Ask John: Exactly is the Golden Period of Anime?

Question:
In your letter about Girls with Guns anime you talked about the golden period of anime. Could you possibly explain when, why, and what that was?

Answer:
The period of time from roughly 1981 until 1987 (give or take a year or two on either side) is commonly referred to, by long-time anime fans, as the “Golden Period” of anime. During the 1980s Japan’s economy was skyrocketing with no ceiling in sight. With the still relatively new introduction of the VCR and plenty of disposable income, Japanese anime fans had the ability to collect anime like never before. And anime production studios had enough financial backing to indulge virtually any creative endeavor. In the history of contemporary anime, from the 1963 debut of Tetsuwan Atom to the end of 2003, no concentrated period of time has a greater variety of distinctive and unusual anime than the 1980s. And perhaps no other period of time in the history of anime has produced a greater number of all time classic anime franchises than the 1980s.

1981 saw the debut of the Mamoru Oshii directed Urusei Yatsura anime TV series, arguably the anime that gave birth to the now common “harem anime” genre that focuses one teen boy living among many attractive young females. 1982 saw the introduction of Magical Princess Minky Momo- a show which Gaianx’s Otaku no Video acknowledges as one of the pivotal titles in the evolution of magical girl anime. 1983 saw the premier of Dallos, the first ever OAV, or anime made for straight to home video release. 1984 was the year of Lolita Anime Volume 1, the first ever pornographic anime and the birth of the hentai anime genre. 1985 saw the debut of the Dirty Pair TV series. Although it was a commercial failure, it is still significant as arguably being the first true “girls with guns” anime series. And in fact, a tremendous number of the anime titles most often thought of as illustrative examples of anime all originated in the 1980s: St. Seiya, Akira, Vampire Hunter D, Fist of the North Star, Macross, Orange Road, Maison Ikkoku, Bubblegum Crisis, Megazone 23, Project A-ko, City Hunter, Dragonball.

But beside the number of now classic anime that made their debut in the 1980s, the era will always be remembered for the amazing number of unusual, avant garde and “artsy” anime that it spawned. Titles like Angel’s Egg, Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer, Ultra Q Part 2, Manie Manie, Robot Carnival, Bavi Stock, Goshogun: Etranger, Ai City, Battle Royal High School and many others were just plain weird. These films were all pet projects, pure creative and artistic experimentation made because time and money allowed. The 1980s are also home to some of the most respected anime feature films ever made: Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind, Castle in the Sky Laputa, Graveyard of Fireflies, Akira, Royal Space Force, Arcadia of My Youth, Macross: Love, Do You Remember?

If the evolution of anime can be compared to a lifetime, the 1980s could be said to be the blossoming of youth. The 1960s and 1970s were a period of growth and maturity for anime during which time the art form was still limited by poor animation quality and limited genres. The 1980s introduced the lush, hand drawn animation and minute attention to detail that have come to typify anime. The 1980s may also be said to be the height of the anime industry’s creativity, as the decline of Japan’s economy in the 1990s directly lead to a greater emphasis on marketability than unfettered creativity and the 2000 decade, so far, has seen the near extinction of the OAV format and a continued decrease in the number of highly artistic and unusual anime releases. In the present decade, strange and wonderful creations like Nekojiro-so (Cat Soup) and 1001 Nights seem like exceptions among hundreds of typical releases while in the 1980s these sort of anime were commonplace beside more mainstream friendly titles.

There’s certainly no lack of high quality anime being made nowadays, but many veteran anime fans miss the spirit of care infused into 1980s anime. Although they’re not quite as technically accomplished as contemporary anime, anime productions from the 1980s golden period exude a sense of devoted animators slaving over drawing boards for long hours to produce magic. Golden period anime have a soul that’s absent in the slick and flashy, digitally enhanced and fine tuned, commercially savvy anime produced from the 1990s onward. Sort of like comparing a hand carved rocking chair to a lush electric, vibrating recliner, both 80s anime and current anime are easy and comfortable to slip into, but 80s anime has a nostalgic, rough-hewn human touch to it while more recent anime feels scientifically contoured for maximum pleasure.