Warning: our anime club's 'best fight scene' vote got completely derailed by recency bias

At our local library meetup in Springfield last month, we tried to pick the top 5 anime fights of all time. The problem was, over half the group had only seen shows from the last 3 years. They kept nominating flashy new CGI sequences while dismissing classics like the final battle in 'Cowboy Bebop' or the forest duel in 'Rurouni Kenshin'. I had to step in and suggest we make two separate lists, one pre-2010 and one after, to give older animation its due. It caused a bit of a stir, but it felt like the only fair way to handle it. Has your group ever had to set ground rules to keep newer fans from overlooking the classics?

2 comments

2 Comments

taylorcarr8d ago

Actually, recency bias can work both ways. Some older fights haven't aged well technically, while newer animation often brings fresh ideas to the table.

the_seth8d ago

But that's exactly why we need both lists, right? Like @taylorcarr has a point that some new fights are amazing, but can we really say a Demon Slayer episode has more weight than Spike vs. Vicious? The older stuff built the language. Without seeing Goku vs. Frieza or the raw emotion in the Kenshin trust and betrayal fights, how do you even judge what makes a fight good now? Shouldn't the ground rule be that you have to watch a few classics before you get to vote?