Have you ever asked yourself which era of anime is better?  Anime is a type of artistic cartoon that is hand-drawn and computer animation from Japan. The most popular example of anime is Dragon Ball Z. Other popular anime includes titles such as: Naruto, Evangelion, Bleach, and the most popular today Demon Slayer.

One example of old school anime is Yu Yu Hakusho. This anime was based off of a manga from Japan, created by Yoshihiro Togashi in 1990.  This anime was very popular both in Japan and in other places because of its deep story and interesting characters.

One example of the modern anime is Haikyu!! To the Top, created by the mangaka Haruichi Furudate. This sport anime (also called spokon anime) caused a lot of noise among the anime community, because of Furudate’s animation and for the story/plot of this great anime.  A lot of people who saw this anime said they felt like part of the story.

The similarities of the earliest and modern anime are that they both use the writing to tell a story. Many of the stories of both old and modern anime focus on a hero and their journey. They also both use music in the tensest parts of the story. Mr. Gabriel, a big fan of anime and a para at MTS told me, “I love old school anime and new school anime both for different reasons. New school anime have the advantage of far better production, which gives them superior action sequences. A few great examples are My Hero Academia, Black Clover, and Attack on Titan. I have also been most deeply inspired by the content of more new school anime. However, old school anime has far more character. There is an essence to classics like Cowboy Bebop, Lupin III, Inuyasha, and Dragon Ball that simply can’t be recreated in modern day animation.”

Some differences between old and modern anime are the quality of the animation, and some people would say the deeper stories that older anime has. Classic anime has more originality because some of  the modern anime always has the same story and gets boring to audiences.

I consider modern anime better. Yes, even though some new anime is repetitive and takes ideas from older anime, that is compensated by the good animation and the nice music that makes it better. Classic anime has its upsides but I don’t think it’s better than modern anime. Maybe it’s nostalgic for some people but we can’t keep everything just because it’s old and gives us good memories. I’d have to agree with Mx. Mars, an English teacher/anime lover at MTS who said, “Classics are classics for a reason, but new things are building on what the classics have already said, and therefore saying new things in better language.” Even though I personally like modern anime more, I am thankful for old anime because without the classics we wouldn’t have what we have today.