Is the industry going to decline in just a few years?
Summary:
Yoshiyuki Tomino is the creator of Gundam, and his later interview got many otaku excited once again for his perspective on the industry.
Tomino thinks the anime boom will be over in 5 or 6 years, and feels like streaming services are unfairly profiting much more than the creators.
He also commented on the classics of anime, saying that One Piece and Miyazaki movies are more likely to be remembered years later than his own works.
Yoshiyuki Tomino is the original creator of Mobile Suit Gundam, responsible for many of the earlier (and some of the later) titles in the franchise. His name might not be known to an average otaku of today, but it’s still very much respected in Japan.
In addition to his iconic contributions to the anime industry, however, he’s known for his extravagant and often outlandish comments, such as criticizing Makoto Shinkai for the lack of physical intimacy in his movies (yes, that really happened).
It’s understandable that when he was announced to give another interview on anime, fans were rather excited — even if he doesn’t share any information on the new projects, it’s very interesting to just see him talk.
Thoughts on the anime boom
Tomino, however, seems largely skeptical about the anime industry’s future. While he isn’t concerned about AI replacing human artists — saying that unlike humans, AI isn’t capable of creating something realistic — he still predicts that the current “boom” of the anime industry will be over in just 5 or 6 years.
According to him, anime definitely isn’t going to die as a medium, but its popularity as it is now is temporary. While some fans tend to agree with this take, others feel like the state of anime popularity is cyclical, and after a few hype years, the general anime fandom is going to go into a temporary lull.
A huge problem with the industry
One of the issues with the industry that Tomino underlined the most might surprise many: it’s the rise of streaming platforms — presumably, he’s talking about giants like Netflix and Crunchyroll. While their popularity is higher than ever, and more and more people watch anime these days, Tomino says that most of the profits from the platforms stay there and don’t actually reach the creators. This is very likely to be true, given his position in the industry, and paints a very alarming picture.
Tomino’s opinion on the anime classics
When asked about the classics of anime, the works that will go down in history, Tomino gave quite a surprising answer. In his eyes, his own franchise, Mobile Suit Gundam, is not good enough: he thinks that he could have conveyed the anti-war message in it better.
Tomino mentioned that all the kids see now are the cool robots, and that the franchise has been appropriated by “mecha fetishists”, as he called the otaku who are fans of the genre. It’s not uncommon for him to criticize his own work, however, and he often feels differently about various installations of the Gundam franchise he was involved with, so this statement should be taken with a grain of salt.
The classics that will definitely be remembered, however, according to Tomino, are the movies of Hayao Miyazaki and long-runners such as One Piece and Chibi Maruko-chan (the latter being virtually unknown in the West, but extremely popular in Japan).
Is the industry going to decline in just a few years?
Summary:
Yoshiyuki Tomino is the creator of Gundam, and his later interview got many otaku excited once again for his perspective on the industry.
Tomino thinks the anime boom will be over in 5 or 6 years, and feels like streaming services are unfairly profiting much more than the creators.
He also commented on the classics of anime, saying that One Piece and Miyazaki movies are more likely to be remembered years later than his own works.
Yoshiyuki Tomino is the original creator of Mobile Suit Gundam, responsible for many of the earlier (and some of the later) titles in the franchise. His name might not be known to an average otaku of today, but it’s still very much respected in Japan.
In addition to his iconic contributions to the anime industry, however, he’s known for his extravagant and often outlandish comments, such as criticizing Makoto Shinkai for the lack of physical intimacy in his movies (yes, that really happened).
It’s understandable that when he was announced to give another interview on anime, fans were rather excited — even if he doesn’t share any information on the new projects, it’s very interesting to just see him talk.
Thoughts on the anime boom
Tomino, however, seems largely skeptical about the anime industry’s future. While he isn’t concerned about AI replacing human artists — saying that unlike humans, AI isn’t capable of creating something realistic — he still predicts that the current “boom” of the anime industry will be over in just 5 or 6 years.
According to him, anime definitely isn’t going to die as a medium, but its popularity as it is now is temporary. While some fans tend to agree with this take, others feel like the state of anime popularity is cyclical, and after a few hype years, the general anime fandom is going to go into a temporary lull.
A huge problem with the industry
One of the issues with the industry that Tomino underlined the most might surprise many: it’s the rise of streaming platforms — presumably, he’s talking about giants like Netflix and Crunchyroll. While their popularity is higher than ever, and more and more people watch anime these days, Tomino says that most of the profits from the platforms stay there and don’t actually reach the creators. This is very likely to be true, given his position in the industry, and paints a very alarming picture.
Tomino’s opinion on the anime classics
When asked about the classics of anime, the works that will go down in history, Tomino gave quite a surprising answer. In his eyes, his own franchise, Mobile Suit Gundam, is not good enough: he thinks that he could have conveyed the anti-war message in it better.
Tomino mentioned that all the kids see now are the cool robots, and that the franchise has been appropriated by “mecha fetishists”, as he called the otaku who are fans of the genre. It’s not uncommon for him to criticize his own work, however, and he often feels differently about various installations of the Gundam franchise he was involved with, so this statement should be taken with a grain of salt.
The classics that will definitely be remembered, however, according to Tomino, are the movies of Hayao Miyazaki and long-runners such as One Piece and Chibi Maruko-chan (the latter being virtually unknown in the West, but extremely popular in Japan).
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