Does Your First Anime Still Hold Up?

[Slenn]

This is sort of a test of nostalgia. What's that one show that got you into this subgenre of cartoon, and do you think that the show is still one of your favorites? Have you tried watching it recently?

Mine was Sailor Moon, just when Toonami was airing episodes with Renee's arrival. At the time, I was super into astronomy and planets. When I had heard about a block of cartoons on Toonami, I was intrigued by their promos and this strange style of animation with huge eyes and adorable faces. Watching Sailor Moon on that channel felt like I had travelled to another planet, pun intended. Everything about it was unlike anything I had seen before compared to western animation. That and the fact that it featured girls as protagonists that were named after the planets, and they had super powers. The storyline was compelling, and it featured some dark and dramatic tones. This could not get any cooler, and it forever sold anime to me.

I watched the english redub of it not too long ago, and I feel like it still holds its ground well. I watch it with a group of friends, and we're able to laugh at its corny scripting, but we love the show all the more. Personally, I'm still captivated by the scope of the show, even if I never really finished it. But I plan on doing so some day.

What was your first, and do you think it still holds up?

 

[Zontar]

Oh hell no. My first anime was Pokemon's first seasons, with my watching the first seasons as they came over. They're better then the later seasons for sure, and they're an oddity within the franchise as they had things you'd never see in it today like psychics, giant pokemon or humans who are freakish monsters in and of themselves, but in terms of actual quality outside of it being a campy story about a few kids in an odd world which drags on far past its welcome. I went from being half Ash's age to double it, I think they should really consider a new protagonist given they cycle out all but 6 characters out of a cast of hundreds each generation. Would it really change things too much to have the last 6 characters be new as well, given 98% of the rest of the cast is new?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I think it was Dragon Ball. I was always aware it was very subpar. Pokemon too. I think the first good thing that I watched was Rurouni Kenshin.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

If you're talking about the first anime I watched, then no. Pokemon does not hold up well at all.

If you are talking about the anime that made actually start enjoying anime as a whole, then hell yeah. Not many anime I've watched have been able to suck me in as much as Trigun did. The comedy was funny, the action great to watch, and the downer moments were actually sad without seeming ridiculous. I've also not been able to find another anime quite as smooth at switching tones within a short time frame from goofy to serious, while still feeling like a coherent series.

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

My first was Pokemon, and while I can't say it holds up, it's one of the few shows I can still watch just for nostalgia, and I'm not a very nostalgic person when it comes to the shows I watched as a kid.

Maybe I also still like it because I've seen some of the recent Pokemon episodes, and compared to those, the first seasons feel like it has more heart and soul.

But the show that got me deeper into anime was Death Note, which I was recently rewatching on Netflix after viewing the first episode of the live-action series (Which I didn't like,) and it actually holds up very well for me. There's a few shows during that time that I can still watch and enjoy (Black Lagoon, Haruhi,) while others don't hold up very well (Higurashi,) and some I used to love and I now really dislike (Elfen Lied.)

 

[davidmc1158_v1legacy]

My first anime was Akira actually. I would say that it holds up pretty well. The production quality still holds up and I still find some of the philosophical concepts in the story interesting.

 

[Zontar]

My first anime was Akira actually. I would say that it holds up pretty well. The production quality still holds up and I still find some of the philosophical concepts in the story interesting.

That's a movie which definitly should have been a series though (and given its era it probably would have worked as an OVA series). I mean as good as the animation is, I'd have rather have had it get a downgrade in the name of making it longer and actually adapt the phone book sized manga (I think you can kill someone with a copy of the whole story).

Ironically enough, despite its iconic status amongst Western anime fans it's almost forgotten in Japan. Though it'll probably get a new boost in popularity on both sides of the pacific once the live action movie gets finished, and despite the pesimism people usually have about that type of adaptation I think it's in safe hands given that Marco Ramirez will be writing it (he's the showrunner of the Daredevil Netflix series)

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

My first Anime was Gundam Wing and fucking hell, its even better when I understand politics than when I was a kid loving giant robots. Is it goofy? Yes. Predictable? Yes.
Fucking EPIC and OH so watchable(something .hack//sign and Dragon Ball Z lack)!

 

[StormShaun]

It depends.
There was the usual at the start.
- Pokemon.
- Dragon Ball Z.

Fun back then, but now it's rather, meh.
Then thanks to Cartoon Network I watched such shows as.

- Ghost in a Shell.
- Fullmetal Alchemist.
- Gundam Seed.

These days, those three are damn good. Sure Ghost in the Shell got more stuff, the same with the last two. Still, I'd like to say they still hold up today. Yet back then I was still thinking "these are cartoons", as in Western cartoons. Then it was thanks to one, single, shit anime that opened my eyes to the whole genre, and many other things.

To Love Ru​

This... filth almost made me lose faith in anime, and it is the primary thing that drives my harem-genre hate, which will never, ever, EVER go away! Then the savior followed up, Clannad (which is a tagged harem anime, but my mind twists the definition of "harem"), and that is all I need to say.

Didn't mean to tell my whole "anime" life story.
But still, it taught me some important lessons.

 

[crazygameguy4ever]

technically my first anime was sailor moon.. but i was really little and didn't know what anime was and sailor moon is garbage.. so i consider my first anime(at age 16,when i first heard the word anime and what it was) to be Fullmetal Alchemist on adult swim.. and yeah it definitely holds up well.. the first half was better then the first 13 episodes of FMA Brotherhood for one thing.. and of course the animation, character designs, story,opening music themes.. all of it was really good and still really good to watch.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

My first anime was Voltron: Defender of the Universe, which in the butchered, watered down, kid friendly version the west received does not hold up. Then again GoLion, the original series from which Voltron was made, doesn't hold up particularly well either. But really none of the old super robot animes hold up all that well.

From there I got Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, and New Mobile Report: Gundam Wing. None of them really hold up all that well, except maybe Dragon Ball. That said, especially Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon fail to hold up, doubly now that they both have far superior new series for them. Those being Dragon Ball Z Kai which cut out all of the filler and Sailor Moon Crystal which just tells the story so much better than the first anime. Gundam Wing is probably the weakest series in the Gundam franchise, the Gundams are super weapons, the characters have no depth, the plot is insane, and the politics range from dumb to suicidally stupid.

After that I got Rurouni Kenshin, Trigun, Outlaw Star, and the original Mobile Suit: Gundam, all of which hold up superbly, and made anime something that I could follow as a teen and young adult. In fact I'd say while the first few I had started my love, the last four mentioned are what kept me loving anime. Then Cowboy Bebop and Big O hit, both of which fully cemented my love of anime, with one being a timeless newer classic anime, and the latter being just so surreal it's amazing. From there I managed to branch out and discover series like Full Metal Panic, Neon Genesis Evangelion,[footnote]Which I maintain since I got half way through it, extending still to this day, absolutely sucks as a narrative and as an anime[/footnote] Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Cyborg 009, and many more.

One side note is InuYasha, which when it first came out was pretty neat, and fun, but from about the second season on was melodramatic garbage... That one... When it hit Adult Swim I really enjoyed it, but about the end of the second season and the beginning of the third, it almost destroyed my love for anime. Luckily series like Yu Yu Hakusho and Kikaider prevented me from souring on the whole style genre. Also I was rather lucky to be introduced to Pokémon through the original gameboy games before the ever seeing the anime series, which I never really enjoyed, I just watched it to keep up with friends who were fully into Pokémon.

Well that was fun.

 

[Casual Shinji]

My first anime was Akira actually. I would say that it holds up pretty well. The production quality still holds up and I still find some of the philosophical concepts in the story interesting.

That's a movie which definitly should have been a series though (and given its era it probably would have worked as an OVA series). I mean as good as the animation is, I'd have rather have had it get a downgrade in the name of making it longer and actually adapt the phone book sized manga (I think you can kill someone with a copy of the whole story).

Yeah, but then we would've gotten the awful manga ending, as well as having Ryu turn into a complete fifth wheel at the halfway point.

OT: Akira was the first anime I saw where I was aware of its country of origin. It had the original soundtrack as well, so it was also the first time I was exposed to the Japanese language for longer than 5 seconds.

As for actual shows, it's hard to tell. So many kids shows I watched when I was little were in fact Japanese, that it's like asking what my first memory is. It was probably Wowser or Alfred Jodokus Kwak, or that Wizard of Oz anime.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Laputa: Castle in the Sky? Yup it still good!

If you mean my first anime series then I guess that would be Samurai Pizza Cat? Err not too sure on that one but it would still be funny.

 

[Mister K]

OK, I have two "first" animes: one that I started watching because I was a kid and nothing else was on a TV and one that I started watching because I thought the premise was good and decided to take a shot at it.

The former is the whole of the Dragonball (i.e. original, Z and GT). With the exception of GT, I'd say yes, as far anime for younger teen/pre-teen age group goes, this one does hold up. All the important characters are interesting and memorable, so are their attacks (even though the majority of them are variations of an energy beam), action looks good and even long power-up sequences aren't that bad. I mean, if I were to be exposed to it for the first time now, I wouldn't be as interested, sure, but as a kid anime this one is great.

The latter is Samurai Champloo. Oh, ye gods this series. So much atmosphere, so many great action scenes, such lovable characters. And the SOUNDTRACK. Yes, this one still holds up.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

My first "real" anime was, as with many others, Pokémon, and it doesn't hold up at all. I'm inclined to say it never did. I can remember only liking it for about the first 30-odd episodes, and can remember nothing after that.

But depending on your definition of the term, my first experience with Japan-produced animation was actually the Moomins TV show, and it holds up phenomenally to the point where it's practically a staple of kids' TV and on almost constant rotation. It's family friendly, imaginative, benign, creative, colourful, exciting, well animated, well acted, and has some really creepy and even sad parts. I love it, and it's a national icon here for a reason.

 

[Autumnflame]

VOLTRON

and yes for me it still stands up.
Dat theme still makes my pulse race when i hear it

https://www.youtube.com/0enSyVHY

 

[SomeLameStuff]

My first anime was Digimon Adventure


So yeah, it holds up well.

 

[Nazulu]

My first one was either Neon Genesis, Samurai Pizza Cats or Wicked World when just searching around on TV back in the 90s, or Astro Boy if that counts. That was before I became glued to Pokemon and DBZ, and I can't remember which came first.

The only one I re-watched most recently (about 2 years ago) is Wicked World, and it isn't great, but me and my friends got a good laugh out of it because it's still pretty fucked up! I'll get to the rest sooner or later.

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

Well lucky me, my first anime was Teknoman, the dub of Tekkaman Blade.



There were a few edits, mainly some brief nudity when Shara transformed and they may have cut out some of the bloodier parts and the scene were Sabre and the other evil Teknomen torture Shara but it survived largely unscathed and was thankfully better for it.

And yes, it holds up extremely well thematically and it's dub was one of the good ones so if you can get past the slightly rough animation its as good now as it was in '95.

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

Akira.

I've not watched it for over a decade, probably closer to 2 decades than 1. My tastes have changed, but back then, along with the likes of Appleseed, AD Police, Dominion, M66, Alita, etc it managed to convince my not particularly aware teenage brain that Manga etc was awesome. Took a while to realise it was actually the sci-fi/cyberpunk element that I liked.

Anyway, with that in mind I'll have to give the standard response of, looks good and nice atmosphere but WTF was that ending? (I know they slashed half the story to fit it in a film).

That said, Battle of the Planets and Ulysses were animes that were on children's TV when I was a kid and that was way before I saw Akira. Can only guess how those would hold up, kids programmes generally don't though.