Ask John: Are Magical Girls and Mecha Just a Fad?

Question:
In my experience it seems that mecha and magical girls shows are becoming more popular every day. Is this simply a fad or do you believe this is the path anime will continue to follow? If not, which type do you think will be the next most popular?

Answer:
If you’ll allow me to take some pretty major liberties by omission, based on my experience, anime and especially television animation, tends to move in cycles. The 1970s were dominated by Star Wars and its influence and resulted in an abundance of epic space themed shows such as Yamato, Gundam, Galaxy Express, Harlock, Gatchaman, and Tekkaman. The 1980s moved away from outer space and massive, political, epic conflicts and focused on more human, stylistic and mature themes. Some of the biggest and most influential anime titles of the early 1980s include Dirty Pair, Urusei Yatsura, City Hunter, Bubblegum Crisis, Orange Road, Macross, and the giant robots boom period of Votoms, Dancougar, Xabungle, L-Gaim, SPT Layzner, Dragonar. Zeta and Double Zeta Gundam, Dunbine and Dougram. The early 80s were characterized by shows that emphasized style and mature content over cohesive story. Anime films including Ai City and Angel’s Egg, and sci-fi OAVs like Dragon’s Heaven, Legaicam, Good Morning Althea, Hagane no Oni, Iczer-One, and Bavi-Stock, just to name a few, introduced scantily clad ladies, hyper-kinetic action and implausible, virtually non-sensical stories to anime. The early 80s also virtually single handedly made the “shower scene” synonymous with anime.

As the 1980s moved into the ’90s, programs like Ranma, Sailormoon, Yawara and Tenchi Muyo began to move away from fantastic action and focus more heavily on character and story development. Throughout the 1990s, programs like Rayearth, Evangelion, Escaflowne, Nadia, Fushigi Yuugi, Giant Robo, Irresponsible Captain Tylor, and Slayers focused generally on comedy, character development, drama, and story rather than excessive unbelievable action. Many of these programs were also much more family and younger viewer friendly. While 80s anime could be counted on to include lots of nudity and main character deaths, nudity became increasingly less common as the 90s progressed, and violence became more controversial and therefore less common in anime. Then toward the late 1990s and into the current decade, almost as a reaction to the bloodless, light and happy influence of Marmalade Boy, Tenchi Muyo, Slayers, Love Hina, Tenshi ni Narumon and Hunter X Hunter, a new crop of darker and more mature shows began to appear, recalling the style of the early 80s “golden period” of anime. Devilman Lady, Berserk, Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star and Ima Soku ni Iru Boku brought back the intimate person to person violence and sex that stereotyped early 80s anime. That trend is seemingly increasing especially with the anime that’s appeared in 2001 so far. Series like Inuyasha, FLCL and Yami no Matsui have brought back the fast paced, superhuman action of 80s anime while Earth Girl Arjuna has introduced a new level of maturity and sophistication to anime. Brand new anime series including Noir, Soul Taker, Hakaima Sadamitsu, Gene Shaft, Zone of the Enders, Hanaukyo Maid Tai and Iketeru Futari have revived the 80s’ style of television anime for older viewers- anime full of sex, violence and nudity.

Giant Robots and magical girls have existed virtually as long as anime itself has existed. From the premier of Tetsujin 28 in 1963 to brand new series including G-Dangaioh and Zone of the Enders, giant robots have entrenched themselves as an element of anime as characteristic as giant round eyes. It may be said that giant robots had their heyday in the 80s, but recent successful programs like Tri-Zenon and Gear Fighter Dendoh prove that the traditional giant metal hero robot is still alive and well, and looks to be around for the foreseeable future. Likewise, magical girls have also withstood the test of time, from Cutey Honey to Minky Momo and Pelsia to the current Shin Shirayukihime Pretear and AIC’s Magical Witchland OVA series, I don’t foresee transforming girls vanishing in the immediate future. Giant robots and magical girls may be finding greater support and market in America within recent years, but especially in reference to what’s on Japanese television right now, there seems to be a strong revival of the guns blazing, shower scene filled action anime style of the 80s. If it’s true that this is the current direction anime is heading in, it may last for a few years, then who knows what will take its place?