Orpheus found his love had gone to Hades and resolved to bring her back. After seducing Charon the boatman with his music, his next challenge was the curious three headed demon—Cerebus. Acting oddly like a Sphinx each head of the beast asked a single question—

The lifecycle of a creative project is quite variable, from the eternal classics (CITIZEN KANE, et al) to the still-born flops (does anyone remember Bruce Willis, Tom Hanks, and Melanie Griffith in THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES?). What determines a great deal of the life cycle is the elusive element of popularity, but that doesn't always remain constant over time or over cultural and political borders. The determining factor for the lifecycle of a product is how the owner of the property can answer the following three questions:

	1.	When does an older title become a classic, and when does it become obsolete?
	2.	How do you make an older title competitive with new titles?
	3.	When do attempts to promote older properties interfere with progress?

Puzzled, Orpheus hesitated, but his lust, er—LOVE, yeah, his love, for Fujiko helped him to focus on finding an answer to the beast's questions so that he could continue his quest—

We have yet to see if Anime titles can stand the test of time to be pillars of artistic achievement, such as CITIZEN KANE or CASABLANCA. Instead, they may simply show their age like the original FLASH GORDON TV series, or the BRADY BUNCH, and become landmarks for the passing fads of generations gone by. However, for the purpose of discussion, let's consider any title with a shred of value (nostalgia, landmark achievement, famous creator, etc.) a classic title and look at its potential in a general sense.
To me, this is more than a debate on semantics, it's a matter of pride and of financial survival. Part of the purpose of creating any commercial artwork is to get paid, and the other part is for the art to be seen, experienced, and appreciated by an audience. For any product to be presented, it must be perceived to have merit, but for a product to persist, it must be perceived to have merit above and beyond that of its competition.
For example, if I had a choice of three TV channels, and one station was playing THE FLINTSTONES, and another was playing the SMURFS, and the third was playing LUPIN III, you can bet I'll be catching up on the Wolf. For me, Lupin has a great deal of merit and nostalgia value, and I didn't care much for the other two shows anyway.
However, if those other two channels start playing KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD and MAISON IKKOKU, it becomes more of a question of which program is more suited to my personality, my patience, and my mood. For a new viewer, the action of LUPIN might be a draw, or they might be more captivated by the plot gimmicks in KOR or the strong story in MAISON IKKOKU. Yet, even though there is not much direct competition between these shows on the basis of story, the older art styles, music and animation for LUPIN might deter people from comparing it favorably with the other shows.
This would become much more pronounced if the other two channels switched again to EVANGELION and COWBOY BEBOP. Suddenly LUPIN's "classic" look becomes a severe liability despite the entertaining antics of Monkey Punch's characters. The colors, the music, the art style, and the animation quality add up to a package that fails to compete favorably with its more modern competition.