What Is a classic anime? Well, needless to say, this is an extremely complicated question to answer. Even at best, objectivity in analyzing an anime will have some subjectivity, even if unconscious; this only becomes a greater problem given the ambiguity of the term "classic." With that said, if I had to define what a classic anime is, I would use two criterion:
Before this becomes inconceivably convoluted, I will go ahead and list two Anime that I would consider to be classics.
Now onto the discussion part, I want to see what anime you all consider as classics using the two criteria that I listed. Needless to say, it is also of the utmost importance to explain why you believe the Anime you list is considered a classic. Additionally, if you have your own criteria for what you believe is considered a classic, please share below! With all this said, let the discussion begin! |
AuraStormLucarioJan 24, 2019 6:01 PM
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| Code Geass Steins Gate Both are master pieces |
| I'd personally say animes which are a bit old (pre 2000) along with ofc being exceptionally good and had a huge impact on the anime industry. Like - Akira GitS LotGH Revolutionary girl utena Trigun Devilman (but manga more than the anime) And ofc- NGE and cowboy bebop |
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| Kimi No Wa came out in 2017, some people already say it's a classic film that's worthy of being alongside things like Akira. Why? who knows or cares, it just is. All in all, classic doesn't mean anything in the grand scheme of things, and to prove my point, would you say that the Boku No Pico OVAs are a classic? Exactly. A classic is simply a very well respected/acknowledged show that existed for while. It literally doesn't get deeper than that but what do I know. |
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| Well a classic is any anime that I like. |
 ☆☆☆ "There's a huge difference between one and infinity. However, compared to the difference between existence and non-existence, one and infinite are nearly the same. I am the child destined to become the best witch... no... The greatest Creator in the world...!" -Maria Ushiromiya ☆☆☆ |
| For a classic, a good reference is +20 years (besides its quality and impact). This is mostly applied to movies, which as a medium is older than anime, but I think it still could apply. Then you have cult classics, that might not have had that much of an impact but have gained a progressive audience throughout the years. Then the concept of new classics is also used for titles that have the potential to become classics over time. So all in all it shouldn't be much of a restrictive term, but I don't see the need to overuse it, or using it at all when it comes to recent stuff. |
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| No one has said either Fullmetal Alchemist or Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. or any Gundam series technically Naruto could fall into the "classics" category |
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longkazama said: Death Note is easily a classic too. For the majority of people, that is the first "real" anime that they watched. The first (conscious a.k.a. not Pokemon) anime I watched was Code Geass... Immediately after watching Code Geass I watched Death Note. Personally, I would say the series are of, at the VERY least, above average quality. Both of them were defining works in the so-called "Golden Age" of Anime, incredible given that they have such a similar overarching premise. I obviously wasn't watching anime at that time, but when Code Geass and Death Note were released (same season), did they compete with each other or did they moreso build each other up, almost like a symbiotic relationship? |
| Check out my custom anime list theme here: https://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=1768732 |
| classic anime for me is dragon ball Z, it was on TV when I was a kid, guess I'm old. |
| Theres plenty or classic anime. But I'd say the most influential have to be Dragon Ball, Gundam, GITS, Akira, and I forgot what it was called, but it was known to be the very first ecchi anime and it was pretty controversial for it's time. |
N30-R3TR0 said: ...and I forgot what it was called, but it was known to be the very first ecchi anime and it was pretty controversial for it's time. Go Nagai's manga Harenchi Gakuen comes to mind but it only got an OVA adaptation in the 1990s, if I recall correctly. |
| imo a classic anime has to be old enough to be known by the older anime fans (from the 1990s and before) and is decently known in the respective genres they represent and ofc, they have to be influential (influencing other newer anime, movies or the popular culture in general) |
longkazama said: Death Note is easily a classic too. For the majority of people, that is the first "real" anime that they watched. What do you classify as a "real" anime? Also this sounds like an opinion that a younger anime fan would have. Plenty of "real" anime existed that many people have watched long before Death Note. Wouldn't call that a "majority" |
EndlessMariaJan 24, 2019 10:37 PM
| ☆☆☆ "There's a huge difference between one and infinity. However, compared to the difference between existence and non-existence, one and infinite are nearly the same. I am the child destined to become the best witch... no... The greatest Creator in the world...!" -Maria Ushiromiya ☆☆☆ |
| Besides your points you should add the age, it should be more than a couple of years old. Saint Seiya is also a classic, most of the shows I think are classics were already named. |
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| An anime that the community can still talk about in a good way 5 to 10 years after it has finished airing I guess |
longkazama said: It doesn't change the fact that Death Note was a first "real" anime for me, and for many others since it was apparently the most popular anime ever. Not many people would seek out other animes during their youth watching accessible series like Naruto, Bleach, One Piece. And series like Cowboy Bebops, NGE, or classic 80s, 90s anime are mostly picked up later on by younger anime fans like myself (I am 20). I'm also pretty sure the majority of anime fans are under 30. Even my mom who doesn't know what an anime is knows dragon ball, I agree with most of what you said but death note definitely isn't the most popular anime of all time. |
| Ghost In The Shell (1995). I don't think there is a single more influential anime across all spectrums of media except maybe Initial D. |
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| I wouldn't say quality is a measure to determine whether a show is classic or not, not to mention the fact that it's not feasible for reasons you've stated. For me, if a show was able to withstood the test of time and didn't fall into the realm of obscurity, then it's a classic all right. |
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| I don't agree with quality part. For example, Naruto and Code Geass are bad (fite me fanboys) but they still can be called classics |
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| I would say it's smth that is famous and good enough to be watched and liked by most people, not just anime-viewers. And even if you didn't watch them you definitely heard about them and perhaps can recognise the characters. Like: Ghibli movies (Mononoke, KAmikakushi, Howl, Totoro, etc) Sailor Moon NGE Clamp series Hellsing Shonens like Shaman King, Pokemon, Naruto and many other |
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| Normally a classic is a work which stood the test of time. Modern anime itself is pretty young a medium to say it stood the test of time, but saying that any less than 20yo anime is a "classic" is pretty stupid. Some anime that were mentioned like Code Geass and Steins;Gate are barely a decade old, not to say Kimi no na wa. Popularity is a terrible (and completely wrong) way to attest classic status. I'd say a classic anime is both still heavily mentioned after at least two decades after its release (and plus, not only by the anime medium) and was influential to a relevant degree. |
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| Without a doubt, Urusei Yatsura! It was Rumiko's first work to be animated. On top of that, Lum is undoubtedly the original waifu (back in the day, Japanese boys would write letters to Rumi, saying how much they loved Lum). The whole show in general started a bunch of trends that are pretty common in anime now, and inspired other classics, such as Sailor Moon. |
| my answer would be anime that left a really big mark on the anime community or overall |
| Classic anime are just some good and old anime |
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| something that's old and famous. it's all there is to it |
| An admin's dickhead Soul banned me from MAL t('v't) |
| A classic is a work of art of recognized and established value. The question is recognized by whom? Usually it's some kind of 'elite' of a medium who come up with 'canon' lists of that medium, but the problem with anime is that such a circle doesn't really exist. There are no real established, professional anime critics or anything like that so the best alternative would be a survey among anime creators (directors, writers, animators, background artists etc...) and that is something the west does not have easy access to. Or we can just do the mature thing that MAL loves and all list our random favorites and personal milestones. |
| I probably regret this post by now. |
| death note will definitely prove to be a classic in a decade or so. perhaps great teacher onizuka should also receive status of classic? that’s been going around 20 years, and still very well-liked + well known. |
AnimeFreak-San said: is this a male gender issure...human issue...mental illness perhaps? |
| Death Note, Code Geass, Madoka, TTGL are all classics. |
| Anime that stood the test of time and are still being highly regarded by the anime community. |
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AuraStormLucario said: I would say evangelion, berserk and akira.What Is a classic anime? Well, needless to say, this is an extremely complicated question to answer. Even at best, objectivity in analyzing an anime will have some subjectivity, even if unconscious; this only becomes a greater problem given the ambiguity of the term "classic." With that said, if I had to define what a classic anime is, I would use two criterion:
Before this becomes inconceivably convoluted, I will go ahead and list two Anime that I would consider to be classics.
Now onto the discussion part, I want to see what anime you all consider as classics using the two criteria that I listed. Needless to say, it is also of the utmost importance to explain why you believe the Anime you list is considered a classic. Additionally, if you have your own criteria for what you believe is considered a classic, please share below! With all this said, let the discussion begin! You can't ignore the impact of akira in the west. It's one of the anime which made anime popular in the west. |
| Something that exemplifies the best of its genre, on the medium, and makes you want to talk about them for years and years after they end. Some examples:
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| To me old works which are still well known and stood the test of time are classics. Anime like Neon Genesis Evangelion, Versailles no Bara, the Original Gundam, Tetsuwan Atom and most Ghibli movies are examples of this. DateYutaka said: none listed here are are in fact classics cause alot of them are ot ypong to of had a wider pop culture impact as of yet that is how stuuf liek this should be judge and also Japanese tv ratings for tv anime Units sales for OVA and gross formoviesp in mist cases and im taking orginak run ratings cause ones that got good foorst run ratings will wnat ot be kept laive bu re runs on BS/CS channels and places like aniplex hence why you hadly see DBGT on aniplex while you will see DB and DBZ and 20 years yyu will not see kai I'd like to ask you which anime you'd call classics then, and I don't mean explain what a classic is because you already did but actual examples. And try to make it readable, please. |
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| Code Geass is my favourite Show , i consider it a masterpiece -fite me haters-, but i wouldn't consider stuff like code geass/death note a Classic. Classics are stuff like Dr. Slump Arale-chan, Dragonball, the Digimon/Pokemon Franchises ,Naruto, Cowboy Bebop, Evangelion, Sailor Moon, Tsubasa generally stuff released before <2000 and with a certain amount of exposure, there are a lot more classics imo. But its such a loose term in general anyway. |
| I'm rather interested to know how people define a modern classic. |
One Piece episode 914 & 915 & 1027 were a mistake and 957 brought the salvation - FMmatron |
| Versailles No Bara Lupin III part 2 Both Of TMS's most influential shows |
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