8 replies to this topic

[Anjian]

Anime history goes all the way back, and how it turned out now, is very different from what it is long ago.

The first big animator and manga artist, and it was most likely from him that we got the doe eyed look of anime characters.

His works include ---
Astro Boy --- perhaps the first Shounen anime
Kimba the White Lion --- The Lion King seriously copied from this.
Princess Knight --- perhaps the first Shoujo anime and to feature a reverse trap (girl dressed up as a boy).

The first robot anime was Tetsujin Nijuhachi, or Iron Man 28. This was also among the first anime to be ever shown in the United States as Gigantor. But this didn't qualify as a true mecha anime until Mazinger Z in 1972.

The massive hit of Mazinger Z blasted off the mecha genre and placed Go Nagai into orbit. He would introduce more super robot anime, as well other non robot anime that would also become classics, like Devilman and Cutie Honey. The latter can be considered the first adult anime that was also a mahoushoujo anime and also featured the magical transformations.

Towards the end of the 70s and the beginnings of the '80s, mecha anime hit a peak with the first Gundam series and the first Macross, which combines the mecha and scifi undercurrents that was introduced by Space Battleship Yamato and Galaxy Express 999. The polar side of it was the blooming of girls or shoujo anime, leaving brothers and sisters compete for the TV sets and for the toy section.

Then out of the blue, in 1981, something hit the TV anime industry like a brick. Its long term influence would gradually tilt anime undercurrents to create the "modern" anime.



This anime scored so many firsts and introduced so new things to the industry.

Rumihiko Takahashi --- Becomes a manga megastar. She would later do Maison Ikkoku (the first "freeloader" format anime), Ranma 1/2 and Inuyasha.

Mamoru Oshii --- Director, later went on to do works like Ghost in the Shell.

Studio Pierrot --- The studio would later do projects like Bleach and Naruto.

Studio Deen --- Another new studio that would later do Ranma 1/2 and Fate Stay Night.

The show introduced, if not popularized, themes and tropes that would become common in anime.

The first harem anime.
The first anime to feature aliens --- in high school. Also introduced alien princesses as transfer students, and thereby the transfer student as an anime trope.
The first anime to feature a hot Waifu (Lum with her tiger skin bikinis).
The first anime to feature "-dares", including Tsundare, Yandare, and Kuudare. There has been previous anime where girl characters have tsundare characteristics, but none as clearly defined as Lum.
The first anime to show perverts in a large scale. The main hero is a pervert (Ataru).
The first anime to go into the weird is weirder.
The first anime to feature a trap (Nagisa) and reverse trap (Ryuunosuke).
The first anime to feature a stormtrooper club for the most idolized girl in high school (Lum of course).
The first anime to have geek gets girl (Ataru and Lum).
The first anime to have a heroine use foreign colloquialisms to highlight their foreign origins. (Lum always using the word "Darling!")
The first anime to feature childhood fiances and fiancees coming out of the woodwork.
The first anime to popularize a large ensemble of weird and weirder characters.
The first anime to feature a classroom for failures.

Overall, probably the first true anime for weebs. Its hard to imagine, but indeed, that many modern anime tropes started over 30 years ago. Since then, the mecha and magic girl anime have faded into niche, while the spiritual descendants of Urusei Yatsura turned mainstream.

[Davegt27]

speed racer

[Metus regem]

Gundam, THE anime that made the giant robots a thing... Also it is to the Japanese what Star Wars is to the west....

[MarineTech]

Where's Akira? I don't see Akira on that list.

[Metus regem]

MarineTech, on 06 March 2017 - 09:46 AM, said:

Where's Akira? I don't see Akira on that list.

Bah Akira was so over rated.... I actually feel asleep watching it....

[Anjian]

Metus regem, on 06 March 2017 - 09:55 AM, said:

Bah Akira was so over rated.... I actually feel asleep watching it....

Akira had very little influence in anime in general other than GiTS.

Gundam's inlfuence on anime has waned over the years because it stuck to a formula too long and wasn't creative. Just like the super robot era that began with Mazinger Z. The giant mecha eras can be divided into three parts:

1. Mazinger Z, the Go Nagai robots like UFO Grandizer, Getta Robot and Great Mazinga.
2. SF meets Giant Robots --- this one has a strong space elements. The marking posts here is the original Gundam series and the first Macross series.

And the third era?

Began with this.



Which had a much greater effect on mecha anime from then on, and which we can call the post-Gundam era.

Evangelion took the mecha anime into the next level --- in art, story telling, in metaphysics, where mecha were literally fighting "angels", a metaphor for science vs. religion.

Edited by Anjian, 06 March 2017 - 10:35 PM.

[Anjian]

But regardless, the Weird High School predominated.

Sunrise tried to mesh the Weird High School with Mecha and an inspiration from Death Note --- also another weird high school series, with this.



But nothing beats Weird High Schools, and you tend to have a bunch of them every anime season.

One of the best Weird High School shows ever.


And this one was quite a popular one.



If anything proves that Waifu > Mecha for the Weeb's heart.

Edited by Anjian, 06 March 2017 - 10:33 PM.

[TWIAFU]

Tranzor Z









Star Blazers, Silver Hawks, Big-O, and soooo many others.....

[Mister Blastman]

Metus regem, on 06 March 2017 - 09:55 AM, said:

Bah Akira was so over rated.... I actually feel asleep watching it....

I fell asleep every damn time I tried watching it. Akira is awful.

TWIAFU, on 07 March 2017 - 04:00 AM, said:

Tranzor Z









Star Blazers, Silver Hawks, Big-O, and soooo many others.....