The 1990s happened more than 20 years ago, as wild as that might seem to people who grew up during that time. This is especially true for anime fans, as many of the anime that were popular in the 90s are still some of the most popular and best-regarded anime of all time.
But a lot has changed since the 90s, and that means that some of the plot points in some otherwise beloved anime haven’t aged all that well. In fact, if the same plots were used in brand-new anime today, they probably wouldn’t have the same kind of following that they do.
10 Dragon Ball: Master Roshi As A Dirty Old Man Is Very Innapropriate
The show Dragon Ball is a raunchy comedy anime as much as it’s a shonen action-adventure classic. But some of the things that happen in it are pretty over the top, particularly regarding Bulma’s role in the story.
When Bulma and Goku find out Master Roshi has one of the Dragon Balls, he agrees to part with it on one condition: that Bulma show him her underwear. It’s played for a joke (as Bulma isn’t wearing underwear, thanks to Goku), but the lecherous old man trope has certainly gotten stale.
9 Fushigi Yuugi: The Handling Of Nuriko’s Gender Identity Promotes Erasure
It’s common for older media to get things wrong about gender and sexual identity, so it should be no surprise that there are a couple of these moments in 90s anime. Nuriko in Fushigi Yuugi is a great example of this.
She identifies as a woman but is referred to as a gay man throughout the series. She’s even encouraged to wear men’s clothing by the other characters, who tell her how much cooler she looks when she does.
8 Mobile Fighter G Gundam: The Racist Representations Of Different Countries Is Truly Offensive To Modern Audiences
The concept of Mobile Fighter G Gundam is pretty fascinating, as it’s essentially the Olympics of mecha fighting. Each country is represented by a mecha and a mecha pilot that represents them in a tournament. Even those who haven’t seen the series probably realize this goes off the rails immediately.
The representative Gundam are casually offensive in some cases and downright racist in others, like the Mexican Gundam wearing a sombrero and appearing to have a mustache.
7 Sailor Moon: The Competition Between Usagi And Rei Is An Outdated Portrayal Of Female Friendships
While there are a few things that have aged in interesting ways from Sailor Moon, one of the most frustrating is the relationship between Usagi and Rei, which is based on rivalry, cattiness, and the desire of each to be dating Mamoru.
It’s a dynamic that seems outdated, especially considering the emphasis in Sailor Moon on the power of female friendship. The two characters do tend to have each other’s backs when it matters, but the in-fighting and tearing each other down are not the best part of the series.
6 Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Main Women In The Show Are Treated Like Surrogate Mothers For Its Lead
By 90s standards, the female characters in Neon Genesis Evangelion have it pretty good. Of the four main characters in the cast, three are women, and each plays a different role in the story, with diverse personalities and different goals in the series.
But they’re all ultimately in a position of surrogate mom to the emotionally compromised Shinji, and when each one fails to fulfill this role (since it’s not their job and they don’t want to), the narrative treats them like villains for it.
5 Cowboy Bebop: Depictions Of Terrorism Might Offend Those Who Have Experienced Terror First Hand
Terrorists have been a plot point in movies and TV for decades. But a lot of those depictions have taken on a different light in recent decades, as the threats of terrorism are real in every country.
So while the silliness of Cowboy Bebop’s incompetent terrorist groups, who stand in their own way and are often played for laughs, might feel like a bit of relief from the feat, they also feel like they’re from a different time altogether.
4 Ghost In The Shell: The Female Lead Is Objectified And Sexualized For Most Of Its Run-time
Ghost in the Shell is regarded as one of the best anime films of all time. That hasn’t, however, shielded it from its fair share of controversy, especially where the depictions of women and female bodies are concerned. While some of those depictions are meant to be thought-provoking, particularly where Major Motoko’s body is concerned, since her body is completely artificial.
It does beg the question of why her body is so sexualized and appears naked through much of the movie, in a way that’s not really acknowledged directly.
3 Outlaw Star: Fred Luo's Homosexuality Is Portrayed As Predatory
Fred Luo is an arms dealer and a source of work for the main characters of Outlaw Star. He is also openly coded to be gay. That itself isn’t a problem, and having gay characters represented on screen is important.
But the fact that he is openly lecherous to Gene, who has to physically fight off his groping, and his frank physical appraisal of Jim, who is eleven years old, just adds to stereotypes of gay men being predatory, particularly with regard to children.
2 Wedding Peach: Fans Would Be Up In Arms Over Such A Blatant Rip-off Of Sailor Moon
While the 90s aren’t the only time that rip-offs of popular things occurred, they did occur with regularity at the time. Wedding Peach is a great example of this. The magical girl anime is clearly a cash-in attempt on the popularity of Sailor Moon and its vacuousness and lack of interesting plot ideas prove it’s one of the more distasteful versions of this.
While there are certainly still times when anime with suspiciously similar plots are released now, the shamelessness of this copycat behavior would likely not fly today.
1 Yu Yu Hakusho: Miyuki's Gender Identity Is Questioned, Judged, And Invalidated
Conceptions of gender, and the quickness with which people accept the gender someone identifies as, have changed a lot over the last decade, let alone the last two or three decades. But Yu Yu Hakusho’s clumsy inclusion of a trans character in Miyuki does not hold up today and shouldn’t have been allowed to pass then.
The characters criticize her both for being trans and also for not being womanly enough to call herself a woman. One person even gropes her to prove what her gender is, which is appalling.
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