I never got into it and people online make it seem cringy. I know there’s probably good stuff out there but weebs are just so weird to me. Love Studio Ghibli and Akira. And used to love Dragon Ball Z and Pokemon - but as an adult never got into the shows.
I am a massive anime watcher and I have this problem too. I used to binge watch a lot of shows, but as I’ve grown older I find I can’t project myself onto the characters anymore and I can’t relate to any of them. There is a severe drought of adult-targeted shows that aren’t pornographic or tragedy/horror in nature. It’s like adults are not interesting unless they are sexed up or murdered.
A lot of the good stuff has already been adapted (most anime are adaptations of some form of light novel or comic book), so in the past few years the production studios have been scraping the bottom of the barrel just to release something. It has resulted in a higher than average set of subpar works every season (3 months, 12 or 13 episodes).
I hadn’t made this connection, but you hit the nail on the head. I’m a little past the point where I’m identifying with the local high school bully victim. In my own analysis, I concluded that much of the problem with the vast majority of modern anime is what comes across as very awkward pacing. At least that’s the way it seems from an American point of view such as my own, I can’t speak for anyone else. I see that theme across many many series that I’m unable to finish after starting. I feel like 10, 15, 20 years ago it was it was very different, in terms of the stories that were told, how they were told, and how they were paced. And plotting was either more universal, or more accessible to a western audience than I feel much of what is put out today is.
