Recommendations for Anime from 1985-1992?

[avaris]

Naturally, I'm a huge fan of the original Vampire Hunter D OVA, but I find it doesn't go over as well as the more recent film with most people. Also, though it again has its quirks, Record of Lodoss War OVA = a big yes from me.

Macross Plus (4-episode OVA series) is..I can't even come up with words to adequately describe it.

.......and 3x3 Eyes.

ZOMG I heart Dan.

Completely agree. To be honest I have found that the anime from the 90's is by far the best era. There was some stuff in the early 2000's IMO that has a similar feel that is excellent.

Macross Plus I could not recommend enough. There is something special about that show. Prob has one of the best melodies EVER for it's opening and main theme. (same song)

The Vision of Escaflowne came out in 1996, and is also excellent. Has one of the best soundtracks of all time. It all along with 12 Kingdoms, Record of Lodoss War(the first one that came out) are just friggin awesome if you are into medieval fantasy type stuff.

[Nyuura]

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but I personally enjoyed Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040, a cyberpunk anime with female protagonists beating the crap out of renegade robots.

There's an earlier version of the series as well, in case you wanna give it a shot. I've only seen Tokyo 2040 so I can't say which is the better.

Older, 1987:

Newer, 1998:

[Strike911]

I'm a Gundam fan so those are the recommendations you're getting from me. If you haven't seen the original Gundam, reading up on the Wiki would be a good start, though you don't really need that much background story.

1985 - Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (50 episodes)

1986 - Mobile Suit Gundam Double Zeta (47 episodes)

1987 - Char's Counterattack (Feature film and you need to have seen most of the Gundam UC series [especially Double Zeta], but the way it finishes the UC timeline and story is fantastic. It's easily one of my favorite anime movies. Animation is great, and the soundtrack is good.)

1991 - Mobile Suit Gundam 0083 (only 13 episodes, quick one if you're looking for an easy watch)

[Meteo Xavier]

Damn, my plate's getting full.

I used to have the old Vampire Hunter movie, that was my brother's. Thats geared more towards what I'm looking for.

I also used to have 3x3 Eyes, but I didn't care much for it.

Record of Lodess War I've never seen, I might check that out. Bubblegum Crisis also looks like a decent choice. I started watching a little bit of the Guyver anime today and I might get into that.

Macross I've put off for years, I might try that too.

8Man sounds familiar.

Great suggestions, guys. Thanks much.

[Brycepops]

Oh shit, can't forget about Violence Jack! Or Devilman, for that matter.

[djpretzel]

I can't possibly recommend Giant Robo (7 episode OVA series, the last of which was delayed for a long time) enough. It has some quirks, but the music has inspired me to no end, and it's one of the most dramatic..anythings I've ever had the pleasure of viewing multiple times.

Beat me to it - ditto on both the anime AND the OST, which was recorded by the Warsaw Philharmonic. 'The March of Big Fire' is so goddamn epic it's ridiculous. One note... I really loved the ORIGINAL VHS dub of this, but not so much the redo for the DVD edition. If you can only get the DVD, I'd go subtitled. If you can track down the VHS, go for that dub... it's really exaggerated but it TOTALLY works.

Bastard!! was a guity pleasure (spell names are all metal-related), the original Lodoss OVAs were classic, Video Girl Ai is one of the classics in the genre (if you care for the genre)...

If you can bump your list back to 1984, I recommend Beautiful Dreamer as the best Urusei Yatsura movie, and it's also better than all the OVAs and most of the TV series. It's got this really weird vibe because it combines the over-the-top, Takahashi style with Mamoru Oshii's (GitS), which results in an odd chimera that ends up working better than anything else I've seen from Takahashi, who tends to be too light/repetitive for my taste.

[Vampire Hunter Dan]

Macross I've put off for years, I might try that too.

IMHO, Macross and Macross Plus are two *totally* different things for the most part. I'm not big at all on the original series, even though it's cute..and I already mentioned my views on Macross II. I haven't seen Macross 7 (series) or the more recent ones. Macross Plus is just..a thing unto itself, and requires no viewing of any other Macross to understand it. It's very mature, stylish and the focus is definitely *not* on the mecha/robots (if it were, then I wouldn't be so big on it). It's just a thing to behold, rly. Mmkay.

Beat me to it - ditto on both the anime AND the OST, which was recorded by the Warsaw Philharmonic. 'The March of Big Fire' is so goddamn epic it's ridiculous. One note... I really loved the ORIGINAL VHS dub of this, but not so much the redo for the DVD edition. If you can only get the DVD, I'd go subtitled. If you can track down the VHS, go for that dub... it's really exaggerated but it TOTALLY works.

YES. I won't discuss dubs at all, because my views seem to be different from most and I tend to irritate people with them, but YES.

YES. I adore the original LA Heroes (or w/e) dub.

Also: there is a DVD set out there with the original dub (as well as some music-related extras and original language) on it, and I believe I still have it kicking around somewhere. I went through great pains to find it a few years ago.

And Masamichi Amano is basically a Japanese hybrid of Wagner and Strauss. I *require* his music in my life.

[José the Bronx Rican]

First, my dittos:

Aim for the Top! Gunbuster is still my all-time favorite; I don't know what took it so long to come to DVD.

Riding Bean is also way up there, but please watch it in Japanese... I haven't to this day found an English dub more embarrasingly amateurish than this one. It's unlistenable.

Project A-ko and Dominion Tank Police I also recommend; they're both bananas.

Second, I bring what hasn't been brought up yet:

Vampire Princess Miyu OVAs - youngish, sort-of vampire goes against, and teams with, initially skeptical psychic while catching escaped ghost-monster-things.

Doomed Megalopolis OVAs - evil spirit Kato's no M. Bison knockoff; one of several animes tied to the cause of Japan's great early 20th century earthquake.

The Dagger of Kamui - epic film runs from Japan to America, ninjas to pirates, and even Mark Twain!

And third:

I won't discuss dubs at all, because my views seem to be different from most and I tend to irritate people with them...

You reminded me of my unpopular viewpoint that no one's had a better dubbing output than Carl Macek's Streamline.

[Flash Strife]

lolwut?

[L.T.W.]

I don't know if anyone's mentioned this earlier, but here are my recommendations:

Robotech

Knights of the Zodiac

and

this anime i dont know the name of in English, but it was about soccer. hahaha, Lotsa fun

EDIT: oh yeah, and Samurai X (aka Rurouni Kenshin) , is an awesome anime (Season 1 specially, season 2 was meh compared to 1) The movies about his past are also a blast..

[Red9]

Cyborg 009

Awesome.

[Meteo Xavier]

I remember Cyborg 009. I'll look for that.

[Vampire Hunter Dan]

Project A-ko and Dominion Tank Police I also recommend; they're both bananas.

I'd definitely second these. Project A-Ko 2 was a little awkward for me..but all four movies were really fun. Dominion was always a big favorite, too. Nice, pretty short OVA series, with cat girls *not typical* of the ones that seem to be more common today in anime..haha.

[Nyuura]

lolwut?

Not my fault Griffith is such a woman.

Which reminds me... Has Berserk been suggested as well?

[Flash Strife]

Not my fault Griffith is such a woman.

Which reminds me... Has Berserk been suggested as well?

Anime was made back in 1997, though the manga started in the 80's so maybe it would be a good pick? Either way the series is all kinds of awesome.

[djpretzel]

I'd definitely second these. Project A-Ko 2 was a little awkward for me..but all four movies were really fun. Dominion was always a big favorite, too. Nice, pretty short OVA series, with cat girls *not typical* of the ones that seem to be more common today in anime..haha.

Which reminds me, as a tangent:

B-Ko > A-Ko > C-Ko

[Atomicfog]

What about Nausicaa? It's 1984, which is a year early but it's not a bad film...

I second this.

Also, not exactly obscure or anything, but Yu Yu Hakusho might be worth adding to your list.

[OverCoat]

This thread > other anime thread

Something about older anime... I dunno if it's nostalgia goggles or what. However, just yesterday I started to watch Stratos 4, which is from 2003, and I didn't even get through the first episode before deleting it. Sometimes with newer anime it feels like a watered down version of something I've already watched years ago, you know [though as far as lolis in space, Rocket Girls takes the cake. I recommend it even though it's a new anime]? Whereas the older stuff [i started watching New Dominion Tank Police immediately after] seems to explore the medium much thoroughly, like they wanted to see how far they could push it, compared to now where anime is big business and most of the televised stuff seems to follow a formula. I think this is true for most stuff from the '80s though, remember how gory all the action movies were, and then sometime in the '90s the violence got kind of subdued? What's up with that?

Also, man I sound like an oldfag. NOSTALGIA GOGGLES

Also also: DJP, that's wrong! it goes: A-ko > B-ko > C-ko :3

I saw a strange making-of documentary of Project A-ko though, and they had this really creepy section where all the production staff would list their favourite girl. I cringed every time someone said C-ko, and it was always like, the elders of the production team. Blegh

[H. Guderian]

IMHO, Macross and Macross Plus are two *totally* different things for the most part. I'm not big at all on the original series, even though it's cute..and I already mentioned my views on Macross II. I haven't seen Macross 7 (series) or the more recent ones. Macross Plus is just..a thing unto itself, and requires no viewing of any other Macross to understand it. It's very mature, stylish and the focus is definitely *not* on the mecha/robots (if it were, then I wouldn't be so big on it). It's just a thing to behold, rly. Mmkay.

Each Macross is like...a different beast. Macross 7 is music heavy. Infact, there's an emphasis on love triangles and music in each one. I like each Macross seperately and for different reasons, Macross II however, was terrible.

Worth noting, Harmony Gold licensed Super Dimensional Fortress Macross and put it under the name Robotech, while adding two compeltely unrelated shows (Super Dimensional Calvary Southern Cross and Mospeda) and changing the names around and claiming it to be one big universe.

Another Macross note: They compressed the entire story into a single movie version. Which brings me to another note: Zeta Gundam has been compressed into 3 movies as well that are actually really recent. Movie versions tend to look a ton better as well, plus not eat up your time as much.

If you like space ships, characterization, and space-opera drama, I recommend the massive Legend of the Galactic Heroes.

For a bit of Shonen, I'd suggest "Touch!" (1985) which was pretty classic and one of the most popular anime.

So much! So very much in so much time~

[OverCoat]

Macross 7 is my favourite Macross, especially if you include the extra episodes and the Dynamite 7 OVA

I'd really recommend Legend of Galactic Heroes as well. Epic show is epicccccccc

It's WAY too long for what Meteo wants, but... it is an OVA! So that technically makes it fit the criteria :3

[yangfeili]

Has anyone mentioned Windaria? Because I'm going to mention Windaria.

[Vampire Hunter Dan]

Has anyone mentioned Windaria? Because I'm going to mention Windaria.

Love it. One of my favorites as a young lad. Again with the stellar anime music ;D

[OverCoat]

Windaria depressed the hell out of me.

Which reminds me, isn't Grave of the Fireflies from around this era too? :'3

[Jenz Drake]

What about the Ninja Gaiden OAV? It's from 1991. I loved it! It was wonderful for it's time. It's about an hour long, I think.

[Vampire Hunter Dan]

Windaria depressed the hell out of me.

Which reminds me, isn't Grave of the Fireflies from around this era too? :'3

Yes. HO my god, Depression City ;-;

I forgot the Gainax film Wings of Honneamise. Some don't seem to be big on it, but I'm a huge fan. Really intriguing, thought-provoking stuff. Sakamoto OST FTW.