I always looked at Dragonball Z as my "gateway drug" into anime. I kind of snowballed into watching Naruto, Bleach, Fairytale, and One Piece shortly after. These are the shows that were particularly influential to me, but I'm wondering if there are other shonen anime that were influential to a wider audience. I know Quinten Tarantino is a fan of anime and he incorporates some similar styles of anime into his fills. I'm thinking of Kill Bill where the film dives into the backstory of O-Ren Ishii.
It would be cool to look at how early anime inspired modern movie genres, like Akira and Ghost in the Shell inspired a lot of sci-fi and action. But what makes something "influential"? Being popular in western culture? Lots of anime has been influential in other cultures/countries that didn't necessarily make as much of an impact here. This would be a great read. – Eden6 years ago