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>To Japanese millennials and zillenials, wartime defeat and economic triumph are both ancient history. Their futures are far less bright, marked by threats of r

>To Japanese millennials and zillenials, wartime defeat and economic triumph are both ancient history. Their futures are far less bright, marked by threats of recession, political gridlock, and a hyper-aging society, not to mention the traumas of the covid era. They’re living through another apocalypse, of the socioeconomic variety. Is it any wonder that their animated dreams are more down to earth? Forget about anime, look at the YA movies in the last decade. Gone are the traditional awe-inspiring scifi, in are the post-apocalyptical dystopia where teenagers are being oppressed by old people and the teenagers have to overturn the old ruling class.

PuppyTailWags 3y ago
> the post-apocalyptical dystopia where teenagers are being oppressed by old people and the teenagers have to overturn the old ruling class I don't think this is a Last Decade thing... This describes Evangelion quite well, and evangelion is way older than a decade. Wolf's Rain is literally a bunch of teenagers (who are also wolves) remaking the world in the post apocalypse, also older than a decade. Arguably this is also full metal alchemist.
- kitsunesoba 3y ago
  It's definitely a long recurring theme, and will likely continue to be one as long as there are young people feeling frustrated and powerless to change the ossified broken systems they have to live with.
  - dylan604 3y ago
    >and will likely continue to be one as long as there are young people every generation feels this way. not sure why it needs the qualifier you attached. each generation has to have it's own ________. can't listen to the same music as the prior generation, as that's lame. can't use the same social platforms, because you're parents are on it. can't use the same lingo as that's not hip and gotta talk in ways they parental units won't understand
- screye 3y ago
  Which maps directly onto Japan's Lost Decade - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Decades https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Decades
- guardiangod 3y ago
  I am talking about the western society. In the 80s and 90s, you don't really see movies about an entire generation of teenagers being oppressed. The main characters are likely to be teenagers but most adventure stories have teenage main characters. In the 2000s, you started seeing popular sci-fi books (then movies in 2010s) like The Hunger Games and Maze Runner that depict teenagers as the opposed class. Personally I think the 2000 Japanese classic Battle Royale started it all.
  - mrguyorama 3y ago
    I disagree. "Adults are stupid and we have to fix everything for them, sometimes with them even working against us" is an old trope. It was common in the 90s, like with rugrats and pretty much every made for kids movie, but I'd argue it even goes back to movies like Goonies and matilda and Little Rascals. The mid 2000s dystopia fest in young adult stuff is just follow the leader with Hunger Games. The oppression is used not for it's own sake, but because its an easy excuse for your teens to be more "mature" and more in control of their own lives. It's escapism for teens who think parents "just don't get us"
    - toyg 3y ago
      Teenage rebellion goes back to James Dean, arguably, with baby-boomers reacting to a calcification of postwar societies they inherited. I think the difference now is that happy endings used to be the norm, whereas now they are not necessarily there, or the protagonists are pushed through such extreme losses that the win ends up looking pyrrhic. This might simply be a function of the amount of productions - in the history of mankind, we've never seen so many new stories circulating so widely on so many different media. Smart authors want to look different and "real", so they might veer dark more liberally than they used (or rather were allowed, by public and editors) to.
      - mrguyorama 3y ago
        I mean, we can look all the way back to romeo and juliet, where rebelious teens were being unfairly oppressed by adults who just don't get it and they have to figure things out for themselves and in the end everyone dies.
- KRAKRISMOTT 3y ago
  I thought Evangelion was about biblical themed panspermia robots and exoskeletons?
  - cthalupa 3y ago
    Evangelion is Anno deconstructing the insanity that was the mecha anime genre of teenagers being forced to go to war and become killing machines with little to no impact on their mental health, showing his general distaste for the "otaku" lifestyle, and also using it as an outlet for his own struggles with depression. The biblical stuff was added just because they thought it looked cool.
yamtaddle 3y ago
> Gone are the traditional awe-inspiring scifi, in are the post-apocalyptical dystopia where teenagers are being oppressed by old people and the teenagers have to overturn the old ruling class. ... but enough about Fritz Lang's Metropolis
- pnathan 3y ago
  > Fritz Lang's Metropolis (produced 1927)
- perardi 3y ago
  …or Star Wars. Luke was supposed to be, I believe, 19 during A New Hope, which was a movie about young rebels throwing off the almost literal corpses running the Empire. (Same as it ever was…)
  - guardiangod 3y ago
    I think there's a difference between "the main cast are teenagers", vs "the entire opposed class are teenagers."
joemi 3y ago
A lot of the books that preceded the movies are from more than a decade ago. And there are even more YA books/movies that have themes of teens being oppressed from longer ago than that. As far as I'm aware, teens always feel oppressed, so a lot of media aimed at them is based on that, and always has been.
quink 3y ago
> Gone are the traditional awe-inspiring scifi, in are the post-apocalyptical dystopia where teenagers are being oppressed by old people and the teenagers have to overturn the old ruling class. There have been two Gundam series and two Gundam movies in the past year alone. Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Yamato and Macross have all had movies come out within the past two years. Just because they disappear within the flood of content doesn't mean that they don't exist. > the post-apocalyptical dystopia where teenagers are being oppressed by old people and the teenagers have to overturn the old ruling class. That is so hyper-specific that it applies to a tiny handful of shows, at most elements of which are indicative of trends. It probably applies to one show this season. There's 157 other things coming out this season according to MyAnimeList.
- hibikir 3y ago
  But what is The Witch of Mercury really about, other than some amazing mechas, which make for cheap, amazing looking merchandising? It's about a bunch of teenagers trying to live a good life in an apparently sensible high school/military academy, and having all kinds of positive dreams... while the reality is much different. Basically every parent is a manipulative monster. Everything that appears remotely positive gets crushed 2 episodes later. It's not a series about the wonders of the future. It's all about how the world is horrible, and no matter how much you want to pretend, the adult's horror has infected your world too. So even the the Gundam series you talked about is really about a dystopia where teenagers are turned into weapons by old people, and they will, predictably, have to overturn the old ruling class. Not that Gundam was ever all that optimistic: Good old Amuro was the poster boy for the disasters of war back in the very first series. The fact that there's cool robots is just sweetener for stories that are mostly about dealing with betrayal and despair. It's not quite Grave of the Fireflies, but it's not any less grim than, say, Evangelion.
  - quink 3y ago
    You're right, I don't know what he meant by "awe-inspiring scifi" in the first place. Like I put in my other comment: > "It’s also a lot bleaker than it was in Matsumoto’s heyday." is also something that can't be corroborated. Ashita no Joe predates it and it got dark and was the first really big serious anime. Gundam would follow it soon afterwards and that starts out with galactic war. Ideon anyone? Not that it's much better outside anime: > Basically every parent is a manipulative monster. Anakin Skywalker anyone? I'm just happy that the original Mangaka behind Planetes has recently stated his intention that he's intending to return to sci-fi after finishing Vinland Saga. It might not necessarily be optimistic, but it'll be worth following.

PuppyTailWags 3y ago

> the post-apocalyptical dystopia where teenagers are being oppressed by old people and the teenagers have to overturn the old ruling class I don't think this is a Last Decade thing... This describes Evangelion quite well, and evangelion is way older than a decade. Wolf's Rain is literally a bunch of teenagers (who are also wolves) remaking the world in the post apocalypse, also older than a decade. Arguably this is also full metal alchemist.

kitsunesoba 3y ago
It's definitely a long recurring theme, and will likely continue to be one as long as there are young people feeling frustrated and powerless to change the ossified broken systems they have to live with.
- dylan604 3y ago
  >and will likely continue to be one as long as there are young people every generation feels this way. not sure why it needs the qualifier you attached. each generation has to have it's own ________. can't listen to the same music as the prior generation, as that's lame. can't use the same social platforms, because you're parents are on it. can't use the same lingo as that's not hip and gotta talk in ways they parental units won't understand
screye 3y ago
Which maps directly onto Japan's Lost Decade - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Decades https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Decades
guardiangod 3y ago
I am talking about the western society. In the 80s and 90s, you don't really see movies about an entire generation of teenagers being oppressed. The main characters are likely to be teenagers but most adventure stories have teenage main characters. In the 2000s, you started seeing popular sci-fi books (then movies in 2010s) like The Hunger Games and Maze Runner that depict teenagers as the opposed class. Personally I think the 2000 Japanese classic Battle Royale started it all.
- mrguyorama 3y ago
  I disagree. "Adults are stupid and we have to fix everything for them, sometimes with them even working against us" is an old trope. It was common in the 90s, like with rugrats and pretty much every made for kids movie, but I'd argue it even goes back to movies like Goonies and matilda and Little Rascals. The mid 2000s dystopia fest in young adult stuff is just follow the leader with Hunger Games. The oppression is used not for it's own sake, but because its an easy excuse for your teens to be more "mature" and more in control of their own lives. It's escapism for teens who think parents "just don't get us"
  - toyg 3y ago
    Teenage rebellion goes back to James Dean, arguably, with baby-boomers reacting to a calcification of postwar societies they inherited. I think the difference now is that happy endings used to be the norm, whereas now they are not necessarily there, or the protagonists are pushed through such extreme losses that the win ends up looking pyrrhic. This might simply be a function of the amount of productions - in the history of mankind, we've never seen so many new stories circulating so widely on so many different media. Smart authors want to look different and "real", so they might veer dark more liberally than they used (or rather were allowed, by public and editors) to.
    - mrguyorama 3y ago
      I mean, we can look all the way back to romeo and juliet, where rebelious teens were being unfairly oppressed by adults who just don't get it and they have to figure things out for themselves and in the end everyone dies.
KRAKRISMOTT 3y ago
I thought Evangelion was about biblical themed panspermia robots and exoskeletons?
- cthalupa 3y ago
  Evangelion is Anno deconstructing the insanity that was the mecha anime genre of teenagers being forced to go to war and become killing machines with little to no impact on their mental health, showing his general distaste for the "otaku" lifestyle, and also using it as an outlet for his own struggles with depression. The biblical stuff was added just because they thought it looked cool.

yamtaddle 3y ago

pnathan 3y ago
> Fritz Lang's Metropolis (produced 1927)
perardi 3y ago
…or Star Wars. Luke was supposed to be, I believe, 19 during A New Hope, which was a movie about young rebels throwing off the almost literal corpses running the Empire. (Same as it ever was…)
- guardiangod 3y ago
  I think there's a difference between "the main cast are teenagers", vs "the entire opposed class are teenagers."

joemi 3y ago

A lot of the books that preceded the movies are from more than a decade ago. And there are even more YA books/movies that have themes of teens being oppressed from longer ago than that. As far as I'm aware, teens always feel oppressed, so a lot of media aimed at them is based on that, and always has been.

quink 3y ago

> Gone are the traditional awe-inspiring scifi, in are the post-apocalyptical dystopia where teenagers are being oppressed by old people and the teenagers have to overturn the old ruling class. There have been two Gundam series and two Gundam movies in the past year alone. Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Yamato and Macross have all had movies come out within the past two years. Just because they disappear within the flood of content doesn't mean that they don't exist. > the post-apocalyptical dystopia where teenagers are being oppressed by old people and the teenagers have to overturn the old ruling class. That is so hyper-specific that it applies to a tiny handful of shows, at most elements of which are indicative of trends. It probably applies to one show this season. There's 157 other things coming out this season according to MyAnimeList.

hibikir 3y ago
But what is The Witch of Mercury really about, other than some amazing mechas, which make for cheap, amazing looking merchandising? It's about a bunch of teenagers trying to live a good life in an apparently sensible high school/military academy, and having all kinds of positive dreams... while the reality is much different. Basically every parent is a manipulative monster. Everything that appears remotely positive gets crushed 2 episodes later. It's not a series about the wonders of the future. It's all about how the world is horrible, and no matter how much you want to pretend, the adult's horror has infected your world too. So even the the Gundam series you talked about is really about a dystopia where teenagers are turned into weapons by old people, and they will, predictably, have to overturn the old ruling class. Not that Gundam was ever all that optimistic: Good old Amuro was the poster boy for the disasters of war back in the very first series. The fact that there's cool robots is just sweetener for stories that are mostly about dealing with betrayal and despair. It's not quite Grave of the Fireflies, but it's not any less grim than, say, Evangelion.
- quink 3y ago
  You're right, I don't know what he meant by "awe-inspiring scifi" in the first place. Like I put in my other comment: > "It’s also a lot bleaker than it was in Matsumoto’s heyday." is also something that can't be corroborated. Ashita no Joe predates it and it got dark and was the first really big serious anime. Gundam would follow it soon afterwards and that starts out with galactic war. Ideon anyone? Not that it's much better outside anime: > Basically every parent is a manipulative monster. Anakin Skywalker anyone? I'm just happy that the original Mangaka behind Planetes has recently stated his intention that he's intending to return to sci-fi after finishing Vinland Saga. It might not necessarily be optimistic, but it'll be worth following.