bigotry of low expectations 
really? it seems like we're nearly incapable of doing anything else over here.
let's talk about haruhi suzumiya in particular, then. the world and "lore" are extremely underdeveloped. this is not a Dwarf Fortress situation -- i would be surprised if Tanigawa sits down to write more than once a month or so. the latest light novel was released in 2020. in the Afterword, Tanigawa writes:
he reproduces the following quote:
he continues:
...before talking about how he came up with one of the stories while taking a bath and another from a random shower thought. he makes it clear that there is no overarching plot and that he did not plan out anything in advance. it is a slice of life with sci-fi elements, and Tanigawa is probably NEETing it up all day -- that's why it's been 4 years since the last novel.
there is absolutely no incentive for him to conclude "the story" because there isn't even really a story to begin with. The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (the movie) gives us a glimpse of what Haruhi could be if taken seriously by its author.
i have a feeling that ToAru is the same way, despite being slightly more plot-driven. as is Monogatari. as is Re:Zero.
did you know that Zero no Tsukaima only concluded because the author fucking died?
this is not an uncommon thing. i only know this because Zero no Tsukaima was one of the only harem-romance anime series that wasn't based on a visual novel (e.g., Clannad) that i watched (along with the similar Toradora) that provided closure. but canonically there was no closure.
all of these authors, with their freedom, are choosing to NEET it up until they die. the story arcs are quaint little things they come up with while taking a geriatric NEET bath. i have some hope for nishio ishin because of Katanagatari, which had an extremely bold and unusual ending for anime/LNs. he's also relatively young, although it seems like a lot of japanese people randomly die young due to Weak Body Disease.
"humans" as a whole are into tiktok and disney star wars.
i watched seasonal anime for years because i was addicted to /a/. i forced myself to stop because i felt like my experience as a human was being impoverished by my poor media diet, which consisted largely of throwaway harem series where you pick "best girl" and then watch as none of the girls "win" in the end because that would actually end the series conclusively. occupying yourself with the entire history of media rather than social-media-media is universally superior regardless of the medium.
mhmm
i am lamenting, because i slowly lost interest in following seasonal anime over time. i simply do not feel that my time is best spent with this medium anymore. i'm much more interested in visual novels and other things. i would be happy to change my ways and realize that actually, anime is in a Renaissance era and i'm missing out on this by not picking 4 random series to follow every season. but i don't think that what i want is what mass audiences want, and people in the industry who want to tell stories like Gen Urobuchi are not normal.
