140 Retro Anime That Should Be Brought Back From Oblivion

1988 | 1h 26m
 

When two young girls move to the country to stay with their sick mother, they meet the magical spirits who live in the nearby forest. The film is partially autobiographical. When Hayao Miyazaki and his brothers were children, his mother suffered from spinal tuberculosis for nine years and spent much of her time hospitalized. He once said the movie would have been too painful for him to make if the two protagonists were boys instead of girls.

1997 | 2h 13m 

A representative work from Ghibli Studio and one of the most acclaimed ‘90s anime movies. On a journey to find the cure for a curse, Ashitaka finds himself in the middle of a war. In this quest, he also meets San, the Mononoke Hime. With its epic story and breathtaking visuals, Princess Mononoke is a landmark in the world of animation.

1989 | 1h 43m 
 

During her mandatory year of independent life, a young witch finds fitting into a new community difficult while she supports herself by running an air courier service. When she begins questioning herself and loses her magic abilities, she must overcome her self-doubt to get her powers back. This ‘80s anime represents a heartwarming, gorgeously rendered tale of a girl discovering her place in the world.

1986 | 2h 4m 

Another one of Hayao Miyazaki’s works of art. Two kids with a magic crystal must race against pirates and foreign agents in a search for a legendary floating castle. Castle in the Sky thrillingly encapsulates Studio Ghibli’s unique strengths with a storytelling palette as rich and brilliant as its animation.

1995 | 1h 22m 
 

2029. Cyborg Motoko Kusanagi is an officer for a secretive police division that deals with special operations, including counterterrorism and cybercrime. She’s on the trail of the Puppet Master, a genius cybercriminal who can hack and take control of cyborgs’ brains. A cyberpunk concept where man and machine not only coexist but are nearly indistinguishable.

1998 | 26 episodes 
 

Set in 2071, Cowboy Bebop is a neo-noir science fiction anime that follows a bounty-hunting crew and their adventures of capturing wanted criminals. But it’s not all just fun and games, as the most prominent topics in Cowboy Bebop are those of existential indifference, loneliness, and the inability to escape your own past. Since its release, Cowboy Bebop has been consistently named one of the best animated series ever because of the animation style, characters, story, voice acting, and soundtrack, making it a huge commercial success.

1992 | 112 episodes 
 

Yusuke Urameshi, a teenage delinquent, is killed by a car while saving a child’s life. For his incredible gesture of altruism, Yusuke is revived and appointed as Underworld Detective, for which he must investigate cases involving demons. Although the older animation style can take a while for more modern fans to get used to, it helps the show’s aesthetic and nostalgia.

1996 | 95 episodes + 8 special episodes 
 

The adventures of a young wandering swordsman who stumbles upon a struggling martial arts school in Meiji-era Japan. One of this classic anime’s main characters, Hajime Saitoh, was a real person. Saitoh was a swordsman for the Shinsen Gumi throughout the last days of the Shogunate government and the fighting leading up to the Meiji Restoration.

1989 | 291 episodes + 9 special episodes
 

Dragon Ball Z is the sequel series to the 1986 original adaptation. It picks up five years after the Dragon Ball series, with Goku now an adult and a father to Gohan! With the help of other powerful fighters, Goku defends the Earth from extraterrestrial enemies. Get ready for a long journey through the plotlines and events that made Dragon Ball Z so iconic!

1977 | 155 episodes + 27 special episodes
 

Follow the iconic gentleman thief and his cronies in their exploits around the world! Over fifty years after its creation, Lupin III is still not giving up its incredible popularity. Critical reception of the franchise has been largely positive, with the appeal of the lead characters being noted as the primary factor of the series’ success.

1998 | 26 episodes 

Vash is the most infamous outlaw on the planet Gunsmoke, and with a 60 billion double dollar bounty on his head, he’s also the most sought after. However, the real Vash is not the same man as rumor portrays him. The enigmatic and conflicted lead character in Trigun is actually more heroic in nature, as well as a complete and utter idiot at times!

1995 | 26 episodes + 2 special episodes (complementary ending) 
 

When violent creatures descend on Earth to destroy humanity, Shinji finds himself a reluctant member of a squad of pilots using sentient machines to combat the threat. Don’t know about you, but every time the Evangelion topic comes up, it always creates a huge debate about whether it actually deserves all the hype or if it’s overrated. In the end, it doesn’t matter what you think about it; Evangelion is still considered a Japanese animation milestone!

1992 | 200 episodes + 5 special episodes
 

A group of schoolgirls discovers they are incarnations of princesses with superpowers and must use their abilities to defend the Earth. One of the most emblematic examples of the majokko genre and a great representation of the maturation of an emotional girl to a responsible adult. My sister and I enjoyed this show so much when we were kids. Totally recommended!

1986 | 153 episodes + 2 special episodes 

The original Dragon Ball series was adapted from the first 194 chapters of Akira Toriyama’s manga. This is the first time we meet the monkey-tailed Goku on-screen, befriending teenager Bulma, and then follow them on a mission to find all seven mystical Dragon Balls. With all its storylines beautifully uniting into one series, there’s no way that Dragon Ball could ever get boring!

1997 | 25 episodes 
 

A skilled swordsman joins forces with a mercenary group named “The Band of the Hawk”, run by the charismatic Griffith, and fights with them as they battle their way into the royal court. Unique, vibrantly and colorful art style and one of the most manga-accurate versions of the characters. Did you know the original manga heavily influenced the Dark Souls video game series?

1999 | 43 episodes 
 

Eikichi Onizuka, a 22-year-old ex-gangster, is unemployed and desperate to find a job. Miraculously, his charisma gets the attention of a private school’s director, who appoints him as the teacher of a problematic class. With his unconventional manners, he becomes a role model for his hopeless students and guides them towards a society that had previously abandoned them. A landmark among the greatest anime of the ‘90s!

1999 | 62 episodes 
 

Despite the first Hunter x Hunter not sticking as closely to the actual events from the manga as its 2011 counterpart, this old-school anime deserves a special mention! The series follows Gon Freecss, an orphan boy about to take the exam to become a licensed Hunter, allowed to track down secret treasures, rare beasts, and other individuals. And that’s basically enough to know that the plot will be soaked in action and adventures.

1998 | 26 episodes 

Gene Starwind and James Hawking run a small handyman agency and are hired to protect Captain Hilda, who drives a spaceship, the XGP-15A II, also nicknamed Outlaw Star, in search of a legendary place that enshrines an incredible treasure. This anime will impress you with its animation style and balance of dramatic and comedic elements!

1998 | 27 episodes 
 

The very first series from the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise. Yugi Mutou is a shy boy who has finally completed his grandfather’s ancient Millennium Puzzle. Little does he realize that the puzzle unleashes an alter ego who challenges anyone who hurts Yugi to dangerous games. The Shadow Games reveal the true nature of someone’s heart, and the losers are often subjected to dark punishments. The author initially wanted to make Yu-Gi-Oh a horror work and, despite the change of plan, some horror elements still influenced the story as we know it.

1996 | Ongoing (1000+ episodes) 

A genius detective, whose physical age was forcibly reversed to a prepubescent boy, must hide his true identity. This doesn’t stop him from saving the day by solving the most complex cases! Case Closed, also known as Detective Conan, is an ongoing series that marked the childhood of entire generations and has now released more than a thousand episodes.