It has been 100 years of anime?

[felix]

Uhm, so what were influential anime in your opinion. Obviously they dont necesarily have to be Tv series nor do they have to be your favorites or the best.

I'm sadly too stupid to know what series started the Gundam formula (surely theres been something before "Gundam" itself?), the little sister / school / childhood crush formula, and when exactly did we switch from the unstylized eyes / giant eyes + skinny tubes for legs body and hands to overly realistic bodies and eyes that are the most detailed element on a character. But those are the main differences I notice when watching older shows vs newer shows. (I also wonder when the chibies started or if they've always been a reference to simpler times)

Here's apparently what japan thinks... brace yourselves

[Tanuki.]

It's not really what "Japan" thinks. It's what a select group of Japanese people think who bothered to vote on some kind of website. If you want to know what the Japanese mainstream thinks, look at what airs on TV during the day and gets high ratings (e.g. Sazae-san, Chibi Maruko-chan, Shin-chan, Detective Conan). If you want to know what older Japanese people think, look at what was popular in the 70s, 80s and 90s (e.g. Heidi, Yamato, Evangelion, Totoro, Urusei Yatsura etc.)

This poll doesn't really hold any significant meaning. Online polls hold on a very specific site are never good to measure the public opinion.

I'm sadly too stupid to know what series started the Gundam formula

Gundam started the serious war drama / modern mecha format. There's been the super robot genre before (some of them light and fun, some of them dark and edgy like Go Nagai's works, but mostly they were monster of the week shows without ambitious stories), and there have been space operas like Space Battle Ship Yamato. But I think Gundam was the first one with an ambitious story as opposed to episodic fluff of most other shows at that time.

[Kanon]

Regarding the video, there is what Tanuki said but also the fact "popular" doesn't necessarily mean "influential".

Gundam and Dragon Ball are the first two series that comes to my mind when I think of "influential". I'd say Sailor Moon has been fairly influential has well. When it comes to childhood friends, I would guess that Touch (and Adachi's works in general) has been an influence. Minami was super popular.

I'd very much like to know which one started the little sister in love with her brother trope. No clue about this one. I think it's actually older than one would think.

The school setting trend is probably too broad to be traced back to one show in particular.

[Fvlminatvs]

Originally Posted by Kanon

I'd very much like to know which one started the little sister in love with her brother trope. No clue about this one. I think it's actually older than one would think.

It is actually a literary trend. The whole incest narrative motif goes back centuries because it is one of the more obvious individual vs. society conflicts into which an author can tap. Many, many Japanese classic narratives center around the individual vs society or family or obligation as their primary conflict. Thus, an incestuous affair (usually between cousins) is almost as popular as the adulterous affair--star-crossed lovers are a big thing for Japanese literature.

[Kanon]

Interesting. It didn't occur to me it could have come from classic literature. You mention love between cousins is more common though, but I thought this was accepted in Japan? (it at the very least isn't against the law) Is there perhaps one particular classic that immediately comes to mind which have siblings in love? Kinda like how we immediately think of Oedipus when it comes to mother/son incest.

[SeijiSensei]

I wasn't as surprised as he was to see Mononoke in the list. As of 2011, it had sold more discs than any other noitaminA offering at that time, over 12,000 units on average. It was popular enough to warrant a Blu-ray re-release with the original "Bake Neko" arc included from Ayakashi Samurai Horror Tales. That version has sold about 9,000 units.

I'm as puzzled as he by the rating for Joker Game. Perhaps it got high ratings because it was set in the interwar period? Or maybe because it gave the impression that the Germans were the enemies of the Japanese in World War II?

[Tanuki.]

Because the male cast appealed to the female viewership, that's the cause for its popularity (just like many others on the list, including Tiger & Bunny).

[Jan-Poo]

Originally Posted by Kanon

I'd very much like to know which one started the little sister in love with her brother trope. No clue about this one. I think it's actually older than one would think.

My bet is that this is probably rooted in Visual Novels and then bled into Manga, LN and Anime.

Originally Posted by Tanuki

Because the male cast appealed to the female viewership, that's the cause for its popularity (just like many others on the list, including Tiger & Bunny).

I suspect there have also been dedicated communities advertising the poll on their forums and boards to make their favorite anime win.

[0cean]

Originally Posted by felix

Uhm, so what were influential anime in your opinion. Obviously they dont necesarily have to be Tv series nor do they have to be your favorites or the best.

The thing I call anime began roughly between 1981 and 1984, if I had to pick a year it would be 1984. Obviously there was stuff before that time that influenced the creators, but in my opinion, the essence of what anime is, didn't show itself until that time.

So let's start at the beginning, with Urusei Yatsura (1981). That show single-handedly invented everything you came to love and hate about anime. If you subscribe to my idea of anime, that is. And that wasn't even what it was set out to do, it was just a byproduct.

The next big thing of the Eighties was Hokuto no Ken (1984). That one defined a genre that would later became popular with shows that stole from it. Like Dragon Ball.

You may or may not have noticed, that I omitted Gundam (1979) and concluded, that it was because of it's year. Though, there's a reason I start at 1981 and not 1979. Many people think Gundam shaped anime, but all I'm seeing is Sunrise remaking that show every couple of years. Probably as soon as people forget Gundam is a thing that exists and sometimes they don't even call it Gundam. Sneaky bastards. The point I'm trying to make is, that Gundam is just Sunrise's thing. They keep it alive. Other people aren't really influenced by it that much. And if there's one thing you can credit Gundam for, it is to make it acceptable for whiny little kids to be main characters. Though, others blame Evangelion for that.

But Shin Seiki Evangelion (1995) brought lots of other stuff to the table. Like, I don't know: anime. To a bigger audience then ever. Suddenly anime was this thing that not only little kids and family watched. Or weirdos that adored little girls shows. Think Minky Momo (1982), Magical Emi (1985), Pastel Yumi (1986) and so on. Evangelion changed things. Big time. And not only because of all the copycats that failed to get what made Evangelion great. Like Sunrise with their attempt called Brain Powerd (1998). Evangelion and the fact that late-night anime became a thing that exists.

Around 2000 anime just exploded. And then we got a while of nothing much. Every year had a couple of great and lots of really awful shows, but nothing really left a mark. Not until 2006 and Suzumiya Haruhi, anyway. That thing spawned it's own religion and it took KyoAni a second season that repeated one episode nine times and a major sex scandal to rid themselves of the franchise. After that they played it safe by making moe-blobs, fujoshi-bait and generally really uninteresting title that all got lots of attention because people mistook them for another Haruhi. Also, that same year Code Geass happened. It's an anime from Sunrise, that isn't Gundam, except it really is. They just don't call it that. And I think that's the reason it took off as much as it did. The Gundam formula is really good, people are just generally tired of the franchise, because it's always basically the same. So calling it something different helped a lot.


Anyway, another decade passed by. Each year has some really good and lots of really, really bad shows. Same as always. What stood out as not just very popular but also very influential? Sword Art Online (2012). Ten years earlier there was .hack//SIGN (2002), which had basically the same concept of someone trapped in a virtual reality game. But boy, after SAO that concept took really off. And I wish it had happened earlier, because I really like it. In fact, I think SAO is the weakest of the bunch, but,... oh well.

So,... that's my take on history. Maybe I forgot something, I just wrote this out of my head, because I felt like writing a wall of text for people to ignore.