Wondering What Makes a Anime “Modern”

Posted on February 4, 2012 by Tom Langston

A few months ago, I started thinking about the phrase “modern anime” and what that even means. It wasn’t from reading something from other people but from looking back at the series that debuted this young decade (the 2010s). It feels like a broad term and my question can be answered in different ways depending on how you define “modern”.

If “modern” were defined by time, then I guess a modern series in that sense would probably be anything from 2000 forward. I wrote a post in 2007 about when something might qualify to be called a “classic” and suggested anything before 2001 based on the pre-digital production so the time-based metric for modernity overlaps a bit. Author pointed out in an update that Azumanga Daioh can be considered a classic that used digital production. (This sort of thing is why I prefer not to set a definition of “modern” anime but only related my thoughts about the idea.) Of course, the threshold would move forward as the years go on, both for classics and what becomes the new modern.

Another aspect that determines a modern anime to me is a collection of sensabilities. The first that comes to my mind is the rise of moe and otaku subculture as a focus for anime and manga series such as Genshiken, Oreimo, Welcome to the NHK, The World God Only Knows along with more individual otaku characters like Lucky Star‘s Konata and Yuru Yuri‘s Kyoko Toshino. Other fictional individuals have been profiled in Ogiue Maniax’s Fujoshi Files.

A more subjective method of determining a series’ modernity (and perhaps my preferred one) is its sensibilities and presentation. A show like Mawaru Penguindrum just *feels* to me like something fresh through its visual style and writing. There are romantic comedies, like Toradora, that don’t have perverted male protagonists like ones from previous decades. Madoka Magica has been hailed as a warping of the magical girl genre and Wandering Son (Hourou Musuko) on tackling the topic of transgender feelings transsexuality in schoolchildren.

The method of production has facilitated improvements in CG and digital animation so works look crisper, particularly in high definition, which contribute a visual modernity. Overall, recent anime has a variety of visual styles from the watercolor look of Usagi Drop to the bright palette of Softenni.

I don’t really have enough background in postmodernism to attempt writing about *that* in respect to anime or manga, though I have started to read an introduction to it written by Christopher Butler. Someone on Twitter (@PleanairSan) suggested Gurren Lagann and deconstructions/reconstructions, which seem like something more the domain of the Super Fanicom – such as this one about poststructualism. (I like trying to read some academic stuff but some things just go over my out-of-college head.)

Feel free to expand on this or disagree with me in the comments. This was just a loose post idea I wanted to get onto the blog.

This entry was posted in Anime, Commentary and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.
  • Ryan A

    Penguindrum, I believe so. One of my final thoughts on the series was, “At the same time I think this [the means of exposition] is exactly what the creator wanted, perhaps in the vein of post-structuralism.” I highly believe that we can see these anime as *modern if we look closer at the creativity in context. There have been some fascinating ideas on this notion stimulated by the art historian, Gombrich. Do investigate if interested.

    Cheers.

    • http://www.nigorimasen.com/ Tom Langston

      Thanks for the recommendation – I’ll certainly look into Gombrich. In a short search, I found some books published by Phaidon and one called Art, Perception and Reality where he is a co-author along with two other writers.

  • http://twitter.com/A_Libellule Adam

    With regard to how one would classify modern anime, perhaps one should consider the way in which it is ‘consumed’? Could one not suggest that the western landscape for watching, and commenting upon, anime has changed, and this change has contributed to the way we think about the anime we are watching?

    Please correct me if I am wrong, but, as I have come to understand it, before the rise of the internet and the distribution of fansubs through it, anime was viewed in a different light depending on whether one happened to be in the occident or orient, but also compared to today. Not only this, but the genres and styles on offer, particularly those available to western audiences, were notably different than they are now. Whilst I admit this to be a most extreme example, is there not the possibility of more subtle gaps between the different ‘epochs’ in anime, and thus relevant in considering the delimitation of what is considered ‘modern’ and ‘classic’.

    Perhaps an example might be in order. With Toradora, I feel it pertinent to note that at the time of its release, western anime fans as a whole had been used to a certain style of romantic comedy, and, aside from a presumably relatively small community, few were still enamoured with it. Enter Toradora, with a slightly different lead; one that could be considered thoughtful to a certain degree, and not at all a doormat. Couple this with the audience’s response and receptiveness to it, and their spurning of the ‘classic’ style, and one finds a point one might choose to classify as the ‘beginning of modernity’.

    Another could, perhaps, be found in Puella Magi Madoka Magica. The concept of a magical girl series, and those that enjoy them, having been around for some time. Yet the tone which Madoka adopts could be considered reflective of the current stance of those that watched and enjoyed it. I hesitate to get into a discussion of whether it was a deconstruction, reconstruction, or what have you; but I suggest that the very fact that western audiences have discussed this ad nauseum indicate, again, a sense of modernity. 

    I would hasten to note that I do not necessarily think we can easily define and separate ‘modern’ and ‘classic’ anime on this metric alone. Rather, perhaps this should be considered alongside the points you discussed in your post.

    I should also like to point out that the above comment might simply be utter drivel, but your thoughts interested me, and I thank you for the food for thought.

    • http://www.nigorimasen.com/ Tom Langston

      Thanks for the thoughtful comment.

      Yes, consuming and discussing anime has certainly changed over even the last five years with people being able legally to watch things around the same time as they premiere in Japan and talk about them through social networking sites & blogs compared to previous methods like IM chatrooms and Usenet newsgroups.

  • http://twitter.com/predederva Prede

    I always broke anime up into 2 categories. Pre-Evangelion and Post-Evangelion. Anything before Evangelion is old anime, and anything after it is “modern” anime. I do this not only because Evangelion was such a big game changer, but because I find 1995 to be a good year to use as a marker.  This is mostly due to thr fact I’ve seen anime from post 95 when it was still new, and so it felt new to me. But stuff made before then always felt a tad dated, because it was before my time in a sense. Anime before 95 are getting quite old now, but something like say Kare Kano still seems sort of modern to me. Although I guess you’re correct, as time goes on the “marker”  will need to move, for what makes something modern, or perhaps “recent” (a better term) . I do think modernity and recent can have different meanings though. If we use modernity in one way, the marker would not ever have to change. By this meaning it refers to anything that’s post-traditional. But if you want it to just refer to newer anime, then the marker will have to keep moving forward, and 2000-ish seems about as good as date as any. 

    BUT I do think your post has one grave error in it. The recent phenomena of anime that deals heavily with the  otaku subculture is nothing new. One only needs to look at such famous titles as Otaku no Video ( 1991) , Animation Runner Kuromi (2001), Animation Runner Kuromi 2 (2004),  and The World of Narue (2003) to a lesser extent. At any rate I’m not sure is examining otaku culture is even relevant to considering if an anime is modern or not, or when the cut off date is. 

    Anyway very interesting post. 

    • http://www.nigorimasen.com/ Tom Langston

      I agree that Evangelion was a landmark series in terms of popularity – look at how many different spinoffs there have been involving the characters. I would call Eva a major shift for the mecha genre just like Gurren Lagann more than a decade after it.

      My point with the otaku characters was about the recent growth of them and series focused around the subject, mainly from light novels but also from manga. I was aware of Otaku no Video and Kuromi but not so much World of Narue.

      Thanks for the comment.

      • http://twitter.com/predederva Prede

        Well World of Narue is about an otaku, but it doesn’t solely focus on  the otaku subculture. Still I think it’s relevant and worth a mention. And again it’s a much lesser extent about anime and the otaku culture then say Kuromi, but it’s surely there. At any rate it’s a cute little series. Wish it had more fans. I think if it came out more recently it might be more popular.