Anime has been around for a long time, and sometimes it’s best to look back and see how we got where we are today. It goes without saying that the anime of today was inspired and influenced by the shows that came before. While every series has its own separate influences, there are some shows that have changed the landscape of not only anime but the community surrounding it and the very shape of popular culture as well.
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Note that not every influential anime is considered a classic, or even a good show. But influence is influence nonetheless, so we have to give credit where credit is due. Let’s put on our anime historian hats for a bit and go down memory lane.
8Princess Knight
One of Osamu Tezuka’s works, this anime and manga is regarded as one of the first shojos. Without Princess Knight seemingly establishing this genre, we would have never received classics like Fruits Basket, Ouran High School Host Club, or Yona of the Dawn.
This series may be basically forgotten by today’s fanbase, considering it came out way back in 1953, but it will forever serve as the foundation of an entire genre of stories that would go on to change anime forever. A vital piece of the history of the medium.
7Neon Genesis Evangelion
Mecha is already an anime staple, and 1995’s Neon GenesisEvangelionmanaged to revolutionize the entire genre. This anime introduced an entirely new style of storytelling to the medium, with a far more character-focused plot than previous offerings provided. This raised the stakes of the dramatic action significantly, with the lives of characters that viewers had truly come to care about on the line.
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If you ever see a huge monster fight in anime (which will happen frequently), nines times out of ten there will be an Evangelion reference somewhere in that scene. Not only has this title gone on inspire several other anime, but their central characters and archetypes too.
6Fist Of The North Star
Are you a fan of action anime? Well, you probably haveFist of the North Starto thank for the creation of your favorite entries inthe incomparable genre. Being the predecessor of all action anime, this series may be something of a meme today, but it stands as the foundation of the supernatural action genre.
Shows likeDragon Ball,Naruto,Jojo’s Bizarre Adventureand so much more were inspired by Fist of the North Star. As such, if you don’t know about the iconic “Omae Wa Mou Shindeiru” line, then it might be time to start doing your homework.
5Sword Art Online
The show may have received mixed reviews over the years, but no one can deny the impactSword Art Onlinehas had (and continues to have) on the anime community. This show is largely responsible for starting the isekai boom that we are still seeing today.
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Sword Art Online is still so successful that over half of the shows produced every season are seemingly isekai anime. The reason series like Re-Zero or Mushoku Tensei received an anime adaptation is because of this show’s success and the ever-growing demand for isekai like it.
4Castle In The Sky
When you think of the best anime movies, a lot ofStudio Ghiblititles might pop into your head. That’s because it was this studio that paved the way for such beloved features, and anime in general to an extent, to become popular worldwide. The studio’s first film was Castle in the Sky.
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Due to the success of this film, Miyazaki and the studio would go on and create classics like Howl’s Moving Castle and the famed Spirited Away. Those films became beloved classics in turn, and as a result, we now get to see more anime films like A Silent Voice and the more recent Suzume in theaters worldwide.
3Astro Boy
Osamu Tezuka is known as the father of anime and manga, as a lot of his works would go on to inspire the industry as a whole. His most famous work is surely the manga Astro Boy. Although there are technically some earlier examples of Japanese animation, Astro Boy is considered to be the first manga-to-anime adaptation. It would create the system the Japanese animation industry is still using today.
Are you happy that your favorite manga is getting an anime? Well, you surely have Astro Boy to thank for that. The series, in a very real way, led to the creation of the worldwide anime fandom. It’s awe-inspiring to think how many lives have been changed as a result.
A lot of anime hit the mainstream market, but none have come close to the worldwide sensation that isPokemon. The Pokemon anime is so influential that it’s not only one of the highest-grossing franchises of all time, but it also went on to create the gaming anime genre,memorable episode after memorable episode.
Fans have Pokemon to thank for shows likeDigimon,Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Beyblade. These shows would, in turn, reference the likes of Evangelion, so it all comes full circle. Pokemon not only revolutionized anime but gaming as well. There really seems to be no stopping this juggernaut of a franchise.
There is only one franchise that has influenced anime as a whole, and that’sGundam. Some dismiss Gundam as melodramatic action, but there’s enormous depth to the series beyond that. The franchise not only created the mecha genre, but the story would inspire several tropes used in anime today.
The rival trope you see in modern battle shonen has its roots in Gundam. The power-struggle stories you see in anime likethe intriguing Attack on Titando too. Even the romantic elements you find in the most obscure romance anime can be traced back to Gundam. Anime may have not started with Gundam, but it certainly has grown around it.
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