1986
The Good (5)
Dragon Ball
Saint Seiya
Laputa
Windaria
Area 88
Fist of the North Star
The Bad (2)
Gall Force
Gundam ZZ
And the Meh (16)
(4 School Comedies)
(3 Mecha)
(6 Sports)
Maison Ikkoku
They Were Eleven
Barefoot Gen 2
As much as I make fun of Dragon Ball today, there was a time when it was a great fighting shonen. In fact, everything up to Namek stands the test of time. From the androids and onwards, it doesn’t, but until that happens, it is considered a good title, it established everything the rest are still copying today, and is exactly what I was loving in action adventures as a teenager.
As much as nobody cares about Saint Seiya today, because of the dreadful Omega spin off, it too was a fine fighting shonen when it first came out. Yes, it ran out of juice much faster than Dragon Ball, but for a few years even that one was fun to watch as an action adventure. Too bad it was going in circles in later titles and lost the GAR designs and music.
This year Ghibli officially begins making movies and gives us Laputa, a fine little action adventure, back when Miyazaki was more into action than slice of life.
There was also a low budget movie that every old fan knows of but sadly most forgotten about, named Windaria. It’s a cool looking Romeo and Juliet type of war drama, which although rushed and sappy is still one of the most powerful small productions I have seen in my life.
It became the contrast between what makes war drama good, compared to the Gall Force franchise, which goes for the usual reset of everything at the end of every arc and pisses me off. Windaria shows the loss of life, and the survivors having to rebuild. Gall Force ends up being waifu bait bullshit.
Speaking of bullshit, Double Zeta came out this year and instantly became one of the most hated seasons in the franchise, because it made a joke out of the war drama everybody was digging so far. Shame on you, Tomino!
As for the meh category, this is the year anime sitcoms begin and the dreaded slice of nothing happens initiates. If I wanted to watch normal people doing normal things, I would be walking out in the streets, I wouldn’t lock myself in the basement staring at 2D caricatures.
And there was also a short sci-fi mystery movie called They Were Eleven, which despite its fame as a one of a kind animated feature, it left me completely uninterested. Not much duration to develop characters or themes, so I consider it an overall passable title.
As for the ranking, 5 good and 2 bad is an ok ratio until now, and 1986 is placed below 1980 which had a 5 to 1.
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1987
The Good (4)
The Wings of Honneamise
Dangaioh
Dragon Ball
Saint Seiya
The Bad (2)
Fist of the North Star
Gall Force
And the Meh (16)
(3 School Comedies)
(2 Mecha)
(2 Sports)
(3 Sitcoms)
(3 Silly action flicks)
In 1987 we got two very different usages of good animation. One can be for inspiring the audience with a coming of age in the form of the Wings of Honneamise, and the other is mindless entertainment with some of the best drawn mecha battles in the form of Dangaioh.
We also got the downfall of Fist of the North Star, which unfortunately got a terrible sequel. The land of Shura was bullshit, it was all a lazy rehash with boring characters. That’s what happens when you milk a franchise with needless continuations.
1987 is the first year which has 2 good titles more than bad and can be ranked between 3 and 1, so it basically squeezes between 1986 and 1978.
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1988
The Good (8)
Akira
Char’s Counterattack
Grave of the Fireflies
Gunbuster
Legend of the Galactic Heroes
Saint Seiya
Dangaioh
Dragon Ball
The Bad (1)
Gall Force
And the Meh (20)
(4 School Comedies)
(2 Mecha)
(4 Sports)
(4 Sitcoms)
(5 Silly action flicks)
My Neighbor Totoro
1988 was pure gold. It had lots of short OVA schlock but the big productions are amongst the best the medium has to offer. Akira for post apocalyptic, Char’s Counterattack as the final showdown of Amuro and Char, Grave of the Fireflies as a war drama, Gunbuster as a distillation of everything that was making giant robots fun. And yes, Legend of the fucking Galactic Heroes began in this year as well, which I have praised countless times as the best anime of all times and you are all fucking idiots for liking Code Geass more. Even My Neighbor Totoro ain’t bad of a movie; it’s just that I am not fond of simple slice of life stories. With a difference of 7, this year is easily the best one yet.
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1989
The Good (6)
Guyver
War in the Pocket
Gunbuster
Legend of the Galactic Heroes
Dangaioh
Dragon Ball
The Bad (1)
Gall Force
And the Meh (20)
(5 School Comedies)
(2 Mecha)
(2 Sports)
(3 Sitcoms)
(3 Silly action flicks)
Kiki’s Delivery Service
Ys
1989 gave us Guyver, one of the coolest dark superhero action flicks, and War in the Pocket, a side story of Gundam which despite its simplicity it manages to add more meat to the setting. Kiki’s Delivery Service is ok, but lacks tension and I would rather watch Little Witch Academia. This is also the year high fantasy begins to trend thanks to the boom of JRPGs. Too bad none of them was special since they lacked the budget or an interesting plot.
1989 has 5 more good than bad, which means it goes second, right below 1988.
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1990
The Good (3)
Guyver
Legend of the Galactic Heroes
Dragon Ball
The Bad (2)
Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water
Gall Force
And the Meh (16)
(3 School Comedies)
(4 Sports)
(3 Sitcoms)
(4 Silly action flicks)
Ys
Record of Lodoss War
1990 is the beginning of the big decline, since the economy collapsed and most productions were limited to low budget series and gore schlock OVAs. If I am to count every one of the bullshit that was coming out in these years, they would all be placed at the very bottom. But I will instead consider those OVAs to be short, with no lasting effect on the medium, forgotten by now, and not exactly awful to begin with since they were made to be mindless fun. I will instead focus on the big titles, which is still not making this year better, since nothing good came out, many of the good ones ended, and the only titles worth of mention is Record of Lodoss War, a dry high fantasy series, and Nadia Secret of Blue Water which is a big disappointment and I just have to place it in the bad. It begins like an amazing action adventure and then wastes most of the episodes in plotless comedy on an island. I didn’t care by the time they went back into the action bits.
1990 has the stats of 3-2-16, and I place it below 1985 which had 3-2-21.
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1991
The Good (3)
Guyver
Legend of the Galactic Heroes
Dragon Ball
The Bad (3)
F91
Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water
Gall Force
And the Meh (21)
(2 School Comedies)
(4 Sports)
(6 Sitcoms)
(4 Silly action flicks)
Ys
Record of Lodoss War
The Heroic Legend of Arslan
Yokoyama Mitsuteru Sangokushi
Stardust Memory
1991 follows the terrible decline with the completely pointless Gundam side stories of Stardust Memory and F91. Especially the latter was so rushed that deserves to be placed in the bad section. From mediocrities there was the older version of Arslan and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which as much as I appreciate for what they accomplished with the tight budgets they had, they were still incomplete storylines with questionable animation.
1991 has the same amount of good and bad, so I place it above 1982 for being the same with fewer titles.
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1992
The Good (6)
Bastard!!
Sailor Moon
Tekkaman Blade
Yuyu Hakusho
Guyver
Legend of the Galactic Heroes
The Bad (2)
Dragon Ball
Gall Force
And the Meh (20)
(3 School Comedies)
(5 Sports)
(5 Sitcoms)
(2 Silly action flicks)
(3 medieval fantasy)
Stardust Memory
Porco Rosso
1992 is a vast improvement with many small jewels coming out, such as Bastard, medieval action done right for once, Sailor Moon, the subversion of magical girls, which still holds up to this day, Tekkaman Blade, another dark superhero series, and Yuyu Hakusho, one of the best fighting shonen of all times.
This year also signals the downfall of Dragon Ball, since it got the Android Saga where consistency went to shit with time travel, and everybody becoming a super saiyan when there was supposed to be only one. From mediocre titles, there is Porco Rosso, another lukewarm Ghibli film with no real tension or much of a plot.
With a difference of 4, 1992 goes above 1980 for having the same ratio with fewer titles.
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1993
The Good (6)
Ninja Scroll
Bastard!!
Sailor Moon
Tekkaman Blade
Yuyu Hakusho
Legend of the Galactic Heroes
The Bad (2)
Victory Gundam
Dragon Ball
And the Meh (16)
(5 School Comedies)
(5 Sports)
(3 Sitcoms)
(2 medieval fantasy)
The Irresponsible Captain Tylor
And lastly for this video, 1993 had some cool gore schlock with the Ninja Scroll film, a facepalm of a Gundam continuation nobody liked with Victory Gundam, and a promising parody of Legend of the Galactic Heroes named Irresponsible Captain Tylor that sadly didn’t do much with its premise. As for the ranking, 1993 is placed below 1992 for having the same number of good and bad titles but fewer mediocre one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4bqPj9g5Mg