stuff like Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, Monster, Claymore, and Berserk is becoming fewer and fewer these days. Seriously, let's step away from companies cracking down on fansubbers or scanlators (and before anyone starts something about that I have two words for you: SHUT UP) and focus on the actual quality of the work coming out of Japan.
To be frank, anime is in a rut right. The only series I've gotten into in the past few years is Guin Saga because I couldn't stomach all the godawful, uninspired, and outright boring crap clogging up the airwaves. Even a lot of manga right now kinda sucks. Stuff like Death Note (an insecure, juvenile attempt at a psychological thriller) and Naruto (lost direction a LOOOOOONG time ago) is just outright boring or frustrating to read due to awful, pretentious writing and clunky plot progression and devices. I don't even know whether I should blame the editors or the writers as the manga industry is infamous for editors basically forcing writers to do things they never intended to. I can see where Sato is coming from in saying that anime could die out if the industry keeps up these cannibalistic trends that aren't working and the fandoms who keep buying lowest common denominator junk like moe harem crap based on light novels.
