History Main / RetroUniverse

* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' is set in 2070s, but the clothing, hairstyles, music and general mood come straight from the 1970s. Also, a lot of the style is pretty 1940s-looking. In fact, [[{{Retraux}} even the [=DVDs=] are designed to look like vinyl LPs]].

* ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'' is this trope '''personified'''. It's set in an AlternateUniverse where aliens invaded Earth in the 18th century and took over everything, [[spoiler:only to have their corrupt governments secretly seized by a sociopathic immortal living on Earth in turn]], GivingRadioToTheRomans but keeping most of the fragmented culture. Humans in this setting have gotten used to using early-2000's technology but keep the Yukatas and tiled rooftops and are experimenting with older traditions or sci-fi technology, with disastrous results.

* The current writer and artist team on ''ComicStrip/DickTracy'' have embraced this trope. While still nominally set in the present day, various elements -- most notably the police cars -- look they belong to the 1980's at the latest. Since the strip has been running since the 1930's, and includes both a cast of characters and props introduced at different points all through those decades, this seems like a reasonable [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall acknowledgment]] of ComicBookTime.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Driver}}'' series is mostly set in the present day, but feels very much like a 70's CopShow thanks to the fashion, car designs and cinematography. ''Parallel Lines'' is partially set in 1978, and so averts this with the 2006 portion of the game feeling far more modern compared to the rest of the series. ''San Francisco'' is a lesser example thanks to the inclusion of modern cars, but it still keeps the retro feel through [[ImprobablyCoolCar a large assortment of classic vehicles]] and a pseudo-retro soundtrack.

* ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' has a very 80's/90's vision of what the year 2077 would look like, in keeping with [[TabletopGame/{{Cyberpunk}} the original pen-and-paper RPG]]; everything has a boxy and angular CassetteFuturism aesthetic, a lot of the tech has {{Zeerust}} stylings, the soundtrack is synthesizer-heavy, and many concepts from 80's Cyberpunk like JapanTakesOverTheWorld are played completely straight.

* ''VideoGame/Prey2017'' takes place in an alternate universe where JFK survived the assassination and used his administration (in the 1960's) to build an alien research facility in space, but after they fucked up and a containment breach killed an entire research team, the whole station was quarantined, extra-locked, and generally abandoned[[note]]It's implied that in any universe where JFK's head ends up like a victim of Scanners, the knowledge of the Typhon project is lost to obscurity in America while the U.S.S.R. quietly claims the Typhon organisms for themselves, presumably containing it more effectively... [[FridgeHorror of course, with the fall of the Soviet Union, all those containment crews have been slowly losing their funding up to right now...]][[/note]] until [[MegaCorp TranStar]] bought the whole station at a discount. As a result, most of the aesthetics and core hardware is still 1960's, though there are some shades of CassetteFuturism with 1980's music and D&D sessions.

* The original ''VideoGame/{{Wasteland}}'' was not an example, but from [[VideoGame/Wasteland2 the second game]] onwards, the series gleefully embraces this; rather than updating the setting to look more modern, [[ZeerustCanon everything has a permanent stuck-in-the-80's vibe]]. [[CassetteFuturism Cassette Futurist]] aesthetics, 80's pop culture paraphernalia everywhere, and a general feel similar to that 80's sci-fi movies like ''Film/MadMax''.

* ''Webcomic/TisTree:'' takes place at the North Pole, in Christmas Villiage, and modern culture and technology seems not to have really made it there yet. Everything is stuck in the 90's, to the extent that the characters are all represented as Website/GeoCities gifs, and they've even got brick and mortar stores that are run by {{Website/Yahoo}} Yet, they also have podcasts and twitter.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': Most of the appliances have a very 70's/80's/90’s aesthetic (and have a lot of inventions from that time, like VHS tapes and video rental stores), but there are a lot of late 20th/early 21st century inventions, like DVD players, social media websites (Elmore Plus, which is a mix between Google Plus and Facebook), a Website/YouTube equivalent website (Stream It), and some episode date the year as 2010, 2014, 2015 and 2017.

* By contrast, ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' went for a 30's/40's Art Deco look, but mostly as a veneer over a more clearly modern setting. This faded by the time of ''Justice League'', so one can assume that America in the DCAU went though a major Retro style resurgence in the early 1990's.

** ''Film/KnivesOut'' downplays this. It's set more or less around the same time it came out (2019), with characters engaging in timely conversations about ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'' and the Trump presidency, but the costumes and even the font choices all suggest the 1970s, as befits a GenreThrowback to classic MysteryFiction.

* ''Film/MarsAttacks'' (made in 1996) combined '50s/'60s military technology (including Jeeps and [[CoolGuns/BattleRifles M14 rifles]]), a Creator/RatPack-era portrayal of UsefulNotes/LasVegas, cars and clothes from the '70s and '80s, giant "brick" cell phones, and contemporary video games. And that was just the humans. The Martians were given deliberately anachronistic RaygunGothic technology. Justified, given that the movie is a parody of classic AlienInvasion movies from TheFifties through TheEighties. Of course, cell phones were just going mainstream when the movie was made, so the brick phones seen could have just been an example of TwoDecadesBehind.

* The cars and architecture of Gotham City in the ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' franchise seem to be perpetually stuck in the 1940s. One of the city's mottos is actually "The Dark [[ArtDeco Deco]] City". This is very notable in ''Film/Batman1989'' and in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''. In 1999, much of Gotham City was damaged in an earthquake during ''ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand''. This was used to justify an extensive architectural revamp that turned the city into a mix of the '40s, modern and retro-futuristic architecture. It's particularly notable in ''[[Comicbook/BatmanGrantMorrison The Return of Bruce Wayne]]'' #5, which is supposedly set just after the Wayne murders, so probably around the 1990s, but is ''conceptually'' set a decade before ''ComicBook/DetectiveComicsNumber27'', in a world of Art Deco architecture, double-breasted suits and fedoras (with the one exception being Carter Nichol's HaveANiceDaySmile t-shirt). The only explanation given is that "retro is in this year".

Retro Universes are popular settings for SteamPunk and UrbanFantasy. They may contain ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld, an AlternativeCalendar, SchizoTech, or a combination of the three. Can be confused with PurelyAestheticEra, watch your step.

* While not falling strictly into SteamPunk territory, ''Creator/OsamuTezuka's Anime/{{Metropolis}}'' definitely evokes the feel of a Retro Universe, with much of its style reminiscent of the Thirties and Forties.

** The anime takes place in a steampunk-ish world where many of the airships have a streamlined 1930s-era appearance. Most of the fashions worn by the common people seem to date from the 1920s and '30s as well. Most of the military uniforms, however, seem distinctly 18th and 19th century, and the gowns worn by noble women look as though they date from the late Renaissance. In contrast to this, the costumes worn by members of the scientifically advanced Guild have more of an alien, CrystalSpiresAndTogas look to them.

* ''Anime/TheBigO'', inspired by ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''. The setting is far enough in the future to have GiantMecha, [[DomedHometown domed cities]], genetically engineered monstrosities and other sci-fi tech; the aesthetic is pure prohibition-era.
* ''Anime/{{Interstella 5555}}: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem'' was apparently set in 2005 (judging by the date written on a card at one point in the story), but everyone wears 1970s fashions.

** It's actually [[spoiler: an InvokedTrope: it's a plot to get the spirit of Kafuka, who was DeadAllAlong, to finally move on to the afterlife. She was an organ donor, you see, and the other girls in her class have parts of ''her'' in them -- as well as her personality, which takes one of them over to play her role every time she appears in the series. All the retro touches to an otherwise modern universe are just an attempt to try and appease Kafuka.]]
* ''Anime/ZoidsChaoticCentury'': Set on a distant planet in the far future. A world with animal-like Mecha used to fight wars. One of the main powers, the Republic, has a capital city with skyscrapers and cars, and telephones that are rotary dial. The other main power, the Empire, has a capital city that looks like some cross between Berlin and ancient Byzantium. The rural areas are equally strange, featuring ancient ruins that look an awful lot like a shopping mall, and a town that looks a middle eastern Bazaar.
* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' is set in 2070s, but the clothing, hairstyles, music and general mood come straight from the 1970s. Also, a lot of the style is pretty 1940s looking. In fact, [[{{Retraux}} even the [=DVDs=] are designed to look like vinyl LPs]].
* The post-apocalyptic Arc de Grand City from ''Anime/{{Genocyber}}'' looks like a combination of SteamPunk with TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture.

* ''Anime/SoundOfTheSky'' is very evocative of the 19th and early 20th Century. If not for the whole AfterTheEnd bit.

* The 1986 anime ''Anime/MapleTown'' appears to be set sometime in the [[http://i.imgur.com/ZKwfaft.jpg late 19th and early 20th centuries.]] While the work appears to be set in a country and village reminiscence of countrysides in The Netherlands and Germany.
** It gets more confusing with it's sequel Palm Town, which starts immediately after Maple Town...except it's clearly in the 1980s
* ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'' is this trope '''personified'''. It's set in an AlternateUniverse where aliens invaded Earth in the 18th century and took over everything[[spoiler:, only to have their corrupt governments secretly seized by a sociopathic immortal living on Earth in turn]], GivingRadioToTheRomans but keeping most of the fragmented culture. Humans in this setting have gotten used to using early-2000's technology but keep the Yukatas and tiled rooftops, and are experimenting with older traditions or Sci-Fi technology, with disastrous results.

* The cars and architecture of Gotham City in the ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' franchise seem to be perpetually stuck in the 1940s. One of the city's mottos is actually "The Dark Deco City". This is very notable in the [[Film/Batman1989 1989 movie]] and in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''. In 1999, much of Gotham City was damaged in an earthquake during the Cataclysm/No Man's Land event. This was used to justify an extensive architectural revamp that turned the city into a mix of the 40s, modern and retro-futuristic architecture.
** Paricularly notable in ''[[Comicbook/GrantMorrisonsBatman The Return of Bruce Wayne]]'' #5, which is supposedly set just after the Wayne murders, so probably around the 1990s, but is ''conceptually'' set a decade before ''Comicbook/DetectiveComics'' #27, in a world of art deco architecture, double-breasted suits and fedoras (with the one exception being Carter Nichol's smiley face t-shirt). The only explanation given is "retro is in this year".
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'': In the early 2000's, Metropolis was changed into a futuristic version of itself. It didn't stick.
* In the 1990s Fawcett City (home of [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]]) was said to be permanently in the fifties due to a spell cast by the wizard Shazam. In its appearance in the later ''Black Adam'' miniseries, it still had a MaltShop. This is actually not that surprising, as many small towns in the US have kept theirs out of nostalgia.

* The IDW ''ComicBook/JemAndTheHologramsIDW'' comics are obviously set in the contemporary time period; however, the setting still has 80s style stuff like absurdly bright colored clothing and records instead of [=CDs=] or digital music. It could be seen as TruthInTelevision, as in the early 2010s dyeing your hair unusual colors is popular and vinyl is regaining popularity.
* ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'' modernized with the decades, however it still held some of its vintage elements. Even well into the 2010s the characters still go to the local soda shop Chok'lit Shoppe and Jughead still wears his signature whoopee cap (which was outdated by the ''50s''). The ''ComicBook/ArchieComics2015'' reboot attempted to modernize the series more throughly, but the mainstays still exist.
* IDW's ''{{Franchise/Transformers}}'' comics gradually developed a visual style evocative of [[{{Animesque}} 90's science fiction anime]] and 80's Saturday morning cartoons. The coloring is usually bright and vibrant and the technology often has UsedFuture / {{Zeerust}} stylings (an advanced communications device that can cross time resembles a walkie-talkie). This is especially apparent when Alex Milne or Nick Roche does the art.
** A cute detail about this is how [[RetrauxFlashback flashbacks to prehistoric Cybertron switch to a different retro style]]; they're done in the style of 70's to 80's comic creators like Creator/WaltSimonson and Creator/JackKirby. The art is given a worn-out look evocative of a really old comic, there are KirbyDots everywhere, and [[StylisticSuck characters talk in a stilted, exposition-heavy manner]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Frankenweenie}}'' seems to take place in the '50s, but has references like Pluto not being a planet anymore. WordOfGod is it's not as retro as it seems but not exactly current day either.

%%* The 1997 movie version of ''Film/{{The Borrowers|1997}}''.

* ''Videogame/TheOuterWorlds'', as a SpiritualSuccessor to the Creator/BlackIsle and Creator/{{Obsidian}} Fallout games, has this aesthetic, particularly on the billboard ads, the magazines, and the large city of Byzantium, which didn't look out of place on Videogame/BioShock.

* India in the same period had cars based on the 1940s Austin, and the Indian Enfield, a motorcycle that was a version of a 1949 British twin. The banning of competitors left them no reason to change. [[/folder]]

* ''Dialed In'' has an art style, fashion, and architectural/urban planning feel to the city reminiscent of the 1980s or early 1990s but is full of smartphones. However, the technology for these smartphones are derived from the breed of WeirdScience popular in fiction from the '80s, while the company that develops that science is apparently [[ILoveNuclearPower atomic- or nuclear-powered]], a concept popular in the '40s and '50s. This is best exemplified with the artwork on the side of the machine, which depicts a young man with a jacket-Tshirt-jeans combo not unlike [[Film/BacktoTheFuture Marty McFly]], with a hand-drawn style using airbrushed shading typical of video game box art in the '80s, holding up a smartphone that's getting struck by [[LightningCanDoAnything lightning giving it strange powers]].

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': In the episode "Legends", half the team gets blown into an alternate 50s-style universe that invokes UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks, and team up (after the obligatory LetsYouAndHimFight, of course) with the Justice Guild of America, a team full of [[CaptainErsatz Captains Ersatz]] for the Justice Society of America. And oddly enough, all those characters are characters from comic books from Green Lantern's youth. Hawkgirl gets pissed at the gender standards, Green Lantern is happy to meet his idols (casually letting a YouAreACreditToYourRace comment slide), Flash is ''already'' so corny that he fits right in, and ComicBook/MartianManhunter receives intense mental images of nuclear holocaust. [[BreadEggsMilkSquick Wait, what?]] [[spoiler:Turns out in this universe the UsefulNotes/ColdWar led to mutually assured destruction, but the Justice Guild sacrificed themselves to save as many as they could. A kid gained mental powers [[ILoveNuclearPower from the fallout]], and basically became a purple, warty RealityWarper, recreating the Justice Guild and placing himself as their kid sidekick, and forcing the townspeople to live out their roles as extras (one man was trapped in an ice cream truck for ''forty'' years)]]. Basically, it was a weird episode, and the phrase "Nuns and Dynamite" was important in TheReveal.

** ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife'' could pass for taking place in the early 20th century at first glance, however at other times it looks decidedly modern. Characters like Nami, Rock, and Gustafa have a 1960s/1970s aesthetic and the technology levels matches that period, but it's set at the same time as ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonFriendsOfMineralTown'' (which is noticeably more modern looking) and a ShowWithinAShow features ''cellphones''. According to Tom, the FictionalCountry that the game takes place in is so behind slow technologically that they don't even understand what airplanes are.

* The ''Franchise/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' universe doesn't start in one, but it becomes it as the series goes on. By ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddysSecurityBreach'', the series appears to be a world where the styles of TheEighties and TheNineties never went out of fashion, holding onto bright neon, shopping malls, arcade games, laser tag, and other trappings of the era into (roughly) the 2030s - these still being popular and treated as modern are what suggests it's not a deliberate retro choice on the part of the management. It's possible that the unbridled capitalistic spirit of the times being alive is the only thing allowing the [[CorruptCorporateExecutive cartoonishly greedy]] and [[IncompetenceInc lethally incompetent]] Fazbear Entertainment to survive.

* By contrast, ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' went for a 30's/40's Art Deco look, but mostly as a veneer over a more modern style. This faded by the time of ''Justice League'', so one can assume that America in the DCAU went though a major Retro style resurgence in the early 1990's.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles''. Note that the movie actually does take place in the early '70s -- Edna Mode mentions several of Mr. Incredible's contemporaries dying in the late '50s -- but you couldn't tell from the characters' [[PresentDayPast modern slang and sensibilities]]. The movie takes place in the streamlined future envisioned by the '50s and '60s, not our world's '70s.

* ''Film/HotRod'' turns this UpToEleven. Though taking place in the present, the whole movie is done in the style of a 1980s comedy, right down to the costumes and set designs.

** ''Film/InTime'' has no cellphones let alone smartphones; all calls are taken over old-school {{Pay Phone}}s or landlines. The vast majority of cars, too, are based on sleek models from the late 1960s to early 1980s at best; as with ''Film/{{Gattaca}}'' their futuristic upgrades are mostly limited to engines with an electric hum or whine, doors opening with a pneumatic hiss, and new all-white flashing lights for police cars. A lot of this likely goes to show that culture and innovation has stagnated due to the wealthy ruling class living forever.

* ''Dialed In'' has an art style, fashion, and architectural/urban planning feel to the city reminiscent of the 1980's or early 1990's but is full of smartphones. However, the technology for these smartphones are derived from the breed of WeirdScience popular in fiction from the 80's, while the company that develops that science is apparently [[ILoveNuclearPower atomic- or nuclear-powered]], a concept popular in the 40's and 50's. This is best exemplified with the artwork on the side of the machine, which depicts a young man with a jacket-Tshirt-jeans combo not unlike [[Film/BacktoTheFuture Marty McFly]], with a hand-drawn style using airbrushed shading typical of video game box art in the 80's, holding up a smartphone that's getting struck by [[LightningCanDoAnything lightning giving it strange powers]].

* Lemony Snicket's ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' intentionally contains anachronisms. As ''The Miserable Mill'' mentions the 1920s as being in the past, we know the earliest possible time the series could take place is in the 1930s. In ''The Slippery Slope'', Violet is suggested to like Yma Sumac, who was popular in the 1950s. In ''The Hostile Hospital'', the Volunteers Fighting Disease have an attitude resembling hippies or beatniks. In the [[Series/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents 2017 adaptation]] Count Olaf even mentions using the internet, and the books themselves mentioned computers. It should be noted, though, that the text never makes explicit references to the Baudelaire children wearing Victorian clothing -- even though they are typically illustrated as wearing such and adaptations portray them wearing Victorian attire.

* The MonsterOfTheWeek in one episode of ''Series/KikaiSentaiZenkaiger'' had the ability to turn the world into a retro universe. By increasing the intensity of its power even further it could cause people to be overwhelmed with nostalgia and just sit down and wait to die. It even caused the show's aspect ratio to change.

* The 1931 version of ''[[Film/Frankenstein1931 Frankenstein]]'' and its sequels seem to take place in a vague time period which combines the early 1800s era of Creator/MaryShelley with the contemporary 1930s.

* ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' is largely set in an advanced spacefaring society, but the tech and environments frequently have a boxy, UsedFuture aesthetic and the general visual style was designed to evoke pulp ScienceFantasy comics like the works of Creator/JackKirby. Star-Lord is also [[DiscoDan totally trapped in the '80s]], using an old Walkman and playing classic rock/funk music from the '60s and '70s. In his case it's a plot point, as he was taken from Earth when he was ten back in the early '80s, and as far as he knows Earth is still like it was back then. The TwoDecadesBehind aesthetics get amusingly lampshaded at the end of the second film; Kraglin gives Peter a new music playing device, claiming it's the hot new thing back on Earth. [[spoiler: It's a laughably outdated Zune that looks like it was bought cheap at a yard sale, and the pair of them are flabbergasted at the [[SarcasmMode gargantuan]] 300 songs that can be stored on it.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'' takes place in the city of Retroville, which follows the trope.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePeanutsMovie'' seems to be set [[TheNewTens in a contemporary period]], however it isn't remotely noticeable. The characters still dress just as they always do and everything seems the same as ever. The absence of computers is somewhat apparent, since we see Charlie Brown writing a long essay by hand.

* The IDW ''ComicBook/JemAndTheHologramsIDW'' comics are obviously set in the contemporary time period; however, the setting still has 80s style stuff like absurdly bright colored clothing and records instead of [=CDs=] or digital music. It could be seen as TruthInTelevision, as in the early 2010s dyeing your hair [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair unusual colors]] is popular and vinyl is regaining popularity.

* As noted above in the entries on ''Film/NapoleonDynamite'' and ''VideoGame/DeadRising'', this effect can also happen on a smaller scale in rural towns in the US. A combination of [[GoodOldWays cultural conservatism]] and [[TwoDecadesBehind distance from major media markets]] can often mean that the local popular culture resembles that of the '80s or '90s with modern technology thrown in.

** ''Film/InTime'' has no cellphones let alone smartphones; all calls are taken over old-school payphones or landlines. The vast majority of cars, too, are based on sleek models from the late 1960s to early 1980s at best. Likely showing that culture has stagnated due to the wealthy ruling class living forever.

* Director Andrew Niccol is another fan who likes to use this in his FantasticNoir sci-fi films:

** ''Film/InTime'', showing that culture has stagnated due to the wealthy ruling class living forever.

* ''Film/{{Gattaca}}'' may be the trope codifier. It is set in a future with highly advanced genetic engineering and space travel, but clothing and social manners are those of the 1950s or early 1960s, and the vehicles are "futuristic" ones from that era (mainly Studebaker Avantis and Rover P6's) with the engine sounds replaced by an electric hum.
* ''Film/InTime'', showing that culture has stagnated due to the wealthy ruling class living forever.