Forum - View topicAnswerman - Why is Anime from the '80s so Nihilistic?
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mdo7
 Posts: 8219 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
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Nice Answerman article. Yeah, the 80's anime OVAs and films are something else, it's let me say: if you're a fan (or know someone that are fans) of current adult animation in the US, those OVAs and films from the 80's and early 90's will delight a lot of people in that demographic.
If anyone is watching adult animation on Netflix, Prime Video, HBO Max, etc... whether it's Harley Quinn, Netflix's Castlevania, Pantheon, Scavengers Reign, etc... Then they may find appeal in those 80's mature anime OVAs/films that was listed there. They still hold up really well despite being animated in the 80's. Some early 90's anime OVAs/films have some mature stuff that still works well with current adult animation fans. Angel Cop, Violence Jack, and Genocyber might appeal amongst today's adult animation fans. I mean if you got somebody Love, Death, & Robots, then turn on Robot Carnival for that person. I mean I can go a lot further then that. |
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Fluwm
Moderator
 Posts: 1624 |
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This is a beautifully-written conclusion. And it highlights that strange combination of recency bias and survivorship bias so often at play when we compare modern media to the classics -- that we remember more of the bad shows of the present because we just saw them, and are always seeing more of them crop up (my heart goes out to those of you who, for whatever reason, wind up watching most of the shows in any given season) and the past seems especially abundant with hall-of-gamers because we've forgotten so, so much dross. Like, I know of several recent shows I imagine I'll be emphatically praising as indispensable classics in 20 years time, should I love so long, meanwhile almost every Isekai will be forgotten. Though, that said, when I think of the most impressive animation I've ever seen, the most memorable sequences, the real genre and medium-defining stuff... with only a few exceptions, it's stuff from that OVA era that most populates my memory. |
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MarshalBanana
 Posts: 5731 |
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Sho Aikawa is a fascinating writer. There is a great interview with him from back in 2015 and and one on ANN. A quote from Nick Creamer's review of Concrete Rvolutio, that could describe Aikawa.
I am surprised that you did not mention Ichiro Itano, who co-wrote a lot of titles with Aiakwa and later on worked on the nihilistic Gaintz adaptation. |
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Hellsoldier
 Posts: 1149 Location: Porto,Portugal,Europe,Earth,Sol |
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This is a great article.
The first anime that I fell ín love with as an adult was Bubblegum Crisis. Quickly I devoured a lot of anime from the 80s and 90s. Akira, GitS, Lain, Appleseed, Evangelion, etc. Both decades are special for me, and the gritty nature of the OVA era is part of that charm. It, and Blade Runner, inspired me in my path to becoming an author. |
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MFrontier
Posts: 20003 |
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Kind of reminds me why Sho Aikawa was a bad choice to helm a Eureka 7 sequel.
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pip25
Posts: 268 |
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*Looks at shelf* Up to 240 minutes, actually. I used to be be an avid VHS fan in the 90s as a kid, and filled countless blank tapes with recordings, anime included of course. |
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enurtsol
 Posts: 15204 |
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Seems kinda low for a peak (maybe because Japanese preferred Laser Disc? VHS to rent; LD to own)
Quality modes: SP (Standard Play - 120 min) vs. LP (Long Play - 240 min) vs. EP/SLP (Extended Play/Super Long Play - 360 min) |
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mdo7
Posts: 8219 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
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This is correct, there are VHS tapes that can go up to 12 hours. Sources: Nostalgic Media, Reddit, & Wikipedia. |
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maximilianjenus
Posts: 3109 |
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1) there is a villainess manga where the male mc reincarnates as a villainess of an otome game that happens in bubble economy Japan. In this context it is a very interesting read, even if it is very heavy in the economics aspect.
2) VHS sales also meant more safety in production, like if there were 5k video rental store in Japan, the ova producers had a guaranteed 5k unit sales. 3) I find it interesting that japanese media changed its focus from societal problems to individual problems, as the good Isekai ( for example) are about solving individual problems in the character's second chance at life, like shousaman or HEV. |
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kgw
 Posts: 1536 Location: Spain, EU |
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I always thought that the movie that inspired Zenshu's Natsuko was an 80's anime movie. It remembered me what I watched as a kid.
Specially Space Warrior Baldios the movie, Area 88 (the OAV), etc. |
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TheAncientOne
 Posts: 1945 Location: USA (mid-south) |
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With the same length tape, those longer play times came at the expense of video quality (and even SP did not match a good broadcast signal). While longer play was possible, that came at the expense of using thinner tape stock which was more prone to damage, which definitely would not be good for the rental market. |
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enurtsol
Posts: 15204 |
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Yep. Fun fact: I was a fansub VHS trader 
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mdo7
Posts: 8219 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
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Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention that, there is a caveat of having longer length/duration on VHS, the video quality get reduced if using EP/SLP VHS. I want to remind people that VHS is analog, and not digital compared to current generation media like blu-ray and streaming (although streaming has it's own caveat when it comes to visual quality, but that's another story). |
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