Pop Quiz: What’s the dividing line between “old” and “new” anime?
Answer: Anything before 2014 is old. Anything after 2014 is new. Why? Because I said so.
Ok. Let me back up a bit.
I always liked history class in school, but something that I think it did a very bad job of doing was connecting the past to the present. There was always “current events” and “history”. One is settled, the other is still up for debate. In the same way, there is “classic” anime and “contemporary” anime and the line between them exists… probably. To be fair, there is some merit to this distinction, I can talk for days about the most influential anime of the 60s since we’ve got so much follow-up data to base those conclusions on, but what about the 2020s? Well… that’s a little harder. Pretty much just becomes a popularity contest on what we *think* is gonna be influential down the line. Kinda leaves a lot of these discussions to age *very* poorly. Ask around 2016 and I’m sure most would list *Yuri on Ice* as a sure fire pick. Ask anyone these days about *Yuri on Ice* and I’m sure you’ll get it with a lot of “what’s that” or “yeah I remember that one”. Not exactly classic material…
In reality, the line between “the classics” and “the contemporary” is however long it takes for conversation on if a show is or isn’t a classic to die down and for people forget that it was ever up for debate. However, I think we all have a tendency to ignore this fact and, whether consciously or not, establish our own dividing lines. “Old thing” is always whatever was around when you started paying attention and “new thing” is anything since then. The Nintendo DS can’t possibly be a retro console, even though it’s as old today as “retro” consoles were back when the Nintendo DS was out. We all do it. Don’t lie to yourself.
I don’t think we think about it a lot, but history is just a record of continued presents stitched together. We’re quick to lament how “things are different now” but never really stop to consider that the baseline we compare them too was itself but a temporary moment in time shaped by forces that are very much in flux. “Everything seemed to simple back then” but only because we just weren’t aware of just how complicated things were.
Except, that’s not a good way to think about things, now is it?
Well let’s explore that for a bit…
[The day a kid asks me what a DS is is the day I go and file for Social Security…](https://preview.redd.it/9ylromcwyfcb1.jpg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c910c9ac9827d9c6a384a118caaf3bacd78de01b)
**A Link in a Constantly Growing Chain**
I got into anime in 2015. For the longest time, anything before about 2014 was “history” and everything after it was “modern”. That’s why I draw the line the way I did at the start, but crucially it also meant that when I was getting into anime the image the fandom let off was… different. As an early Zoomer in a Millennial world, a lot of 2000s was before my time. I absorbed a lot of that internet culture as “just how things are” and you can already start to see that dividing line form. It’s certainly led to much mental strife in my time, but I’ll spare you the details.
One of the first pieces of media that put me down the path of breaking this mentality was [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trwdaJA-6z8) on *Elfen Lied* by hazel. It’s over two-hours long but does a great job breaking down a lot of 2000s anime culture and how it came to be, and besides being very well produced, I couldn’t take my eyes off it. Two hours goes by quick when you’re engrossed in what you’re doing.
The reason for my mesmerization is that it explored a topic that was somehow personal to me, but that I never really thought about. By the time I entered the picture, a lot of what the video discussed had been engrained in the historic record of the internet and I never really stopped to question how it came to be. It just “was” and there was no point questioning it…
2016’s *Shelter* covers a vaguely similar topic. The MV itself is basically fandom lore at this point, but thematically it touches on topics of family and how we aren’t alone and are but the continuation of the legacy left by those who left before us. I don’t know what it was, but one night back in 2020 during a nostalgia binge, it all kinda just clicked for me and since then things haven’t quite been the same. I’ve come back to it every so often, since then, and find something new to appreciate about it every time. Much like the hazel video, it too opened my eyes to the greater picture and, for a listless and borderline depressed college freshman, that was something I really needed to keep going.
There is something comforting in realizing that you aren’t alone. That you are not merely the final culmination of everything that came before you, but a link in a chain that itself forms something bigger. It’s this concept that has kept me motivated to be my very best and to make my mark on the world before having to hand it off to the next generation. But where it becomes particularly of interest, is when you start applying it outward…
[Congrats. I get to reset the \\”Days Since I’ve Talked About Shelter\\” counter back to zero…](https://preview.redd.it/qdt15fqb3gcb1.png?width=768&format=png&auto=webp&s=ee4625b49221146d1d414210009e40d74feb4257)
**Sonder.**
In the “Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows”, John Koenig describes “sonder” as “the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own”, and, while we may not be able to know everybody’s life story, some of us happen to be gifted enough to solidify their own experiences in ways others can see.
I like weird art. Not necessarily self-righteous, pretentious art, but weird art none-the-less. To me, art is more than just entertainment, but a way to see into the eyes of others and glimpse at what they see in the world. To me, art is a matter of expression with which the artist can express that which is not easily put into words. It is a way for an artist to immortalize their thoughts and for the viewer it can serve as a valuable window into the world of those who made it. I mentioned in a, perhaps too overly pretentious, post a couple days ago that I like when anime is personal, and this is why. I like to see what makes the artist tick.
To attempt to tie these scattered thoughts together, I’ve recently gotten really into classic anime. Yeah I know they aren’t always the shiniest and most polished works, but there’s something comforting in that. They offer that window into the ecosystem and culture that spawned them, and getting to see how something like *Noiseman Sound Insect* set the stage for *Tekkonkinkreet* years later is special in ways that you don’t always get from just watching a single series. In the same way, that *Shelter* discusses legacy through family, one can draw parallels to the history of anime at large and how where we are today stands on the shoulders of all the giants that came before us. When you string them all together, there’s a connection that forms in seeing people you’ve never met in times you’ve never lived in doing exactly what you’re doing today: striving to be the best they can be and (whether consciously or not) continue that legacy of those that inspired them. Work A inspires Artist B to make Work C which inspires Artist D, so on and so forth. The internet allows us the wonderful opportunity to look back on all of it and learn from it in ways that older generations simply couldn’t. But I tend to ramble, so let’s try to tie this all back together…
[This film was quite the trip fr fr…](https://preview.redd.it/tszwa8ox6gcb1.jpg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b9df9e639271162911025119863174c280c490eb)
**Finding Comfort in Yesterday to Strive for Tomorrow…**
I think it’s easy to reminisce on the past and get lose sight of where we’re going. I know I’ve been more than guilty of it in the past. But something happens when you realize that those yesterday’s you remember weren’t actually all that special. Maybe to you, but in the grand scheme of things, all the creators you looked up to and who shaped your childhood were probably no different from you. They had their idols before them and those whose styles inspired them. All of the greatest works to be produced were done at the hands of mortal men who found themselves in the right circumstances to transcend that state and immortalize themselves through their works.
I’ve long struggled with the idea of a limit. Whether it be in my own progress or in the progression of the culture/medium, but it doesn’t have to be this way. I got into the classics because I was burnt out from the seasonal chart. Yet, since doing so I have found myself eyeing that seasonal chart with renewed passion. Because you come to realize that its more than just more sacrifices for the hungry monster that is your Completed list. It is the product of a team of creatives looking to leave their mark on the world, no different from those who came before them. It’s only a matter of time before one of them strikes gold.
And there’s just something so satisfying to see history be made in real time.
[Seven years out, do you reckon they did it? Did they manage to make history?](https://preview.redd.it/nevr2yygagcb1.png?width=1264&format=png&auto=webp&s=9fb01bb3cc2114932eebd46fef786590e9d27b7c)
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