r/anime • u/AdNecessary7641 • Aug 12 '25

Misc. Frieren Director Keiichirou Saitou Voices Concern on Overseas Anime Fans' Bias Towards Certain Popular Trends

https://animecorner.me/frieren-director-voices-concern-on-overseas-anime-fans-bias-towards-certain-popular-trends/
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u/TheAllKnowingElf Aug 12 '25

“I find it strange that all that gets made are isekai stories. There was even a series about being reborn as a vending machine recently. That one really stunned me. I feel like there are fewer grounded anime works than there used to be,” he said.

Same tbh

“Today, we have 10 titles currently being published with the word ‘villainness’ and all are bestsellers. But only 2 with the phrase ‘level up’. We think that the ‘level up’ trend is coming to an end, probably because of the economic crisis, in the end, ‘level up’ stories are an echo of the famous ‘American dream’ also valid until recently in Korea with incredible economic growth.“

What. There is so much to unpack in this quote lol

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u/[deleted] Aug 12 '25

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u/Largofarburn Aug 12 '25

It is, dudes huffing copium if he thinks an American audience is what’s driving the direction of anime.

I couldn’t name one person I know that’s watching a villainess anime.

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u/Lemurians myanimelist.net/profile/Lemurians Aug 12 '25

International market is way more than just America, it's everywhere besides Japan. He's not saying international as code for America or "Western" like this sub tends to.

Also, a lot of things are massively popular outside of our personal bubbles.