The birth of Anime: From beginning to now.

What time likes the 90s

Still suffering from the economy recession from the 80s, the anime industry fell into a low point, with declining demands for the first five years. Despite that, a few shows still strived, noteworthy titles being Dragon Ball Z (1993) and Mobile Fighter G Gundam (1994).

At around the mid-point of this era, luck turned around for the industry with the successful debut of Ghost in the Shell. The film became a milestone for anime, marking the return of experimental films in Japan. The movie was so critically acclaimed that it went on to inspire other works of fiction, such as The Matrix Trilogy.

Another win for anime this year was the masterpiece Neon Genesis Evangelion. This massively controversial and acclaimed along with Ghost in the Shell had pull the anime industry from its slumber, and push anime to a more artistic and expressive side.

The following year marked the debut of Sailor Moon, which ran weekly for 5 years.

In 1997, Pokemon was released based on the video game and it needs no introduction, this anime has become one of the most profitable franchise of the world and is still going strong today.

Princess Mononoke by studio Ghibli was also released in 1997, it was a box office hit in both Japan and America, when Disney bought it in 1999.

So where is Anime now?

From the 2000s on anime have become more than just entertainment, people worldwide were familiar with it in some forms, and the Otaku culture were popular in many parts of the world.

In 2001, studio Ghibli released the hit Spirited Away, a movie that holds the title “most successful Japanese film of all times”.

Releasing in the same year was Cowboy Bebop: The movie. Despite the original Anime’s difficult takeoff, the sequel film was well received.

2002 saw the return of the Gundam series with Mobile Suit Gundam Seed. With the success of Gundam Seed, many Mecha Anime soon followed like Eureka Seven (2005), Code Geass (2006) and Gurren Lagann (2007)

Many great shows from earlier era got sequels, like Ghost in the Shell or soft reboot, like Evangelion.

Anime adaptation became a huge thing around this time, taking source material from mangas, visual novels and light novels. One of such success was Haruhi Suzumiya (2006). With this Anime, the Otaku culture became a global phenomenon.

The 2006 psychological Anime Welcome to the N.H.K. offered a different perspective to the Otaku culture, addressing problem like suicide and the Hikikomori problem in Japan.

As the day goes by, more shows are created, growing in both quality and genres. With the birth of the Internet and streaming services today, accessing Anime becomes as easy as clicking a few buttons. So no matter what your taste is, Anime will have somes to offer.