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That's a very tough question.
I'd say the most important year in Anime is 1986 I'm biased of course because I love Saint Seiya but there's so much more than that.
As early as the late 60s some manga like Kamui Gaiden or Sabu & Ichi were pretty mature but even if you bypass the frames per second you still get the feeling those are somewhat in a space in between Seinen and Shounen, not quite childish like the Shounen of the era yet not as complex as to fully part from them as many Shounen such as Speed Racer and Kimba also had some pretty dark undertones at times like substance addiction or famine, etc.
A decade later circa 1977-79 we get an explosion of not only Anime but Tokusatsu and I've always say the death of Sir Kay in the grand daddy of Saint Seiya ''Entaku No Kishi Monogatari Moero Asa'' (1979), is one of the most emblematic moments of my early childhood. That was of course not a coincidence as we've had very mature series during that decade such as Gatchaman and of course Gundam and I feel that even if not in action and pacing at least in sensibility they've managed to strike the perfect core tempered ballance shounen protagonists until the early 2000s. That was also the year in which The Rose of Versailes was made which proved just how much grace and beauty the female counterpart of the shounen male hero could radiate.
Then came the big year of 1982, Macross America and the world like a storm via Robotech and we all whitnessed just how far ahead in animation the Japanese really were. All of a sudden people were craving for space operas with mechas and even without graphic novels litearary novelizations became popular. Now while Gundam was huge in Japan, I've heard the mecha craze started with toy mecha such as 70s Cho-gokin or Tonka's GoBots a year later but IMHO the Macross section of Robotech had as much to with it.
Fast forward to 1984 Voltron which proved that what happened with Robotech wasn't a fluke and you get first wave of high value American cartoons made in Japan. This was a common practice elsewhere in the world like Spain, France and Germany had entire anime series made for them back then and going all the way back into the 1960s, but because of how agressive the American market was and how well polished their products were this was the time in which Japanese made American cartoons became a dime a dozen. By 1986 Japanese stuidios would be hired to animate Transformers the movie.
By 1985 you get Orobts, Thundercats, and of course a little movie called Megazone 23 which was used as part of the hybrid that was the Robotech movie in 1986. Oh and you get a little movie called ''Nausicaa And the Valley of the Wind'' in 1984 by would be Studio Ghibly which sadly was bastardized as Warriors of the Wind six months later. Movies like Nausicaa, Angel's Egg, Vampire Hunter D had proven to be massively successful in Japan and VHS was gaining ground as well so Japan made so many this from year on OVAs became a cultural landmark of Japanese animation.
Then came the Japanese Bubble 1986 and that was the year when the well oiled machine kept escalating production until it took over the world. Most American cartoons were made in Japan which brought revenue boosting the quality of Anime and not only that but even the American adaptations of Japanese properties were becoming popular, again OVA's were in full swing, the refferences of happy campy parade songs were all but gone now in Shounen anime and the Japanese Power Rock we still asociate with Shounen to this day was melting the faces of Japanaese kids left and right, a trend that was started in 1981 was boosted movies like Godzilla or the Robocop inspired Metal Hero shows and paved the wave for a very futuristic Japanese aesthetic that not only was prised world wide but incited consumerism amongst Japanese people which aided by the bubble sparked sells of Anime merchandize like never before, just as Robotech had proven early G-Force cemented the idea that there was a market for unfiltered Japanese propterties even if they were too violent and/or complex for children, and finally there's the shere volume of instant classics that were airing at the time is outstanding Kinnikuman, Captain Tsubasa, The Fist of the North Star, Silver Fang, Dragon Ball, City Hunter, Saint Seiya, and Jojo's Bizzarre Adventure. ALL OF THOSE were happening at the same time in Weekly Shounen Jump.
So to me the best year in Anime was 1986.
I'd say the most important year in Anime is 1986 I'm biased of course because I love Saint Seiya but there's so much more than that.
As early as the late 60s some manga like Kamui Gaiden or Sabu & Ichi were pretty mature but even if you bypass the frames per second you still get the feeling those are somewhat in a space in between Seinen and Shounen, not quite childish like the Shounen of the era yet not as complex as to fully part from them as many Shounen such as Speed Racer and Kimba also had some pretty dark undertones at times like substance addiction or famine, etc.
A decade later circa 1977-79 we get an explosion of not only Anime but Tokusatsu and I've always say the death of Sir Kay in the grand daddy of Saint Seiya ''Entaku No Kishi Monogatari Moero Asa'' (1979), is one of the most emblematic moments of my early childhood. That was of course not a coincidence as we've had very mature series during that decade such as Gatchaman and of course Gundam and I feel that even if not in action and pacing at least in sensibility they've managed to strike the perfect core tempered ballance shounen protagonists until the early 2000s. That was also the year in which The Rose of Versailes was made which proved just how much grace and beauty the female counterpart of the shounen male hero could radiate.
Then came the big year of 1982, Macross America and the world like a storm via Robotech and we all whitnessed just how far ahead in animation the Japanese really were. All of a sudden people were craving for space operas with mechas and even without graphic novels litearary novelizations became popular. Now while Gundam was huge in Japan, I've heard the mecha craze started with toy mecha such as 70s Cho-gokin or Tonka's GoBots a year later but IMHO the Macross section of Robotech had as much to with it.
Fast forward to 1984 Voltron which proved that what happened with Robotech wasn't a fluke and you get first wave of high value American cartoons made in Japan. This was a common practice elsewhere in the world like Spain, France and Germany had entire anime series made for them back then and going all the way back into the 1960s, but because of how agressive the American market was and how well polished their products were this was the time in which Japanese made American cartoons became a dime a dozen. By 1986 Japanese stuidios would be hired to animate Transformers the movie.
By 1985 you get Orobts, Thundercats, and of course a little movie called Megazone 23 which was used as part of the hybrid that was the Robotech movie in 1986. Oh and you get a little movie called ''Nausicaa And the Valley of the Wind'' in 1984 by would be Studio Ghibly which sadly was bastardized as Warriors of the Wind six months later. Movies like Nausicaa, Angel's Egg, Vampire Hunter D had proven to be massively successful in Japan and VHS was gaining ground as well so Japan made so many this from year on OVAs became a cultural landmark of Japanese animation.
Then came the Japanese Bubble 1986 and that was the year when the well oiled machine kept escalating production until it took over the world. Most American cartoons were made in Japan which brought revenue boosting the quality of Anime and not only that but even the American adaptations of Japanese properties were becoming popular, again OVA's were in full swing, the refferences of happy campy parade songs were all but gone now in Shounen anime and the Japanese Power Rock we still asociate with Shounen to this day was melting the faces of Japanaese kids left and right, a trend that was started in 1981 was boosted movies like Godzilla or the Robocop inspired Metal Hero shows and paved the wave for a very futuristic Japanese aesthetic that not only was prised world wide but incited consumerism amongst Japanese people which aided by the bubble sparked sells of Anime merchandize like never before, just as Robotech had proven early G-Force cemented the idea that there was a market for unfiltered Japanese propterties even if they were too violent and/or complex for children, and finally there's the shere volume of instant classics that were airing at the time is outstanding Kinnikuman, Captain Tsubasa, The Fist of the North Star, Silver Fang, Dragon Ball, City Hunter, Saint Seiya, and Jojo's Bizzarre Adventure. ALL OF THOSE were happening at the same time in Weekly Shounen Jump.
So to me the best year in Anime was 1986.