This is not going to be a massive project of trying to watch absolutely everything from 95 like Kor’s project for 89 which recently ended and might be followed up by a 92 project. This is just my skimming over MAL and noting the stuff I’ve seen and/or heard of before, and the stuff I hadn’t that interests me.
First, what was continuing from prior seasons when the year started?
Dragonball Z, Sailor Moon S nearing its end, that basketball Anime called Slam Dunk which has a lot of members on MAL even though I never see it talked about, G Gundam, Magic Knight Rayearth, Marmalade Boy in the future PreCure time slot which is pretty good from what I’ve seen so far, and Macross 7. And on a more obscure note Akazukin Chacha interests me. In the OVA market Legend of The Galactic Heroes was still releasing stuff.
Which was fortunate because the Winter of 95 didn’t have any new premiering shows that I recognize the name of, though for OVAs there was Armitage III. I’ve noticed there are some forgotten Toei shonen shows during this era with MCs whose hair looks like it’s transitioning from Goku to Yugioh.
Sailor Moon SuperS technically started in late winter, but MAL classifies all March premieres as Spring, and SuperS is really just a new season of the same show. Like in my view there is more consistency between the arcs of Sailor Moon then there is between the Arcs of DBZ, yet that show gets to be all one entry on MAL while SM gets broken up.
SuperS is often considered the weakest season of Sailor Moon, but fortunately the Spring of 95 provided us with another Magical Girl Warrior show that would last a full year in Wedding Peach, which is the most underrated Mahou Shoujo as I’ve discussed on this blog before [it's also historically important in the role it played establishing OLM the studio that will go on to animate Pokemon, Berserk, To Heart and more].
April of 95 also saw the premieres of Gundam Wing, Fushigi Yuugi, Slayers, Tenchi Universe, Magic Knight Rayearth II, and a lot of other mostly forgotten TV Anime, and then in May the first El Hazard OVA dropped. I don’t think I’ve seen that many now considered to be classics debut so close to each other anywhere else.
For theatrically released movies Lupin III had Farewell to Nostradamus in April. I used to be confused by how the mid 90s theatrical Lupin movies felt below the quality of the contemporary TV specials, but now I know part of it is that the first several TV specials were directed by Osamu Dezaki, while this movie had a director I never heard of before.
A more obscure OVA from May that interests me is Princess Minerva.
Summer had even less than Winter for new TV Anime, which is expected because most of what started in Spring was 2 Cour at least.
Down in the OVA department there was a Ranma ½ OVA, the first Pretty Sammy OVA, Dirty Pair Flash, Ruin Explorers Fam & Ihrie, Sailor Victory and Megami Paradise which I’ve actually seen the first episode of, it’s an interesting premise.
For theatrically released movies there was Whisper of The Heart which I happened to watch recently first because it’s the only Anime with Ashley Tisdale. But I fell in love with it because of it’s usage of Country Roads which made me cry because of how I associate that song with my mother. Also the first Slayers movie and the 13th DBZ movie. And there was also an Anime film adaptation of the Diary of Anne Frank.
Then in August was the Lupin III tv special The Pursuit of Harmios Treasure which was the last of them to be directed by Dezaki, it’s also one of the ones Funimation dubbed, the Funimation voices take some getting used to but I enjoyed it. The theatrical Lupin movie is fine too, don’t read too much into my smack talking before.
Late summer and the first half of fall is also when the first 65 episodes of the DiC Dub of Sailor Moon first broadcast on Canadian television.
The Fall of 95 for TV Anime had Kaitou Saint Tail, El Hazzard: The Wanders, and Gokinjo Monogatari aka Neighborhood Stories which took over the future PreCure time-slot from Marmalade Boy. Oh, also something called Neon Genesis Evangelion which started out pretty good.
And for OVAs this Fall had the original two episode Galaxy Fraulein Yuna OVA which I’ve talked about before.
And for the big screen there was the movie edition of Macross 7, Ghost In The Shell, and the Sailor Moon SuperS movie Black Dream Hole accompanied by the Ami’s First Love short. (Also there was a Madhouse project called Memories.)
Some of what I consider the most interesting Hentai of all time also came out in 95, but I’ve decided not to talk about that here.
This year was originally supposed to be the release of the first movie of the Crystal redo of the SuperS arc, it really would have fit being 25 years later, it’s a shame.
But that’s not the only way in which the foundations of contemporary Anime were laid in 95. The kind of Isekai that has been popular for a decade now kind of begins with El Hazzard. And I think it’s also interesting how much the Shoujo of the 90s has influenced the Seinen of the 21st Century. Meanwhile Galaxy Fraulein Yuna anticipated stuff like Nanoha and Symphogear.
April of 95 also saw the premieres of Gundam Wing, Fushigi Yuugi, Slayers, Tenchi Universe, Magic Knight Rayearth II, and a lot of other mostly forgotten TV Anime, and then in May the first El Hazard OVA dropped. I don’t think I’ve seen that many now considered to be classics debut so close to each other anywhere else.
For theatrically released movies Lupin III had Farewell to Nostradamus in April. I used to be confused by how the mid 90s theatrical Lupin movies felt below the quality of the contemporary TV specials, but now I know part of it is that the first several TV specials were directed by Osamu Dezaki, while this movie had a director I never heard of before.
A more obscure OVA from May that interests me is Princess Minerva.
Summer had even less than Winter for new TV Anime, which is expected because most of what started in Spring was 2 Cour at least.
Down in the OVA department there was a Ranma ½ OVA, the first Pretty Sammy OVA, Dirty Pair Flash, Ruin Explorers Fam & Ihrie, Sailor Victory and Megami Paradise which I’ve actually seen the first episode of, it’s an interesting premise.
For theatrically released movies there was Whisper of The Heart which I happened to watch recently first because it’s the only Anime with Ashley Tisdale. But I fell in love with it because of it’s usage of Country Roads which made me cry because of how I associate that song with my mother. Also the first Slayers movie and the 13th DBZ movie. And there was also an Anime film adaptation of the Diary of Anne Frank.
Then in August was the Lupin III tv special The Pursuit of Harmios Treasure which was the last of them to be directed by Dezaki, it’s also one of the ones Funimation dubbed, the Funimation voices take some getting used to but I enjoyed it. The theatrical Lupin movie is fine too, don’t read too much into my smack talking before.
Late summer and the first half of fall is also when the first 65 episodes of the DiC Dub of Sailor Moon first broadcast on Canadian television.
The Fall of 95 for TV Anime had Kaitou Saint Tail, El Hazzard: The Wanders, and Gokinjo Monogatari aka Neighborhood Stories which took over the future PreCure time-slot from Marmalade Boy. Oh, also something called Neon Genesis Evangelion which started out pretty good.
And for OVAs this Fall had the original two episode Galaxy Fraulein Yuna OVA which I’ve talked about before.
And for the big screen there was the movie edition of Macross 7, Ghost In The Shell, and the Sailor Moon SuperS movie Black Dream Hole accompanied by the Ami’s First Love short. (Also there was a Madhouse project called Memories.)
Some of what I consider the most interesting Hentai of all time also came out in 95, but I’ve decided not to talk about that here.
This year was originally supposed to be the release of the first movie of the Crystal redo of the SuperS arc, it really would have fit being 25 years later, it’s a shame.
But that’s not the only way in which the foundations of contemporary Anime were laid in 95. The kind of Isekai that has been popular for a decade now kind of begins with El Hazzard. And I think it’s also interesting how much the Shoujo of the 90s has influenced the Seinen of the 21st Century. Meanwhile Galaxy Fraulein Yuna anticipated stuff like Nanoha and Symphogear.
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