I actually have pretty similar feelings to Dom on this point. I always felt the best way to address the issue of young vs old Force ghost Anakin is to not have Anakin as a Force ghost at all. I’m not saying Anakin should never become one, but maybe Anakin could have learned in time, like Qui-Gon apparently did.

So even if we saw Anakin in IX, it wouldn’t necessarily contradict it. Anakin has had time to learn how to manifest himself, like Qui-Gon, since he never learned how when he was alive. Plus, we didn’t see Anakin’s body disappear, like Yoda, Obi-Wan, or Luke.

And I guess you could make an argument about him being the Chosen One, or the netherworld of the Force being beyond the boundaries of time, but still. It apparently took time for Qui-Gon to learn how to do it, but I guess you could argue that once he figured it out he just had to pass that information on to the others. And maybe Qui-Gon had learned how to become a Force ghost quickly, but the “shroud of the dark side” during the rise of Sidious and the Clone Wars was like a barrier that prevented him from making contact, and it wasn’t until some great disturbance in the Force, like the Jedi Purge, that allowed him to pass through that veil. It’s a lot of speculation.

You could even say Anakin spent eons floating around in the netherworld before he learned how to manifest himself, but it was merely an instant in our own reality.

I guess it might boil down to if it felt like Anakin earned it. Yes, I think he was able to find forgiveness, and forgive himself, which allowed for him to move on, similar to Luke. On the other hand, after being evil for so long, you do wonder if he could have spent some time floating in the netherworld as penance before being able to manifest himself.