A lot of these are actually based on the source material from that era.
Do you sometimes want to see something recent, but are also feeling nostalgic towards the 90s? That’s more common than you think. Thankfully, not everything released recently actually feels like recent anime.
Sometimes, anime like Chained Soldier (Mato Seihei no Slave) have a distinct 00s vibe — and sometimes, shows feel even older. Here are some of the ones that might as well have been released in the 90s.
Megalo Box is perhaps the most famous throwback to retro anime. It is a thematic sequel to the 70s and 80s classic series, Ashita no Joe. Despite that, it looks somewhat more modern — but only somewhat, placing its vibe somewhere around the 90s.
Even the visuals are made specifically to invoke nostalgia — the anime is intentionally produced in 405p SD and then upscaled for streaming services and home releases. Combined with heavy use of filters, this is perhaps the closest thing to a retro anime experience in recent times.
Banana Fish
Banana Fish is a classic shoujo manga that only received an adaptation in 2018. Despite some changes made that were required to capture the new audience, the anime retains the vibe of the late 80s/early 90s era — the era when the original was made.
The timeline of the anime was shifted from the 80s to the 10s, but the overall feel remained the same.
Sing "Yesterday" for Me
Another example of a modern adaptation of an old manga, Sing "Yesterday" for Me (Yesterday wo Utatte) is a romance drama which focuses on finding your place in life.
As with many series from the late 90s (the source material started releasing in 1997), it deals with uncertainty about the future — and the anime adaptation retains that feeling.
Dorohedoro is the kind of project that we weren’t expecting to see in anime at all. It’s incredibly unique — combining crazy action, mystery, dark comedy and one of the most unusual settings in all of anime — and has earned a lot of fans who are now eagerly awaiting the sequel.
This now unique mish-mash of genres was more common in the 90s, and many fans feel like anime was less tropey back then. Dorohedoro definitely has the same kind of vibe as anime from that era, and that’s despite its use of CGI: the color palette is actually something you could have seen in 1997 or something,
Ushio to Tora
Ushio to Tora is a classic supernatural battle shounen from 1990. It received an adaptation in the 90s as a series of OVAs — however, that wasn’t enough to cover the material that, at that point, was still releasing.
The TV adaptation of 2015 is great — fans of the source material love its refreshing take on a classic manga. That said, it’s done with great care and regard to the vibe of the original: even the music choices feel like something straight out of the 90s.
Immediately after the success of Neon Genesis Evangelion, there has been a heavy rise in original anime — that is, anime not based on any source material. We don’t have many of those nowadays, but Metallic Rouge is one. It, of course, feels very similar to things released in that period.
Metallic Rouge immediately throws you into the plot and expects you to figure it out later. The incredibly detailed world and themes of artificial intelligence are also things we’ve seen back in the 90s — Ghost in the Shell (Koukaku Kidoutai) comes to mind.
For the Mobile Suit Gundam (Kidou Senshi Gundam) franchise, the 90s were the time of side stories set in the main timeline of the series. Both Stardust Memory and The 08th MS Team (Dai 08 MS Shoutai) aired during that time, and they are still definitely remembered by the fans.
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin is a prequel series of OVAs (some of which are as long as movies) which might as well have been released in that time. The perfectly-replicated art style of the era certainly helps. And, guess what, you can actually start with this entry: it is a prequel to the very first Gundam anime series.
Angolmois: Record of Mongol Invasion
Historical dramas are very much a timeless genre. That said, there seems to have been an uptick in them in the late 90s for one reason or another, although most of them combined the historical genre with fantasy.
That said, the vibe of Angolmois: Record of Mongol Invasion (Angolmois: Genkou Kassenki) is very much on point for that era. It’s a bit surprising the anime came out in 2018, as it feels a lot older than that. We blame the muddy paper filter that is present in almost all the scenes — it sets the tone very well.
16bit Sensation is a very unique case. Multiple parts of the anime are actually set in the 90s: the main character, Konoha, travels to the past a couple of times. She’s an artist obsessed with retro visual novels, and even gets to work on some of them during her adventures in the past.
The anime very much relies on references to the late 90s otaku culture and benefits from you being familiar with it.
Sorcerous Stabber Orphen
Sorcerous Stabber Orphen (Majutsushi Orphen Hagure Tabi) is the modern re-take on the series that has already had an adaptation in the late 90s. That adaptation had a decent reception, but was later criticized for stretched-out pacing and overabundance of fillers.
The new anime makes the pacing much faster and gets rid of fillers — but otherwise, it is the same type of fantasy story. The light novels are actually noticeably older than the first adaptation, going back to 1994. That said, the new anime capitalizes on nostalgia pretty well, even recasting Showtaro Morikubo as the protagonist — and he’s still perfect in this role.
A lot of these are actually based on the source material from that era.
Do you sometimes want to see something recent, but are also feeling nostalgic towards the 90s? That’s more common than you think. Thankfully, not everything released recently actually feels like recent anime.
Sometimes, anime like Chained Soldier (Mato Seihei no Slave) have a distinct 00s vibe — and sometimes, shows feel even older. Here are some of the ones that might as well have been released in the 90s.
Megalo Box is perhaps the most famous throwback to retro anime. It is a thematic sequel to the 70s and 80s classic series, Ashita no Joe. Despite that, it looks somewhat more modern — but only somewhat, placing its vibe somewhere around the 90s.
Even the visuals are made specifically to invoke nostalgia — the anime is intentionally produced in 405p SD and then upscaled for streaming services and home releases. Combined with heavy use of filters, this is perhaps the closest thing to a retro anime experience in recent times.
Banana Fish
Banana Fish is a classic shoujo manga that only received an adaptation in 2018. Despite some changes made that were required to capture the new audience, the anime retains the vibe of the late 80s/early 90s era — the era when the original was made.
The timeline of the anime was shifted from the 80s to the 10s, but the overall feel remained the same.
Sing "Yesterday" for Me
Another example of a modern adaptation of an old manga, Sing "Yesterday" for Me (Yesterday wo Utatte) is a romance drama which focuses on finding your place in life.
As with many series from the late 90s (the source material started releasing in 1997), it deals with uncertainty about the future — and the anime adaptation retains that feeling.
Dorohedoro is the kind of project that we weren’t expecting to see in anime at all. It’s incredibly unique — combining crazy action, mystery, dark comedy and one of the most unusual settings in all of anime — and has earned a lot of fans who are now eagerly awaiting the sequel.
This now unique mish-mash of genres was more common in the 90s, and many fans feel like anime was less tropey back then. Dorohedoro definitely has the same kind of vibe as anime from that era, and that’s despite its use of CGI: the color palette is actually something you could have seen in 1997 or something,
Ushio to Tora
Ushio to Tora is a classic supernatural battle shounen from 1990. It received an adaptation in the 90s as a series of OVAs — however, that wasn’t enough to cover the material that, at that point, was still releasing.
The TV adaptation of 2015 is great — fans of the source material love its refreshing take on a classic manga. That said, it’s done with great care and regard to the vibe of the original: even the music choices feel like something straight out of the 90s.
Immediately after the success of Neon Genesis Evangelion, there has been a heavy rise in original anime — that is, anime not based on any source material. We don’t have many of those nowadays, but Metallic Rouge is one. It, of course, feels very similar to things released in that period.
Metallic Rouge immediately throws you into the plot and expects you to figure it out later. The incredibly detailed world and themes of artificial intelligence are also things we’ve seen back in the 90s — Ghost in the Shell (Koukaku Kidoutai) comes to mind.
For the Mobile Suit Gundam (Kidou Senshi Gundam) franchise, the 90s were the time of side stories set in the main timeline of the series. Both Stardust Memory and The 08th MS Team (Dai 08 MS Shoutai) aired during that time, and they are still definitely remembered by the fans.
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin is a prequel series of OVAs (some of which are as long as movies) which might as well have been released in that time. The perfectly-replicated art style of the era certainly helps. And, guess what, you can actually start with this entry: it is a prequel to the very first Gundam anime series.
Angolmois: Record of Mongol Invasion
Historical dramas are very much a timeless genre. That said, there seems to have been an uptick in them in the late 90s for one reason or another, although most of them combined the historical genre with fantasy.
That said, the vibe of Angolmois: Record of Mongol Invasion (Angolmois: Genkou Kassenki) is very much on point for that era. It’s a bit surprising the anime came out in 2018, as it feels a lot older than that. We blame the muddy paper filter that is present in almost all the scenes — it sets the tone very well.
16bit Sensation is a very unique case. Multiple parts of the anime are actually set in the 90s: the main character, Konoha, travels to the past a couple of times. She’s an artist obsessed with retro visual novels, and even gets to work on some of them during her adventures in the past.
The anime very much relies on references to the late 90s otaku culture and benefits from you being familiar with it.
Sorcerous Stabber Orphen
Sorcerous Stabber Orphen (Majutsushi Orphen Hagure Tabi) is the modern re-take on the series that has already had an adaptation in the late 90s. That adaptation had a decent reception, but was later criticized for stretched-out pacing and overabundance of fillers.
The new anime makes the pacing much faster and gets rid of fillers — but otherwise, it is the same type of fantasy story. The light novels are actually noticeably older than the first adaptation, going back to 1994. That said, the new anime capitalizes on nostalgia pretty well, even recasting Showtaro Morikubo as the protagonist — and he’s still perfect in this role.
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