While researching, I've come across anime that never followed the trends at the time of their release, this could be a number of reasons, they were ahead of their time, they missed their time, can't be described as matching any trend or missed the point entirely.
10. Sakura Wars
The Steampunk genre never actually caught on as an anime trend despite many fans liking the aesthetic for costume design. Period piece anime often covered drama, romance or popular masterpiece stories and even those stories set in Britain were more based on British myths and legends. Sakura Wars was popular but didn't last.
9. Saiyuki
Journey to the West has been covered dozens of times but not in the way Kazuya Minekura did, the band of four males led by a disgruntled priest more resembling Final Fantasy 15 than anime. Way ahead of it's time.
8. Fancy Lala
Adapted from the prototype Fashion Lala, Fancy Lala is a magical girl series where the lead character uses a magical item to become a young adult to either solve problems or become a star, they were very popular in the 80s but died off thanks to Sailor Moon, Fancy Lala missed the boat by a decade.
7. Yokai Watch
Much like Fancy Lala, it arrived a decade after it's trend had passed, for Yokai Watch it's the Pokemon clones, although it had reasonable popularity, it was really short lived.
6. G Gundam
While every Gundam series is an epic war space opera, G Gundam is a testosterone fueled robot battle tournament, as I consider Gundam it's own trend, this one really feels out of place.
5. Angelic Layer
You make an anime about fighting toy dolls but don't make it an actual toyline at a time where toy anime was in fashion. Another poor decision from Clamp.
4. Stop Hibari Kun
The anime itself was trendy as a romantic comedy in the early 80s when Urusei Yatsura and Maison Ikkoku were king. It's themes on Gender Identity were 40 years ahead of it's time.
3. Tenchi Muyo
More of a Western perspective on this one, why introduce a sci-fi romcom that popularised the harem genre on Toonami among shows like Gundam Wing and Dragonballz? Yeah it had action but not that much, most episodes of Tenchi were very sitcom like in presentation, it's alternate name No Need For Tenchi is a quip on lead character Tenchi's lack of presence despite being the lead.
2. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is an 80s manga franchise that took 20 years to see an anime adaption that came in as a force of nature no one saw coming that ignored all the trends and could never be imitated, only one older series surpasses it.
1. Lupin the 3rd
Lupin the 3rd has been in every era of anime since 1967 and has never had to change anything, it's never been imitated, it's never followed trends, it's the most original IP in all of Anime next to only Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.
Journey to the West is a classic of Chinese Literature and anime has been known to adapt it into many forms, today's review is one of these forms as I review Saiyuki as written by Kazuya Minekura.
The story is about a monk named Genjo Sanzo who through fate is joined alongside three demons consisting of the Monkey King Son Goku, the half demon Sha Gojyo and the man turned demon Cho Hakkai; their mission as ordained by the heavens is to travel to India to stop the resurrection of the Demon Ox King Gyumaoh, along the way they must fight numerous malevolent demons along with dealing with their tragic pasts and in some of the slower episodes just general goofing off; the journey would normally be on foot but for some reason Cho Hakkai's Dragon, Jeep can become an actual road worthy Jeep, so the entire series is one big road trip and that's where it loses it's value.
Don't get me wrong, this depiction of the Saiyuki four is by far the most Badass to ever be conceived but after so many episodes they still haven't sorted out Gyumaoh, not Minekura's fault as health has been an issue but the franchise has faded somewhat in popularity in recent years, in fact I became too exhausted watching the series to warrant continuing beyond the Gensoumaden and Reload series.
For what it's worth, the fact that the cast in this Saiyuki is led by a chain smoking monk, a womanizing kappa demon, a pig demon with a drivers license and a Monkey King with a serious meat bun addiction, does make a change from the alternatives we've had over the years which also includes Dragonball, and that's what makes this series special, it had the balls to take a classic story and give it the anime makeover it really deserved in an era (Late 90s, Early 00s) desperately needing some originality beyond taking a well known warrior class like Pirate or Ninja and making it awesome.
Yeah it's too long, the drama gets too heavy, the so called final boss is never actually fought and having two different dubs is relatively off putting, but you still enjoy what's on offer regardless.
Final Verdict: Saiyuki is lots of fun and by far it's best depiction in anime but it's length is intimidating and can be tiring to watch after a while, so only watch/read to it's current chapter if you're committed to finishing the story.
Inspired by this weeks discussion topic, I've gotten into thinking of other anime I've given up on so here are my top 10 Anime I've Given Up On.
Rules This Time: Has to be a series I once liked, it's no good putting a series I hate on this list because I'll be here all day otherwise; also I can't use lack of licensing as an excuse either, so let us begin.
10. Little Snow Fairy Sugar
I ended up quitting this series just over halfway when I discovered that the ending was so predictable that it wasn't worth the effort.
9. Digimon
Later series kept spiraling into obscurity to the point where the original concept has been lost along the way.
8. Beyblade
Beyblade had great characters (some even too good for it's own show) during it's first three runs then it decided to come back and ruin itself for good with the Metal series; it's not been healthy since.
7. Yu-Gi-Oh
Another show with a severe decay problem caused by frequent changing of protagonists; I don't even know what Zexal is about.
6. Bleach
Lost it's identity when it couldn't hold itself after hundreds of chapters, they've toyed too much with their universe rules and paid the price for stupid ideas.
5. Fruits Basket
Gave up when the art style became obscure in the manga, a lot of characters looked the same and being told spoilers also sealed the fate of Fruits Basket for good.
4. Shaman King
Had the same problem as Bleach only weirder, Shaman King didn't know how to end itself, it didn't seem satisfied with the Victory Script the anime gave it, so it tried something complicated and ended up cancelled for the trouble.
3. Tenchi Muyo
The Tenchi Muyo extended universe is a joke, the story was already complicated enough in it's original incarnation and yet the creators seem intend on ruining it.
2. Spirited Away
Every time I try and watch Spirited Away, I just can't seem to follow what's going on, I've tried numerous times but nothing, I just can't seem to conquer it.
1. Saiyuki
I gave up when the set pieces were rotating more often than Team Rocket's sad attempts at catching Pikachu, it got to the point where I didn't believe they were really going to India and as of now I doubt they've made it there yet as Minekura has released a prequel as well.
Bonus: Pokemon
X&Y might save it, so it's on hiatus rather than giving up on it.
