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Answerman - Not That Kind of Resolution

and it's pretty clear the anime industry at large hasn't adopted this particular strategy yet.

Here's an uncomfortable truth: you will probably not still like some of the old shows you remember fondly.

Have you ever gone back and watched the cartoons you used to love when you were a REALLY little kid? Most of that stuff is absolute garbage: mind candy and thinly veiled advertising of the absolute lowest order. But you loved it. I loved it. We all did. Those are good memories, and they're memories we should all cherish. That doesn't mean you still need to watch that garbage.

All of it is just part of the marketing plan, and it's pretty clear the anime industry at large hasn't adopted this particular strategy yet.

Have you ever gone back and watched the cartoons you used to love when you were a REALLY little kid?

Counterpoint: I vastly prefer older material. As I went on in that What Happened to Anime thread, I find myself gravitating to 60's-90's anime far more than I am the Aught fives through today. I find the tone and themes more in line with my tastes.

I don't think this is nostalgia goggles coming into play, either. I only every watched one or two episodes of Gatchaman back in the 70's and I only ever saw the Fist of the North Star movie, never the series - but I picked up the boxed sets for both a couple of months ago and have been enjoying both shows immensely.

For the person with the last question:

Are there any specific shows you wanted to go back to? Everyone has their own experiences and opinions when they evaluate shows old and new, and not all of them will coincide with your own, but if you have a few titles in mind and you ask around, you might be able to get a few people to give you insight as to what they believe are its best or worst aspects--some of which, you may care for. Take the people who elaborate clearly on their opinions seriously, too. You'll probably get several "Oh, it sucked. Not worth your time." or "It was amazing! Worth a rewatch!" responses, but the best are the ones that actually care enough about your experience (or their own) to give you more insight on specific flaws or quality aspects of a series. In the end, only you can judge your own taste and standards, but it does help immensely cut down on the potential for disappointment if you ask around for peer opinions. And this is especially true for things you may still have bits and pieces of in your memories, since you'll have a better idea of what those people are talking about.

Top-of-my-mind example: Digimon Adventure (first season). Opinions are everywhere for it, but you'll probably see a general consensus that aside from one stray episode or the film productions, the animation for the series was pretty horrible, even for its time, and it has a few plot holes that can be questioned with ease, and often are. However, most fans (including myself) like to argue that despite all that, it still is a quality series with some amazing character writing for a children's series. If the former stuff hurts your enjoyment of a 50-or-so episode series, then it might not be for you, but if you care about the latter stuff more, or are open to flaws in exchanged for potentially good writing in other parts of the show, then you might enjoy it anyway.

He doesn't mean old as in time frame, just stuff you watched earlier on, like Love Hina or InuYasha for a good chunk of fans. People used to love those series. But I think along with individuals developing, so did the entire anime fandom and they'd find Love Hina worse than most harems today.

For instance, I recently contemplated picking up a dirt cheap bundle for Soul Taker since I watched it back in the TechTV days, but I also remembered that the plot was pretty nonsensical. I wasn't sure if that was due to me still being pretty new to anime or if it really did have plot issues. Fortunately, I saved myself some time and money by verifying that my old impression of it wasn't unique.