7 Anime that Started in The 90’s and Influenced Pop Culture
I love manga and anime. I have been watching it since as long as I can remember. Even before staying up late to watch Toonami, and seeking out the Studio Ghibli DVD collection, I have loved the aesthetic, the animation style, and the copious amounts of stories that these two platforms have created. Not as many people read manga as they watch anime, so I want to focus on anime in this piece.
To say anime has influenced my life is too little of a statement. Even with its personal influence, anime has not been seen as “cool” or recognized for its influence upon pop culture until very recently. Even with this stigmatization of anime that has recently started to lift as more cultural icons are talking about the anime they grew up on, there are some anime that started during the 90’s that shaped much of pop culture then, and still shape it today.
Here are 7 anime that came out in the 90s that helped shape pop culture as we know it today.
- Pokemon (1997)
First and foremost we have Pokémon. With a yellow fur ball mouse and its trainer Ash, these characters and their battling counterparts are recognized all over the world by both Pokémon fans, and those that no, or care, little about the anime. From the video games and card games, to the manga and anime that have been going almost as long as the video game, this series is by far one of the most influential anime just by recognition of characters alone.
2. One Piece (1999)
One cannot mention an influential anime that started in the 90’s without mentioning One Piece. This anime is so famous, its characters are used as PSA announcements for Covid 19 in the country of Japan. Similar to the characters from the Avengers getting together asking people of the United States to follow CDC regulations and guidelines of Covid-19. One Piece was one of the staples of the Shounen genre of anime and manga geared toward young males where the main character, usually male, goes out on adventures. One Piece is known by many within the anime community as “One of The Big Three” and the only anime of the big three (Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece) that came out in the 90’s (if just by a hair). Still going strong 21+ years later with a fanbase that has either watched the over 970 episodes and/or read the over 1010 chapters, One Piece has shaped the country of Japan, and anime as a whole.
3. Berserk (1997)
Berserk is on here for a different reason than most anime would be. The brutality of Berserk set the standard for what it means to have a dark violent anime that would open the doors for other things in different media outlets like the video games Dark Souls and Bloodborn; and even (going back to anime) having influence on the anime popular today known as Black Clover. Dark Souls alone sold over 27 million copies as of 2020 and its name is well known in video game culture. It is heavily debated that Berserk made popular the “Big Sword” character. These characters ranging from Cloud from Final Fantasy VII, Kisame and Zabuza from Naruto, and Ichigo from Bleach and many others all have the sword that is bigger than the individual’s body, which is what Berserk’s main character, Guy, has when fighting. If this “Big Sword” connection is true, then Berserk could be directly linked to two of the three “Big Three” of anime (Naruto and Bleach) and also linked to what is classified by most of the video game community as “one of the greatest video games of all time” (Final Fantasy VII). Taking away potential influences, Dark Souls and Black Clover are two well known names either in the video game, or anime community that give Berserk a well deserved shout out.
4. Princess Mononoke (1997)
This is the only movie on this list and for a good reason. While Porco Rosso also came out in the 90’s, it was not as well known outside of the small group of its fans (myself included) compared to Princess Mononoke. Princess Mononoke is the story that almost perfectly describes the near impossibility of balancing between industrialism and conservationism. This movie not only holds its ground throughout the decades for storyline, but also has become an influential anime film in which people discuss the undertones and meaning behind anime as a whole. The movie also set up Studio Ghibli to be a well known film studio when it debuted Spirited Away (2002) which went on to become the only anime movie to win an Oscar as of 2021.
5. Hunter X Hunter (1999)
The original Hunter X Hunter and its anime release in the late 90's led to its reboot of the 2011 series which became a pop culture phenomenon to be plastered on t-shirts and jackets in the late 2010’s and 2020’s. Characters like Killua and Gon are characters from the series that can be seen plastered upon jackets from Hot Topic, Express, H&M, and other multinational clothing department stores. This mass marketing would help Anime Culture to be seen as“cool” pop culture.
6. Sailor Moon (1992)
Sailor Moon is one of the first main “Magical Girl” anime that came into pop culture. It introduced the next generation of anime watchers of the west to the genre of Magical Girl. Things like the quote “Pretty Guardian of Love and Justice in a Sailor Suit! Sailor Moon!” and a full minute long transformation sequence to the Magical fighter are a few of the things many cartoons these days have references to. There are shoutouts to Sailor Moon in shows like The Simpsons, South Park, Adventure Time, and Steven Universe. Sailor Moon is also a forerunner in having LGBTQ+ characters represented in anime which says a lot not only for the 90’s, but also for anime, which does not have that many LGBTQ+ characters represented in the mainstream. Although some of these episodes were banned during their first North American airing, most places like Hulu and Crunchyroll do not have these bans on the particular episodes.
7. Cowboy Bebop (1998)
Saving the best for last is Cowboy Bebop. With a jazz opening and known as one of the greatest anime of all time in the west, Cowboy Bebop is a pinnacle of influential anime. This anime was one of the first main anime in the community that was recognized as producing a good dubbed voice cast of characters. From a mix of Eastern art style and Western movies as inspiration, Cowboy Bebop was made for a large audience, and it definitely achieved that goal. Similar to Akira (1988) Cowboy Bebop is seen as one of the anime that “opened the doors for anime in the west” and for this reason alone can be considered on this list.
I do want to recognize other influential anime they were a part of the 90s era, but due to particular circumstances, do not qualify under this list of anime that started in the 90's. Shows like like Dragon Ball Z (1989), Ranma 1/2 (1989), Yu-Gi-Oh (2000), Inuyasha (2000), Naruto (2002) and Bleach (2004), would not qualify because of either their release year or continuation of a franchise. Akira (1988) is also another anime film that is regularly credited with “bringing Anime to the west” but because it was made in 1988, sadly however influential and great it is, it again does not qualify.
Since I did want to keep this brief, there are other anime that I think were influential that I love that came out in the 90’s but I left out because they are either more niche to the anime community or part of a larger franchise already. Some of these are Digimon (1999), Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995), Yu Yu Hakusho (1992), and Mobile Suit Gundam (1995).
If you have other anime that you feel goes on this list, please feel free to write your own article as well! The more people learn about anime the more fun it becomes.
