Forum - View topicWhat was the best year for anime?
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mgree0032
Posts: 224 |
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People say that 1998 was the best year for anime to be produced in that era. Of those anime released in that year, many of them were critically acclaimed successes like Cowboy Bebop, Cardcaptor Sakura, Trigun, Outlaw Star, and Lain. I want to find out why was 1998 considered by fans to be the best year for anime in general.
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 23743 |
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In addition to the notable titles you mentioned, you can add:
Master Keaton His and Her Circumstances Jin-Roh the Wolf Brigade Initial D Princess Nine Fancy Lala Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040 Blue Submarine No. 6 Generator Gawl Shadow Skill Kurogane Communication Orphen Record of Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight El Hazard: The Alternate World Queen Emeraldas Sentimental Journey Lost Universe Steam Detectives Neo Ranga Gasaraki Silent Mobius Nazca So yeah... not a bad year. |
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 9829 Location: Virginia |
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I have never run into anyone saying that either online or live. Who are these people and where did they say that? What are the beginning and ending of "that era".
Going by the above list of shows, it was obviously a good year. However, you have to keep in mind that those of us who waited for legal home releases our experience with those shows was in most cases delayed a couple of years and mixed with releases from other years. The stuff I actually experienced in 1998 was from earlier years. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23743 |
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I think I've heard about this 1998 being the best year in anime before. Throw in that NGE came out in 95/96 and there are some that will dub that general era the Golden Age of anime.
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vanfanel
 Posts: 1242 |
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I've long felt 1984 was the best year for anime movies. That year gave us three pretty much immortal classics: "Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind," "Macross: Do You Remember Love," and "Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer." I'll also throw in "Locke the Superman: Millennium of the Witch" as another high point for that year.
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ChirashiD
 Posts: 104 Location: WA |
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One wouldn't be referring to when they happen to watch something. For example, I could watch a bunch of those titles listed above and wouldn't say "wow, 2024 was an amazing year of anime!" |
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 9829 Location: Virginia |
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@ChirashiD
I'm not talking about when a person first watched a show, I'm referring to when it first became readily available here in the U.S. Before streaming, the home video release was the first time most people were able to experience a show. That was when anime related magazines (remember magazines?) would do extended reviews on a show. A few shows were available earlier on cable and some people were into the fan sub scene but for most of us the home video release was our first chance. That was usually two years give or take. One of the things that used to bother me and why I came here to look at the encyclopedia was that the home release seldom told you when a show came out in Japan. Two shows could be released the same month and be several years apart on initial release. For that matter, on a lot of shows, there was no specific indication they were from Japan unless you looked at the fine print credits with all Japanese names. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23743 |
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I understand your point, Alan45, but I agree that home releases in North America are irrelevant to a discussion such as this. When trying to answer the unanswerable question of, "What was the best year in anime?" only the year a show was released in Japan matters.
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 9829 Location: Virginia |
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I don't really believe in the concept of "best year". It is entirely subjective. If you ask a dozen people that question you are likely to get 18 answers.
 A lot of answers are going to be guided by personal experience.
In any case the question is meaningless until you establish the criteria for judging and who has the authority to make the decision. Which is better, a year with two or three outstanding shows or one with a dozen really good shows? Which shows are outstanding anyway? Do technological changes count? I'm pretty sure that Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040 is one of those shows done by a new digital method that can't be upscaled very well. Is that a plus or minus. So no best year, just good shows, bad shows and a lot of so-so shows, and everyone has their own idea of which is which. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23743 |
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Which, of course, is exactly why I worded my post to say, "When trying to answer the unanswerable question of, "What was the best year in anime?"... I think everybody understands the limitations inherent. But this is like comic book nerds debating who would win in a fight between Super Man and The Hulk. There's no need to think too deeply about the underlying validity of the question, it can just be fun to float your opinion.
Plus, shouldn't we be celebrating the fact that mgree0032 finally started a thread that isn't about dubs???
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Errinundra
Moderator
 Posts: 6523 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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We need some dodgy science here.
I've taken the average of the top 20 scored titles by ANN users in "My Anime" for every year since 1980 (the first year with 20 scored anime). Here's the outcome. 
Before compiling the chart I'd have guessed either 2006 or 2011 as the best year in anime. I was vindicated with 2006 coming out the clear winner. 2011 was fourth. The top 20 for 2006 is one classic after another. Death Note Maria Watches Over Us 3rd Season Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion The Girl Who Leapt Through Time Kanon Honey and Clover II The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Ouran High School Host Club NANA Looking Up At The Half-Moon Welcome to the NHK Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage Hellsing Ultimate Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society Paprika School Rumble: 2nd Semester Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Individual Eleven Black Lagoon Gintama Strawberry Panic! If you discount 2005 and 2010, the period between 2004 and 2012 is the golden era of anime - again something I've long considered to be the case. The shit that people give the noughties isn't borne out by the data. Since 2012 the moving average has been trending down. The best year prior to the 21st century was 1988 which includes Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Grave of the Fireflies, My Neighbour Totoro, the Kimagure Orange Road movie, Gunbuster, Akira and the first Patlabor OAV. That's more impressive than mgree0032's 1998 list. Other good years from last century are 1999, 1998 and 1995 in that order. The best year from the last decade has been 2016, still below the best 6 years - all between 2004 and 2012. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23743 |
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Yeah, it's pretty hard to argue with that 2006 line-up.
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Errinundra
Moderator
Posts: 6523 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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I've changed the thread title to encourage more general discussion.
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yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
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The 2006-2008 period is the high point for me, especially in terms of the wide array of subject matter. Money was flowing, and studios were able to invest in projects that might otherwise not see the light of day like Toei's "Bake Neko" and Mononoke, Madhouse's Oh! Edo Rocket, or Brains-Base's Kurenai and Baccano. The 2008-2009 recession put an end to such experimentation. Production committees limited their focus to shows they expected to perform adequately, a strategic decision that sadly still informs the industry today. Could a masterpiece like Seirei no Moribito be produced now? I doubt it.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23743 |
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Hey, I love me some Moribito but I have to admit that I instinctively cringe when I see somebody say, "ah, they'll never make great shows like "x" any more. Since the dawn of anime, virtually every year has seen the creation of a handful excellent shows/movies, some of which are classics and masterpieces. And there continued to be risky shows made long after the recession, to this day. Girls Last Tour was hardly a safe bet. The problem is somebody imposes their subjective taste on the question and they only focus on the shows that did it for them. Anything outside that subjective taste can, of course, never measure up. Great anime was made, is being made, will be made in the future. And a lot of crap. Same as it ever was, same as it ever was...
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