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1980s and 90s:The Golden Age of Anime?

Were the 1980s and 1990s, the Golden Age of Anime where it began to flourish and prospered and become what it is today?

I have to say that i don't like this kind of 'Goldenageism' it just seems to be a way for longet time fans to say 'oh, things were better in my day...'

does it really matter if there were more decent titles? What makes you saying that titles back then were better true?

I am a new fan of anime and as such I am poorly informed but I am currently pretty impressed with what I have seen so far in the anime department, namely Elfen Lied, early FMA, and the first few eps of GunGrave

I've been interested in getting into more retro anime from the 80's and early to mid 90's. Do you guys have any recommendations for some great OAVs/series/movies from those time periods?

Have any good recommendations for:

-Action

-Sci-fi

Also, would some of you recommend any of the following: Fuushgi Yuugi

Dominion Tank Police.

I always say "80's and 90's were golden years for anime" just like the topic title.
I think it should be "in the 80's anime prospered and became what it was in the 90's" cause from 2000 to now i think there appeared just a few quantity of quality anime.

I'm not sure if i can tell why that was the best epoch anime had, there were so many great anime titles. I think that now the anime have became more commercial, it's more far than before of the artistic concepts. For example, a title like Honneamise no Tsubasa is just a masterpiece but i can't imagine a title like that being produced now-days.
Today it's easy to see the same scene in 89 animes (just try to count how many times you have seen a good-looking girl falling down "accidentally" over a good-looking guy), most of the time we see how animators use the same formula one time and other just to satisfy the mainstream and sell merchandise without spending money and effort.
In the past, anime were made with more love, it was not made only for selling more than the other companies. Also, the anime public is no more a specific public, now you can talk about the mainstream watching anime, that didn't happen in the past years so, being anime a product for an specific audience, animators knew that and assumed that their public was not easy to satisfy, so they put all their effort into their product.
Think about a fantastic title from 1992, Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki. It coul look now (13 years of anime copying the Tenchi formula after) like one more commercial anime with a bit of everything to satisfy everyone but you can see just after watching the first episode the differences between anime produced these days and now. Just look at the animation quality, the designs. Maybe the series could had the same succes with a no so good animation but it was done well and with love.

Bye, i hope you forgive for my english but it's not my native language.

Bosque wrote:

I always say "80's and 90's were golden years for anime" just like the topic title. I think it should be "in the 80's anime prospered and became what it was in the 90's" cause from 2000 to now i think there appeared just a few quantity of quality anime. I'm not sure if i can tell why that was the best epoch anime had, there were so many great anime titles. I think that now the anime have became more commercial, it's more far than before of the artistic concepts. For example, a title like Honneamise no Tsubasa is just a masterpiece but i can't imagine a title like that being produced now-days. Today it's easy to see the same scene in 89 animes (just try to count how many times you have seen a good-looking girl falling down "accidentally" over a good-looking guy), most of the time we see how animators use the same formula one time and other just to satisfy the mainstream and sell merchandise without spending money and effort. In the past, anime were made with more love, it was not made only for selling more than the other companies. Also, the anime public is no more a specific public, now you can talk about the mainstream watching anime, that didn't happen in the past years so, being anime a product for an specific audience, animators knew that and assumed that their public was not easy to satisfy, so they put all their effort into their product. Think about a fantastic title from 1992, Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki. It coul look now (13 years of anime copying the Tenchi formula after) like one more commercial anime with a bit of everything to satisfy everyone but you can see just after watching the first episode the differences between anime produced these days and now. Just look at the animation quality, the designs. Maybe the series could had the same succes with a no so good animation but it was done well and with love. Bye, i hope you forgive for my english but it's not my native language.

Excuse me, but what gives you the right to say they were not made with your so called "love" The creators most of had soem kind of "love" to continue a drawing their character that are from that individuals heart, just because things may look a little differnt and the stories don't really meet your liking does not mean that it is not made with "love", have you ever considered your just getting old, and Nostalgic? if u don't like the way anime looks/is written now a days, move on, stick with you tenchi and robotech or what ever it is you called made with love. and start to like things that are more to your liking, your wining is annoying and a disgrace to us fans who love anime all together no matter what time period we live in, i mean it just like an old person who misses playing checkers in their back yard with the neighboor hood kids running around, who hates PS2 or anything electronic. so stop, its never gonna look the same, its a new age,get with the program you old fart!

I myself love the early 90's and 80s anime it just is so much less about the polish of the animation (I can't stand when the characters are blindingly colorful) back then everything had a certain grit making it more well less bright everything had a certain realness in the style today it's just to surrealy colooful for the most part I mean I get headaches watching certain anime.

I have to say that i don't like this kind of 'Goldenageism' it just seems to be a way for longet time fans to say 'oh, things were better in my day...'