What is your favorite era of anime?

[OverTheMoon]

Mine has got to be the early to mid 2000s, it was a really unique time for the industry to me.

 

[Iguana-0]

80's. Cause the only Anime i like is Hokuto No ken

 

[Strategist's iconStrategist]

I don't know how anyone could argue against the 90's. The best animes came out during that era. The late 80's and early 2000's had some good ones too, but I feel like from 2010 on, anime had become too mainstream and turned into uninteresting, formulaic slop for the masses. In the 90's there was still a good mix of genres: The kiddie stuff was mixed with some edgier, adult subjects/gory horror flicks and some serious dramas as well. There was also a variety of art styles, if you look at anime now it all looks very homogeneous.

 

[RustySK]

I'm not hugely into anime, but all the ones I like either came from the late 90s to early 00s, or were made by people whose career started in that timeframe, so that's my pick.

 

[RanmyakuIchi's iconRanmyakuIchi]

I'm very fond of the late 90s to early-mid 2000s era of anime myself.

 

[Bonkers225]

late 80's to mid 90's

DBZ, Slam Dunk, Ranma 1/2, Gundam Wing, Guyver, Yu Yu HAKUSHO, Sailor Moon, Saint Seiya, nuff said.

 

[TotzOnGaming]

The 90s and the early 2000s. I discovered old stuff on net nowadays.

 

[Johnadams1811]

90s and early 2000s. I feel very comfortable the animation style in this era

 

[Daemos666]

Late 80s to the mid 90s

 

[Samatonic]

90s' and early 2000s' anime, we must've hit a gold mine at that time.

 

[destinyduelist]

90's and 2000's, not just early 2000's but the entire thing up to 2010, stuff like Kaiji and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood came out late 2000's. Although, 2010's was also good, especially from 2013ish to around 2017ish, stuff like Mob Psycho, Kill la Kill and Space Dandy just to name a few.
I guess there never really was a bad time for anime, even right now, if we ignore the generic slop there's a lot to love.
But honestly yeah, I'd say 90's and 2000's personally.

 

[thanonyx]

mid 90s to mid 00s

 

[Prism_Red]

90s, animes are actually, how should I say it, varied at the time.
Anime has it's own boom phase every decade or so but I feel like it started getting formulaic earlier, around the beginning of 2000s.

70s - with anime at it's infancy we still have varieties around this time, anime is seen as a medium of storytelling that's capable to show stuff that was not easily re-enacted in live-action, thus the abundant of titles with highly fantastical setting or something else that's far from reality.

80s - Mechs rules here, no doubt about it, but they are still different enough you can tell them apart from each other, case in point, you can arguably say the only "copy pasted from Gundam" anime in this era to be just Dougram and Dragonar, despite the former popularity (Gundam had abysmal rating on release and only gain popularity due to the model kits). Majority of other mech series has it's own identity to make it stand out from each other, and we still have plenty other enjoyable anime for those that's not into mecha.

90s - Around this time, those kids who grew up in the 70s watching anime and tokusatsu and TV drama eventually became an adult and had a chance to make anime themselves, thus the amount of derivative works increased here, it is at this time that most director or studios managed to pigeonholed themselves into a certain genre.
Sunrise had the Eldora series which become a basis for Brave Robo series down the line and Mecha animes are varied enough that we got few deconstruction series as well. Some battle anime like Yu Yu Hakusho and the likes materialized due to influence from Hokuto No ken and Dragon Ball, we got Sailor Moon as a footing for Mahou Shoujo genre in the near future, outside of anime medium we also have Sakura Taisen that helps laid the groundwork of character-based merchandising and set the standard for anime/idol culture for years to come. Also, this is the time where the Seiyuu boom truly begin IMO where the people who used to work behind the scene got their spotlight to the public, we have names like Kappei Yamaguchi, Michie Tomizawa, Hikaru Midorikawa, Kikko nee-sama, Yukana Nogami to name a few.
Lots of historic moments at this era, we about to go downhill from here.

2000s - The rise of harem starts here if you think about it, not counting Tenchi Muyo since it's from 90s, look at how many Love Hina/Chobits/DearS clone around this time, that said, the market is still not saturated with harem and everyone can still find anything else that suit their palate. Anime can be considered mature enough now that parodies and satire start to appear more frequently.

Mid 2000s - We got many bumps, Azumanga Daioh popularized Slice of Life genre, then Haruhi comes like a truck and shaped the otaku culture landscape, not long after OreImo came along and set the Imouto boom in anime industry which we still feel the impact to this day , this is the era where we start to see many similarities in each series.

2010s - Then comes the tens, where 80% of anime released are comprised of Isekai slops and Light Novel adaptations, with Mecha and long Battle anime is nowhere to be seen nowadays and studios milks out every other series to dry as much as they possibly can. Not much to say here, we live in it, we already know what it's like out there, it sucks.

 

[Karnik 2.0: reboot]

The eighties: great titles by great authors.
Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku and Ranma 1/2 by R. Takahashi. Mazinger Z, Getter Robot, Kotetsu Jeeg, Grendizer, Devilman, Cutie Honey by Gō Nagai. And then Ashita no Joe, Tiger Mask, Saint Seiya, Hokuto no Ken, Dr. Slump, Dash Kappei, Guyver, City Hunter, Zeta Gundam, Battleship Yamato, Captain Harlock, Tekkaman.

 

[Strategist's iconStrategist]

90s, animes are actually, how should I say it, varied at the time.
Anime has it's own boom phase every decade or so but I feel like it started getting formulaic earlier, around the beginning of 2000s.

70s - with anime at it's infancy we still have varieties around this time, anime is seen as a medium of storytelling that's capable to show stuff that was not easily re-enacted in live-action, thus the abundant of titles with highly fantastical setting or something else that's far from reality.

80s - Mechs rules here, no doubt about it, but they are still different enough you can tell them apart from each other, case in point, you can arguably say the only "copy pasted from Gundam" anime in this era to be just Dougram and Dragonar, despite the former popularity (Gundam had abysmal rating on release and only gain popularity due to the model kits). Majority of other mech series has it's own identity to make it stand out from each other, and we still have plenty other enjoyable anime for those that's not into mecha.

90s - Around this time, those kids who grew up in the 70s watching anime and tokusatsu and TV drama eventually became an adult and had a chance to make anime themselves, thus the amount of derivative works increased here, it is at this time that most director or studios managed to pigeonholed themselves into a certain genre.
Sunrise had the Eldora series which become a basis for Brave Robo series down the line and Mecha animes are varied enough that we got few deconstruction series as well. Some battle anime like Yu Yu Hakusho and the likes materialized due to influence from Hokuto No ken and Dragon Ball, we got Sailor Moon as a footing for Mahou Shoujo genre in the near future, outside of anime medium we also have Sakura Taisen that helps laid the groundwork of character-based merchandising and set the standard for anime/idol culture for years to come. Also, this is the time where the Seiyuu boom truly begin IMO where the people who used to work behind the scene got their spotlight to the public, we have names like Kappei Yamaguchi, Michie Tomizawa, Hikaru Midorikawa, Kikko nee-sama, Yukana Nogami to name a few.
Lots of historic moments at this era, we about to go downhill from here.

2000s - The rise of harem starts here if you think about it, not counting Tenchi Muyo since it's from 90s, look at how many Love Hina/Chobits/DearS clone around this time, that said, the market is still not saturated with harem and everyone can still find anything else that suit their palate. Anime can be considered mature enough now that parodies and satire start to appear more frequently.

Mid 2000s - We got many bumps, Azumanga Daioh popularized Slice of Life genre, then Haruhi comes like a truck and shaped the otaku culture landscape, not long after OreImo came along and set the Imouto boom in anime industry which we still feel the impact to this day , this is the era where we start to see many similarities in each series.

2010s - Then comes the tens, where 80% of anime released are comprised of Isekai slops and Light Novel adaptations, with Mecha and long Battle anime is nowhere to be seen nowadays and studios milks out every other series to dry as much as they possibly can. Not much to say here, we live in it, we already know what it's like out there, it sucks.

That's a good summary, but I feel like you missed the OVA era of the 90s. Direct to video Anime moves (whether continuations of anime TV series or completely separate original adaptations). That's where a lot of the more risque, adult, dramatic, gory, or horror material was found. Movies like Akira and Ghost in the Shell were huge cross over hits on direct to video in the west. That's how I fell in love with anime, renting the OVA movies from Blockbuster.

 

[Iguana-0]

The eighties: great titles by great authors.
Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku and Ranma 1/2 by R. Takahashi. Mazinger Z, Getter Robot, Kotetsu Jeeg, Grendizer, Devilman, Cutie Honey by Gō Nagai. And then Ashita no Joe, Tiger Mask, Saint Seiya, Hokuto no Ken, Dr. Slump, Dash Kappei, Guyver, City Hunter, Zeta Gundam, Battleship Yamato, Captain Harlock, Tekkaman.

Kinnikuman?

 

[Karnik 2.0: reboot]

Kinnikuman?

As for me, I've seen a few episodes, but I never liked its bizarre artwork.

 

[Antilocal123]

Preferably the era in which they all end.

 

[SylvanSwordstress]

I'm a huge fan of the 80s and 90s era of anime. The traditional cel animations drawn by hand just look so beautiful to me, and the overall style appeals to me more, too. Darker colours, expressive characters that don't all have a homogenized look to them, super detailed environments and backgrounds, a wide variety of themes and tones suited for different types of storytelling, and some beautifully experimental stories all make for my favorite period for the medium.

 

[VampireLord1024VampireLord1024's icon]

Late 1990's to 2000's.

 

[Gorse]

The 2000s, easily – let's say 2001 to about 2010, or so. The sheer amount of creativity, originality, and just plain quality in the industry was fantastic, and so completely unlike anything that had come before. There were a load of actual artists working on the shows, so they looked gorgeous, and the creative teams weren't really shying away from any form of material for adult audiences. I love the way character designs look from that era, too – remember when they all had defined lips? That was great! I loved the "sharpness" of everything back then. It really make the shows look mature and "adult" in a way western animation simply wasn't.

If I had to narrow it down even further, I'd say the years 2005 to about 2011 where when my absolute favourite anime series of all time were made. It was still that golden period when there was a lot of money and talent in the industry, but absolutely minuscule American influence, so we were getting extremely high-quality shows that didn't shy away from risque content. (I still think shows like the original series of Queen's Blade, Highschool DxD, Highschool of the Dead, and probably some other stuff are the hottest animation ever made.) Series like The Tatami Galaxy, Kuuchuu Buranko, and Kurenai made fantastic use of the HD switchover, too, and I think they look waaaaaaayyyyyy better than any of the slop that's coming out today.

Also, I don't know if there's any evidence to this, but there really seemed to be a sense of fun and colour in all Japanese media at that time. They all seemed very happy, and nobody was trying to self-censor in content or structure, which led to a really great mood of positivity and a very upbeat, playful atmosphere. It's so weird to see shows from that time where male and female characters are just, like... friends, that joke around with each other and hang out and stuff. I guess people don't do that IRL anymore, so it makes sense they'd surgically remove any and all happiness and joy from all their media going forward.

I know you could make the argument that anime was at its height in the 90s, because there were also a load of high-quality shows (and movies and OVAs) being made then, too, but, while I like that period too, I think the culture was a little too... western-friendly then, I guess? There was a lot of stuff about cops and robbers and western fantasy and people punching each other and screaming, which I'm not personally into at all, but I know that Americans really like. (Lovely tits during the period, though.) Speaking entirely personally, every single one of my top 10 anime series was made between the years of 2001 and 2011. That's what made me fall in love with anime, and no other period really compares to it.

While I also liked some of the heavily-otaku focused stuff coming out during the early-to-mid 2010s (and those shows are also gorgeous), I think the culture was slowly beginning to drift away from my tastes by that point. Then, in 2015, American audiences poisoned the well, and it's all been shit since. I would have been very interested to see where anime went throughout the 2010s if it hadn't blown up internationally, but I guess we'll never know, now. OH WELL

 

[OverTheMoon]

90s, animes are actually, how should I say it, varied at the time.
Anime has it's own boom phase every decade or so but I feel like it started getting formulaic earlier, around the beginning of 2000s.

70s - with anime at it's infancy we still have varieties around this time, anime is seen as a medium of storytelling that's capable to show stuff that was not easily re-enacted in live-action, thus the abundant of titles with highly fantastical setting or something else that's far from reality.

80s - Mechs rules here, no doubt about it, but they are still different enough you can tell them apart from each other, case in point, you can arguably say the only "copy pasted from Gundam" anime in this era to be just Dougram and Dragonar, despite the former popularity (Gundam had abysmal rating on release and only gain popularity due to the model kits). Majority of other mech series has it's own identity to make it stand out from each other, and we still have plenty other enjoyable anime for those that's not into mecha.

90s - Around this time, those kids who grew up in the 70s watching anime and tokusatsu and TV drama eventually became an adult and had a chance to make anime themselves, thus the amount of derivative works increased here, it is at this time that most director or studios managed to pigeonholed themselves into a certain genre.
Sunrise had the Eldora series which become a basis for Brave Robo series down the line and Mecha animes are varied enough that we got few deconstruction series as well. Some battle anime like Yu Yu Hakusho and the likes materialized due to influence from Hokuto No ken and Dragon Ball, we got Sailor Moon as a footing for Mahou Shoujo genre in the near future, outside of anime medium we also have Sakura Taisen that helps laid the groundwork of character-based merchandising and set the standard for anime/idol culture for years to come. Also, this is the time where the Seiyuu boom truly begin IMO where the people who used to work behind the scene got their spotlight to the public, we have names like Kappei Yamaguchi, Michie Tomizawa, Hikaru Midorikawa, Kikko nee-sama, Yukana Nogami to name a few.
Lots of historic moments at this era, we about to go downhill from here.

2000s - The rise of harem starts here if you think about it, not counting Tenchi Muyo since it's from 90s, look at how many Love Hina/Chobits/DearS clone around this time, that said, the market is still not saturated with harem and everyone can still find anything else that suit their palate. Anime can be considered mature enough now that parodies and satire start to appear more frequently.

Mid 2000s - We got many bumps, Azumanga Daioh popularized Slice of Life genre, then Haruhi comes like a truck and shaped the otaku culture landscape, not long after OreImo came along and set the Imouto boom in anime industry which we still feel the impact to this day , this is the era where we start to see many similarities in each series.

2010s - Then comes the tens, where 80% of anime released are comprised of Isekai slops and Light Novel adaptations, with Mecha and long Battle anime is nowhere to be seen nowadays and studios milks out every other series to dry as much as they possibly can. Not much to say here, we live in it, we already know what it's like out there, it sucks.

Just goes to show how times change, huh? It's really interesting overall.

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 11:25 PM

The 2000s, easily – let's say 2001 to about 2010, or so. The sheer amount of creativity, originality, and just plain quality in the industry was fantastic, and so completely unlike anything that had come before. There were a load of actual artists working on the shows, so they looked gorgeous, and the creative teams weren't really shying away from any form of material for adult audiences. I love the way character designs look from that era, too – remember when they all had defined lips? That was great! I loved the "sharpness" of everything back then. It really make the shows look mature and "adult" in a way western animation simply wasn't.

If I had to narrow it down even further, I'd say the years 2005 to about 2011 where when my absolute favourite anime series of all time were made. It was still that golden period when there was a lot of money and talent in the industry, but absolutely minuscule American influence, so we were getting extremely high-quality shows that didn't shy away from risque content. (I still think shows like the original series of Queen's Blade, Highschool DxD, Highschool of the Dead, and probably some other stuff are the hottest animation ever made.) Series like The Tatami Galaxy, Kuuchuu Buranko, and Kurenai made fantastic use of the HD switchover, too, and I think they look waaaaaaayyyyyy better than any of the slop that's coming out today.

I know you could make the argument that anime was at its height in the 90s, because there were also a load of high-quality shows (and movies and OVAs) being made then, too, but, while I like that period too, I think the culture was a little too... western-friendly then, I guess? There was a lot of stuff about cops and robbers and western fantasy and people punching each other and screaming, which I'm not personally into at all, but I know that Americans really like. (Lovely tits during the period, though.) Speaking entirely personally, every single one of my top 10 anime series was made between the years of 2001 and 2011. That's what made me fall in love with anime, and no other period really compares to it.

While I also liked some of the heavily-otaku focused stuff coming out during the early-to-mid 2010s (and those shows are also gorgeous), I think the culture was slowly beginning to drift away from my tastes by that point. Then, in 2015, American audiences poisoned the well, and it's all been shit since. I would have been very interested to see where anime went throughout the 2010s if it hadn't blown up internationally, but I guess we'll never know, now. OH WELL

I actually kind of get where you're coming from with that last part. Around that specific period of time and especially for anime movies, from my own perspective at least, things have been somewhat the same where certain movies would come out, be a massive success (financially at least) and have everyone try to replicate that exact same success which kind of puts us in a spiral of sorts...

Also really happy to see that someone else likes Kure-nai.

Edit: It changed to Sgt. Frog, but still happy nonetheless.

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 11:28 PM

Late 1990's to 2000's.

I've been meaning to either watch or read To Heart at some point. Thank you for reminding me.

 

[Dark Lucifer]

90s' and early 2000s' anime, we must've hit a gold mine at that time.

 

[Gorse]

Also really happy to see that someone else likes Kure-nai.

Edit: It changed to Sgt. Frog, but still happy nonetheless.

Oh bugger, sorry, mate! I absolutely adore Kure-nai to the ends of the Earth, I just wanted something with a little more colour there. (Kure-nai is so obscure that there are only a few screenshots on Google Images to choose from.) Still an excellent, excellent show.

 

[Denmdm]

Nah this is absolutely EZZZ, the 2000s were the blast. Out of the shonen era, gorgeous animation and we got stuff like Tokyo mew mew, Azumanga Daioh, Lucky Star, Bleach... So yea 2000-2010, the animation seems to have gotten more bland and generic for every single anime now, too.