Some of it comes down to taste certainly but I stil think theres an argument to be made that the kind of cutting edge stuff that was allowed to make it into the mainstream in Japan at that time represents distinctly identifiable period (if peak is too strong a word because $ and volume of output has gone up as you point out.) kind of like how in the us were seeing articles asking why hollywood made The Matrix in 99 and a million comic sequels today, Japan bloggers are wondering why One Peice and Idol groups dominate?