/cel/ - Retro Anime & Manga

I was thinking about that after I saw that 90s OVA/movies thread here. There are trends according to the time period. The 80s were marked by sci-fi, futurism, cyberpunk, "badassery", hyperviolence, sexual explicitness, and it seems to me the mechanics were much more elaborated and detailed. Then on 90s there was a turn for a lighter tone, fantasy, romance/comedy, video game adaptations, precursors to isekai and harem, and philosophical/reflective narratives.

Now, this is just a vague hypothesis, but maybe the productions reflect the state of Japan's general consciousness. They had made remarkable and unthinkable progress since being a completely devasted shithole after war, so that "chuuni shit" might be the Japanese themselves figuratively going through their second year of junior high school. The advent of OVA just allowed for the content to go even wilder and more explicit. Then came the realization that they wouldn't just grow at the same rate forever, it was either stagnation or decline from there, and they either turned to rethinking deeply about their condition or retreating into comfort.

>>2776

Alot of that creative concept died when the self insert protagonist concept came along.
Having unlimited energy and psychic powers and cybernetic augmentations is cool and all but that isnt you and unfortunately never will be.

>>2778
It's not you, but it can be your power fantasy. What made people stop dreaming?

>>2778
The entire purpose of isekai is to imagine an ordinary figure, or perhaps even a lesser subject reborn under superior circumstances. The fact that no one wants to be reborn as a cyborg ninja shows a lack of discernment amongst modern otaku.

>>2795
But those are pretty harsh lives. Even outside the niches, is it better to be Kenshiro, live in a post-apocalypse hellscape and lose everything that was once precious to you, be Seiya, getting senseless beaten over and over again without even a hint of personal benefit, or be Naruto/Luffy, who mostly enjoy themselves traveling around with their friends with some mishaps along the way?