Yet another really stupid argument I see that is largely perpetrated by the latter of the argument. There are plenty of classic anime, what people would consider before the 2000s, that are amazing and well worth the watch, however, much like with subs vs dubs, some people take it too far. Much like with the argument of some subs are bad so all are, falls into the discussion of modern anime. I've found a good amount of modern animes that I very much enjoy for a variety of reasons, but there's an over generalized opinion of them.
Let's get the biggest offender out of the way first...fanservice. Fanservice is not a new thing to anime and has been around for quite a while as you can't tell me that some magical girl animes aren't a little fanservicey in their uniforms. Now, while I will concede the fact that fanservice has become a lot more prevalent in modern anime, it's not in all of them. There are a ton of anime that don't have, or have extremely little of what people would count as fanservice (namely referring to anime girls) and are still popular. Black Butler has one seen where we get to see a girl in a swimsuit and the cast trying to attract Sebastian's attentions using Mai Rin, which is considerably tame considering. I'm not sure if there's any fanservice in Attack on Titan (have no interest in watching) but I'd be surprised if there was. Fullmetal Alchemist (both) have no seens that would be considered fanservice and has probably one of the most badass female characters in Riza Hawkeye. There's so many more that follow this line to prove the point.
However, there's also something to be said about all fanservice being pointless. My best example is in My Dress-Up Darling which, honestly, doesn't really have that many fanservicey scenes. Episode 2 does feature Marin in a bikini, however, she did that so that Goju could take her measurements for her cosplay. Her being in her bikini does add to the plot as she knew it would make it easier than her regular clothes and helps give us more about her character has someone who doesn't mind pulling out all the stops to get what she wants.
Now...let's talked a bit about fanservice targeted at girls. Anime boys tend to fall under two groups; ugly as sin or handsome. There is no in between. Every anime boy that is supposed to be loved has nice hair, eyes, smile and voice along with being fit if not well-built. Girl can pretend that they're above staring but they do the same thing guys will when presented with the right medium. And yaoi anime fans are incredibly guilty of this and almost feral about their series as a whole. When people usually talk about fanservice, they don't seem to count the bits targeted at girls as fanservice. Yeah, it might be less common, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist or that it doesn't fall under the notes I'll make on it.
Fanservice can be relevant to plot and even if it's not 100% relevant, it doesn't make it bad. Now, there is a point where it becomes fanservice over plot which I definitely see as an issue, but that encompasses a certain section of titles. This is the biggest over-generalization I've found.
Now...on to some people's feelings that modern anime is too generic. I will admit that the character designs often do feel similar, but you can say that about people as well. Not every character needs to look super unique for them to be interesting. It's happened a lot in recent American cartoons where cartoons like Star vs the Forces of Evil and Amazing World of Gumball have pretty much the same head shape, not only in the shows, but to each other. And on the subject of the body types being unrealistic; one, there are all sorts of different people in the world so shut up with that, two, male body types in anime aren't always easily attainable either, and three, those who say that are immediately under the assumption that a person watching anime can't distinguish between a character design they like and real life (which I admit can happen). Design does NOT make anything good or bad alone.
On to the how generic the plots feel...almost every magical girl anime has basically the same feeling as each other, classic or modern. Now, this is not to say that there aren't generic plot lines, but what really determines generic plot? A lot of movies and TV have the same basic plot if you really look at them, so does that mean that all TV and movies are bad? It's about what you do with the plot that makes it interesting more than the actual plot. I see this with tropes and cliches as well, but I'm saving another part to talk about those more on a broader scale.
There is no such thing as a truly original idea anymore, and that's something that's hard to learn and accept. Everything is some extension of another greater thing, but what makes us forgive that is how the standard plot, characters and tropes are twisted to be more of their own thing. To say that classic anime doesn't do it too, is just a touch ignorant even if it doesn't do it as often (which is a good thing).
Regardless, this whole putting down and dismissing modern anime as generic and fanservicey and the people who watch it are basement-dwellers is stupid. It doesn't make you more superior to think like this, and makes you a problem. You are annoying and stupid for basically saying "The new stuff isn't like the old stuff, and because I won't look for the good in the bad means it's all bad and anyone who likes it is stupid and should know they're stupid." It's possible to not like something and let other people enjoy it. There's no need for a purist attitude.
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