Violence Jack: Harem Bomber-hen

The new anime release format that appeared in the mid-80s brought new opportunities for studios and various works began to be released on videotapes. Some of them were frankly terrible, but some became classics with a recognizable style and aesthetics. I bring to your attention works worth viewing.

This is a part of a series of stacks that are about artistic tendencies in anime (and that border the fine line between sophisticated and pretentious).

This stack is a work in progress.

Bibliography:
Broderick, Michael. “Superflat Eschatology: Renewal and Religion in anime.” Animation Studies: Animated Dialogues. 2007. 29-36.
Napier, Susan J. “Waiting for the End of the World: Apocalypctic Identity.” Anime from Akira to Howl's Moving Castle. Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. 249-263.
Tanaka, Motoko. "Apocalypticism in Postwar Japanese Fiction." 2011. University of British Columbia, PhD thesis. 16-33.

Choujin Densetsu Urotsukidouji Movie should be included here, but is tagged as hentai on MAL, so otherwise this list couldn't be public.

Nuff said.

Every anime directed by Ichirou Itano. Also includes series he only partially directed (i.e. Patlabor ep. 6).

Decided to make a stack for the OVAs and movies you used to be able to find on Blockbuster shelves or on late-night TV anime blocks right before infomercials or softcore porn. Behold, hyper-violence, bad animation, paranoid politics, incomprehensible writing, awful dubs, gratuitous nudity, and that special something that makes bad things great sometimes.

Bonus final row dedicated to Yoshiaki Kawaijiri, the man, the myth, the legend.

I remember going to the video store, browsing the shelves, and picking out a movie based on the box art alone. I'd look at the front, I'd look at the back, and more often than not I'd put it back on the shelf. Occasionally there'd be something like Ghost in the Shell or Ninja Scroll, and I knew I just had to rent it, or more accurately get my parents to rent it.

This isn't just a list of movies that were available on VHS at my local video store, this is also a list of movies that I would have rented had they been there. They have box art and synopsis appeal, regardless of the reality contained within.

This is my virtual VHS store, where we say Japanimation and we don't stock TV shows unless they're only a few episodes long. I hope you like violence and nudity. Things here also generally skew older, keeping with the VHS theme.

This is the bad stuff list. If you want the good stuff list, go here: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/9517

Tags: Old, Oldtaku, Retro, Violent, 1980s, 1990s, Trash, So bad it's good

Do you like watching trashy 80/90s OVAs and movies that are violent, stupid, and nonsensical? Well this list is for you. Some of these are pretty famous in the community like Violence Jack and M.D. Geist, but I made sure to really dumpster dive for some obscure trash for all of you garbage connoisseurs out there.

Before the likes of Saint Seiya, Dragon Ball Z and Pokemon conquering the kids in the west, it was actually Akira that opened the door and made people realize that the cartoons coming from Japan weren't what you would expect from Disney or your TV channels.
A huge flood of VHS tapes came showing animations with mature themes, absurd plots, and enough graphic sex and violence to make parents freak out... what a glorious time!
They don't make cartoons like this anymore.

This is a comprehensive list with stuff from very good to very trashy, but all in the same spirit.
Some early 00's also included.

ps: I also recommend, but can't include here, the second Violence Jack movie, A Kite and Mezzo Forte.

Glorious 80's and 90's (Supernatural, Mystery and Horror)
https://myanimelist.net/stacks/30605

Anime released on VHS by Manga Entertainment/Manga Video in the UK. If you have any additions or corrections let me know.

(note: this does not include hentai as the stack would have to remain unlisted if it did)

Part 1: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31684

Anime which showcases an exaggerated amount of blood and visceral scenery often.

Prominet member of Vancouver anime scenes

based on his YT series: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuCjDb3AP-cTKX_jghvRYxLMyQpwihAJR&feature=shared

sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1F83J8K7jZ9smMxPC8iow2MSEB6DfRObn/edit#gid=457076431

You won't laugh with them, you'll laugh at them!

After the release and success of Akira in the US and UK, Western companies like Central Park Media and Manga Entertainment began licensing as many films and OVAs as they could get their hands on to satiate a market hungry for strange, violent animation. Some of them were genuinely great and are still regarded as classics to this day, but the vast majority were schlock made to appeal to the lowest common denominator. This was essentially the anime equivalent to the American grindhouse/exploitation boom of the 70s and early 80s, where films were marketed on their ability to shock and provoke.

Here are a handful I feel would serve as a good primer to this specific moment in anime history. While many of these films and OVAs are undeniably terrible, this is an era I do have quite a soft spot for and there are definitely some gems worth checking out too.