Putting an Age Requirement on “Classic” Anime

The back-and-forth between Hidoshi of That’s Not Kanon and the anonymous author of Ani-Nouto about classic anime made me think about not exactly what should be consider a classic, but rather how old must be something be before becoming a candidate in the first place. The argument over what is and is not a classic is a subjective one while devising a method for making something a candidate for classification is a step toward objectivity. So the following is my suggested method of qualifying anime for consideration of classifying them as classics.

In considering a timed requirement, I looked at other industries and how they recognize lasting greatness. A major league baseball player must have played 10 or more seasons and wait 5 years to eligible for Cooperstown; that player’s “record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions” to his team or teams are taken into account by the voters. A performer’s eligibility for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame starts 25 years after their first released album and critical factors for induction include “innovation and influence”. But those two honors involve people and their careers whereas the criteria I am looking for will apply to artistic works themselves. The National Film Registry is part of the Library of Congress and every year it adopts up to 25 “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant films” that are at least 10 years old to be preserved.

Personally, I would consider anything that premiered before 2001 to be eligible right now because that seems to be about the time that studios started to stray away from cel animation and more toward digital production. So that would include Trigun, Outlaw Star, and surprisingly Love Hina (which was recently “license rescued” by Funimation). Of course, that arbitrary 7-year threshold will change as the years roll on but there will likely be an initial reluctance to declare something that uses high-quality animation (like Kanon) a classic by some fans including myself. By the way, I hate people who use the phrase “instant classic” because something cannot be a classic if it just happened, by definition!

While composing this, I could not help but think about which current and recent anime titles would be considered “classics” in ten years. Would Naruto and Bleach be looked back on as similarly as Ranma or Rurouni Kenshin? Will Haruhiism collapse under lack of stimulation? Would less-hyped critic-beloved anime like Kamichu even be remembered? I came up with fifteen anime released in the last few years and put them in a sidebar poll. Intentionally missing is Full Metal Alchemist because I think it’s a little too old and possibly also because too many people like it. I’m not exactly sure, I just wanted to exclude it. Please Vote for the one that you think would most likely stand the test of time a decade from now, not the one you just happen to really like right now.

There will always be arguments over which anime are classics and which are not and the same goes for films, TV shows, and musicians. Now that I think about it, this would be an interesting topic for an episode of a podcast or something similar in terms of a lively but friendly argument/discussion between fans. Please leave a comment if you think you have a better method or have suggestions as to what will be future classics.

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