I miss it too, but I also strongly believe my preferences are colored by both nostalgia and a lack of other choices at the time. Not every anime is an Irresponsible Captain Tylor. Like, objectively, Negima was bad. I own ~40 Negima manga, because I liked the show so much, and it was POPULAR back in the heyday, but.. It's not a good show. Like, at all. And the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is... confusing at best as to its popularity. It relied on gimmicks and slight of hand to improve its own ratings, they literally pulled an Augmented Reality AR stunt back before those were a "thing", but Haruhi is still an idol of the anime community.
Chrono Crusade is a fun oldie, though, with the unique prize of "better ending than the source material", since they went past the manga and just started making things up leading to a beautiful ending, while the mangaka went bonkers and off the rails. Still holds up to this day, mostly.
Sola, though? Weird fantasy romance animes back then were... not great. Good concept, but... Wow, that show is mid at best now, one of my favorite romance anime back when, but I cannot re-watch it. A lot of my favorites are like that: They're better in my memories.
A lot of my favorites are like that: They're better in my memories.
I don't think the medium has really advanced in a linear sense. That isn't to say nothing good has come out since then, I just can't get into the million "My Teenage Daughter Got Sucked Into An MMORPG and Has Become the Endgame Boss!" animes that have clogged the catalogue, nor can I watch an anime in a highschool setting at this point. Or really any anime at all.
I'll come back to things like the third arc of Samurai Horror Tales, Paranoia Agent, or Mononoke with my nostalgia intact.
Most of what I like is basically non-existent and esoteric at this point.
I miss it too, but I also strongly believe my preferences are colored by both nostalgia and a lack of other choices at the time. Not every anime is an Irresponsible Captain Tylor. Like, objectively, Negima was bad. I own ~40 Negima manga, because I liked the show so much, and it was POPULAR back in the heyday, but.. It's not a good show. Like, at all. And the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is... confusing at best as to its popularity. It relied on gimmicks and slight of hand to improve its own ratings, they literally pulled an Augmented Reality AR stunt back before those were a "thing", but Haruhi is still an idol of the anime community.
Chrono Crusade is a fun oldie, though, with the unique prize of "better ending than the source material", since they went past the manga and just started making things up leading to a beautiful ending, while the mangaka went bonkers and off the rails. Still holds up to this day, mostly.
Sola, though? Weird fantasy romance animes back then were... not great. Good concept, but... Wow, that show is mid at best now, one of my favorite romance anime back when, but I cannot re-watch it. A lot of my favorites are like that: They're better in my memories.
I don't think the medium has really advanced in a linear sense. That isn't to say nothing good has come out since then, I just can't get into the million "My Teenage Daughter Got Sucked Into An MMORPG and Has Become the Endgame Boss!" animes that have clogged the catalogue, nor can I watch an anime in a highschool setting at this point. Or really any anime at all.
I'll come back to things like the third arc of Samurai Horror Tales, Paranoia Agent, or Mononoke with my nostalgia intact.
Most of what I like is basically non-existent and esoteric at this point.