I definitely have to agree, not only are we exposed to more anime than ever before, thanks to increased imports and localizations, but such factors as nostalgia and rose-colored glasses affect our perceptions of the "good old days", which probably weren't that good nor that old to begin with when we move beyond the classics and try to get a better idea of the anime industry of the 80's and 90's. And yes, I do prefer a number of older series including LoGH, Gunbuster and even Irresponsible Captain Tylor if that counts, among others, but I know that's hardly the entire picture.
It would be quite interesting to find out how the Japanese themselves think about this matter, not just in retrospect since I suppose the notion of a "golden age" must still exist among them but also from the contemporary points of view of the older generations of anime fans and critics.
That said, some comments on a couple of more or less tangential issues that have also been brought up.
In retrospect, they are going in the opposite direction for Gundam 00. Season 1 had a handful of fanservice scenes, the whole "Let's go to the beach while the miesters risk thier lives in battle" scene comes to mind. Season 2 seemes to reverse this, going so far as to REDUCE the bust sizes of most of the female cast. Bravo, Sunrise
Reducing the amount of fanservice is a good thing, which thankfully seems to be the case in 00 so far. But retroactively changing an adult character's body shape may also be a sign of animation inconsistency as opposed to an elaborate attempt at making a conscious progressive statement on the matter, especially when and if animation quality as a whole varies somewhat, which has been the case in certain episodes or sequences. In other words, it is definitely a positive development, which I recognize, but not exactly a real sea change as of yet, and even the second season still has a small number of fanservice scenes that aren't strictly necessary.
I've highlighted Geass because I think if it had focussed on the actual storytelling instead of commercialism the themes it had would have come out so much stronger and it really would be a classic. Instead, it ends up as rambling possibly xenophobic cheesecake.
a)This would have been avoided if Code Geass season two had remained in a late night slot and Sunrise had not tried to move the show to prime time in an attempt to commercialize it further after its unexpected success.
According to the S1 DVD booklet interview with writer Ichirou Ohkouchi, the first series was originally meant to be a prime time show, but such iconic elements as the Geass and Lelouch's "more evil than heroic" nature were not added to the project until it was changed into a late night program. To briefly quote: "The audience is pretty different between an afternoon anime and a late night anime, so we couldn't keep the same story." If that much applied to the first season it is no wonder that the second also went through a few modifications when the time slot change was reversed. For those interested there are other staff comments which confirm that side of the story.
It is somewhat ironic that a few representative details 00 has been praised for, such as jumping right back into the action without wasting any time and not beating around the bush in general since the first season's audience is already expected to be there, were coincidentially all part of what the Code Geass staff had originally intended for their own show. In other words, there would be no "R2" in the title and the second season would have begun in a different manner, and thus perhaps with less changes and less pandering overall.
Trying to tie this back into the main discussion for a little bit, I have to wonder if this isn't a relatively new phenomenon...but no, surely there must be a couple of relevant examples elsewhere as well, involving much older series. There are certainly many reasons a show can change from one season or one sequel to another, and admittedly not just time slots alone.
b)I would say that the increased commercialism and cheesecake served as unnecessary distractions, mostly for the worse in terms of how the series was executed on an episodic basis, but not to the extreme of reducing the show's central themes to rambling alone. Maybe it is just me, but re-watching some of the earlier R2 episodes with a relatively fresh memory of how the show actually ended produces some interesting results in this area, if certainly not optimal ones. I also think the "possibly xenophobic" aspect of Code Geass has been blown out of proportion from day one to date, but I admit it still became a concern in practice.
I'd posted this back in 2016, over ten years ago!
