> "It’s also a lot bleaker than it was in Matsumoto’s heyday." is also something that can't be corroborated. Ashita no Joe predates it and it got dark and was t

> "It’s also a lot bleaker than it was in Matsumoto’s heyday." is also something that can't be corroborated. Ashita no Joe predates it and it got dark and was the first really big serious anime. Gundam would follow it soon afterwards and that starts out with galactic war. Ideon anyone? Also, it's probably been about 20 years since I've watched it, so maybe my memory is failing me here, but isn't Matsumoto's own Galaxy Express 999 pretty bleak? The article mentions it a few times, but pretty much only in aesthetic terms. I seem to remember it being a barely-subtext running theme that traveling to a different place won't let you escape societal corruption, it will just change the particular flavor of it that you encounter.