An Explosion of Nostalgia in Anime
Currently there are several classic anime series airing which stretch all the way back to 1960, yet they’re all in vibrant HD color and made with beautiful visuals and high budgets. What year is it? Who put all the nostalgia in anime suddenly?
The industry has really taken off in recent months, and there are no less than 116 new and continuing anime series competing for fan’s attention this season, thanks to support by Netflix, Amazon Prime and other companies throwing money at animation projects. Apparently remaking classic shows for modern audiences is profitable for studios, because we’ve been seeing a ton of revival shows, including:
- A new Cutey Honey, based on the 1973 anime about a transforming heroine who does battle with devils, usually exploding her clothes in the process. The show, which marks the 50th year of Go Nagai’s career, is surprisingly dark and true to the imagery of the original.
- An all-new Gegege no Kitaro, the story of a yokai boy who defeats various magical enemies with the help of his father, who is an eyeball.
- A continuation of Cardcaptor Sakura that begins where the series left off 18 years ago.
- A reboot of Legend of Galactic Heroes, the sprawling space opera based on 19th century Prussia and loaded with Germanic names like Reinhard von Lohengramm and Otho von Braunschweig. The new show is beautiful, if a bit heavy with CGI ship battles.
- A new Captain Tsubasa based on the 80s classic soccer anime.
My favorite of the group will likely be the new Lupin III series, about Japan’s most famous thief who travels around Europe stealing things with his sidekicks Jigen and Goemon. As always, animators work to keep the important elements of the story and characters while updating things. Lupin and his gang still drive in his iconic Fiat 500, but the new series deals with modern topics like hacking digital currency. There’s also a new sidekick/love interest, separate from Lupin’s wife from the 2016 series. They also sneak a little fanservice in for us too.
So what nostalgia in anime comes next? A new Dirty Pair series? Fist of the North Star? Speed Racer? Slayers? Actually, I’d be excited about any of these shows coming back.
It’s our favorite time of the month again, when the new anime magazines come in and we get to show them to you. Today we’ve released the new Newtype, Comptiq, Dengeki Bunko and more, all loaded with free posters, manga and other gifts for fans. Check out the new magazines while they’re in stock.
