Does Your First Anime Still Hold Up?

[Slenn]

Both have aged terrible animation-wise but I think Ranma does manage to still hold up, if for a while. The problem with Ranma is that it starts pretty good until about episode 40, then by episode 60 it becomes OK and by episode 89 I could almost hear the writers smashing their heads against their desks trying to come up with something new all the way from Japan. The uncensored version is also quite... something, I guess as a child I couldn't tell which characters were outright perverts because of how censored the show was.

I too found it okay for a few seasons. The problem I had with Ranma was that the characters didn't really evolve, and the same gags were repeated over and over.

 

[Casual Shinji]

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.

I assume you're talking about Wicked City, and yes, that thing was kinda shit. It has bouts of impressive animation, but God do the characters and the story suck. Weird how the same guy made Ninja Scroll when that movie kicks so much ass.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Both have aged terrible animation-wise but I think Ranma does manage to still hold up, if for a while. The problem with Ranma is that it starts pretty good until about episode 40, then by episode 60 it becomes OK and by episode 89 I could almost hear the writers smashing their heads against their desks trying to come up with something new all the way from Japan. The uncensored version is also quite... something, I guess as a child I couldn't tell which characters were outright perverts because of how censored the show was.

I too found it okay for a few seasons. The problem I had with Ranma was that the characters didn't really evolve, and the same gags were repeated over and over.

That's the thing with manga by Rumiko Takahashi. Urusei Yatsura has the same problem, where it starts off with great fun and energy, but then you realize the characters are repeating their comedy routine endlessly. And the only way this is offset is by introducing a new character, which ultimately leads to the universe feeling totally overcrowded.

They're still great shows brimming with imagination, but it is advised to stop watching after the first 30 episodes or so.

 

[Flippincrazy]

Let's see, the first few I took to as a kid were Pokemon, Bobobo-bo-bo-bobo, Naruto and Ultimate Muscle.

...The nostalgia goggles are pretty damn thick, but I think three of the four would probably still stand strong as dumb past-diving entertainment!

 

[Adeptus Aspartem]

My first animes were Kickers, Captain Tsubasa (i don't know the original title, its a soccer anime) and Sailor Moon because those were the first 3 that ran at the same time on TV.

All 3 are perfectly fine. Sure, the animation isn't as polished as today but that has also to do with technique and monetization i guess, so in relation to technical and financial limitation i think these 3 hold up pretty fine.

The first manga - i'm more of a manga guy, i prefer to go through stories in my own pace - was Dragonball. And it still beats most shounen nowadays. It was (iirc) the first very popular manga that went for a comical directon for Shounen, before they often were pretty grim. And till this day, many tropes, character types, mcguffins and what not are copied from DB.
Sadly often times in a bad way/wrong way. Most notrious probably power levels. Akira used them in a way to show the reader that they're completly bogus and shouldnt be in the way of the narrative, but then you look at stuff like Shaman King and they fell directly into the PL trap.
Same with Nanatsu no Taizai, which was a really enjoyable manga until they started the whole PL-shebang.

tl;dr
DB is still pretty darn good compared to new stuff. Also the godfather of the genre.

 

[Something Amyss]

Depends on what counts as anime. My first exposure to Japanese animation was either Warriors of the Wind or Voltron, both heavy recuts of Japanese programming, and I still haven't seen the source material. As a cartoon, I think Voltron (mostly) holds up. Is it still anime, though?

ehhhhhhhhhhhhh.

My first anime would be Demon City Shinjuku if you discount Voltron, WotW, Saber Rider, and a handful of others. It's still decent, but I wasn't in love with it to begin with. Like, I mostly have a fondness for it because it was the first time I had watched a legit, uncut anime.

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.

Err...no, the show was heavily edited, to the point a few episodes in the international version were like 15 minutes long. It ran for a significant number less episodes, changed the character of D-Boy heavily, altered the personalities of Aki and Noal quite a bit, and gender swapped one of the characters, because "think of the children."

Also, the first Japanese OP is one of the best intro songs ever.


Fortunately, it's on the DVD release of the Teknoman discs.

Mysterious Cities of Gold.

Crap, forgot that.

 

[gonenow3]

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?

If you've watched X and Y it easily blows Gen 1 anime out of the water. Much better plot / animation / characters. Plus we actually have a new protagonist in Alan who is coming into the main anime sometime after Mega evolution part 4. I strongly suggest XY 79 which is pretty amazing visually while XY 67 shows the improvement in the actual battles. Obviously sub > Dub because lets face it most animes are buttered when dubbed and pokemon is no exception

 

[Talaris]

Was probably Cardcaptors for me. The Japanese version Cardcaptor Sakura definitely holds up, not the US version they butchered the story of the show, I was just too young to know any different back then.

 

[09philj]

My first anime would have been... Spirited Away. So yes, it holds up.

 

[-Dragmire-]

Dragonball probably holds up alright. I'm not sure the dub does though.

EDIT:

While I'm thinking of older anime, I wonder if Escaflowne holds up. I remember loving most of it but hating the ending.

 

[raankh]

My first anime was Swan Lake from 1981(Sekai Meisaku Douwa Hakuchou no Mizuumi). A real classic!

I didn't really have any concept of Japanese or Western animation at the time, but I kept being drawn to that 80s classic anime style. It wasn't until I saw SF Shinseiki Lensman, a few years after it came out, that I realized I had been watching anime and the distinction started to mean anything. That's also when I discovered Genesis Climber Mospeada and realised that Robotech was edited together from other shows. Probably my first time nerd-raging too

 

[Poetic Nova]

It was either Flint The Time Detective, Digimon or Card Captor Sakura.
All 3 hold up really well, if you ask me. But then again, that's nostaglia that might be speaking.

 

[Nazulu]

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.

I assume you're talking about Wicked City, and yes, that thing was kinda shit. It has bouts of impressive animation, but God do the characters and the story suck. Weird how the same guy made Ninja Scroll when that movie kicks so much ass.

Yeah, that one. Not a fan either. And I believe I saw Ninja Scroll back then too.

They played a lot of anime on SBS back then. Wish they still did.

 

[Random Gamer]

Mazinger Z and Grandizer. Stuff like Captain Harlock came a bit later, Mysterious Cities of Gold way later.
Haven't watched them in ages - well, usually haven't watched them ever since I first saw them on TV -, so I can't tell. Odds are they wouldn't hold up that well, at least Mazinger and Grandizer. I hope the Cities of Gold hold up well because that was the best cartoon/anime ever in my opinion / in my memory.

 

[Slycne]

Looking back you can see where they were cutting some corners, but Record of the Lodoss War is still pretty damn classic.

 

[Cold Shiny]

my first anime outside of pokemon was Full Metal Panic!

Does it hold up today?

Ummm... no...not really....

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

The first anime I regularly watched was Dragonball Z. I caught it on Toonami after school. Back then I ate it up. It definitely doesn't hold up now. Now it's just so drawn out, formulaic, and cringe-worthy. Buncha half naked alien dudes panting, staring each other down, and then yelling while they look like they're trying to poop. Back in the day it was fun and exciting, now I just don't have time to watch fights that take half a season.

Also: Solar Flare > Destructo Disc, just use them on every villain.

 

[Jaggededge11]

My first anime was Dragonball, and I can easily say that it's held up. As for movies, those would be Ninja Scroll and Appleseed (The original anime one), both of which I still enjoy.

 

[Xeros]

I can still watch Pokemon and DBZ for the nostalgia. The first show that actually got me into anime as a whole, though, was Case Closed. And I'd have to say ...no; no it doesn't. I loved it when I was but a wee lad, but watching it recently was almost cringe-worthy. I'll give it its dues, however, as it opened the flood gates into shows such as Ghost in the Shell, Fullmetal Alchemist, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun; all the classics, and everything that branches out from them. So thank you, Case Closed, for being just good enough to keep my 12-year-old self entertained enough to see brighter horizons.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Ignoring the Pokeymanz and whatnot, my first proper anime was Cowboy Bebop. And hell yeah does it hold up, it'll never stop being a classic. It has still one of the best hand-to-hand choreography from any anime to date.