The Oldschool Anime Panel At Ayacon 2011

Here We Make Our Entrance Now! The Opening Curtain on our Nail-Biting Panel!

What's This About?

Welcome to the Ayacon 2011 Old-School Anime Panel! This talk is going to be about the history of Japanese animation from its roots through to some stuff you'll know and love. First, let's get some questions out the way.

What's the title slide about? That's written in the style of an episode title!

Who are you? I'm Ray, and that's _______ It's not all going to be about sci-fi is it? No. Will we get to ask questions of our own? Yes. Will there be things to watch? Of course! Who's the guy in the corner? More on him later!

The Table of Contents

We're going to start with a timeline to get this going Then there'll be a bit about some famous names and faces Then a bit about what you can expect from older shows Then 7 absolute classics Then a few to avoid Then some underrated shows And some stuff about remakes to bring us up to date! All that, and more! It's going to be hot-blooded, full of courage and fighting spirit!


Fun!! History Time!

A Quick Timeline

The first animation produced in Japan was a short clip of a boy made in 1907 in light of experiments in hand-drawn animation in Europe and America. Manga was made popular a little later as newspaper cartoons in the western vein became popular early cartoonists such as Rakiten Kitazawa were hugely popular with newspaper readers. The 1918 animated film Peach Boy (Momotaro) is arguably the first successful anime, and started a trend for short silent animations, often about folk stories and myths that lasted through the 1920s. Successful animators of the period included Oten Shimokawa and Sanae Yamamoto (some of whose films are preserved today) Early animation was often funded by theatres, although independent artists predominated.

A Quick Timeline

During the Second World War, animated films were used as propaganda, showing Japanese soldiers fighting. One example is Mitsuyo Seo's Momotaro's Sea Eagles, about navy personnel. The first feature-length animation was the 1945 Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors, another war film about sailors. 1956 saw the founding of Toei, and the first colour anime film The Tale of the White Serpent. It's a Disney-like fairytale with songs and talking animals, done in a ukiyo-e woodcut style. Toei worked on similar Western-style cartoon films through to the 1970s, with experiments such as the 1968 Horus: Prince of the Sun sowing the seeds for later movements including Progressive Anime (popularised by Hayao Miyazaki and Mamoru Oshii)

A Quick Timeline

To compete with Toei, Osamu Tezuka opened his own production company, Mushi Productions. Tezuka would go on to produce the first regular animated serial on Japanese TV 1963's Astro Boy. However, the very first TV anime was in fact Manga Calendar (1962). This was then followed by a rush of legendary serials Mitsuteru Yokoyama's Tetsujin-28, Tezuka's Kimba the White Lion and Tatsuo Yoshida's Mach Go-Go-Go, which you may know as Speed Racer. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this was then followed by experiments into adult films, with Tezuka producing a range of adult films in the 1970s. Interestingly, the 1973 film Belladonna of Sadness would be a major stylistic inspiration for the 1997 serial Revolutionary Girl Utena. The first anime intended for older audiences, Lupin III (based on the Arsene Lupin novels of Maurice Leblanc) was released in 1971.

A Quick Timeline

The huge popularity of TV led to a shrinking of the Japanese film industry in the 1970s. Toei were forced to downsize, and a flood of new studios opened. Mushi were forced to close, but their staff would go on to open big name studios like Madhouse and Sunrise. The rush of new talent led to a rush of new series, including legendary boxing drama Ashita No Joe and family entertainment show Heidi: Girl of the Alps. A new series of novel adaptations, World Masterpiece Theatre, ensued, with a young Hayao Miyazaki in a key role although more on him later! Sci-fi also flourished, with a range of firsts 1972's Mazinger Z the first mecha show, and 1979's Mobile Suit Gundam the first successful military sci-fi series.

The huge popularity of Star Wars led to a real sci-fi boom a feature film based on 1974's Space Battleship Yamato released in 1980 led to an era of sci-fi films. The popularity of sci-fi magazines like Newtype provided a natural fanbase and from there producers went wild. At the time, US distributors looked for new material and translated a range of these shows children watched Tranzor Z, Robotech, Battle of the Planets and of course Transformers. In an attempt to broaden the fanbase of sci-fi anime, experiments like Urusei Yatsura (1981) were released a romantic comedy with sci-fi themes. Meanwhile, a small independent studio moved on from making short comic sketches for conventions to a feature film, the 1987 Wings of Honneamise at the time the highest-budget anime ever made. The studio? GAINAX. Miyazaki, meanwhile, had released Nausicaa in 1984 and Grave of the Fireflies in 1987.

A Quick Timeline

A Quick Timeline

The OVA genre (Original Video Animation) was invented arguably in 1985 with Mamoru Oshii's failure, Moon Base Dallos. However, this was followed by Megazone 23, which did substantially better and opened up a new medium. OVAs and theatrical films allowed for budgets to increase immensely, with films like 1984's Do You Remember Love, 1988's Char's Counterattack and 1988's Akira which took Wings of Honneamise's crown for the most expensive anime made. However, many of these films and OVAs were economic failures, the costs of lavish cel animation simply unsustainable and by the end of the 1980s the boom was over. From that point on, it's not fair to say there hasn't been good anime made but there's less of it, and economic viability is now key rather than wild experimentation.

 !
Great Shock! Piercing Through the Misconceptions!

Weren't Old Shows all Episodic and Boring?

Not all of them! While, say, Dancouga (picture to the left) might be, not every old show is. The very earliest shows, mostly the sci-fi or action ones, were indeed episodic something like Mazinger Z has a very simple format of a new enemy each week. It worked for the target audience. However, something like Rose of Versailles is more loose with the form each episode has a conflict, but the plot is more linear and less episodic. By the 1990s, episodic plots had changed Revolutionary Girl Utena used its episodic format as part of its ongoing plot, as did G Gundam (picture to the left).

I Bet Old Shows didn't have Cutesy Characters...

Of course they did! An adorable child sidekick is a sure audience grabber while there weren't so many shows like K-On! whiich were solely about kids being kids, there were sickeningly sweet characters.

Captain Harlock, a hot-blooded sci-fi show about a pirate fighting alien Amazons, has him doing it all for the love of his doe-eyed child. SDF Macross is mostly about a saccharine, love-struck pop singer's love life. In between the bits about F-14s in space shooting aliens.
And don't even start on animal mascots like that one from Tenchi Muyo! Or sidekicks like the twins from Orguss.

So if there was loads of money for anime, I bet the shows looked good...

Most of the time yes. Take a still from Do You Remember Love or Wings of Honneamise and you'll be impressed. Take a still from something else like these from Dancouga and Raideen and you probably won't be. Ultimately it was all about getting a lot of cels done fast and profitably. While the OVAs and movies had the big budgets, many TV series didn't leading to corner cutting. One way of cutting corners was stock footage, re-using something that would feature every episode (attack preparation, for example). Sometimes this got pretty long Voltes V takes over a minute and a half to combine!

I Bet they'd Never have Stood for Sex in Old Shows...

Sex sells. If anything there was more of it in the past. Japan has actually clamped down on that sort of thing nowadays. The worst offender would probably be Go Nagai, who got in a spot of hot water with his work Harenchi Gakuen an X-rated comedy about perverted teachers and violent students. However, one way to grab attention in a sci-fi show was to stick the girls in revealing outfits, and laddish humour about spying on girls featured prominently.

Cutey Honey (pictured right) was an attempt by Go Nagai to make the girl superhero genre appeal to boys with saucy costumes and jokes.

Old Shows Didn't Have Clever Endings, did they?

Even the most formulaic show going, Mazinger Z, has a simple twist ending. However, compared to something like Space Runaway Ideon or Zambot 3 (more on both of those later), it's fairly predictable. There are some great old shows with really unique and at times depressing endings it's not fair at all to say that just because a show is old it won't have any twists. One great example of a good ending is SDF Macross it goes beyond the human victory to show what happens once the aliens want peace.

If you don't think there was merchandising, and that selling stuff wasn't key, you're wrong. Sci-fi shows did great business in fact, model and toy sales saved Mobile Suit Gundam from failing. Gimmicks were created to sell more toys. Getter Robo has three forms but no logical way of switching between them so you can sell three toys! Later entries in the Gundam franchise challenged this G Gundam's ridiculous gimmicks and Victory Gundam's bizarre designs were intended to not be easily converted into merchandise.

So How About That Merchandise Then?


Who are you?! Enter the Mysterious, Marvellous People!

Hayao Miyazaki (1941-)

An incredibly talented and prolific man, Miyazaki has worked as an animator, producer and director on various projects. His first work, for Toei, was the animation Watchdog Bow-Wow; however, he is best known for his work with Studio Ghibli His CV, though, includes series as diverse as Lupin III, Space Adventure Cobra and Akagi no Anna, an adaptation of Anne of Green Gables As well as working extensively in anime, Miyazaki has worked on a range of manga projects including Nausicaa and Ponyo

Yoshiyuki Tomino (1941-)

A king of sci-fi anime, Tomino has an extensive portfolio of mecha titles to his name including the legendary Gundam franchise His shows fall into two categories depending on his mood They are either exceptionally lighthearted, often slapstick and very funny, or very depressing and bleak Examples of the former are ZZ Gundam, Overman King Gainer and Heavy Metal L-Gaim Examples of the latter are Space Runaway Ideon, Victory Gundam and Zambot 3 Tomino has also worked as a composer under the pen-name Rin Iogi

Rumiko Takahashi (1957-)

A talented manga artist who has also worked in animation, Takahashi is a real expert at comedy From cross-dressing screwball comedy Ranma to the awkward and heartwarming Maison Ikkoku, her shows and manga series are made with an eye for the absurdities of young people She is renowned for taking a high level of personal involvement in her work her career began in 1978, and she has consistently taken responsibility for the series and franchises penned in her name

Matsumoto Leiji (1938-)

A skilled artist, animator, and creator of some great science fiction, Leiji has a unique style His art is instantly recognisable by its use of elongated and slender female characters alongside heroic men and bizarre caricatures His most famous works have to be Space Battleship Yamato, Galaxy Express 999 and Captain Harlock although one of his more recent projects was Daft Punk's Interstella 5555 video. He has also worked in the manga industry, producing adaptations of his works as well as original ideas like Wild West story Gun Frontier

Go Nagai (1945-)

A man prepared to take risks, Go Nagai is renowned for producing violent, sexy and funny stories His big break was the manga Mao Dante and its TV adaptation Devilman, a violent story about a demon fighting monsters which enjoyed huge success in its prime-time slot However, his enduring creations have to be the Dynamic Pro mecha shows Mazinger Z, the Getter franchise and more (from Grendizer to Steel Jeeg) Not only this, shows like Enma-kun and Cutey Honey are examples of his range of talents for applying a darkly comic twist to all manner of genres

And The List Goes On...

Tadao Nagahama is best known for his attempts to bring a more serious aspect into the mecha genre with shows like Voltes V and Daimos Voltes' plotline about the fall of a corrupt empire led to the show being banned in the Phillipines! Haruhiko Mikimoto is a legendary artist and animator who has worked on a range of visually spectacular projects Macross, Gunbuster, War in the Pocket and many others. Isao Sasaki is the voice of early anime soundtracks his unique sound defines the theme tunes to so many classic shows, notably Space Battleship Yamato! Osamu Tezuka's work on Astro Boy and Kimba The White Lion launched his career and really opened up the potential for the anime industry. Ryosuke Takahashi continued to take the science fiction genre in new directions, with shows like SPT Layzner, Fang of the Sun Dougram and the much later Gasaraki and FLAG using the traditional imagery of the mecha genre to tell political stories. Masami Obari is a legendary animator who has worked on a vast range of shows from the 1980s to the present day from Detonator Orgun to Gravion, he has done wonders for stock footage!


The Great Seven Shows! The Best Series that You Should See Are What Now?

Bubblegum Crisis (1987-91)

A classic sci-fi OVA with some all-star talent behind it Masami Obari directed two episodes, for one With an all-action plot encompassing corporate conspiracies, killer robots and more, its quality soundtrack and beautiful animation make it a must-see It's about a secret police unit whose duty it is to stop the crimes of the future those committed by cyborgs and machines It is also packed full of sci-fi homages (including a brilliant Blade Runner reference)

Bubblegum Crisis Clip

Maison Ikkoku (1986-88)

A heartwarming romantic comedy about an awkward, slacker student and his one-way love for his landlady While the main plot is hugely funny, with a hilarious comedy dog used for classic sight gags, it's the motley crew of supporting characters that really contribute to the humour With some classic dead-pan punchlines, bizarre scenes and amusing twists on classic sitcom moments, it's a great example of a student sitcom that is funny to this day

Maison Ikkoku Clip

Fist of the North Star (1984-87)

The definitive martial arts show, about a post-apocalyptic world full of gangs and villains With a cast of many bizarre enemies to fight, ridiculous finishing moves, and fountains of blood, it is the best in its genre It's about the hero, Kenshiro, questing to save his fiancee and in the process using his legendary martial arts skill to save the day

Fist of the North Star Clip

Rose of Versailles (1979-80)

A historical drama and pop-culture phenomenon in Japan, Rose of Versailles is perhaps equally well known for its stage musical adaptation, performed by the Takarazuka troupes The plot concerns a French noblewoman raised as a boy who enters the court of Marie Antoinette it is partially based on historical events (although made more glamorous) While the show is supposedly aimed at an audience of girls, it has universal appeal thanks to its strong plot and character development

Rose of Versailles Clip

Do You Remember Love (1984)

This movie, an adaptation of the classic series SDF Macross, stands among the best-animated films of the animation boom of the 1980s Equal parts love story and sci-fi action movie, it concerns a lone starship protecting the few surviving members of the human race from an alien force The movie's adaptation of the plot would become the official one, with its designs and events influencing future franchise entries Furthermore, the film's success launched the career of singer and voice actress Mari Iijima although she since found herself typecast

Macross Clip

Aim for the Top! Gunbuster (1988-89)

Mixing classic sci-fi novels, high school drama, inspirational sports movies and 1970s mecha, Gunbuster is a fantastically animated OVA from GAINAX It's about a young girl's struggle to live up to her father's legacy as she fights alien invaders but at the same time it's about the effects of relativistic travel on people Part of the show's appeal is its sound pseudoscience basis for all the technology featured and the range of sci-fi homages within it (including references to The Forever War, 2001 and others)

Gunbuster Clip

Legend of the Galactic Heroes (1988-1997)

An epic 110-episode sci-fi series which spans the rise and fall of empires and great heroes, this series spawned a hugely successful franchise with spin-off OVAs, manga, novels and video games It concerns the wars between the Alliance of Free Planets and the Galactic Empire, and the rivalry between two talented admirals With a depth and serious plot not often seen, Legend of the Galactic Heroes is a show that everyone should take the time to watch

Legend of the Galactic Heroes


Don't Go Away Yet! There's More!

And The List Goes On...

Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water is another GAINAX series, mixing pulp sci-fi with steampunk adventure and silly humour Laputa meets Gunbuster by way of Jules Verne. Marred only by a divisive sequence of episodes written by a different staff, the show has some classic moments and familiar faces to long-term GAINAX fans Arcadia of My Youth is the best way to get started on Matsumoto Leiji's animation. The origin story for Captain Harlock, it's a dramatic and beautiful sci-fi movie. War in the Pocket is the one entry in the Gundam franchise everyone should watch. It's a mecha show without much action but heavy on character and with a very powerful ending. Not a dry eye in the house. The Slayers is a hilarious fantasy comedy based heavily on Dungeons and Dragons with some all star voices (you may recognise the voice actors of Rei Ayanami and Mwu La Flaga in there) and great jokes. Giant Robo is a retro-futuristic martial arts sci-fi adventure based on a very old liveaction kids show (ala Power Rangers) an example of how something seemingly absurd can be made great. Macross Plus is an exceptional OVA a mecha show with plenty of drama, dog-fights in beautiful futuristic planes and an exceptional soundtrack. It's best described as Top Gun but with a killer supercomputer.

Screenshots: Arcadia of My Youth and Nadia


Great Disaster! Some Things Should Stay Hidden!

M.D. Geist

While some people would call this the worst anime they've seen I'd instead say it's OK but not a must-see It's basically a rip-off of The Terminator by way of Mad Max a psychopathic super-soldier is awoken to stop a supercomputer from causing armageddon. The focus is entirely on action the hero fights tanks, robots, and large numbers of enemies with a range of weapons, stopping occasionally to pick up girls What it does have going for it (despite an awful plot) is a great soundtrack.

MD Geist Clip

Fight! Iczer-1

When the major selling points of your show are girls kissing and people explode into fountains of gore then it is perhaps obvious what audience you're aiming for.

Fight! Iczer-1 has a lot of those things, and not a lot else. There's a bad plot about aliens and robots or something, too.
That's mostly an excuse for people to be taken over by body-snatching squid aliens and menace the (female) protagonists

Six-God Combination God Mars

God Mars should have a lot going for it it is by the same author who created Giant Robo, Tetsujin-28, Babel II and various other really great franchises
However, it isn't actually very good. The main robot design is seriously ugly, for one. It also is 64 episodes of very boring fights, with one attack used to start and end battles in one shot. It's made very clear from the start that Godmars is nigh-invincible, and as a result there's no tension in the battles The end result is a slow-paced, boring show with lots of lengthy recycled scenes

Godmars Clip (by popular demand)

Geo-Armor Kishin Corps

Not so much a bad show as a plain stupid one, this OVA concerns a tasteless alternate history WW2 Imagine for a moment Eva Braun defected to the Japanese along with Einstein to form an alliance with the US and fight aliens with a giant robot Imagine the Germans had a giant robot with a giant swastika on it to show it's a Nazi Super Robot Essentially this makes Hellboy and Indiana Jones look like serious presentations of the Third Reich

Geo-Armor Clip

Cho-Gattai Majutsu-Robo Ginguiser

The title is a mouthful and a half, it's incredibly poorly animated and all told this is the worst thing I've ever seen. And that's only from the first episode. Nothing could convince me to watch more of this show. With eye-searingly bad colour combinations, characters changing shape as scenes progress, hideously ugly enemies and mecha, Ginguiser is something that perhaps was best forgotten. It's a perfect example of a show written by people who were doing a job, trying to make money. It's not original, it's not inventive. It's just dull and ugly.

Other Disappointments

Relic Armour Legaciam is a well-animated and interesting OVA which sadly ends on a cliffhanger and goes nowhere. After setting up its plot, it simply ends. Metal Skin Panic MADOX-01 tries to be a slapstick comedy parodying mecha shows but ultimately isn't funny. While it has some spectacular mechanical animation, it doesn't have any substance to back it up The Wings of Honneamise might have been the most expensive animated film ever made when it was released but sadly it's not very good. The main character is truly vile and you never feel he is properly redeemed meaning the main hook of the plot is not well-resolved Techno Police 21C is hideously inconsistently animated, not funny at all and ultimately an example of why the OVA boom was going to be short-lived there was no quality control to speak of Char's Counterattack was intended to finish off the Gundam franchise's main plot, but sadly falls flat it's beautifully animated, has some great ideas, but the characters don't seem consistent with how they've been portrayed in other entries and there's entirely too much focus on new sidekicks. Akira is influential without a doubt, but sadly not a patch on the manga it's rushed and doesn't cover anywhere near enough of the plot

Other Disappointments

Hades Project Zeorymer has some fantastic ideas behind it, fantastic music and beautiful mechanical designs. However, it's an example of how a show needs tension the character drama isn't strong enough to make up for the slow-paced and repetitive combat. Stardust Memory was an attempt to make Gundam more serious and action-movie like. However, it's plagued with terrible plotholes, inconsistent characters and poor pacing which mean ultimately it was a disappointment. Macross II was a spin-off of the franchise so bad it is no longer considered part of it. While its core ideas were good a reversal of the situation seen in Do You Remember Love, it feels too much like more of the same to really be great. Detonator Orgun is a slow-paced OVA which was made out of rejected ideas for Tekkaman Blade a lack of real tension and a tendency to rely on exposition mean it never really gets your interest

Screenshots: Macross II and Ginguiser

Screenshots: Iczer-1 and Kishin Corps


Buried Treasure?! I'm There to Claim It!

Zambot 3 (1977-1978)

This show starts off like any other 1970s mecha show it's about a plucky kid and his friends piloting a combining robot to fight an invading enemy Then, things get a little bit odd. It carries on looking like a childish adventure show, but things start getting seriously dark and violent Mankind doesn't want to be saved by kids, the enemies realise that there's better ways to win than sending monsters and the heroes find themselves hated The villain, Killer the Butcher, is unbelievably cruel and unusually successful it's this brutality and bleak outlook that sets Zambot 3 apart from other shows

Zambot 3 Clip

Space Warrior Baldios (1981)

Much like Zambot 3, Baldios is a bleak and nihilistic take on the mecha genre its final twist and climactic battles aren't heroic affairs by any means A soldier from a dying race flees his destroyed planet to find a new home, pursued by the corrupt military who want him dead With the help of the few allies he can find, he fights his ancient enemies, and as the battle rages discovers a series of shocking truths about where he ended up

Baldios is a show where the fights tend to be short and decisive, with character development the real draw

Baldios Clip

Taiyou No Kiba Dougram (1981-1983)

A gripping political story in the vein of Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Dougram is interesting in its use of historical inspiration for a science fiction show About a defector from an occupying army joining the resistance, it doesn't shy from showing the reality of asymmetrical warfare despite being at times touching and funny, it has serious moments With an arrestingly bleak opening which leaves you watching the entire show waiting for it to be explained, its strong narrative arc sets it apart from other more episodic series of the time

Dougram Clip

Honoo No Tenkousei (1991)

An affectionate parody of the martial arts genre, this GAINAX show takes elements from classic fighting series like Fist of the North Star, Ashita No Joe and more It then sets it in a parody of the ultraviolent high schools Go Nagai used frequently The art style is an affectionate parody of the Dynamic Pro style of heavy lines and rough-looking characters Despite ultimately being a wholly slapstick vehicle, it has surprisingly well-animated and tense fight scenes it's a comedy that has substance

And The List Goes On...

Space Runaway Ideon is arguably the best of the Bleak Mecha genre the two movies, A Contact and Be Invoked are beautifully animated, and while suffering from some pacing issues come together to create a story epic in scale and thoroughly gripping. Nana Toshi Monogatari is an interesting sci-fi piece about a flooded earth in which sea power rules. It focuses on the battles between two unorthodox admirals, and is instantly recognisable as from the same mould as Legend of the Galactic Heroes Eiyuu Gaiden Mozaicka is a very visually impressive and intriguing fantasy story, with unique character designs and an interesting mixture of future technology and fantasy traditions. Iria: Zeiram The Animation is a fun body-horror adventure with a really unique futurefeudal-Japan setting and a creepy alien antagonist.