Forum - View topicHistorically speaking, what's the greatest anime of all time
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DragonsRevenge
 Posts: 1150 |
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I'd say astroboy, but I dunno. Just cos it was among the first doesnt necessarily make it the best, does it? Akira? Princess Mononoke? ....Eva? Objectively speaking, I know those are three of the most important ones. What do you think? |
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jsyxx
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Probably Astroboy. Its bascially the alpha of the entire artform as we know it. Alot of the biggest names in anime also worked on it on it such as Tomino and Rintaro.
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Tenchi
 Posts: 4518 Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer. |
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You mean subjectively speaking. Despite what some pretentious people might claim about objective standards for art, if you're listing what you feel are the three greatest examples of any given artform, the criteria for greatness are always subjective, never objective. Greatness will always vary according to opinion. |
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Tenchi
Posts: 4518 Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer. |
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Anyway, if I was picking three anime I would put in a museum based on my own completely subjective criteria as to what constitutes "greatness", I'd choose:
Urusei Yatsura, for being about the most consistently amusing and rewatchable series of all time. And, as a sub-selection, Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer, which I consider to be the greatest anime film of all-time since it's philosophical but not pretentious as the light-hearted nature of the characters makes the deeper parts of the film so much more easy to swallow unlike so many other critically-acclaimed anime films I find to be much too ponderous, plodding, and dreary. Kiki's Delivery Service, Miyazaki's greatest film for being simple, straightforward, and focused, not scattershot and pretentious. Project A-Ko, which has a manic, kinetic, hyperfrenetic energy to it not like any anime I've ever seen since, including the sequels. |
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DragonsRevenge
Posts: 1150 |
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I was expecting more discussion on this.
*sigh* |
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11433 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Sorry, but it's difficult to take ALL of the anime ever created into consideration and judge them objectively, when it's a fact that almost all people are subjective. Unless you have some sort of categorical statistic or official statement from the highest authority possible, then it's kind of pointless to try and debate which anime is historically "the greatest of all time." A lot of the users here would just give you their preferences since they probably aren't too polished on their anime history, so it wouldn't be fair for them to give an opinion without sounding a little uninformed. You could try to make the case that there are shows from the earlier stages of Japanese animation that helped pave the way for today's titles, but that's about it. Otherwise, you get a thread like this. |
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Sword of Whedon
Posts: 683 |
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Space Battleship Yamato. Not only did it define Sci-Fi anime for the next 20 years, but it started US anime fandom.
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Neilworms
 Posts: 155 Location: Chicago IL |
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If your talking about importance and influence on the rest of the industry and not "best" per say I'd say these (though this is still a quite subjective question):
(I can't think of any of the shorts that were prior to World War II at the moment and I have time constraints might post them later). Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors (1944) Significance: First Feature Length anime film. Also it was used as WWII propoganda. White Snake Enchantress (1959) (Toei Animation) Significance: First color anime film. Also started up Toei animation which at the time had pretentions to be the "Disney of Japan". Films were setup more like Disney films than modern anime with cute animal sidekicks and musical numbers. Also of note this film was inspiration for Hayao Miyazaki to get into the anime industry when he saw it during exam time in high school and cried. Astro Boy (1963) (Osamu Tezuka/Mushi Productions) Significance: Beginning of widespread television anime (though not the first tv anime). First animation in Japan to use limited animation to reduce budget for tv use. Many animation techniques were borrowed from this show and used as a staple for the industry. Also was first tv anime to be released abroad, which encouraged a slew of other shows to be released in a similar fashion in the 1960s. The Adventures of Horus Prince of the Sun (1968) (Dir: Isao Takahata prod: Toei Animation) Significance: First film that Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata played a major role in the production of. In addition it was the first anime film to break from the disneyesque mold, story was darker and had political overtones relavant to the time it was made, though it still has many disney like moments. Takahata was fired because the film was a failure but it gained cult status at college screenings. A Thousand and One Nights (1969) (Osamu Tezuka/Mushi Productions) Significance: First adult oriented anime film. Also was quite popular at the time of release. Also was first animerama film which were three somewhat erotic adult oriented anime films released in the late 1960s early 1970s the other two being Cleopatra (1970) and Kanashimi no Belladonna (1971). Lupin III 1st TV (1971 - Green Jacket) (Studio: A Pro Dirs: 1st half Masaaki Osumi 2nd Half: Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata) Significance: First adult oriented anime TV series. Though it was toned down midway through to compensate for bad ratings. Also featured Miyazaki and Takahata. Wasn't popular until reruns. Space Battle Cruiser Yamato (1974) (TV) Significance: TV show that launched the Anime boom of the 1980s and otaku culture. Wasn't successful in first tv run, but when re-ran as a movie in the late 1970s following the success of Star Wars was a huge hit the influenced many later shows such as Gundam, and caused a wave of other sci-fi anime such as Crusher Joe and Galaxy Express 999. When showed as Star Blazers in the US it helped start international fandom. Heidi (1974) (Isao Takahata) Significance: Very Popular TV show that jumpstarted Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata's careers. Also helped start World Materpiece theatre a 20 year long series of tv shows based on famous literary work. Also was very popular in Europe. Gundam 0079 (1979) (Yoshiyuki Tomino) Significance: Transformed the Giant Robot genera into its current state. Was enormously popular amongst teenagers and is a pillar of the beginng of Otaku Culture. Like Yamato not popular until film version (a trilogy) was released. Spawned numberous sequels and spinoffs. Urusei Yatsura TV: (1982) (Dir: Mamoru Oshii) Very famous TV show. Started Rumiko Takahashi's career and Mamoru Oshii's. Another foundation of Otaku culture, though UY movie 2 marks oshii's change from normal comedy to philosophical material. Macross (1982) Significance: Another pillar of Otaku culture. Also helped start international fandom when shown as Robotech. Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind (1984) Dir: Hayao Miyazaki Siginificance: Miyazaki's first moderately successful film. Got attention of film critics who praised it. Most inflential modern anime film, influenced everything from Star Trek to Evangelion. Also alllowed for the start of the tremendously successful Studio Ghibli, and helped start a wave of artisitcally ambitious anime films from 1985-1989. Grave of the Fireflies (1987) Dir: Isao Takahata Significance: Very famous highly praised film. First anime film to be about very realistic serious subject matter. Wings of Honneamise (1987) Dir: Hiroyuki Yamaga Siginificance: Major attempt by studio Gainax to revolutionize anime, was a failure, but film established them as a well-known controversial studio. Akira (1988) Dir: Katsuhiro Otomo Significance: Jumpstarted international anime fandom. Was far more influential abroad than in its own country. Often seen by international crtics as the basis that all other anime is based off of. In directly helped revitalize the anime industry by 1995 after the boom died out not long after its release. Ghost in the Shell (1995) Dir: Mamoru Oshii Significance: Like Akira more famous internationally than Japan. Helped jump start international fandom and bring anime to the international stage. Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995) Dir: Hideaki Anno Significance: Most influential giant robot show since Gundam. Caused a huge amount of controversy over its ending. Was very very popular. Film version End of Evangelion (1997) was even more controversial. Princess Mononoke (1997) Dir: Hayao Miyazaki Siginifcance: First anime film to break box office records for any film, one of the highest grossing non-english films. First miyazaki film to recieve US release. Perfect Blue (1997) Dir: Satoshi Kon Siginifcance: Beginning of Career of one of the most acclaimed young anime directors. Spirited Away (2001) Dir: Hayao Miyazaki Significance: First anime film to win the Golden Bear at Berlinale Film fest and the Best Animated Feature Oscar. Broke numberous box office records and made Miyazaki better known in many countries because of his recieveing of many awards. I think that's my list... I probably missed a few historically siginificant shows and may have added a few works that aren't all that significant except to me :P. That took way too long to write up :P. Also a lot of my writeups on siginificance suffered. Again this is very subjective, my bias in what I like shows up a bit too much in this list, for anotehr perspective from a guy who can run cirlces around me in terms of what he knows about anime history I'd recommend asking Benjamin Ettinger about a similar list. |
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owen_c
 Posts: 14 Location: Pittsburgh PA |
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for the Benjamin Ettinger link that should be http://www.pelleas.net/aniTOP/ - file structure is case sensitive
Great site. Nausicaa and Urusei Yatsura also inadvertently led to the creation of the fetishist aspect of otaku culture. The first doujinshi was of Nausicaa, and former creators of Urusei Yatsura created Project A-ko which created the panty shot. Have to keep negative influences in mind as well.. |
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Tenchi
Posts: 4518 Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer. |
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I guess "negative" is just as subjective a word, but I don't see the mild and playful raunchiness of Project A-ko as being a negative at all. Cutie Honey had fan-service long before Project A-ko did anyway.
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Neilworms
Posts: 155 Location: Chicago IL |
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Yeah your right except for one thing, it was Clarisse from Castle of Cagliostro that the first doujin was about leading to the obsession with pretty young girls the otaku have. I considered putting it there because of that, but I already had enough stuff from Miyazaki on the list anyways. 2 more things I think I should add that I forgot... Moon Base Dallos (1984) (V) Dir: Mamoru Oshii Significance: First OVA. Didn't popularize the format but was the first one done. Megazone 23 (1985) (V) Significance: Popularized the OVA format for anime. |
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Haiseikoh 1973
 Posts: 1590 Location: Waiting for the Japanese 1000 Gunieas. |
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Give a reason please. Personally, I find such a recommendation utter bullcrap. The only thing going for it is that it's constantly overplayed by CN to the point of absurdity. And repetition is very bad. I find little to no cultural merit in CB. I hate to say this, but I'd recomend Dragonball. It singlehandedly thrust Anime to a new generation of Americans, and in the same turn, is easily recognized as one of the most vilified Anime out there. |
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the_soultaker
 Posts: 685 |
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why did i have the feeling that someone was gonna mention Dragonball Z?
 
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Haiseikoh 1973
Posts: 1590 Location: Waiting for the Japanese 1000 Gunieas. |
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Not Z. Dragonball. Z and GT aren't worth even mentioning. |
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zaphdash
 Posts: 620 Location: Brooklyn |
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For the reason that you gave, you actually should have said Dragon Ball Z. Dragon Ball, in its initial American run, was an utter and complete failure. Dragon Ball Z is what, in your own words, "singlehandedly thrust Anime to a new generation of Americans." The success of Z is what allowed more than thirteen episodes of Dragon Ball to ever reach American televisions. Then again, it's all just "Dragon Ball" in the manga, so I suppose making the distinction between DB and DBZ is really just splitting hairs. |
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