What Makes an Anime a Classic?
Ever since anime took the West by storm with the release of shows like the original anime, Cowboy Bebop by Studio Sunrise, One Piece by Eiichiro Oda, or even Dragon Ball Z by Akira Toriyama in the 80s to early 2000s, the debate of whether or not a show is a classic or not still remains unanswered to this day. Hi, I am the APC Enthusiast and today I will be answering the question: “What makes an anime a classic?”.
Before attempting to answer the question you have to ask yourself, “what makes any form of media a classic?” According to google, a classic is something that has been judged over a long period of time to be the highest quality or outstanding of its kind. In simpler terms, it is a work of art that sets or helps to set a new “bar” for whatever field it’s a part of.
The next question that comes to mind is “what anime or manga fits the description of a classic?” For me, the first thing that comes to mind is, one of my personal favorites, Naruto. Though this show has been deemed a classic time and time again by millions of fans, including myself, I’ve always noticed this ripple effect that doesn’t seem to have a beginning or an end. If you’ve read the manga or seen the anime you’ve definitely noticed some easter eggs influenced by Dragon Ball (Example: Color of chakra is yellow in the manga similar to Dragon Ball Z’s Ki, Jiraiya showing similarities to characters like Master Roshi, and even naming one of the tailed beast “Son Goku”, after DBZ’s main character).
But what about DBZ? It’s not like it was the first anime to ever be created so what inspired that? Most people believe Astro Boy was it’s main influence but they’re wrong; sort of. Dragon Ball, who’s first chapter was released December 3, 1984, was heavily inspired by the 16th century novel, Journey to the West, along with numerous martial arts films, none of which are anime. So where did the influence of Astro Boy come into place? Well what most people don’t know is it’s labeled as one of the first if not the first, shounen (Def. a genre of Japanese comics and animated films aimed primarily at a young male audience, typically characterized by action-filled plots.) manga of all time; therefore setting the standard for all shounen manga!
So maybe Akira Toriyama wasn’t influenced by Astro Boy when he wrote Dragon Ball but maybe he was just inspired. Any good work of art should be able to invoke emotion or convey its message clearly. Whether a show makes you laugh or cry uncontrollably; just thinking about it should make you want to go back and relive that experience. Although that feeling might be stronger for some people than others, it makes complete sense that an emotion like that would make someone want to create something just as good if not better.
As I mentioned before, a mix of all these emotions and great stories causes a ripple effect. Nostalgia and the emotions felt by millions of kids around the world just from watching stories like DBZ, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Hunter x Hunter birthed shows such as Naruto, Bleach, and even One Piece. Even now I’ve seen proof of this with shows like My Hero Academia, Black Clover, and my personal favorite, Jujutsu Kaisen; so much in fact that it makes me wonder how much of an impact these will have on future stories in the next ten years.
Knowing all of these things help to make the question, “What Makes an Anime a Classic?”, a lot more obvious. Along with the fact that it has to raise the bar for their respective class, in order for anything to become a “classic”, it should invoke enough emotion within the viewer that it causes them to want to make something similar. To put it simply, whether or not something is a classic is completely subjective: it all depends on the viewer’s perspective of the work.
That is all for this week! If you enjoyed this post please share this blog with your friends and family. I’m the APC Enthusiast and see you next time. Bye!
Great post – I agree that the term classic is short had for a piece that is clearly defined by a sense of timeless excellence that is embodied in the work. Mostly that sense of excellence is a subjective thing that is driven by fans of the genre but when work is done well enough and for long enough then even casual observers can recognize the excellence and classic character. I remember when The Empire Strikes Back was in theaters in the 1980s and my parents went on a date to go see the movie. I was so shocked that they would actually go see a movie I wanted to see but they said they saw Star Wars and liked it. That told me then that this movie was destined to probably be a classic.
This was very insightful. Didn’t know Dragon Ball dated back that far. Awesome research!
Solid insight!! I’m a huge DBz fan!!
This was very interesting and I learned some things about Dragon Ball. That was a show I used to watch on Sunday mornings but didn’t know the background. I also liked your views on what makes a classic and I agree that it is subjective. Great insight on your part. Already looking forward to your next article.
Nice write up. The main thing comes to my mind when I think about “classics” is being able to transcend time. I don’t know much about Anime so I’ll have to look into the ones you mention. I still enjoy many classic movies such as The Godfather, Rocky, Gladiator, and Friday.
I’ve always considered Anime to be a really recent and somewhat fad-like genre. I had no idea of its classic worthy history or depth of content. Thank you for enlightening me.
Great post
Well written, thorough research, insightful.
I had considered Anime to be a recent fad, so I was interested to see how you would justify a Classic status. You enlightened me, by bringing forth a rich history that is decades old. I am not familiar with Anime or the titles discussed in this article, but you have sparked in me some interest to at least consider it no longer a fad and that the best examples of it could be seen as Classics.
Nice job……👊🏾
Good job!! Cool to see you acknowledge dbz’s inspiration from journey to the west, a lot of shounen take inspo from that! Keep it up 💪💪
This was a very insightful post, I enjoyed reading. Keep it up!
CommentHey!! I think what makes anime a classic is that it has to have a interesting storyline!!!! to be informative, and imaginative.. able to keep viewer wanting more!! .. keep it coming your commentary is eye opening.
Great post! I love the connections that were mask to the history of the art and the hint of Easter eggs made. Though I
can’t fully relate to the anime menioned, this makes total sense when it come to the movies I’ve watched growing up that are classics in their own right. It’s amazing to know that in today’s world, the past continues to make a mark on the future.