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Anime from the 80's and 90's were the best. Look here for some recommendations.

Corpsepyre

Corpsepyre

Banned
I've been re-discovering some of the anime I used to watch as a kid, and nothing really matches up to them from today. Definitely the golden era of anime. Not to mention, the action and animation destroyed most of what we get today. It's weird, but the animation has gradually gotten more cartoony as time has passed.

Manga Video, and later, ADV Films to a lesser extent, were responsible for some excellent anime. You just can't do over-the-top without Manga Video in the title.

Some of my favourites here. Newcomers, or those wanting to re-discover old anime should definitely look up these.

Cyber City Oedo 808: A brilliant cyberpunk anime, with an over-the-top soundtrack and dubbing. Hilarious insults throughout, with an excellent plot as well.

Guyver: Bio-Boosted Armour is the first anime I saw, and I love it to this day. Kickass action/sci-fi.

Wicked City is for those who love horror anime and can't quite get them the way they're meant to be these days. NSFW at all costs.

Fist of the North Star is another highlight of the 80's. Brutal combat, sick one-liners and one of the best final fights ever.

Akira. Possibly the most famous anime here. Still excellent all these years.

Doomed Megalopolis. Look here for more brutal, shocking occult horror. Keep the kids away.

Devil Man is another horror escapade, with some gnarly as hell sequences, and a badass vibe throughout.

---

Feel free to add your favourite anime from that era. This will be fun.
 
Jex

Jex

Member
I mean, it was a decent time for anime, but overall the 2000's were probably a stronger decade than the 90's and probably even the 80's, just due to the sheer volume of anime created between 2000 - 2009.

The only thing I that I feel modern anime is missing is stupid Manga UK dubs for even stupider shows, like Mad Bull 34, Angel Cop etc.
 
O

Ostinatto

Member
80's Macross.

Lupin III the castle of cagliostro

castle_of_cagliostro3.jpg
 
A

Aaron-Lagann

Banned
"The thing from when I was young is clearly the best!"

80-90's had some great anime, but come on, there's an equally great amount of shit before and after.
 
R

Rymuth

Member
I watched Sakigake Otokojuku!! recently for the first time and it was part awesome, part hilarious!

Wonder how many people realize its a self-aware parody of the genre.
 
D

DOBERMAN INC

Member
First ever Anime I saw was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunbuster

Remains a favourite of mine, remember watching it in the early hours of the morning one school day and rushing to school to see if anyone else watched it too, with the huge yellow subtitles and beautiful story it really opened my eyes to animation.
Haven't really watching much anime in the last decade but I often go back and watch some of the stuff I loved years ago like Gunbuster, Ranma,Dirty pair ect.
 
Corpsepyre

Corpsepyre

Banned
Aaron-Lagann said:
"The thing from when I was young is clearly the best!"

80-90's had some great anime, but come on, there's an equally great amount of shit before and after.
Click to expand...

I have watched several new-school anime, and while there are some truly great examples, such as Monster, Ergo Proxy, Texhnolyze and then some, anime from the 80's and 90's had an aura that the newer anime cannot come close to. It's my opinion, obviously.
 
A

Armoured Priest

Member
Record of Lodoss War

Still one of the very best representations of Western Style fantasy.

The animation is pretty minimalist, but the art is still gorgeous.
 
R

Rydeen

Member
Good taste, OP.

517oH7UmjOL._SY445_.jpg


One that gets overshadowed but is seriously worth tracking down is Crusher Joe. Released in the early 80's, it pretty much laid the groundwork for every non-mech sci-fi adventure series of the 80's and 90's. Written and created by the author / creator of the Dirty Pair and directed by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko who did the character designs for the original Gundam and directed some of the best episodes. Total throwback to classic pulpy sci-fi adventures with space pirates, sexy girls, horny robots, tough talking cyborg co-pilots and danger around every corner. If you like Outlaw Star, Cowboy Bebop or heck, even Guardians of the Galaxy, Crusher Joe should be watched immediately.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiDB8pIayQ0

slide-venuswars.jpg


Another one also directed and also written by Yasuhiko is Venus Wars. If anybody watched Sci-Fi Channel's Saturday Anime as a kid in the 90's, you'll remember this. About a gang of bike racers who get caught up in a civil war on colonized Venus. The mono-bikes they race are very cool, the animation is really smooth, and has a great earthy / gritty 80's look and feel to it. Definitely check it out, it's in print on dvd from Discotek currently.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXY1Otlu0NY

I'll come back and highlight more so this post isn't a mile long.
 
Pyrrhus

Pyrrhus

Member
Corpsepyre said:
I have watched several new-school anime, and while there are some truly great examples, such as Monster, Ergo Proxy, Texhnolyze and then some, anime from the 80's and 90's had an aura that the newer anime cannot come close to. It's my opinion, obviously.
Click to expand...

I agree with you. The stuff they made back then simply felt different. Culturally, their heads were in a different place. In my opinion, their anime output was stronger during their bubble era regardless of how many more programs are created today. Back then, Japan as a nation felt itself to be strong and vibrant and had the money to make and purchase high quality things. And you could discern that in their pop culture output. There was definitely a difficult to define essence that permeated stuff created in the '80s and early '90s. Art styles were harder, the OAVs were more lavishly animated, and the stories seemed better suited to export to the world at large. There's a reason the anime boom is largely over in the West and it's not entirely down to piracy and the fickleness of the mainstream.
 
R

Rydeen

Member
Pyrrhus said:
Back then, Japan as a nation felt itself to be strong and vibrant and had the money to make and purchase high quality things. And you could discern that in their pop culture output. There was definitely a difficult to define essence that permeated stuff created in the '80s and early '90s. Art styles were harder, the OAVs were more lavishly animated, and the stories seemed better suited to export to the world at large. There's a reason the anime boom is largely over in the West and it's not entirely down to piracy and the fickleness of the mainstream.
Click to expand...

I think a huge part of it is that the pioneers in the 70's and 80's like Katsuhiro Otomo and the Gundam and Macross guys were more influenced by American science fiction like Star Wars and science fiction literature like Heinlein and Dune than they were by homegrown cultural offerings. There's a lovely cultural back and forth going on between the U.S. and Japan throughout the boom years where both cultures were influencing the other in big ways that makes that work appealing. It was nice to see the general science fiction, horror, fantasy and adventure tropes of the Western world remixed and honored at the same time in works like Record of Lodoss War, Vampire Hunter D, Crusher Joe, Starblazers / Yamato, Fist of the North Star and Captain Harlock. It's all very familiar to Western genre fans, but also fresh and unique.

The biggest problem with anime and manga now is it's now become it's own weird sub-division that only feeds itself instead of being a branch of science fiction and fantasy fandom like it was through the 70's and into the early 90's.
 
Corpsepyre

Corpsepyre

Banned
Pyrrhus said:
I agree with you. The stuff they made back then simply felt different. Culturally, their heads were in a different place. In my opinion, their anime output was stronger during their bubble era regardless of how many more programs are created today. Back then, Japan as a nation felt itself to be strong and vibrant and had the money to make and purchase high quality things. And you could discern that in their pop culture output. There was definitely a difficult to define essence that permeated stuff created in the '80s and early '90s. Art styles were harder, the OAVs were more lavishly animated, and the stories seemed better suited to export to the world at large. There's a reason the anime boom is largely over in the West and it's not entirely down to piracy and the fickleness of the mainstream.
Click to expand...

I think you pretty much hit the nail on the head.
 
M

meltingparappa

Member
Well, the 80's and 90's didn't have Wind Rises, Wolf Children or Paranoia Agent, so I don't know what to believe anymore.

I would kill for another movie that had half the sumptuous sleazy atmosphere as Wicked City though.
 
R

Rydeen

Member
Trojita said:
OP just recommended W. City.

Oh boy.
Click to expand...

If you can get past the tentacles and the Cronenberg levels of psycho sexual body horror, Wicked City is a very stylish film. Gorgeous to look at, love the James Cameron style blue gels for all the night time scenes and the slick Michael Mann style visuals.

videodyssey said:
The one that got me hooked:
Click to expand...

In general, everybody should just check out everything Yoshiaki Kawajiri has made, he's directed pretty much everything that's awesome, like Wicked City, Demon City Shinjuku, Ninja Scroll, Cyber City Oedo, Goku Midnight Eye, Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust, etc. He's got such a great eye for sexy visuals. His segment The Running Man from Neo Tokyo is a short format masterpiece:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaIM4OOZB_A
 
Jex

Jex

Member
Pyrrhus said:
I agree with you. The stuff they made back then simply felt different. Culturally, their heads were in a different place. In my opinion, their anime output was stronger during their bubble era regardless of how many more programs are created today. Back then, Japan as a nation felt itself to be strong and vibrant and had the money to make and purchase high quality things. And you could discern that in their pop culture output. There was definitely a difficult to define essence that permeated stuff created in the '80s and early '90s. Art styles were harder, the OAVs were more lavishly animated, and the stories seemed better suited to export to the world at large. There's a reason the anime boom is largely over in the West and it's not entirely down to piracy and the fickleness of the mainstream.
Click to expand...

Very little of what you've said here makes any kind of sense. Your argument appears to be that during the 80's Japan was running on ill-defined magic power which some how, in some unspecified manner, made their anime better in some unexplained manner.

Nonsense.

The only thing you can say is that during the Bubble years there was a lot more money slushing around than people knew what to do with. As a result of this numerous things, especially in the field of OVA's, got made that probably wouldn't be made today such as Angel's Egg and Wings of Honneamise. That doesn't reflect anything more or less than pure excess.
 
J

Jackpot

Banned
The fashion was so, so bad though.

Akira and Venus Wars were good. I tried watching Macross: Do You Remember Love? and had to turn it off in disgust after half an hour.
 
B

Briarios

Member
Along with Kimagure Orange Road, one of my favorites from the period was Bubblegum Crisis. Just got a new Blu-ray release, too.

I also really liked Here is Greenwood.

Edit: And also Megazone 23 ... All 3 parts :)
 
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