The Most Influential Anime

C

Corra

Dandy Guy, in Space
Which anime or director do you think have had the biggest influence on how anime and manga has developed?

I think Neon Genesis Evangelion cast quite a big shadow over most of the late 90s and early 00s. It gave us confusing plots and angsty robot pilots and wtf endings to shows.

I'm not sure what is the biggest influence right now, probably whatever kick started the moe craze.

I guess Tezuka was very important in how anime developed, he created some of the first works in some genres, ie Princess Knight was one of the first Shoujo stories.

Any other thoughts on this? I would be interested to see what other people think.
 
I suppose the most obvious choice for the most influential anime would be Akira, as it was the first anime to gain the attention of the West.
 
Go Nagai is the grandfather of super robots, mahou shoujo and ecchi. He was also influential in creating dark/ultra violent shounen in works like Devilman and Violence Jack.
 
I definitely would say in terms of the West, Akira no doubt. Ghost in the Shell has certainly been influential, but NGE would be the most influential modern anime (relatively modern anyway). Going into the 2000s I'm not sure there's much to pick from.

I hesitate to say this as I'm probably wrong, but Death Note may have helped popularise the mind-game stylings of works like Spiral and Code Geass, but I'm sure there was something earlier.

the Space cowboy genre was clearly given a big shot in the arm by Bebop too.

Miyazaki is clearly the most well-known director, but I don't think he's the most influential. Ghibli is Ghibli and they do what they do, it's not something many others have imitated to a great degree of success so I'd hestiate to say that his work has had a great deal of influence, though as a person and the kind of investment Ghibli represents in the industry he may well be the most influential person in terms of anime as an industry but not necessarily the art form.
 
As far as anime goes...

Akira followed by Evangelion then Ghost in the Shell.

Most influential individual?

Masamune Shirow although I'm tempted to place Toriyama above him.
 
Corra said:
Which anime or director do you think have had the biggest influence on how anime and manga has developed?

I think Neon Genesis Evangelion cast quite a big shadow over most of the late 90s and early 00s. It gave us confusing plots and angsty robot pilots and wtf endings to shows.

I'm not sure what is the biggest influence right now, probably whatever kick started the moe craze.

I guess Tezuka was very important in how anime developed, he created some of the first works in some genres, ie Princess Knight was one of the first Shoujo stories.

Any other thoughts on this? I would be interested to see what other people think.
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Tezuka, no question. No Tezuka, no anime.

Moe craze was started by Evangelion. The other big influences were Doukyusei (the eroge), which lead to ToHeart and Kanon and Cardcaptor Sakura.

Maxon said:
Go Nagai is the grandfather of super robots, mahou shoujo and ecchi. He was also influential in creating dark/ultra violent shounen in works like Devilman and Violence Jack.
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Mahou shoujo was Yokoyama Mitsuteru (Mahou Tsukai Sally) who also wrote Tetsujin 28 the first robot anime.

The other big influences are Takahashi Rumiko for Urusei Yatsura(harem)
and
Toriyama Akira, Dr. Slump (super deformed) & Dragon Ball (fighting tournament).
Sparrowsabre7 said:
I hesitate to say this as I'm probably wrong, but Death Note may have helped popularise the mind-game stylings of works like Spiral and Code Geass, but I'm sure there was something earlier.
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.
That's due to Urasawa Naoki, at least in part and Spiral was written 4 years before Death note.


Next to no anime have influence, anime follows manga almost exclusively.
Influential anime people:
Oshii Mamoru: Urusei Yatsura, Patlabour, GitS
Tomino Yoshiyuki: Gundam

Currently
Shinbou Akiyuki: SHAFT
Ikeda Shouko (Haruhi)& Kazumi(Kanon, Clannad): KyoAni, animation directors/ character design
 
Moe craze was started by Evangelion
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I remember reading somewhere that Rei was designed to be creepy but it backfired a bit.

Miyazaki is clearly the most well-known director, but I don't think he's the most influential. Ghibli is Ghibli and they do what they do, it's not something many others have imitated to a great degree of success
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Ghibi stuff doesn't feel the same as other anime to me, I can't really put my finger on why, its like they aren't limited by the usual tropes of anime. It has its own set of repeat images though (Flight, Planes, strong female main characters, platonic love stories, nature etc)

Maybe Ghibli is seen as mass market family fare and not of interest enough to Otaku to copy?
 
I would agree with those who said the Go Negai stuff. (not that I am a fan of much of it) The adaptions of his manga basically drove Anime from 'kids stuff' into 'genre's for everyone' which is what of course most Anime fans would argue is the main reason they like it :)

Going back further, you could of course argue Tezuka, which is entirely true for manga, but Go Negai pushed the genre boundaries for both, and perhaps is more important for Anime as we know it.
 
Warmaster said:
I would agree with those who said the Go Negai stuff. (not that I am a fan of much of it) The adaptions of his manga basically drove Anime from 'kids stuff' into 'genre's for everyone' which is what of course most Anime fans would argue is the main reason they like it :)

Going back further, you could of course argue Tezuka, which is entirely true for manga, but Go Negai pushed the genre boundaries for both, and perhaps is more important for Anime as we know it.
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As said they're both mangaka.
Tezuka actualy did anime direction and production of his works.
Nagai just did the original works and only worked on the 89/90 Devilman OVA's.

As mentioned anime just follows manga until the 90's.

The seires that caused them to split off from each other would be prety important.
Slayers and Legend of the Galactic Heros, as light novel adaptations.
Also the early video game adaptations, and them taking off in the mid 90's, Dragon Quest, and the Y's OVAs?
With Doukyuusei/ Kakyuusei (and ToHeart) starting the adaptation of eroge to adult and TV anime.
 
I,m surprised that Leiji Matsumoto has not been mentioned yet,the mans influence spreads so far through anime/manga and has created some of the most memorable and legendary stories and characters in anime/manga history and what about Osamu Dezaki in my humble opinion the greatest anime director ever,he truly created a dramatic style that was his own and made the shows he directed so unique.
 
Akira is probably the largest non-Ghibli movie in the West, Paprika obviously inspired Inception and there's still debate as to whether Perfect Blue influenced Black Swan.

Within the Anime fandom Dragonball Z has probably inspired pratically every Shonen action series since, I would daresay the show created quite a few of the Shonen cliches
 
Reaper, do me a favour and stop being a pedantic twat. Also, stop stating opinions as fact. I stated my own opinion so don't "correct" it.
 
With that been said, then Tenchi Muyo has been the foundation for harem. That and cabbits and good dubs
 
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