Yes. Today’s anime fans are the worst that I ever encountered in my whole life, as one who personally saw the change in anime fan’s habits and social climate regarding them throughout the last 3 decades—from being publicly ostracized for just genuinely liking anime up to today’s meta where watching anime became the norm and doesn’t warrant the weird label anymore even if you watch the likes of Interspecies Reviewers and Futoku no Guild.
Why am I saying this? I’ve had enough of people thinking that everything should look like Attack on Titan, My Hero Academia, or Jujutsu Kaisen. I can’t completely blame them for thinking so, as the industry itself has spoiled today’s viewers so much that the bar was set too high for the so-called “sakuga enthusiasts”. What makes this worse is that these self-proclaimed animation gooners think that their opinions matter more when it comes to matters like these and would not hesitate to harass, sabotage, or even vilify production houses and animators just because they think that they’re not doing a very good job on making their favorite Shonen Jump anime look good as if it’s THAT easy to pull off, provided that the working conditions ain’t even improving despite the escalating bar that was set by MAPPA and Ufotable’s latest productions, among a few others.
The duality of it is that if it’s not their favorite shonen, they don’t care AT ALL! They only care because it’s their favorite Shonen Jump manga that’s being adapted, not because they genuinely care about the situation that we animators had to endure in order to deliver whatever these guys are seeing on free TV—provided that they live in Japan or pirate those shows (which these self-righteous sakuga cocksuckers tend to do). Imagine complaining for stuff that everyone receives for FREE just because they’re a so-called “fan”. Are those people even “fans” to begin with? Do they bankroll these studios? Do they even BUY the volumes? I would’ve understood the complaints if they pay for movie tickets per episode. That criticism about “it could’ve been animated like that X or Y show because it just doesn’t feel worth viewing for that kind of money for the current quality it has” will hold weight because somebody paid money to see it. You need you money’s worth as a consumer. That’s perfectly understandable. It has to be worth it. But, TV anime? Jesus, grow a pair.
Made-for-TV content is rarely good unless it’s for a paid UHF channel or a subscription service. If you live outside Japan or UK, you should know that. There’s a reason why Made-for-TV content looks exactly the way it is. But you can also say “bro, BBC and NHK documentaries/shows are really quality content”. While I don’t disagree with you, that doesn’t change the fact that you receive it for free unless you don’t live in the countries where they natively operate in their local free waves. BBC and NHK thrive from public donations from its citizens similar to the system PBS runs in the US, and these stations are more public service-oriented than entertainment-biased. But I digress.
Anime fans are expecting Makoto Shinkai-tier aesthetics from a regular TV show that’s severely limited by geriatric and oppressive labor practices, and overworked animators and studios who are already dealing with the saturation of projects being pushed by content farm committees in a budget. This absurdly high level of expectation is very toxic.
If any of you sakuga meatriders or so-called “fans” of their shonen manga are reading this, would you do a 72.5 USD/hr job for 7.25 USD/hr? If you won’t, then shut the fuck up. That’s the essential problem that a lot of animators face right now, and whatever hate you love to throw against us when things are “mid” to your almighty standards is something that we don’t want nor deserve at all. Studios are still businesses at the end of the day, and min-maxing profits come first over anything in order to sustain this ever-bleeding unsustainable business model that Osamu Tezuka has pioneered, and to keep us animators fed for the little pay that we generally receive to deliver your “juicy” sakuga that only lasts a few seconds. That’s just how capitalism works. We don’t exist just to make Wallpaper Engine-worthy content for the likes of you. That’s fucking reductive of whatever we stand for. We animate for a lot of reasons but we primarily chose this over a stable 9 to 5 because that’s our passion. The likes of you, aggravated by the working conditions that we constantly have to go through, are the reason why newcomers tend to give up and fall back to a salaryman/woman post. No one deserves that huge amount of stress over time just because “that manga deserved Chainsaw Man or Dandadan-tier animation”. Be in our shoes and try that again. Or, do that shit yourself because you know this stuff better than us. But oh—that rarely gets to completion because you all realize that it’s not as easy as you thought it will be once you start doing it. We do shit that you guys struggle to complete in years in just months. And even if you all manage to complete it (kudos to you if ever), it doesn’t even match studio-quality output and for most, even way worse than TV-quality.
The industry’s fucking us back and forth, and hate is the least that we want from people who should be supporting us. Committees are the problem, not the studios, nor us the animators. You might say “but you all have the choice not to take it”. True, but at the end of the day, money talks. You won’t live with just principle alone. Man has to eat, and a business has to earn. It’s not that simple.
If you see a show that looks like Frieren, Chainsaw Man, or Dandadan, be thankful. For the little amount of money that us animators receive, some are still willing to put up for the sake of art even if it’s impractical for the rate and how predatory and unfair these committees and companies can get.
I would personally be in that camp as well, but given the kind of hate one receive for a decent cut just because it wasn’t animated like a certain show does, I’d rather save my sanity to do other things than to let the likes of you live in my head rent-free to terrorize me to commit suicide over a fucking cut. That’s why I don’t animate anymore. The existence of guys like you is what makes me so incensed about your insensitivity towards the real problem which is the committee system.
But of course, you guys don’t give a fuck. You know this shit better than us in the comfort of your armchair and basement. Not everything has to be animated like Jujutsu Kaisen. You guys are too harsh and dishonest that sometimes I think you all deserve what you’re getting. Sakamoto Days look mid to you? You deserve it. An award-winning manga or LN being picked up by ENGI? Deserved. Quality doujins and hentai manga being picked up by Queen Bee? Deserved. Seven Deadly Sins getting a bad treatment? Deserved. Attack on Titan getting a better treatment by the fourth season after WIT underdelivered from S2-S3P2? You all don’t deserve it. It should’ve been sent to a morally questionable studio like Tear Studio or Tonari Animation and get the outcome deserving of your acts against the ones making it despite the hellish demands that they had to endure on a daily.
I just hope that the anime industry encounters a hard stop that will trigger a system-wide reform to make doing these things worth doing and living for, and for these sakugabros to finally be forced to go to the nearest McDonalds to get a job and contribute to the society where they live in.
Saying all these is liberating, and I don’t regret saying it at all. Still, fuck these fans and sakugabros. You fuckers are making our already hard lives harder.
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