Fall 1994: General Impressions Thread

[totoum]

Yes, you've read that title correctly

So basically I was wondering what would happen if we tried discussing oldschool anime in the same way we discuss today's anime?Maybe nothing will come from this and nobody will reply to this but I figured I'd give it a shot.
I randomly decided to go 20 years back because that's a nice round number.

So, since we don't have a chart here's an anidb link

So for TV shows:

Blue Seed: I've heard good things about it and it is IG but not really familiar with it, maybe someone eslse can weigh in?

DNA2: I did enjoy the show but didn't really find it memorable,except for the fact that Karin is best girl

Macross 7 : well here's a classic, sadly I'm not familiar with the macross franchise

Magic Knight Rayearth: started watching it a while ago, not finished it yet but it's a really interesting mix of stuff you don't see everyday.

Captain Tsubasa J: that's my childhood right there! I havn't seen it in a long long time so no idea how it holds up.

OVAs (limited myself to 3+ episodes but you don't have to)

You`re Under Arrest: You know it's 1994 when I tell you DEEN makes a stunningly beatiful looking show, and honestly as much as I did enjoy the the character interaction it's what kept me from looking into the TV show, no way could they keep that level up for a 4 cour show.

Tenchi Muyou! Ryououki : Tenchi Muyou was never my thing, sorry! But maybe a fan of the franchise can say how this one fares

Aozora Shoujotai: ok, I absolutely love the chara designs but sadly it's studio fantasia so something tells me this might be the only thing I like about the show, but if someone has seen it and can tell me it's decent enough I'll give it a go.

Shippuu! Iron Leaguer: Silver no Hata no Moto ni : Sadly seems nobody ever subbed this , too bad because the wtf factor seems nice ewenough

Key the Metal Idol : I'll spare you the essay but I absolutely really like this show just because of its trollish nature and title, I really enjoyed the ride and really wondered what it must have been likke to watch this show as OVAs gradually came out, the crazy speculation that must have gone on would have been fun to be part of.Also not everyday you can say the word Studio pierrot orgininal sci fi show.


So thoughts anyone?

[Flower]

The only ones I have seen from that list are:

Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon S: Kaguya Hime no Koibito, Tenchi Muyou! Ryououki, Ranma 1/2 special and Clamp in Wonderland.

I have heard of Knights of Rayearth, Gatchaman, You're Under Arrest, Macross 7, Captain Tsubasa, and Key the Metal Idol, though. Knights of Rayearth and Key the Metal Idol are the only ones I have been interested to see, though, and have not yet.

Of the ones I have not heard of a few caught my attention: Tanjou: Debut, Saitama Bousou Saizensen Flag! Shinimonogurui no Seishun!! and possibly Mahoujin Guru Guru.

****

However, here is another list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_in_anime

And off of this list there are more I have seen, including Junkers Come Here, Marmalade Boy, Pom Poko and the Sailor Moon S series.

Tico of the Seven Seas by World Masterpiece Theatre was also airing then, and I have seen the first 16 episodes of it.

[Triple_R]

Magic Knight Rayearth was an excellent fantasy anime. A very nice fusion of fantasy and magical girl with a mecha edge later on.

Rayearth has one of the best plot twists I've ever seen, in any medium, and that has helped to make the show very memorable to me.

The three female leads have a good personality balance and chemistry between them. The antagonists are very well-realized and almost always come across as credible challenges and threats.


Tenchi Muyou! Ryououki is pretty creative sci-fi with a lot of harem hijinks. I was never that fond of the male lead, but the characters surrounding him tend to be fun and interesting, and there's a lot of nice imagination displayed in the show.


Musekinin Kanchou Tylor: Tokubetsu Hen - Hitoribocchi no Sensou is a good followup, but it's not quite as engaging and suspenseful as the original TV series anime.


I'm pretty sure I've seen that Ranma 1/2 Special, but there were a few of them, and they're a bit blurred in my memory, so without a more specific name to differentiate it from the rest, it's hard to comment on it (some Ranma 1/2 Specials were better than others, imo). Though I will say that even the worst of the Ranma 1/2 Specials tended to make for good popcorn entertainment, at least.

[Jan-Poo]

I haven't seen many of those, but then again it's more or less the same number of anime I watch per season right now.

Mahoujin Guru Guru An extremely funny parody of old style J-RPG, unfortunately it is mainly focused on the tropes set by the Dragon Quest series and so it never became popular in the west.

Macross 7 The highly famed Macross gets a new series... but it looks like a totally unambitious project, with a low budget, drama reduced to the minimum, and a silly premise of a MC that gets in the middle of a space battle to play his song while dodging missiles.
But it is strangely entertaining and fun. "Ore no uta kikeeee!!!"

Key the metal Idol If I had to pick an anime to save from this list, that would be certainly Key the metal Idol. This is a very strange and unusual anime, there is probably not a good way to explain with words why it is good and why it needs to be watched, you simply need to find out by yourself. In all honesty I don't think it aged very well, it screams "90 anime style" in every single aspect of it, may it animation, chara design, direction and whatnot. But perhaps because of that, there aren't many other anime that can testify the spirit of this era better than Key the Metal idol.

Ranma 1/2 Special What can I say, it's Ranma 1/2 a milestone in anime Comedy and worthy successor of Urusei Yatsura from the same author. This special, unlike many other Ranma 1/2 episodes and movies, is a straight up adaption from a manga chapter.
Not the best you can get from the series but still very solid.

[Dr. Dahm]

It's funny because if you'd have picked a year before or after I'd have lots more to talk about but as it stands the only ones I've really seen are Macross 7 and Captain Tylor, though the TV series and not these OVA's so:

Macross 7: A bit of a lampooning of the whole Macross concept is what it feels like. On top of being the longest Macross project to date by far it was probably the most off the rails at least until Frontier came out. This is where you saw the introduction of lots more straight up comedic antics to the franchise like the whole divorced couples spats between Millia and Max who ran the city and military of the Macross Seven fleet respectively as well as the butting of heads between MC Basara and Mylene as well as Basara and Gamlin over the use of music versus the use of force as a deterrent to the alien threat. The show could also feel kind of drawn out during it's early sections as well with lots of stock footage of Gigil leading a Varuta attack on the Seventh fleet and dominating Diamond Force until Basara showed up in his Fire Valkyrie to rock their souls with loud protest music.

The whole thing basically comes off feeling like basically a tongue in cheek anti-war kind of thing with Basara who is basically space John Lennon being a bit of an infallible type at least in terms of his values who is always ultimately proven right in the end be it in finding the most effective means to fight the seemingly insurmountable proto devln who are immune to pretty much any practical weaponry or in convincing Mylene of the true value of music while searching for that perfect sound. It's pretty fun with some great memorable rock tunes like Totsugeki Love Heart (my personal favorite) and ultimate song at least within the series Try Again but man could it have used a severe trimming down in terms of episodes. Like they probably could have easily made this show 26 episodes the number of times an episode will go by with very little new ground treaded with the cast. Overall I'd probably give it a 6/10 mostly for the music and the episodes where stuff actually happens, particularly the last 5 or so with special mention to the final climactic scene where Basara is finally able to "move that mountain" when all hope seems lost.

I just recalled that I also did see that one Sailor Moon movie before, but it was in a really poorly dubbed format with all new music and probably a lot of scenes missing that aired on TV so I'm not really going to count it or try to review it.

[Marcus H.]

It's definitely not during 1994 when I watched these anime (I'm still 4 at that time ). The only series I picked up is Rayearth and it aired between 1996 and 1997 in the Philippines, since the Gatchaman I ended up watching is the 1972 original locally dubbed on cable and the YUA anime I picked up on AXN was the 2001 series.

Rayearth has a place in my heart as one of the series that cemented my status as an anime fan. I remember spending afternoons watching the series during an era where dubbing the theme songs were still the rage, and it was also the time when there is censorship all over the place. The story's nice, but it seemed to have stepped a notch down after Emeraude's death, where the three girls are split amongst Autozam, Fahren and Chizeta. [The OVA also worsens everything that's about Rayearth by bringing the cast back to Earth, pretty much the same thing that happened in Fushigi Yuugi's OVAs.] I still think it's a decent one, if not seemingly dragged out a bit. I only realized later in my life that everyone in Rayearth is named after cars, just like in Chaika.

Welp, I realized that I tried to absorb this series as an elementary pupil. Way to go.

[Archon_Wing]

Man, times have definitely changed. Coming into the 90s, I'm wondering why anime has grown so soft and tame, it's almost like they're just not longer dedicated to producing quality, just commercialized bastardation made for "family friendly" nonsense. It's almost like people think this medium is just a cartoon and forgot about edgy and violent approach they took with OVAs. Nowadays you can't even show a nipple without it being censored. Could you imagine a day where they'd have steam covering people's asses when they ask for fan-service? Now they're trying to sell it over to the States, fucking prudes.

I really think anime should take more ambitious approaches and dare to defy their limits. But instead, we just get anime producers simply playing it safe. I guess we still have Gundam pushing the limits with Victory Gundam (I really hope Tomino recovers soon though). But even with Gundam, I can't believe how they're trying to water it down with this "alternative universe shit". I mean, everyone knows the UC timeline is sacred. I want to see people die and shit, not watch some guy in skintight black leather (females are fine though) in a mecha fight racist stereotypes. I mean, how could Sunrise let such a trainwreck possibly happen? Gundam is supposed to be dark and gritty; there's plenty of other Super Robot shows!

Anyhow, I just haven't been into anime this season. It's pretty dreary, and with Yu Yu Hakusho ending, which was one of the few engaging shows as of late, I'm not sure what to do. Not sure how Togashi could ever outdo himself, but at least I hope he keeps consistently making stuff!

Sailor Moon S-- Or maybe I should just call it Sailor Moon Z. You know, at one point Sailor Moon wasn't a bad show to watch, but Toei in their infinite wisdom always likes to drag along series. You can see by the reduced budget, and those battle lines while in vogue a few years ago, really don't cut it anymore. It's really just Dragon Ball lite, and the fact that they made Chibi-usa come back (WHY?) is just gonna suggest that I'm going to drop this shit.

I do hope for some fanwork with that Uranus and Neptune though. I hear artists in Japan are really pushing it with the new JPG format; now with my new 28.8k modem, I won't just have to watch ASCII art!

Ranma 1/2 special Deen, Deen. What would I do with you? You always manage to get your hands on some large property and screw it up so that generations after will curse your name. But this at least was refreshing, with Akane acting fairly sane and everyone not being flanderized into their cheap comedy roles. I think it's a clear sign that bad tsundere jokes will be gone by the next decade, but I have my doubts. Still, a good effort that really brings together everything that show should have really kept up during its actual run. Maybe, just maybe Takakashi won't lead us around romantic limbo in her stories anymore. Doubtful.

Darkside Blues-- This is a good example of why modern anime is merely a degraded former shadow of its former self. While it does have the atmosphere of anime past, with a gritty setting and numerous setups which led to me actually waking up for a few moments of suspense turns into something utterly comprehensible and finally leads to that kind of boring attempt of pathos with one of the worst non-endings I have ever witnessed that really just had nothing to do with anything. Style without substance, that's the 90s for you.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be looking into 80s anime, because besides a few exceptions, I think it's not looking good for modern anime. Trust me, in 20 years, if I'm still sitting in front of a monitor still ranting about this shit, I would consider it fortunate.

[Dr. Dahm]

Oh crap the post above just reminded me, G Gundam came out in 1994 but wasn't on the list and I totally forgot so

Mobile Fighter G Gundam: The Gundam franchise goes bonkers and decides it's a martial arts fighting tournament now. At the time this came out the reaction was pretty much serious but in retrospect this series is something of an icon for me if just taken straight up and you're willing to roll with it cause it's so much fun and the level of gar is really off the chart if you're into that sort of thing. This show is a bromance basically where as mentioned above instead of it being about the wars between the colonies and Earth in the Universal Century instead it's the Future Century and humanity has decided the best way to settle conflicts and decide who will lead the colonies is to hold a fighting tournament every four years similar to the Olympics where whoever wins it that fighters country gets to lead the Colony Federation until the next tournament. There's pride and ambition both of the national kind and of the political kind up for grabs and on display and the show really just makes the most of a really simple premise to deliver some memorable cinematographic moments and scenes that still hold up for me to this day making it an easy rewatch.

The catch this time during the 13th Gundam tournament is that there's a hidden threat at play in the Devil Gundam that threatens all of humanity and several different forces are after it's power for their own reasons. In the meantime the show follows Domon Kashuu on his search for his brothers and answers as to a family tragedy that ties into the framework of the story in increasingly surprising and memorable ways so the drama and character turmoil (suffering?) that one expects out of a Gundam series is still very much there. He of course meets the colorful cast of characters known as the Shuffle Alliance who form their bromance, rivalries and friendships over the course of the tournament from the noble and valiant George De Sand to the giant intimidating bruiser with a heart of gold Argo Gulskii. The real breakout character of this series though is Domon's Master and series anti-hero Master Asia who steals pretty much every scene he's in with his tendency to take down mobile suits on foot and his crazy martial arts moves.

The music by Kohei Tanaka is also pretty grand too though not the greatest the franchise has to offer it serves it's purpose well with some standout tracks like Spanning The Globe which opens most episode and Great Hero which invokes just the feeling one would imagine. Hide The Pain and Tears is also probably one of the saddest songs in all of Gundam and used really well in a key scene near the end. Speaking of the end, the last 5 episodes which form something of a running narrative (that really makes up for some of the more boring episodic ones near the start of the show) are pretty much straight 10/10's for me and some of the best you'll ever see in mecha anime.

Anyway the love the staff put into this show, particularly series director Yasuhiro Imagawa is pretty clear to see for those who are willing to accept a different take on the Gundam franchise. I feel like the currently airing Gundam Build Fighters Try is sort of it's spiritual successor in a way, but yeah there you go. Show pretty much gets a strong 9/10 out of me with the only thing holding it back really being some of those episodic one off Gundam fights in early parts of the story.

[Sackett]

Tenchi Muyo: People forget that Tenchi Muyo (yes, even the OVA series) was actually aired on television in America as part of Toonami. This was the second OVA series of the Tenchi Muyo franchise. The Sasami and Tsunami information was a big, big arc in terms of popularity with the fans and establishing the Sasami/Tsunami connection. Left off in a big cliffhanger that took 15 years to be resolved (dis-satisfactorily) when the 3rd OVA series finally came out.

Ranma 1/2 special: This was basically adopted by the fans of Ranma as the "ending" to the story of Ranma and Akane, as the actual ending never got animated. Ranma and Akane actually held hands - providing the only sense of closure ever given to Ranma fans. It was a surprisingly sweet ending too.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Tenchi kicked off my otaku-ism you can say although it wasn't my first anime (that would be the aforementioned Macross 7 of this season) so yes....All of these are very significant childhood anime for me (although I watched all of them as cable TV reruns 3-4 years after they aired)

[aohige]

Tonde Buurin, the magical girl... er, pig, also started Fall 1994.

[Dextro]

I don't know how the hell I got into this topic given I'm still 7 years old.

Now excuse me cause it's time to go watch some more episodes of Saint Seiya. Maybe someday I'll get internet access and start watching some shows on the TV to get into the fandom.

[Dhomochevsky]

For me this is well before I was watching anything 'as it aired', or even fansubbed for that matter.
Some titles released here would be among the first I would consciously watch as 'anime' a few years later, such as:
Tenchi Muyo, Blue Seed, DNA², Ranma 1/2, Key The Metal Idol

Before that, a few of these would make iit to german tv networks and aired in the cartoon sections. Most notably that would be the two football series Captain Tsubasa and Shoot! and Sailormoon of course. However I didn't really watch them, except for a single episode here and there.

If we skip to the Winter Season 2014 now, as our own winter season just started...

Here is the one OVA series that started me back into anime (and the same probabbly goes for a good number of other Germans):
Armitage III

This was aired as part of a late night segment of 'anime not aimed at kids'. I do not remember if this was subtitled at the time, but the segment did later include some subtitled anime. So this was also my first run in with subtitles (and japanese VA) as well.

[Joyce_Steele]

You're Under Arrest need more love and its author Kousuke Fujishima even need more love. Shame both didn't have have fans outside Japan to this day.