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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 1, 2015 20:30:33 GMT -5
I just recently read the novelization of my Neighbor Totoro and was planning on tracking down the film so I'm down with this theme. Totoro is an odd film in so many respects. What folks remember most is Totoro himself, but he actually spends very little time in the film. It was the same in the novel, I loved all the odd little bits of Japanese folklore in the story and the two little girls were beautiful characters. I think I saw parts of this movie back in high school with a girl I was dating back then but I don't think I saw the whole thing. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 1, 2015 21:33:10 GMT -5
You can't really go wrong with any of Mayazaki's films.. they're all great.  |
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Post by coke & comics on Mar 1, 2015 23:21:35 GMT -5
I did a binge of a good chunk of the Studio Ghibli catalogue in recent months. My Neighbor Totoro is a beautiful and strange film. Grave of the Fireflies is just hard-hitting, so painfully poignant. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind set the standard and is probably my favorite. Just a great character, great worldbuilding, great story, and beautifully rendered. As far as animated slice of life (with hints of teenage romance) go, I think Whisper of the Heart is hard to beat.
All great films. Probably the best animation studio of all time, with Pixar being its strongest competition.
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Post by coke & comics on Mar 1, 2015 23:30:02 GMT -5
I'll take suggestions for sci/fi anime from the crowd. I've seen Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Paprika, Evangelion.
I'm considering Appleseed and Gundam. Advice for other films (or where to start on those two) is welcome.
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,867
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Post by shaxper on Mar 2, 2015 5:09:19 GMT -5
I'll take suggestions for sci/fi anime from the crowd. I've seen Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Paprika, Evangelion. I'm considering Appleseed and Gundam. Advice for other films (or where to start on those two) is welcome. My two favorites of all time were television series, not full-length films, but here they are anyway: Robotech: The Macross SagaMacross was a tongue and cheek parody of Mobile Suit Gundam that gradually evolved into its own narrative. Harmony Gold then took that series and made revisions to it, using the original footage but making significant revisions to the scripts with their voice-overs, in order to make the series a more solid one from beginning to end. What ensues is one hell of a compelling serial that, while generic at first, begins to take serious risks and add powerful human drama to create an unforgettable experience with unforgettable protagonists. The animation is very dated, but the story is timeless. Having watched both the original Macross and the Robotech version, the differences between the two are minor at first, but Robotech is far superior as the two progress. My only complaint with the Robotech version is that it adds the bit about "protoculture" that never really gets explained. Serial Experiments: Lain[/i] One of the most artistic anime I've ever seen, as well as the absolute strangest, and you truly never know where the series is going to go next. It begins with a shy high school girl receiving e-mails from a classmate who just killed herself, and all hell slowly breaks loose from there. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 2, 2015 20:06:33 GMT -5
I'll take suggestions for sci/fi anime from the crowd. I've seen Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Paprika, Evangelion. I'm considering Appleseed and Gundam. Advice for other films (or where to start on those two) is welcome. I love pretty much the entire Gundam series, so I'd suggest watching them all but if you're looking to do it in a cinematic several of the series have been collected and edited into films. The original series for instance was split into three films: Mobile Suit Gundam, Mobile Suit Gundam II: Soldiers of Sorrow and Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters in Space, and if you like those the you'd definitely enjoy it's follow up Mobile Suit Gundam: 08th MS Team which is like Apocalypse Now with robot suits. After those two my favorite is Gundam Wing, but to my knowledge it was never collected into movies like the original series was. |
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Post by coke & comics on Mar 3, 2015 2:16:43 GMT -5
I'll take suggestions for sci/fi anime from the crowd. I've seen Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Paprika, Evangelion. I'm considering Appleseed and Gundam. Advice for other films (or where to start on those two) is welcome. I love pretty much the entire Gundam series, so I'd suggest watching them all but if you're looking to do it in a cinematic several of the series have been collected and edited into films. The original series for instance was split into three films: Mobile Suit Gundam, Mobile Suit Gundam II: Soldiers of Sorrow and Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters in Space, and if you like those the you'd definitely enjoy it's follow up Mobile Suit Gundam: 08th MS Team which is like Apocalypse Now with robot suits. After those two my favorite is Gundam Wing, but to my knowledge it was never collected into movies like the original series was. The film reworking of the original series was my instinct, good to have it confirmed. Unfortunately the compilation movies don't seem to be available in any easily findable way, neither through streaming nor Netflix. |
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Post by badwolf on Mar 3, 2015 10:44:50 GMT -5
I did a binge of a good chunk of the Studio Ghibli catalogue in recent months. My Neighbor Totoro is a beautiful and strange film. Grave of the Fireflies is just hard-hitting, so painfully poignant. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind set the standard and is probably my favorite. Just a great character, great worldbuilding, great story, and beautifully rendered. As far as animated slice of life (with hints of teenage romance) go, I think Whisper of the Heart is hard to beat. All great films. Probably the best animation studio of all time, with Pixar being its strongest competition. is one of my favorites too. Ghibli is tops but you guys should also check out the work of Mamoru Hosoda - The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars and Wolf Children. They are all family films as well and equal in quality to Ghibli's output, IMO. |
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Post by coke & comics on Mar 3, 2015 14:58:35 GMT -5
I did a binge of a good chunk of the Studio Ghibli catalogue in recent months. My Neighbor Totoro is a beautiful and strange film. Grave of the Fireflies is just hard-hitting, so painfully poignant. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind set the standard and is probably my favorite. Just a great character, great worldbuilding, great story, and beautifully rendered. As far as animated slice of life (with hints of teenage romance) go, I think Whisper of the Heart is hard to beat. All great films. Probably the best animation studio of all time, with Pixar being its strongest competition. is one of my favorites too. Ghibli is tops but you guys should also check out the work of Mamoru Hosoda - The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars and Wolf Children. They are all family films as well and equal in quality to Ghibli's output, IMO. All three of those sound right up my alley. All too new for this competition, but I may watch them anyway. Summer Wars is available through Netflix, so I added it to my queue. |
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Post by badwolf on Mar 3, 2015 15:06:01 GMT -5
Oh, right, I forgot they had to be "classic" films!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2015 17:53:05 GMT -5
Whisper of the Heart is one of my favorites too. Ghibli is tops but you guys should also check out the work of Mamoru Hosoda - The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars and Wolf Children. They are all family films as well and equal in quality to Ghibli's output, IMO. All three of those sound right up my alley. All too new for this competition, but I may watch them anyway. Summer Wars is available through Netflix, so I added it to my queue. I've not seen "wolf Children" but "the Girl Who Lept Through Time" is one of my top all time favorite films.. . and it's 2006. . so maybe if you squint?  and I bought "Summer Wars" during a lightning deal on Amazon last year, but haven't had time to watch it yet. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2015 18:02:59 GMT -5
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Post by badwolf on Mar 3, 2015 18:06:46 GMT -5
All three of those sound right up my alley. All too new for this competition, but I may watch them anyway. Summer Wars is available through Netflix, so I added it to my queue. I've not seen "wolf Children" but "the Girl Who Lept Through Time" is one of my top all time favorite films.. . and it's 2006. . so maybe if you squint? and I bought "Summer Wars" during a lightning deal on Amazon last year, but haven't had time to watch it yet. I think Wolf Children might be my favorite, but then I am partial to wolves, if not children. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 3, 2015 22:32:06 GMT -5
I've mostly watched shows rather than movies... of the shorter ones, you can't go wrong with:
Cowboy Bebop (space Bounty Hunters with epic music behind them)
Black Lagoon (modern Bounty Hunters, almost as good)
Android Kikaider: The Animation (60s goodness in a new package)
Neon Genesis Evangelion (giant robots and EMO teens!)
I did like Wolf Children, though it wasn't as good as Studio Ghibli stuff.
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Mar 5, 2015 10:55:33 GMT -5
Most of my favorites come from the first exposure I had to anime, back in the 90's.
Macross Plus (1994) -- Back when I bought this it was a 4 volume VHS series. I think since then they have collected it into one volume with added material labeled Macross Plus The Movie. So I guess it can be considered a movie instead of a series. Yoko Kanno produced one of the best soundtracks I have ever heard on an anime series.
The Castle of Cagliostro (1979 Japan, 1991 US) -- There's not much to say but that this whole movie is golden. Action, romance, comedy. This could be one of the best anime movies I have ever seen.
Vampire Hunter D (1985)-- Someone has already suggested. Good horror movie.
Patlabor The Movie (1989) -- Good, tense thriller, about corporate espionage. Good antagonist, but not as good as ...
Patlabor 2: The Movie (1993) -- This movie has a great cast, antagonist, plot and execution of it. It may be a bit long for some, and may not hold one's attention, if you either haven't gotten to know the characters from watching the first one, or just didn't like the first movie.
Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle (1993) -- My favorite of all the Fatal Fury movies, though I would suggest them all. They have a great cast of characters, but like Patlabor, I think the second movie has the best antagonist in it.
Tenchi The Movie: Tenchi Muyo In Love (1996) -- I have every movie and series of Tenchi Muyo. Easily my favorite anime, whether it be movies or series. The first movies is the best of the three, and gives you a good sample of the series that was finished with this movie, The Tenchi Universe. It's heavily a science fiction story, with some fantasy elements. It's got a fairly good antagonist, but more so I like all the characters featured in the movies and series, so this is an easy win for me.
Princess Mononoke (1997) -- I watched this much later than when I was watching a lot of anime in the 90's. I don't know how it slipped by me, but I didn't watch this till I had cable in the early 00's after I got married. Good film, though. More of a fantasy/spiritual style plot.
I could suggest a lot more, but the stimulation that it be a movie and not a series prevents a lot of good anime from not qualify for the criteria.
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