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The greatest anime films
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So I've never really been a big anime guy. Sure, I enjoy Cowboy Bebop, and Spirited Away has always been a favorite of mine, but other than that I've kind of avoided the genre. Then, last night I saw Akira and was pretty blown away. I now suddenly realize that there's a whole genre of classic films that I haven't even scratched the surface of. The only problem is I know next to nothing about it.
The reason I started this thread is to learn what anime movies are generally regarded as the masterpieces of the genre. Seeing as this is D&D, you guys can debate about which movies are true classics and I'll just sit back, watch the ones that come up the most and profit!
The reason I started this thread is to learn what anime movies are generally regarded as the masterpieces of the genre. Seeing as this is D&D, you guys can debate about which movies are true classics and I'll just sit back, watch the ones that come up the most and profit!
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Ghost in the Shell - Bizarre, but cool movie. Really slow in places, but mind blowing in others. Stand Alone Complex is quite awesome and may in fact be better than the movie.
Grave of the Fireflies - Amazing. Be prepared to be really depressed.
Ninja Scroll - Over the top ridiculous, but in a really endearing way. It really helps if you are 13 when you see it for the first time though.
Perfect Blue - Really cool, head-trippy, murder mystery. One review called it Hitchcock meets Disney and I'm inclined to agree.
I know I'll think of several more.
Ghost in the Shell has an excellent atmosphere, but it's slightly incoherent. It could have stood to have a few more scenes with a bit better editing.
Grave of the Fireflies is excellent, but yes, it is incredibly sad.
"Princess Mononoke" is a fantastic film, and, shock-horror, actually manages to be a more nuanced and balanced film about the pros and cons of the industrialisation/environmentalism debate than anything else I've ever seen on the subject.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
RoD wasn't a movie and the FMA movie is godawful fanservice. I guess it does wrap up the existing series, but it's still 90% shameless cash-in.
I'll throw Metropolis out there as well.
Appleseed is also a decent flick.
I remember a lot of good anime movies that used to come on the sci-fi channel like ten or fifteen years ago during this thing they called Saturday Anime, in the mornings... I can't remember them off the top of my head, but I'm sure someone here can.
Note: View only if you want something serious and awesome.
Most of the recommendations in this thread are spot on, except Neon Genesis Evangelion. Don't watch it, especially not the movies.
Of Miyazaki I'd have to especially recommend Princess Mononoke and Howl's Moving Castle. The dub on Howl's Moving Castle is simply fantastic, it has Christian Bale!
I never hear people mention it though, so it's other obscure/disliked by most.
Akira.
You want to know why anime started to be regarded in the United States as something more than a novelty? There's your answer. The film was, quite literally, about fifteen years ahead of its time. If anime has a required viewing, Akira is definitely it.
Miyazaki-wise, I love the hell out of Princess Mononoke. Goddamned fantastic movie.
I also really encourage you to watch the 27 episode series Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. It's actually very recent and I've never seen a series so aptly show why people like giant robot television shows. Gurenn Lagann is, essentially, everything that's right with anime.
The "problem" with Jin-Roh is that it is almost four hours long and, being a character piece, makes it difficult for a lot of people to pay attention to it the whole way through. But those who have watched it and have paid attention have loved it- even some people I know who despise anime.
I've been meaning for a long time to watch it again, but I just never find the time for it.
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Looking on the back of my DVD, it is 162 minutes long.
It's nearly three hours.
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Disney also do stellar dub work.
In some sort of order: Princess Mononoke, Castle in the Sky, Nausicca, Whisper of the Heart, Porco Rosso.
Read or Die is good(if that counts), as are both Vampire Hunter Ds.
I would recommend:
Memories. It's three short films in one! First one is the best.
You're really going to struggle to find a lot of anime that is as mature and "classic" as Akira or Ghost in the Shell etc. Unfortunately Akira is very much the exception rather than the rule.
It's one of the few awesome Ghibli films that wasn't made by Miyazaki. It's a sort of sequel to Whisper of the Heart, though it only borrows a few elements; Essentially, the main character of the original film wrote a storybook about a fictional cat character who took this girl along on mystical adventures. This was only a side element that took place near the end of the film, but those parts were so popular that they decided to take the cat character, nicknamed "The Baron" and give him a more prominent role in a new movie. It started off as a short film idea, but it was such a good concept that it became a full 75 minute feature.
The English cast is really amazing, though, with Tim Curry, Peter Boyle, Anne Hathaway, Carey Elwes, Andy Richter, and a few others, all in very appropriate (If not unusual) roles that all of them pull off with extraordinary results.
There's a scene that gives a pretty good example of what you can expect from the film, but it's been taken off of youtube. Fuckers. >=(
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I have to agree, there's just something so awesome about that film.
Has anyone seen Paprika (done by the same guy that did Tokyo Godfathers)? I really want to see it but I don't know if it's worth me just buying it straight out.
STEAM
Vampire Hunter D's story is better than its sequel's, but Bloodlust is just so stunning with its visuals that I'd rank them about the same.
There's an anime fan society that makes parody anime movies... they're hard to find, but so funny. The best of them, Fanboy Bebop, actually has a coherant storyline and is quite ingenious.
I'm probably going to take some flak for this, but the first Urotsukidōji: Legend of the Overfiend was actually pretty good anime. While still hardcore, it lacked much of the exploitation of later titles and was actually stand-alone (the sequels assume the first movie's ending didn't happen).
Wings of Honneamise was one of my early favorites. I even gave it to my (at the time) preteen sister, forgetting about the rape scene... whoops. Mom was pissed at me for that one. Regardless, I'd never seen anything like it... the rocket launching was one of the most beautiful things I'd seen on a movie screen.
But then I think that of anything with an insane AI.
FLCL is great. It's really short, so you could just watch it in one 3 hour sitting like a movie, but that might be too much concentrated weird.
As regards The Cat Returns, I believe that was made by the guy Miyazaki and Takahata were grooming to be their successor when they retired, but he had a sudden and completely unexpected heart attack or something.
Go watch Princess Mononoke. It is beautiful and an easily in my top 3 favorite movies ever. The English dub is pretty good, if for no other reason than Lady Eboshi has a super sexy voice.
EDIT: <-Moron
It's just full of awesomeness.
I think I saw a flic on there called "Eyes of Mars" that was pretty good. There was also a movie about some space train.
I remember that movie and the train movie was Galaxy Express 999 (which i liked but i'm a fan of Matsumoto's work)
Most of the films i would recommend have already been mentioned such as Akira and the Miyazaki films.
I'm gonna throw out a warning about Perfect Blue, though. That movie was all kinds of fucked up. I didn't really enjoy it because I thought it was kinda gimmicky, but if you get into the main character (I didn't) I guess it would work.
A lot of my anime recommendations for movies have already been said, so I'll go to the serial recommendations. The good thing about these is they are self contained stories that have a beginning and an end (Usually in 26 episodes).
Trigun - probably my favorite anime ever, although that's a hard one to lock down. A sci-fi/western cross with a fantastic sense of humor.
Hellsing - Excellent vampire storytelling.
Noir - Gets a little repetitive at times, but excellent assassin story.
Gunsmith Cats - Only three episodes were ever made, but if you can find it (My VHS copy went missing long ago and I've never seen it on DVD) it is fan-fucking-tastic.