I was talking about Cyberpunk, JoJo, Kill la Kill, and Fate.
Eh, the 00s had slop like Naruto and Bleach. They all blend together because they're all knockoffs of each other.
A lot of it seemed to stem from the gay acceptance movement really winning out in that period and with there being some openly gay people getting pretty big recognition (I think of Ellen DeGeneres specifically, who was watched by basically every white middle class mom and grandmother.) In addition though, shows like Queer Eye for the Straight Guy came out which also catered a lot to that demographic, and they helped push along the idea of straight guys taking better care (aesthetically) of themselves, although in certain aspects it went too far. It really catered to fag hags particularly because in the mid-2000s it was really a big thing for certain women to have a "gay best friend" for clout and to show how progressive they were.
And see where that's gotten us.
Had Apple never made the iPhone, and had "social media" never taken off, it's possible it'd still be like '00s.
I was actually agreeing with you up until this.
I'd be happy to hear some examples of what you consider good 80s shows, because (as someone who grew up on constant reruns of them) I have not seen a single one. Thundercats came the closest to being quality and even then I can remember nothing good about it. Just the annoying dragon-cat thing that had the worst voice I'd ever heard.
I kind of agree with this. It was really fun to be an ignorant teen during this time.
EDIT: I moved my response to the relevant topic.
I think that overall, it's still not as bad as Current Year Western media overall. Despite the "cliches" like maybe too many isekai, they're still trying new ideas and "woke" isn't too mainstream (at least not yet). In Current Year Western media, it seems it's all "wow nostalgia", "wow remaster", "whites, men bad", and "LGBTQ+ good".
Speaking of which, how come Original Philippine music never got known in US or Canada and the rest of the West in the 2000s like J-Pop or K-Pop? Even Taiwanese and Hong Kong Pop got known a bit. There were some English songs
"Not as bad as Current Year Western media" is the lowest possible bar to clear. I think the 00s were the last decade you had any real creativity from the anime industry, both in terms of what got adapted and the original productions. The light novel adaptions weren't just isekai and some were really creative, you had fun VN adaptions, you had absolutely stunning anime originals, etc. A lot of times when I'm watching a show from that era I end up thinking "I couldn't imagine this getting made now" which is never a good sign.
Why's that?
You get a bunch of formulaic and ultimately safe stuff that takes little risk. You never see anything as visceral and twisted as, say, Texhnolyze. Or any adaption full of interesting philosophical discussions as Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex (I heard the newer ones are bad). Or when the nostalgia trip mecha anime felt a lot more genuine like Gurren Lagann or Gun x Sword.
Aside from isekai absolutely flooding the market, you always have an overreliance on fanservice that's not even subtle. After all, they have to sell waifu figures to men and husbando figures for fujos. You can tell it from the character interactions and how a lot of shows with a male-heavy cast have an ordinary woman shoehorned in to be the fujo self-insert. Everything that isn't isekai usually leans too heavily on nostalgia that doesn't feel natural, like the sole point was to evoke something everyone liked in the past rather than the drama building to that natural point. Nowadays practically nothing runs for more than 12-13 episodes at a time so you can't even spend half a year (or even a full year) watching the show like you used to.
