If it's not that, then they're crappy character designers. Choose one. It's an uninteresting by the numbers look.
Uninteresting and crappy in
your opinion.
Nobody said it was all perfect in the '80s. The '90s just had a higher degree of ugly art, and the '00s was another step down into shitty sameness.
You sure as hell seem to act like it.
*Skims through tl;dr article*
Make sure to read that article when you get the chance.
Decline! Going off that picture, '80s moe was best, and the least moe.
I also skimmed to the bottom for a look at the shows the author thinks are great. The majority of them are the types of shows that pushed me away from anime in the first place and why I have only watched three new (to me) series in nine years.
Most anime now is...
Small, upturned noses
Slender, concave jaws
Pointed chins
Shapeless lips (probably just a single line)
Big, hollow eyes (possibly with white spots in the centers)
Lanky or child-like bodies
The pupils of the moe girl above became bigger and then smaller but are still now bigger than the 1980s girl. Her jaw became pointier and then gentler but still didn't return to the more pleasing rounded shape of the '80s girl. The shades were were reduced or disappeared. Although the image is pretty small and I can't tell for sure, it seems like her lips were simplified. Her nose was turned from a triangle into a dot. 2010s girl should also ask '80 girl for her hair brush. The '90s one is the ugliest of them all.
Every decade goes through a different trend. This is nothing new. There really isn't much of a decline, that's the entire point of that article. Which is why I recommend you read it. Unless all you're looking through is moe blobby bullcrap, you'll find a lot of those, but they're still plenty of anime does their own unique thing, art style wise at least. Like I said before, you're just going to have to put in the extra effort. There is a lot of anime out there. I won't be watching all of it. I only watch what I find interesting or appeals to me. It's no different from how it was back in the '80s, '90s, or the 2000s. It's no different from how I was when I started getting into this stuff. There is anime I never liked, never got invested in, or only watch wants to never see it again because I didn't like it.
It's why I like Trigger so much. They at least do something to stand out and they have their own form of character designs I actually like. They didn't save anime either. Unfortunately, you still get some people that exaggerate it, but it's not like how it was back in the mid 2010s.
