Discussion SugarWiki / EssentialAnime

A folder should be created for seinen with anime like Monster (2004-2005) and Vinland Saga, etc. But I don't know what are the Trope Codifiers (Maybe Dororo, Devilman etc). Also, Berserk should be moved to that folder.

Edit: I created that folder. But someone who knows more about the seinen history should change the Trope Codifiers if they are incorrect.

Deleted

Moved to Sugar Wiki and indexed as Just for Fun per TRS:

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1630683455091874700&page=2#comment-28

I know nobody really curates this page nowadays, but would Hunter × Hunter be a good addition as a deconstruction of the Shonen fighting series?

There are only three anime listed there that are less than ten years old... perhaps someone should add a few more recent ones (Suzumiya Haruhi or something, maybe)? In my opinion, the art in recent anime is far better than in older ones, and the simple difference should merit a series representative of a more modern art style if nothing else. (It's rather unfortunate that most Americans are only familiar with shows like Pokemon, DBZ and Yuugiou, which all have very dated art.)

Not to say that old art is bad, just that viewers unfamiliar with anime who use this list will get used to a very different art style that what's used nowadays. Perhaps in general it would be better to have more series that are representative of anime the way it is now, rather than just a list of anime that created generas, most of which are notably old.

I don't have a suggestion for this page, but rather I would like to propose that we make similar pages for other mediums, such as Film, Western Animation, or Comic Books

I'd say One Piece should be listed solely on the fact that it is currently the #1 highest grossing anime in Japan, and has been running for over 10 years.

As to whether or not Bleach or Naruto also deserve spots are up to digression, but I doubt they're quite as notable.

Would Puella Magi Madoka Magica be a better and/or more recent Deconstruction of the Magical Girl genre? Is there room for both on this list?

What's the cut-off date for "essential"? I remember before it used to be that most shows required 10 years in order to appear on the list, but with K-on! Season 2 on there, it seems that this qualification has gone out the window. Is this true or should the show not be on there?

I think Slayers and Ronin Warriors/Yoroiden Samurai Troopers need to be in here. They were both my first animes, though I remember Slayers having a bigger impact. It's fun, it's hilarious at points, the characters are almost all likeable and can be identified with by the viewers, and even though it doesn't take itself seriously most of the time, it still has its serious points in just the right places and for just the right length of time.

I don't think welcome to the NHK should be called a slice of life. Sure it has slice of life/realistic elements but it's story pretty eventful (in its own pathetic way) it's. Genshiken (only read the manga tough) is slice of life because it just has arbitrary and close to meaningless scenes that are just kind of there. NHK doesn't really have that in my opinion. There is a meaninglessness in NHK but it's not in the slice of life kind of way, it's in the "this story is about a hikikomori that can't take control of his life"-kind of way.

Proposed new category: Widget Series (since anime is such a mainstream thing now, it's the ones that can still be considered weird by those standards that still stand out)

Examples in chrono order:

• Ge Ge Ge No Kitaro (the subject matter, about Japanese things that go bump in the night, has pretty much ensured widgetness)
• Akazukin Chacha (can be considered a gateway Widget by way of getting licenced)
• FLCL (when Widget goes Beyond the Impossible)
• Keroro Gunsou (successfully making Widget mainstream, coming full circle)

Proposed addition to Shounen Fighter category:

• Cash-Cow Franchise Codifier: One Piece. Started in 1999 (the manga began in 1997), and is still in progress. A standard Shōnen anime by Eiichiro Oda about a group of pirates sailing the ocean in search of a fabled treasure and wanting to fulfill their own separate dreams. Notable for two drastically different reasons, each having to do with its region of release. In Japan, it is the highest-grossing manga series of all time. In America, though, it became one of the most infamous cases of Bowdlerization ever at the hands of 4Kids, which also served to destroy any credibility that the dubbing studio may have still had left.

Re-added Kimba under First Anime, as the first color anime.

So the new format has been put up, but it still needs a lot of work.

Please discuss here about additional changes to the page.

The old format:

Series by Air Date:

• Astro Boy (or Tetsuwan Atom in Japanese), aired from 1963 to 1966. Created by Osamu Tezuka, it is considered the second "true" anime series ever produced. The first, which began in 1962, is called "Manga Calendar". The latter appears to exist only in mentions on web pages. (A search of amazon.co.jp for the hiragana/katakana title returned no entries.) Although all but forgotten in the United States, it is something of a cultural institution in Japan, where the title character's early-2000s "creation date" was practically a national holiday. And a CGI feature film version reached theatres in North America in October 2009.

• Gigantor. Aired in Japan from 1963 to 1965, Gigantor, also known by its Japanese title Tetsujin 28, was the beginning of the Humongous Mecha genre.

• Kimba The White Lion (Japanese name Jungle Taitei or Jungle Emperor). Aired in Japan from 1965 to 1966. This series from Osamu Tezuka was the first TV anime produced in colour. Its story of a lion cub becoming king of the jungle after the death of his father bears more than a passing resemblence to a certain popular movie.

• Sally The Witch. Often considered the first Magical Girl Anime, based off the Manga of the same name. With the original series airing between 1966 and 1967 and originally appearing in black and white for the first 17 episodes. Spawned a sequel series and had a large and lasting impact on Shōjo Anime.

• Lupin III. Based off the manga of the same name. The quintessential caper series. Something of an institution in Japan. It has spawned three TV series (the first series aired in 1971 although the second series from 1977 is the one everybody remembers), six theatrical movies, and multiple OVA's and TV specials. Lupin has been a major influence on contemporary anime directors, particularly Shinichiro Watanabe and Shinichi "Nabeshin" Watanabe. Hayao Miyazaki made the transition from directing TV shows to directing movies here.

• Cutey Honey. Airing in Japan from 1973 to 1974. What began as the first Shounen program with a female protagonist became the Trope Maker of Magical Girl Warrior via the Periphery Demographic the TV series garnered (partly due to the toned down Ecchi elements). Like the next example (from the same creator) it set many of the standards for the genre.

• Mazinger Z. Aired in Japan from 1973 to 1974. The show that defined the Super Robot mold. While Tetsujin 28 was the original giant robot, Mazinger is probably the most influential and biggest Trope Maker.

• Uchuu Senkan Yamato aka Star Blazers. 1974 to 1980. It was the first popular English-translated anime that had an over-arching plot and storyline that required the episodes to be shown in order. Even while being toned down a bit by editing, it also dealt with much more mature themes than any other productions being aimed at the same target audience at the time. As a result, it paved the way for the introduction and popularity of future arc-based, plot-driven anime translations. A live action version will be hitting Japanese theaters in December 2010.

• Space Pirate Captain Harlock. Character created in 1953, first animated in 1978. The series that launched the Leijiverse proper, and one of the archetypal examples of the Space Opera genre.

• Rose Of Versailles: This was the highly influential 1979 anime/manga that changed Shōjo anime. The historical drama lasted for two years. Notable for being one of the first Shōjo anime series.

• Mobile Suit Gundam: A cultural phenomenon in its own right, Mobile Suit Gundam (or Kidou Senshi Gundam) aired in Japan from 1979 to 1980. It has survived in several iterations since, most recently as the ongoing Gundam Unicorn (2010-). It is notable (at least in its earlier entries) for establishing the Real Robot genre, grounding the robots somewhere closer to reality (both size- and technology-wise) and focusing more on the life and tribulations of their pilots. The plots of the series are pure military drama, and would work just as well were the robots to be replaced by tanks, ships or any other modern fighting vehicle, with the Gundam taking the role of game changing, cutting edge technology.

• Super Dimension Fortress Macross (1982) Best known as the source for the first third of Robotech (1984) in the US, it helped launch the Transforming Robot genre, along with the Transformers.

• Fist Of The North Star: The anime started in 1984 (the manga in 1983). The main series ended in 1988, but material is still produced every so often up to this day. This series featured over-the-top martial arts fighting (which was very bloody, but mostly sanitized as shadows or detail-less glow in the anime) and pretty much defined the Shōnen fighting genre in anime.

• Maison Ikkoku: One of the classics of anime romance, and the template for many romantic comedies even today. It's not uncommon for people to refer to (name of modern romantic comedy) as "better when it was called Maison Ikkoku."

• Dragonball Z: The first shonen fighting series to get really popular in America. Aired in Japan from 1989 to 1996 as the sequel to the original Dragonball, also became the most popular series in Mexico (and most of Latin America for that matter) during the nineties.

• Ranma 1/2. Aired in Japan from 1989 to 1992, and based on the manga of the same name by Rumiko Takahashi, Ranma 1/2 is a fusion of romance/comedy and Shōnen fighting, and was, along with Sailor Moon, one of the early-1990s gateway anime for North American fans.

• Sailor Moon: The first series most anyone thinks of when the words "Magical Girl show" are mentioned, although it is equally a sentai series. The original series aired in Japan from 1992 to 1993, and was kept alive in direct sequels until early 1997; it was still popular enough over a decade after its premiere that it was given a Live-Action Adaptation in 2003. Since its production company terminated all licenses outside of Japan several years ago, it is no longer legally available in North America or Europe, unlike most of its contemporaries on this list.

• Tenchi Muyo:The Tenchi OVA series, along with Ranma 1/2, introduced non-Japanese audiences to the unwanted harem genre. Followed by Tenchi Universe, the television Tenchi continuity, which aired in Japan in 1995 and differs significantly in scope from the original 1992 OVA. Tenchi Universe was then followed by several other series with (mostly) the same core cast and situations (but with often radically different implementations), as well as three motion pictures. A third OVA series released in 2004 extends the original OVA plotline, but leaves matters just as unresolved as its predecessors.

• Ah My Goddess (OVA - 1993; TV - 2005). The standard-bearer for the so-called Magical Girlfriend genre, Ah! My Goddess (Aa! Megami-sama) is based on a long-running manga that started in 1988. An OVA adaptation was made in 1993. The OVA had a feature-length movie continuation in 2000, and then a full-scale retelling on television which began in 2005 and ran for 50 episodes. The manga series is still ongoing.

• Magic Knight Rayearth: The first CLAMP series to be aired on television in Japan, from 1994 to 1995. Primarily a Trapped in Another World Magical Girl adventure, with a bit of Humongous Mecha thrown in for seasoning.

• Neon Genesis Evangelion: The most influential series on the Humongous Mecha genre since Mobile Suit Gundam, Evangelion aired in Japan from 1995 to 1996. In America, it was released commercially into the market prepared by such series as Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon. While many other series could be called better gateways for people starting out in anime, this is a must for anyone who wants to go further in the mecha genre, or who are interested in dark psychological drama and eschatology. It's also one of anime's most (in)famous examples of Mind Screw.

• Rurouni Kenshin: Perhaps the most well-known samurai series, Rurouni Kenshin (also sometimes known as Samurai X outside of Japan due to licensing issues) aired in Japan from 1996 to 1998. A fictionalized look at Japan circa the end of the 19th Century, it blends historical fiction with high-powered shonen fighting. Two OVA series were released as well, the first very well received, the second, well...

• Martian Successor Nadesico: Airing in Japan from 1996 to 1997, Martian Successor Nadesico was a sometimes-humorous, sometimes-serious parody/satire of the Humongous Mecha and Space Opera genres. Although it was much more popular in Japan than the west, its deconstructions of the genre influenced many shows to come after.

• Revolutionary Girl Utena: Compared stylistically to Rose Of Versailles, Revolutionary Girl Utena (Shoujo Kakumei Utena) aired in Japan in 1997. It couples a Shōjo dueling story with elements of chivalric romance, Jungian psychology, and a surreal thriller. Its post-modern narrative and feminist themes distinguish it from any other anime ever made.

• Cowboy Bebop: Airing in Japan in 1998, Cowboy Bebop detailed the lives and adventures of a group of bounty hunters, traveling through space in 2071. Notable for its effortless shifts between typically western genres, and lovely soundtrack by Yoko Kanno. Its director Shinichiro Watanabe would go on to direct the equally genre-twisting Samurai Champloo. With few cultural barriers, an exciting, mostly episodic format, and an excellent english adaptation, it was the premier gateway anime of the late 90s and early 00s.

• Card Captor Sakura: Another magical girl series by CLAMP, Card Captor Sakura aired in Japan from 1998 to 2000. Besides simply being wildly popular, the show broke many of the genre molds and proved that kawaii did not have to equal fluff. The main characters, Sakura and Li Shaoran, return later as alternate incarnations in the universe-hopping Tsubasa Chronicle.

• Serial Experiments Lain: An intelligent, erudite and often confusing anime from 1998 which can be summed up as "creepy cool seinen cyberpunk." Densely packed with deep and complicated concepts and loaded with references to literature and science, it is visually and narratively unlike anything else ever made. Hard to understand, but worth the effort.

I think Royal Space Force: Wings of Honneamise deserves to be here as well. Not only did the visuals of the movie equal those of Akira (which followed Honneamise by a year), but it was also Studio Gainax's first major project. Furthermore, the crash and burn of th3e projected sequel resulted almost directly in the production of Evangelion.