The anime scene is very different right now compared to even 10 years ago.
Sometimes, we wonder how well our favorites have aged. Would they be just as beloved? Some series are timeless classics, yes, but some would not be watched as much today.
Here are some anime that wouldn’t be as popular nowadays, with reasons given for each example.
Fairy Tail is a good example of a series that hasn’t aged well, and not because it’s terribly bad in any way. It just requires a specific mindset to enjoy, which is wanting to see a very repetitive, low-stakes adventure of a group of friends.
Nowadays, the majority of modern battle shounen fans want to see something more fast-paced, with higher stakes. Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba) and Jujutsu Kaisen are popular, and they blitz through their story — repetitiveness is very much disliked by modern fans.
Similarly, Naruto wouldn’t be liked as much nowadays, and Bleach would have suffered from the same issue. Yes, both would be big, but they would also be dismissed by many due to the amount of fillers — which was already a fair criticism back in the day.
However, in the 2020s, when there’s a lot of series to choose from, many would simply not watch an anime that runs for hundreds of episodes across two parts, and 40% of that is filler. Fillers aren’t a thing in modern anime in general.
Love Hina
Love Hina can be credited as one of the shows that established the modern harem genre and its tropes. An oblivious to romance guy and a group of girls attracted to him living together, character archetypes, etc. — the series is very influential for its own genre.
However, it’s very dated, full of slapstick humor that is not appreciated these days, and is very bland — because it is a trope setter.
Hetalia
Here’s something different. Hetalia: Axis Powers wouldn’t be as popular these days, and that’s not because of its structure or being tropey. No, Hetalia is just a comedic take on human history, with Italy, Germany and Japan of the WW2 era being the main characters.
You can figure out how easy it is to find something like that very offensive. Besides, the simplified art style isn’t something modern anime fans enjoy.
This is more of a 50/50 case. Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion (Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch) could be just as popular these days — or it could be completely ignored.
While it is definitely entertaining, chances are people would have considered it tropey. It’s an amalgamation of tropes, including mechs, a school setting, a genius protagonist — everything that can be associated with anime.
That made it cool back in the day, but now, many would probably find it lazy and all over the place.
Elfen Lied suffers from one major issue. It’s an anime where the main appeal is the shock factor — it has an overwhelming amount of gore and nudity. For many viewers in the early 00s, it was the first series like that.
To be fair, for a TV series back then, that approach was pretty revolutionary. Unfortunately, for all the symbolism in the series, there’s too much violence, and the plot is too contrived.
Similar to Elfen Lied, The Future Diary (Mirai Nikki) was popular because it was one of the earliest examples of a battle royale setting in anime.
It was full of brutal and unexpected character deaths, and many fans were willing to forgive the shortcomings of its plot because of the main female character of the series, Yuno.
These days, something like that would probably be panned by critics and casual viewers alike for being too edgy and nonsensical.
Maid Sama!
To be fair, this can be a stand-in entry for many shoujo romance series. Takumi of Maid Sama! (Kaichou wa Maid-sama!), while definitely an attractive character, is way too pushy towards the main girl.
Fans already found these elements distasteful in modern series like A Sign of Affection (Yubisaki to Renren), and in shoujo anime of the 00s and early 10s, the issue is way worse.
Here, the issue isn’t that the anime itself became worse compared to the series that came later. A lot of modern anime fans seem to never give the series a chance if they find the first episodes boring.
This was already an issue in 2011, although Steins;Gate definitely has many great moments in its first half. Now, people would rather watch something else than an anime that may or may not turn out to be amazing later on. Hard to blame them, as there’s more choice now than ever.
Love it or hate it, Sword Art Online’s popularity in the early 2010s can’t be denied. The anime introduced an entire new generation of fans to anime. It also was a trend-setter for light novels, especially for isekai — despite not even technically being one.
Now, isekai seems to be the most criticized genre of anime. It’s criticized for being generic, and isekai-like fantasy and/or “playing a VRMMO game” series suffer from the same issue. This is also said about SAO, and would have been said even more if it was released today.
The anime scene is very different right now compared to even 10 years ago.
Sometimes, we wonder how well our favorites have aged. Would they be just as beloved? Some series are timeless classics, yes, but some would not be watched as much today.
Here are some anime that wouldn’t be as popular nowadays, with reasons given for each example.
Fairy Tail is a good example of a series that hasn’t aged well, and not because it’s terribly bad in any way. It just requires a specific mindset to enjoy, which is wanting to see a very repetitive, low-stakes adventure of a group of friends.
Nowadays, the majority of modern battle shounen fans want to see something more fast-paced, with higher stakes. Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba) and Jujutsu Kaisen are popular, and they blitz through their story — repetitiveness is very much disliked by modern fans.
Similarly, Naruto wouldn’t be liked as much nowadays, and Bleach would have suffered from the same issue. Yes, both would be big, but they would also be dismissed by many due to the amount of fillers — which was already a fair criticism back in the day.
However, in the 2020s, when there’s a lot of series to choose from, many would simply not watch an anime that runs for hundreds of episodes across two parts, and 40% of that is filler. Fillers aren’t a thing in modern anime in general.
Love Hina
Love Hina can be credited as one of the shows that established the modern harem genre and its tropes. An oblivious to romance guy and a group of girls attracted to him living together, character archetypes, etc. — the series is very influential for its own genre.
However, it’s very dated, full of slapstick humor that is not appreciated these days, and is very bland — because it is a trope setter.
Hetalia
Here’s something different. Hetalia: Axis Powers wouldn’t be as popular these days, and that’s not because of its structure or being tropey. No, Hetalia is just a comedic take on human history, with Italy, Germany and Japan of the WW2 era being the main characters.
You can figure out how easy it is to find something like that very offensive. Besides, the simplified art style isn’t something modern anime fans enjoy.
This is more of a 50/50 case. Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion (Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch) could be just as popular these days — or it could be completely ignored.
While it is definitely entertaining, chances are people would have considered it tropey. It’s an amalgamation of tropes, including mechs, a school setting, a genius protagonist — everything that can be associated with anime.
That made it cool back in the day, but now, many would probably find it lazy and all over the place.
Elfen Lied suffers from one major issue. It’s an anime where the main appeal is the shock factor — it has an overwhelming amount of gore and nudity. For many viewers in the early 00s, it was the first series like that.
To be fair, for a TV series back then, that approach was pretty revolutionary. Unfortunately, for all the symbolism in the series, there’s too much violence, and the plot is too contrived.
Similar to Elfen Lied, The Future Diary (Mirai Nikki) was popular because it was one of the earliest examples of a battle royale setting in anime.
It was full of brutal and unexpected character deaths, and many fans were willing to forgive the shortcomings of its plot because of the main female character of the series, Yuno.
These days, something like that would probably be panned by critics and casual viewers alike for being too edgy and nonsensical.
Maid Sama!
To be fair, this can be a stand-in entry for many shoujo romance series. Takumi of Maid Sama! (Kaichou wa Maid-sama!), while definitely an attractive character, is way too pushy towards the main girl.
Fans already found these elements distasteful in modern series like A Sign of Affection (Yubisaki to Renren), and in shoujo anime of the 00s and early 10s, the issue is way worse.
Here, the issue isn’t that the anime itself became worse compared to the series that came later. A lot of modern anime fans seem to never give the series a chance if they find the first episodes boring.
This was already an issue in 2011, although Steins;Gate definitely has many great moments in its first half. Now, people would rather watch something else than an anime that may or may not turn out to be amazing later on. Hard to blame them, as there’s more choice now than ever.
Love it or hate it, Sword Art Online’s popularity in the early 2010s can’t be denied. The anime introduced an entire new generation of fans to anime. It also was a trend-setter for light novels, especially for isekai — despite not even technically being one.
Now, isekai seems to be the most criticized genre of anime. It’s criticized for being generic, and isekai-like fantasy and/or “playing a VRMMO game” series suffer from the same issue. This is also said about SAO, and would have been said even more if it was released today.
