Anime Old anime series (pre-90s)

[Baby Seals]

I have found a few old anime series online. By old, I mean made over 20-25 years ago (before most of us were born). The one I'm watching now is the Anne of Green Gables anime, which dates to 1979. It seems markedly different from a lot of recent anime series.

It's interesting to see how different anime was back then. Some of it does not resemble modern anime at all. I also noticed that more of it seems to be geared towards children as opposed to teenagers and adults. The colors are also duller, giving older series a dated look. And strangely, while some older series have people with weird hair colors, it seems that a lot of them only feature realistic hair colors (like brown, blond, etc.). Yet some things are still the same, like the big eyes.

Which pre-1990 anime series have you watched? Do you own any DVDs for any? Do you think a lot of things in anime have changed over the years or is the basic stuff still the same?

(If you want, you can discuss anime movies too. But they can't be recent ones - this is only for anime made before 1990.)

 

[SSJ_Jup81]

I'm totally dating myself here. Funny how you said shows made before most of us were born. I'm a kid of the 80s so some "pre-90s" shows I've seen originally. There are some I didn't see until later though. Ironically, one of my all-time favorite Japanese anime series is Yoroiden Samurai Troopers (Ronin Warriors in the US). It's from 1987, but wasn't brought over until about 1994 (or something like that).

Anyway, old series I've seen that pre-date 1990 are:

Ronin Warriors
Adventure of the Little Koala
Mapletown
Hello Kitty Fairytale Theater (I think it was called, used to come on Saturday morns on CBS)
The Lil' Bits (Originally from 1981, but released later on in the late 80s or early 90s, iirc)
Noozles
Voltron (Lovely 1984...being forced to watch this because my older cousin had control of the remote. lol)
G-Force (originally from 1972, dubbed over in the late 70s and last until I think the mid 80s because I vividly remember it/something else my older cousin liked)
The first original Gundam series from 1978 (or either '79)
Speed Racer
Gigantor (1960s series, but the storyline was changed to suit a US audience, as part of the story dealt with WWII...for here they changed the time to being "the future" as opposed to being present-day 60s)
Grimms Fairy Tale Classics (or whatever it was called. lol)
Dragon Ball (Z started in 1989, original DB was about '85)
City Hunter 1987
Sazae-san (well, I've seen the first episode of the series and some later eps [present day], the series began in about 1967, iirc)

That's about all I can think of right offhand and I used dub titles. I do think it's changed a bit over the years. Seems more flashy now-a-days and in all honesty, I can't fully get into many newer shows. Same with some video games. Seems there's more focus on visuals and graphics as opposed to content, gameplay, or story. Sometimes, it's like you're watching a movie.

As for the big eye thing, that's based off of early Disney animation. Disney was very influential to that aspect of Japanese animation and has been used ever since, I guess. As for the stories and such...well, some stories will always follow a set formula (given the series' genre). Like in a shounen series, it'll be aimed towards guys so not as many female characters in a strong role, and in a shoujo series, mostly female-oriented, etc. I guess it's just case-by-case in this regard, but animation wise, I still prefer the old style and always will.

 

[Baby Seals]

Ronin Warriors
Adventure of the Little Koala
Mapletown
Hello Kitty Fairytale Theater (I think it was called, used to come on Saturday morns on CBS)
The Lil' Bits (Originally from 1981, but released later on in the late 80s or early 90s, iirc)
Noozles
Voltron (Lovely 1984...being forced to watch this because my older cousin had control of the remote. lol)
G-Force (originally from 1972, dubbed over in the late 70s and last until I think the mid 80s because I vividly remember it/something else my older cousin liked)
The first original Gundam series from 1978 (or either '79)
Speed Racer
Gigantor (1960s series, but the storyline was changed to suit a US audience, as part of the story dealt with WWII...for here they changed the time to being "the future" as opposed to being present-day 60s)
Grimms Fairy Tale Classics (or whatever it was called. lol)
Dragon Ball (Z started in 1989, original DB was about '85)
City Hunter 1987
Sazae-san (well, I've seen the first episode of the series and some later eps [present day], the series began in about 1967, iirc)

Hello Kitty Fairytale Theater - This show is adorable!
Noozles - I didn't even know this was Japanese!
Speed Racer - this is probably the one I remember. I should watch it in Japanese - I wonder if they really talk as fast as they do in the American version.
Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics - It's pretty good and has great animation. The Cinderella one took a while to warm up to (that stepmother was evil even for a Cinderella story!), but overall it's a cute series.
Dragon Ball - I think I did see the original. It was okay.

Funny thing is, the era most of the aformentioned shows came out has a different name in Japan than the current era. Until 1989, Hirohito was still the Emperor of Japan. After he died, Akihito (his son and the current Emperor) took over. The era from 1926 to 1989 is called the Showa era. I forget what the current one is called.

 

[97SaturnSL1]

all the pre 1990s anime i have seen are

Ronin warriors
Ranma 1/2
Speed racer
Astro boy
Little women ( my nickname for the show was Civil War Pokemon)
Swiss Family Robinson
Black cat banzai (compleat with Mickey Mouse and Felix the Cat)
and the Nightmare inducing Momotarō's Sea Eagles (man that STILL gives me nightmares)

 

[SSJ_Jup81]

Funny thing is, the era most of the aformentioned shows came out has a different name in Japan than the current era. Until 1989, Hirohito was still the Emperor of Japan. After he died, Akihito (his son and the current Emperor) took over. The era from 1926 to 1989 is called the Showa era. I forget what the current one is called.

I know. I was born in Showa 56. I need to know this since for government documents, they still use this format. They also use it for graduation years. Oh, and we're currently in the Heisei era.

 

[Haruka_Rules!]

The pre 1990s anime i have seen are:

Urusei Yatsura- My favorite pre 1990s anime ever!
Maison Ikkoku- My 2nd favorite pre 1990s anime ever!
Ranma 1/2- Classic!
Ronin Warriors- It's been a while since I've seen this but I did like it.
Dragon Ball- It was okay but not my cup of tea.
Voltron- My brother really enjoyed it. I thought it was okay.
Robotech- same as Voltron.
Space Battleship Yamato- Very good sci-fi anime.
Pre-1990 Gundam- There are so many but they were fun to watch.
City Hunter- I only saw 2 episodes so I really can't judge. :3
Saint Seiya- I thought it was neat.

 

[33Whimsicott33]

I ended up seeing some Doraemon when I was reallllly little...

 

[garrison-san]

No mention of Saban's Adventures of Pinocchio (or Mokku of the Oak Tree, as it was known in Japan)? Originally broadcast in Japan in the 70s, it took until the early 90s for it to receive an English language dub which was shown over here. It stands out in my mind for being just about the most consistently downbeat and depressing show from my childhood (Pinocchio did little more than suffer for the great shame of beng an enchanted wooden puppet rather than a real boy). I didn't see the final episode, but I hope it at least ended happily.

 

[Baby Seals]

I was talking with my mom, and she actually remembers Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics! It used to be on Nickelodeon in the early 90s - the show came out in 1987 and was brought over here two years later. (If you watched Nickelodeon in the 80s, it was NOTHING like it is today. They used to have a lot of foreign shows like Noozles and Maya the Bee. It wasn't until 1991, when Rugrats and Doug both came out, that they started making their own shows. And they still had a lot of foreign shows well into the 90s.)

UPDATE: I found out that my sister used to love the GFTC Snow White when she was a toddler.

 

[zakisrage]

Has anyone seen The Rose of Versailles? It came out in 1979. The animation is very beautifu - and impressive for the time period. Plus the plot is pretty cool.

 

[S.S. Shadow Minun]

I've watched old anime, but anybody watched the Shakotan Boogie OVA? It was based on a street racing manga of the same name.

 

[Baby Seals]

Has anyone seen The Rose of Versailles? It came out in 1979. The animation is very beautiful, if a bit dated. Plus the plot is pretty cool.

That one's a classic. Serperior's pattern was inspired by it.

Just now, I watched Bannertail: The Story of Gray Squirrel in Japanese. That series came out in the same year as The Rose of Versailles. The anime is cute (it is about an adorable squirrel), but very obscure - and it's apparently based on an even more obscure short story written in the 1920s.

 

[zakisrage]

I wish the DVDs of the series were easier to find. I would like to find one of either of the Little Women anime because my sister enjoyed reading the book earlier this year.

 

[jda95]

I've only seen a couple of pre-90s series. Rose of Versailles and Candy Candy, shojo series from the 70s, and Dragon Ball from the 80s. I'd love to watch some more though, but it's really difficult to find old series these days, and its hard to get used to the lowered animation and audio quality of them compared to modern shows.

 

[Serpentsounds]

Dragonball
Dragonball Z
Lupin III
Akira
Hotaru no Haka/Grave of Fireflies
Kiki's Delivery Service

I haven't seen Dragonball and Lupin in their entireties, though.

 

[Chibster]

I've watched Dragon Ball, Ginga Nagareboshi Gin, Kimba the White Lion, a few episodes of Astro Boy, and I started watching Ranma 1/2 a month ago. I like watching older anime series, it gives me a nostalgic feeling, even though I wasn't around to enjoy it at the time.

 

[PockyAddict]

I love Classic Anime designs, the magical girl and shojo anime designs from that era are my favorate. The 1960s Speed racer, is one of the most sentimental for me due to the fact that it was my first anime i saw (in 1994 or 1995 when it was airing in syndication).

 

[zakisrage]

Has anyone here heard of Yatterman? It's a Tatsunoko series that came out in 1977. Me and one of my friends love it! (We watched the original first - there's also a 2008 remake and a live-action film.) If you watch the older series, you can definitely tell that it's old. I still like it, though.

Strange this is, my parents remember watching a few anime when they were growing up. Anime dubs have been available in my birth country (Lebanon) for many years. At one point anime was actually easier to obtain in the Arab countries than in the United States (and American cartoons were sometimes harder to obtain in my home country). In particular, most of the World Masterpiece Theater series from Nippon Animation were aired. My mum used to love them a lot! She especially loved watching Heidi, Girl of the Alps (which the original Yatterman did a parody of in one episode).

The WMT started in 1969. Their Heidi series came out in 1974. It came out not too long after in the Arab world. (Unfortunately, only a few WMT series were aired in the United States - one that I know got an English dub was Little Women.)

 

[Silverwynde]

Adventure of the Little Koala
Mapletown
The Lil' Bits (Originally from 1981, but released later on in the late 80s or early 90s, iirc)
Noozles
Voltron (Lovely 1984...being forced to watch this because my older cousin had control of the remote. lol)
G-Force (originally from 1972, dubbed over in the late 70s and last until I think the mid 80s because I vividly remember it/something else my older cousin liked)
Speed Racer
Grimms Fairy Tale Classics (or whatever it was called. lol)

You've covered quite a few that I've seen; I can remember being a kid and watching G-Force on cable back in the day. And Adventures of the Little Koala was one of my favorite shows back in the 1980s. (Yes, I am an old fart. I admit it.)

I can also remember watching Leo the Lion, which was the sequel to Kimba the White Lion (Jungle Emperor Leo). I can also remember watching the Unico movies when they would air on the Disney Channel and I loved them to pieces. The nostalgia kinda makes me want to track them down on DVD.

 

[Aulos]

I believe the only ones I have seen are Dragon Ball, Ranma 1/2, and Lupin III.

Two of them I've actually been watching (again) lately, ironically.