Are we in a new era for Anime?

[wonderfly]

Are we in a new era for Anime (at least in North America?)?

From what I can see, the "new era" starts around Fall of 2019, when "Dragon Ball Super" ended, and Demon Slayer and Dr. Stone premiered. Those two became huge, and not just because they were on Toonami, though airing on Toonami certainly helped. Since then, we've been in getting hits like "Spy X Spy Family", "Jujutsu Kaisen", and it just feels like it's different now than it was around, say, 2015. Also, I'm thinking Dandadan is going to be a big hit.

I also think this is something of a demographic switch: Arguably, this is the moment (around 2019) when anime passes from "Millennials" to "Gen Z". Teenagers nowadays are wearing Demon Slayer shirts, and I'm not convinced they're watching on Toonami on Saturday nights.

This is much like when anime passed from "Gen X" to "Millennials", for which I haven't nailed down an exact date, but it's either in 1999 when Pokemon became a sensation, or when Yu-Gi-Oh premiered on US TV in 2001, or arguably when Naruto took off in popularity in 2005. Also, Dragon Ball Z transcended generations, and was popular with both Gen X and Millennials. EDIT: Anime for "Gen X" was when the fans were more into watching the "Saturday Anime/Anime Film Festivals" on the Sci-Fi Channel in the 90's and buying anime on VHS tapes. AKA the era of "Anime on VHS".

Before 2019/2020, we were in a "post-2008 Toonami/post Adult Swim Golden Age (aka "after "Death Note" ended)/post collapse of the Anime Bubble" era that was defined by shows like "Attack on Titan", "Hunter x Hunter", "One Punch Man", and "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure".

The one show that I feel straddles the line between the 2019 break in the eras is "My Hero Academia". It premiered in Japan in 2016, and started airing on Toonami in 2018, and it's popular with both Millennials and Gen Z (perhaps a little bit more with Gen Z).

Also, the other show (besides "Dragon Ball Z", and possibly "My Hero Academia") that clearly transcends eras is "One Piece", which was a phenomenon in the late 2000's with Millennials (alongside Naruto), but it's now a phenomenon again with Gen Z.

But these are just my thoughts.

EDIT: Actually, I think the "post Toonami" period can be divided into two eras: The 2009 to 2013 years defined by "Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood", "Fairy Tail", "Durarara", and "Deadman Wonderland" and a 2014 to 2019 period defined by the ones I listed above (Attack on Titan, One Punch Man, etc).

 

[PicardMan]

Demon Slayer was totally the start of a new era for battle shonen as it is the quintessential idea of the 2020s battle shonen. This is the decade of the most glossy, lavishly produced titles the genre has ever seen. Still, we are seeing titles that deviate from the traditional battle shonen formula like SpyXFamily. One thing that hasn't changed from the 2010s is the omniprescence of isekai. The 2020s has shown a remarkable change in how Zoomers view anime compared to previous generations. With every generation before Z, anime was seen as a geek thing. Z seems to be the first generation to think its cool. Sort of how videogames became cool in the late 2000s when they used to be seen as a geek thing. 2020s anime conventions are completely different from 2000s and 2010s conventions as this generation's anime fans are completely different. They feel so much more relaxed and family friendly (except for Fandom Events run conventions) compared to the wild nerdy socially weird and awkward frat party atmosphere of 2010s cons. Some of these changes are for the better as I'm happy that Zoomers don't know what a yaoi paddle was and why to fear the teenage girl wielding one. The culture I know is now an extinct civilization replaced by a new culture. Yeah, the 2020s are a new era for anime as Zoomers have officially taken over.

 

[Classic Speedy]

There's probably an argument to be made for the dawn of the internet in the late '90s being another new "era", with an evolution being in the mid '00s when broadband was finally widespread and torrenting was still huge for brand new releases. I'm old enough to remember when Crunchyroll was a pirate site for example- if you had told people back in 2007 that CR would become legit and buy out one of the biggest North American anime distributors, they'd say you're nuts.

 

[PicardMan]

There are several obvious distinct eras for the American anime fandom:

the early fandom era (pre-Akira): stuff like Voltron, Robotech, Speed Racer, Astro Boy, and Gigantor.

the VHS era (1990-1997): started with Akira mania. A-Kon in 1990 was the first American anime con. Anime Expo and Anime Weekend Atlanta followed suit a few years later. The Sci-Fi channel started airing anime.

The Cable era/Anime Boom (1998-end of Death Note/Toonami's cancellation): Started with Toonami's launch and caused anime to become a major "geek" subculture. Had two subperoids related to the dominant shows, the Dragonball Z peroid, and the Naruto peroid. Although technically not cable, Pokémon, Digimon, Sonic X, and Yu-Gi-Oh were pivotal series of this era. During this era, most, if not all states had an anime convention and most major universities began forming anime clubs. DVDs and DVD collecting was a major part of this era. Battle shonen and toyetic stuff were most popular, but school based slice of life was also notably popular.

The Dark Ages (Toonami's cancellation-Attack on Titan): the era that began with the great Anime Crash of 2008 and the cancellation of Toonami and Adult Swim Action airing their biggest flops ever. Doomsayers believed that anime was dying and times sucked. Actually, there were a few gems in this period like Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood and Soul Eater. Hulu, Crunchyroll, and Syfy with its Animonday block and hits like Gurren Lagann were the major powers of the era as Adult Swim was in a rut. More cute girls in school anime such as K-On continued to be popular during this peroid. My undergrad days in my college's anime club were in this period, for better or for worse.

The Anime Renaissance (Attack on Titan-Demon Slayer): Some alternatively vote for Nu-Toonami's beginning in 2012, but the 2012 version of Toonami was the same old Cowboy Bebop reruns ASA was airing in the Dark Ages with a new coat of paint. Attack on Titan was the biggest thing since Naruto and started a similar mania. Nu Toonami's ratings were actually significantly higher than Adult Swim action's Anime Boom era, believe it or not. Nu Toonami, Crunchyroll, Funimation, Hulu, and Netflix all vied for power. Isekai as well as battle shonen were dominant genres (isekai was basically the "schoolyard slice of life comedy anime" of the 2010s.

The Mainstream Era (Demon Slayer-current): The era in which Zoomers decided that anime was cool and not something to be ashamed of like the previous generations. I already talked about this current era's characteristics in a previous post.

Personally, Renaissance Era (or grad school for me) is my personal favorite era.

 

[Yojimbo]

MHA, Dr. Stone, Attack on Titan, Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen, Mob Psycho, Chainsaw Man, Black Clover certainly are part of a new era but it's more the streamers have made anime a heck of a lot of more accessible so basically everyone and anyone can watch it easily and it feels like the dam has burst with so many great titles again (but more than few clunkers). But some titles that really hooked me back into anime after a decade or so of not watching any were a mix of new and old; the Dragon Ball Super Broly movie, the tournament in Super, and Jojo's Bizarre Adventures then I fell love with those titles mentioned above. Then I started expanding from the comfort zone of battle anime and found some really rad stuff like InSpectre, Made in Abyss, Tower of God, Solo Leveling, Frieren, Undead Adventurer, Shangri-La Frontier. Loved the new takes on the famous franchises as well e.g. Trigun Stampede, Gundam's Witch From Mercury, Dragon Ball Super (but it took them too long for Gohan and Piccolo to catch up to Goku and Vegeta imo), Pluto, Burn the Witch, the return of Bleach, Kamen Rider Fuuto PI.

 

[wonderfly]

There's probably an argument to be made for the dawn of the internet in the late '90s being another new "era", with an evolution being in the mid '00s when broadband was finally widespread and torrenting was still huge for brand new releases. I'm old enough to remember when Crunchyroll was a pirate site for example- if you had told people back in 2007 that CR would become legit and buy out one of the biggest North American anime distributors, they'd say you're nuts.

I was going to say "what you described was the era when 'Anime on DVD' was the main legal method", but PicardMan covered that in his post.

I think PicardMan's timeline is correct. The launch of Toonami was in 1997, but it's the Summer of 1998, when Toonami started airing Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z, that's when Toonami really came alive (and the Anime Boom started up, especially with Pokemon in the Fall of 1998/Spring of 1999).

And as for the current era, while I think Toonami is perhaps "doing fine", I think the viewing market has moved beyond Toonami now.

 

[PicardMan]

And as for the current era, while I think Toonami is perhaps "doing fine", I think the viewing market has moved beyond Toonami now.

Yes, in the 2010s cable was still popular and titles like Attack on Titan and Dragonball Super did gangbusters in ratings and lots of dubs were exclusive to Toonami. With the end of Shippuden in a couple of weeks, the era of Toonami exclusive dubs is officially over (the Toonami originals stream on Max). With Crunchyroll and Funimation merging into a giant streaming service, they are pretty much a monopoly.

 

[wonderfly]

Yes, in the 2010s cable was still popular and titles like Attack on Titan and Dragonball Super did gangbusters in ratings and lots of dubs were exclusive to Toonami. With the end of Shippuden in a couple of weeks, the era of Toonami exclusive dubs is officially over (the Toonami originals stream on Max). With Crunchyroll and Funimation merging into a giant streaming service, they are pretty much a monopoly.

Shippuden is finally ending? Man, it feels like the end of an era.

Besides "Dragon Ball Super", "JoJo" and "Hunter X Hunter" also ended on Toonami in 2019. "Attack on Titan" ended a few months back.

Not sure if "Attack on Titan" and "Shippuden" ending this year marks the end of a Toonami era, but I think we've been in a new era on Toonami since Fall 2019 or in 2020.

 

[PicardMan]

Not sure if "Attack on Titan" and "Shippuden" ending this year marks the end of a Toonami era, but I think we've been in a new era on Toonami since Fall 2019 or in 2020.

The end of Toonami's Renaissance is probably either the end of Dragonball Super or Demon Slayer Season 1 in May 2020 (Demon Slayer season 1 was one of the last major exclusive dubs. They lost exclusivity starting with with season 2). Jason Demarco ceded the keys to Gill Austen and originals are the headliners more than acquisitions. Toonami gets fewer acquisitions than the 2010s Renaissance Era, but more than Adult Swim Action. Their acquisitions are still bangers like Made in Abyss, Lycoris Recoil, or Zom 100. I think it's safe to call the 2020s era of Toonami the "Originals Era." I do vastly prefer the acquired anime to the originals and do hope they throw in the towel to increase their acquisition budget as Crunchyroll threw in the towel and nuked the Crunchyroll Originals brand, but Western co-productions seems to be the big fad of the 2020s.

 

[The Overlord]

Wouldn't this new era of anime just be tied to streaming? A lot of streaming services needs cheap to acquire content for their services and anime is both popular and fairly cheap to buy, which makes anime even more easy to access than before.

I do think streaming has made old debates like subs vs. dubs pointless, people can now watch anime in any language they want almost instantly.

 

[Daikun]

I think of this current era of anime as having show titles as long as a paragraph.

 

[Antiyonder]

Doesn't hurt that PlutoTV, TubiTV and even legit YouTube channels also present free anime like Beyblade, Yu-Gi-Oh and even OG Speed Racer.

 

[Classic Speedy]

I think of this current era of anime as having show titles as long as a paragraph.

That One Time I Was Sucked Into Another World and Got Bit By a Succubus Which Gave Me Magic Powers Which I Used to Vanquish the Corrupt King and Become a Grand Wizard

 

[Markus Nelis]

I've heard a new era is in every year. Can we stop and properly say which time periods start a new era?

 

[wonderfly]

I also think this is something of a demographic switch: Arguably, this is the moment (around 2019) when anime passes from "Millennials" to "Gen Z". Teenagers nowadays are wearing Demon Slayer shirts, and I'm not convinced they're watching on Toonami on Saturday nights.

This is much like when anime passed from "Gen X" to "Millennials", for which I haven't nailed down an exact date, but it's either in 1999 when Pokemon became a sensation, or when Yu-Gi-Oh premiered on US TV in 2001, or arguably when Naruto took off in popularity in 2005. Also, Dragon Ball Z transcended generations, and was popular with both Gen X and Millennials. EDIT: Anime for "Gen X" was when the fans were more into watching the "Saturday Anime/Anime Film Festivals" on the Sci-Fi Channel in the 90's and buying anime on VHS tapes. AKA the era of "Anime on VHS".

Just a follow up on my thought from yesterday (and just to clarify, in case some here don't follow the terminology, "Gen X" is those born between 1965 and 1980, and "Millennials" is those born between 1981 to 1996).

Older Gen X grew up enjoying "Battle of the Planets" and "Starblazers" in the 70's, and who enjoyed passing around bootleg copies of "Urusei Yatsura" or "Galaxy Express 999" in college in the 80's. Younger Gen X grew up on "Voltron" and "Robotech" in the 80's and were in high school when "Akira" became a sensation in the early 90's. I fall into the later category.

Both older and younger Gen X enjoyed the "Anime on VHS/Anime Film Festivals on Sci-Fi Channel" in the 90's. But I think many Gen X dropped off with viewing anime around the time of the Pokemon explosion in 1999/2000. They couldn't wrap their heads around anime coming to Cartoon Network (even if it was "Cowboy Bebop" on Adult Swim). They thought "Anime is supposed to something advertised late at night on the Sci-Fi Channel". So for some, 1999 (maybe with Pokemon) is the transition from Gen X to Millennials, for others Gen X (like myself), they enjoyed the 2000's Anime explosion, but dropped off around either when Naruto took off in 2005 or all the way to the collapse of the Anime Boom in 2007/2008.

Similarly, while I do think there was a demographic transition between "Millennials" and "Gen Z" around 2019/2020, I think there are some Millennials (who grew up on anime in the early 2000's and who perhaps really loved the 2012 Toonami April Fools stunt and who were initially tuned in) that have stopped paying attention to new anime, maybe around when "Dragon Ball Super" ended? Or earlier? But there are many Millennials still excited about this new era of the 2020's.

 

[PicardMan]

Similarly, while I do think there was a demographic transition between "Millennials" and "Gen Z" around 2019/2020, I think there are some Millennials (who grew up on anime in the early 2000's and who perhaps really loved the 2012 Toonami April Fools stunt and who were initially tuned in) that have stopped paying attention to new anime, maybe around when "Dragon Ball Super" ended? Or earlier? But there are many Millennials still excited about this new era of the 2020's.

2020s battle shonen definitely has a significantly different feel than the 2010s, with a focus on flashy visuals taking precedence over plot and characterization. It does seem like many Millennials called quits on anime in the 2020s. Also, you have to factor in the fact that battle shonen is a teen based genre with usually teenage protagonists. Kaiju No. 8 has been the exciting exception with a battle shonen protagonist that's actually my age. Chainsaw Man has been a great "best of both worlds" series with the lavish 2020s production values and plot and characterization on par with a 2010s battle shonen title. There are still a couple of series that have prevented me from retiring from anime fandom. Well, that's the general anime fandom. The 200K people who still watch Toonami are probably all over 30 are riding the train until it ends. I cut the cord when JoJo Golden Wind's exclusive dub ended in October 2020. With how expensive cable is, I am happy that the era of Toonami exclusive dubs is ending with Shippuden.

 

[wonderfly]

2020s battle shonen definitely has a significantly different feel than the 2010s, with a focus on flashy visuals taking precedence over plot and characterization. It does seem like many Millennials called quits on anime in the 2020s. Also, you have to factor in the fact that battle shonen is a teen based genre with usually teenage protagonists. Kaiju No. 8 has been the exciting exception with a battle shonen protagonist that's actually my age. Chainsaw Man has been a great "best of both worlds" series with the lavish 2020s production values and plot and characterization on par with a 2010s battle shonen title. There are still a couple of series that have prevented me from retiring from anime fandom. Well, that's the general anime fandom. The 200K people who still watch Toonami are probably all over 30 are riding the train until it ends. I cut the cord when JoJo Golden Wind's exclusive dub ended in October 2020. With how expensive cable is, I am happy that the era of Toonami exclusive dubs is ending with Shippuden.

I guess I'm just wondering if any Millennials "checked out" on watching Toonami (or anime in general) before 2019.

Was there some who had the nostalgia wash off of them around 2014 (with the rise of the "Attack on Titan" block) and who said "Yeah, this isn't for me any longer"?

Was there some who didn't like when Toonami removed the "reruns" portion of the block (removing Star Wars: Clone Wars, Samurai Jack reruns, BIg O reruns) and they checked out?

Alternatively, were their some who checked out when they brought back Dragon Ball Z Kai in 2015?

I get the feeling some held on (or came back) for the 20th Anniversary of Toonami in 2017 (with the return of new Dragon Ball and the final season of Samurai Jack that year). But that might've been the "last hurrah" for some Millennials.

It does seem to me that 2019/2020 is still the main transition point though.

EDIT: Also, I became a "cord cutter" in 2009. But I follow along with what's going on, on cable.

 

[doomrider7]

I've never bought into the idea of "New Era" since the stuff that gets made isn't any different from how it always is same for what gets adapted let alone actually GOOD adaptions and not something that feels like someone is running a scam and needs to clean money.

 

[PicardMan]

I guess I'm just wondering if any Millennials "checked out" on watching Toonami (or anime in general) before 2019.

Was there some who had the nostalgia wash off of them around 2014 (with the rise of the "Attack on Titan" block) and who said "Yeah, this isn't for me any longer"?

That time for (both X's and Y's) dropping out would be Adult Swim Action's Dark Ages. There are probably very few people who thought that Kekkaishi and Moribito were great shows and checked out when Attack on Titan came on. If you got off the anime train in the Dark Ages and Attack on Titan didn't get your attention, that is pretty common. I remember that in the early 2010s Dark Ages cons, most cosplayers were dressed as Yu Yu Hakusho, Inuyasha, Rurouni Kenshin, and other 2000s "boom" era titles. Those were the series my college anime club was obsessed over. Essentially, those were the days when anime fans waxed nostalgic about the past and thought anime's best years were behind it. Attack on Titan brought people back on the train and if you fell off the train, you did long before it. Demon Slayer is still the only obvious jumping off point of a series Zoomers love, but Millennials often criticize for its focus on action over story. I'm part of the Millennial geration, so I can speak for us better than Xers or Zoomers.

I've never bought into the idea of "New Era" since the stuff that gets made isn't any different from how it always is same for what gets adapted let alone actually GOOD adaptions and not something that feels like someone is running a scam and needs to clean money.

I don't know about that. Anime has gone through dramatic changes throughout the decades to appeal to current teens so I wouldn't say that things "aren't any different." Schoolgirl slice of life has been in a drastic decline ever since isekai replaced it as the mega oversaturated genre. Yes, there are obvious things that still stay the same. It does seem like Shonen Jump titles have always had a tendency to crib heavily from previous eras' hits. Some things are the same, some are drastically different.

 

[wonderfly]

That time for (both X's and Y's) dropping out would be Adult Swim Action's Dark Ages. There are probably very few people who thought that Kekkaishi and Moribito were great shows and checked out when Attack on Titan came on. If you got off the anime train in the Dark Ages and Attack on Titan didn't get your attention, that is pretty common. I remember that in the early 2010s Dark Ages cons, most cosplayers were dressed as Yu Yu Hakusho, Inuyasha, Rurouni Kenshin, and other 2000s "boom" era titles. Those were the series my college anime club was obsessed over. Essentially, those were the days when anime fans waxed nostalgic about the past and thought anime's best years were behind it. Attack on Titan brought people back on the train and if you fell off the train, you did long before it. Demon Slayer is still the only obvious jumping off point of a series Zoomers love, but Millennials often criticize for its focus on action over story. I'm part of the Millennial geration, so I can speak for us better than Xers or Zoomers.

I thought there was some fans who enjoyed "Bleach" (which started airing in 2006 on Adult Swim, before the Dark Ages kicked in) and that "Bleach" was the anime that got those fans through the Dark Ages, But when it finally wrapped up in 2014, I just wondering if some of those fans noticed the transition to "Attack on Titan" and "Space Dandy" and said "Nah, I'm done" and they left.

"Inuyasha: the Final Act" also wrapped up in 2013. They were slowly fading out the old line-up between 2013 and 2015.

But I could be speculating.