Recommendations for Anime from 1985-1992?

[I-n-j-i-n]

Zeta was '85. Double Zeta was not nearly as bad, and there's even worse in the UC timeline alone. The weakest Gundam series is probably SEED/Destiny. The first half of ZZ was such a radical departure, the 2nd half was a closer return to the Zeta stylings, and I found it more enjoyable by that point.

Seed was fine. But Destiny had its writers bail out on themselves in the second half. They admitted as much. And even the revered Gundam shows like Zeta, Tomino admitted that he was just writing on pure, depressive emotions. And it shows. It's not the tropes that are always the problem in Gundam shows, but the quality of writing. The writing is just incredible in 00 since it tends to flow rather nicely and leads to the cliffhanger for the next episode. With Zeta, they talk about women subservience(??), weather in space (???) and Char getting chatty with Amuro about scoring women (?!?!?). The writing, to be kind about it, was bullshit.

As for Gurren Lagann's 'tropes' (common story element themes/elements) I can say one thing: Every genre has its stupid common themes. I got into an arguement once and had to point this out, that any genre of anime you go into has horribly stupid commonalities. And so there was nothing good about GL then? The mecha weren't unique in design? very few shows had a better eyecatch, the opening and its variations were also very well done, the animation ws clean and smoothe as well, there was little 3rd-rate animation in the whole thing.

I mean, we're watching anime because we also like animation and voice acting I assume? If we wanted raw story there are books after all. GL is faaaaaaaaaar from bad. Check out actually bad shows before slamming one of the best in its genre.

Note: If you hate the mecha genre...I mean, even the real robot genre is usually a cluster of "That new model is fast!" and "I'm out of ammo!" Still enjoyable of course, hardly makes them bad. (and yes even non-mecha anime ahs 'tropes'.)

The thing about Gurren Lagann was that it KNEW that it was using all the big tropes associated with manly-man anime (meaningful, manly deaths) and the robot genre. It pretty much toyed with it fully knowing how ridiculous the tropes really are. In the end, the Lagann was flinging around galaxies and warping the space-time continuum. That is what set it apart from WHY-SO-SERIOUS anime.

[avaris]

Tokyo Babylon was EXCELLENT! Even though it was only 2 forty minute OVAs. It's also a pseudo-prequel to X. It def carries the 90 anime vibe.

Blood the Last Vampire came out in 01 but is a good one to check out if you run out of options. It's the prequel to Blood+ but is IMO much darker.

[Dave Harris]

These are ones that look interesting to me, has anyone seen any of them?

I watched Legend of Lemnear recently on account that Norimasa Yamanaka did the music. Didn't care for the anime itself though. The only other one on your list I've seen is Cyber City Oedo 808, which is good fun. I'd like to see the Genocyber stuff though... the adverts on my old manga video VHSes are... intriguing to say the least

[Dervish]

Ok, lets try a slight variation.

M.D. Geist

These are ones that look interesting to me, has anyone seen any of them?

I read somewhere that M.D. Geist was officially the worst anime ever produced in the U.S.

I have seen it (and a lot of other anime), and I agree with that statement.

AVOID

[avaris]

I read somewhere that M.D. Geist was officially the worst anime ever produced in the U.S.

I have seen it (and a lot of other anime), and I agree with that statement.

AVOID

Ahh it's M.D Geist II, and it's only ranked 2nd worst.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/ratings-anime.php

[Dervish]

Ahh it's M.D Geist II, and it's only ranked 2nd worst.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/ratings-anime.php

Ah yes, my bad. I guess M.D. Geist is only FOURTH worst anime ever. My mistake.

[Atomicfog]

The thing about Gurren Lagann was that it KNEW that it was using all the big tropes associated with manly-man anime (meaningful, manly deaths) and the robot genre. It pretty much toyed with it fully knowing how ridiculous the tropes really are. In the end, the Lagann was flinging around galaxies and warping the space-time continuum. That is what set it apart from WHY-SO-SERIOUS anime.

My problem with Gurren Lagann is that it was like the Loony Tunes of anime. It was fun for awhile, but I stopped at the fifth or sixth episode because I couldn't suspend my disbelief any longer, and that's saying a lot for me. Maybe it was supposed to be like that, but it seemed just serious enough to take itself seriously.

[I-n-j-i-n]

My problem with Gurren Lagann is that it was like the Loony Tunes of anime. It was fun for awhile, but I stopped at the fifth or sixth episode because I couldn't suspend my disbelief any longer, and that's saying a lot for me. Maybe it was supposed to be like that, but it seemed just serious enough to take itself seriously.

It was only like that for the first 7 or so episodes. Everything after 8 is just an incremental increase in manliness right down to the final episode.

[Rophell]

Try and find an OVA called Mad Bull 34. You won't regret it.

Sorry for the bump but this thread made me join OCR...

Mad Bull was one of the best animes Ive seen in a long time... it was golden. Thank you fro the reccomendation.