>>4683337berserk and a few select other anime/manga are the only things worth paying attention to within the entire compendium of anime. western media may be shit now, but it has an extremely long backlog of great works that you could always go back to if you only want to read and watch actually good stuff, unlike anime. maybe in time anime and manga will step up their game and start getting more and more truly great works, but for now its not worth paying attention to.
the big problem with anime is that its almost 100% derivative, almost everything is just an adaptation or a clone of something more popular, with very little in between. whats more is that even though you have those occasional stand out pieces, they are completely overshadowed by the absolute mire of mediocrity that is present throughout the rest of the medium. how many shows have to be about high schools/high school age children? do so many of them really need to be about blank slate self inserts who have the bestest super power of them all? why does everything have to come down to the power of friendship and other cheesy stuff? once in a while these elements are great, but they are present in nearly all anime now which hurts.
all of this is opposed to the west, which while yes, is absolutely filled with the same kind of garbage in the mainstream, is at the very least always being challenged in small ways. films that try to provoke discussion are always around the corner, someone is always trying to make you think, even if the thought they are trying to provoke isnt always the most original, wholesome, or enlightening, but its always there in some capacity. you dont even have to look that hard to find any of the stuff im talking about, just go to a local community theatre or look up where some arthouse films are being shown at.
