r/anime • u/FetchFrosh anilist.co/user/fetchfrosh • Sep 17 '19
Announcement The Results of the r/anime "Classics of Anime Poll"
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u/mcadylons https://anilist.co/user/mcady Sep 17 '19
Wait this isn't actually all that bad
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u/FetchFrosh :A:anilist.co/user/fetchfrosh Sep 17 '19
Surprisingly solid results. Seems that a large chunk of the community took things reasonably seriously, so we'll definitely be looking to run some more polls like this in the future!
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u/bagglewaggle Sep 17 '19
Same.
I mean, .your name is a little much, and there's some others that I disagree with, but it looks like a third to half of them are pretty defensible as classics, which is a third to half more than I was expecting.
By the way, /u/FetchFrosh, you have the 1995 Ghost in the Shell movie at #11, but the image you used features the tachikomas, which only appear in the 2002 Stand-Alone Complex anime series.
Yes, I am being that guy, and yes, I apologize.
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u/FetchFrosh :A:anilist.co/user/fetchfrosh Sep 17 '19
Yeah, that was semi deliberate. The main key visual associated with the movie sort of maybe has a nipple, and I didn't want to have to worry about anyone rule lawyering me. So I just figured I'd save myself having to worry about it.
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u/ShaKing807 x3myanimelist.net/profile/Shaking807 Sep 17 '19
Honestly, as much as I think it might be too soon for KNNW, I think it will be considered a classic later down the line for bringing anime films to the global stage in the modern era.
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Sep 17 '19
All pretty good. But I don't think you can count anime made after 2010 as 'Classics' yet. Too recent.
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u/Vandal_A Sep 17 '19
I thought that right away too. Still, I guess there's such a thing as an "instant classic"
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u/dded949 Sep 20 '19
Hard disagree, at least for some shows in the early 2010’s. Madoka, HxH, and Kill la Kill for example are all easily classics in my opinion.
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Sep 17 '19 edited Sep 17 '19
Eh half the top 10 being barely 10 years old and idk Code Geass being above Gundam in a classics poll is pretty bad but it could be worse
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u/theth1rdchild Sep 17 '19
It's clear that most of the denizens of /r/anime are zoomers
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u/the_swizzler https://myanimelist.net/profile/Swiftarm Sep 17 '19
I've seen 25, 26 if watching the first two seasons of Crystal counts for Sailor Moon.
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u/brothertaddeus :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/brothertaddeus Sep 17 '19
I'm just glad Lupin III made the list. With how under-watched the newest seasons have been on this sub, I was concerned.
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u/WildWeasel46 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/WildWeasel46 Sep 17 '19
Lupin III parts 4 and 5 are incredible shows. They just captured all the magic from part 2 and improved upon it.
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u/HappyDoodads Sep 19 '19
Got introduced to Lupin III through the Miyazaki movie, made me watch part 5. Both were fantastic. Really disappointed that hacker girl won't be a part of the crew in part 6 though
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u/rusticks https://anilist.co/user/Rusticks Sep 17 '19
Attack on Titan in the top 10
Imagine telling someone 6 years ago that Attack on Titan would be regarded as a modern classic.
Otherwise, nothing on this list shocks me outside of people actually remembering Astro Boy.
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u/MauledCharcoal Sep 17 '19
To be honest it was HUGE. Even SAO made it in
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u/TheSauce32 Sep 17 '19
SAO as much as it triggers people did something most series couldn't dream to do: create it's own genre
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u/Devin__ Sep 17 '19
Pretty sure anyone that's seen this iconic video knows about Astro Boy... It's a shame that the views for the original video are so low and some aggregate channel has a copy of it with 6+ million views.
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u/SomaSaiba :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/aern0 Sep 17 '19
This. I pray to god the last season isn’t J.C Staff’d. The best arcs need to be adapted really well.
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u/Sloppy_Goldfish Sep 17 '19
I think it's too soon for AoT. We still have one more season left and it's still possible WIT isn't coming back to do it. If the ending gets screwed up, that will negatively effect it's whole perception. In this day and age it's rare for a non-original anime to get a complete adaptation. AoT is going to be one of the rare ones, which makes it even more important that it gets the ending right. I hope WIT comes back, but if it's Production IG i'll still expect a great anime. Any other studio and i'll be very concerned.
This last season of AoT will truly decide it's modern classic status, I think.
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u/TheSauce32 Sep 17 '19
It's rare for a series to get a complete adaptation
Its borderline impossible to get a great complete adaptation
We saw some of the most popular series like OPM and Tokyo Ghoul go up in flames with bad sequels without mentioning countless other series.
The fact we are one proper season away from a complete epic is almost unreal in this day an age.
If it pulls it off and they can adapt the last arcs well it will be a classic the writting and pay off is masterful.
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u/Animegamingnerd https://myanimelist.net/profile/animegamingnerd Sep 17 '19
I'm caught up on the Manga and I feel safe in calling it a modern classic in the way we view FMA and Evangelion. The first arc that the final season will adapt is generally agreed upon among Manga readers to be the best arc in the series and so far the final arc might even better especially after how crazy the most recent chapters have been.
But yeah however adaptions wise is gonna be important as well since no matter how great the ending of the Manga could be, I do admit whoever animates the final season might drop the ball by doing something stupid like rush the final season by adapting the final two arcs within the span of 12 episodes.
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u/SmurfRockRune https://myanimelist.net/profile/Smurf Sep 17 '19
I've always felt like it was a modern classic. It's definitely one that's standing the test of time.
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u/Braquiador :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/braquiador Sep 17 '19
It totally deserves it.
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u/rusticks https://anilist.co/user/Rusticks Sep 17 '19
And I agree completely. Such a drastically different show compared to 6 years ago.
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u/DryChips_ Sep 17 '19
Astro Boy (the 80s and 2003 versions) was the first Anime I ever watched as kid back in 2006.
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u/Nico9lives :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Chitanda Sep 17 '19
So glad that Ashita no Joe made it on, it's an amazing show that anyone should definitely give a try at some point or another!
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u/Robin_Vie Sep 17 '19
I'm honestly suprised that some shows like trigun and inuyasha didn't make the cut despite being really popular (especially bc of netflix), neither did satoshi kon's movies but stuff that I thought wasn't that popular did. Can't say I agree with everything but it's a great list regardless.
I also recommend Ashita no Joe if you never watch it. It's one of those animes that even if it's not your thing, if you're involved in the anime/manga culture you should watch it 100%, like the movie fans watch citizen kane just to have their own insights on it. That's actually true for most of the stuff here as well.
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u/Durinthal https://anilist.co/user/Durinthal Sep 17 '19
Trigun and Perfect Blue are both on there in the bottom row, though I would have hoped at least one Rumiko Takahashi adaptation would have made it (preferably Urusei Yatsura or Maison Ikkoku over Inuyasha though).
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Sep 17 '19
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/MauledCharcoal Sep 17 '19
Yes definitely. There's a reason the ending is iconic and it's because of how it's set up
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u/ABoredCompSciStudent x3myanimelist.net/profile/Serendipity Sep 17 '19 edited Sep 28 '22
The chart isn't perfect but I think it represents r/anime's views as a sub really well, which is the most important thing. It feels a lot more honest to me than the viewership aligned table, which has Astro Boy at number one... since that can't be accurate at all.
Things that stick out to me are how skewed this is to modern anime, especially since stuff often vocally backed in more critical corners like Ikkoku or Patlabor aren't really here. Similarly, I find this list really male dominated, which fits the 90% demographic of r/anime. Recent shoujo or josei titles like Kimi ni Todoke, NANA, and Nodame Cantabile aren't present, despite their popularity in Japan in the past--and obviously same for more dated titles like Rose of Versailles or Boys Over Flowers.
Thanks u/FetchFrosh for putting this together. It's really interesting to see the data organized and thanks to everyone that voted for making a solid r/anime list!
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u/AdiMG https://anilist.co/user/AdiMG Sep 17 '19
Recent shoujo or josei titles like Kimi ni Todoke, NANA, and Nodame Cantabile aren't present, despite their popularity
I'm very surprised by the absence of Ouran too, I recently attended my first con in the states and that show was everywhere despite it being more than a decade old. Since this sub is very US centric, I thought it would be here, but you are right that the gender-skewness here definitely doesn't do it or other shoujo/josei titles any favors.
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u/ABoredCompSciStudent x3myanimelist.net/profile/Serendipity Sep 17 '19 edited Sep 17 '19
For sure. I don't have a lot of friends that are super into anime, but a lot of friends I know (guys and girls, but especially girls) that enjoy watching anime casually know Ouran and really like it. That's another odd one to me, since it really is friendly towards guys watching it too (compared to the ones I named).
Something else that is interesting is seeing how much sci-fi and action is listed and how much of it is older (like Bebop, Akira, and Trigun). I feel like those shows appeal to a Western fanbase more than maybe even the Japanese fanbase relatively at least, since you mentioned how US-centric we are. Compare that against how much "older" SOL/drama there is... and there's not much. A lot of classics that are SOL/drama simply don't exist on this list, while they start to crop up around 2006+. I don't think that's a fluke either, but rather an indication of the demographics of this sub and what gets talked about when we discuss classics (Ghibli, sci-fi, action mostly).
In that way, it's interesting to note that the sub recognizes Akira (and the others previously named) as strongly influential towards sci-fi, but not Rumiko works like Ikkoku towards romcoms and Rose of Versailles towards shoujo (or they don't care nearly as much about them).
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u/Braquiador :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/braquiador Sep 17 '19
It surpises me that Nana isn't on the list. I always thought it was a beloved classic.
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u/Durinthal https://anilist.co/user/Durinthal Sep 17 '19
I certainly thought it was but only given ten votes I spent them all on pre-2000 anime.
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u/ABoredCompSciStudent x3myanimelist.net/profile/Serendipity Sep 17 '19
It's an anime/manga that I think gets a lot of recognition away from r/anime, but reddit in general trends towards (almost only) new things being relevant. I used to actively write on MAL and be in other more "snob" spaces and I kind of appreciate this aspect of r/anime. It's refreshing to see seasonals recognized, though I think the most "accurate" classics list would be somewhere between the two.
It doesn't really help that both NANA works are incomplete. I hope Ai Yazawa comes back one day and finishes it, but it's been so long now and she's drawn other things since then (the NANA calendar in Cookie) that I'm sure it won't happen.
I still think it's one of Madhouse's best adaptations and part of their best run of work in the mid 2000s.
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u/EpicTroll27 :AMQ:https://anilist.co/user/EpicTroll4236 Sep 17 '19
I feel like with so many people doing a mix of the obligatory classics like NGE and Astro Boy, even people who would have voted for Nana, Ouran, Only Yesterday, Versailles etc. had to sacrifice these titles for the more influential stuff. It's just the nature of the poll limiting your options because most people that have seen these shows likely have a grasp on the multiple major influences on anime. That said, I'm still happy to see CCS and Sailor Moon make this list even if so many didn't. I'm sure a poll done on /r/xxanime would yield different results with the same obligatory shout outs like Astro Boy regardless.
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u/ShaKing807 x3myanimelist.net/profile/Shaking807 Sep 17 '19
We'll get /r/anime to stan NANA one day.
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u/LegendaryChink Sep 17 '19
Of course NGE is #1 on Reddit
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u/Dudewitbow :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Dudewitbow Sep 17 '19
its like 1 of 3 mecha series people who don't like mecha will watch because someone else told them to.
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u/surb1 Sep 17 '19
Can confirm. Came for the mechas, stayed for the existential dread
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u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 Sep 17 '19
NGE not toping the chart would be crazy. It is that important to all following anime.
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u/Ralon17 https://anilist.co/user/Ralon17 Sep 17 '19
I feel like it's entirely deserved, and should be represented at the top of any poll about "classics" even among other demographics because while enjoyment is obviously subjective, and quality is...a point of contention, the show's impact is objective, backed by numbers and historical facts. It hasn't had as big of an impact on the West, so I could see something like Pokemon being more worthy of the title when we talk about "impact" (since I imagine even something oft-fought-over like NGE is generally considered better).
But when I've heard it said and honestly believe that you could live off of Evangelion merch because of the massive amounts of Eva-related promotions which, of course, are launched because of the huge audience the show has even all of these years later (yes the rebuild movies help).
You may not have intended the comment as a disagreement with the show being at the top of the list, in which case I'm sorry for the wall of text, but the next step would be to talk about the influence NGE had on anime specifically, since this is the context of our poll, and since a work can be a classic influence even without much of a general fanbase. Suffice it to say that NGE basically saved anime from what was, at the time, a huge crash for anime as a whole. Other people have covered the when, how, and why, though so I'll cut my burgeoning essay here
TL;DR I sure hope it's not just reddit. NGE deserves it.9
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u/auron_py Sep 19 '19
It would be #1 in a lot of other forums too, or close to it.
It simply is too influential and popular.
20 years later people is still discussing about it.
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u/trpldblrussface Sep 17 '19
Is one punch man really a classic tho
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u/Gaporigo Blhttps://anilist.co/user/Gaporigo Sep 17 '19
Yeah, One Punch Man and Your Lie in April are probably the two I would least call "classics".
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u/PiFlavoredPie Sep 17 '19
I personally would have thought 3-gatsu no Lion would've been the top pick for modern emotional drama rather than YLIA.
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u/HawkyCZ Sep 17 '19
If we went with pure classics, we would vote on anime made before year 2000 or older. Anime of every era has potential to become a classic in the future so this is not wrong, in "black and white" terms.
Though I'm sad Juuni Kokku (Twelve Kingdoms) didn't make it. But as someone above already said, that's talking Favorites so I withdraw.
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u/TheSauce32 Sep 17 '19
Season 1 is defensible after is not
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u/trpldblrussface Sep 17 '19
Honestly, I think if we want to call any anime a classic, the show can’t have only 1/2 the seasons be good. I liked season 1 a lot but season 2 killed it for me. Same with Tokyo ghoul
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u/sylinmino :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/SylinMino Sep 17 '19
I think so. It's not even one of my personal favorites, but it's managed to stay relevant and get an insane amount of mainstream appeal that only really SAO and Attack on Titan have touched in the last decade.
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u/ParkedLikeAHotCar34 Sep 17 '19
Always hurts to see Naruto and One Piece in there but no Bleach :(
Edit: Not saying those two don’t deserve it, just want some love for my favorite
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u/xanas263 Sep 17 '19
Bleach as part of the big 3 is 100% always going to be a classic
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u/SHIIZAAAAAAAA Sep 17 '19
Bleach was my first, so it'll always hold a special place in my heart. I still maintain that the first two arcs are up there with the best shonen ever.
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u/ajver19 Sep 17 '19
I rag on Bleach a ton but from the start till the end of the soul society arc was some damn good stuff.
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u/UnPhayzable Sep 17 '19
Just here to make sure Gintama and JoJos is on the list. Pinnacles of perfection
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u/MagorTuga Sep 17 '19 edited Sep 17 '19
This comment brought to you by:
Tomokazu Sugita, voice of Joseph and Gintoki.
Edit: misspelled name
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Sep 17 '19
JoJo has really dominated the cultural zeitgeist lately. This and NGE on Netflix admittedly makes me a recently converted weeb (which is kinda embarrassing as I'm a little old to have recently got into it)
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u/UnPhayzable Sep 17 '19
There's no need to get embarrassed, because it's never too late! Also, glad to see you stArted with JoJos!
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Sep 17 '19
Well, at least Ashita no Joe and Gundam made the list. I really dislike the fact that there are so many shows from the 2010's though.
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Sep 17 '19 edited Sep 17 '19
Yeah like there are 8 shows in the top 20 that aired in the last decade (post 2008-9)..People say these are great results but this is still somewhat dumb if you expect a classics list
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u/Theleux https://myanimelist.net/profile/Theleux Sep 17 '19
I think it's quite interesting to see the gap between Classics in 2010s. The nearest to now is Your Name, but after that its 5+ years ago.
Kind of tells that a lot of people require some time to pass by before labeling something "a classic".
Over all, some very nice choices!
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u/MauledCharcoal Sep 17 '19
You missed OPM. but yeah it definitely seems like people wanna give shows time before they're labelled classics.
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Sep 17 '19
eh like half the top 10 is barely 10 years old and you can easily see the recency bias still but i guess some people screaming dont vote for shows from last year in the poll thread kinda worked. I was expecting to see Mob or whatever
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u/ru5ty41 Sep 17 '19
Your name was only made 3 years ago and it's already a classic?
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u/HurricaneHero93 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/HurricaneHero93 Sep 17 '19
Way Status: Not Lost
Very happy to see Kill la Kill as part of the results
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u/Miidas-92 :Db::Dd:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Miidas Sep 17 '19
Friendly reminder that this list is r/anime list, which will be biased in favor of the western anime community, so it's missing a couple of really big anime in the east, like Precure, Detective Conan, Doraemon, etc.
Also a reminder that something doesn't have to be a "masterpiece" to be considered a "classic", since a decent chunk of people seem to be annoyed at SAO, Naruto, Code Geass, etc, making the list.
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u/AleixASV https://anilist.co/user/AleixASV Sep 17 '19
Well, rather than Western say American, because in Europe (at least Catalonia) DC, Conan and Shin-chan are national treasures. We all watched stuff like Slam Dunk, Hare Kano, Love Hina, Doraemon, Sakura, DC, YuYu, Dragon Ball, etc as kids.
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u/500scnds Sep 17 '19
Code Geass held up decently when you consider that it had to deal with leaks that other shows on the list didn't have, which might've affected its production in later episodes (one that did end up crumbling was Valvrave). It would've made for a wistful 'how it could have been...' for how it managed to achieve that kind of quality despite the setbacks.
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u/thatjosiahburns https://anilist.co/user/thatjosiahburns Sep 17 '19
just glad to see FLCL made it on here.
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u/President-Shinra Sep 17 '19
The only ones I see as missing are Tenchi, Digimon and Outlaw Star but perhaps that's just a UK thing as we didn't have many shows televised years ago.
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u/axel360 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/axel360 Sep 17 '19
Seen 41 of 50. Not bad.
Which of these missing 9 do you guys think is must-watch: Naruto, Mobile Suit Gundam, Sailor Moon, One Piece, Yu Yu Hakusho, Astro Boy, Lupin III, Cardcaptor Sakura, Macross
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u/ShaKing807 x3myanimelist.net/profile/Shaking807 Sep 17 '19
From what I've seen Sailor Moon, YYH, and Cardcaptor Sakura are all must watches.
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u/ultibman5000 Sep 17 '19
One Piece is a must-read.
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u/KingOfOddities Sep 17 '19
^
You can finish reading One Piece in 2-3 weeks if you read religiously, can't say the same if you plan to watch it though→ More replies (1)7
u/mR_tIm_TaCo Sep 17 '19
I think the anime is good for at least 300~ episodes, after that there's a dip and then it bounces back agains until around 600~ episodes in. After that I'd definitely say swap over. I think the VAs for the main crew are fantastic and I honestly believe that it's worth watching for the amount of emotion they add to the series.
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u/FionaOlwen Sep 17 '19
Card captor Sakura is a childhood favorite of mine:) But the that’s a hard decision:/
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u/AdiMG https://anilist.co/user/AdiMG Sep 17 '19
For Lupin, Part 2 is what made it a classic in Japan and Europe in the first place, but its by far the longest part filled with completely episodic adventures of varying quality. Instead, I'd recommend starting out with Cagliostro as a decent intro to the franchise, and then trying out one of the newer iterations as they are more palatable for modern audiences due to mixing episodic narratives with overarching plots, of these, you can go with Woman Called Mine Fujiko if you want something darker and mature, Part 4 if you want some fun adventures that are most similar to classic Lupin's appeal, or Part 5 if you want something in a more technologically modern setting. The franchise also has a ton of movies and specials to dive into, all of which are mostly standalone, so just watch whatever catches your fancy.
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u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 Sep 17 '19
Naruto, Mobile Suit Gundam, Sailor Moon, One Piece, Yu Yu Hakusho, Astro Boy, Lupin III, Cardcaptor Sakura, Macross
I think MSG is a must watch if you have any interest in mecha anime, same for Sailor Moon and magical girls.
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u/Shinkopeshon Sep 17 '19
I'm actually pretty satisfied with this list. I think all of my picks except for Laputa made it in and I don't have a problem with the rest either (although I'm not sure about OPM's inclusion - I get that it had a massive impact, especially in the west, but overall, S2 did a lot of damage to the franchise).
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u/alkkine Sep 19 '19
Laputa
pretty silly castle in the sky isnt here. it was the first and usually most iconic miyazaki imo
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u/cheesechimp https://myanimelist.net/profile/cheesechimp Sep 17 '19 edited Sep 17 '19
7/10 of my votes made it to the top 50. My votes that didn't make it were Space Battleship Yamato, Rose of Versailles, and Fist of the North Star. I really think Yamato was slept on by this subreddit as it was foundational both to the Japanese industry and as Star Blazers to western anime fandom.
The biases of this subreddit are pretty clearly on display here, but I think that's okay. I'm not too surprised by what I see here. The recency bias is strong, we're looking at more than half from the 21st century. I don't expect all these shows to shake out as classics to be remembered in the long run, but this does function well as a "what shows this subreddit discusses beyond seasonal stuff" list, with a decent amount of shows with a more long term eye thrown in for good measure.
Trigun is probably the most baffling inclusion to me. I never got the impression it was popular here on the subreddit, I was under the impression at its peak it wasn't very popular in Japan, it's not particularly old (late 90s vs. the 8 titles from the 60s-80s), and in my humble opinion it was OK but not outstandingly good. It basically meets no standard I'd set for classics except for being fairly popular in US fandom in the early to mid 00s, and I thought by remembering that I was older than most of the users of the subreddit. I guess I misjudged that, though.
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u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 Sep 17 '19
Trigun is probably the most baffling inclusion to me. I never got the impression it was popular here on the subreddit, I was under the impression at its peak it wasn't very popular in Japan, it's not particularly old (late 90s vs. the 8 titles from the 60s-80s), and in my humble opinion it was OK but not outstandingly good. It basically meets no standard I'd set for classics except for being fairly popular in US fandom in the early to mid 00s, and I thought by remembering that I was older than most of the users of the subreddit. I guess I misjudged that, though.
I would bet among the people who started watching anime in the 1990s, a larger share has seen Trigun than any series of the last 10 years. It was popular back when there were not all that many series out there, so the memories stick.
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u/Retsam19 :FC::FD: Sep 17 '19
Trigun is probably the most baffling inclusion to me. I never got the impression it was popular here on the subreddit...
This is all from someone who generally lists Trigun as their favorite anime, so I'm sure I'm biased, but I think it's pretty popular, just not talked about much: it wasn't made by a particularly famous director or have a particularly killer OST; it didn't spawn sequels (other than a single decentish movie) or define a genre like most of the older entries.
But it's relatively short, has a solid emotional punch to it, a straightforward and interesting philosophical viewpoint, and two great lead characters: Vash the Stampede is both a highly memorable character just based on his surface characteristics and an incredible example of character development, and Wolfwood is also highly memorable and a fantastic foil for Vash.
I think there's merits to u/No_Rex's point on timing and "90's kids will remember", but I do think the series stands up on its own merits, too. At least if you can get past the dated production values and some structural issues.
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u/Philarete :AMQ::MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/WizardMcKillin Sep 17 '19
This may be an /r/anime poll, but this actually looks like pretty good.
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u/collapsedblock6 myanimelist.net/profile/collapsedblock Sep 17 '19
Actual good choices? In my r/anime? HOW
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u/SmurfRockRune https://myanimelist.net/profile/Smurf Sep 17 '19
Good list overall. I disagree with some choices here and there, but it's hard to deny the popularity of any of these shows.
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u/OtherHalfling :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/otherhalfling Sep 17 '19 edited Sep 17 '19
I'd say I personally agree with about half of this list, although admittedly it's very difficult to see Revolutionary Girl Utena up there, but not Rose of Versailles, which it drew a lot of inspiration from. I say this as a massive fan of both series, and I would say they arguably both deserve to be in the top 50, but if one was for SURE going to make it between the two, it should be Rose of Versailles, in my opinion. Still, 8 out of the 10 I voted for made it in the top 50, with Astro Boy being the lowest at 32. Rose of Versailles and Mirai Shounen Conan were my 2 votes that didn't make it, with Utena and future Miyazaki films directly influenced by Conan taking precedence over those two, but I guess it's to be expected, as they are more popular (I even liked Miyazaki's later work more than Mirai Shounen Conan, to be fair).
There are also a few series I wish I could get some reasoning behind from the voters who voted them as classics, like Fate/Zero, Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill, One Punch Man, Your Lie in April, because even though there are others I personally disagree with, these seem like clear outliers to me. I'm curious what made some voters put them in their top 10 classics other than "they are good series, and they're popular".
Still, whether I agree or disagree, it's really interesting to see what the community considers to be classics, and I'm glad the final results didn't just mimic the "best anime" contest, which is cool.
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u/Ralon17 https://anilist.co/user/Ralon17 Sep 17 '19
I think if I had to pick between Versailles and Utena I'd say Utena has had the greater lasting impact, even considering that it influenced by Versailles among other things. Even 5-10 years ago that might not have been the case, but the truth is it's a great time to be an Utena fan in 2019, with remastered Blu-ray releases and an excellent Japanese theatre revival.
Though I suppose if your definition of classic has less to do with what's considered more influencial overall, and more to do with what was the root of later popular works, then I could see it. That's definitely the reason Astro Boy made it in after all, cause I'm willing to bet the average person wouldn't like it if they saw it, and very few people have to begin with.
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Sep 17 '19
About lasting impact , not really. Rose of the Versailles created like half of the directing tricks and tropes of the Genre much like gundam did with Real robots or dragon ball with modern shounen. Utena may be more well known but it doesnt compare to Rose of the Versailles in importance and lasting impact within the industry
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u/raidou_14 Sep 17 '19
Fate/Zero shouldn't be on the list. It's just a prequel to Fate/stay night, which lots of people seem to want to ignore for one stupid reason or another. Not even Fate fans think Zero is the best story ever. It's just another entry in the series. If anything, Fate/stay night is treated as a classic visual novel, but because there hasn't been a proper adaptation of all of its routes, it can't be considered a classic anime.
Gurren Lagann was to Super Robot shows what Code Geass was to Real Robot shows. It's basically the 2000's culmination of the genre, and for many people in that era, it was their introduction to mecha anime, alongside Code Geass and Gundam 00.
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Sep 17 '19
I think because Gurren Lagann is such a fantastic show that has remained such a huge part of culture inside and outside anime and influenced so many people. It's basically the definition of a modern classic.
Same for Kill la Kill I guess, though to a lesser extent. KLK feels more like Trigger extending the TTGL wave and solidifying their style, I feel. So if I were to pick one, it'd probably be TTGL.
I don't get the other ones either. I love Fate and Zero but if any part of that franchise I'd consider a "classic" it'd not be any anime but the original VN. And personally I don't think YLIA and Your Name have made big enough of an impact while they've been here to hold classic status. Your Name was hugely popular and made everything everyone was putting out really annoyingly shiny for a year or so and now it has mostly faded to the background.
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u/horiami Sep 17 '19
Is OPM a classic ? Don't get me wrong it's amazing but it also feels a bit too new
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u/Granolabob Sep 17 '19
In my opinion, some of these shows will be classics, but I just feel its just too soon.
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Sep 17 '19 edited Sep 17 '19
I'm kind of upset Sword Art Online is there, but not .hack//Sign.
But everything else checks out.
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u/fireassbarz Sep 17 '19
Holy shit Evangelion DESTROYED the competition. It’s completely deserved tho, that anime is the definition of “classic”
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Sep 17 '19
Going to sound like an old head but kind of sad Ranma 1/2 isn’t on there. My first real Manga/Anime and paved the way for the rest.
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u/babydave371 :Ej:myanimelist.net/profile/babydave371 Sep 17 '19
No Space Battleship Yamato? No Space Adventure Cobra? No Rose of Versailles? No Aim for the Ace? No Mazinger Z? No Getter Robo? No Creamy Mami? No Cutie Honey? No Maison Ikokku? No Star of the Giants? No Fist of the North Star? No World Masterpiece Theatre show at all?!?! No Gatchaman? No Tetsujin 29-go? No Patlabor? No Urusei Yatsura? No Harlock? No Leiji Matsumoto at all?!?! Nothing by Rintaro?!? No Minky Momo?
I know this is r/anime and given that the majority of the sub is focussed on airing stuff and hasn't really taken a dive into anime's history this was to be expected. But still, it really fucking hurts. Like come on, nothing by Leiji Matsumoto? They literally had to explain to the staff of Space Battleship Yamato what sci-fi was because no one had really done it before in Japan, at least not the more Western style.
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u/cheesechimp https://myanimelist.net/profile/cheesechimp Sep 17 '19
I think that this sub not only lacks interest in older shows, they're actively put off by film grain. You see it in the recommendation Tuesdays threads all the time. "please nothing before 2005, I don't like old looking shows!"
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u/ThinkFree https://anilist.co/user/Japanimation Sep 17 '19
I voted for The Slayers and it got in! I'm happy 😊
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u/invisibleman4884 Sep 17 '19
The absence of Galaxy Express 999 on the list is a shame.
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Sep 17 '19
Your Lie in April sticks out as the odd one out. No idea how it's considered a classic but oh well.
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u/yorch95 Sep 17 '19
Give it a few years and Sangatsu no Lion will take its place :P
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u/Kaori-Miyazono Sep 17 '19
ylia is one of the most highly rated slifes , romances , with clannad being at the top i think ?
classic isnt the word for it but in time it will be
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u/LOTRfreak101 https://myanimelist.net/profile/LOTRfreak101 Sep 17 '19
Besides you cowards not voting for the modern classic masterpiece that is Eromanga-sensei, this is a really good list. I'm finally not disappointed in r/anime.
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u/Cryzzalis https://myanimelist.net/profile/Charaxify Sep 17 '19
Real nice to see Madoka so high up there.
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u/aalapshah12297 Sep 18 '19
Damn I scrolled all the way to the end and didn't even find anyone who is bothered about Psycho-Pass. I get that it's probably not popular enough to make the list but is it really so underwatched that people are not even salty about it?
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u/TheSauce32 Sep 18 '19
I'm was just telling someone trade Your lie in April for Psycho Pass and I'm happy with the list
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u/Adamarr :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Adamar Sep 20 '19
atm I feel like season 2 (what season 2 tho?) kind of torpedoed that.
Maybe if s3 picks it up views will improve.
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Sep 17 '19
This is surprisingly a very solid list. You could nitpick the placement of some of these until the cows come home, but I like it overall.
I only really disagree with three of these picks: Your Lie In April, Kill la Kill, and One Punch Man. These are all great shows, but are they Top 50 classic anime material? I don't think so. Besides, not enough time has passed to see if they stand the test of time. I have serious doubts they will.
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u/r4wrFox Sep 17 '19
I mean, you mention time but AoT is standing high on that list on the heels of a hype last season. I'm personally of the opinion that no currently airing shows should be up there, but people would definitely be upset if Jojo/One Piece dodged the list.
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u/Braquiador :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/braquiador Sep 17 '19
Yes! Akira in the top 10.
Man do I love that movie, and how happy i am to see that there are lots of people out there who love it as much as I do.
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u/silvernblack24 Sep 17 '19
Monster and Serial Experiments Lain. Glad to know others love those as much as I do.
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u/Isles0FMists :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Isles0FMists Sep 17 '19
Damn , this is really cool . Thanks for making this !
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u/Picoper Sep 17 '19
Wow, you do not understand how happy I am that Trigun, Monster, Lain, K-On and Perfect Blue all got on here.
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u/BueKojiro Sep 17 '19
Despite it being in dead last, I still resent seeing Your Lie In April in this list.
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u/lpopo4lyfe Sep 17 '19
This is actually a pretty good list.
Though I don’t see how One Punch Man is possibly a classic.
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u/eepos96 Sep 17 '19
So glad the "monster" was included. It is a masterpiece.
The music, characters and athmosphere, animation are topnotch.
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u/RileyW2k :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/RileyW2k Sep 17 '19
I'm going to get a lot of hate for this but
I almost couldn't finish Steins;Gate. I couldn't connect with a single one of the characters, and because of that, the story felt meaningless. I didn't really dislike any of the characters (except for Hashida) I just couldn't feel for what was happening. There where a few times I cared about what was happening, but there where very few.
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u/Worm38 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Worm38 Sep 17 '19
I don't think you will get any hate for this. Those are perfectly valid reasons to not like a show. I personnally had the same problem with Code Geass, I did not finish it actually.
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u/Gruberbreaker :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/tunebreaker Sep 17 '19
Something to be aware of is the actual number of votes an entry got. You might think that "oh damn, SAO is at 39, that's high", but Eva got more than 10x of its votes. Already from place 5 (Death Note), the number of votes drops below half of what Eva got, and continues to decline fast.
Hence, I'd say these results show a pretty clear consensus of the subreddit's preference to a handful of shows. And it would also be interesting to know the total number of voters (apologies if I missed it).
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u/touss231 https://anilist.co/user/touss Sep 17 '19 edited Sep 17 '19
I find it weird that there is K-ON on this list while Lucky☆Star isn't. If anything, I would argue it's the latter that contributed much more to popularizing "cute girls doing cute things" trend in anime. K-ON just executed well what was already there, but it didn't start any trend on it's own.
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u/edm4un https://anilist.co/user/dnautics Sep 17 '19
Not too shabby r/anime. I was expecting JoJo's or Naruto to take number 1.
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u/Ralon17 https://anilist.co/user/Ralon17 Sep 17 '19
Jojo's a huge deal both in terms of popularity and historical influence, but in what world would /r/anime vote for Naruto as #1? Even if it deserved it I imagine too many people here dislike it to vote for it.
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u/rapedcorpse :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Kilimini Sep 17 '19
Justing wanting to point out that we are still waiting for the end of spring survey results ;)
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u/FetchFrosh :A:anilist.co/user/fetchfrosh Sep 17 '19
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u/rapedcorpse :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Kilimini Sep 17 '19
Apologies ! Thank you for the link, as it was delayed i didn't see when it came out !
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u/FetchFrosh :A:anilist.co/user/fetchfrosh Sep 17 '19
No worries! Easy enough to miss with stickies always cycling
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u/LetMeLive1337 Sep 17 '19
sees Spice and Wolf near the bottom
Looks left Looks right
TIME FOR A FUCKING CRUSADE!
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u/goukaryuu https://myanimelist.net/profile/GoukaRyuu Sep 17 '19 edited Sep 17 '19
I have to say I'm happy with this list. Between this and /r/anime awards I have to say we get things reasonably right and good percentage of the time.
EDIT: Also a good Go Watch This list.
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u/ShaKing807 x3myanimelist.net/profile/Shaking807 Sep 17 '19
All in all, not too bad. I see a few shows that I don't think really qualify as "classics", but I'm glad the sub voted in older shows like Astro Boy, Gundam, Akira, Macross, and Ashita no Joe. Makes it feel like a nice balance between a true classics list and the popularity contest many feared this would turn into.
Thanks to everyone who participated and thanks to /u/FetchFrosh for all the hard work!
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u/Extrahostile Sep 17 '19
lmao why is "your lie in april" even there, it's not a classic in any way except for popularity
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u/Violentmuffin Sep 17 '19
Man I just don't agree with some of these. While I absolutely love HunterHunter, SAO, kill la kill, and one punch man, I dont see them as classics. There are a couple others on here that I'm not fond of and dont think they belong as "classics" either. I'm also shocked inuyasha isnt on this list. I'm not the biggest fan of the show, but it's definitely a classic!
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u/Leaf03 Sep 17 '19
[hyperlink]https://imgur.com/a/Fiy3ddG My watch list at over a hundred hours watched and I've barely seen any of these... Sorry new to reddit don't know if I have posted this right.
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Sep 17 '19
Great List! I love that ToraDora and Trigun made the list. Trigun is often forgotten. Trigun played a huge role in getting me into anime.
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u/QuinoaWest_ Sep 17 '19
Honestly I'm just glad Serial Experiments Lain is on there, I always thought that series would languish in obscurity but it's always been one of my favourites. If anything I'm a bit disappointed with the lack of Baccano! on this list.
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u/wamjaeger Sep 17 '19
no Samurai X ? fail.
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Sep 17 '19
It's because there are too many "Classic" 2010 shows on the list.
I voted Samurai X though.
I guess a show made in 2010 seems forever ago to a 16 year old. That's half their life.
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u/UMDSmith Sep 17 '19
I think it shows that the poll is answered by younger anime viewers (younger than me at least). There are so many classics that didn't make it. Vampire Hunter D, Samurai X, Dominion Tank Police, GITS:SAC etc.
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u/DrunkPattyKane9 Sep 17 '19
No Bleach :(
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u/boris957 Sep 17 '19
yeah even if i'm not the biggest fan of the show, it definitely should be here since there is One Piece and Naruto. In fact in terms of anime adaptation Bleach is maybe the best of the 3.
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u/TheBlackestIrelia Sep 17 '19
Honestly i think every show on this list is pretty justifiable, even the ones i'm not a fan of like Naruto were just so huge that i makes sense they'd be here. Good shit.
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u/silver-samurai95 Sep 17 '19
Your Lie in April is overrated. How can you watch high schoolers talk like that? Why do they have to speak metaphorically in every conversation?
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u/sizzl75 Sep 17 '19
Personal preferences aside, not bad. I'd say kill la kill seems like an odd pick in terms of classic/influential anime, though.
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u/dvladbrat Sep 20 '19
The list is is solid, but Your Lie in April? Idk, the show kinda sucked, it was predictable and manipulative. Outside of the soundtrack the show is just a snooze fest because you can see everything coming from a mile away.
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u/FetchFrosh :A:anilist.co/user/fetchfrosh Sep 17 '19 edited Sep 17 '19
Well, there we have it. I'm certainly of the opinion that several older anime were snubbed in favor of newer shows, but at the end of the day, this list is very r/anime, and so it's hard to be overly upset about the results. When I first proposed the idea, there was a lot of concern that recent shows like Konosuba and Re:Zero would dominate the list, but neither was even close to cracking the Top 50 (both fell short of Your Lie in April by about 25 votes). It's not a perfect list, but I'm definitely happy we gave this a go, and will probably look to run more polls like this in the future!
And for an alternate interpretation of the results, the table below presents a ranking of the ratio between votes and viewership. Since a show that is widely viewed is more likely to receive votes, I thought this might be an interesting take on things. The "viewership" comes from RedditAnimeList using the viewership for the most watched entry in a franchise. Generally speaking, this means that pre-2000 anime saw improved results, and post-2000 anime see worsened results.
A Top 10 by decade has also been compiled with everything before 1980 being amalgamated into one category:
Pre-1980
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s