In case you haven’t seen the sun in a month or have been living under a rock for the same length of time, 2018 is the year of the Reboot. If you’re an 80’s or 90’s kid like ourselves, then you remember all-if-not-most of the TV shows and cartoons that had your eyes glued to the screen every weekday, and every weekend. The way shows are produced and made in the modern era is different compared how it was done back in the day, and yes, we know we sound old for saying that!

Somewhere along the line we’ve all heard the old saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” The same could be said about the very shows we watched as kids, as many of our favorite childhood shows are getting that ‘post-9/11 generation’ update; 80’s and 90’s anime included. ‘Everything old becomes new again’ is the slogan behind the modern day rebooting age, but when it comes to rebooting a classic, there are a few cardinal rules to follow. Just to let you know; this filler post is NOT meant to bash the concept and meaning behind reboots, it is to help educate and give you a general idea of what can come about when a classic show gets rebooted.

The Good:

There’s nothing like a classic TV show or anime title, right? The show/animation budget was reasonable, the style was hand-drawn, the dialogue wasn’t half bad, and the CGI was pretty low maintenance and not as flashy as it is today. Classics are great if you were a kid and lived around during that decade or era of time, however today’s kids are on a whole other level in terms of what shows they watch compared to their 80’s and 90’s generational counterparts.

Having a show rebooted will actually give modern day kids and teens the opportunity to experience that same joy that older millennials had, when they were their age. DBZ Kai is an example of this; even though we miss the long dragged-out dialogue and had to wait 3-6 episodes before a fight happens, Kai was a true-to-the-manga reboot that exposed younger anime fans to one of the greatest anime titles or our generation. If you’re going to reboot a classic show or program from the past decade, you must keep its original core concept and idea intact. (By this we mean the one thing that made us want to watch the show in the first place!)

The Bad:

There are certain elements in TV shows and anime that make them great, and if you’re going to reboot them, they must be handled with love and care. Nowadays if one is not careful, he or she can damage the reputation of the classic series that they’re trying to reboot. We’re not the kind of guys who will drop names of certain reboots, but let us just say we’ve had our fair share of some that made us feel…different. (And we’re pretty sure you’ve seen some reboots that made you feel ‘different’ too.) Taking a new approach to an old classic is fine, just as long as you keep its core concept, objective, and elements intact. (Like we said, we’re not naming shows!)

The Overall:

Reboots aren’t a bad thing, in fact they give the younger generation a chance to experience the type of shows that the older generation used to love. It can be a fun and exciting experience for both sides as it may even help reinvigorate the show’s fandom. If a show has a dedicated following and it gains a reboot, that may expand the overall fandom as well as the love for the series. The same could be said with classic anime titles like Dragon Ball Z, although we wouldn’t mind seeing a Yu Yu Hakasho reboot – just putting it out there.

There are some shows out there that are so good, they don’t even need a reboot. The overall point to this filler post is; if you’re going to reboot a classic show from our childhood, fell free to make all the updates you want, but remember to keep its core concept intact, and don’t do anything that’s going to damage its reputation.

That’s all we’ve got for this post, but there’s more on the way! 🙂