[Zakkuri! Heisei Anime History] Vol. 7 1995 -- "Eva", "Slayers", "Ghost in the Shell"! A year that saw the appearance of masterpieces that changed the history of anime!

On April 30, 2019, the curtain will fall on the 31-year-long "Heisei" era.

It was a turbulent time with many events, both in Japan and abroad, and countless works were created in the animation industry as well, and many topics were discussed.

Animation has come and gone as the world and people have come.

This series of articles, "A Brief History of Heisei Animation," looks back at anime in the Heisei era, one year at a time! Heisei Anime History. This time, we will look at the year 1995, a year that saw the appearance of many works that greatly rewrote the history of Heisei anime.
⇒ Click here to see the past articles!

Slayers", "Evangelion" and Megumi Hayashibara

Following Heisei 1994, which had no shortage of hot anime productions throughout the year, Heisei 1995 was another year in which many anime productions made their way into the scene.

First, let's take a look at the works that were the talk of the town among anime fans.

Slayers" is the most representative work of 1995. And "Neon Genesis Evangelion. First of all, "Slayers" started broadcasting in April. Based on a light novel by Hajime Kamisaka, "Slayers" is an entertainment work that features lively character dialogue and flashy action based on a so-called fantasy RPG-like worldview. In addition to the original work's fun factor, the popularity of this work was boosted by the presence of Megumi Hayashibara, who played the main character Rina Inverse. She had already gained a certain level of popularity, but her range of acting in this work, from gag to serious, and her singing ability in the theme song sung with Masami Okui, showed off her charm to the fullest.

Neon Genesis Evangelion," or "Eva," is now said to be a historical hit that needs no introduction, but when it was first broadcast, it was only one of GAINAX's new TV animation works that attracted the attention of some anime fans. However, the unusually high tension in the first and second episodes, the dynamic production that had never been seen in TV animation up to that point, and the use of Mincho font text in the message. And the attractive heroine and detailed militaristic descriptions. As the work was recognized for its many elements that tickled the otaku's fancy, such as the thought-provoking dialogue and pedantic settings, it gradually became popular by word-of-mouth. The following year, it became a major breakout hit.

The heroine, Ayanami Rei, was particularly popular. Her characterization, such as her expressionless, emotionless personality and fetishistic appearance with bandages and eye patches, overturned the conventional image of heroines, and had a tremendous impact on subsequent works. In particular, her influence on the creation of the character attribute that came to be known as the "Ayanami-kei" was so great that anime with multiple heroines always featured similar characters.

Incidentally, Ayanami Rei was also played by Hayashibara Megumi. Her portrayal of the two major heroines of the year, Lina Inverse and Ayanami Rei, made her an undeniably popular character.

Also characteristic of "Eva" was the fact that despite being a robot anime (although it is called "artificial human" in the play), no robot toys were released during its broadcast. It is said that many toy manufacturers criticized "Eva" because of its peculiar design, saying that it would not sell well. Sega and Kadokawa Shoten (now KADOKAWA), which eventually acquired the license to make toys and video games, became the sponsors of the project. Because of this, they had to first sell music CDs, VHS, and LDs as a means of recovering production costs. As a result, the theme song single CD and soundtrack were a hit, and the VHS and LD of the TV series also recorded sales that were exceptional for a TV animation, and it is said that the package alone was enough to generate sales.

Therefore, it is said that the package alone was sufficient for TV animation sales. It can be said that "Eva" showed such a possibility.

In addition, "Tenchi Muyo!", which moved from OVA to TV animation, was produced at about the same time as the OVA version. and "The Mysterious World of El Hazard," which was broadcast at about the same time as the OVA version. Bakuretsu Hunter," a media-mix work written by Satoru Akahori and the first TV animation work under the Dengeki brand. Nurse Angel Ririka SOS," a transforming heroine story written by Yasushi Akimoto. The "Gundam" series, "Gundam W," and other works have been the talk of the town among anime fans.

Among them, "Gundam W" was the talk of the town, as director Shigeru Ikeda, who worked on "Samurai Trooper" (but left the company midway through the series), and character designer Shukou Murase teamed up again. In addition to the coolness of the unique Gundams, the battle action of the beautiful boys attracted a large number of female viewers. It became a hit among the Heisei Gundam series, with numerous spin-offs, sequel OVAs, and a compilation theater version, and was widely distributed in a variety of media.

It can be said that the popularity of these works led to an anime boom during this period. The influence of these works became visible in the TV animation series from the following year onward.

A Variety of TV Animation Works

Looking at other TV animation, "Chibi Maruko-chan (2nd season)," "Onigami Doko ZENKI," and "NINKU: Ninja Sky" began in January, along with the popular original manga series "The World Masterpiece Theater. Also in January, "Romeo's Blue Sky," the 21st in the "World Masterpiece Theater" series, began broadcasting. In contrast to the original novels, which depicted boy trafficking and harsh working conditions, the anime version focused on the boys' friendship and their desperate attempts to survive. As a result, it gained support from many female fans.

In April, new animations started broadcasting all at once. Shojo manga such as "Ai Tenshi Densetsu Wedding Peach," a story about a shape-shifting heroine in which the early staff of "Sailor Moon" participated; "Fushigi Yuugi," in which junior high school girls are reborn in a Chinese-style other world and have adventures; and "Azuki-chan," which depicts the love lives of a boy and girl in elementary school who are surprisingly shy despite their heart-warming illustrations, all gained momentum. These were the most popular girls' manga.

Animations based on absurd gag manga such as "Kuma no Putaro" and "Bonobono" also started at this time. The somewhat mature gag and comical characters, which were similar to yuru-kyara, were popular with children as well as adults.

Another less well-known but still worth mentioning is "Bit the Cupid. This work is said to be the first TV animation series produced in Japan using computer graphics. It was produced by Group Tac and Satellite (which at the time was a division of a software development company). Satellite participated in TV animation production for the first time with this work. With the production of this work, the company embarked on full-scale animation production.

The gag manga "Go! Inachu Table Tennis Club," which was a big hit among high teens, began broadcasting as a late-night anime, which was still a rarity at the time. The manga's hard-hitting undertones and black jokes were its main selling point, but since late-night anime was still new to the market at that time, the production team was groping to see how far they could go in reproducing the original work.

Thus, the TV animation of 1995 was in a chaotic situation, with a mixture of works for animation fans, for families, and for young people. However, it is important to note that the trigger that would later lead to the anime bubble was hidden in this chaos.

The quiet release of "Ghost in the Shell" in theaters

The tectonic shift in the animation industry also occurred in theatrical animation.

In this year, "GHOST IN THE SHELL" directed by Mamoru Oshii was released. This film is based on the manga by Masamune Shirow, and is about the relationship between networks and prosthetic humans and machines. The film is a hard-hitting science fiction drama about the relationship between networks and prosthesized humans and machines, as well as the question of whether the original personality and the transplanted personality are the same when human memories are implanted in an external medium. In terms of visuals, the film shocked many creators with its many cutting-edge expressions, such as optical camouflage, a scene with countless letters flowing on a black screen, and Motoko Kusanagi immersed in aqueous solution.

However, at the time of the film's release, it was not a big hit in Japan, and it was not until the following year, when it was ranked No. 1 in Billboard magazine's weekly video sales in the U.S., that the film gained real recognition.

The omnibus "Memories," an adaptation of Katsuhiro Otomo's short stories, was also a hot topic, as was Studio Ghibli's "Ears to the Future," which was also a hit. This film is based on a girls' manga of the same title, with a screenplay by Hayao Miyazaki, and is the first feature-length love story directed by Yoshifumi Kondo, who had been a great support to Ghibli in terms of drawing. The film, which depicted the fresh interaction between a junior high school boy and girl, became a masterpiece that is still talked about today as a milestone in romantic animation.

In addition, "Macross 7: The Milky Way is Calling Me! and "Macross Plus MOVIE EDITION" were released in theaters under the title "Macross Festival '95," while "Slayers" and "Hajimari no Boukenkashatachi: Legend of Crystania" were released in the summer under the title "Kadokawa Anime Festival. The festival was held in the summer under the title of "Kadokawa Anime Festival.

As can be seen, a wide range of works were released in theaters, from major productions to core titles for anime fans.

OVA Specializing in Bishojo Anime

The OVA scene may have been a year of pushing in a more niche direction from the excitement of the previous year.

The mainstream of OVA productions in 1995 was, at any rate, "bishojo" (beautiful girl). Idol Project," "Graduation," "Ginga Ojousama Densetsu Yuna," "Princess Minerva," "Don't Lose! Magical Kendo," "Goddess Heaven," and many other works were developed across a variety of media, including games, novels, and manga.

This was just around the time when personal computers were becoming popular in households (Windows 95 was released in Japan in November), and many PC bishojo games depicting love and sexual interaction with female characters with anime-like designs were being released. ), and with the advent of next-generation game consoles with enhanced expressive capabilities (PlayStation, Sega Saturn, etc.), games in which users experience romance with bishojo characters began to appear one after another. Although bishojo characters in anime and manga had been popular up until then, games were by far the newest in that, unlike previous works, they allowed players to experience a simulated love affair with the characters. Bishojo characters were transformed from mere objects of affection to objects of communication (albeit within the limits of predetermined choices).

However, even with advances in graphics performance, games were still a step or two behind visual media.

From the mid to late 1990s, anime and bishojo games became complementary to each other.

Among them was the "Bishojo Yugitai Battle Skipper," which combined Tomy's (now Takara Tomy) children's toy "Battle Skipper" with bishojo characters.

In addition, many OVAs were released by AIC, an animation production company. The latest in the popular "War Shoujo Ixerion" series, the cyberpunk work "Amitage the Third," which was highly acclaimed overseas, "The Mysterious World of El Hazard," a TV series that aired immediately after the release of the OVA, and "Tenchi Muyo! spin-out work "Magical Girl Pretty Sammy," all of which drew a great deal of attention.

On the other hand, the original manga works such as "Gunsmith Cats," "The Spirit User," "Miyuki-chan in Wonderland," "Exploring the Unexplored World of Fam & Ely," and "3×3 EYES: Legend of the Holy Demon" were also released as usual. These works would not be surprising if they were broadcast as late-night anime today, but at the time, they seemed a bit mature for prime-time TV animation. Many of these works were made into OVAs during this period.

The sequel to the classic "Space Battleship Yamato" appeared in the form of the OVA "Yamato 2520. Yoshinobu Nishizaki, producer of the "Yamato" series, served as executive producer for this work, and Syd Mead was in charge of the future concept design. The release of the film began with a splendid lineup befitting the new era of Yamato, but the release was interrupted after the third volume due to the bankruptcy of the production company, Voyager Entertainment. It became an unfinished masterpiece.

Incidentally, the image song "I want to protect you tomorrow ~YAMATO2520~" was sung by TOKIO, who had just made their major label debut. It is a rock ballad on a grand scale that is typical of Yamato, and is a great song that I highly recommend listening to if you have the chance.

It is an interesting phenomenon that at the turn of the 90s, a number of works that would later have a major impact on the history of anime appeared at the same time. The seeds that were planted in this year would flourish the following year.

(*Honorifics in the text are omitted. Please note that honorific titles are omitted.)