As an anime fan, I mean. Well, not so much jaded as I am a little disillusioned by things. I've only been watching since the Robotech days and even then, only sparsely but I never seem to catch on with what's popular.
Take Naruto, for example. I loathe it. I despise it. Why? Because it feels bland to me, low on entertainment value, uninteresting. It's a big hit to everyone but as far as I can tell, it's DBZ with pre-puberty ninja-wannabes. I don't see the appeal, especially with characters that are plain poorly done or rather dull. I don't see any depth to them, nor do I see any depth suddenly being added believably in their foreseeable future. I'd seriously rather watch paint dry of grass grow than watch Naruto.
A lot of anime fans in the Philippines have limited knowledge of the medium and it's, sadly, limited to mostly what's on TV or what's popular. Right now, it's stuff like Naruto, Bleach, Gundam Seed and their ilk. While I suppose it's to each person's own individual tastes, I've dropped out of the segment of anime's target audience that actually enjoys those sorts of shows. Not to say I don't go into the odd shounen-binge every so often, dabbling into shows like Mahou Sensei Negima or Midori No Hibi but by and large, I don't feel like watching much of the stuff at all.
I've sold my once extensive and expensive collection of anime VCDs, manga and DVDs not for the money (though that was a nice bonus) but because I lost interest in them. I tried to re-watch them but somehow, I just couldn't watch them anymore. I've hung on to stuff that while I don't really find too appealing anymore, I do have some sentimental attachment to. Love Hina (the manga) I keep because it's the first manga I actually bought and completed, taking close to a year to do so. Neon Genesis Evangelion (the anime) I keep because it's Eva and every so often, everyone needs to get a mind-warping; me especially. Ruruoni Kenshin I keep because it's an excellent show up until the end of the Shishio Arc. Midori No Hibi I keep because it's slightly different from the rest of the harem genre, albeit I found the end disappointing. Galaxy Angel I hang on to because, once in a while, it's good to see absurdity become commonplace, even if it isn't real. Among the full series I keep, only Robotech/Macross, the Vampire Princess Miyu OVA and Card Captor Sakura really still hold an interest for me. The rest...
It's not that I don't like the medium or that I've grown out of it. I still love the style, I still love the way it looks but a lot of the new stuff feels boring, uninspired and contrived in such a way as to be...rather uninteresting. I've come to want to see more than just big machines ripping each other apart, people being reduced to gooey messes by blasts of incredible power and fanservice. I don't expect anime/manga to become equivalent to the level of quality found in really, really good cinema or novels but at least something that won't become dull once the initial novelty of them wears off.
Right now, the one manga I've become truly interested in as if I was discovering it for the first time is Maria-sama Ga Miteru, and not even for the reasons that guys typically watch the show for. I see the lesbian subtext but I don't watch it with the back-of-the-mind hope that somehow they'll all come out of the closet. Satou Sei is a given lesbian, Rei and Yoshino practically are and Shimako strikes me as close to being there but the rest strike me as straight girls, not particularly interested in men. I enjoy the show because it reminds me of happier days spent observing the girls in high school and how their networks of friends, relationships and close ties work. I was as happy as an outside observer can be then and Marimite takes me back to those days.
I don't know. Maybe I'm starting to outgrow anime and manga. Maybe I'll eventually look back at Marimite and tell myself it was so silly of me to like that show. Who can say? I seriously hope not, as Marimite and the shows I still love are works of art to me. In a few years time, I can imagine myself thinking of anime as little more than some childish fascination of mine, though a mere year ago I would have called it a life-long hobby. Maybe I'll dabble into it bits and pieces here and there, nothing too extensive and nothing remotely similar to my current habits, just for old time's sake.
Or maybe I'm starting to evolve in my tastes. I admit to liking DBZ once upon a time but I quickly cast it away in favor of the superior Yuu Yuu Hakusho, which I am still a moderate fan of. I came to like stuff that delved into themes that make you think, like Evangelion or Metropolis. I've come to really sink into stuff that has engaging characters that, while not wholly realistic, are at least believable and aren't just 2-D figures or stereotypes, like Vash from TriGun or practically the whole cast of Love Hina.
Whichever the case, I guess the best thing to do is to look at the present and see what it has to offer. I'm taking this slowly waning interest in anime one step at a time for now. Though truth be told, a lot of the new stuff really isn't up to the standards I have now (standards set by much reading of books from both contemporary and classical authors). Anyways, that's my rant for the month (or something).
===End Rant===
Currently Reading:
Maria-sama Ga Miteru (manga and a translation of Vacation of the Lambs)
Pretty Face (just to finish the damn thing)
Hannibal by Thomas Harris
Belinda by Anne Rice
Currently Watching:
Star Wars (Episodes I to VI)
Interview With The Vampire
Shikoku
Currently Playing:
Nothing
Current Project:
Marimite-ish concept, setting is a girl's boarding school, main cast are a group of close friends. And, since I am the one writing it, the traditional absurdity-to-be-accepted-as-normal (several were in Shinjo No Aijo such as the existence of the AFs like Minako and Hodaka, as well as Kana the talking snake, the entirety of Yuki's Diary fit the bill as did the entirety of Kasumi Inn) for this story is that one of the students is Death herself. Shoujo-ai plans are, for the first time in a long time, non-existent, mild subtext is planned but nothing actual. They're all straight, except for one but she's not actively pursuing any of the others.
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