Ask John: Did Japan’s “Bubble Economy” Have an Effect on Anime?

Question:
Did the “eras” of Japan, including the rise and fall of the bubble economy, force (or at least inspire) certain types of movies to be made?

Answer:
The bubble economy had a tremendous impact and influence on anime. In fact, the 1980s and early 90s, when Japan was at its economic peak, are considered by many to be the “golden period” of anime. Almost all of the most significant “experimental” and esoteric anime were released in the 1980s. There have been exceptions more recently such as Lain, Boogiepop Phantom, 1001 Nights and Nekojiro-so, but the 1980s had Angel’s Egg, Amon Saga, Ai City, Twilight Q, the Patlabor movies, Urusei Yatsura, Manie Manie, Robot Carnival, and a whole host of some of the most popular and longest running of all anime TV series including St. Seiya, Hokuto no Ken, City Hunter, Lupin III, Yu Yu Hakusho, Sailormoon and Ranma. The 1980s were also the period of the “mecha boom” with series including Votoms, Dragonar, Dancougar, Layzner, Dunbine, Xabungle, Z and ZZ Gundam, Galient, and more. The 1980s seemingly remain the anime industry’s most prolific period, and many, many of the anime that are still famous today premiered in the 1980s, including Dirty Pair, City Hunter, Hokuto no Ken, Sailormoon, Ranma, Orange Road, Maison Ikkoku, St. Seiya, Dragonball, Bubblegum Crisis, and Macross. It’s clear that so much anime was produced, and so much distinctly strange and unusual anime was made during the 1980s and early 1990s because Japan’s economy was so healthy that studios and businesses had extra funds to use in supporting anime productions. When it wasn’t as important to turn a profit, it was more acceptable to produce odd anime with limited commercial potential. Since the mid and late 90s, the Japanese industry has been more picky about what it produces, being more careful to stick to productions that have a good chance of being successful, because the Japanese economy isn’t wealthy enough to write off personal pet projects or commercial failures now the way it could in the 1980s.