When was the first time you watched anime? Why did you start watching anime? Was it because of Dragon Ball? Naruto? Or One Piece? Otherwise, maybe you were a loyal follower of Kreko issues?

Believe it or not, a large part of anime fans did not watch the Dragon Ball franchise. Even though Dragon Ball is not included in The Big 3, it is still considered one of the legendary anime that provided a platform for anime like One Piece, Bleach, and Naruto to expand worldwide.

Did you know that some of the popular anime that are still famous today are from the 90s? You might know them!

• Hunter x Hunter (Since 1999)
• Detective Conan (Since 1996)
• Pokemon (Since 1997)
• One Piece (Since 1999)

I’ve been watching anime since 1998 on the Animax channel (you could probably estimate my age now) and I still remember some of the anime I watched then vividly as some of them are very fun and impactful – either the plot, the songs, or the characters.

Please bear in mind…

The anime that I’m going to suggest to you is from the 1990s to the mid-2000s. Given that we are currently in the 2020s era, I think as long as the anime is evergreen, it is fair to be considered a classic. 

Due to the anime being released in earlier years, please bear in mind that some anime, especially the 90’s will have different styles of illustration. It was considered very beautiful back then – still is for my generation, but with animation industries continuing to be upgraded, of course, anime illustration nowadays is better in terms of art style, colouring, and contrasts.

Nevertheless, if you can bear with the illustration and aspect ratio, you will not regret watching these anime.

RANMA ½ (1989 – 1992)

Ranma ½ is easily the most favourite for its comedies. I was in a battle with myself just now in deciding which opening song should I put for you since all of them are bops! Despite being an anime in the late 80s, Ranma ½ still has a very beautiful and clean illustration that people like to see nowadays. That alone really amazes me.

So, the story is about a boy named Ranma, a prodigy in martial arts. Once, in training in China with his father, they accidentally fell into a cursed spring. He then cursed to turn into a girl every time he was splashed by water. Only hot water can reverse the curse.

Where’s the fun of it without a loveline? Of course, there’s a girl named Akane whom his father secretly arranged for him to marry to secure a dojo that belongs to Akane’s family. Even though Akane found out about Ranma’s condition, she’s still willing to engage with him. Because she believes she won’t fall for Ranma (so confident). Plus, if Ranma ever does something to her, she could easily fight him since she’s the daughter of the famous dojo herself.

Fast forward, it’s a story of Ranma and Akane going on an adventure together while fighting side by side. All while discovering their feelings. I remember smiling at myself watching them because they were so cute being jealous of each other’s popularity with the opposite gender.

SAILOR MOON (1992 – 1998)

Sailor Moon is an anime that needs no introduction. The anime revolutionised Mahou Shoujo anime genre so much that the anime comes after always trying to imitate.

With the pretty magic girl’s lineup who are blessed with the moon power, able to transform into a magic sailor uniform, it’s every little girl’s dream and every little boy’s crush. The storyline is rather simple.

The main character, Usagi met a black cat with a crescent moon symbol named Luna and was bestowed a power to save the earth. Yes. That’s it. People love the anime because of the fashions and the cute character transformation. It’s magical. But it does not mean it is not worth watching. 

For me, Sailor Moon will always be the anime that spreads the cuteness of the sharp jawline 2D girls with sparkly eyes and long legs. The anime also spread the use of colourful colour schemes for each character with the touch of a sailor uniform, which was the fashion craze for boys and girls in Japan back then (I think it remains today?).

The wave of Sailor Moon is hugeeee that there are a lot of franchises for Sailor Moon. The movie, the special movie, the special TV Series, the OVA, the ONA, the R, the… everything! More than 10 titles!

It’s a good opportunity to try and watch it now. It’s on Netflix!

SLAM DUNK (1993 – 1996)

Before there is Kuroko no Basketball, there’s Slam Dunk. Back then, if you possessed a collection of Slam Dunk mangas, you were considered a cool kid. And rich! You have no idea how I envy those friends since I was not in a particularly rich household. I could only afford to borrow the manga from my friend for MYR0.50 cents per day. Do you see how the rich have been getting richer since the 90s?

Sports anime has been getting its spotlight thanks to Slam Dunk for showing how it is not boring to only watch a story involving friendship and teamwork minus the romantic storyline. Sure, there is some funny crush from Hanamichi here and there in the anime, but it wasn’t important. Just funny tidbits.

Anyway, if you love sports anime like Haikyuu! for example, you will love Slam Dunk.

FLAME OF RECCA / RECCA NO HONOO (1997 – 1998)

Here it is! Where ninja meets supernatural power!

Rekka is the name of the main character. He is the last member of a ninja clan that survived after his lineage was wiped out. One day he discovered that he had the power to control fire. (No, he’s not one of the Avatar). As if that’s not confusing him enough, he then meets Yanagi, a girl who can heal people. It’s too good to be true until he notices that with great power, comes great responsibilities…and enemies.

It turns out the enemies have been searching for him and Yanagi for so long and voila! He is alone, with a weak girl. Sure enough, it’s gonna be easy to hunt him, right? See how Rekka proves them wrong.

CURIOUS PLAY / FUSHIGI YUUGI (1995 – 1996)

Fushigi Yuugi is when my generation knows that reverse harem is a thing. And to be in a dilemma to choose your favourite male character is painful ;’) because all of them are handsome.

Basically, the story is about a female character named Miaka who accidentally finds herself and her friend Yui, transported to another world after they find a mysterious book in a library. They tried to search for a way to go back and were finally able to transport back to their real world – except, only Yui made it and Miaka was left alone in the unfamiliar place.

Long story short, it’s an adventure of Miaka with handsome males to find her way back home while facing all sorts of situations along the road. If you ever watch Akatsuki no Youna, yeap, it’s similar to that.

PRINCESS 9 (1998)

Princess 9 was released around the same time as Prince of Tennis, and I’m sure some of you are familiar with Prince of Tennis. However, due to its popularity, it shadowed Princess 9 and resulted in being overlooked by most people.

It’s an anime about baseball. The main character is a female. It was considered rare for a female to play baseball back then, that’s why I was attracted to watch it in the first place. The main character, Ryo Hayakawa is the daughter of a Japan legendary pitcher who is appointed to lead an all-female baseball team started by her principal to prove to the nation that an all-female baseball team can also compete just as well as boys (when I read back on the reasoning, it’s quite egotistic of the principal), but luckily, the team proves them to be worthy.

If you would like a picture of how inspiring the anime was, get this – I started to play softball (because no baseball in my school) in an all-female team because of this anime. Although my team was not able to reach the national level, we made it to the state level! Yeay us!

MIDORI DAYS / MIDORI NO HIBI (2004)

If you ask me to sing the ending song, I can sing it to you in full! I’ve re-watched the anime every time I miss old anime. It’s one of the most remarkable and funny anime of all time. The concept, the songs, the emotions, and the life lessons. It’s packed!

Midori is the main female character who fell ill with a mysterious sickness and went into a coma. While she’s lying peacefully in her huge mansion, our main male character – Seiji woke up one morning to find his legendary right hand which he always used to fight bullies in his area was transformed into a mini-Midori – ALIVE! There seems to be a glitch in the universe or something like God fulfilling Midori’s final wish which is to let Midori spend her days with her long-time crush. While giving Seiji a rest from being a delinquent.

Their day-to-day interactions are very amusing in that they make us pray that the anime won’t end with Midori really dying. No spoiler, find out yourself if she dies or not in the end.

THE LAW OF UEKI (2005 – 2006)

Lastly, another epic anime that was being overlooked! Lit songs, epic battle skills, funny characters, and thrilling discoveries!

In Ueki’s world, some gifted people have the power to exchange something in order to draw out their skills. For instance, our Ueki here can turn trash into trees. Sort of Mokuton in Naruto which is frequently used by Senju. But Ueki is not a ninja, he’s just a normal citizen.

When he discovered his power, he found a demon named Tenko who guided him on how to level up and increase his power alongside its variations. It’s one of the most exciting things to guess what his next power shape would be. Another exciting thing is to guess what the enemies need to exchange to draw out their power to defeat them. There’s a character that needs to hold his breath to turn towels into steel. It sounds funny, but the fight scene was definitely not.

I wish more people would love The Law of Ueki as much as I do.

CONCLUSION

In a nutshell, classic animes are not only constrained to famous legendary anime, for instance, Dragon Ball, Samurai X, or  Yu Yu Hakusho. There is a lot to discover, a lot of underrated anime that can be considered timeless. My list does not even mention 10% of them. 

If you find yourself not really liking the anime I suggested above, but you are in the mood to watch a classic anime, please do not hesitate to ask us on X (@MugenMilano) Anime communities there are very active and honest in their opinions. You may let us know your favourite genres and we will recommend you some (let’s say by that time, I didn’t post other articles on Anime suggestions)

p/s: if you like to read posts about anime, you may read our posts here! Until then, MATA NEE!