Are there any classic anime fans?

[Chris Wood]

Looking at the favorite anime thread, I noticed almost no one listed anything made before 1990. Is anything older than that considered a taboo? Although I like some of the recent series like Cowboy Bebop as well, I think a lot (if not most) of anime's all-time best series came out before 1990. Maybe it's just me.

Anyway, here's my list of favorite anime series:

Star Blazers (Uchu Senkan Yamato)
Robotech (Macross)
Cowboy Bebop
Speed Racer (Maha Go! Go! Go!)
Battle of the Planets (Gatchaman)
Outlaw Star
Lupin the 3rd (Rupan Sansei)
City Hunter
Dirty Pair
Yattaman
Gundam

[EmoKark]

I love anime classics like Gundam 0079

Ronin Warriors
Speed Racer
Cyborg 009
Harlock (or anything Leji related)
and many many others

[Zoddman]

Here, here! I love Tezuka, Matsumoto's universe, and Nagai's stuff. A lot of recent anime and manga seems derivative of older stuff lately.

[Zero Angel]

i am a big Go Nagai fan. Devil Man was one of my first animes and i love Mazinger Z as well as Getter Robo. i also love Nausicca of the Valley of Wind but the manga was much better in comparison. i also love Wings of Honneamise and Nadia from Gainex and throughly enjoy Project A-ko. i also used to watch Eagle Riders (another name for Gatchaman) on the tv when it was syndicated as well. DB is all right but i much prefer the Gundam and Macross material to it as far as dated material is concerned.

[Gary L Thompson]

Favorites of yesteryear:

Candy Candy (I swear if someone put this on the air in a good time slot, and didn't tell anyone it was made in 1976, it would still get great ratings. Possibly the best shojo of its type ever made.)
Catseyes
Three Musketeers (Monkey Punch version)
Mysterious Cities of Gold
Dirty Pair
Supergirl (AKA Maris the Chojo)
Urusei Yatsuru
Dragonball (not DBZ)
Nadia of the Mysterious Seas
All Purpose Cultural Catgirl
Project A-ko
Gunbuster
Galaxy Express 999 (movie)
Crimson Pig
Sherlock Hound
My Neighbor Totoro
Laputa
Astroboy
Eight Man
Gigantor
Kimba
Speed Racer
Robotech (I liked the New Generation AKA Mospeda crew the best.)
Voltron (Vehicle team was my favorite.)
Little Mermaid
Star Sheriff and the Saber Riders
Swiss Family Robinson
Jungle Book

[Jude Santos]

Mobile Suit Gundam is one of my favorites, and also Uresei Yatsura, speed Racer, Robotech and Voltron.

[JetMaster5]

Haven't seen Voltron or Robotech and I'm trying to get Uresei Yatsura. Only saw Speed Racer and MSG and they are one of my favorites, just not my favorite.

[Allen's Nickname.]

Speed Racer. By the way, why isn't SR on tv anymore?

[SSj2Gogeta]

Are u kidding ???? :eek:

I love Bebop and anything Gundam, especially Moble Suit.

[James]

Originally posted by Desslar

Battle of the Planets (Gatchaman)


Very much so. My website is listed in my sig devoted to Gatchaman/Battle Of The Planets. Both versions are fantastic for various different reasons. I like the adult nature of Gatchaman yet I like the innocence and prduction of BotP. The comparison between the two can be very interesting - especially as an examination of the difference in the definition of 'hero' between American and Japanese culture,

Hoyt Curtin's work on the latter is fantastic (not to mention some of Bob Sakuma's masterful score on the original).

A fan of the 94 remake too. That's one of my favourite DVDs...

[Allen's Nickname.]

Originally posted by SSj2Gogeta
Are u kidding ???? :eek:

I love Bebop and anything Gundam, especially Moble Suit.

Considering that Bebop was made in 1998, I don't really think it counts as classic animie.

[SSj2Gogeta]

In my book it does..... :mad:

[Chris Wood]

Originally posted by Zero Angel
i am a big Go Nagai fan. Devil Man was one of my first animes and i love Mazinger Z as well as Getter Robo. i also love Nausicca of the Valley of Wind but the manga was much better in comparison. i also love Wings of Honneamise and Nadia from Gainex and throughly enjoy Project A-ko. i also used to watch Eagle Riders (another name for Gatchaman) on the tv when it was syndicated as well. DB is all right but i much prefer the Gundam and Macross material to it as far as dated material is concerned.

Mazinger Z is pretty good. It was broadcast as Tranzor Z about the same time Voltron started, and in my opinion is much better. Similar, but much less predictable.

Wings of Honneamise is gorgeous to look at. I wonder if that production team has done any other films since. I'm not familiar with Nadia. What's that like?

Eagle Riders is actually episodes taken from Gatchaman 2 and Gatchaman F. I've never seen it. Is it better done than Battle of the Planets?

[Allen's Nickname.]

Originally posted by SSj2Gogeta
In my book it does..... :mad:
You wrote a book? Lemme see it!

[Mackenzie Rainelle]

ANYTHING by Leiji Matsumoto or Hayao Miyazaki is awesome, as far as I'm concerned, and I also dig Yoroiden Samurai Troopers and the original Macross.

[Chris Wood]

Originally posted by Gary L Thompson
Favorites of yesteryear:

Candy Candy (I swear if someone put this on the air in a good time slot, and didn't tell anyone it was made in 1976, it would still get great ratings. Possibly the best shojo of its type ever made.)
Catseyes
Three Musketeers (Monkey Punch version)
Mysterious Cities of Gold
Robotech (I liked the New Generation AKA Mospeda crew the best.)
Star Sheriff and the Saber Riders


Candy Candy a hit today? I've never seen more than a few minutes, but wouldn't it be a little slow-paced for today's adrenaline junkies?

What's Catseyes?

Monkey Punch did a version of the Three Musketeers????? I can't imagine that. Is it risque like Lupin?

I've heard a lot of people talk about the Mysterious Cities of Gold, but never seen it. Was that broadcast in the US?

New Generation was my favorite Robotech segment also, if only because it was the first I was exposed to and the motorcycles were so cool.

I've only seen Saber Riders a few times, but it seemed pretty cool, if not as good as Galaxy Rangers.

[SSj2Gogeta]

sure ill show u it if u can read or if ull get your ass of the theatre seat in the PPg movie

[Sheamon]

Yeah, there's a few good classics out there I like. Most notably the original Mobile Suit Gundam, the movie versions of it, and the 2 Galaxy Express 999 movies.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

I had a huge rant supporting this last week in a different thread. Anyway, a couple--

Little Princess Sara
Heidi
Space Pirate Cap Harlock
Rose of Versailles
A****a no Joe (boxing anime)
Future Boy Conan (this series holds up--first Miyazaki series directing)
Marco (...in search of mother. Think "Belle and Sebastion" with more dramatic intensity and a bleaker atmosphere)
MSG, of course
Armored Trooper Votoms
Space Runaway Ideon

And that's not mentioning some of the first Tezuka anime, like "Princess Knight," arguably the first cartoon specifically targeted at girls...EVER.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Argh. This censor program needs some work. It should rub out "Shi*" only if it is written by itself, and not within a word.

[JetMaster5]

Or better yet, leave the word intact. I don't see what's so disturbing about it.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

It's cussing. It's not quite as accepted as "crap" or "damn" or "hell" yet, so I can see why the mods don't like it. There are some younger kids reading this board, and the mods DO get complaints from parents when we get out of hand.

Basically, if you hear it on network TV, it's probably acceptable. If not, then it isn't. So until you hear "sh**" as often as the three words above on network TV, you won't see it much here.

It could be any day now...

[Kylewayne]

How about :

The rose Of Versailles (lady Oscar in French)
Candy Candy
Saber ryder and the Star Sheriffs
Samurai Pizza Cats

[Chris Wood]

Originally posted by Kylewayne
How about :

The rose Of Versailles (lady Oscar in French)
Candy Candy
Saber ryder and the Star Sheriffs
Samurai Pizza Cats

Samurai Pizza Cats??????????????????

[Dalamar13]

Yeah, Nick use to show the Mysterious cities of gold and Spartucus and the land beneath the Seas back to back. I know Spartucus was from France but I'm not sure about the cities of gold. Anyone know?

[StrangerAtaru]

Some favorite anime of yesteryear:

-Urusei Yatsura (one of the shows that made me a fan in the first place. Lum and Ataru never lose their appeal, and I have only seen 11 volumes!)
-Mobile Suit Gundam
-Superdimensional Fortress Macross (OK, I have only seen this as part of Robotech, but it is still a great series)
-Some Matsumoto works (I have seen the first GE999 movie, and own a Japanese "perfect collection" of the series I have yet to see. I also saw the "Queen Emeraldas" OAV on Action a couple weeks back, but that is more recent. Pretty good)
-Mysterious Cities of Gold (remember it from Nick, but not much about it. Recall it as good)
-Speed Racer (only for its cheezy dubbing)
-Dragonball (superior to the original in action and laughs)

That's all I can think of right now.

[Zero Angel]

Originally posted by Desslar


Wings of Honneamise is gorgeous to look at. I wonder if that production team has done any other films since. I'm not familiar with Nadia. What's that like?



thats funny you say this...both Wings of Honneamise and Nadia were done by the same company, Gainex. just to let you know some of the other material they have done : Otaku no Video, Gunbuster, NGE, FLCL, Kare Kano.

oh yes and as a side addendum, i still love the original BGC even though i think 2040 is a superior telling...i hate Crash.

[Gary L Thompson]

Originally posted by Desslar


Mazinger Z is pretty good. It was broadcast as Tranzor Z about the same time Voltron started, and in my opinion is much better. Similar, but much less predictable.

Wings of Honneamise is gorgeous to look at. I wonder if that production team has done any other films since. I'm not familiar with Nadia. What's that like?

Eagle Riders is actually episodes taken from Gatchaman 2 and Gatchaman F. I've never seen it. Is it better done than Battle of the Planets?

I watched Tranzor Z, but after Voltron that robot seemed to be moving in slow motion. Plus I could never understand, when they couldn't afford any margin of error with the only machine capable of stopping Dr. Demon, why they didn't equip Aprodite A with their experimental gadgets first to make sure they worked? (One particularly ridiculous episode was when the hero vetoed upgrading Aphrodite A because the girl would get into too much trouble. Duh. She was only getting KOed and almost getting killed every episode because she didn't have a robot capable of doing the job.)

Nadia is a steampunk mecha show, very loosely based on Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Mysterious Island. The score and visuals are stunning, and Nadia is not your typical surgary anime heroine.

I did watch the Eagle Riders, and it did catch my interest better than Battle of the Planets did. However, I've never really liked the Gatchman series.


Originally posted by Desslar


Candy Candy a hit today? I've never seen more than a few minutes, but wouldn't it be a little slow-paced for today's adrenaline junkies?

I'll answer in one word: Hamtaro. And I happen to be one of Hamtaro's many devoted viewers, but I can guarantee you that Candy Candy is far superior. Yes, it was funny, yes, it did tug at the heart-strings, but Candy Candy was far from being devoid of action. Candace White Audrey could get herself into some hair-raising predictaments at times, and as sweet as she was, she wasn't above diving in with fists flailing on occasion. And don't forget how World War I and the Western Front trenches cast its shadow on the concluding episodes.

Frankly, I was thinking Candy Candy's best chance would be getting shown on a general-audience outlet, like PAX or Nikelodeon or Oxygen, which wouldn't have the viewership with sophistication to recognize it as "old school" anime and reject it out of hand. Make a faithful adaptation, give it a good time slot, and Candy Candy would still wow the audience with its characters and storylines--it's like Anne of Green Gables, Little Princess, and Orphan Annie all wrapped up in one.


Originally posted by Desslar


What's Catseyes?

Are you familiar with Lupin III, Kamikaze Thief Jeanne, St. Tail, and the magician thief that Detective Conan occasionally tries to catch? Catseyes is in the same tradition, a sort of prerequel to City Hunter (the cafe-owner girlfriend of Ryo Saeba's bald mustached pal is the leader of the Catseyes gang). Years ago, a famous artist disappeared with all of his paintings. Just as mysteriously, those paintings began showing up on the market. Then they started disappearing again, but this time there is no mystery as to why. They are being stolen by the Catseyes gang, which always literally leave their calling cards at the crime scene. Unknown to anyone, the Catseyes are really the three daughters of the artist, who hope to find clues to their father's whereabouts by recovering the artworks. If the oldest sister, Rui, is the brains of the gang, Hitomi is the brawn and soul of the Catseyes--and also deeply in love with the detective charged with capturing them. Ai is a young girl who doesn't really remember their father, and is the comic mascot of the group. Poor Toshio Utsumi wants to marry Hitomi, but she won't unless he quits the police force, and he has vowed to stay with the police until he has apprehended the Catseyes (given his habit of dropping in on the Catseyes' Cafe to boast to the girls about his latest scheme to trap the Catseyes, that day is probably a long way off). Toshio's life is complicated by a tough chief frustrated at his inablility to catch the Catseyes, and by a bespectacled female detective who secretly carries a torch for him and is smart enough to suspect the Kisugi sisters--but her efforts end in humiliating failure as well.

There were two seasons of this series, and though the Catseyes not infrequently run into very nasty villains and pretty rough action, there is a lot of comedy as well (the two older sisters insert themselves as ringers into a football game and proceed to pound into the turf the unfortunate police detectives playing across the scrimmage line, one episode begins with the trio of detectives busted to walking a uniformed beat because of their constant failure in catching the Catseyes, in one caper the Catseyes have to take along an infant they're babysitting, in one episode Toshio finally snaps the cuffs on Hitomi for her Catseyes crimes--but it's only as part of a play they're performing).



Originally posted by Desslar


Monkey Punch did a version of the Three Musketeers????? I can't imagine that. Is it risque like Lupin?

From what I recall, I'd say it was mainly less risque than Alexander Dumas' original. The closest to really risque material was Aramis' annoyance at D'Artagnan for accidently intruding on her bath--yes Aramis is a blonde beauty posing as a man ala Lady Oscar, in order to avenge the death of a loved one. The TV show actually followed the original novels pretty closely in some aspects, and wandered far off them in others. D'Artagnan has a funny-looking horse, and barely escapes a ferocious duel with Milady, and sets off with his Three Musketeer companions to race to England and save the honor of the queen of France, just like in the original. However, his girlfriend Constance is not murdered, and when D'Artagnan sets out to execute Milady (one of the great villains in all of literature, and this show does her full justice), he ends up only giving her a short haircut. Milady's monkey accomplice is in the original novels, but her parrot (who ends up switching sides to D'Artagnan and his friends early in the story) is not. The greatest change is that the Three Musketeers' battle against Milady's revenge-seeking son across the backdrop of Oliver Cromwell's revolution against Charles I is totally ignored, and the Iron Mask tale is dragged from the era of Louis XIV back into the time of Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu, with the reprieved Milady again pulling strings behind the scenes.


Originally posted by Desslar


I've heard a lot of people talk about the Mysterious Cities of Gold, but never seen it. Was that broadcast in the US?

The inspiration for Nadia of the Mysterious Seas. In answer to your question--yes it was, because I saw it on Univision. But was an English-language version ever broadcast here? That's more difficult to answer, because I couldn't watch cable back then--but I strongly suspect it was, on some cable channel like HBO, CBN, USA or Nikelodeon in cable's early days.


Originally posted by Desslar


New Generation was my favorite Robotech segment also, if only because it was the first I was exposed to and the motorcycles were so cool.

It was the characters that really drew me in, all with their personal wounds except for Rand, yet they eventually rose above their traumas and united as a surrogate family which finally overcame the Invid.


Originally posted by Desslar


I've only seen Saber Riders a few times, but it seemed pretty cool, if not as good as Galaxy Rangers.

I agree, Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs was good (I suspect it was originally intended to be another part of Voltron), but the Galaxy Rangers were superior. I wish someone would bring that series back.


Originally posted by Leaping Larry Jojo

And that's not mentioning some of the first Tezuka anime, like "Princess Knight," arguably the first cartoon specifically targeted at girls...EVER.

How could I have forgotten "Prince" Sapphire? I used to watch the episodes on Univision.


Originally posted by Dalamar13


Yeah, Nick use to show the Mysterious cities of gold and Spartucus and the land beneath the Seas back to back. I know Spartucus was from France but I'm not sure about the cities of gold. Anyone know?

Yes, Mysterious Cities of Gold was one of those anime hybrids from France. There's been several other Japan-France co-productions, including Ulysses 31.

[Chris Wood]

Don't even get me started on Hamtaro. Ugh.

As for Galaxy Rangers, I think the main reason I got so into anime as a kid was that American action cartoons at the time were so universally awful, or at least horribly cliched. Mostly dreck like He-Man and Thundercats. I had gotten to the point where I didn't the US was capable of making a first class action cartoon.

Then I saw Galaxy Rangers, and became riveted from day one. Finally a series with strong character development, slick animation, and solid plots that wasn't petrified of the censors. After years of the ridiculously bloodless G.I.Joe gunfights, it was a refreshing dose of realism to see people actually get injured. Too bad there was never a second season. Maybe it was too real. Hopefully Cartoon Network will bring it back one of these days.

But I digress. This thread is supposed to be about anime. As I recall, Saber Riders had a neat gimmick for getting around the censors. When the heroes shot a bad guy, he wasn't killed, but just transported back to some other dimension. Thus they could blow away people at random without inflicting any harm. Pretty ingenious.

[Dalamar13]

Hey Gary,when did I become leaping larry mojo? :p

[Gary L Thompson]

Originally posted by Dalamar13
Hey Gary,when did I become leaping larry mojo? :p

I got your threads mixed up somehow and simply screwed up. Sorry about that.


Originally posted by Desslar
Don't even get me started on Hamtaro. Ugh.

As for Galaxy Rangers, I think the main reason I got so into anime as a kid was that American action cartoons at the time were so universally awful, or at least horribly cliched. Mostly dreck like He-Man and Thundercats. I had gotten to the point where I didn't the US was capable of making a first class action cartoon.

Then I saw Galaxy Rangers, and became riveted from day one. Finally a series with strong character development, slick animation, and solid plots that wasn't petrified of the censors. After years of the ridiculously bloodless G.I.Joe gunfights, it was a refreshing dose of realism to see people actually get injured. Too bad there was never a second season. Maybe it was too real. Hopefully Cartoon Network will bring it back one of these days.

But I digress. This thread is supposed to be about anime. As I recall, Saber Riders had a neat gimmick for getting around the censors. When the heroes shot a bad guy, he wasn't killed, but just transported back to some other dimension. Thus they could blow away people at random without inflicting any harm. Pretty ingenious.

I'm not sure that gimmick wasn't in the original, at least in part. Near the end of the series, when our heroes cornered one of the main villains, he was in an absolute panic. He knew that if he were blasted this time, he wouldn't be transported back to his dimension because he was already in that dimension! So when the Star Sheriffs blasted away this time, he became a human instead and was a peaceful cowboy ever after. I'm sure there were some bloodcurdling aspects cut out though. If you look very closely at the episode the Star Sheriffs came upon a bad case of gold fever (Colt caught the fever too and took off prospecting, while Saber Rider and the heroine disguised themselves as an old man and boy, and the race car driver posed as an essayer), we see the villain escaping back to his dimension. His destination is shown again a few scenes later, and if you look very closely, you'll see the villain's body in the background, evidently having suffered a horrific death for his failure.

Galaxy Rangers never developed the true character arcs of anime (various story developments were left hanging, like the leader's wife remaining prisoner of the Queen of the Crown, the Queen of the Crown was not defeated, the vexing Super Troopers situation was never resolved, Goose never really picked out who would be his main squeeze, etc.). I'm not so sure though, we wouldn't have seen some of those developments had there been a second season. I agree, the show would be great on CN, and it would be even better if someone were to make new episodes.

[hyprlynx]

Voltron
Starblazers
Ranma 1/2 (does that count as old school? the series first aired in the 80's)

[Ikwig]

Originally posted by hyprlynx

Ranma 1/2 (does that count as old school? the series first aired in the 80's)

Since the opening post in this thread mentions "anything before 1990," I'd say that Ranma 1/2 counts :) I'll put in a vote for it as well, as it's one of my favorites!

Curiosity question: does anybody here have any opinions on Bubblegum Crisis? I've read plenty of reviews where it was called a classic (or occasionally even "the" classic) series, but no one ever seems to include it on their list of faves.

[Zero Angel]

Originally posted by Ikwig


Curiosity question: does anybody here have any opinions on Bubblegum Crisis? I've read plenty of reviews where it was called a classic (or occasionally even "the" classic) series, but no one ever seems to include it on their list of faves.

i just did...read my last post. i love the original BGC but much like Dirty Pair the newer version that has been made in the 90's blows it away. if you can watch the original then 2040.

[Gary L Thompson]

Originally posted by Ikwig


Since the opening post in this thread mentions "anything before 1990," I'd say that Ranma 1/2 counts :) I'll put in a vote for it as well, as it's one of my favorites!

Curiosity question: does anybody here have any opinions on Bubblegum Crisis? I've read plenty of reviews where it was called a classic (or occasionally even "the" classic) series, but no one ever seems to include it on their list of faves.

I guess it slipped my mind. Even though I only saw the final OAV episode (I enjoyed that cute junior reporter), and the first episode (untranslated), and they never finished the OAV series, I'd say it would have to rank as one of the older classics.

[SolidLiquidFox]

Being born and raised in a foreign country has its advantages. Like getting to see lots of anime like Mazinger Z, Candy Candy, Conan, Gatchaman, Japanese Transformers, Grandizer (cant remember the formal title) and many others at minimal (if any) censorship.

[Chris Wood]

Originally posted by Zero Angel


i just did...read my last post. i love the original BGC but much like Dirty Pair the newer version that has been made in the 90's blows it away. if you can watch the original then 2040.

The original Bubblegum Crisis series is great. I haven' seen the later version.

As for the Dirty Pair, the original is fantastic, but most people seem to think the newer version is terrible. Certainly the character design is pretty bad.