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Message: <blockquote data-quote="teonzo" data-source="post: 361596" data-attributes="member: 2944">I suppose it's just a matter of trends. In the 70's and 80's one of the major trends was sport: there was an anime for almost every sport existent (even golf). As I wrote in my presentation I'm quite ignorant on series that were aired after 1995, but from what I'm reading I can count on one hand the number of sport anime that were released in the last 10 years.Another major theme was that the protagonist of the anime was the most unlucky person on earth, having experienced the saddest childhood ever and having to face countless and totally absurd tragedies. So the series just showed how miserable were the starting conditions of the main characters, how terrible were the adversities he/she had to face, and how strong he/she was to overcome them and find a sort of cathartic revenge.The series about fighting sports (or martial arts) usually united these 2 trends, it was quite natural. Even on non fighting sports you could find totally absurd scenes against the main character. For example on Akakichi no Eleven (an anime on football) the players were forced to kick iron balls (spheres made of full iron of the size of a standard football) to get stronger (and the tone of the series was serious and tragic, not funny); on Kyojin no Hoshi the father of the main character was simply the most bastard father on the face of earth.Trends are quite different in modern anime, so I suppose this can be a major reason why there are few/no anime on martial arts nowadays.I can write some brief resumes about the overall stories of the series I listed if you are interested. I put them under spoilers so people who don't want to read can avoid them. I've rewatched in the past years only Tiger Mask and Ashita no Joe (they were aired on a sat TV), about the other series I have faded memories because I watched them 25 years ago or more.- Kurenai Sanshiro[spoilerinline]The father of Sanshiro is a judo master (as is Sanshiro himself) and gets killed by a man with a glass eye. So Sanshiro starts his voyage looking for this man with a glass eye to avenge his father. It has the usual structure of the "monster of the week", Sanshiro arrives in a new village where an evil bastard is oppressing the people, he fights, wins and everytime he leaves breaking the heart of the weekly beauty.[/spoilerinline]- Tiger Mask[spoilerinline]Naoto is the most promising wrestler of an evil organization that aims to control the wrestling business. They kidnap children from all over the world, train them brutally (most of them die during the training years) and then send them to fight in the main wrestling federations over the world to win the titles and the money (the organization gets half the money). At one point Naoto faces some ghosts from the childhood, and decides to leave the organization, starting to fight loyally and becoming a positive hero. But the organization of course is not happy about this, and sends a lot of brutal wrestlers to kill him, failing each time. Another "monster of the week" series with a lot of blood, splatter and deaths. There are also a lot of touching moments about orphans and ruined childhood, I would dare to say they reach the levels of Grave of the Fireflies (same tone and same quality).[/spoilerinline]- Ashita no Joe[spoilerinline]Joe is a hot-head boy, the usual stubborn homeless that is wasting his life. A boxe trainer, now ruined due to his vices, notices Joe's talent for boxe and decides to train him to make him a world champion. But Joe is not exactly the perfect example of a disciple, and continues to act recklessly both on the ring and in real life. This leads to all sorts of possible tragedies.[/spoilerinline]- Ninpu Kamui Gaiden[spoilerinline]Faded memories here. Kamui is a ninja that decides to change life after becoming sick of seeing all sorts of abuses made by the rich people towards the poor. So he diserts and escapes from his clan (which is, of course, at the service of rich people). The clan is not happy with this, and sends their ninjas (former friends of Kamui) to kill him.[/spoilerinline]- Sasuke[spoilerinline]Faded memories even here. After loosing a feudal war, the clan of Sasuke is mass killed by the other faction. After seeing his mother being killed, Sasuke decides to escape and to fight the oppressors. The usual series where the main character is fighting against the whole world ad nothing good happens.[/spoilerinline]- Ore wa Teppei[spoilerinline]Teppei lives with his father, who is a miner and not the perfect example of a wise man. But his grandmother (quite resolute and violent) forces him to go to live at her house in a city and to start to conduct a "normal" life. So Teppei is sent to school, and there he signs to the kendo club. Kendo requires a strict discipline, while Teppei is just the opposite kind of boy: restive, reckless, stubborn, rebellious and disobedient. So the kendo master and the other boys hate him and try to boycott him in all possible ways. But Teppei is totally stubborn, developes his own weird kendo technique and starts to win against the others. It can seem a serious anime, but it's totally based on fun scenes.[/spoilerinline]- Ganbare Genki[spoilerinline]Other faded memories. Genki is the son of a boxer, who gets killed on the ring by his opponent. So Genki brings the boxe gloves of his father, and decides to train himself to become a professional and defeat the killer of his father for revenge. To reach this he gets one of the most brutal and sick trainings ever (true Japanese spirit in the vein of Kyojin no Hoshi).[/spoilerinline]Teo</blockquote>

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