Anime sucking lately

Well, I'd like to offer a different point of view here, since I just started watching anime about a year ago, and I got hooked.

Yes, I live in America and I do download fansubbed anime. I'm actually a part of two fansub groups: Live-eviL and Anime-Keep. The latter of which isn't exactly moving anytime soon and the former does a lot of classic shows (e.g. Captain Harlock and Galaxy Express 999 (both 1978)) Having just started watching, I tend to stick with the more recent anime shows. This may be attributed to the difference in video quality, as while I don't like to consider myself overly emphatic on how an anime "looks", I just don't think a lot of the anime pre-2000 have aged well, personally. The majority I watch was released after 2000.

That being said, I don't think the quality of anime has degraded significantly since 2000. I'm keeping up with the new season shows, and a lot of them look promising and interesting enough for me to download. I try to go back to some classics, but usually, that doesn't go very well and it takes me forever to finish the series because I often lose interest.

I've watched two series released before 2000: The Vision of Escaflowne, and Serial Experiments Lain. Late 90s, but nevertheless, before 2000. As I recall, I didn't like either one much. I didn't like the protagonist in Escaflowne (Hitomi I think her name was) and the second (Van Fanel) wasn't much better, albeit the best of the bunch. I didn't like the ending that much either. Serial Experiments Lain, I just didn't get. It's a weird series, to say the least and I was never quite sure what was going on. I'm not sure about Serial Experiments Lain, but I feel that I'm going to get a lot of heat for Escaflowne.

Well, now we fast forward to the present time. It seems like the quality of anime shows, IMO, hasn't degraded, but just that the shows themselves have changed direction with relation to genre. There seems to be a shift to the Moe/Romance/Comedy/School Life kind of anime shows, which doesn't bother me one bit, because I love these shows (see Lucky Star) But I know, to some people, these shows, especially Moe, are like poison. I think it's just a matter of taste. I'm not a bit fan of mecha or horror, so I don't mind the lack of action and battle-heavy series that are in the recent line ups.

I don't know, just my thoughts.

How ya doing, buddy?