Where did all the weeaboos go? - Wheh dey @????

[Sneed-and-feed-2077]

Weebs went to 4chan and reddit. IMO 4chan weebs are much better than reddit weebs. But good on the 4channers for refusing to watch western media and kike propoganda

 

[Dom Cruise]

The 2008 crisis caused every anime studio to drop the pretense and just start pandering to the most insane otaku consoomers who'd drop the most dosh. Like with capeshit, it usually means the product is bland and boring to appeal to autistic manchildren. Something to chew on - in the 90s, you'd typically see 30-40 new TV anime created in a year. In the 2010s, that number ballooned into the hundreds, but the entire industry still had a budget that was less than it was in the 90s (in real terms). So you see all these one-season otakubait shows that exist purely to sell merchandise because anime is wholly unprofitable any other way, and it's unironically easier to just hit every low-brow otakubait franchise at once than bother trying to pick a winner (hence the one-season aspect).

Next up, manga. The 2008 crisis (notice a pattern here?) severely damaged the industry in Japan, and sales of manga periodicals fell considerably. Fewer artists were able to break in and so you began to see a handful of long-running manga series by perennial oldfags not only dominate the industry (as they had pre-recession) but almost subsume it. There's still plenty of small monthly or even bimonthly published manga out there, but there's not really a thriving industry of moderately popular series in the middle ground between the small niche manga and the big guys that you used to see. Without this industrial middle class, long-term career prospects for aspiring manga artists disappeared and they all just started drawing art for gacha shit instead. And on top of that, the massively overpriced manga industry in the US and the wider anglophone world (priced in such a way to not undercut domestic comics btw) never really got back on its feet because 1) not even hardcore weebs are willing to pay $10 for a tankobon volume printed on toilet paper anymore and 2) Japanese companies are literally exceptional and can't figure out how to hire westerners to actually market their shit in the west in a way that westerners will consume.

Finally, the third pillar - vidya. Japanese video games succumbed to the same fate as western ones - jewry. Almost every game company in Japan began to focus on soshage - social (media) games aka gacha - and this low-effort race to the bottom pulled resources away from not only the gaming industry but also manga and anime as well. I'm honestly amazed to see JRPGs even begin to make a resurgence as I'd thought all the people who knew how to program them were now living in gacha slave pens cranking out more seasonal events so Kinoko Nasu can buy his third private jet.

Now all this merely explains the decline in quality. And that's exactly the point - Japanese pop culture used to distinguish itself as being relatively high-quality while also still appealing to somewhat niche tastes. Which is why weebs were so zealous about it. Now it's not. Now all that's left is a kind of nostalgia for what was. People still like this shit, but it's not the mark of enlightened cultural consumption that it once was.

Great post, 2008 was also the year the US industry shit itself, starting with the closure of Pioneer/Geneon (which was actually in 2007), a bunch of US publishers and magazines all went kaput or restructured by 2009, the boom years of the 2000s were over and it never went back to that same sort of energy where the sky seemed the limit and you could find anime magazines at grocery stores.

Everything basically went to fuck in 2008

Basically everything in the world suffered a downturn in 2008, it's incredibly depressing to reflect on that fact.

The Great Recession, even if the actual economic damage recovered (though I think that's debatable) what was permanently lost was a certain level of confidence, everything became about the easy buck, the sure thing, pinching pennies, with almost no extravagant risk taking.

 

[Key the Metal Shitposter]

the rise of cringe culture, disillusionment with japanese consumerism, and frankly anime being in artistic decline in recent years all obliterated any hope for that kind of person to exist and genuinely believe it in the way you could in 2008.

 

[Return of the Freaker]

In the past, the overly literal nature of most translations ("nakama", "un", etc) gave viewers/readers a shitty crash course in Japanese things and it showed as classic weeb vocabulary and an unrealistic image of Japan. Now that it's mainstream and has official translations, people aren't forced to learn random words and traditions to keep up with the story, eliminating the classic vocabulary and obsessiveness. The lack of obvious signaling that it's from another culture also means today's weebs apply western cultural norms and instead have dumbass takes like "omg child abuse!!!"

Necroing because I can't believe I didn't say this before. Megatokyo could've only happened before 2007. Though, to my shock, it's apparently still going somehow

 

[cybertoaster]

Take a look at tiktok and ask again.

 

[MysticLord]

They were all purged by various types of libtard, who now wear the weaboo culture like a skinsuit.

 

[Jason Wynn]

Weeaboo is a problematic and racist term now.

We refer to them as autistic.

 

[cybertoaster]

Fullmetal Alchemist is a big one, those that saw it remember it well but zoomers don't give a shit about it, pretty surprising considering how massive it was at one time.

The ones I seen dont like the OG series because they find it too depressing/not enough hyper and fun and shit like modern anime is. They can't handle the deaths and the ambiguous not-happy ending

Haruhi is one that seems pretty much forgotten by everyone, which is also surprising given how huge it at one time was.

I remember watching the first two episodes and being bored out of my mind, never watched the rest.

I think it was popular due to all the porn, like overwatch.

stuff from the 90s has had longer legs

Really? because most zoomie weebs have never seen the likes of macross plus.

As for the goth community I can attest that most of the young goths are in it because it's a "fashion sense" and nothing more

Even back in the day many goths were into it for the aesthetic and little else.

But then again we're in a particular superficial age where kids wear nirvana shirts not even knowing it was a band.

meanwhile the old school goths either turned into alcholic Karen's and other assorted losers.

Predictable TBH.

The 2008 crisis caused every anime studio to drop the pretense and just start pandering to the most insane otaku consoomers who'd drop the most dosh.

I read somewhere that the industry really got fucked at the end of the 80's when the asset bubble collapsed and funding became scarce since most otakus couldn't afford to pay $100 for an OVA anymore. It kind of shows when you look at stuff like AKIRA which has zero chances of being done today and boasts a kind of hand-made animation that has never seen again. Lots of 80's anime has rough corners due to the limitations of tech att but the animation its fluid as fuck, thats only possible due to higher budgets.

Finally, the third pillar - vidya. Japanese video games succumbed to the same fate as western ones - jewry. Almost every game company in Japan began to focus on soshage - social (media) games aka gacha - and this low-effort race to the bottom pulled resources away from not only the gaming industry but also manga and anime as well. I'm honestly amazed to see JRPGs even begin to make a resurgence as I'd thought all the people who knew how to program them were now living in gacha slave pens cranking out more seasonal events so Kinoko Nasu can buy his third private jet.

TBF gacha its a billion times worse than most western F2P games.

but it's not the mark of enlightened cultural consumption that it once was.

When was that the case?

 

[Broseph]

You can ask the same thing about juggalos, goths and wiggers. Where they all go?

 

[Dom Cruise]

The ones I seen dont like the OG series because they find it too depressing/not enough hyper and fun and shit like modern anime is. They can't handle the deaths and the ambiguous not-happy ending

That's why I like stuff like FMA better and am kinda meh on modern animes.

That's what blew everyone's minds about Fullmetal back in the day is how surprisingly mature and intelligent it's storytelling was, it's no surprise people's tastes have been dumbed down since though.

I remember watching the first two episodes and being bored out of my mind, never watched the rest.

I liked it, it's a slice of life series with some added supernatural/sci fi stuff essentially.

I think it was popular due to all the porn, like overwatch.

This is a valid point though.

Really? because most zoomie weebs have never seen the likes of macross plus.

Not all things from the 90s obviously, but stuff like Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball, Pokemon, all franchises bigger than anything that originated in the 2000s.

The only things coming close would be Naruto (technically originated in the 90s too, but the anime was 2000s), Fate (noteworthy but still not on the level of something like Dragon Ball) and as an iconic character, Hatsune Miku (has she ever had an actual anime though?)

I mean there's other 2000s things that still have cult followings today, but not that many of them.

Even back in the day many goths were into it for the aesthetic and little else.

But then again we're in a particular superficial age where kids wear nirvana shirts not even knowing it was a band.

In the 2000s it was people wearing Pink Floyd shirts and not knowing it was a band.

I read somewhere that the industry really got fucked at the end of the 80's when the asset bubble collapsed and funding became scarce since most otakus couldn't afford to pay $100 for an OVA anymore. It kind of shows when you look at stuff like AKIRA which has zero chances of being done today and boasts a kind of hand-made animation that has never seen again. Lots of 80's anime has rough corners due to the limitations of tech att but the animation its fluid as fuck, thats only possible due to higher budgets.

There were a few sci fi/action adventure anime movies post Akira that also had hyper detailed animation like Ghost in The Shell, Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust, Steamboy and Paprika, but it's certainly something that's defunct now (I think Paprika might have been the last) and certainly Akira has a unique look to it.

I think basically 90s and even 2000s Japan was able to coast off the fumes of the bubble years, so strong was the bubble, certainly by the 2010s that was over though, but just imagine what the 90s and 00s could have been like had the bubble not burst.

 

[CryptoHermit]

Weaboos are being oppressed by clownworld western imperialist culture. Funimation and Crunchyroll have done more damage to the industry than piracy ever did (if at all). All the weaboos on the Farms are in the Vtuber anyway.

 

[Michael Janke]

You can ask the same thing about juggalos, goths and wiggers. Where they all go?

they still exist.
you just have to see them in real life
back in the 2000's, lots of myspace profiles, when they had those obnoxious eye killer backgrounds had their own themes.
every weeb, wigger and goth made it known by their profile.
you can't customize a twitter or facebook page in the same way.
here's an example of that 2000's self website

the audio sucks but everybody had myspace profiles like this or their own websites like this.

 

[Dom Cruise]

On a side note, the peak of weebdom would have been about 1999 to 2007 imo, I feel like prior to 1998 anime was pretty dang underground and obscure, the introduction of Toonami in 1998 really brought it to light like never before, so then riding high on the success of that and also Pokemon in 1999, the boom of the dvd market, the rise of the internet and the general hipness of Asian culture in the turn of the millennium era created a perfect storm for it to be something really unique.

 

[Hangly]

I’m right here

 

[John Titor]

they still exist.
you just have to see them in real life
back in the 2000's, lots of myspace profiles, when they had those obnoxious eye killer backgrounds had their own themes.
every weeb, wigger and goth made it known by their profile.
you can't customize a twitter or facebook page in the same way.
here's an example of that 2000's self website

the audio sucks but everybody had myspace profiles like this or their own websites like this.

My only objection is that site looks more readable than the actual MySpace ones.

 

[Mr. ShadowCreek]

Maybe they were scared of getting cancelled? I don't think she was a weeaboo but I remember a few years ago a girl wore a Japanese dress to Prom and the internet got mad. If you're not Asian you're not allowed to appreciate Asian culture. Though I know were many black people who were weeaboos.

 

[Ser Prize]

They were all purged by various types of libtard, who now wear the weaboo culture like a skinsuit.

This. And it's gross to see.

 

[CryptoHermit]

This. And it's gross to see.

I remember being in a torrent group where we would pay this Japanese bilingual NEET in Bitcoin when it was really early to get us scans and raw rips of games, anime and manga or even translate it for us. We would sometimes get shit weeks before official channels would release their versions. I'm slightly suicidal whenever I think about the amount of Bitcoin I spent for early Monogatari episodes. Crunchyroll is truly the weeb antichrist.

 

[Cavalier Cipolla]

They either deradicalized themselves into simple Japan appreciators, mutated into anti BLM and SJW based weebs (like that guy somewhere in the Tranny Sideshows thread), or simply switched to being Kpop stans.

 

[Male Idiot]

I'm reich here. But I'm more of wehraboo.