Donations to the archive would be appreciated to help fund our server hardware & storage drives. We are looking for developers to help build new software and archives, discuss here.
Hey /m/, dream with me for a minute here. An alternate history, if you will.
Imagine it's 1987. Gainax releases Wings of Honneamise in Japan not only to critical acclaim-- but to enormous financial success, thanks to an expertly planned marketing campaign. It recoups its production costs, makes a healthy profit, and becomes an overnight industry success story. Gainax is flooded with cash, announces a partnership with Sunrise, and gets full creative control on its next big-budget project.
The following year Hiroyuki Yamaga writes & directs his follow-up film, a story of android fighter pilots on the moon, wrestling with themes of artificial intelligence and the meaning of war. Two years later, a talented animator named Hideaki Anno makes his directorial debut with a serious-minded art-house space opera (involving time dilation, quasi-religious alien invaders, and psychological trauma) which instantly becomes a hit at international film festivals.
Studio Gainax is now known as "the Ghibli of Science Fiction."
There is no "Gainax bounce." No skin-tight outfits. No unnecessary fan service. Not even.... giant robots. Localized versions of Gainax's and Ghibli's mature and thoughtful movies impress the independent film crowd in the West, inspiring a number of directors to try their hand in the genre as well.
Animation in the U.S. becomes seen as an interesting new medium, especially for science-fiction, less constrained by Hollywood's nepotism, star system, ballooning budgets, and art-killing demands.
It's now the late 1990s / early 2000s. Various animated classics (Japanese and otherwise) are regularly included in film school curriculums. There's no such thing as "anime fans"-- just "animation buffs."
And we all have normal, healthy, rewarding social lives.
With the recent influx of mech anime I propose to you a few questions: What was/is you favorite? Which one was/is the best? Which one was the worst? Which one was/is the most entertaining? Which one was/is the most promising? Which one has the best designs? Which one will you remember most?