Lucky Star and K-on for CGDCT
Evangelion for meta-commentary and deconstruction, to the point that future works that qualify often get called the “Evangelion of <genre>”
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood and Attack on Titan for battle shounen
Bocchi the Rock for girls band anime, specifically
Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro for pretty much all of Ghibli
Akira for 90s anime
Astro Boy (Tetsuwan Atom). Basically defined and kick-started anime as a genre and aesthetic. If there’s a most influential anime, it’s this.
Or maybe Space Battleship Yamato. It turned anime from “TV comics” into, well, anime.
Mazinger Z. Pioneered the giant mecha anime. Also Getter Robo.
Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (better known in the West for its adaptation as Battle of the Planets). The template for the super sentai team genre.
Mobile Suit Gundam. Revolutionised the giant mecha genre moving from simple good vs. evil children cartoons to complex geopolitical narratives. Also, in a similar vein, Macross.
Urusei Yatsura. The template for moe anime. See also Ranma ½.
Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind. The foundation for Studio Ghibli’s aesthetic, tone, and narrative.
Akira, Dragon Ball, Cowboy Bebop. Brought anime to the mainstream in the West, and Dragon Ball is a cornerstone of the shounen genre, with probably only One Piece coming close in influence.
Sailor Moon. Not the first magical girl anime by a long shot, but arguably the cornerstone of the genre. Also Puella Magi Madoka Magica, which redefined and revitalised it.
Neon Genesis Evangelion, already mentioned in the OP. Extremely influential in the 90s and noughties.
Ghost in the Shell. Took over from Akira as a cornerstone of cyberpunk anime.
And I’m surely missing dozens, I’m far from an expert in the genre.
Personally Space Pirate Captain Harlock, Doctor Slump, Dragon Ball, Urusei Yatsura, and Ranma ½, and later Akira, My Neighbour Totoro, Nausicaä, Ghost in The Shell, and Fullmetal Alchemist were my main introductions to the genre (besides stuff that was in the background but I didn’t really follow or, at the time, recognise as a specific genre), but that’s just personal history and preference; I tried to list ones that seem to objectively have had significant influence on the genre or industry.
I had to think a bit hard to identify and guesstimate what was some of my first “impactful” anime personally, and after dragon ball and doraemon that aired on national TV as our saturday morning cartoon (I wasn’t considering it “anime” yet as a child), it has to be ranma 1/2 and gensomaden saiyuki when I was a teenager and it was airing on axn when our family gotten satellite TV. And then it was gundam wing and seed after that, since those too got aired on national TV.
There’s actually another anime I’d like to include, but over the years scouring what AXN and toonami has shown back in the 90s and 00s, that was then imported a second time through my country’s first satellite TV network, I just couldn’t find it. And it even involved a small buckler sized shields and have time magic or something, and a woman chosen one or something. I just could not find it. Whenever I remember my crusade for this anime I am a bit upset>
Hm… Homura uses a small shield sometimes, she has time magic, and Madoka is about as chosen as it gets… are you thinking of Puella Magi Madoka Magica?
Nope, I was in my 20s back then. this is older. the same period as first ranma 1/2 anime. around that. and yes, as I was watching PMMM weekly back then, That Episode blew my head.
No idea then, sorry.
Google suggests Magic Knight Rayearth or Phantom Thief Jeanne, neither of which I’m familiar with, but they don’t look like they fit.
Saint Seiya could fit the dates, Athena could pass as a chosen one, and Cygnus had a buckler of sorts, but that’s probably not it either…
It’s okay. It’s been my white whale for a long time and what led me to meticulously detail what I watch and read if I remember to do it.
I’ll check out your suggestions to see if it can get me closer or like magically spark some core memory.