Western Otaku usually still have a limited perspective on Anime

Last October, when the Pluto Anime went up on Netflix was the first time I ever watched any Anime of the Atom aka Astro Boy franchise. I liked it a lot.  So it’s interesting to think about why that is.

I’ve been considering myself enough into Anime to call myself an Otaku since late 2016.  This followed an increasing interest in Anime that went back to at least 2014.  But I’ve kind of had some limited interest in Anime most of my life since I first caught DiC dubbed episodes of Sailor Moon on Sunday mornings in 1996.  Yet it wasn’t till late 2023 I finally watched something featuring the character who arguably started it all.

Imagine being into American Animation and Comics for 7 to 27 years without watching or reading anything with Superman in it?  Because that is the equivalent.  Yet I don’t think that’s at all unique to me for a Western Otaku.  We all know of the importance of Astro Boy but are frequently not too motivated to actually watch it.

And it’s the same with Mazinger Z and other Super Robot shows of the 70s, or Sally The Witch or Detective Conan.  All shows we know of and some of us sometimes actually watch but not always.  I know some people complain that not enough American Anime fans watch Lupin III or Gundam or Macross but those shows are damn near ubiquitous compared to the shows I’m talking about.

Thing is this isn’t an issue I’m even at all motivated to fix in myself.  My ability to enjoy Animation that predates my own birth on either side of the Pacific is limited.  I can respect and appreciate the groundwork they laid, but it’s nor what I’m personally into, what I mean when I say I’m into Anime is mostly specific kinds of Anime, trends and styles that started in the 80s but really took off in the 90s.  So Detective Conan I was able to get into since it started in the 90s, but for most stuff pre-1985 it would be a disservice to them for me to be the one finally making Video Essays about them, I’m not qualified to explain their appeal.

There are exceptions, I’ve watched and loved The Rose of Versailles and both animated Lupin III movies from the 70s.  But the 70s Anime I want to watch the most is one still not even fan subbed, La Seine No Hoshi.

But it’s not just with older Anime that Western Otaku aren’t watching as big a percentage as they think.  Even with current seasonal Anime, what we even talk about is a small percentage of what’s actually airing on TV in Japan. I don't just mean the shows all of us are watching, I mean even the seasonal shows with a small but loud group of evangelists.  Even the people making YouTube videos predicated on claiming they’re watching literally everything aren’t actually watching most of it.

I’ve seen more Anime from 2017 than any other single year, and the Winter season I’ve possibly seen the most of within that year.  Yet when I go to the MAL page for that season and filter it to show only shows I haven’t seen even one episode of, sorted by most members, there are still 2 or three that are well known even though I didn’t watch them (Konosuba season 2 and Gintama mainly).  Yet even them combined with what I did watch are still dwarfed by the number of shows I don’t recall ever hearing anyone talk about at all.  And that’s just going off TV Anime that started that season with at least 12 episodes and at least 20 minutes per episode runtimes.  When you go down to what’s continuing from prior seasons it’s not just the two cour shows from fall 2016 and the three long runners everyone makes fun of, there’s dozens of shows that started in the 80s and 70s still airing that have never even remotely been on our radar.

It’s important to remember that even those of us who seek to present ourselves as knowing more and going deeper than most are still barely paddling out of the kiddie pool.  It’s like how the Roman Empire referred to itself as ruling the world when in fact most of the earth’s surface they’d never even visited and a good chuck they didn’t even know existed.

Frieren is not the Best Anime of 2023

I realize the Anime most prominently featured in the Thumbnail of a Best of ____ YouTube video is usually not given the number 1 slot because they want that to be a bit of a surprise.  But giving Frieren this role in your Thumbnails still endorses that it's the easy pick to be at least near the top and I really would not put Frieren even in 2nd or 3rd place.

First of all, Frieren in 2023 specifically is fundamentally incomplete. I realize some may find it unfair to rule out from AOTY contention any multi-cour shows that straddle the Gregorian New Year change over. But in the case of Freiren the way the final episode to air in 2023 doesn’t even finish the Arc it’s a part of is just really on the nose with it.

Now obviously a popular show from Fall having this role is partly a result of recency bias but ya know what as someone who’s actively tried to avoid that I feel like Fall 2023 may genuinely deserve it’s current dominance over the year as a whole simply because there aren’t a lot of Seasons that I’ve already completed this many shows from within a month of it ending, 9 TV Anime and two ONAs of comparable size to a TV Anime with more I likely will complete later (that's not counting how I've seen all of the 2023 episodes of Freiren).  There are older seasons I still haven’t watched close to that much of.

I do like Freiren, I’ve been recommending it as one of the best, not even vaguely Isekai like Fantasy Anime we’ve gotten in recent years. I recommend it to old fashioned Tolkien and Lewis style Fantasy nerds who have no tolerance for Anime BS.  But the thing is I am an Otaku, for my actual Anime rankings Anime BS is a feature not a bug and that’s just one reason Frieren isn’t in my top three even of Fall 2023 specifically.

First I’m gonna mention Spy x Family season 2, if you're gonna make a contender a show that is incomplete within the year in question I’d rather have an Arc that was built up to rather than an introduction.

But I think the actual best shows of Fall 2023 are two Netflix ONAs we got in October.  Good Night World and Pluto both get 10/10s from me, Frieren I doubt will get that even for the entire first season much less what is in 2023 on its own.  Pluto will likely be the subject of its own post on this Blog in the future.  Good Night World is a show I found fun and interesting from the start yet still managed to emotionally hit me way more than I expected.

But even comparing Freiren to other first cours of something still incomplete, SHY and I’m In Love With The Villainess both justified themselves as somewhat stand alone first seasons way more then the 2023 content for Freiren did even though Frieren had a few extra episodes to work with.  But I won’t put Freiren at the bottom of this sub sub category either, as much as I am still a fan of 100 Girlfriends I think it’s season 1 struggled with pacing slightly that form what I’ve heard about the Manga future seasons will at some point not have anymore.

There are at least  two TV Anime of Fall 2023 that stand on their own completely whether or not a season 2 of some sort ever happens and those are Tearmoon Empire and 16bit Sensation. 

All that is just Fall, shows from earlier seasons include second seasons for Jobless Reincarnation, Eminence in Shadow, Vinland Saga and The With From Mercury each of which I’d personally rank higher than Freiren.  Zom100 which was phenomenal.  Maybe some of you think I’m biased against Freiren for not being Actiony enough, well I also place Rant-a-Girlfriend season 3 above Frieren, and maybe also My Love Story with Yamada-Kun at Lv999.

Winter 2023 does compete with Fall 2023 in terms of how much of it I’ve completed.  But only 3 I’d call AOTY contenders, The Magical Revolution of The Reincarnated Princess and The Genius Young Lady, Onimai and Buddy Daddies each of them is better than Freiren.

Actually maybe a 4th if we count Eminence in Shadow Season 1, I would generally rather count a MAL entry that started the prior year rather than ended in the next one.  But in this case only 7 episodes of season 1 aired in 2023.  If we just counted all of Eminence as one candidate ignoring the MAL divisions it would be top 10 for certain.

So basically no Freiren as great as it is can’t even make my top 10 of 2023.

Even if your agenda is specifically to bias a Normie accessible show, Vinland Saga season 2 has even less Otaku elements then Frieren and Pluto is designed to be a new modern entry point to Anime's oldest franchise.