Is this really true? When you look at the best-selling anime series ever, you see Madoka, you see Haruhi, you see Monogatari. Which wish-fulfillment harem anime matches up there? The only one that comes even close to being best-selling in that category is Urusei Yatsura, which is 40 years old at this point. Your viewpoint of what anime fans like seems to be tied up in some sort of grievance over the fact that they don't like what you like.
It's not as if the early parts of Haruhi are as "deep" as Disappearance, or some of the later novels. A world where the average consumer wants serious art is a world where Haruhi is never even made. Obviously you could say the current state of Japanese art isn't perfect, but it's an extraordinarily good state regardless.
Both of these series have accomplished what the author set out to do-- they're not held back by a "lack of direction", you think they're held back because they don't have the direction that you want them to have. These are fundamentally episodic stories, it's like saying Doctor Who should have an ending wrapping up all the moving parts in it; just an absurd idea.
Yes, because these are fundamentally different works. What the fuck does this even mean? You couldn't make a Haruhi analogue of the K-On! movie, is the former worse than the latter?
I'm calling it "western" instead of "European + American". Can you read? Are you trolling, or are you just retarded?
