[Briefly! Heisei Anime History] Vol. 3 Heisei 3 (1991) -- "Gundam F91" and "0083", Gundam developed on two fronts with movies and OVAs! And Kadokawa Animation starts to move ......! At that time, the TV animation!

In this third installment of the series, we take a look back at the turbulent 31-year history of the Heisei era, a time when a variety of anime were born and then disappeared, along with their titles. Here we go again!

In 1990, there was a somewhat clear division between TV animation, with an increasing number of family-oriented works, and OVA, the main battleground for anime for enthusiasts, but this trend became even more pronounced in 1991.

Many small but outstanding TV animation works such as "KIN-NOTE" and "Cyber

Looking at TV animation, the impression of robot and science fiction animation for low-teenagers is still strong. The second work of the hero series "Fibird, the Brave of the Sun". Kikoukou Keisatsu Metal Jack," a life-size hero x powered suit series that also gained popularity among anime fans. The first work in the Eldoran series, "Absolute Invincible Raijin-O," in which elementary school students fight as a class with robots, was presented. It is interesting to note that the first two toys were released by Takara and the second by Tomy, the two companies that would later merge to release the robot-animated toys that created such a buzz that year.

And as always, the revival boom continued, with nostalgic cartoons such as "Marude Dameo," "Oare wa Naogaku" and "21 Emon" being adapted into anime. In addition, "Getter Robot No." and "Magical Princess Minky Momo" were announced as reboots of nostalgic animated cartoons. Each is a modernized version of a work that was very popular in the 1970s and 1980s. Getter Robo No." realizes "three forms of combined robots that can be reproduced in toys," which was not possible with the original "Getter Robo. It also incorporated the trend of the time to combine with an auxiliary mecha for even more power.

On the other hand, "Minky Momo," while appearing at first glance to be an easygoing magical girl story, incorporates social themes such as AIDS and the destruction of nature, as well as a drama depicted through a chance encounter between the main character of the previous work, the so-called "Sora Momo" and the new main character, "Umi Momo. The film was also a very impressive work, with the director Kunihiko Yuyama and screenwriter Takeshi Suto's creativity brought to the forefront by the overly realistic and gritty ending of the story. This tag team would later go on to produce the "Pokemon" anime.

At the time, Japan was in the midst of an unprecedented occult boom. Urban legends, ghost stories, UMA, psychic powers, and everything in between were on sale. Change the channel, and some station was broadcasting occult stories (although that is an exaggeration). The anime industry in 1991 was in the midst of a "Tsunoda Jiro" boom.

If I had to name two epochal works of the year, I would have to say "Kinkyo Beware! and "Neon Genesis GPX Cyber Formula.

Kinkyo Beware! is an anime based on a girls' manga by Nekobe Neko, which was serialized in "Nakayoshi" (Kodansha) at the time. It is said to be the first work to use a manga-like effect in which large drops of sweat appear when a character gets into trouble, and it had a great impact on later anime.

In addition, "Cyber Formula" attracted a great deal of attention for its proactive use of gag expressions that are now commonplace, such as the freeform changes in the characters' body shapes (real life-size characters, 5th size characters, 3rd size SD characters, etc.) depending on the scene, and the appearance of speech balloons during the play.

Cyber Formula" is a science fiction racing series produced by Sunrise. The story centers on the main character, Hayato Kazami, who becomes the driver of the Athrada, a racing car in the near future equipped with artificial intelligence, and the drama with his teammates and fierce battles with rivals. The series was originally planned to run for four episodes, but due to poor toy sales and viewer ratings, it ended after only three episodes.

However, due to the compressed storyline, the second half of the series featured a fast-paced, heated drama, and as a result, the series gained tremendous support from anime fans. This film was directed by Mitsuo Fukuda, who later worked on the "Mobile Suit Gundam SEED" series. Fukuda, who directed this work for the first time, went on to direct the OVA series that followed the TV series, and developed it into a long-running series that continued until the year 2000.

One of the characteristics of this work is that it was unusually popular among women. In fact, according to an OVA survey, the male-to-female ratio was 2:8, and many character song CDs featuring the voice actors playing the male characters were also released.

However, my impression of TV animation in 1991 is that the majority of works were family-oriented and aimed at a younger age group, rather than for anime fans. Then, where were the works for core anime fans released?

Gundam, Kadokawa, GAINAX! Movies and OVAs with a full lineup of works for anime fans

In 1991, the main battleground for works for anime fans were theatrical anime and OVAs.

The biggest topic of the year was the release of two "Gundam" series in formats other than television: the theatrical animation "Mobile Suit Gundam F91" and the OVA "Mobile Suit Gundam 0083 STARDUST MEMORY.

F91" was highly anticipated because it reunited the core members of the "First Gundam" team, including director Yoshiyuki Tomino, character designer Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, and mecha designer Kunio Okawara, but it did not gross as much as expected, and the planned sequel TV series was cancelled. However, the box-office revenue was not as high as expected, and the planned sequel TV series fell through.

In contrast, "Mobile Suit Gundam 0083 STARDUST MEMORY" is a second OVA that was produced as an extravaganza, following the commercial success of "Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket," the first OVA in the Gundam series released in 1989. This work can be said to be the first work that brought into the anime world the "reality as science fiction" and "militarism" interpretations of the Gundam world that were mainstream in model magazines. Many young creators who entered the industry after "First Gundam" also participated, including Hajime Katoki, who had gained attention for his work on "Gundam Sentinel" and "Gundam Sentinel 0079," as a mechanical designer. This series was such a commercial success that a theater version of all 13 episodes was re-edited and produced.

It was a turning point for Gundam of the new era that would later form "Gundam-ness," with its depiction of hard mechanics, the contrast between the Earth Federation Army as a symbol of corrupt democracy and the Zeon Army of samurai, and its depiction of muddy human beings (this is also a very conceptual term, but you can read more about it at ......). This work was a turning point in the development of the "Gundam-ness" of the new era of Gundam.

Another feature of this year was that Kadokawa Shoten released a series of animations in the field of theatrical animations and OVAs. At that time, the term "light novel" did not yet exist, but Kadokawa Shoten released a series of animations of novels published by the company, including "Arslan Senki" as a movie and "Luna Vulgar," "Teito Monogatari," and "Rhodes Island Senki" (which had been released the previous year and completed in 1991) as OVAs. The company has also published a manga magazine, "Comic Comp. Silent Mobius" and "The Deceptive Spirits of the Môryô Senki Madara," which were serialized in the manga magazine "Comic Comp" and the game magazine "Marusho Famicom," were also made into films and became popular. It would be several years later that Kadokawa's works would come to dominate the animation industry.

GAINAX, which had made a name for itself with "Nadia of the Mysterious Sea," focused on OVAs in 1991. One of these was "Otaku no Video. This was the first anime in history to "depict the everyday life of an otaku," and many people involved with GAINAX appeared in the live-action parts. It was a documentary-like work that allowed viewers to relive the atmosphere of the 80s, when the anime industry was at its height of excitement.

Many people may wonder, "OLA? At the time, the "laser disc" was attracting attention as a new type of video software, and this work was released as the first anime "OLA (Original Laser Animation)" ever to be released only on laser disc. However, it did not lead to much sales. Later, a VHS version was released again.

Other films include "Omohide Poroporo," directed by Isao Takahata, and "Kono Sekai no Katasumi (A Corner of the World)," which was later released on VHS. Sunao Katabuchi, who later directed "Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni" (In a Corner of the World), participated in the screen composition of "Ushiro no Shojo-Da-are," which led to the discovery of his talent by Madhouse President Masao Maruyama. Katsuhiro Otomo and Hisashi Eguchi teamed up for "Mere Old Man Z," an odd science fiction film about an aging society. The "Little Mermaid" (released in 1989 in the U.S.), which is said to be the beginning of the second golden age of Diz NieR Nime, was released in rapid succession, and a number of notable titles were also released.

It was also in March 1991 that the "Toei Manga Festival" was fully transformed into the "Toei Anime Fair. The "Toei Manga Festival," which screened several children's movies at once, had long been established as a regular event held during the spring, summer, and winter vacations, but in July 1990, "Toei Anime Fair '90" was held, featuring only anime created by Akira Toriyama, known for "Dragon Ball" at the height of his popularity at the time. In July 1990, a box office event called "Toei Anime Fair '90 Summer: Akira Toriyama THE WORLD" was held in the style of an event, featuring only anime based on the then-popular "Dragon Ball. This is another incident that symbolizes the transition from the era of "TV cartoons" to the era of "anime".

Lastly, I would like to mention a radio program related to animation, "Aniraji," which was broadcast in the form of a radio drama in October as a sequel to "Majin Hero Den Wataru 2," which ended its broadcast in March. This work was based on the concept of "radio + animation" or "radiomation," and the format of "voice actors' talk parts + radio drama" was introduced on a trial basis. This trial seemed to have some success, and the number of media mix programs based on the same concept increased, becoming one of the standard formats of aniradio in the 1990s.

In this way, it can be said that the situation of anime in 1991 was a trial-and-error process in various forms, as the next era unfolded.