Anime is a medium rich in homages and references to earlier works, so I want to get more of a grounding before I watch more modern shows.
What are works in the essential canon of 70s anime? So far the list I have assembled is:
Tomorrow's Joe (1970)
Devilman (1972)
Space Battleship Yamato (1974)
Future Boy Conan (1978)
Mobile Suit Gundam (1979)
The Rose of Versailles (1979)
Are there other stand-out shows, or ones with strong connections to essentials in later decades?
aim for the ace
haven't watched any but I think others that rank high on these lists are Adventures of Gamba and WMT stuff (Anne, Heidi, 3000 Leagues).
the core canon is seemingly just Miyazaki + Takahata + Dezaki
I'd recommend Gatchaman (1972) and Casshan (1973) personally.
And as far as 70s Go Nagai adaptations, I had more fun with Cutie Honey (1973) than with Devilman, but ymmv.
Lupin III
Yatterman
Time Bokan
Read Devilman, don't watch it.
Rose of Versailles and Ashita no Joe first IMO. Just cause they're so good.
Devilman is good, but it sucks, if you catch my meaning. If the manga came out in 2022 it would be axed before finishing, if the anime came out in 2022 it would tank.
Watch it anyway if you like stuff like Chainsaw Man.
If you're referencemaxxing you might wanna go for sixties shows. Watch a couple episodes of Magical Girl Sally, Astro Boy and Gegege no Kitarou. Doraemon too, though that one's in color so I think its seventies.
Maybe Crayon Shin-chan is worth your time. The dubs make it way funnier, though the humor is kinda weird all around.
Might as well throw Lupin the Third in there. Finely crafted episodic plots for its entire runtime
Haven't watched the others you listed, but if you listed those, you'd probably like Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Frankly, if you have XY chromosomes, you'd like Legend of the Galactic Heroes.
If you like Rose of Versailles, watch Utena.
They're totally different, but Utena is absolutely a spiritual successor.
If you watch both and are now functionally addicted to shoujo (like me), watch Candy Candy. It's a seventies show absolutely dripping with soul. Vibe is similar to Anne of the Green Gables, Heidi of the Alps, Pippi Longstocking etc.
In my opinion, I wouldn't watch these shows just for the references, but watch them because they are good. I watched the first episode of Macross and didn't really like it that much (even though I like mecha in other shows).
Watching old anime isn't like reading the classics, where it's boring but you can still wrench out some significance. Older shows are sometimes (often) straight up better than modern pickings in terms of of cel shading, plot structure, complexity of characters. Especially the ones on your list.
Seconding this guy's point.
I watched Cutey Honey and absolutely hated it. As in, it is the only anime to have a 1/10 on my listing. Horrible animation, plot is absolute nonsense, combat scenes are brainless and not cool, everything about it just sucked
how does a 00s Funimation dub of a 90s show make it into your 60s/70s recs?
I also dropped Macross after episode 1 (despite loving DYRL) and am a huge believer in Nagai sucking.
still hoping to watch Candy Candy one day, it's just so damn long. shoujo is truly endgame stuff.
Lupin III(71)
Animal Treasure Island(71)
The Gutsy Frog(72)
Gatchaman(72)
Mazinger z(72)
Cutey Honey(73)
Ace wo Nerae!(73)
Combattler V(76)
Zambot 3(77)
Daitarn 3(78)
Captain Harlock(78)
Galaxy Express 999(78)
And all the Dezaki and WMT shows not mentioned.
Mazinger was always my favorite
Anne of Green Gables
Marco: 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother
Heidi, Girl of the Alps
Takarajima (Treasure Island)
Nobody's Child Remi
as far as kino adaptations of old books go.
No Candy Candy or any WMT at all? Bad list, it's missing dozens of essential shows. Anyway, fuck off, stealth rec thread.
>Horrible animation
What? Cutey Honey had impressive animation for the time it came out. The only thing that sucked were the backgrounds which were usually non-existent and replaced with some solid color.
Easy way to burn yourself out lol
>casshan 1973
my absolute nigga
Is the manga just better than the anime, or is the anime actually bad on its own? Noted, either way.
I'll give it a try, I think I've heard vague references to this before. Thanks.
I'd actually wondered if these were actually good, or just retroactively famous for the names you gave. I'll probably wait until I hear something more about them, but definitely good tips, thank you.
I wasn't sure if WMT were retroactively famous, as above, but I'll go look through it again.
>stealth rec
I'm not even being stealthy about it, although I'm hoping these are general enough to be useful to many people on the board, not just me.
Gatchaman does look influential, I'll put it down on my list for now and see how I like it. Casshan/Casshern seems to not have quite the same reception; is it as similar to Gatchman as it looks?
I thought about Cutie Honey if only because it would provide context to the live-action remake that Hideaki Anno directed (which I haven't yet seen). I guess I'll try it and see how far I can get.
For some reason I had skipped everything Lupin III-related, but I can't recall why. It does seem obvious to at least give the first series a try. I've never heard of Time Bokan / Yatterman, what's the deal with those? I can see they are related.
Versailles is actually the only one I listed that I've seen so far, and I didn't much care for it, to be honest. I'm not sure what part of it didn't click for me that does for most people, but I don't want to derail the thread by getting too deep into it. The show gets discussed here frequently anyway.
Pretty sure Crayon Shin-chan is 90s, I liked it, although it wasn't funny enough to me to finish. LOGH is also 80's, and I do plan on seeing it. Ditto for Utena, except for the 90's there.
>burn yourself out
I may drop things early, but hopefully after getting big ideas.
holy shit nigga i aint reading all that shit go watch brave of legend da garn or some shit
That's a lot of replies, canonization efforts are hella gay when it comes to anime, but I commend your autism and efforts, user.
Here's my take, only counting subbed stuff.
70: Ashita no Joe.
71: Lupin III and Doubutsu Takarajima.
72: Mazinger Z and Gatchaman.
73: Ace wo Nerae and Belladonna of Sadness.
74: Heidi and Yamato.
75: Gamba no Bouken.
76: Marco and Candy Candy.
77: Remi. - Optional: Lupin part 2, Zambot 3.
78: Future Boy Conan and Takarajima. - Optional: Galaxy Express 999, Harlock, Farewell to Yamato, Lupin Mystery of Mamo, Chirin no Suzu.
79: Gundam, Rose of Versailles, Anne and Lupin Castle of Cagliostro. - Optional: Ace wo Nerae film, Galaxy Express 999 film, Taro the Dragon Boy.
If you are deeper into the /m/ rabbit hole, add more Tatsunoko, Nagai and Nagahama shows.
If you are into artsy shit, 70s are a gold mine of independent shorts so just dive in.
>Is the manga just better than the anime, or is the anime actually bad on its own?
The manga is better by a wide margin. All of the anime adaptations of Go Nagai manga in the 70s suffered heavily from monster of the week filler. The only one I would recommend watching over reading the manga is Mazinger Z, because the anime has a proper ending, while the manga has a nonending.
>how does a 00s Funimation dub of a 90s show make it into your 60s/70s recs?
I dunno. It's where my mind went, since it seems to have the vibe of longrunning shows referenced sometimes. I guess consider tone and what's amenable to the pallette rather than drawing distinct lines over decades
>still hoping to watch Candy Candy one day, it's just so damn long. shoujo is truly endgame stuff.
What I do (for all mediums I watch/read) is if something is too long, I finish an arc, then put it down until I'm in the mood for it again. It took me six years to read the Higurashi VNs (that were fully translated by this point). I wasn't hesitant about the series at all. Rather, I enjoyed Onikakushi so much that I segmented Higurashi as a special treat to be enjoyed once every nine months or so. Managed to do it unspoilered too. As a result, Higurashi is my favorite piece of writing, period, and it definitely has influences over the writing I create on my own, as well as the way I see the fiction genre.
As for you, Candy Candy has VERY discrenible arcs, so picking it up and putting it down is actually pretty easy. Of course, like all things, if you never feel inspired to watch it after the first 13 episodes, then don't. But I have a feeling you will, because of the stunning coloration and music. Not just that, but Candy is an interesting character, and you kinda wanna see what happens as she's shuffled around from place to place.
Haven't seen the anime, but the manga I read in one afternoon, and I went away feeling alright about it. If I had burned that time on 13 episodes however, I would have been pissed.
I also watched Devilman Crybaby a couple years later. It wasn't too bad. It makes an effort to be controversial, so it has a lot of haters, but isn't that what the original Devilman did too? What interested me most was that the show was absolutely seeped in modern culture. It was like somebody adapted Hercules or the bible to modern times. Very fun to take in
So I guess I'd recommend what I did, reading the manga, then watching the modern adaption
technically started in december 1969, but Attack no. 1 should be an addition
Definitely to see some Galaxy Express 999. People may disagree with me here, but I think you'd be fine watching the film instead of the series if you don't want to commit to the 100+ episodes. Then you can just dip in and watch an episode at random since they're largely episodic and the film will give you all the narrative and context you need to understand everything.
The film is also a lot better looking than the series and in my opinion a better time, but there are individual episodes that have really interesting premises or explore really interesting settings, so the series is worth checking out too.