There are many genres of anime that get done to death. These genres are not inherently bad and have produced several classics, but these genres do seem overrepresented while other genres (mecha, space opera) are underrepresented. Here are five omnipresent genres that are starting to wear out their welcome.
5. High Fantasy
Anime and high fantasy have gone hand in hand for a long time. During the VHS era anime boom, titles like Slayers and Record of Lodoss War were all the rage. Now, it seems like fantasy titles are omnipresent. Now granted most of these fantasy titles like Frieren, Witch Hat Atelier, and Delicious in Dungeon are bona fide classics. The lack of very much in the way of bad titles in this genre keeps it low on this list. Fantasy anime are usually great. It’s that science fiction, especially space opera, seems ignored as a genre.
4. Romcoms
Romcoms have flooded the market. This current anime season features Rent-a-Girlfriend season 4, season 2 of The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really Love You, I’m Getting Married to a Girl I Hate in My Class, Gals Can’t be Kind to Otaku, The Klutzy Class Monitor and the Girl with the Short Skirt, The Warrior Princess and the Barbaric King, Mistress Kanan is Devilishly Easy, The Ramparts of Ice, and You and I are Polar Opposites. Whew, that’s a lot of romcoms. To be fair, a major appeal of anime is that it engages in genres rare in Western animation as Western romcom cartoons are incredibly rare. When anime romcoms are done well, they can be a blast to watch on a date. Romcom anime like Fruits Basket and Ouran High School Host Club were landmark titles that proved that anime is more than just battle shonen. The issue with romcom anime is just separating the wheat from the chaff and doing the research to find out which of the bajillions of romcom anime are actually good. The reason romcoms are only at number 4 is because this is a beloved genre, just one with so many titles of varying quality of which it’s hard to keep track.
3. Supernatural Horror-Themed Battle Shonen
Yu Yu Hakusho is the granddaddy of battle shonen themed around spirits, the supernatural and creepy things like that. It, and its ahem “spiritual” successor Bleach have been the blueprint for the entire subgenre of battle shonen. Now, we have tons of titles about teenagers fighting ghosts, ghouls, demons, whatever. Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man, Dan Da Dan and many more series have this theme. These series are able to at least have enough of their own identity to be good, but many clunkers like Tougen Anki and Dead Account exist. Black Torch seems to be yet another title centered around teenagers vs. spooky demons. Will it be the next Jujutsu Kaisen or the next Dead Account? Who knows. It would be cool if we can have battle shonen where teenagers with attitude fight something else besides ghouls and goblins for once.
2. Wacky Spies/Assassins in Shonen
SpyXFamily seems to be a trend starter. Ever since this wacky season about a spy and an assassin having a fake marriage became a huge hit, wacky spies and assassins have been done over and over and over. Sakamoto Days featured a former assassin attempting to retire to be a convenience store worker, but his old work forces him to action as he uses convenience store goods to fight evil assassins. Mission Yozakura Family is about a teenage boy who gets married to a girl who is in a family of spies. This current anime season, we have two anime about wacky assassins, Marriagetoxin is about an assassin working with a relationship coach who happens to be a crossdressing man (voiced by Brittney Karbowski in the English dub) in order to get married. Kill Blue is about a middle aged assassin who turns into a teenage boy and has to go back to high school while fighting evil assassins. There are lots of wacky twists in this genre, but it feels like we are getting diminishing returns from what SpyXFamily started as Marriagetoxin and Kill Blue do not look like they are repeating the massive success of SpyXFamily. Genre fatigue is starting to settle in. At least spies and assassins are less overused than ninjas or whatever, but maybe we need battle shonen about a less overexposed character archetype.
1. Isekai
Okay, everyone saw the number one item on this list a mile away. Isekai has been the most overexposed thing ever. We’ve seen characters reincarnate into literally everything, including a vending machine, as this season continues the vending machine isekai anime with the really long title. We know the usual formula, loser male protagonist (unless its a romance game villainess iskeai, an overused cliche in its own right) gets run over with a truck, he reincarnates with a “cheat skill” and becomes omnipotent, and gets a harem. There are a bajillion of these that come out every season and they are super brainless. There are some isekai titles that stand out, as this season has the two isekai even isekai haters recognize as good in Re:Zero and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime.
Nevertheless, the “good isekai” titles like Re:Zero and Konosuba are beloved as an isekai titles for subverting in the former’s case and parodying in the latter’s case, the conventions of the isekai genre. Jobless Reincarnation is another isekai that is well liked for bucking a few isekai-isms. Most traditional isekai anime are the bane of professional anime reviewers existence. There is an audience for traditional isekai, but there is a reason that this is the most divisive anime genre of all time. There is a reason isekai is number one on this list.
So what anime genres have you feeling burnt out, becuase they’re overdone? Leave a comment below!
