Page 2 of 3 FirstFirst 123 LastLast
Results 16 to 30 of 32

Thread: WK's Top Ten Favorite Anime films

  1. #16
    Resident Critic Ayen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Location
    Kansas City, Kansas
    Posts
    13,361
    Articles
    12
    Blog Entries
    76

    Default

    I never heard of any of them. Although I watched more Anime series than films, so that's probably why.

  2. #17
    Recognized Member Scotty_ffgamer's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Eizon
    Posts
    5,275
    Articles
    4
    Blog Entries
    4

    FFXIV Character

    Scotty Ffgamer (Sargatanas)
    Contributions
    • Former Cid's Knight

    Default

    Ever since you posted about Perfect Blue, I’ve been trying to remember if I ever actually saw it. I’ve seen Paranoia Agent, Paprika, Tokyo Godfathers, and Millennium Actress for sure. I even read the manga Opus during my Satoshi Kon kick. I need to get a hold of Perfect Blue because I think I just didn’t have access to that one at the time, but it’s possible I’d start watching it and realize that I had already seen it.

    Either way, I really like Satoshi Kon’s works.

  3. #18
    Slothstronaut Recognized Member Slothy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    I'm in space
    Posts
    13,565
    Blog Entries
    27
    Contributions
    • Former Cid's Knight

    Default

    Think I need to find myself a copy of perfect blue now. Sounds great.

  4. #19
    Witch of Theatergoing Karifean's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Wandering the Kakera
    Posts
    3,933
    Articles
    1
    Blog Entries
    146

    Default

    Yeah Perfect Blue is an excellent movie. I should rewatch it sometime.

  5. #20
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Nowhere and Everywhere
    Posts
    19,542
    Articles
    60
    Blog Entries
    27
    Contributions
    • Former Cid's Knight

    Default

    #6This is a film I know some of you have heard of despite being pretty obscure. Only because the question I get the most often nowadays is "what anime is you avatar/signature set from?" so I've talked about this one with a few of you. Robot Carnival is a bit of a cheat here for me. It's actually an OAV in Japan but got it's theatrical release in the U.S. by Streamline Pictures. The film is actually a collection of nine (technically eight since two of the shorts are continuations of each other) that center on the theme of robots and each features a different major director.The film is bookend by the main Robot Carnival short which takes place in the far future where civilization has fallen apart but relics of the glorious past still roam around in some shape or form. A village boy discovers the infamous Robot Carnival will be coming through his village and he tries to warn them so they can all escape. The Robot Carnival is pretty much what it says on the tin, a traveling carnival machine filled with derelict robots who have a bad pension of exploding and love audience participation. It's black comedy in its purest form. These sequences were directed by Katsuhiro Otomo of Akira fame.
    Franken's Gears is a comical parody of Frankenstein involving an old scientist trying to bring his robot creation to life via lightning. It's animated well and is childishly amusing as the robot apes his creator's movements to his detriment. It was directed by Koji Morimoto who worked with Otomo on a lot of his works and also has credits on Macross Plus, Fist of the North Star, and The Animatrix.Deprive is a sentai series style short that is very reminiscent of Casshern and Android Kikaider. An alien robot invasion strikes earth and kidnaps a young girl who is trying to be saved by a helper robot. Later, the aliens fortress is attacked by a powerful human warrior who is revealed towards the end to be the helper robot remade into a combat robot to save earth. This short was done by Hidetoshi Omori who is apparently a major animation director who has worked on more things than I can mention but highlights include Inu-Yasha, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind, Cyborg OO9, Android Kikaider, Kill A Kill, and most interesting of all, he was the animation director for Final Fantasy VII. Nightmare (Chicken Man and Red Neck in Japanese) is a robot version of Night on Bald Mountain from Fantasia which involves a strange robot (Red Neck) using it's powers to reawaken all of the broken and derelict robots within a city and lead them on a strange march through it. The Chicken Man is a lone homeless man who witnesses the event and eventually gets chased through the city by this macabre scene. It is both amusing and frightening at the same time. The short was directed by Takashi Nakamura who worked on Yatterman, AKIRA, and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Cloud is one of two serious pieces directed by Manabu Ohashi who worked as an animator for Cyborg 009, Sailor Moon, and Doreamon. This is a simple story following a robot walking the earth while the clouds in the background tell of the rise and fall of human civilization. It is one of the quieter pieces in the whole film and helps to serve as a break from the more kinetic pieces.Star Light Angel is an amusing piece because it was apparently based off of the music video for A-Ha's Take on Me. The story is about two girls going to an amusement park only to discover that they are dating the same guy. One girl storms off and the short follows her as she tries her best to forget him while causing some surreal action throughout the park. The whole time she is being followed by a robot she's running from who turns out to be a concerned worker who is actually a human in a suit. The short was directed by Hiroyuki Kiyazume who worked on Zeta and ZZ Gundam which is incredibly obvious based on the character designs. He also worked on Moldiver and Super Dimensional Calvary Southern Cross. A Tale of Two Robots (Strange Tales of Meiji Machine Culture: Westerner's Invasion in Japanese) is a hilarious short about a western mad scientist bulding a steam powered robot to conquer Japan, but is thwarted by a Japanese steam powered robot that was oriignally built for a parade. The whole thing plays out as a strange combiantion of WWII era Japanese propaganda films, and Kaiju battle. It also one of only two stories actually voiced and the cast is pretty hilarious even if the original English dub feels a bit uncomfortable from the awful fake Japanese accents. In the film adaption, it's the final short before the ending. It was directed by Hiroyuki Kitakubo who worked on Black Magic M-66, Akira, Golden Boy, Roujin Z, and Blood: The Last Vampire. Finally we have Presence, which is where my avatar and signature come from. This is the other voiced short and tells the sad story of a robot engineer who yearned for femininity in his life. He builds a robot girl who becomes self aware and falls in love with him, but his insecurity and her psychological evoltuion leads him to do something terrible that haunts him until his final days. This piece is easily one of the most haunting pieces of the film and the most recognizable part in promotional materials next to the actual Robot Carnival short. It also my favorite piece and was directed by Yasuomi Umetsu who worked on L.I.L.Y. Cat, Casshern: The Robot Hunter, and is probably best known as the creator of the infamous Kite films. Overall, this is an awesome collection of shorts done by some really prolific animators and directors of 80s and 90s anime films. I love the range of all the pieces and its one of those films where there is probably something for everyone here if you stick with it to the very end. The animation quailty is also pretty top notch and really showcases the strngth of hand drawn works. I'd highly recommend it and it was thankfully recently re-released by Discotek Media four years ago, so it's much easier to find. I actually own both the VHS release and the original DVD release before Streamline Pictures went under.


    Coming Up: It couldn't be, are you related to the Noble Ancestor?

  6. #21
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Nowhere and Everywhere
    Posts
    19,542
    Articles
    60
    Blog Entries
    27
    Contributions
    • Former Cid's Knight

    Default

    #5
    In the year 1999, a nuclear war ravaged the earth and nearly brought everything to extinction. From the shadows, the vampires led by the Noble Ancestor rebuilt the world and enslaved the surviving humanity. in the year 12,090 A.D. the Noble Ancestor has vanished, the mighty vampire empire has crumbled, and humanity is slowly retaking back the planet. Unfortunately, there are still tons of despotic vampires running around as well as all of the monsters they brought back into the world roaming the lands, so people have to rely on hunters to get rid of these problems. The most powerful hunters are vampire hunters, and even among them, the beat are dhampire, the offspring between a mortal human and vampire, who obtain the awesome powers of a vampire but none of the weaknesses. Unfortunately, dhampire's are hated by both sides of their lineage with humans distrusting them due to their monstrous natures, while vampire's see them as filthy bastards that sully the noble vampire houses.
    Doris Lang is the daughter of a former werewolf hunter who runs afoul of the vampire Count Magnus Lee who gives her the "kiss of nobility" in order to enthrall her and force her to be his bride. Not wishing for this awful fate, Doris attacks hunters on the road until she meets the titular vampire hunter D. Agreeing to help her, D has to deal both the village politics who are split on whether to help Doris or leave her to her fate since no one wants to incur Magnus Lee's wrath. On the opposite side of the conflict, Lamika, the count's daughter, is opposed to the marriage with this filthy commoner and the mutant hunter Rei Ginisei is only helping the count for the promise to become an immortal vampire. D faces enemies on all sides, and even finds a few unlikely allies. Yet who is the mysterious D, and what's up with the talking hand and the fact he seems so much stronger than a mere dhampire should be?
    Okay so let's just get the main thing out of the way here and explain why I went for the original film over Bloodlust. There are a couple of reasons. First, pure nostalgia as this film was my first real introduction to the franchise known as D and I honestly like the production values despite how dated they are. Secondly, I feel the first film has a better story structure and does more to really emphasize the strange world these characters live in, especially since it follows the lore and mentions the series framing device better. Third and finally, I appreciate the fact the first film is a very faithful adaption of the first book, whereas Bloodlust takes the premise of the novel its based on and changes around a lot of things for better and for worse.
    I'm not the world's biggest vampire fan, but I love the story angle the VHD series takes on with a former vampire empire and D searching for his father while hunting down the last of the corrupted nobility. The film does a fairly excellent job of adapting the first novel pretty faithfully with a only a few minor moments removed or changed and some of the character designs not quite matching up like the fact Doris' design in the books is closer to Amano's interpretation of Maria from FFII instead of the hokey blond pigtailed girl in the film. Likewise, Lamika is actually meant to be the blond and more regal looking figure instead of the sea green haired dominatrix she looks like. The one nice thing about the films is that they do remove the flavor text that often falls into Mary Sue territory concerning D such as the fact that he's so beautiful everyone is attracted to him regardless of gender or sexual orientation. On the other hand, the films tend to underscore how monstrously abnormal D really is and by extension how overpowered vampires really are in this narrative.
    I also just love some of the background creatures and looks to the world which fits more into what the novels are going for. D storming Magnus Lee's castle filled with strange monsters and weird technological feats is actually pretty well done. While the original dub is laughably bad, I can forgive it since it was the kind of dubbing I grew up with. None of this is to say I don't love and appreciate Bloodlust, but the first film feels like an actual story, whereas the second film is more of an excuse plot with some gorgeously animated action sequences.So the first film leaves you with a little more content to chew on after the credits roll whereas the sequel doesn't.
    Overall, check out either film, but honestly I would suggest reading the novels the most because the series is pretty fantastic despite D's Mary-Sueish characterization.

    Coming up: It's just that he was all alone. Always by himself. Never anyone to share the game. A man who lived in dreams—that's who he was.

  7. #22
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Nowhere and Everywhere
    Posts
    19,542
    Articles
    60
    Blog Entries
    27
    Contributions
    • Former Cid's Knight

    Default

    #4I still chuckle to myself about the fact that hen Cowboy Bebop was initially released in the West, I didn't have much interest in it. I blame it on the early trailers making it look like an action crime drama when Cowboy Bebop is actually more of a strange Tarantino style hodgepodge of U.S. culture with a comical bent and one of the greatest soundtracks to ever grace an anime. I had a hell of a time trying to watch this film, but this is actually one of only two films on this list I've actually seen in movie theaters since it had a limited run in the art house scene. Knockin' on Heaven's Door is a feature length film set between the events of episode 23 and 24 or basically before the whole crew disbands and we get the tear jerker finale. It's not necessarily relevant to know this information but it does help a bit with Jet's own personal issues with the rest of the crew as it shows how dysfunctional this whole crew has become. While Faye is working on a routine small fry bounty involving a hacker, she ends up being one of the surviving witnesses of a terrorist attack involving an ex-soldier turned madman named Vincent and a mysterious virus that infects several people at the attack. Course a massive bounty lands on his head and the crew all split up to try and catch the guy on their own. Instead what they find is a conspiracy involving illegal weapons testing, a pharmaceutical company's shady deals with the government, and the revelation that Vincent might actually be a much bigger threat to Mars than anyone originally imagined. The movie for the most part feels like an episode of the series with just a bigger budget and more fluid animation. Oddly enough, Vincent is actually a bigger deal than you would think but out quirky crew of misfits still treat this whole situation like a normal day on the job. There are some parallels here from the series as the film borrows concepts and character types from the main series. Obvious ones is how Vincent feels like a weird combination of Spike, Vicious, and Gren combining Spike's outlook with Vicious' personality, and a variation of Gren's backstory involving the War on Titan and illegal experimentation he has to live with. The conspiracy theory aspect also class forth the episode Bohemian Rhapsody where the "villain" is really a victim of the local government and their whole plot is partly to expose them for it. So the film has some nice recycling going on here, but has enough length to make it feel like it's own thing here. Thankfully, each crew member gets their own moments to shine and classic running gags like Spike complaining about food, the shaman wiseman, and the three old men make their appearances. Vincent himself is a haunting figure and the side effects of the nano-virus gives him a strange philosophical bent to his madness. The fact he's the fourth character in the series to really just outright kick the trout out of Spike is also something to behold. Elektra is also one of the major figures in the story and serves as an interesting foil to Spike's own investigations. I do wish we could have learned a bit more about her and her relationship with Vincent.As I mentioned before, the animation and production values for the film are better than the TV show which is saying something considering Bebop has aged pretty well. The locations have greater detail and the film crew's trip to Morocco certainly paid off with some of the set pieces. The lighting effects are probably the most stand out parts of the animation. The music... well I'm certainly going to be bias here. Yoko Kanno delivers us another powerful score with some absolutely great tracks ranging from Vincent's Theme "Is it Real?", the parade sequences "Pushing the Sky", the completely underrated "Dijurido", the haunting butterfly sequences accompanied by "Powder", and of course the film's two main themes: the toe tapping laid back "Ask DNA", and the powerful gospel inspired ending track "Gotta Knock a Little Louder". Kanno's compositions help to cement the Cowboy Bebop feel for the fans and she honestly produces some of her best work in the series with this film. Overall, most fans of the series have probably seen it and loved it. For people who have never watched the series, the film isn't a bad test bed for you since it doesn't dwell too much on the backstories of the crew and spends more time really exploring more of the world the crew live in.

    Coming up: Do you remember? The time when our eyes first met?
    Do you remember? The time when our hands first touched?
    That was the very first time I set out on the journey of love.
    I love you so.

  8. #23
    draper hates the caley Cell's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    On the right side of the bridge
    Posts
    304

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Scotty_ffgamer View Post
    Ever since you posted about Perfect Blue, I’ve been trying to remember if I ever actually saw it. I’ve seen Paranoia Agent, Paprika, Tokyo Godfathers, and Millennium Actress for sure. I even read the manga Opus during my Satoshi Kon kick. I need to get a hold of Perfect Blue because I think I just didn’t have access to that one at the time, but it’s possible I’d start watching it and realize that I had already seen it.

    Either way, I really like Satoshi Kon’s works.
    Do you like Black Swan?

    It's that, but anime and better.
    YE RAGIN', AYE?

  9. #24
    Radical Dreamer Fynn's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Tower of the Swallow
    Posts
    18,929
    Articles
    57
    Blog Entries
    16

    FFXIV Character

    Fynnek Zoryasch (Twintania)
    Contributions
    • Former Editor
    • Former Cid's Knight

    Default

    I really liked the Cowboy Bebop movie. I was actually putting it off because I am usually wary of anime movie spinoffs, thinking they're little more than flashy cash grabs, but I was definitely pleasantly surprised with this one.

  10. #25
    Recognized Member Scotty_ffgamer's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Eizon
    Posts
    5,275
    Articles
    4
    Blog Entries
    4

    FFXIV Character

    Scotty Ffgamer (Sargatanas)
    Contributions
    • Former Cid's Knight

    Default

    I never saw Black Swan either. I was always holding off to watch Perfect Blue first.

    I still have yet to see the Cowboy Bebop movie despite watching the series multiple times. I’ll have to give it a watch at some point.

  11. #26
    draper hates the caley Cell's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    On the right side of the bridge
    Posts
    304

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Fynn View Post
    I really liked the Cowboy Bebop movie. I was actually putting it off because I am usually wary of anime movie spinoffs, thinking they're little more than flashy cash grabs, but I was definitely pleasantly surprised with this one.
    It ties in with the series pretty well, if I recall.
    YE RAGIN', AYE?

  12. #27
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Nowhere and Everywhere
    Posts
    19,542
    Articles
    60
    Blog Entries
    27
    Contributions
    • Former Cid's Knight

    Default

    #3 If you've actually seen this movie, I'll be a bit surprised and assumed you either watched the awful Clash of the Bionoids dub, the better but extremely rare British VHS dub, or were like me and obtained the film through other means. My love of Robotech is no secret on this forum, and like most Robotech films, I agree that the part taken from Super Dimensional Fortress Macross is easily the highlight since Macross is just a phenomenal series. The studios behind the series thought so too so in 1984 they released a film adaption of the series. Unlike the Mobile Suit Gundam films through, they actually wrote a condensed and altered story while creating a completely new animation for the film. The film begins in medias res, with the SDF Macross deep in space and trying to get back to earth. The ship had made a risky space fold maneuver to escape the alien invasion and had accidentally taken the island the ship was on with it. Saving the civilians, they rebuilt their community within the gut of the massive alien ship. The all male alien Zentradi tracked them down and has been engaging the ship in small battles as they try to capture the ship unharmed from the micronoids (humans). Hikaru Ichijyo is one of the ace pilots for the ship but in the most recent battle he rescues the civilian Idol Singer Lynn Minmei but crashes them into a part of the SDF that cuts them off from the rest of the crew. Trapped down there days, the two bond over the expectations other place on them. They are eventually rescued, but now have a romantic bond formed between the two. Hikaru sneaks Minmei away and steals a Valkyrie trainer model so he can show her Saturn's rings, but the two are captured by the Zentradi along with Hikaru's two superiors Roy Föcker, and Misa Hayes, as well as Minmei's manager and cousin Lynn Kaifun.The group learns that the Zentradi are completely baffled by human culture and customs, as well as the fact that both genders intermingle. The intelligence gathered by them has started to cause confusion and mutiny among the crew who have only ever been bred for war and wish to learn more about this "culture" the humans speak of which may be linked to a strange music box the Zentradi commander has kept for centuries and is said to be linked to the fabled protoculture. The interrogation is interrupted when the Zentradi are attacked by the Meltrandi, their all female alien counterparts and sworn enemies who also seek the Macross. The humans try to make their escape but Roy is killed and Hikaru and Misa are caught in a space fold while Minmei and Kaifun escape back to the Macross. I won't spoil the rest but even if you're familiar with the plot of Macross. the film takes a few interesting turns that will keep you surprised. The film does a great job of capturing all of the really big moments from the series and the higher production values are much appreciated. While I'm not a huge fan of the Zentradi redesigns, the higher quality mecha designs and the character designs closer to Haruhiko Mikimoto's designs are much appreciated. The original Macross was plagued with off-model episodes thanks to outsourcing and budget issues, but the film is absolutely gorgeous and insanely well animated. It's no surprise that this was one of the films that really inspired Studio Gainax. The film also does a better job of making the love triangle work better as Minmei character alterations from the Robotech dub and just basic value dissonance from the original are kind of swept away and instead her relationship with Hikaru feels much healthier. Likewise, the film finds some good ways to really keep the love story with Misa workable since a lot of her backstory and character moments from the original were left out of the adaption. Also, the film's main theme song "Do You Remember Love?" is a way better song than "My Boyfriend is a Pilot" to be singing for the fateful battle and I am still grateful Robotech had the common sense to also change the theme song for that battle to something a bit more epic and fitting. This film is just a real awesome flick that reminds me why I love Macross and Robotech so much. While it's nigh impossible to find a legal DVD copy of this film unless you speak Japanese, I would certainly recommend it for anyone who loves Robotech, Macross, or just good space opera.


    Coming Up: Well I can see once again that I made it just in time. The problem is in the past!
    Everyone: *gasp*

  13. #28
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Nowhere and Everywhere
    Posts
    19,542
    Articles
    60
    Blog Entries
    27
    Contributions
    • Former Cid's Knight

    Default

    Sorry this took so long. Life has been pretty hectic for me in the last week.

    ***********************************************************************
    #2
    I'm sure this will be one of the most controversial and most unexpected entry. I don't really talk about this series very much, at least until recently. Tenchi Muyo! was a series I got into back when I first got into the scene in the 90s. I'm huge fan of the first two OVA series, the manga, and to a lesser extent Tenchi Universe. The first film in the franchise was easily one of my favorite non-Ghibli films of the 90s and mostly embodies everything I love about the series; which is balancing great humor, with tender storytelling, and some cool Sci-Fi action. I still feel like the Jurai are some of the coolest galactic empires in science fiction as well.
    Quick rundown of the franchise for the people who don't know. Tenchi follows the story of a Japanese boy named Tenchi Masaki who runs afoul of a feared Space Pirate named Ryoko who ends up falling for him and deciding to hide out on Earth. Unfortunately she ends up attracting a host of other crazy alien girls to the planet who come looking for her and end up staying thanks to Tenchi.
    Tenchi Muyo in Love is set within the TV series universe and begins with the Galaxy Police HQ imploding and disappearing from space as the A-1 Class criminal Kain escapes. Shortly after, Tenchi Masaki begins to disappear from reality until resident scientist Washu uses her super science to keep him from fading away. Unfortunately, even her science can't save Tenchi and the group discover that something happened in the past that caused Tenchi's mother to die before giving birth to him. So now the whole group has to travel back to the 70s to keep an eye on Achika and figure out what happened while also trying not to interfere with her falling in love with Tenchi's dad. So yeah, it's basically Tenchi Muyo!'s take on Back to the Future.
    What really makes this an emotional story for fans of the series is that Tenchi's relationship with his mother plays a central part in all of this. In every series, Tenchi's mother passed away when he was very young, so Tenchi never really knew his mother and it's usually one of the only character building aspects of his character since most male characters in harem's have the personality of cardboard. Course, what really makes this movie a bit different is that it really is more of the story about Tenchi's mom Achika's daily life and meeting her future husband, so it's really more of a love story that just ends with a battle against an inter-dimensional space monster in a pocket dimension. So the film is more of a quiet slice of life romance flick than space battles, you just still get the fun high jinks of Ryoko and Ayeka fighting, Mihoshi being her usual ditzy self, and poor Kiyone being the token team butt monkey.
    The animation is really well done, and probably some of the best within the series outside of the original OVA series. The music was composed by Christopher Franke of German based electronica band Tangerine Dream, and it is fantastic with several great pieces that really fit the feel of the films themes and characters. It was actually one of the first CDs I owned back in the day. While there are two other films in the Tenchi series, the other two films just never set right with me. Daughter of Darkness felt too much like a filler story from Tenchi Universe with more laughs than actual feels; while Tenchi Forever lacked the energy and fun that made the series enjoyable, instead focusing on high drama and having a punishing slow pace.
    I feel the real reason why this film is so high on the list is that it does a few really interesting things here for me. I think this is the film that made me fall in love with Japan, and I still wish to visit sometime. This is also one of the very few films that actually makes me feel gooey inside, which alone is a pretty strong sentiment since I'm usually a fairly unfeeling machine about most subjects. Yet the ending really kind of gets to me each time, and watching Achika and Nobuyuki's blossoming relationship just garners some emotional investment from me. Overall, if you haven't had a chance to check this film out, you should, especially if you're familiar with the Tenchi franchise.


    Coming Up: Honorable Mentions

  14. #29
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Nowhere and Everywhere
    Posts
    19,542
    Articles
    60
    Blog Entries
    27
    Contributions
    • Former Cid's Knight

    Default

    Time for some honorable mentions:
    rj3DEjIKuF9V7kDLnxShLNrwK1W.jpg
    Ranma 1/2: Nihao My Concubine
    This is a really fun film for longtime fans and is easily the best of the two Ranma films. It's pretty similar in concept to a few story arcs that appear towards the end of the manga with the villains having an animal motif. The animation is good and the soundtrack is pretty great as well. The Viz dub is also iconic for me with the iconic battle between Tatewaki Kuno and the infamous "Dog Man" that Nabiki Tendo ended up defeating instead. It's a fun film but doesn't quite tickle that need I want in a film.

    memories-16.jpg
    Memories
    Another collection of animated shorts sponsored by Akira's creator. This one only has three films but each one is a treat with the final story about a child growing up in a country that obsesses over weapons used to fight an unknown enemy of the state. It's a surprisingly charming and fun "day in the life" tale despite the serious parallels to 1984. I almost wish this film had a few more shorts to help balance it better like Robot Carnival did, but it is still a great collection.

    giphy.gif
    Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
    This film is a bit weird for me. Animation and production-wise this film is pretty top notch, but something about it always felt uneven for me. I discovered why later after reading the book it was based off of and discovering that outside of the initial premise and names of the cast, the film is a major change from the much darker and grim original tale. With that said, I honestly prefer the films story over the books but it also kind of explains why the film feels awkward since the Markus family underwent serious character changes along with the mutant body guards, not to mention Carmilla was made for the film and never appears in the book. The film is much more optimistic than the "shoot the shaggy dog" story that is the book.
    Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer
    For some of you, it may blow your mind to find out that this film was directed by Mamoru Oshii, the man best known for the Ghost in the Shell films, the second Patlabor film, Angel's Egg, and Jin-Roh of all things. But Oshii got his start on Rumiko Takahashi's first break out series and he directed both films. The difference here is that he actually wrote the plot for this one and it shows. Takahashi is known for romantic hi-jinks, hilarious characters, and slapstick comedy. Oshii transformed this into a surreal film about time loops, dreams, and philosophical discussions on reality. It still maintains a lot of the elements most love about Lum, but the film is much more philosophical.
    source.gif
    Project A-Ko
    Probably one of the most quintessential early 90s anime films next to Akira for me, Project A-Ko drops us on the other side of the spectrum with a hilarious parody series that lampooned hits like Captain Harlock, Gundam, Macross, and Starblazers. Until recently, I didn't realize this film originally started as a short for the infamous Cream Lemon hentai series before being turned into a film with much less fanservice but the film is great for its absurdness and has aged far better than I had imagined.

    source1.gif
    The Wind Rises
    Easily my second favorite Ghibli film, the Wind Rises is a strange fictionalized biopic about Jiro Horikoshi, the inventor of the A6M Zero fighter planes used by Imperial Japan in WWII. What some people don;t know is that Miyazaki mixed historical facts about the inventor with a novel called The Wind has Risen which is about a man struggling to care for his fiance dying from tuberculosis. So most of the stuff about his wife in the film is not true. The film combines Miyazaki's beautiful flight animations with some really gut wrenching human drama, as well as avant garde sound design that uses only the human voice. This film really struck a chord with me though, but just can't unseat my favorite Miyazaki film.

    This is such an odd movie because it's difficult to really explain to people because the premise is pretty simple but the film concept is really artistic and out there. This film along with Perfect Blue is Satoshi Kon at his best in terms of editing and directing. While I enjoy the plot of Tokyo Godfathers more, I would genuinely be excited to see this film in theaters more because it embodies what I feel cinema is all about in terms of being an audio/visual experience.

    source3.gif
    Metropolis
    Loosely based on Osama Tezuka's manga, which itself is a very loose adaption of the original silent film. The movie takes a few more cues from the original film that Tezuka's manga but it's absolutely gorgeous to watch this film. Like the previous film, this is one that you need to see in an actual theater to really appreciate what it does with its fluid animation, awesome roaring 20s soundtrack, and tale of social injustice. If the story was just a little better, it would have made my list.

    giphy7.gif
    Lupin III The Castle of Cagliostro
    Easily my favorite Lupin film and the movie that launched Miyazaki's film directing career as well as film that inspired Steven Spielberg, this is Lupin at his best in both as a story and him living up to "gentlemen thief" which always varied from writer to writer. It's honestly a super fun action-adventure film and if you love Indiana Jones, you should check this film out sometime. It's had a few different dubs, but my personal favorite is the Manga Entertainment dub where Lupin III is voiced by David Hayter of Metal Gear fame. I also love the fact that Here is Greenwood did a shout out to the awesome climax of the film in the anime series.

    Coming Up: My favorite Ghibli Movie

  15. #30
    Radical Dreamer Fynn's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Tower of the Swallow
    Posts
    18,929
    Articles
    57
    Blog Entries
    16

    FFXIV Character

    Fynnek Zoryasch (Twintania)
    Contributions
    • Former Editor
    • Former Cid's Knight

    Default

    I think the most amusing thing about the Wind Rises was learning that the protagonist is voiced by Hideaki Anno.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •