Trends are something that is present in every type of media, you just can't escape it. Once one new trend breaks out others follow suit and then that one trend runs rampant. This is something that even anime and manga aren't free from as many of them constantly catch waves proved successful by others.
If you're wondering about what trends we've been seeing happen lately then look no further than this list, where we look at a few trends that we love and a few that really just need to end. None of these are necessarily bad but they are definitely feeling a bit oversaturated lately.
10 CONTINUE: SPORTS ANIME AIMED AT WOMEN
As many anime and manga fans may be aware, most sports series in this media group are usually of the shonen variety. However, as of late these series have been gaining a lot of momentum with both female readers and viewers. This was seen statistically in 2012 via a study of shonen jump where it was seen that most female readers stay for the sports.
This has lead to these series being marketed heavily towards females with tons of cutesy merchandise being released to accompany these series. We love that shonen recognizes both sides of their fans.
9 END: ISEKAI ANIME
Ever since the release of Sword Art Online, there seems to be the constant release of one isekai anime after another. While this genre always has something new to throw onto the table to mix up the overused formula it's still growing tiresome to see the same story over and over.
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Isekai seems to be the new go-to genre to quickly get a product out. We're not sure if this is because there is a steady supply of light novels and manga to adapt that use this plot basis but we are sure that we've seen quite enough of isekai anime for one decade.
8 CONTINUE: ANIME FILMS
We know the creation of anime films is nothing new. It's something that's been huge for years due to the likes of films like Akira, Ninja Scroll, and of course the endless vault of entertainment provided by the likes of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. However in this day and age, anime films have become more popular than ever.
This is something that can be marked back to the release of the hit anime film Your Name. The film opened to worldwide critical success and lead to more anime films being released worldwide instead of Japan only.
7 END: FANTASY ANIME
This is more or less in line with the isekai anime oversaturation, as the fantasy genre of anime falls right in line with the complaints about that. We've just been seeing too many of this genre and usually it ends up just being another isekai series. Some of them follow tropes set by others to a T and others set out to subvert those tropes but still end up just being another fantasy anime.
Gate, Re:Zero, Sword Art Online, Overlord, Death March, Konosuba, the list goes on. We just know we need a big break from anime falling from this tree.
6 CONTINUE: LESS LONG-RUNNING ANIME
This new trend honestly feels like a breath of fresh air that anime fans have been needing for a long while. If you haven't noticed, the early 2000s were full of a lot of new anime attempting to become the next big long-running thing, which sadly led to the downfall of series some series such as Naruto and Bleach.
This new decade has switched things up for the better, giving us much shorter series which means much higher quality stories and animation due to these series not trying to reach some long-run quota.
5 END: MOE ANTHROPOMORPHISM
This trend is honestly one of the absolute worst in anime history. Have you noticed an increase in random objects and animals being turned into cute girls doing cute things in anime? Well, that's exactly what moe anthropomorphism is and it's been driving us and other anime fans absolutely insane, especially with how much there is out there.
This trend isn't new but nowadays it has gained more momentum together. Series following after the footsteps of anime like Kemono Friends, Kantai Collection, and Hyperdimension Neptuna feel like they'll never stop.
4 CONTINUE: ADAPTING POPULAR LIGHT NOVELS
To shake things up from the usual manga adaptations many anime are looking through the pages of popular light novels to base anime on and guess what. It's been working out really well for the studios that decide to go through with this. It's actually a great change of pace to pull from places other than manga shelves for great anime stories.
The only downside to this new trend is the fact that many of these popular light novels are of the isekai variety. However, there are more than enough stories being adapted from different genres to make up for that.
3 END: OVERPOWERED MAIN CHARACTER WITH A TWIST
While One Punch Man is an amazing series that broke the mold itself it sadly spawned a genre of its own. This genre that it seems like everyone is trying to jump into is different anime and manga having overpowered main characters but with some kind of twist such as Saitama not wanting to be overpowered and not recognized as such either.
This trend is being followed by the upcoming anime Cautious Hero: The Hero is Overpowered but Overly Cautious. There are also other series following this but this one is the most hyped so far.
2 CONTINUE: MORE YURI LESS YAOI
In the past, it was always yaoi manga and anime making much more money than their sister genre. However, this decade things have flipped around. While yaoi manga are still doing their thing and making big sales, yuri has overtaken them and cast a shadow on the old king of same-sex romance stories.
While the yuri genre has always been a smaller type of manga here in the states, manga companies have been doing a better job of getting them out here and off of bookshelves. It's honestly great to see this genre get much more love as of late.
1 END: SHONEN IS KING
There is nothing wrong with loving a good shonen anime or manga. They're usually some of the best stories around and have some of the most exciting plots and most fun characters. They're also very flexible when it comes to tone as they can be much more mature than the genre's roots will let on.
However, shonen anime and manga have been the king of these media platforms since their inception. It would be amazing to have a seinen or shoujo manga or anime reach the ranks that shonen have but sadly it doesn't look to be in the cards now or even in the near future.