80s and 90s Anime OVAs

I've been watching a few lately and they fucking rock. Gunsmith Cats and Gunbuster are my favorites so far.

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Watch You're Under Arrest.
Then the TV show
Then the Mini Specials
Then the Movie
Then the second TV show
Then the No Mercy Special
Then the third TV show

You should watch Dirty Pair: Project Eden and Golden Boy if you haven't seen them

also Otaku No Video, Area 88, Bubblegum Crisis. There's A LOT more that have mediocre stories but great animation.

I could never get past the art shift for the second season.

If you like Gunsmith Cats, watch Riding Bean. It’s like proto GS.

Yeah, that was unfortunate, but it was a product of the era.

>Project Eden
Look at this beautiful shit youtu.be/z53R0LoeV8c

Man, I want to see a step by step on how they animated this.

Golden Boy is the greatest 90s OVA. The race scene is a notable high point in anime as a whole.

>Gunsmith Cats
Dub right? To watch it any other way is blasphemy. But yes it's essentially perfect.

>Minnie May's dub voice
Boners man.

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Dragon half is really good.

The guy who did that was also the guy who did the ending animation for Bobby's In Deep.

youtube.com/watch?v=y3AMYVrTDgg

Also was the main guy behind the City Hunter OP.

youtube.com/watch?v=JM3hRFWnTVI

In other words the guy's a godly animator.

Oedo 808 doesn't get enough love

OBARI PUNCH!

Rally is my waifu, please be nice to her.

Rally is a dumb bitch with daddy issues

Fuck her

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Remember that America drove Kawajiri away from ever directing again.

>tfw I'm seeding anime on AB and I carefully log any new leach IPs that show up whenever Sup Forums recommends a show and mark them as Sup Forums user IPs

Elf 17 is a pretty obscure OVA I've seen

>cute waifus and cute planefus

Mitaka>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Nothing>The bat>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Haneda
Mitaka was 10/10.

D E V I L M A N
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Old anime really pays attention to the little shit, like the lightbulb still glowing even after it's turned off.

Nothing against Mitaka, but she's no Jaeger

Airbats was a mess, even one off characters were better than Haneda, who was sort of the main love interest. Go figure.

I dont understand. Anime of the old had such a unique looking style to it, it looked mature and realistic.

New anime looks less detailed, too clean, and too cute.

Digital leading to a loss of the soft film look, computer coloring vs. painted, budgets probably (OVAs aren't really as common a thing anymore). If you want an example of how just a few years can change things look at Magic User's Club OVA vs. TV series. I think that was pre-digital (or just at the advent of it) and the two look completely different.

In all honesty I despise digital coloring. Same problem has happened with western comics. So much awful digital coloring, use of gradients, etc. that completely destroys the art compared to a lot of older coloring ('80s Marvel and early/mid-'90s DC have great coloring IMO).

Digital coloring is good now. The early 00s stuff was pretty dreadful though.

Your waifu is seducing me with her sensual shower behavior.

My IP changes every 24h anyway

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'sup?

Record of Lodoss War is a fun ride.

The art in Iczer-1 is god tier.

I never get tired of seeing Deedlit get raped in fakestar doujins.

Nah TV show first. Possibly one of the best animus to start with for a beginner

Your waifu is a half Pakistani lesbian.

All American though.

youtube.com/watch?v=VDWGw1A4B_E

Zeta gundam

What is this with old OVAs having better quality than newer ones?

Everything was just better back then

Never watched gundam since I dislike mechas, but is zeta worth watching despite that?

______Violence Jack______

Zeta is dark and a lot of slapping compared to many gundam series and takes the characters and puts them in crisis situations where they are struggling. Got to warn you that the ending is dark.

"Everybody knows the best American pilots are in the Navy."

That did it.

>I've been watching a few lately and they fucking rock.
Because you've only been watch the crème de la crème. Trust me, the majority of 80s/90s OVAs are painfully awful.

>that setting, plot and characters
>3 eps
it's a damn shame this didn't go on longer

The Japanese economy has been in a recession since the late 80s

Senpai is a good girl

It's just a different mindset. Back then OAVs were a way of testing the waters of interest to see if a TV series was a viable option. Now, OAVs are just omake for existing media. The difference lies in the care taken in the craft. Old OAVs had to impress, new ones are thrown in with manga orders and BluRays.

I'm curious as to which ones you think were painfully awful, though. Some of them were boring, not my cup of tea, and other personal choice issues, but awful I don't think I would use.

Well you're right, I exaggerated a little. I should've said painfully mediocre.

Stuff like Mamono Hunter Youko, Natsuki Crisis, Jewel BEM Hunter Lime, Iria, Iczer-1, Gall Force, Shamanic Princess, Angel Densetsu are all things that I would rate as being watchable at best to downright wastes of time at worst. And those are just shows from the top of my head that I've watched, there are many many more OVAs than just that.

Sure there are absolutely amazing 80s/90s OVAs like Trust and Betrayal, Gunbuster, Gunsmith Cats, Giant Robo, Macross Plus, War in the Pocket, Getter Robo: Armageddon, but those are just a drop in the bucket compared to all the trash OVAs produced in that decade.

When you put so much effort into each frame/cell I guess you take time to add details. I really hate the change to computer drawn cells and coloring. Though cheap anime looks horrid hand drawn or not. Gunsmith Cats was a OVA so it had a higher budget than a typical TV anime at the time. Kinda sad sometimes being a Original Fag and remembering the 'Golden Era of Hand Drawn Anime'.

Although, when the stars align you get shows like Violet Evergarden (in terms of animation quality). Anime has turned into a legitimate medium for story telling, just like video games. I doubt things will every go full mainstream (anime girls in time square ads for example,) but more money from companies like netflix will fill all the Japanese studio's production slots for the next few years.

Mediocre I could agree wi...

>Gall Force

Get the fuck out right now.

The others I kind of agree with. I liked Mamono Hunter Yohko, which was notable for somehow existing over 5 years and only 6 episodes produced (though it was more like the first four and then two later). I never quite understood why it didn't get more shots. Probably the too adult nature of the first episode or something.

>Gall Force

Literally the first anime I ever saw in my life. Thanks Sci-Fi Channel.

I have it on DVD, the first movie is fine (and the one I saw on TV). The second and third on the other hand....lol

Zeta Gundam is very much worth watching. Definitely should watch MSG (the three movies at least but I prefer TV over the movies) beforehand though so stuff like Amuro meeting Quattro (HE IS A CHAR) has a lot more impact and meaning.

Just be wary that this is a.) Gundam and b.) Tomino so some characters can act retarded and there's a few really shit/annoying characters (Katz, Sarah and Rosamia are probably my least favorite UC characters) but overall it's a great ride and the great characters are really great (i.e. Haman).

MS design is fucking ace as well. The Zeta, Rick Dias, Marasai, Hambrabi, Mk. II and Qubeley especially. Mk. II is my absolute favorite Gundam.

Fuck Baby Driver

There's a lot but I at least liked the abillity of OVAs to allow companies to try shit. I appreciate that an environment existed that allowed things like California Crisis and Dragon's Heaven to exist whether or not those things are objectively good.

Iczer-1 is a masterpiece in terms of it's visual direction and art. I think it's incredibly impactful and well put together - and really balances out the disparate elements it brings together well. Yeah it is campy as hell and not "deep" in any way, but that is irrelevant when it comes to whether or not something is of high quality.
Gall Force and Shamanic Princess were really fun as well.

I've been watching a lot of 80s and 90s OVAS(Over 100 at this point) and I definitely think they are above average by general anime standards. There are mediocre and bad ones like with everything - but save 80s and 90s films they probably the best part of the medium, especially on the visual front ( which is the most important imo). Maybe I have somehow only seen the creme of the crop, but I kind of doubt it.

One thing that seems to get missed by modern anime fans is that lots of old OVAs are meant to be tonal pieces and animation spectacles. The writing is supposed to take the back seat to telling the story through evocative animation over high degrees of dialogue. There has been a paradigm shift in what people expect out of anime in part due to the popularization of the light novel and how it has affected the industry. I wish more people would realize that there are many ways that an anime can be good, and not have such a narrow view on how to judge quality.

What the fuck? Are her shoes made of diamond nanorods?

The first OVA was such trash, horrible animation and not nearly extreme enough. The second one was the perfect exploitation film with amazing animation, and the 3rd one was not so far behind it.

Natsumi is pretty amazing.

I wish Natsuki Crisis got more episodes.
The character designs were fantastic, great music, pretty cool fight sequences.

I don't deny that those OVAs I listed can have some good aspects, but overall they're mediocre. Of course any list of OVAs I make isn't going to include bottom of the barrel trash, because I'm not going to go out of my way to watch bottom of the barrel trash. But just because they have some redeeming qualities doesn't mean I won't consider them mediocre. Also it's not hard to go to any anime database and see piles of trash OVAs if you wanted to.

>telling the story through evocative animation over high degrees of dialogue
I disagree. The animations are often there for the sake of animation, not to tell the story. And whatever story they are telling are more often than complete wastes of time. Most OVAs of the era, especially sci-fi ones, are generic stories that are often aping whatever the latest trendy Hollywood film is. A lot of the non-sci-fi OVAs are generic fantasy that are practically indistinguishable from one another. And when I say generic I don't mean that lightly. They have some of the most poorly underwritten plots I've ever seen. And they rarely do anything interesting.

I'm not saying some of them don't have great animation, but a lot of them only have good animation. In comparison, there's almost nothing to get out of the plot and characters. And that's not even mentioning the OVAs that don't even have good animation.

>There has been a paradigm shift in what people expect out of anime in part due to the popularization of the light novel
I don't think that's it. The OVAs I listed as great are not dialogue heavy stuff and are not really anything like modern LN based anime. They had good animation, good characters, and good stories. I can't really say the same thing about the mediocre OVAs I listed.

I really wish there was a place for old OVA style. Maybe it's because a large part of my middle school years (into maybe freshman or sophomore year of high school) was right at the turn of the millennium so I could sit there with The Action Channel on during a summer afternoon and watch shit like Gunsmith Cats or OVA Dirty Pair or whatever, or stay up on a Friday night to watch whatever Kawajiri schlock would get played on Showtime.

But those things were definitely spectacles. Visually distinct and memorable, usually action pieces with nice choreography, usually good about setting a mood. Not afraid to go into extreme forms of horror, gore, etc. Writing, as you said, was usually secondary. There's just really no place for stuff like that at all. Stuff like what Kawajiri made just doesn't feel like it has a place anymore. Sure there's gory anime still but the simplified and cutesier art and stuff means that visually that kind of stuff doesn't hold the same impact that, say, Ninja Scroll does. Elfin Lied was kind of the last hurrah for that style of anime really.

That's not to say that stuff was the greatest, just that I appreciate that the old OVA environment existed that allowed for stylish violence and pseudo-hentai to exist alongside things like Minky Momo or crass presentation over quality stuff like California Crisis or Call Me Tonight.

Huh. I found both tapes while thrifting recently, brand new. It's as if it was Fate.

Gunsmith Cats is so much fun,I wish there was more of it.
Any similar OVAs or TV Shows?

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Uniqueness has no intrinsic relation to quality, and I disagree on all the claims you are making about the plots and characters generally being poor, and that the animation is not usually telling a story. I think there is a difference in having a minimalistic approach to writing and having poor writing. Iczer-1 is a great example of an extremely high quality product that has no complex themes and basic characters and plot, but works extremely well because of how well directed it is, how they don't make errors in execution or fall into contradictions in the writing, how good the animation is, the raw emotion it expresses, etc. It isn't a thematically heavy work, but it is a supremely powerful aesthetic experience. And for someone like myself who comes from a music and art background rather than say a literature background, that is often more valuable to me. I don't see why a work has to do everything to be good - if anything trying to over-emphasize the plot and characterization would have cheapened the experience.

Though it is not as if I think most old OVAS are great - my claim is only that they are of a higher average quality than say 00s and 10s TV anime, due to more cases of legitimately poor writing, lackluster visual directing, etc. No part of any medium is going to be great on average.

You listed a lot of very quality high OVAS, but there are lots of ones that are just a bit lower quality and are not on the level of legitimate trash like say Gowcaizer or Nora or even some of the more mediocre works you listed. The perception that there are just a few great OVAS in a sea of mediocrity is just false as far as I have experienced - there is lots of stuff leaning towards the high quality stuff, and plenty of OVAS that are of just of high and higher quality than those ones you listed.I think this perception that old OVAS are mostly bad is a common one, and I think that it comes from that imbalanced perspective on how to judge anime.

I agree. My view is that diversity is a good thing. I'm fine with new forms emerging - but it is sad to see old styles go. Because really execution is what matters. I would love to see modern attempts at making a gritty body horror action piece like an old Kawajiri work, epecially since digital animation is starting to be mastered, unlike in the early 00s when few people knew what they were doing with it. But the fanbase dictates what is made and otaku are just not into the same sort of stuff they used to be into.

The OVA boom really was the wild west of anime production. I mean for God's sake, Artmic was being run on Yakuza money and enough cheap credit was rolling around that often money was just getting thrown at random projects with next to no corporate oversight, because why not? When the economy is good it is fine to risk money on batshit crazy projects because consumers are more willing to take a risk on a random OVA. Once the bubble economy burst I suppose it just was'nt viable not to standardize anime as a whole to ensure a maximization of profit.

it's 90s fuck you

>Uniqueness has no intrinsic relation to quality
I never said it did. Maybe my complaint about genericness sounded like a complaint about uniqueness but it's really a complaint about a lack of trying. The plots I'm labeling generic I label because it feels like they're writing from a template rather than trying to make a story or characters I care about. I'm not going to care about something just because the world's going to end and the heroes need to save it, or because there are bad guys the heroes need to defeat. I need something more than that.

Take Tenchi Muyo for example. I liked the OVA but found the plot mediocre despite that, mostly because of the character interactions. But the plot of the OVA is very similar in structure to many other OVAs of the time especially sci-fi ones, so I'll use it as an example. Basically Tenchi meets Ryoko, then some people show up. Then more things show up, Ryoko is taken and Tenchi needs to save her. My problem with the story? It all feels like things just happen and Tenchi responds to them. Ryoko is taken by a bad guy who comes out of nowhere so of course he has to save her.

In my opinion that's not a good plot. A good plot comes out of the character's desires, not by plot devices. Compare that to Trust and Betrayl's plot where we have a character living in a turbulent time choosing to do something about it but at the same time falling in love. Kenshin's struggle is mostly internal, compared to Tenchi's villain showing up out of nowhere. If you compare the plot's of the OVAs in my mediocre and good list you'll see the trend. The mediocre plots rely heavily on plot devices, with underdeveloped plots where characters are pushed around by the plot's whims. The good plots are almost entirely driven by character drama where the plot is moved by the characters themselves. Of course exceptions exists.

I'd like to explain more indepth but my posts keep hitting the limit and I'm not going to write multiple replies.

I was making the same expression as the kid.

what in the fuck

Everyone everywhere should watch Ruin Explorers. It's delightful.

Only time delinquents got some time to shine in animation:
Kyou Kara Ore Ha (10x40 min episodes)
Shounan Junai Gumi (5x40 min episodes)
Shounan Bakusouzoku (14x40 min episodes)
And ofcourse lots of other short ones.

>California Crisis and Dragon's Heaven
I only got here to mention these two. Love the interesting art styles. It's a crime that CC is not even available on DVD.

I got the Dagger of Kamui on DVD. It gets pretty batshit far into it...

This looks so insanely good.

holy shit my sides

Damn dude, what are you doing?

It drags a lot when he goes to America, honestly.

What is this from?

I wanna know some too. I have an amazing VGA CRT monitor, watching Giant Robo on it was really comfy.

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust

most of anime from that era has worse subs than commie, funi and netflix. This is stopping me from watching it.

Dude, you're in for a treat.

I had a feeling it was, but wasn't completely sure due the topic being 80s and 90s OVAs

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Is it even possible to license it? Who owns the rights given the that the studio is long gone? But yeah, aestheticaly and musically it's fucking awesome.

Isn't Golden Boy the show about the piss fetishist? Why would I want that?

I liked Riding Bean better. Glad that they were able to get Bean Bandit and Percy back for the manga.

sauce

Nearly finishing Dirty pair, I only have the OVAS and then the Movie to go.

In this world, the rights always belong to someone. Bigger problem is finding anything to remastered. Dragon's Heaven managed to get a DVD release, so I do have hope. And CC's soundtrack is out there, right?
youtube.com/watch?v=uTuMK-ZMPVY
So good.

No? There's absolutely nothing piss related.

Ofcourse there is. He is always toilet hugging and fantasies about a golden shower in the first episode.

Form your own opinion.

Can I start Lodoss with Chronicles of a Heroic Knight or is there something that comes before?

Just watch 13 episode OVA imo, it's much better than lower quality TV series and you won't really miss out on much content.