The word “classic” seems to be coming up a lot lately. A brief talk with my long-time buddy Mike tonight got me thinking. See, we decided to show our friend Dave the original Tenchi Muyo! OVA series. Dave loves it, and he’s a younger fella so we were a bit surprised. Most of the time a younger fan has different tastes than ourselves, preferring something more zany like Love Hina (or more oddly, He Is My Master).

The thing that Mike laments is the idea that “no one talks about Tenchi anymore!”. What Mike is really getting at is the idea that a lot of classics from the mid-90’s have fallen out of the aural memory of today’s fans. Record of Lodoss War, Heroic Legend of Arslan, even Slayers apparently is worth lamenting for its lack of presence in the modern fandom. But that got me thinking: Mike’s perspective is somewhat limited because he doesn’t associate with the online blog community, nor is he interested in younger fans and their ideas on things. He’s a crochety old vet in many ways. I love him for it though, because it’s often our diametrically opposed views that get me thinking. The thing is, we can both relate on so much, even if our opinion is horribly different.

Is anime subject to the same sort of ‘classification’ as regular Western television? Now yes, I realise the absurdity of that statement — anime IS regular television across the Pacific. But the dynamic is slightly different here because of the concentration and focus. We do not, for instance, have a fanbase dedicated to mid-70’s comedy shows like M*A*S*H. While an excellent comedy (and sometime drama) in its own right, M*A*S*H is not part of something bigger. There are no conventions dedicated to comedy shows (and if there are, they must be very few). Anime on the other hand has its own bacterial culture in society — a culture which continues to thrive and grow with each passing day.

Perhaps for that reason, I feel compelled to tell Mike that he shouldn’t worry. Why? Because even if Tenchi is not on the lips and tongues of every fan anymore, it will nonetheless retain its place as a notable series of the mid-90’s. In the same way Space Battleship Yamato, Gatchaman, and even Mazinger are still with us in one way or another, classics like Tenchi will inevitably remain in the minds of generations to come. Why? Because we will show them what we grew up with, and they’ll be able to relate. In a strange way, it’s this generation of geeks that might just fix the generation gap by having a common ground to work upon.

Okay, that’s probably going too far, but it’s a nice thing to think about, isn’t it?