Why is there less action anime every season?


Why aren't there anime like _Ninja Scroll_ anymore? Anime like _Attack on
Titan_ or _One Punch Man_ came out and they were huge hits. But then each
season, anime studios do more romance and slice of life animes. With shows
like _Bleach_ , _Naruto_ and _One Piece_ , why are studios so hesitant to make
an action anime series?




Looking at the MAL Lists for 2017 by their definition of action genre:

  * [Winter](https://myanimelist.net/anime/season/2017/winter) 49 of 243 anime released were action genre (20.1%). 
  * [Spring](https://myanimelist.net/anime/season/2017/spring) was 43 of 237 (18.1%). 
  * [Summer](https://myanimelist.net/anime/season/2017/summer) was 37 of 249 (14.9%). 
  * [Fall](https://myanimelist.net/anime/season) is 36 of 206 (17.5%).

2016

  * [Winter](https://myanimelist.net/anime/season/2016/winter) was 52 of 252 (20.1)%.
  * [Spring](https://myanimelist.net/anime/season/2016/spring) was 51 of 235 (21.7%).
  * [Summer](https://myanimelist.net/anime/season/2016/summer) was 56 of 241 (23.2%).
  * [Fall](https://myanimelist.net/anime/season/2016/fall) was 61 of 278 (21.9%).

2015

  * [Winter](https://myanimelist.net/anime/season/2015/winter) was 58 of 227 (25.6%).
  * [Spring](https://myanimelist.net/anime/season/2015/spring) was 55 of 222 (24.7%).
  * [Summer](https://myanimelist.net/anime/season/2015/summer) was 54 of 249 (21.6%).
  * [Fall](https://myanimelist.net/anime/season/2015/fall) was 64 of 265 (24.2%).

Lets jump to 2010

  * [Winter](https://myanimelist.net/anime/season/2010/winter) was 42 of 177 (23.7%).
  * [Spring](https://myanimelist.net/anime/season/2010/spring) was 37 of 171 (21.6%).
  * [Summer](https://myanimelist.net/anime/season/2010/summer) was 41 of 171 (24%).
  * [Fall](https://myanimelist.net/anime/season/2010/fall) was 50 of 181 (27.6%).

And another jump to 2005

  * [Winter](https://myanimelist.net/anime/season/2005/winter) was 24 of 138 (17.4%).
  * [Spring](https://myanimelist.net/anime/season/2005/spring) was 27 of 131 (20.6%).
  * [Summer](https://myanimelist.net/anime/season/2005/summer) was 34 of 147 (23.1%).
  * [Fall](https://myanimelist.net/anime/season/2005/fall) was 29 of 154 (18.8%).

Final jump to 2000

  * [Winter](https://myanimelist.net/anime/season/2000/winter) was 14 of 88 (15.6%).
  * [Spring](https://myanimelist.net/anime/season/2000/spring) was 15 of 87 (17.2%).
  * [Summer](https://myanimelist.net/anime/season/2000/summer) was 15 of 103 (14.6%).
  * [Fall](https://myanimelist.net/anime/season/2000/fall) was 21 of 107 (19.6%).

From looking at these lists - and I'm probably going to look into the time
between 2005 and 2015 in more detail when I'm not at work, it seems more like
we got an upsurge of about 5-10% in action anime that's either taken a slight
blip now, or has trended back towards year 2000 levels.

One of the main things to happen between 2000 and 2005 is the anime releases
of both Naruto and Bleach. Their take off and massive surge in popularity both
in the east and west could have sparked an anime boom in getting action manga
(and just action ideas) to production; however this is just conjecture without
sources to back this up.

It would be interesting to know if this was a trend followed when Dragonball
first went to anime too.

Just in general though, we've seen a large increase in the amount of anime
being released. When the most popular (and safest bet) action anime stems from
the adaptations of shows from Shonen Jump and other shonen manga, who only
have space for a certain number of different manga in their magazines, then it
would follow that an increase in total manga should see a decrease in the
percentage these manga adaptations take up.

If I get time I'll also look into whether I can find any stats on take-up of
anime outside of the "teenage boy" demographic, and look to the success of the
non-action genre releases (such as the stand out hits that came from the Slice
of Life genre).

