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Answerman - How Do I Introduce Old Anime To Younger Fans?

How is the mid/late 2000's any different now. I always feel like there was not a huge changed between the 2000's and 2010's compare to the 1990's and 2000's.

No, not really. It is old if it is black-and-white. Doesn't mean it is bad though. World's best "real" movie is in black-and-white, mono sound and with only two special effects, one of which you notice, the other you don't (Casablanca from 1942).

Every time someone brings this up, I am remembered of one of the most frustrating discussions of my life, where a girl was really interested in Stand Alone Complex after seeing a clip of it, and having me explain the premise. But after hearing that it was from the early 2000s, she refused to watch it. When asked why, she said she didn't like how "old" anime looked. Even though she had already seen a clip of it, and I assured her that it looked better than 95% of anime coming out today, she still wouldn't do it.

Spawn29 wrote:

How is the mid/late 2000's any different now. I always feel like there was not a huge changed between the 2000's and 2010's compare to the 1990's and 2000's.

Actually, in all seriousness, I feel like the biggest difference between 2000s and 2010s is the HD resolution and the 16:9 aspect ratio that came with it (though 16:9 does not necessarily means HD, as proven by Astroboy 2003, which was done in widescreen, but not HD). That was really big change and anime studios had to do a lot of changes to deal with higher resolution and different aspect ratio. Of course this change came before 2010, I think it was around 2008 when most anime studios changed to HD, so late 2000s probably shouldn't count here, but still, in mid 2000s almost everything in anime were still 4:3 SD, while in 2010s, everything is 16:9 HD.
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I was mostly talking about animation style. I feel like there was a big chance with the animation art style with 90's and 2000's. It seems like after the early 2000's, anime started go more digital and have a more flashy look. The style in the 90's had a more style to it.

peno wrote:

Spawn29 wrote: How is the mid/late 2000's any different now. I always feel like there was not a huge changed between the 2000's and 2010's compare to the 1990's and 2000's. Actually, in all seriousness, I feel like the biggest difference between 2000s and 2010s is the HD resolution and the 16:9 aspect ratio that came with it (though 16:9 does not necessarily means HD, as proven by Astroboy 2003, which was done in widescreen, but not HD). That was really big change and anime studios had to do a lot of changes to deal with higher resolution and different aspect ratio. Of course this change came before 2010, I think it was around 2008 when most anime studios changed to HD, so late 2000s probably shouldn't count here, but still, in mid 2000s almost everything in anime were still 4:3 SD, while in 2010s, everything is 16:9 HD. .

I was mostly talking about animation style. I feel like there was a big chance with the animation art style with 90's and 2000's. It seems like after the early 2000's, anime started go more digital and have a more flashy look. The style in the 90's had a different style to it. With the 2010's so far, I feel like there is not a big difference with something from 2007 or 2008. Stuff like Karas, Shin Mazinger Z and Gurren Laggan still looks like it was made today.

Getting newer fans to appreciate stuff from even the mid/late 00s is already a significant accomplishment these days.

What's more interesting is a chunk of the shows in seasoned are aimed at kids, while most in beginner are adult shows. Lupin should be basic anime course 101.

-Stuart Smith

peno wrote:

You know, even if you know interests of someone, it may not be easy to get him or her on anime. My friend is big fan of mystery and crime scene shows, yet my try to introduce her to Detective Conan failed miserably. It was first the usual "it's animated, it's for kids" argument. When we got over that, she finally agreed to watch first episode with me, but then, she was like "wow, they turned teenager to little kid? That's stupid and lame." And that ended my tries to introduce her to anime.

Generally, even as a fan of Detective Conan, I don't think it's a particularly good intro to anime, especially for mystery fans. The stuff we in the US get on TV tends to skew towards darker themes and more complicated setups, and Conan, while it can get serious, is pretty much a kid's show. Plus it's got that "awkward art style" hurdle to clear.

Personally, if your friend is willing, I'd try again with Monster. It's got a super-realistic style and tone that projects a very strong "not for kids" tone. Not the whole thing, because it's very long, just until the episode where the Big Bad makes his grand entrance. Then I'd leave it up to your friend. Or, if you know your friend is into cyberpunk or sci-fi, go with the much more manageable Psycho-Pass.

You would show people the episode with enormous spoilers? Watched in context episode ten is stunning (perhaps my favorite single anime episode of 2011), but I'd never show it on a stand-alone basis.

I like the idea of a class setup, though I like critical analysis and discussion in general. I'm not sure how many other people would be interested in something like that in what seems like a pretty casual anime club setting though. Personally, I find that discussing something almost always makes it more interesting to watch, and definitely gives me motivation to continue watching something though, so it might be worth it. Especially if you want to get them into something a little more niche or experimental. You could show them something like Tatami Galaxy and definitely have plenty to talk about. Especially with a college audience. I do think Paranoia Agent, like you previously mentioned, is another one that works well in a set up like that. Especially if you are just doing one episode at a time.

Only if you're watching anime to familiarize yourself with it. I wouldn't recommend Lupin III to someone interested in getting into anime without a very good idea of what they might want to see due to how dated it looks. Also because it's a comedy, and comedy is by far the most subjective genre of any medium.

You could show them something like Tatami Galaxy and definitely have plenty to talk about. Especially with a college audience.

The image you guys chose to represent "old anime" for this article on the front page is Paprika? God help me, I must be ancient...