Fandom lasts forever: iconic anime that’s older than you think

Think back to when you first became an anime weeb. How long ago was it?

It’s okay if you can’t remember. We got curious and looked up when some of our anime faves first went on air. And… some of them are old now.

Yu-Gi-Oh started in 2000. One Piece was 1999, and Sailor Moon was 1997. Neon Genesis Evangelion – 1995, same year as Mobile Suit Gundam Wing.

All the shows on this list celebrate a milestone anniversary of their first Japanese TV run during 2019. 5, 10, 15, or 20 years since that episode aired.

SPOILER ALERT in case you didn’t get around to watching any of these yet.

Tokyo Ghoul (5 years ago)

Still triggered by that centipede scene, even now.

Nope nope nope nope nope nope nope.

The original Tokyo Ghoul series doesn’t feel so long ago, not with the 2nd movie in production and the manga still running. There’ll be another collab cafe in 2019, too… the food’s too weird for us, but it keeps hardcore fans coming back for seconds.

Is The Order A Rabbit? (5 years ago)

Anime seasons come and go, but kawaii lasts forever! So do bunnies, and part-time cafe jobs for students. There’ll be a 3rd season of GochiUsa in 2020, with an OVA in between to tide us all over.

Is your order from our website gonna be ‘Is The Order A Rabbit?’ merch still being released like clockwork? (Come on, we had to make that joke or we’d regret it forever…)

Your Lie In April (5 years ago)

Finding out this was a 2014 anime shocked us a bit. We’d only just found out how catchy the opening song is. You can listen to it, and binge-watch every Your Lie In April episode, on Netflix (while they’re still up).

Some stories can run for years and years… not this one. Spoilers: with Kaori gone, there’s not much story left to tell. It’s been remade as a movie and a stage play, but there’s zero chance of a sequel.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (10 years ago)

We’re talking about the rebroadcast here, but it did put everything in the right timeline order and include 14 new episodes. Sure, 8 of them were the Endless Eight episodes – be lucky it wasn’t the full 15,000+ loops.

Did people post YouTube dance covers of anime OPs before Haruhi and ‘Hare Hare Yukai’ came along? It’s an iconic song now, those videos have millions of views.

K-On! (10 years ago)

As fun and popular as BanG Dream! is – and it’s got the exclamation mark, too! – the gap K-On! left behind was always gonna be hard to fill. The girls clocked up 6 Oricon top 5 hit singles, and both albums hit number 1. That’s a tough musical act to follow.

And the show’s legacy is more than just a ‘music will save our school’ storyline for other anime to copy (*cough* Love Live *cough*). It gave us anime-themed cosplay guitars.

Paranoia Agent (15 years ago)

It’s been a decade and a half, and Paranoia Agent’s still one of our favourite TV shows of all time. Wasn’t a breakout hit when it first aired, and the movie announced in 2009 never went anywhere. It’s okay. Paranoia Agent slowly and steadily became a cult classic instead.

We’ll maybe never see a show like this again – Satoshi Kon’s not around to make them any more. That also means we’ll never get full closure. What was up with that ending? Oh well, perfect excuse to go rewatch it.

Bleach (15 years ago)

Some shows on this list did their 2nd series or later under different names, like Tokyo Ghoul: re, Digimon Fusion, Ojamajo Doremi #, and K-On!!. Bleach kept on airing, with the exact same name, this whole time.

Yakitate!! Japan (15 years ago)

A pun-filled anime about the competitive world of making fresh bread. And it kept on going for 2 years. That’s a lot of carbs.

No other gag anime taught us so many things about baking, and about Japan’s food culture, as Yakitate!! Japan did. It’s also how we learned ‘pan’ (パン) is the Japanese word for ‘bread’.

Ojamajo Doremi (20 years ago)

Do magical girls ever really age? Doremi comes from a golden era of magical girl anime – the 90s gave us Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura, we’re so blessed.

Ojamajo Doremi did suffer from the same kinds of changes to the English dubs, though. If ‘Sakura Avalon’ wasn’t bad enough, Doremi’s name was swapped out for ‘Dorie’.

Digimon (20 years ago)

Digimon Adventure in Japan, Digimon: Digital Monsters to us English-speakers. To others, a total ripoff! Pokemon (cute powerful battle monsters) and Tamagotchis (virtual pets) did it all first.

Haters gonna hate, this show’s a classic. Digimon fans have surfed the nostalgia wave for years already, with special edition Pendulums and a ‘where are they now?’ movie about an aged-up cast. We’ll probably see 25th and 30th anniversary goods, the way it’s going.

Let’s do this again in 2029… maybe

Feel old yet?

We’re here to help you dig up ancient, rare anime merch, and to grab all the newest goods before they’re gone. Search on DEJAPAN or use the item request form.