>>536812020
I think a lot of it is console-war bias, subconsciously maybe. They find it absurd that the console or PC they spent hundreds on, and the game they spent $60+ on is being outdone by gachaslop. What they don't understand is that mobile devices have simply gotten more powerful. You can run the first Naruto game on them now.
They are never going to beat actual AAA games in graphical and technical quality (compare the difference in inner-lines between the models in SZ and DBL for example) , nor can they compete with all the fancy bells and whistles next-gen games offer, but in terms of art direction, modern anime games have completely stagnated, especially since CC2 and Arc system works did/do all the heavy lifting. Simply not making the environment look like a shitty unreal tech demo, for example, goes a long way.
I also think a lot of it has to do with the fact that anime games making visuals a priority is a relatively recent thing, (I think FighterZ kinda popularized it), and it took off around the same time gacha games took off. Studios that have been making anime games for Bandai for decades have only recently been trying to compensate, Spike for instance hadn't tried making a good looking anime game since the Raging Blast series and then for whatever reason decided to base their huge arena fighter off of the new, experimental art style that's only been used twice and is made specifically to be bouncy and expressive.