Anime’s New Trend is Here And That’s Good (In Moderation)

Anime fans have feared over the past few years that the ‘Moe’ trend popularized since 2009’s K-On (Or 2007’s Lucky Star, I mean, they’re practically the same, am I right?) will never end, that we’ll be stuck with Himouto! Umaru-Chan‘s and Danchigai‘s until the zombie apocalypse.

Fear not friends! For the fate of ‘Moe’ will not look like Gakkou Gurashi (Great show, by the way), for the next trend of Anime has begun!

Anime, like every other form of media, has had its trends. From the Mecha age to the Every-Show-And-It’s-Mother-Is-A-Battle-Shounen age. As of this month, I am declaring a new age of Anime!

We’ve already seen this trend emerge. We already seen The best shounen of all time, an overly macho space/shounen/parody/thing, and a body-horror thriller. What do these shows have in common? They are new adaptations of old material.

It arguably started with Hunter X Hunter (2011), a re-adaptation of 1998-present shounen manga by Yoshihiro Togashi, replacing the 1999-2001 anime adaptation.

Followed shortly by the 2012 adaptation of JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure, by Hirohiko Araki, also replacing its 2000 adaptation of the manga.

But things didn’t really pick up until Madhouse decided to adapt the early 90’s manga Parasyte, by Hitoshi Iwaaki. Giving us what is considered one of the best anime of 2014-2015.

Since then we’ve seen lots of other ‘old’ shows arrive. Like Ushio to Tora this season, and Osomatsu-san this upcoming season.

But it’s not just old manga getting new adaptations, older properties in general are getting new additions or remakes. We have Sailor Moon Crystal, DragonBall Super, Lupin the III: L’avventuraltaliana, Ghost in the Shell: Shingeki Jouban, Arslan Senki, and even a new adaptation of Legend of the Galactic Heroes.

So, what are the pros and cons of this new trend?

Pros:

• Giving stories that didn’t get the attention needed before another chance (like Parasyte).
• Giving anime that haven’t aged well a better representative (like Legend of the Galactic Heroes).
• Giving older fans a nostalgia-filled blast from the past (like Osomatsu-san).
• Giving old, yet still continuing franchises even more content (like Lupin the III: L’asvventureasomethingsomething).
• Allowing fans to realize just how terrible the studio is (like Sailor Moon Crystal).

Cons:

• Wasted time and effort on things that aged fine (like Hunter X Hunter 2011).
• Further extending a franchise that’s better off dead at this point (like DragonBall Super).
• Misrepresenting and ruining the reputation of that story (like Sailor Moon Crystal).
• Ugly shows in effort to keep with the original art style (like Otomatsu-san).
• Cashing in on nostalgia instead of working on new content (like Ushio to Tora)

Clearly both sides are pretty even. But the future honestly looks pretty bright, these Old stories are far more diverse than Moe has ever gotten. Even in just the bit I brought up we have shounen, comedy, magical girl, sci-fi, and thriller genres.

So what will happen with Moe shows? Well, even though Mecha and Shounen have been their own trends, we still have Mecha and Shounen shows today. Don’t expect Moe to die completely, but it will drop in popularity, until it doesn’t dominate the seasonal charts anymore.

Regardless, anime fans have something to look forward to as the anime industry changes, and hey, if this keeps up, perhaps we’ll even get a second season of Baccano.