rest of it is right up there with Eva imo. (the movie has an awful rep, so I've avoided it so far...)

 

[Charter_Mage]

I agree that 90% of anime is probably crap, but i think everybodies taste is slightly different, so we all have contradictory views on what the crap parts actually are.
For me, i'm not a big fan of alot of the so called 'classics'. While i'm sure none of them can be called the worse anime, i think people are too stuck on them being the best.
I believe nothing bad could come from the industry taking a few more risks, though a considerable amount of my favourite series are anime that has come out post 2000

 

[Ark]

For me, i'm not a big fan of alot of the so called 'classics'. While i'm sure none of them can be called the worse anime, i think people are too stuck on them being the best.

Again I agree. Some people seem to have a mentality which dictates that if something is old it must by definition be better. I haven't found that at all. While I don't claim to have seen hundreds of pre-90s anime from what I have seen they are certainly not of a vastly higher quality than modern anime. This is just one of those truisms that gets repeated again and again until most people just accept it without question.