The popularity and enduring nature of anime was cemented with the creation of Astro Boy in 1963. For 51 years, the medium has been entertaining fans on their TVs and computer screens. As fans, we feel like we know a lot about our favorite hobby, and odds are we do! But even the smartest master can learn a few surprising things, like...

1. Cutie Honey is the first modern magical girl series.

Image © Toei Animation

For many anime fans, especially those growing up in the ‘90s, Sailor Moon is the prime example of a magical girl series. No one can doubt the influence of the Sailor Moon, but the series and the entire genre owe a lot to Go Nagai’s Cutie Honey.

Dating back to 1973, Cutie Honey was created as a homage to tokusatsu series, which are shows that normally feature transforming heroes. At the time, Cutie Honey was marketed as a super hero manga, albeit one with a lot of violence, gross out gags, fanservice, and yuri undertones. Honey wasn’t the usual heroine, at least by ‘70s standards. She would constantly tease her guy friends, toy with her enemies, and cause mischief.

Image © Toei Animation

Besides creating a pioneering heroine, Go Nagai would lay the foundation for the modern magical girl genre. Honey had a wide array of transformations, some of which would help her in combat — others were just disguises. Before Honey would use her final form, she would chant, “But my true identity is Honey Flash!” The chant would be followed by a naked transformation scene, a staple of the genre. Cutie Honey also pioneered the use of multiple female villains, which is has been used by Sailor Moon and Pretty Cure!

In retrospect, Cutie Honey looks and sounds like a magical girl series, but was not marketed as one due to a timeslot mix up. Before Cutie Honey, magical girl series pretty much meant a show with a cute, little witch girl like Sally the Witch. Since Go Nagai’s series did not exactly fit that description, the 7:00 pm block, which tends to be reserved for magical girl anime, was given to Miracle Girl Limit-chan. Toei Animation had to change the marketing scheme for Cutie Honey, transforming her into a shounen series. Pretty much the modern magical girls shows came about from a time dispute.

2. Yu-Gi-Oh! is a commentary on otaku culture.

Image © Nihon Ad Systems

How can one of the most merchandise-driven franchises in anime provide any type of commentary, besides showing us how addicting card games are? You are correct to be skeptical, at least when it comes to the various Yu-Gi-Oh! anime series. The manga is a completely different story.

To understand what we mean, allow us to provide some background information. Published in 1996, Yu-Gi-Oh! is a rather dark manga, especially for one that ran in Weekly Shounen Jump. The story follows Yugi Mutou, a shy boy that just loves to play games, but he is constantly bullied. Yugi escapes from his problems by spending most of his time the Duel Masters card game. One day, he finds the Millennium Puzzle and becomes the host to the spirit of a Pharaoh. With this new power, Yugi stands up to his bullies and challenges them to Penalty Games, which are high stakes matches. The loser is often tortured, disfigured, mind crushed, or even killed. They weren’t joking about the high stakes part.

Image © Kazuki Takahashi/Weekly Shounen Jump

Naturally most of that stuff was removed from the anime, but what about the commentary? Throughout the whole manga, Yugi runs into various villains with dark and haunting pasts, but they turn to Duel Masters to run from their problems and subsequently become obsessed with the game due to the power it gives them. Duel Masters is all they have, and they will kill someone to win and they would rather die than face defeat or their problems.

Keep in mind that the Japanese concept of otaku is different than the Western view. An otaku, in the classical sense, is anyone who takes a hobby to an extreme obsession — to the point where it harms some aspect of their life. "Otaku" obsession can reach towards anything, from anime to trains and even cars. Everyone in Yu-Gi-Oh, Yugi included, represents the negative affects of taking a hobby too far, which ironically enough, is something the actual game does to some people.

3. Neon Genesis Evangelion’s creation is just as crazy as the show.

Image © Studio Gainax

We all know how interesting Neon Genesis Evangelion is, but some of the stories behind the creation of the series are just as interesting. From creator Hideaki Anno’s mental breakdown while writing the show to Gainax’s run in with the National Tax Agency, a whole article could be dedicated to an in-depth look at Evangelion’s background. However, we are going to touch on a few key points.

Depressed over the commercial failure of Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water and not being able to get his Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise project in motion, Anno went drinking with Toshimichi Otsuki of King Records. While knocking some drinks back, Otsuki said that King Records would guarantee to support anything Anno could think off, which was probably an attempt to keep him from leaving the anime industry for good.

Image © Studio Gainax

Evangelion was created with the intent to counter all of the “kiddie” anime series that were out at the time, including Anno’s Nadia. Anno wanted to created a series with soul and one that would bring in a few more fans to anime albeit without the help of too much merchandising. Infamously enough, many toy companies said that it would be impossible to make reliable toys of the Evas, and even if they were made, their unorthodox shapes and slender limbs would prevent them from being hot sellers.

Things were moving smoothly, but Anno would have a mental breakdown. He was receiving therapy for his depression and it shows throughout the series. From the cruel deaths, the emotional trauma done to the characters, and Asuka’s literal mind rape.

Image © Studio Gainax

While no records of Anno’s original ideas have been published, Evangelion ended up a darker series than intended and went through a re-write three months before it aired. Whole episodes were scrapped and re-drawn, eating into the series budget. This lead to cheap alternatives, like use of photographs, relying on flashbacks, and stills that had the talking character out of the shot. These methods were born out of desperation to meet the deadlines at the last second, but it would go on to inspire a whole new generation of anime creators.

Oh, and that whole point where the Evangelion toys would never sell? The series generates in the hundreds of millions of revenue in merchandising, laughing in the faces of the doubters and kind of going against Anno’s intent of not relying on merchandise to survive.

4. Power Rangers’ success lead the way for anime in the states.

No one quite knows what Haim Saban was thinking when he brought over Kyoru Sentai Zyuranger and rebranded it as Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, but it went on to capture the imaginations of kids in 1993. Power Rangers was such a smash hit, that TV stations were desperate for more Japanese material to bring over to the states. While Big Bad Beetleborgs and Kamen Rider where Americanized, most TV stations settled with anime, which was a lot cheaper than the live-action tokusatsu shows to localize at the time.

Yes, there was anime on American TVs before Power Rangers hit the scene, it just wasn’t as popular. While Robotech, Voltron, Star Blazers, and Speed Racer were hits, they did not exactly bring in a wave of anime to the states, and they largely became popular after being rediscovered. Even Dragon Ball was canceled when it first aired in the late 1980s.

This isn’t to say that the ‘90s generation of anime was the best time to be a fan, we are just saying that the explosion of anime that hit during this time period was unprecedented, and most of the series shown were originally from the late-70s to the mid-80s. Ranma ½, Ronin Warriors, and Fist of the North Star where the initial series brought to the States, and they are technically ‘80s shows.

The initial '90s wave was followed by Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z, and Pokemon. All three series would arguably make anime mainstream enough in the States to warrant the creation of Toonami, an anime block on Cartoon Network, and 4Kids! on WB Kids.

Maybe it would have been a matter of time that anime would capture the minds of American viewers, but we can safely say that if Alpha 5 was not out to find five teenagers with attitude, the anime invasion may have happened far later.