Forum - View topicThree big movements of anime.
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Jose Cruz
![]() Posts: 1810 Location: South America |
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After watching a ton of anime and reading a ton of manga, one thing I am noticing is that anime can be understood to have diverged from manga by the mid 1990s and then grew out as its own medium. That is not to say that the majority of anime adaptations were not from manga, but that the stylistic evolution of anime became independent of manga by the mid 1990s and had consolidated into its own as a large medium only by the mid-2000s. This is clear if you look at the blossoming of late-night anime: in the late 1990s there were only a few late-night anime released per year, less than a decade later, by 2006 there were 200 cours of 12-13 episodes made for late-night showing and such a high rate of late-night anime production has persisted for nearly 20 years now.
As anime became a self-sustaining artistic field rather than just a bunch of Miyazaki movies and some children's manga adaptations turned into daytime TV shows, I think there were three big stylistic movements in anime (analogous to the impressionism and cubism movements in western painting ![]() 1) Science fiction: the earliest stuff that we could regard as "anime" was mostly science fiction. Starting with Gundam in 1979, Mamoru Oshii's Dallos in 1983-1984, and Miyazaki's Nausicaa in 1984, it peaked in the mid to late 1990s with classic shows like Evangelion, LOGH (which was made over 10 years from 1988-1998), Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, and Lain. 2) Moe: Moe here refers to slice of life anime where cute girls are the main characters and they often do cute things. I would say that while most anime from mid-2000s to the mid-2010s were not strictly moe, the style of moe anime influenced a huge and increasing portion of anime over the period when science fiction lost popularity. Starting with Kokoro Library in 2001 and Azumanga Daioh in 2002, it peaked around 2010 with famous shows like K-On! and Madoka (not a pure moe show as its not slice-of-life but heavily influenced, like Nanoha a few years before). 3) Isekai: Shows that typically feature a main character as a japanese salaryman whose spirited is transported into a RPG-style fantasy world. After the moe wave died-of in the mid-2010s it looked like anime would become a more diverse medium (finally!), but the course of anime history had other intentions and a huge number of Isekai shows started appearing in the mid to late 2010s. Today, as of january 2025, Isekai remains the dominant "style wave" in anime. Not to say that other styles/genres exist but the isekai remains the biggest movement with no signs of slowing down just yet. Yet, I haven't watched any isekai that have attained a "masterpiece" status that previous classics in sci-fi and moe anime attained. However, its true that shows like Jobless Reincarnation, Tanya, "I have killed slimes for 300 years and maxed out my level", and "I am a spider, so what?" are entertaining. |
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Blood-
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Interesting post. I don't disagree with any of those three movements but if you are going to include moe, then I think you are missing a couple of other important movements, too. Namely Magical Girls and Harem Comedies. I think Love Hina has been credited with launching a boomlet of harem comedies after it. Magical Girls is pretty self-explanatory.
I remember moe was always a fairly amorphous definition to pin down. It definitely included CGDCT shows but it also seemed to embrace "dude taking care of afflicted girls" such as in the Air, Kanon and Clannad titles. I have to be a little careful here because I still haven't seen any of those shows so I hope I've got that right. I ran across a couple of references where maid cafes were considered "moe." |
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Fluwm
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I think that framing's a little too reductive to be very useful. Especially if you're going to assert that anime prior to the 90s was too largely dependent on adapting manga series (despite the fact that most of the biggest anime series, including most of those you mentioned in the SF category, were anime-originals) and ignore the fact that the vast majority of the isekai shows that make up your third bloc are adaptations of novels.
Pointing out anime, as a medium started out with sci-fi isn't... a bad thought, but it requires ignoring a lot of classic early anime that wasn't science fiction. Like 1974's Heidi of the Alps, or Lupin the 3rd, a franchise that's still going strong today, which started in 1971; and if that is the argument you want to make, maybe don't start with Gundam -- which was preceded by Space Battleship Yamato (also 1974) and, perhaps more crucially, Astro Boy (1963). If you're gonna talk about the history of manga and/or anime, especially with a focus on science fiction, you must talk about Osamu Tezuka! As often gets mentioned when the subject of isekai ubiquity comes up... it is *far* from a new genre: it is, in fact, among the *oldest* subgenres of fantasy out there. In fact, many of the most notable classic anime shows out there are isekais -- from a far earlier era than the one you assign the genre, because an era is always going to be far more than one genre. If you haven't seen Twelve Kingdoms or Escaflowne yet, well, you really ought to rectify that as soon as possible -- you've missed out on some great stuff. It also seems weird to assign individual genres such prominence. Genre popularity comes and goes. And there've been more than just the three! Sports anime, harem romcoms, magical highschools, etc., etc. all once reigned supreme -- and the rise in popularity of one genre has never resulted in the loss of another. |
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mdo7
![]() Posts: 6916 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
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There 2 thing you should add to the movement:
1) Mecha: Although this would count as a science fiction sub-category but I still think it's part of the movement in anime history. I mean Mazinger Z was the one that started the Super Robot genre, which created other anime similar to it Getter Robo, Reideen, Combattler V, GoLion/Lion Voltron, Godmars, Ideon, etc... This was very common back in the 70's and early 80's and yes until OG Gundam 0079 started the real robot genre, and because of Gundam, we have Macross. 2) Battle Shonen: I mean if it wasn't for Fist of the North Star/Hokuto No Ken, and Dragonball Z. We wouldn't have anime in that genre like Naruto, One Piece, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Hunter X Hunter, and the like of those genre found in Shonen Jump. So I considered the battle shonen genre to be a movement within anime too. So this needs to be added into the movement. These movement I listed are very important. Well the mecha genre although would be considered part of Science Fiction like you listed, but mecha like super robot and real robot sub-genre did start a movement in anime in the 70's and 80's, so that should be considered. Also I want to note something about your movement in anime list: For science fiction, you forgot Space Battleship Yamato (broadcasted in 1974), this is the one that helped give anime it's serious complex storyline and deeply influenced sci-fi anime including Gundam, Evangelion, Legend of the Galactic Heroes. So please include Space Battleship Yamato into that too. Also other space opera anime like Dirty Pair, Dallos, Galaxy Express 999 can be trace back to Space Battleship Yamato. So you really need to give Yamato the mention it deserved. For moe, well what if I told you that Clarisse de Cagliostro was the originator of moe? Well, that's what anime historian and observers that have argued that this character was the true origin of moe, but Hayao Miyazaki believed Clarisse may have been the originator of moe given that he really hate moe and he suspect that. Also, beside Clarisse, the moe anime may have previous predecessor before it took off as a movement in 2000's, does anybody know Twinkle Heart from 1986? Kaiserbeamz on Youtube did a review and a retrospective analysis on this OVA, and yes, he said this OVA from 1986 contain tropes that you would find in moe anime. I like to also add in Cosmo Police Justy from 1985 into the possible moe predecessor because one of the character in that particular OVA is a moe character. Again, Kaiserbeamz did a review/retrospective analysis on this one. Also I can add in Dream Hunter Rem (Wikipedia information here) in there (also from 1985), since the main character is technically a moe anime, if you want to know more about it, Kenny Lauderdale did a video on that one, and that might fit some of your flavor if you're into wacky anime. Also if you want to count Urusei Yatsura as moe, I mean Lum is a moe-ish character even back in 1981 (although the manga debuted in 1978). For isekai genre: Man, I can't believe you forgot to add Aura Battler Dunbine, Super Dimension Century Orguss, and that Super Mario Brother anime film special from 1986 (yes, that Mario Brother anime is an isekai) into your isekai mention in there. I mean both Dunbine and Orguss were the most important isekai anime because if it wasn't for them, no Escaflowne, no Magic Knight Reyearth, no Sword Art Online. There is one American cartoon that should deserve a mention because it was the first American isekai that pre-dated Sword Art Online, that would be Captain N: The Game Master (IMO, this cartoon deserve a mention because of it's relevance in isekai fandom). So that's all I have to say. |
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Jose Cruz
![]() Posts: 1810 Location: South America |
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Moe is a style rather than a genre. I also think science fiction and isekai movements can be understood as styles that influenced anime shows of many different genres. Thats why I think these 3 are likely the biggest. So you have that K-On! is a slice of life show with a heavy moe style. Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha is an action magical girl battle show with heavy moe style as well. Air, Kanon and Clannad are basically harems as well, all made in moe style. Science fiction is also a style since you can have "space westerners" like Trigun and Cowboy Bebop in science fiction and a teenager drama with experimental elements of science fiction like Evangelion. Isekai can be any genre but with the isekai style elements: protagonist is either reincarnated into a high fantasy world (Jobless Reincarnation) or is imersed into a high fantasy world through virtual reality like in Sword of Art Online and Bofuri (and sometimes it looks like its both such as in a show like Overlord). Last edited by Jose Cruz on Mon Feb 03, 2025 10:34 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Jose Cruz
![]() Posts: 1810 Location: South America |
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I didn't say anime started with sci-fi. I am aware that the first japanese animations were made in the 1910s and 1920s (for example this anime is from 1933: https://youtu.be/WyGvGMa2RFg?si=2aK8ZBgfu4Aawwng), decades before Tezuka began making anime. However, as an artistic medium, its pretty clear that anime really blossomed in the late 20th century. During the first decades when anime became a big deal in the 80s and 90s, the style of science fiction dominated the medium: many of the most popular anime of the last quarter of the 20th century have a high dose of science fiction elements.
I have watched Twelve Kingdoms or Escaflowne, I liked both as good shows, although I wouldn't rate them as among my favorites. Anyway, I did not say that isekai was invented recently. However, what is recent is a massive wave of isekai shows over the past decade or so, which includes shows of many different genres employing the isekai style. For example, we have slice of life (Slime Diaries), and cooking shows (Restaurant to Another World) that are isekais being made now. Many parodies of the style as well like Isekai Ojisan.
I never said there were only three genres in anime. In fact, I didn't even consider talking about these movements as genres, as I argue, "moe", "isekai" and "science fiction" can be understood to be a style movement rather than only genres, and in fact you can make any genre of fiction while employing those styles. My point is that these styles were predominant and at the artistic frontier during certain periods, hence the term "stylistic movement." |
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Errinundra
Moderator
![]() Posts: 6613 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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I don't agree science fiction/mecha/robot anime began with Gundam. The 60s and 70s were wall to wall science fiction and robot shows. If you do a search in ANN for the science fiction genre from 1970-1979 you get this result.
Uchu Kubo Blue Noah (TV) 1979-10-13 to 1980-03-30 Galaxy Express 999: Can You Live Like a Warrior? (special) 1979-10-11 Gatchaman Fighter (TV) 1979-10-07 to 1980-08-31 Toshi Gordian (TV) 1979-10-07 to 1980-02-22 New Kamen Rider (live-action TV) 1979-10-05 to 1980-10-10 Conan, the Boy in Future (movie) 1979-09-15 Space Battleship Yamato: The New Voyage (movie) 1979-07-31 Kagaku Bokentai Tansar 5 (TV) 1979-07-27 to 1980-03-28 Galaxy Express 999 (movie) 1979-07-21 Mobile Suit Gundam (TV) 1979-04-07 to 1980-01-26 The Ultraman (TV) 1979-04-04 to 1980-03-26 Doraemon (TV 2/1979) 1979-04-02 to 2005-03-25 Future Robot Daltanious (TV) 1979-03-21 to 1980-03-05 Science Fiction Saiyuki Starzinger (movie) 1979-03-17 Tosho Daimos (movie) 1979-03-17 Cyborg 009 (TV 2/1979) 1979-03-06 to 1980-03-25 Zendarman (TV) 1979-02-03 to 1980-01-26 Captain Future: Star Trail to Glory (special) 1978-12-31 Captain Future (TV) 1978-11-07 to 1979-12-18 Star Blazers: The Comet Empire (TV) 1978-10-14 to 1979-04-07 Gatchaman II (TV) 1978-10-01 to 1979-09-23 Galaxy Express 999 (TV) 1978-09-14 to 1981-04-09 One-Million Year Trip: Bander Book (special) 1978-08-27 Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato (movie) 1978-08-05 Daikengo (TV) 1978-07-27 to 1979-02-15 Captain Harlock: Mystery of the Arcadia (movie) 1978-07-22 Gatchaman The Movie (movie) 1978-07-15 Muteki Kojin Daitarn 3 (TV) 1978-06-03 to 1979-03-31 Future Boy Conan (TV) 1978-04-04 to 1978-10-31 Science Fiction Saiyuki Starzinger (TV) 1978-04-02 to 1979-08-24 Fighting General Daimos (TV) 1978-04-01 to 1979-01-27 Space Battle, Danguard Ace (movie) 1978-03-18 Space Pirate Captain Harlock (TV) 1978-03-14 to 1979-02-13 Lupin the 3rd: The Mystery of Mamo (movie) 1978 Muteki Chojin Zambot 3 (TV) 1977-10-08 to 1978-03-25 Kyoryu Daisenso Aizenborg (TV) 1977-10-07 to 1978-06-30 Lupin III: Part II (TV) 1977-10-03 to 1980-10-06 Space Battleship Yamato (movie) 1977-08-06 Danguard Ace vs. Insect Robot Troop (movie) 1977-07-17 Balatack (TV) 1977-07-03 to 1978-03-26 Voltes V (TV) 1977-06-04 to 1978-03-25 Ginguiser (TV) 1977-04-09 to 1977-10-22 Planet Robot Danguard Ace (TV) 1977-03-06 to 1978-03-26 Gasshin Sentai Mechander Robo (TV) 1977-03-03 to 1977-12-29 Jetter Mars (TV) 1977-02-03 to 1977-09-15 Yatterman (TV) 1977-01-01 to 1979-01-27 Robokko Beeton (TV) 1976-10-12 to 1977-09-27 Kyoryu Tankentai Born Free (TV) 1976-10-01 to 1977-03-25 Magnos The Robot (TV) 1976-09-05 to 1977-06-26 Grendizer - Getter Robo G - Great Mazinger Kessen! Daikaiju (movie) 1976-07-18 Groizer X (TV) 1976-07-01 to 1977-03-31 Super Electromagnetic Robot Com-battler V (TV) 1976-04-17 to 1977-05-28 UFO Senshi Daiapolon (TV) 1976-04-06 to 1976-09-28 Blocker Corps (TV) 1976-04-05 to 1977-03-28 Gowapper 5 Godam (TV) 1976-04-04 to 1976-12-29 Dino Mech Gaiking (TV 1/1976) 1976-04-01 to 1977-01-27 UFO Robo Grendizer tai Great Mazinger (movie) 1976-03-20 UFO Robo Grendizer (movie) 1975-12-20 UFO Robo Grendizer (TV) 1975-10-05 to 1977-02-27 Kotetsu Jeeg (TV) 1975-10-05 to 1976-08-29 Great Mazinger tai Getter Robo G - Kuchu Dai-Gekitotsu (movie) 1975-07-21 Tekkaman, the Space Knight (TV) 1975-07-02 to 1975-12-24 Getter Robo G (TV) 1975-05-15 to 1976-03-25 Himitsu Sentai Gorenger (live-action TV) 1975-04-05 to 1977-03-26 Kamen Rider Stronger (live-action TV) 1975-04-05 to 1975-12-27 Reideen the Brave (TV) 1975-04-04 to 1976-03-26 Great Mazinger tai Getter Robo (movie) 1975-03-21 Kore ga UFO da! Soratobu Enban (movie) 1975-03-21 Kamen Rider Amazon (live-action movie) 1975 Kamen Rider Stronger (live-action movie) 1975 Kamen Rider Amazon (live-action TV) 1974-10-19 to 1975-03-29 Star Blazers (TV) 1974-10-06 to 1975-03-30 Hurricane Polymar (TV) 1974-10-04 to 1975-03-28 Great Mazinger (TV) 1974-09-08 to 1975-09-28 Getter Robo (movie) 1974-07-25 Kamen Rider X: Go-nin Rider tai King Dark (live-action movie) 1974-07-25 Mazinger Z tai Ankoku Daishogun (movie) 1974-07-25 Inazuman Flash (live-action TV) 1974-04-09 to 1974-09-24 Tonari no Tamageta-kun (TV) 1974-04-05 to 1975-06-27 Hoshi no Ko Chobin (TV) 1974-04-05 to 1974-09-27 Getter Robo (TV) 1974-04-04 to 1975-05-08 Mazinger Z Vs. Dr. Hell (movie) 1974-03-16 Kamen Rider X (live-action TV) 1974-02-16 to 1974-10-12 Kamen Rider X (live-action movie) 1974 Cutie Honey (TV) 1973-10-13 to 1974-03-30 Casshan (TV) 1973-10-02 to 1974-06-25 Inazuman (live-action TV) 1973-10-02 to 1974-03-26 Zero Tester (TV) 1973-10-01 to 1974-12-30 Kamen Rider V3 tai Destron Kaijin (live-action movie) 1973-07-18 Mazinger Z Vs. Devilman (movie) 1973-07-18 Chargeman Ken! (TV) 1973-07-02 to 1973-12-28 Kikaider-01 (live-action TV) 1973-05-12 to 1974-03-30 Microid S (TV) 1973-04-07 to 1973-10-06 Doraemon (TV 1/1973) 1973-04-01 to 1973-09-30 Tobidasu Jinzo Ningen Kikaida (live-action movie) 1973-03-17 Kamen Rider V3 (live-action TV) 1973-02-17 to 1974-02-09 Babel II (TV 1/1973) 1973-01-01 to 1974-09-24 Kamen Rider V3 (live-action movie) 1973 Mazinger Z (TV) 1972-12-03 to 1974-09-01 Astroganger (TV) 1972-10-04 to 1973-03-28 Gatchaman (TV) 1972-10-01 to 1974-09-29 Kamen Rider tai Jigoku Taishi (live-action movie) 1972-07-16 Android Kikaider (live-action TV) 1972-07-08 to 1973-05-05 Kamen Rider tai Shocker (live-action movie) 1972-03-18 Lupin the 3rd (TV) 1971-10-24 to 1972-03-26 Skyers 5 (TV 2) 1971-10-07 to 1972-03-30 Kamen Rider (live-action TV) 1971-04-03 to 1973-02-10 Go Go Kamen Rider (live-action movie) 1971 Some of these shows were huge. Gundam was relatively unsuccessful at the time of its original release. Indeed, the series was pulled from air before it was finished. It's model range was more popular, leading to the sobriquet that Gundam fans don't like Gundam. Astro Boy, Cyborg 009, Mazinger Z (and the other Go Nagai shows), Space Battleship Yamato (aka Star Blazers) and Galaxy Express 999 deserve more credit for the anime sci-fi boom. Here's a couple of interesting tidbits gleaned from the ANN encyclopaedia. 1970-79: 30.6% of anime have science fiction as one of the genres. 1980-89: 31.8% of anime have ditto. |
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Alan45
![]() ![]() Posts: 10126 Location: Virginia |
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Looking at Errinundra's list, it comes to mind that your three categories contain one generalized descriptor and two specific ones.
Science fiction is a more generalized label while it is obvious that the bulk of the science fiction in question was mecha/robots. Moe is a specific label while the more generalized label is slice of life. Isekai again being specific with fantasy being more general. I would go either Mecha/Moe/Isekai or Science Fiction/Slice of Life/Fantasy. This is important as adding the more generalized label adds to the feeling of dominance by the specific label. For example Fantasy pulls in all of the straight D&D, caught in a game and other shows that "feel like they should be isekai" and explains why isekai feels more dominate than it actually is. All of the high school comedies and romcoms and other near reality shows added to the feeling of dominance by moe with out actually being moe. |
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mdo7
![]() Posts: 6916 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
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As Errinundra has written, Sci-fi anime has gained popularity and ground even before Gundam hence why I mentioned the importance of Space Battleship Yamato.
Well, this is very interesting, so the level of Sci-fi anime release between 1980-89 didn't have that significant increase at all. |
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Errinundra
Moderator
![]() Posts: 6613 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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There isn't a big difference in % terms. In total numbers, not quite 3 times as many titles of all genres were produced in the 80s when compared with the 70s.
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mdo7
![]() Posts: 6916 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
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I see, thanks for the clarification Erriunundra. |
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Jose Cruz
![]() Posts: 1810 Location: South America |
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I think that moe is in fact an even more general term than slice of life. The term moe can be used for an anime of any genre since the word originally denotes a feeling of affection induced by cuteness. So I am using the term in this thread to mean the general use techniques to invoke this feeling that can be understood as a stylistic movement. Madoka for example is a fantasy horror love story but with heavy influence of moe (for example in character designs, style of dialogue for some characters, and voice acting style). You can also have slice of life anime without moe influence such as The Aquatope on White Sand or In this Corner of the World. Also, the isekai label is often used for anime different from the pure isekai titles like Jobless Reincarnation and includes shows like Overlord and even Sword of Art Online (which is not even fantasy but in fact a science fiction show where virtual reality technology got really advanced). But I wouldn't think every fantasy anime is can be called isekai, for example Madoka is fantasy but not isekai. I do think that some D&D anime can be placed inside the isekai movement like Goblin Slayer because it shares a lot of the stylistic features with pure isekai shows like Konosuba and The Rising of the Shield Hero. |
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Jose Cruz
![]() Posts: 1810 Location: South America |
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I think that "battle shounen" is the biggest "style movement" ever in manga/anime but I wouldn't place it as an anime movement because it was mainly driven by manga. It started with sports manga. Early boxing titles such as Ashita no Joe and the movement can even considered to include baseball and soccer manga as many of their tropes we're later incorprlared in DragonBall. The most popular battle shounen ever such as DragonBall and Yuyu Hakusho are basically following the style of boxing manga but set in a fantasy world where characters can develop super human powers. The movements I listed are mainly driven by anime and light novels and tend to be less mainstream compared to the most popular manga.
I would include mecha in the science fiction movement and in fact it's perhaps the most common trope in science fiction anime. Even Girls Last Tour has mecha.
I was not trying to be exhaustive in the examples I gave. But I agree Space Battleship Yamato (1975) is super important for anime. I shouldn't have used the word "started" with Gundam (1979) since Astroboy is from 1963 and is the first anime TV series and it is also science fiction. Thus it's fair to say that science fiction wave started several years before Gundam. |
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Alan45
![]() ![]() Posts: 10126 Location: Virginia |
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@Jose Cruz
I probably stated it badly, but I intended to put fantasy as the larger category. That is that all isekai is a form of fantasy but not all fantasy is isekai. This would include those shows set in a typical sword and sorcery setting without anyone being transported there. I would consider "caught in a game" stories to be mostly fantasy as they almost always end up in a low tech sword or sword and magic setting even if the way they got there is more like science fiction. The dividing line between fantasy and science fiction has always been a bit fuzzy and people have been arguing about it since I first started reading F&SF back in the 1950s. I disagree with your definition of Moe, but I'm not about to argue definitions. |
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ChirashiD
![]() Posts: 214 Location: WA |
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I'm afraid I still don't understand what you mean by "diverging from manga." Personally, I'd like a clarification about this before I can really even interpret the remainder of the first post. Do you mean how anime adaptations often contain alterations of the story, continuity, characters or art style? I think these differences are natural and are actually crucial to the art form and process of making anime. So I don't see how this is really a product of time, as you suggested the onset of this was in the 90's. Sorry if this interpretation is incorrect or another one I have, but rather than explaining it... Maybe it's better if you did that.
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