Recommend some anime classics

[Kim]

Lately I've been in the mood to experience anime classics. It's hard to put into words what I think an anime classic is, but I'd say it's mostly older shows, 90s and earlier, that were extremely popular and/or had a major impact on anime as a medium.

This does not require that these series necessarily be good. Just that they are important. A good example of this is Evangelion, which I think is highly overrated, but also think every anime fan should watch at least once.

Here are some various anime I would say are classics or close enough and how I feel about them. (One or two I might have crammed in just because I really dug them)

Evangelion - Overrated. Crappy pacing at times and a shitty ending in both series and movie. Not all bad, just not as good as it's built up to be.

Gunbuster - Absolutely amazing in every way. The best show Gainax ever put out.

Captain Harlock: Endless Odyssey - Haven't finished. Intend to. Love what I've seen so far.

Revolutionary Girl Utena - Haven't finished. Will have finished soon. Pretty good show!

Ghibli movies - Ghibli movies are the best movies

Slayers - I can't get past the art style and if you recommend this I won't watch it.

Card Captor Sakura - I'm generally not fond of magical girl anime, with notable exceptions, and my previous attempt to watch this died tragically.

Wings of Honneamise - This movie is an awful piece of shit that should die in a fire and never be spoken of again.

Serial Experiments Lain - Haven't watched in a long time, but it was weird and interesting. I dug it. Great opening, too.

Cowboy Bebop - Of course I've watched this I'm not an idiot.

Trigun - Of course I've watched this I'm not an idiot.

Princess Tutu - Surprisingly aces. Not ho-shits-amazing, but I really dug it and I like the soundtrack.


Those are all the ones I can come up with off the top of my head. All ones I've watched with the exception of Slayers. I can't do it guys. I'm sorry. Also, I don't know how old Nanoha is, but if that's considered a classic it can fuck off.

[Krylo]

Originally Posted by Liz

A good example of this is Evangelion, which I think is highly overrated, but also think every anime fan should watch at least once.

Do you just hate anime fans? Is that what this is?

Why would you wish this on them?


OT: Classic shit?

How about Record of Lodoss War to go way back? Or Vampire Hunter D... which isn't all that good, but if you could stomach Eva you should be able to deal with this.

[Satan's Onion]

I see no Pretty Soldier Sailormoon on your list. Your list is, therefore, incomplete .

(Really, that series helped make me the nerd I am today. That, and watching just enough Dragonball Z to realize that I didn't particularly prefer to watch Dragonball Z.)

edit: Aw, no magical girl stuff? Then I dunno what to suggest for you.

[Kim]

Originally Posted by Satan's Onion

I see no Pretty Soldier Sailormoon on your list. Your list is, therefore, incomplete .

(Really, that series helped make me the nerd I am today. That, and watching just enough Dragonball Z to realize that I didn't particularly prefer to watch Dragonball Z.)

edit: Aw, no magical girl stuff? Then I dunno what to suggest for you.

Wasn't Sailor Moon by the same guy who did Utena? I might give it a chance based on that. Was actually considering making an exception for Sailor Moon anyways.

Other shows I've been considering: Astro Boy, 8 Man, 8 Man After, original flavor Casshern, original flavor Captain Harlock, original flavor Gundam.

[Satan's Onion]

Pretty Soldier Sailormoon is by Naoko Takeuchi, and I don't believe she's responsible for Utena. (I may be mistaken, as the anime center of my brain is somewhat underdeveloped from disuse, but still.) Nevertheless, in its day it did bring some interesting innovation to the magical girl genre.

[Kim]

The Utena anime was created by Kunihiko Ikuhara.

Just checked Wikipedia and...

Ikuhara's most famous work with Toei was on the anime version of Sailor Moon. He served as director of many episodes over the course of the series' run, and took over the position of series director from Junichi Sato during the second season, Sailor Moon R. Additionally, Ikuhara served as the director of the first Sailor Moon theatrical movie, also called Sailor Moon R.

[The Sevenshot Kid]

Rurouni Kenshin. It don't get better than that.

[Kim]

I got to watch a Rurouni Kenshi OVA thing in a theater recently and that was pretty good so I'll give it a shot.

[phil_]

If you don't care about things like continuity or having a relatable hero, watch Fist of the North Star. It starts out stupid, then it stays pretty stupid, then you finish watching it and you're like, "That was one of the greatest things I ever watched."

Krylo recommended watching Record of Lodoss War without specifying whether he meant the OVA series or the goofy TV series. I haven't watched the TV series, but the shorter OVA series was pretty decent. It won't use up much of your time, either. I'm not sure what influence either has had on "anime history," though.

Honestly, if you want to watch historically important cartoons, you're going to watch a bunch of crap. Rule of human nature: the stuff everyone watched tends to be crap. But, since everyone watched it, it's more influential. In that vein, may I suggest anything by Takahashi Rumiko, particularly Maison Ikkoku and Urusei Yatsura? I haven't watched either, but I know far too much about them because they're referenced constantly.

[Bard The 5th LW]

Yu Yu Hakushou and Ruroni Kenshin were pretty good.