Works in the "Anime Canon"

[bluekaterpillar]

Wikipedia defines "Western Canon" as the following:

"The term "Western canon" denotes a body of books and, more broadly, music and art that have been traditionally accepted by Western scholars as the most important and influential in shaping Western culture. As such, it includes the "greatest works of artistic merit"." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_canon)

Following this definition, an Anime Canon would consist of anime that are accepted as important and influential to shaping the anime medium, and/or are of great artistic merit. Which works would be included in an Anime Canon?

[speedyexpress48]

Hmm...hard one.

Katsudō Shashin would definitely be one, since it was the first anime ever made (that we know of.)

[Flower]

Sailor Moon and Evangelion first come to mind.

[ChainLegacy]

Dragonball and Hokuto no Ken are definitely on the list.

[Ithekro]

Space Battleship Yamato I would imagine. Shaped a bunch of directors and artists that started doing stuff in the late 70s and 80s.

Also gave the start for what would eventually be the marketing success that is Gundam for Bandai. The small mecha ships for Yamato sold well enough that Bandai considered other things. Plus there are people involved in making Gundam that were on staff for Yamato.

[Magin]

Just as there's a huge list for the Western canon, there's probably also going to be a huge list for this as well, if we were to compile everyone's thoughts

Just off the top of my head though:
Evangelion
Sailor Moon
Dragonball Z
Cowboy Bebop/Trigun
Love Hina
Ghost in the Shell
The Melancholy of haruhi Suzumiya
K-On!
Pokemon
Legend of Galactic heroes
Madoka Magica
Gundam/Macross

Each of these has strongly influenced anime in some way... I might edit this post later to give a more in-depth explanation of each

[CrowKenobi]

I would add Go Nagi's works and everything by Osamu Tezuka.

[Jan-Poo]

Well I think someone already made a list like that.

[TnAdct1]

My list of "anme canon" titles:

• Astro Boy
• Gatchaman
• Mobile Suit Gundam
• Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
• My Neighbor Totoro
• Akira
• Dragon Ball Z
• Sailor Moon
• Neon Genesis Evangelion
• Pokemon
• Cowboy Bebop
• Spirited Away
• Azumanga Daioh

[Sackett]

Lists that might help you:

Essential Anime
Voting on Essential Anime

If I were to compile my own list it would be something like:

Space Battleship Yamato (aka Starblazers)
Mobile Suit Gundam
Rose of Versailles
Touch
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Urusei Yatsura
Maison Ikkoku
Grave of the Fireflies
Fist of the North Star
Dragon Ball
Ranma 1/2
Tenchi Muyo!
Sailor Moon
Ah! My Goddess
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Martian Successor Nadesico
Rurouni Kenshin
Revolutionary Girl Utena
Cowboy Bebop
Chrono Crusade
InuYasha
Pokémon
Crest of the Stars
Spirited Away
Love Hina (Yes, I know, I know, but in terms of influence it is really high).
Azumanga Daioh
Fullmetal Alchemist
Elfen Lied (Warning, this is an emotionally traumatizing show, I don't recommend it, but it does seem to me to fill out a big section of the anime spectrum.)
Death Note
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
ARIA
Honey and Clover
Clannad
Shakugan no Shana
A Certain Magical Index
Lucky Star
K-On
Soul Eater
Cross Game
Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica
Mawaru Penguindrum
Kimi ni Todoke
Bunny Drop

That's a very roughly compiled list. I haven't watched all of them, and I don't like all of them. I'm probably missing a few that should be on there (especially shoujo), and if I thought about it some more I might remove one or two. It should be a pretty good list though if you want to be introduced to much of anime.

[Jan-Poo]

Originally Posted by bluekaterpillar

Wikipedia defines "Western Canon" as the following:

"The term "Western canon" denotes a body of books and, more broadly, music and art that have been traditionally accepted by Western scholars as the most important and influential in shaping Western culture. As such, it includes the "greatest works of artistic merit"." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_canon)

Reading the lists that people are posting here made me realize something, they are mentioning the anime that they are thinking are most influential based on their own experience, but most of them are westerners or anyway they are not Japanese.


Should an "Eastern Canon" be decided by western people, if the definition of "western canon" requires for it to be decided by "western scholars"?

It's a more relevant problem than you may think it is. There are several anime that have been particularly influential in Japan but that are basically unknown everywhere else and there are some that became extremely popular in some countries while they were considered just average in their home and they are now forgotten.

A most notable examples of this is Sazae-san, which I doubt anyone here is following and that will ever recommend it, and yet its episode count is 7000+ and still running (longest animated series in the world). It's also the most watched anime in Japan beating other contenders by a very large margin.

On the other hand anime like "Tenchi Muyo" and "Bubblegum Crisis" have shaped the history of anime fandom in the U.S. but are mostly inconsequential in Japan.

[Magin]

If you're going to go down that route... well, obviously we'd need someone from Japan to give their opinion. But secondly, these titles then come to mind:

Doraemon
One Piece (well, maybe not so much anime. but definitely manga-wise it's in a "longest running" category)
Detective Conan
Lupin III
And there's a police station one that I can never remember the name of that's been going on for ages

[Ithekro]

Depending on how things develop in the next few years I might add either Gundam Unicorn, Gundam Origins, or Space Battleship Yamato 2199 as the prime example of how to do a remake or reboot of a francise.

[Sackett]

Originally Posted by Jan-Poo

Reading the lists that people are posting here made me realize something, they are mentioning the anime that they are thinking are most influential based on their own experience, but most of them are westerners or anyway they are not Japanese.


Should an "Eastern Canon" be decided by western people, if the definition of "western canon" requires for it to be decided by "western scholars"?

It's a more relevant problem than you may think it is. There are several anime that have been particularly influential in Japan but that are basically unknown everywhere else and there are some that became extremely popular in some countries while they were considered just average in their home and they are now forgotten.

A most notable examples of this is Sazae-san, which I doubt anyone here is following and that will ever recommend it, and yet its episode count is 7000+ and still running (longest animated series in the world). It's also the most watched anime in Japan beating other contenders by a very large margin.

On the other hand anime like "Tenchi Muyo" and "Bubblegum Crisis" have shaped the history of anime fandom in the U.S. but are mostly inconsequential in Japan.

That is a good question. I attempted to include anime that are big in Japan (Touch, Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku) as well as those big in western anime fandom (Cowboy Bebop, Love Hina, Tenchi Muyo). Of course, several fall into both categories (Space Battleship Yamato, Sailor Moon, Neon Genesis Evangelion).

[SeijiSensei]

I'm always surprised that Mononoke Hime never seems to make these lists. Even after seventeen years, it still ranks #6 in all-time Japanese box-office receipts. I also happen to think it's a much better film than Miyazaki's later works like Spirited Away and Howl.

[Fireminer]

Have anyone notice a simple thing: Gundam, Macross, Yamato, Cowboy Bebop, Astro Boy, Evangelion, Index, Nandesico, Ghost in the Shell...?

Sci-fi. It seem a lot of us still imbued with the notion of a futuristic Japan and what it projects on screen: A future of contradictions (Japan itself is also full of these.)

And why haven't anyone add Doraemon, Crayon Shin-chan, Jarinko Chie and Ninja Rantaro? Especially Doraemon. He and Conan Edogawa are two embodiments of anime.

Plus, I still think Howl is a bit better than Mononoke in setting the tone. However, it's true that the latter has a much more intriguing plot and characters.