I think everyone likes different character dynamics in their anime. I'm not a fan of vague romantic tension. "Will they, won't they" doesn't interest me. But I like character conflict- what happens when personalities clash. I'm watching the first season of Sailor Moon, and I think part of the reason it still holds up is that conflict. The whole Rei/Usagi pairing is even better as it matures, but even at the beginning, the fact that Usagi is easy going, although overemotional, while Rei tries to keep things under control is very striking. It is also more interesting than the budding love interest at this stage. Tuxedo Mask comes in, saves everyone, everyone thinks he's so hot, etc. Mamoru's character seems much better to me at the beginning, when there's still verbal parrying and fun going on, than later on, when he becomes the long suffering boyfriend. Of course, by the end, Usagi's much more toned down- which is a good thing on the writer's part- it's hard to imagine someone fighting so many menaces, and going through so much danger, and staying the same. Of course, Usagi always remains her cheerful underlying self.

Of course, everyone has different definitions of classics, and they are always being revised. What was fresh a year ago, seems stale now, what seemed like an anime that would still be talked about twenty years from its start(like Uresei Yatsura or even Creamy Mami, which in 1998, had a homage show(Fancy Lala) produced) 5 years ago, now seems like a passing fancy today. Of course, in the tons of anime we get nowadays, it's easy to forget the classics- they are dated, we want something shiny and new.

But I think it's also a difference in the type of fan too. I see two types of fans. I call one type Animerica type fans. They tend to be new to the fandom, and tend to like the more obvious shows that are shiny and 'hot this season'. By obvious, I mean relying on a lot of anime fan type tricks- OMG! I misunderstood your intentions, so now I have to beat you, Will they or won't they, Look! We're Wacky!, Hey, bishounen/shoujo!, are they yaoi/aren't they yaoi. Being this sort of fan isn't necessarily bad, but it's mostly a surface kind of anime love. You can have been a fan for years, and still be this type.

I don't have a cutesy nickname for the other type. They tend to notice shows that may not be so 'hot' or 'new'. They delve into all corners of anime for their fix, from older shows to shows that are a bit more obscure, and less obvious. They may exult over the baroque loveliness of Onii-sama E or chase magical girl show history back to Akko-chan no Himitsu, they don't turn their noses up at the ugly animation of the first Gundam series. I find this type to be pretty valuable, as they are the fans that will be historians for all the rest of us, after we have moved on from the latest show, and want to know what else is out there.

I know I have been helped by such fans in my youth, and others will be helped by fans like that. Anime is a fun diversion, but there will always be those to which anime is not just a small phase in life, in which anime is cherished deeply. ...or something like that.