7 Things 1990s Anime Fans Would Never Understand About 2025

Fans who grew up with anime in the 1990s might fondly remember the early days of the hobby, but they’d be astonished by how much anime and its community have grown worldwide. In 2025, the experience would be completely different – with instant access to almost any anime you could imagine. The ability to stream shows, with subtitles or dubbing in many languages, would be incredible, especially compared to the old days of expensive VHS tapes or fan-made translations that took weeks to arrive.

Anime conventions have grown enormously from the small gatherings in hotel ballrooms of the 1990s into huge, international events worth millions of dollars. Here’s a look at the biggest differences that would surprise a fan from that era if they attended a convention today.

7. The Seasonal Anime Conveyor Belt

Do you remember the 1990s, when new anime releases were rare and each one felt special? People would watch the same episodes over and over again until their tapes wore out. Now, in 2025, a new show comes out almost every half hour. It feels like studios are more focused on filling time slots than creating original content. While a fan of older shows like Cowboy Bebop might be discussing its themes, a modern viewer is likely already watching something completely different, like That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Romantic Comedy Dungeon Slime.

6. The Teehee Energy That Defines Today’s Fans

Anime has always hinted at attraction and desire. Classic shows like Tenchi Muyo, Ranma, and Bubblegum Crisis had characters who were playfully alluring, with a slightly rebellious edge – a secret understood by dedicated fans. But today, that subtlety is largely gone. Modern anime often presents sensuality in a very obvious and manufactured way – what some might call “teehee” culture. While characters are designed to be visually appealing, the captivating mystery of the past has been replaced with exaggerated humor, constant fan service, and jokes that feel like they’re commenting on attraction rather than creating it. Desire has become simply something to be shown off, and it’s become difficult to find anything genuine.

5. Merch Is Now the Anime

I remember a time when we watched anime because we genuinely loved the characters and then searched for any merchandise we could find, usually tucked away in the back of a crowded convention. But things have really flipped. Now, it feels like anime is made to sell merchandise that’s already been designed and proven popular. I’ve seen shows get the go-ahead simply because a test figurine did well on TikTok! It’s not just a consequence of the industry anymore – it’s how things start now. It’s wild to think about how different it is from when people bought LaserDisc box sets just to support the animation studios themselves.

4. Anime Is Mainstream — And It Kinda Sucks

Back in the 1990s, being an anime fan was unusual and set you apart. But by 2025, anime is mainstream. It’s widely available, hugely profitable, and you see it on everything. As anime became popular around the world, it had to become more appealing to a wider audience, which meant losing some of its unique and edgy qualities. Shows like Serial Experiments Lain, Perfect Blue, and End of Evangelion were known for being experimental, unsettling, and ambitious – qualities that don’t necessarily translate into popular merchandise. When entertainment is so easily accessible, it can lose its special feeling.

3. CGI Anime Abominations

It began subtly, with a few 3D tanks and mechs appearing in animation. Initially, people dismissed it as experimentation. But then, things quickly changed, and we ended up with strangely realistic anime characters and fight scenes that look like they’re from an old PlayStation 2 game. If someone who grew up with anime in the 1990s saw the 2016 version of Berserk today, they’d be shocked – they might even have started a protest movement!

2. Isekai Anime on Infinite Loop

The same story keeps repeating itself, consuming the genre. A character dies, is reborn with powers, gathers companions, and the cycle starts again—hundreds of times. While the possibilities of countless worlds exist, these stories feel increasingly limited. Isekai isn’t a bad idea in itself; at its core, it taps into our desire for a fresh start. However, the genre has stopped exploring that desire and now simply repeats the same formula. Longtime fans notice the lack of originality, while a sense of weariness underlies the trend. The popularity of isekai seems to reflect a generation quietly struggling with life, wishing for a reset. But instead of delving into this feeling with nuance or boldness, the anime industry has turned it into a predictable, mass-produced product.

1. People Watch Anime on Phones, Vertically

This is a horror H.P. Lovecraft never imagined. Picture a dedicated fan in the 90s, carefully connecting cables and tweaking settings to get the perfect picture on their old-fashioned TV. Now, fast forward to 2025: people are watching shows like Vinland Saga vertically on their phones while cooking, and even worse, they’re watching videos of other people reacting to the show. The thought of beautiful, carefully crafted animation being reduced to tiny, cropped clips is heartbreaking for anyone who remembers a time before this. We used to complain about the blurry quality of VHS tapes, but now we actually like the way algorithms compress videos. An entire generation might only experience masterpieces like Spirited Away through short phone clips and think that’s all there is to the film.

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2025-11-28 22:11