Quote Originally Posted by VexNet View Post
"Dead Leaves" since that seems pretty weird too, but I've heard mixed reviews about it and I've not been swayed enough to go out of my way and watch it yet.

Steamboy is somewhat reminiscent of the Studio Ghibli way of story telling (in my opinion) so if you're a fan of those movies, then you'll probably be a fan of this.
Dead Leaves is directed by the same guy who directed Gurren Lagann. So if you're digging into Oshii history by recommending Angel's Egg, might as well get into a little bit of Imaishi's history with Dead Leaves, since you already have some interest in it.

I completely disagree with putting Steamboy on the same storytelling level as Ghibli. It wasn't a terrible movie, but it suffers from the same flaws as that same director's most famous work--Akira. Spectacular animation, perhaps distractingly so at times, but you're really not coming for the story. But really, I suspect that for this thread, just looking superb will be enough for most people.

For anyone writing off Castle of Cagliostro because they never 'got into' Lupin--don't. You'd really be doing yourself a major disservice. Just watch it. My whole post seems to be about Director Legacy, and this really is a big one, since it's the first film that Ghibli's Miyazaki directed. You don't need to be familiar with or even enjoy Lupin beforehand to dig this movie, it stands perfectly well on its own and is heads-and-shoulders better and more accessible than almost anything the rest of that franchise has to offer.

I would consider Castle of Cagliostro among the anime films that anyone who wants to call themselves a serious anime fan needs to watch.

Other than that, I'm glad I chose to take a back seat in this thread. VexNet came out of nowhere with some dern good recommendations.