GamerBraves Newsletter vol. 51 – The “It’s Too Anime” Argument And Why It Doesn’t Work

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 will be gracing the Switch at the end of this month. While many wait in anticipation, many players also have one interesting concern on their minds: will it be “too anime”.

It’s a criticism that I’ve personally seen circulate through a lot of discussion about Japanese IPs like Fire Emblem, Shin Megami Tensei, Street Fighter, Tekken, Guilty Gear, and many others. Every time there’s a new entry into a classic Japanese franchise, it always seems to be “too anime” compared to the earlier titles.

The argument has been heavily used against Xenoblade Chronicles 2 in comparison to the first Xenoblade due to it having things like more blatant fanservice, a more shounen hero, and a more “generic” art style and people are worried 3 will be the same. But is this complaint really valid, are these games getting too anime?

In fact, what do people mean by “too anime”? It seems to be primarily the stereotypes most associated with anime, primarily, shounen tropes like heroes screaming about friendship and dreams, fancy power-ups, and a lot of fanservice. If you’d like to know more about our answer though, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read it for free by putting your email address in the box below:

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