What a boring world you live in

 My writing deludes people into thinking I'm a geezer-type anime fan (the ol' grouches who think anything that came after 2005 is as classy as a hobo's cardboard box) and this post certainly isn't going to help things...So I used the Little Big Planet picture. That picture makes you instantly cool. so am i "in" guyz?

Anime is a form of escapism to me and probably you too. So when I tune into some show, I expect to be whisked away into their world and be spellbound by it. It's gotta make me think "Man, if I were living here, what would I be doing?" We've all thought about this while watching some of our favorite anime. For instance, I don't think there's a single person out there who hasn't watched Pokemon and wondered how they would train their Pokemon, where they would live and whether they could take on gym leaders. Of course, we were kids then and our zealous imagination would picture us in any improbable world because we were simple and able to revel in our dreams more. But as we grow up, our scope of imaginations narrows down and our thinking becomes more cynical, psshaw-ing at our silly thoughts. And yet, when I was rewatching Kino's Journey recently, I was constantly musing about which world I would fit into (if such a world did exist), playing with the idea of being a traveler (not on revenge though) myself. That's the feeling that I look for, the ideal state that I want anime to entrap me in, one where my disbelief is suspended entirely, and where the world I'm drawn into holds me in rapt attention. In short, I want it to be an experience.

That's what I like about old anime: they were able to create worlds and toy around with them. You look at Bebop, Trigun, Escaflowne, FLCL, Fantastic Children, Wolf's Rain, Haibane Renmei, Evangelion etc. and you'll be exposed to shockingly different environments as compared to the drivel we get each season. It's not that I'm asking for different planets or even a dystopian world. I just want to see the same ol' 2D characters, but in new places or at least not in the same old setting of high schools and mechaland.

A little Wild West never hurt no one...

I understand that the same-old Japanese environment is used because anime is from Japan and the people will be able to relate to the story better if the aesthetics are a familiar sight. This is a long shot, but they're arguable easier to draw. And the otaku, the ones who actually shell out the dough to buy the DVDs and merch, will be able to relive their good ol' days, forgetting about the complexities that they are currently fighting through, if only for a couple of hours. So you could say anime isn't aimed at me at all, a guy who's just going to start college, lives in a place which is nothing similar to Japan and who was brought up in an entirely different culture. Maybe that's why when I look at the horde of shows that are releasing recently, I go "same world, different characters". One would argue that that's the point and they're aiming for a character-driven story, but nope, that shit is generic too. You can have a guy who has the ability to see youkai in a village, and in the city a couple hundred miles away, you can have a bunch of kids mourning over the death of their friend and somewhere in the same city, you can have a high school with an anime club trying to overcome their insecurities. It doesn't feel exclusive. It's gotta feel "Hey, you see this mysterious little village with angels and humans, surrounded by a wall? Yeah, you ain't gonna see this shit anywhere else." It's what makes an anime special and it's what most of these new anime lack.

The concept of high school life has been done to death, so S'Life shows can move away and allow us to take a bite from another slice, say, work-life or something. That's also why I'm ecstatic when anime like Space Bros, which revolves around a mid-life crisis, are announced - because they give us a different lifestyle to enjoy and a different world to be a part of. This also means that they'll be missing the pre-teen and a good chunk of the teen demographic, but it's good that certain anime target the older audience. A little diversification is always a welcome sight, especially considering it's only one show among nearly hundred others. Similarly, Kids on the Slope: an international setting, a far cry from the usual suburban Japanese town (I haven't watched this yet, so tell me how it turned out!). Shows like these are far and few. They may not do well when it comes to the $$$, but I would welcome them with open arms.

There is hope

The problem doesn't lie with the high school setting per se, which is the easiest route for reaching the teen demographic and for stimulating some nostalgia in the older audiences, but I do think that keeping that one element constant in every show does hurt things. There are other plot types than "coming of age" for character development and relationships (see: Berserk) But there can still be workarounds. Put the high school in a different country or hell, a different planet! After all, anime was, is, and always will be about the batshit insane. 

Alternatively, you can make Shinkai and his crew draw the anime. That guy can make any environment dreamy.