How do you define a 'cult classic' in anime?

I know that a cult classic can be defined in many ways. I have been watching anime since I was very little, and it has been nearly 20 years now since I saw the first series that I grew obsessed with (namely Saint Seiya). Since then, I have been through many phases as an anime/manga fan - Yu Yu Hakusho, Rurouni Kenshin, The Legend of Galactic Heroes, Neon Genesis Evangelion etc etc. Now that I look back and ask myself what defines a cult classic, I must say that:

A cult classic is one where the story goes far beyond the original in the imagination of its fans. That is to say, fans love a cult classic because the story reminds them of the other, the real one, the one they go on inventing in their imagination.

In that sense, I must say that Saint Seiya, though largely unknown to English-speaking fans, is a cult classic par excellence. It may be 'bad' by today's standards, but you have to give it credit for being the godfather of a whole school of aesthetics that is with us to these day, of which the following are but a few of its prominent features:

• Androgynous beauty: Saint Seiya is studded with characters who have masculine bodis that Micheangelo's David would envy, but nevertheless have femininely beautiful faces as well as long flowing hair. (To top it all, some of these characters are blessed with god-like powers and/or personalities. Gemini Saga is said to be a demi-god whereas Virgo Shaka is said to be the man who is closest to god).

• Technique / Attack Names: You can literally compile a whole encyclopedia on the technique / attack names of the characters. You can also group them under different categories such as psychic attacks, fire attacks, sound attacks etc. I think Saint Seiya largely defined the course of the developement in the shounen fight genre in this regard, though I also have to say that no other series managed to match Saint Seiya in terms of the aesthetic appeal of the attacks. I mean, some of the attacks are extremely pretty to look at (ex. Starlight Extinction, Stardust Revolution, Galaxian Explosion etc). When was the last time you saw a pretty attack in a shounen fight scene?

And true enough - Saint Seiya goes far beyond the original in the imagination of fans. For most series, you get your share of fans producing fanart, fanfic, wallpapers and icons. But with Saint Seiya, the game is on an entirely different level - more than one otome game has been created, fan-made original anime are produced, as are sets of fan-made Tarot cards. I have even seen groups of fans producing fanart on fanfic series (not even the original) of Saint Seiya in the form of calendars and what-not. Hardly a day goes by without several new fanfics being posted to the Chinese portal Baidu, where you also find proclamations of love for the Gold Saints and where the argument of whether Gemini Saga or Virgo Shaka is the most powerful Gold Saint has not ended after 3 whole years...

That, ladies and gentleman, is undoubtably a cult classic.

Saint Seiya is also special (to me at any way) in two other aspects:

• I have never seen an anime character with sadder eyes than Gemini Saga. His eyes speak.

• A lot of the fanart for this series are just mind-blowingly gorgeous and take your breath away. I have never seen a series that inspires so much high-quality fanart as Saint Seiya.
  

So what constitutes a cult classic in your mind? I would love to hear from you all.

Comments

[w]

I don't know about "cult", but going by popular opinions anyone who denies Evangelion is a popular classic would be a nutcase. It spawns more doujins and everything per year than anyone could shake a finger at, and people aren't quite ashamed to love it, plus it's a non-Ghibli anime that the "general public" is actually aware about.
Apparently there's a special label for this sort of anime: 社会現象 and the other two so far have been Yamato and Gundam.

Even though everyone says Eva is a ripoff of Ideon but Eva is infinitely more popular.

Having said that, I haven't even watched it...

[Al]

W: Eva isn't a ripoff of only Ideon per se, but rather a mash up, or rip off if you want, of many 80s mecha anime wrapped in Anno's insecurities.

As far as what would constitute a cult classic, obviously many things factor in, popularity, influence and lasting impact. And of course Nostalgia, imo one of the most important factors.

Saint Seiya is most definitely a cult classic, not just in Japan, even in Europe, particularly France. A show like that crossed oceans was and was a phenomenon that people to this day remember. Same goes for Dragon Ball.

[Wabisabi]

w:

I see what you are getting at - 'cult' typically means a small group of fanatic followers, and the following for 'Saint Seiya' is by no means small. I can't say I am happy with that definition. That is why I attempt to come up with my own definition of 'cult classic' (see highlighed in grey above).

Al:

Speaking of mash-up of Eva past and present, someone out there actually put up a comparison of scenes from the old series with the new movie that came out on 01.09.2007 already:

http://bbs.dmzj.com/read-htm-tid-229318.html

Good point about nostalgia.

[Ialda]

A cult anime classic is something which still inspire and generate new fans some 10/20 years ago after being first broadcasted. Fans of Gundam will gladly kill each other over which Gundam timeline is the best, fans of Gineiden love to play chess while listening to classic music and sipping wine, and fans of Five Star Stories love to criticize Nagano's lazyness.

In the case of Saint Seiya, do note that it's the anime which is cult, not necessarily the manga (or much less). Production values are tantamount in an anime; here, it's Seiji Yokohama's music or Araki & Himeno's designs that helped to make the SS anime into the glorious series we all know and appreciate. Anno's directing was equally important for Eva. It's not necessarily elements like the story or the originality of the plot of the characters which define if an anime series is cult or not, but the skill of the artists working on it and how much of their creativity they can put into their work while still remaining in control of the original setting.

But maybe I'm just blattering nonsense and confounding cult (which is subjective) and quality (which can be objetively evaluated). So, simply, what a cult anime need to be cult is fan-appeal : room (and incentive) for fans to add their own contributions to this universe; doujinshis, fics, cosplay, etc.

[Neohybrid_kai]

Well, I'm not from old generation otaku but lot of my senpai says that super robot series is a legend. But that's happened before anime entered tv station. Here, the popular anime shows that enters national TV station is Saint Seiya, Dragon Ball, and sailormoon. So alot of people are saying that the classic anime is those title.

Hm, I wonder if someday harem/bishoujo anime will turn into a cult classic, lol.

[Wabisabi]

Ialda:

When I read 'Geneiden', I thought to myself - 'Is this some old classic I have never heard of?' Then I Googled around and found that it is actually the shorthand for 'Ginga Eiyu Densetsu'. ^-^ I have always thought it is known as 'Logh' for short (as in 'Legend of Galactic Heroes). Ah, me.

Nagano is supposed to be working on something called 'Gothicmade' at the moment:

ttp://gothicmade.com/

I thought I would actually translate the plot summary and post it here, but I sort of remember how I went meh over 'Five Star Stories'. The premise of 'Gothicmade' seems more interesting (to me) than 'Five Star Story' though.

I wish I knew French so that I could read French fanfics of SS. Fans do add their own contributions to the SS universe, but fans also build on the works of other fans. So you have different language circles of fans sharing different visions of the same story. I can testify that Capricorn Shura is popularly envisioned as a master chef among Chinese-speaking fans, just because of his Excaliber (which they associate with chopping up food for some reason).

Neohybrid_kai:

Well... Saint Seiya, Dragon Ball and Sailormoon are all arguably cult classics, though I have to say Saint Seiya has the most lasting influence in terms of its aesthetics. In a way, Sailormoon is just a knockoff of Saint Seiya, except that it is girls doing the fighting there...

I really don't know about harem/bishoujo anime. I suppose time will tell.