WHY DO WE ACCEPT MEDIOCRITY IN (SHOUNEN) ANIME
Disclaimer: I am talking about the ANIME of these series. I don't care that if I read the manga then something would make more sense, or the manga is way better, or I have to look in the databooks to understand why this worked and wasn't just plot convenience blah blah blah no
I wanted to write about this for a while now and I know that the west isn't the primary target for anime and I have heard (don't know if this is 100% accurate tho) that people in Japan that do like anime like the standard troupes in which category of anime they watch and have no problem with those troupes being used constantly
However it's just been bugging me lately that the bulk of animes that've been coming out as of late have been so lackluster. Every time I try to get into another anime I immediately stop watching after like 10 minutes into the episode because I can tell what's about to happen Black Clover.
And I'm not saying that Black Clover is bad I'm just saying that there's no originality in it or the other shows being produced. There are some shounen that are okay like Bnha and Attack on titan that I can get through and watch, but that it there just okay.
Recently there have not been enough of the one punch man's or mob psycho's that shake up the shounen genre with refreshing concepts and ideas. And you may or may not like OPM or mob but you can't deny it's something vastly different then the other shounen that have been out lately.
I remember under a YouTube video someone commented something like 'people outgrow troupes and have a shorter tolerance for certain character archetypes because you know they can be done better' and that really resonated with me when it comes to a lot of modern shounen animes today. Many new shounen's are just to similar nothing outstanding or revolutionary like YYH, JoJo, fmab, HxH.
And what made these animes so great especially to me are the way they aren't trying to be like a regular shounen and the mangaka weren't scared to do something different.
For example HxH, first I wanna say that I wouldn't exactly call it a deconstruction anime however it does not follow the usual shounen troupes. Like the protagonist and his wishy washy morality, the villains seeming like living breathing being because they have need and wants outside of the main cast, and the main nen system being beautifully crafted that all anyone has to do is just train hard enough to be extremely powerful. No one needs to be a wizard god king, born with an OP quirk, or even have the best kekkei genkai Jesus eye/9 tails and child of prophecy to be powerful.
JoJo has stands and it's proven in the show just because your stand is OP doesn't guarantee you a win, FMAB whole story is beautifully crafted the themes from racism to war etc. and there are real consequences in brotherhood for the brothers, or in YYH like in HxH, where all the characters are amazing etc. (I can go on with praising these shows but I don't want this post to be to long) Some of these animes aren't even my favorite but I can appreciate them and love the variety they bring to the shounen genre.
And of course these animes are far from perfect (JoJo first season isn't the best, YYH ending was rushed, HxH chimera arc does lag but the payoff was worth it in my opinion, and I don't really have anything negative to say about fmab loved it all the way through etc.) but those were still great animes that people still discuss and love til this day.
Do you really believe where mha and black clover are at right now that they would stand the test of time and be remembered as great shounen's that people love and still discuss other then for shipping fuel and fan service?
And when people do praise those shows it's for what they don't do wrong. Yes some of the shows follow the shounen troupes and they do it well but they don't take any risk or have any stand out points which makes them pretty forgettable to me.
And it's not only troupes or character archetypes I'm also talking about character designs and art styles so many characters look like SAO rejects or from some cheesy slice of life anime that they get boring.
That's another thing I like about Mob the creativity of the show is amazing! The character designs plus the amazing and colorful backgrounds when it comes to action scenes that make the anime a masterpiece to watch. Devilman crybaby is another anime with a different art style. The art was a little off putting to me but I could appreciate that they were trying to do something new and the artist wasn't afraid to get really creative.
I just want some new ideas and concepts I'm tired of all the mediocrity in shounen. Maybe make an amoral protagonist, a true underdog MC, a villain with amazing ideals and philosophy that your agreeing with them, etc. these aren't even new concept but they are barely used in the shounens that would be great to see.
Pretty much all I'm trying to say that personally I just want more variety in the genre and hopefully that happens somewhere in the near future.
