This is a special guest post from our friends over at animeeverything.online! It is an undeniable fact that the 90s were a golden era for martial arts anime series. From the cult classic Dragon Ball to the shonen hit Yuu Yuu Hakusho, all of the best titles in the genre were released in the 1990s. In today’s article, we will be taking a look at ten such amazing animes from the 1990s that have a martial arts theme. The titles are ranked according to their MyAnimeList rating, from the lowest rated to the highest rated. However, rest assured, each and every one of the shows on this list is definit ..read more

Disclaimer: I am an SNK fan. Back in the day, everyone had a fighting franchise that was their favorite. In the 90s, we had some biggies. Mortal Kombat appeared in arcades around 1992. Street Fighter was born in the late 80s and grew to major fame in the 90s with the Championship Edition. Fatal Fury also arrived in 1991 with Fatal Fury 2 following in 1992. To round out the list, it is best to mention Tekken and Virtual Fighter also being popular. Like most 80s and 90s kids, I spent a lot of time in the arcade. My fighting game of choice was always in the SNK series. Normally, Fatal Fury or Wor ..read more

What is Dark Fantasy? Dark Fantasy is a popular subgenre in literature that often has grim and blood-soaked themes. It can be scary or disturbing and sometimes it may even feel more like a Horror than a Fantasy. What is a subgenre? In literature, many genres can be broken down into categories. Many of these categories exist within primary genres that have been mixed with others. For example, when Fantasy is mixed with horror, it is often called Dark Fantasy. For of this, see our post on anime genres and demographics! We can’t speak for everyone, but Dark Fantasy is one of our favorite genres i ..read more

Perfect Blue is a psychological thriller that was released in 1997. It is directed by the legendary Satoshi Kon, who also gave us Paprika. Perfect Blue is based on the novel Perfect Blue: Complete Metamorphosis by Yoshikazu Takeuchi. I touched upon this one in a smaller summary in an article about the 90s animation works of Madhouse Studios. So, please forgive me if I repeat myself. I just rewatched this movie and it has taken a few days to let the epic maelstrom of this story settle in my brain. Perfect Blue follows the career of a budding actress. Her name is Mima Kirigoe, and she is a ..read more

When we think of anime, we often think of Sci-Fi, Romance, Mech, Horror, Action-Adventure, and Slice of Life stuff.  However, there are a lot of mystery-themed anime out there. Most of these shows combine genres with the list above, so it would be normal to find a show that is Mystery and Romance (for example, 1996’s Fake). In this article, we will touch upon 13 shows (in no particular order) that fit into the Mystery genre of 90s anime. Side note: You can always spot a mystery show. How? It’s raining. (Thunderstorms are a bonus.) Second side note: I am totally peppering this one with pop ..read more

Why is Madhouse one of the best anime studios? First off, it is important to note that Madhouse was one of the first Japanese animation studios to elevate the quality of animation and storytelling in the late 80s and early 90s. But how did they come into creation? Table of Contents The Early Days of Madhouse Perfect Blue Ninja Scroll Trigun Cardcaptor Sakura Record of Lodoss War Closing Thoughts on Madhouse The Early Days of Madhouse Madhouse was formed 50 years ago in 1972 by several legendary animators, including Osamu Dezaki, Masao Maruyama, Rintaro, and Yoshiaki K ..read more

A famous bard once said, “To watch dub or not to watch dub?” This was later translated to the eternal 90s anime question, “Dub or Sub?” I think we can all admit that a good anime show/movie can be made or broken by voice actors. This is especially true when we apply English dubbing. Dubbing, as we all know, is a post-production process used to replace one actor’s voice with another. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. So, yes, let’s begin there… Table of Contents Those Dark Early Days of Dubbing 5 Voice Actors Who Dubbed 90s Anime Christopher Sabat Johnny Yong Bosch Laura Bailey Wende ..read more

His and Her Circumstances, also known as Kare Kano, is a 1998 anime series created by the studio Gainax. This romantic anime came as a follow-up to one of their most famous works, Neon Genesis Evangelion. The series follows the story of Yukino Miyazawa, a high-achieving student who is determined to be the best at everything she does. However, her world is turned upside down when she meets her new classmate, Soichiro Arima, who seems to be even better than her at everything. As the two compete with each other, they also begin to fall in love. Although the show is not at all related to NGE, it i ..read more

Porco Rosso is a Japanese animated fantasy-adventure story that was released in Japan in 1992. It was written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, who is also well-known for Princess Mononoke (1997) and Spirited Away (2001). Warning: Below is my full review with spoilers. The Tailspin Connection Porco Rosso looks like the kind of movie (on the outside) that I would not normally invest my time in. I’m not really a fan of cute or lighthearted stories. But, after watching a few minutes of this one, it brought me back to my late childhood; a time when just getting into anime. Back in the early 90 ..read more

Sometimes, you realize the world is a whole lot smaller than you originally thought. Sometimes, you learn an amazing fact about someone’s career that ties things together you had no idea were connected. This is one of those moments for me. Let’s start with a little off-topic background… I grew up in the golden age of video games. Most of the time I was playing with my best friend, so co-cop games were highly sought after. We played things like Contra, Ikari Warriors, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage…etc. But there was a time when we were introduced to what we called a “board game style” video game ..read more