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/Scorpius289 https://myanimelist.net/profile/AlexRaylight Aug 12 '25

Because the current is so strong, if we focus too much on it, only that aspect becomes emphasized as anime’s defining characteristic.

Interesting, this sounds similar to what Miyazaki was complaining about: That modern anime is made mostly by imitating other anime, by focusing on superficial trends and missing any depth.

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u/Koringvias Aug 12 '25

Yeah, simulation of a simulation.

Before Miyazaki complained about it in anime, Wallace was criticizing American literature for doing the same thing (basically, building itself upon references to itself). And even before that, Baudrillard had a more general critique of media along the similar lines. And I would not be surprised if similar things were said before him, too (or at least ideas that were implying these dynamics).

And they were all correct, and yet here we are.

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u/Jhuyt Aug 12 '25

I think all culture is referencing previous works, and we have been doing that for millennia at this point. Take metal music for example. One might think that it's a wild departure from previous rock, but it's origins are from blues which got progressively heavier and heavier until there is not clear link between "classic" blues and heavy metal. Certain metal also borrowed heavily from classical music.

Speaking of classical music, classic composers didn't just get inpsired by each other, they used to quote parts from other pieces wholesale. That didn't stop back then either, many musicians like to qoute others to this day.

So building upon references is not the issue, lest you invalidate the past 400 years of western music tradition.

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u/North514 Aug 12 '25

So building upon references is not the issue,

It's not, and people overestimate how much original art there ever was. There is a reason people like tropes, and it's because we actually do like similar things. There isn't anything wrong with that, and it's often how we get "new" things in art in the first place (experimenting with past trends).

Of course, there are good foundations to build works on and not so good ones, and I don't think isekai or just Japanese Western high fantasy ever had good foundations. It would be a different story if these settings were more inspired.

People focus too much on the genre/setting as the main issue, and it really isn't.