Individualism in Anime

Japan is a much more Collectivist Culture than The United States of America is at its baseline, a fact that is indeed relevant to understanding entertainment media made in Japan.

But people with a Collectivist ideology (in both its Right Wing and Left Wing forms) do exist in America and do sometimes make art to reflect those values.  So I have no doubt there are likewise Individualists in Japan.

So I do think people analyzing Japanese Media in the West make a mistake in assuming by default it’s always intended to be read as Collectivist. 

Anime, or more so the mediums that are the frequent source material of Anime, are very Niche in Japan.  And Niche in a way that makes them attractive to a variety of different people outside the norm of Japanese culture in different and often mutually exclusive ways. 

Make no mistake, most Anime is still presenting an ultimately Collectivist worldview, especially the Anime that are among my favorites like Robotics;Notes and the entire Magical Girl Genre since I am a Communist.

However I have spotted the occasional Anime I think does have an Individualist Message in rebellion against the Collective norms of Japanese society.  Interestingly they mostly seem to be Light Novel adaptations.  Not all LN adaptations however, Durarara!! Has a very Collectivist ethos as do most that got an Anime even before it did.  

It’s mostly in those very LN trends that have dominated LN based on Anime since like 2014 or so. Isekai, Magical Academy shows and so forth.  Not even all of them ultimately, maybe not even most, but enough that I find it notable.

Take the 2011 show Ben-To which I found very fun but did notice a few points where it’s moral seems to come from that “if everybody wins then nobody wins” mentality.  Shield Hero I know has appealed to the Randian Objectivists in the Anime Community and Log Horizon has also been described as preaching Libertarian ideology.  C: The Money of Soul and Possibility Control is an even more economically Libertarian Anime but it's not a LN adaptation though.

Another interesting, indeed to me annoying, trend in Isekai is how whenever its premise involves an entire Classroom being Isekaied it’s always initially about the MC being separated from the rest for much of the story.   I really want to see one that’s from the start about the entire Class working together without there even needing to be a single main character.

This is paralleled by how those Magical Academy shows always star a main character whose special ability completely dwarfs everyone else.  The very aspect of the _____ ______ formula one would expect a more Collectivist Culture to remove or at least downplay they instead double down on. 

Among Americans who strive to be Collectivists there are still elements of Individualism that passively remain in our thinking because of that being our culture’s baseline.  A lot of Internet Leftist Infighting is Leftists accusing other Leftists of being Individualists while being blind to the Individualisms in our own thinking.

And the same frequently happens in these Anime I have alleged to be ideologically individualist.  Anime named for a single Chosen One protagonist often wind up doing better at depicting teamwork then American Superhero films named as being about a Superhero Team.

Those Entire Classroom Isekai premises I complained about before do inevitably reunite the Protagonist with the rest of the class, how long that takes varies.  The recent Loner Life in Another World that I’m watching the currently airing Dub of on HIDIVE is perhaps the most subversive of this trend as much of the comedy is the protagonist being prevented from fulfilling his desire to be left alone.  In fact at times it seems like its thesis is that a “Loner” is the best mediator between the various Cliques. Actually the most surprising thing about the show is how it opens on a whole “break down of all the High School Cliques” scene that I usually only expect in American High School Dramas. 

And then there is Classroom of The Elite, a Light Novel series with a contentious Anime Adaptation.  Long before I had any of the other thoughts I’ve based this post on, I've suspected that the key to understanding Classroom of The Elite may be that it is exploring the Tension between Japanese Collectivism and Capitalist Individualism.

Anime Year 2025-2026

I’ve decided to make another try at doing weekly Anime Updates for a Year.   

This year will be defined as April 2025 through March 2026.

And weekly is a rough estimate, they probably won’t come out consistently the day of the week, and if I’m slow in having interesting thoughts about any I may take 2 or three weeks. 

To start with I am continuing the Simuldubs of 

Ameku M.D.

Loner Life In Another World

Guild Receptionist

And I’ll be bringing the last 8 episodes of Re:Zero season 3 once all of it has been Dubbed.

As far as Winter 2025 shows I finished before March ended, I may post final thoughts on them separately. 

I’m very unsure what I’ll be watching for Spring.

I’ll be checking in on Detective from time to time but probably not consistently.  The most recent new episodes have been Anime Originals and now it’s returning an old 3 parter from the 500s that I can’t remember at the moment if it’s among the ones I’ve seen. 

Haite Kudashi, Takamine-san is one I’m considering, believe it or not. Shows labeled as Ecchi are often contrary to my tastes, but one bold enough to use that as its main promotional image is worth giving a shot. 

Rock is a Lady’s Modesty I’ll probably give a shot to.

The Shuiji Family Children I’ll give a look to.

Witch Watch and Once Upon A Witch’s Death interest me.

Oh and there’s 300 Slimes season 2

As usual though, my preference for waiting for Dubs means I’ll be behind, and so this series of posts will not actually finish what it’s meant to cover until deep into April 2026.  And also means it’ll be a few weeks before we really get started. 

Shows that have been announced recently I'm hoping will air within this timeframe include.

Fate/Strange Fake

The new Nanoha show

A Certain Darkside Item

A Certain Scientific Railgun season 4.

Rent-a-Girlfriend season 4

Skeleton Knight Season 2

Classroom of The Elite season 3.

The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat season 2

Spy x Family season 3 is currently announced for Fall 2025.

Movies I’m waiting for include the Dubs for Princess Principal Crown Handler part 3 and the most recent Girls Und Panzer Das Finale episode.  The upcoming Madoka Magica Film.  And the new Detective Conan film coming out this month I probably won’t be able to watch till November or December. And maybe even hopefully the next Prisma Illya Movie.

I should also mention that I have stopped using MAL and am now using Anilsit and Anime-Planet.  Both have their advantages and disadvantages, Anime-Planet doesn’t include Hentai so that’s much of why my number is smaller there.  

https://anilist.co/user/KuudereKun888/

https://www.anime-planet.com/users/KuudereKun888 

Girls of the Overflow Universe

When one first discovers the absurd Overflow Family Tree the specific character to catch people’s attention is Tomaru Sawagoe because he’s literally all over it.  And I like memeing on what an over the top villain he is too.

But I also believe plenty of the Girls on the Tree are more than just perpetual victims.  They have interesting stories to tell as well. 

For one thing I can’t help but see a possible compelling Marxist Feminist reading of the meta narrative, where this very literal Patriarch is the owner of the Radish Trilogy’s ritual Restaurant Chain, but it is all girls who are actually running and staffing it.  This is why the Radish setting is so interesting in Summer Days and really makes me want to somehow experience the Radish Trilogy Games.

The common “Apple not falling far from the tree” expression being said in reference to Tomaru’s sons I find amusing given we meet even more daughters and they never turn out to be bad people.  The most Evil Women in these games are the ones who don’t descend from Tomaru. So no being Evil isn’t Biologically Determined in this universe.

I feel like proclaiming Kagura Inou the Matriarch of the Overflow Universe.  Her mother may be Ancestral to even more branches, but Kagura is the protagonist of the Chronologically first game and is mentioned in key ways in both Summer Days and Shiny Days.  I do dislike Shiny Days revealing her to have passed away already.

Turns out everyone likes to watch someone else play a Video Game.

I consider myself a bit of an Apologist for Sword Art Online, but one key detail of it's climax hasn't aged well.

The original Web Novel version of Aincrad was published in 2002 before YouTube existed, but the Anime aired a decade later.  So Kirito saying "there's no fun in watching someone else play a video game" was already being proven wrong.

Honestly I kind of lament how dead the original Let's Play format is.  Live Streams and edited videos about challenge runs are also fun.  But watching people commentate on their casual play through without having to deal with a Live Chat is something I miss.

Live Streams with some Chat interaction re more tolerate when I'm watching someone smaller. But once their Chat has a larger population then some cities it can become an inevitably frustrating distraction.

Still there's lots of fun Casual Gameplay based YT videos being made which I still enjoy. 

Shiny Days Route Order

The most well known online walkthrough of Shiny Days, that is also used by people playing through the Game on YouTube and Lexa$! Video Essays on it, advise people to play the Inori Route branch first.

I hate this.

Shiny Days is a remake of an earlier game originally titled Summer Days.

The Inori Branch is 100% new to Shiny Days, the Setsuna Branch seems to have some new content but it all feels like it fits in with the original Summer Days material just fine.  

The Inori route may be narratively an alternate timeline but it’s metatextuality a sequel.

As someone who feels like they’re very Savvy to this kind of thing, certain events and plot elements in the Inori storyline feel like specifically events Summer Days players are used to playing out differently.  They are Subverting Expectations.

And the only thing I’d really call a Twist in the Game is definitely treated like a shocking reveal far more when it happens in the Summer Days routes.  In the Inori storyline it’s treated with much more dramatic irony. 

So when I see people on YouTube play through the game being shocked and surprised by this reveal while watching the Inori story and then playing Summer Days making fun of how they already know it, it definitely feels to me like they’ve gotten the intended experience inverted.

The Game’s own internal Route Map does place the Inori Branch up top and the Summer Days Branch on the bottom and I think that’s largely what caused this.  The original Japanese developers of the Game may not have considered how many people will wind up playing only this release of the Game.  But in fact for us Westerners this is the only release we officially have in English at all.

The way unlocked H Scenes are organized on the menu for watching them however confirms that Summer Days does still come first.

The Inori route is also kind of overall more Wholesome and so maybe some people felt that should be a Normie’s first impression.  But no one is playing the Infamous Sequel to the Infamous School Days because they are looking for Wholesomeness.  If you don’t download the Deconseoring Patch you won’t get the most problematic content.

Which of these two branches you wind up on is decided by the first choice Makoto is given.  I’m not gonna say any other choices are more correct after that, such would defeat the point of this genre. I just want people to play Summer Days first.

So the first choice is Otome asking Makoto what he’s thinking about doing for Summer Break.  Select the top choice “I want to make lots of Memories” to get on the correct Summer Days path.

I do like the story being told in the Inori route, the only detail I dislike is the reveal that Setsuna’s grandmother Kagura is dead.  She was born in 1958 at the earliest in my needless overthinking of this insane universe’s timeline, so dying by 2005 is way too young.

Gyaru are not Normies

I see people like Anime Vlogger OtakuSpirit in his Alya speaking Russian videos make this mistake a lot so I felt like talking about it.

American watchers of Anime confuse Gyaru for Normies sometimes because what Gyaru are doing is influenced by is what is or at least once was Mainstream Normie White Girl culture in the United States.  But in Japan that’s not normal, they are a subculture under constant pressure from mainstream Japanese culture to conform just like typical Otaku and Fujoshi.

Sometimes I think viewers fail to notice a character being a Gyaru when they are the main character, like in Citrus.  In what got animated the term is never actually used, at least not that I can recall, so it’s easy for someone not fully paying attention to think Yuzu is Blond for the same reason Sailor Moon is.  Citrus also catches a lot of western viewers off guard because Anime usually doesn’t fully acknowledge how strict the Japanese Public School system actually is, Yuzu getting crap from the authorities for not looking like everyone else actually makes the show more realistic than most Anime, but some casual critics of the show don’t want to think about that so pretend it’s just being cartoonishly dystopic.  Yuzu being a Gyaru is what makes her a rebel against Normie society.

I could also mention the Nur Hentai called Soshite Watashi wa Sensei ni…  The main character has recently become a Gyaru but her “best friend” and Teacher don’t like that so they are trying to make her stop being a Gyaru by…. Raping her repeatedly.... because Hentai logic.  4 episodes in and they haven’t succeeded yet, but Nur/PoRo isn’t known for having good endings. 

So as I alluded to before Gyaru fashion is in part inspired by parts of American culture, so you could say they are a specific type of Ameriboo, that they are Otaku of sorts but instead of Anime it’s based on movies and shows like Clueless and Mean Girls and Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars.  PLL is still my favorite American TV show in spite of my issues with the last 3 seasons, so seeing an Anime where a character is explicitly a PLL fan would really make me Geek out, someone please make it happen. 

And all that is why Otaku Media depicting Gyaru do often express solidarity with them.  We saw this in the brief Gyaru appearance in the Nokotan Anime last year.  I’m currently watching the Dub for Loner Life In Another World as it comes out on HIDIVE, it’s depiction of its Gyaru clique seemed unflattering at first but they quickly seem to be getting better.

A good number of Hentai Doujins are about a male Otaku and a Gyaru having sex.  And yeah you could dismiss that as a pretty typical and generic self serving fantasy, but those Doujins are among the most Wholesome.  If you want Doujins where Girls can be consensually and enthusiastically sexually active without at all being shamed for it, your best bet are Gyaru Doujins. 

The 2000s is probably my favorite Decade of Anime

I’m not someone who confuses what personally appeals to me the most with what’s objectively the best, and I certainly don’t think modern Anime has fallen off completely.

And you’re probably now expecting me to express self awareness of how Nostalgia driven an opinion like this probably is.  But the thing is very little of the 2000s Anime I'm thinking of I watched at the time, I was late getting fully into Anime relatively speaking, the mid 2010s is when I became an Otaku.

Maybe you can say I saw just enough at the time that I can experience a sort of vicarious Nostalgia from shows that feel Homousian with shows I have actual Nostalgia for.  But what I did see at the time is mostly a few Genres, a huge percentage of what defines 2000s Anime I didn’t even get a sample of.  Plus as expected by my age the 90s is the era I'm generally most Nostalgic for.

Some of the shows I’m considering most important to defining what makes the 2000s special are what I’ve gotten into the most recently, post Pandemic as a person already in their late 30s.  The DotHack Franchise, Nana, White Album, Rumbling Hearts, Comic Party, Burst Angel, Mai Hime and Main Otome, Shattered Angels, Kanon, Shuffle, Tokyo Mew Mew, Elfen Lied, Baccano, a lot of the best Detective Conan content, and non Isekai Fantasy Shows like Scrapped Princess and Sands of Destruction.

The 2000s contain a linging influence of what people love about 90s Anime and the roots of lots of what’s dominated the 2010s and beyond.  But also plenty of shows that feel like they could only have been made in the 00s. 

The Volume of what I’ve seen is more recent, partly because how much Anime gets made increases exponentially, but also because again I started following currently airing Anime in the late 2010s so the disposable flash in the pan shows that don’t “stand the test of time” that appeal to me have been harder for me to miss, I have to seek them out for older eras. 

The thing is I'm not so sure the 00s would be all that over represented if I made a 3x3 or Top Ten list.  I think their specialness to me may be more with having a lot of shows I think about a lot regardless of how I rate them. And yet it’s not all that represented in that Twelve Unintentional Christian Anime list I made either.  Maybe what’s leading me to say this is more an appreciation for its perceived greater variety than actually thinking the shows were on average any better.

My absolute favorite of all time from the 00s, Noir, two of the shows that have hovered around the Number 2 spot are as well, Code Geass and Lucky Star.  My Favorite Pokémon movies are mostly from the 00s as well as what I consider the best era of the TV Anime, the character who is my current Avatar is from a 00s Anime, and so are the shows that I have called the best Christmas Anime and best Horror Anime. And my favorite Gundam series 00.

Maybe I should make a Top 20 of the 2000s.  But I'm not sure I can narrow it down to even 20.

Then there is the mildly controversial question of how to define the 2000s.  Usually Decades as defining Pop Culture is always based on year 0-9 formations because the fact that there is no year 0 at the start of the Gregorian Calendar is pretty irrelevant.  

But in terms of the Vibe Based ways I think of Anime time periods most Anime from 2010 feels more like 00s then the 2010s.  War on Geminar, Legend of The Legendary Heroes, Heartcatch Precure, Cat Planet Cuties, the first seasons of Oreimo and Durarara, Yosuga no Sora, Angel Beats, the Gundam 00 movie, K-On!! and the conclusion of the Diamond and Pearl era of Pokémon.  Most of what defines Modern Anime started in 2011 or 2012.

But do Anime from the year 2000 feel more 90s?  The Pokémon stuff could go either way and Boogiepop Phantom is a spin off of 90s LNs in a very Lain inspired style and a lot of shows on the air that year started in at least 99. So maybe?  

If I start this decade with Winter 2001 then it’s notable that I haven’t completed any TV Anime from that season and only even started Arjuna.

Of course another ambiguity to consider is the many ways in which in the Japanese Mind years kind of actually start with April not January.  And as a Mildly Hebrew Roots Christian I’m also very sympathetic to starting the year with Aviv rather than Winter.  

But then I’d have to consider Madoka Magica spiritually a 2010 Anime and that doesn’t feel right, though perhaps Wandering Son and Is This A Zombie do?