The word on the street is that Hayao Miyazaki is retiring and, while that makes me feel sad, he leaves us with one of the greatest back catalogues of all time. It’s got me wondering: what are some of your favourite anime movies? And what are your favourite anime in general?
My favourite current Director working in anime is easily Mamoru Hosoda. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time was one of my all time favourites but his recent movies continue to raise the bar. Be warned: if you’re a parent, The Wolf Children Ame And Yuki is going to drag every single tear from your body with vigorous force. You will lose at least a kilo in water weight.
But what about you guys and girls: what movies would you recommend? And are there any good new series worth watching?
Comments
108 responses to “Off Topic: Best Anime — Make Your Recommendations!”
Outside of Miyazaki its gotta be Ninja Scroll. Gantz was probably my favorite series just because its so damn weird. Honorable mentioned for Guyver and Elfen Lied.
Ninja Scroll movie was good for the time. I probably couldn’t watch it now, I feel I’m too grown up now haha.
Ninja scroll for sure. My first thought was this CLASSIC of an Anime, and well worth all of it’s cult following. Just stay away from the second movie. TV show was a little watered down, but still worth watching.
Actually, Gantz the comic just finished recently, and all I can say is it gets much much weirder. And has a crappy ending.
I’m too busy watching a back catalogue of anime including Bleach, Samurai X, full metal alchemist and Deathnote but if I had to pick a single movie I would say the classic in Howls Moving Castle
DeathNote is OUTSTANDING.
yep… i have the deathnote manga, the deathnote anime and the live action movies.. all fantastic
DO NOT WATCH THE MOVIES!
I stopped watching Death Not once it became an endless cat and mouse with a completely unlikable main character and hollow supernatural elements. It started real good though.
Hunter x Hunter series is rocking my boat lately.
Ninja Scroll probably one of the better movies I’ve seen.
attack on titan is destroying me. also anything by satoshi kon.
Yeah, anything by Kon for sure. Paranoia Agent as a series doesnt seem to get as much talk in my experience, but seeing him spread his ideas over that amount of time, he was a goddamned genius that man
Seconding Attack on Titan. It’s amazing.
The only anime I’ve ever seen is Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex, Samurai Champloo (but I think it might’ve only been the first half of it?), and Perfect Blue. They were all pretty good I guess. Particularly the last one.
I liked Standalone Complex as well, have the boxset. But I know people who watched it and completely missed it’s intricacies. I had to watch it a second time to see all the clues throughout the series relating to the end story.
Getting into Samurai Champloo at the moment, is looking like a great series.
Cowboy Bebop for sure.
The often overhyped, but for good reason, Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Trigun.
Irresponsible Captain Tylor.
Anything Ghost In The Shell.
And a personal favourite, which it feels like no body else has ever seen, is L/R: Licensed By Royalty.
Love the style of the characters in L/R
What this guy said. Love GiTS.
Gunslinger Girl is good too.
Cowboy would be mine for a series. With Akira for movies, honourable mention to Princess Mononoke.
Trigun ftw 🙂
I also still remember ‘See you next time, space cowboy’ from Bebop
I would second this whole list, but also add Bleach
Oh and Samurai 7
I’ve really dropped off anime the last 4 or so years. I showed my gf of 3 years some of the more popular classics (Totoro, Mononoke, Spirited Away) but thats about it.
I will say (as a fully fledged adult with a resounding distate for cell-repeating TV anime), for anyone who hasn’t bothered with Naruto because of its fans; ignore them, watch it from the start, up to “the split” (and then move onto Shippuden if you want more).
The NARUTO storyline is great. It’s long, and the character evolution is slow, but I really felt the payoff was worth it.
I agree. I actually thought that the pacing on the original series wasn’t that bad, up until the massive filler saga, of course, but no one needs to watch that anyway.
Naruto has a great universe. I’m not really a fan of Shippuden though, that drags like Dragonball Z.
I love Naruto and still watch the episodes weekly but i hate the filler episodes. For anyone that is picking this series up from the start or way back, there are filler guides online that will tell you which episodes don’t relate to the story. You will save yourself DAYS. Some people like the filler but i hate it… It’s very very interesting atm though 🙂
If you’re after something a bit on the whacky side, FLCL is a masterpiece. Also Excel Saga for total insanity.
I haven’t watched new anime for about 10 years except I recently caught up on the 4th and 5th stages of Initial D, which was pretty much the last good anime I watched before quitting. The new stuff doesn’t have quite the same charm as the original and at some point they went of the rails and stopped trying to come up with logical reasons to explain why Takumi always wins in an outdated car. The current explanation is basically “he’s magic”. Still, I may as well see it through. I think the 6th stage will be the finale.
So anyway, all my recommendations are pretty old and almost a stock standard list of stuff you should watch if you haven’t already, like cowboy Bebop and FLCL.
I didn’t mind Martian Successor Nadesico
Thats on top of Evangelion and Bebop already noted.
I loved Nadesico back in the day. I loaned my DVDs to a friend though and never got them back. 🙁
Mirai Nikki and Eureka Seven.
Fantastic shows.
More obvious recommendations would be Death Note, Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop and Hellsing, but they are definitely nothing new.
I liked The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, it was pretty good. I think due to being 22 and having no relationships to speak of meant that Ame & Yuki had way less impact on me than it did others. I still enjoyed it.
I’m currently watching shows with the subtle aim of eliciting emotional responses out of myself, so I just finished watching AnoHana (it was pretty decent), and am currently on Clannad (with the aim of course being the apparently heart crushing After Story) which I’m enjoying. But all they really get is a thumbs up, not a hearty recommendation.
Angel Beats is probably my favourite anime, made me feel things right here *points at left shoulder* though based on what I’ve seen other people say, it’s quite polarising (which is fair enough).
Oh right, this probably doesn’t help much. My favourite anime movie is probably Nausicaa. I mean, I’ve barely watched any anime movies outside the Ghibli stuff (and the Naruto movies, but they don’t count), so I have a rather small sample, but I really, really like Nausicaa.
I don’t usually react emotionally with anime, but After Story made me absolutely bawl my eyes out.
Princess Mononoke and Ponyo are awesome
As far as movies are concerned, I REALLY enjoyed Summer Wars recently.
OH! This might be a good place to ask…
Are any of the other LUPIN III/Monkey Punch films as good as The Castle of Cagliostro?
I love that film, but I haven’t watched the others in the series. The characters in Cagliostro have that depth to them that only someone like Miyazaki (at the time) could deliver. And I fear watching the other films will dilute my memories of the characters if they are not as well written as they were in that film.
So, opinions?
I loved Cagliostro, I think I watched one other called Mamo which just didn’t manage to hold my attention. At the moment I’m watching Lupin season 3 with my girlfriend and we are LOVING it! Of all the series I’m finding it closest to the Cagliostro vibe and some of the stories are just plain wacky. I would have to say though the best Lupin is the new series called ‘The Woman Named Mine Fujiko.’ Incredible artistically and the story is deep and interesting too.
I didn’t even realise there was a television series!! haha. Where do I start?
Well Castle of Cagliostro is the perfect starting point and you have already seen that. I would advise checking out the tv series rather than other movies. Try out the newest series: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupin_the_Third:_The_Woman_Called_Fujiko_Mine or if you are looking for a more classic vibe go for Lupin III part III which was made in the 80s
One piece 😀
How come no one’s mentioned STEINS;GATE!?!?!?
I loved Steins;Gate! It starts off being somewhat light-hearted and often quite funny, and then suddenly it gets so serious and emotional. It was an incredible series.
Fans of the music from Cowboy Bebop should check out ‘Kids on the slope’. Same jazz composer, very different storyline/setting but still very good.
I definitely second Ninja Scroll for a movie, and Cowboy Bebop for a series. Both classics.
I would have to say for Anime you really need to watch before you die
1) Akira (go back and watch where it exploded into the west also if you can find them the Manga’s are the bomb)
2) Ninja Scoll the Movie (Not a fan of the series)
3) Ghost in the Shell (All of is the movies, SAC, 2nd gig)
4) Last Exile (for any steam punk fan)
5) Cowboy Bebop
6) Samurai Champloo (if you like bebop this is a MUST!!!)
7) Neon Genesis
8) Macross (More Macross Plus but any of them are good)
9) Fullmetal Alchemist (I prefer it over Brotherhood, but Brotherhood is still really good)
10) Jin-Roh
11) Wing of Honneamise
I would say if you haven’t seem some of them go check them out they are well worth your time
.
I saw Jin Roh at the Australian premiere during one of the Melbourne film festivals back in late nineites. Was rad on big screen.
I completely forgot about Wings of Honneamise!! Love the environments they use in that. Good one!
Steins;Gate
If it’s Ghibli, I really liked Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle and Ponyo. The music for any Ghibli films is just magical and memorable.
Anime-wise, my personal top favourites would be
Gintama (because it’s Gintama)
Natsume’s Book of Friends (a gentle anime, given the characters are mainly traditional Japanese demons),
Acchi Kocchi (gentle but very very very heart-squeezing),
Full Metal Panic – because of it’s very unique storyline, with a ton of hilarity
Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan) – It brings you up as much as it tears you down
List goes on, but I’ll stop here. Too much anime otaku-love I have.
Miyazaki movie would have to be Princess Mononoke
General Anime would be a toss up between Death Note and Code Geass but I would give the edge to Death Note
I’d have to go with some of the obvious ones already mentioned like Cowboy Bebop and Neon Genesis but I’ll also add Hellsing, Black Lagoon, Trigun, Naruto before it went all filler after the Naruto/Sasuke split and Macross Frontier was pretty good too
I never really got into Anime.. I did watch a few critically acclaimed movies and what-not over the years of course.. but the Anime that I liked was the playable kind, my favourite being the Dragon Quest franchise.
I just finished catching up on Fairy Tail, which is pretty fun, though not a masterpiece or anything, one of those longer series that’s simply really entertaining.
In terms of movies, I like the Escaflowne and Utena movies. Some of my favourite series are:
– Ergo Proxy
– FLCL
– Steins;Gate
– Escaflowne
– Nadesico
– Puella Magi Madoka Magica
– Arakawa: Under the Bridge
– Azumanga Daioh
– s-CRY-ed
– Gungrave
FLCL
Or anything by Satoshi Kon
Akira and Neon Genesis Evangelion, they easily hold their own even today.
I’m STILL blown away by the motorbike trailing lights in Akira.
Now & Then, Here & There.
Such a powerful series.
I loved the way they mixed ‘cute’ animation with such heavy themes.
+1
easily the most mature content you could find in anime
Favourite movie would have to be Princess Mononoke. Loved everything about that movie, from the excellent art style, to the moral behind the story. Brilliant all round.
As for Anime Series’, I’m loving me some Attack On Titan at the moment, and just munched through alll current episodes (25 episodes) of Sword Art Online over the weekend (Marathon). I would Say these two, along with Elfen Lied, all tie for first place to me. They all have their pro’s and cons, but damn have I enjoyed them.
Rurouni Kenshin: Tsuiokuhen
The two I’ve watched the most are
Princess Mononoke
Macross Plus (that four part series)
-Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
-Naruto
-One Piece
-RED LINE
-Nausicca in the Valley of the Wind
-FLCL
-Yakitate Japan!
-Nichijou
-Tiger & Bunny
-Eureka 7
-Code Geass
-Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt
NOT Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Because I’m old (and nobody’s mentioned it yet): Mysterious Cities of Gold
LOVED THAT!
Steins Gate is a must watch.
FLCL is great.
Gurren Laggann is brilliant.
Attack on Titan is shaping up to be a memorable series.
My favourites include Neon Genesis Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, Macross Plus, and any Studio Ghibli really.
Berserk
GunBuster is great (particularly the ending). I’m also very fond of Kurau: Phantom Memory, it has a great mix of believable characters, interesting themes and science fiction-y razzamatazz.
On the comedy side, The Wallflower had me laughing more than any show since Irresponsible Captain Tylor.
I may have missed it being already listed but Code Geass is amazing and worth watching
I’ll add a few of my favourites that haven’t already been mentioned.
Series: Monster, Berserk, Rin Daughters of Mnemosyne, Hundred Stories (Requiem for the Darkness), Mononoke, Now and Then Here and There, Paranoia Agent.
Movies: Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Perfect Blue, Paprika.
Gurren Lagann…manly tears.
Evangelion for a series I guess. Hard to top for me personally. Its the reason I got into anime.
In terms of movies my pick would be Wolf Children.
Nice to see love for Sato Kon 😀
There is a lack of actual anime movie suggestions. Allow me to rectify this.
Children Who Chase Lost Voices From Deep Below (Yeah, it’s a title for sure)
Tokyo Godfathers
Speaking of Satoshi Kon, Paprika
Perfect Blue
REDLINE (OH MY GOD THE BLU-RAYS ARE FUCKING BEAUTIFUL)
Mind you all of these are actually popular and not ‘hidden gem’ categories, but they are all still excellent features to watch.
REEDDDD-LIIINNNNEEEEE
SEVEN FUCKING YEARS OF HAND-DRAWN GLORY
Cool, I love you too.
Grave of the Fireflies – prepare to cry.
I’d recommend Gurren Lagann for sheer manliness. Fate/Zero and Kara no Kyoukai are great as well. It’s a shame they haven’t made a Tsukihime anime.
Like what a lot of people said, SATOSHI KON, Tokyo Godfathers and Paprika are my personal favourite. Also check out Time of Eve/Eve no Jikan. Awesome movie about the near-future and the relationship between Humans and AI.
Series-wise, I could recommend the usual stuff like Macross F or Full Metal Panic, but I’ll suggest something that hasn’t been mentioned yet: Zegapain and FLAG.
If you can be bothered, check up my (near) complete list here, http://myanimelist.net/animelist/cheuk4
A lot I was going to suggest have already been mentioned. I went to an Anime club in tassie when I was in high school and saw some awesome stuff, but have no idea what they were now.
I remember one like ghost story based on a spaceship that was themed like an early 20th century cruise ship or something… that was interesting…
I remember Serial Experiments LAIN being pretty awesome, I don’t recall completely “Getting it” though lol.
I watched some of the old school Gundam last year, I was getting into that.
Are you thinking of Captain Harlock? I haven’t see it but my bro loved that anime.
Ok lets see what i can think of off the top of my head:
1. Stiens;gate
2. FLCL
3. Evangelion
4. Eureka 7
5. Madoka Magica
6. Gurren Lagann
7. SAO
8. Bakemonogatari
9. Psycho;pass
10. Redline
11. Code geass
I’m sure there’s more… i’m currently watching Attack on Titan and Hunter X Hunter
Stuff that I really liked that no-one has mentioned – Mushi-Shi, Durararara!!, The Tatami Galaxy and Monster.
I would always fall asleep while watching Mushi-Shi. Not because it was boring rather because it was so relaxing!
Oh, and BECK. I also dig the old Hakkenden OVA but I’m in the minority there.
From Ghibli Howls Moving Castle is my number one.
I’m not sure if I’d call it the best but I really enjoyed Elfen Lied.
Ghost in the Shell.
But granted I’m not a big anime guy. But I think it’s masterpiece. I’ve seen it many, many times.
DBZ – still my favourite.
DeathNote.
Akira.
A lot of ones I have enjoyed are here already, but one of the first I really watched, and still my favourite is El Hazard. 7 Episodes, short and sweet.
For an anime film, I’d recommend Paprika. It was Inception before Inception and had an outstanding soundtrack.
Two of the best anime that I’ve seen recently were Baccano! and Durarara!! I highly recommend giving these two a look.
BATTLE ANGEL ALITA!!!!
Tengen toppa gurren lagann did it for me, hands down the greatest thing I’ve ever watched
I’m a big fan of Mezzo Forte and Kite.
Umetsu Yasuomi has such a distinctive style, and his attention to clothing and detail in his early cel-based works were amazing.
Also love Black Lagoon, and the original Bubblegum Crisis OVA’s
For movies my favs are The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, 5cm per Ssecond ,the Rebuild of Evangelion films and Redline.
For series my favs are, Cowboy Bebop, Serial Experiments Lain, original Fullmetal Alchemist, Hunter X Hunter, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Ergo Proxy, any Ghost in The Shell, Kara no Kyoukai, Baccano!, Eden of The East, FLCL, Minami-ke, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Hellsing Ultimate and Welcome to the NHK.
Honorable mention: the first 69 episodes of Bleach.
I love the Miyazaki films but they aren’t the first thing that comes to mind. I’ve been watching anime since midway through highschool, starting with Love Hina and Bleach, working my way through the established top series to more modern fare.
A Certain Scientific Railgun,
Black Lagoon,
Macros Frontier,
Bubblegum Crisis,
Darker Than Black
are quite enjoyable.
Ergo Proxy and Haibane Renmei are interesting too.
Berserk
Gungrave
Ergo Proxy
Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo
Attack on Titan
Ghost in the Shell
My all time fav well equal favorites are Gurren Lagan and Akira. Also have a soft spot for samurai x, neon genesis and elfen lied.
Best recent ones (not gonna name everything) are Attack on Titan, Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Berserk: Golden Age Arc I, II & III, Soul Eater, Sword of the Stranger, Psycho Pass, Sword Art Online, Valvrave.
These are a mix of movies and TV shows.
Cowboy Bebop & Initial D were great. For something not science fiction and quite fun, try Yakitate Japan or Hajime no ippo. I also loved Laputa castle in the sky
Teknoman
The 3 Devilman OVA’s
Mad Bull 34
Genocyber (for pure messed up-iness)
Street Fighter animated Movie
Wicked City
Battle Angel Alita
Ninja Scroll
and Goddamned FIST OF THE NORTH STAR! ATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATAAAAA! You’re already dead.
Laputa-Castle in the Sky.
Probably my favourite. The land of imagination is beautiful.
Monster by Naoki Urasawa. Great series. I love the characters so much. Even some of the most horrible characters are likeable once they get fleshed out. Its dark and gritty and its really original. Got to be my favourite series ever.
Initial D. Favourite. Soundtrack. EVER. Brilliant races (though fifth stage is pure bullshit. and Takumi is a straight up boss.
Favourite series are Death Note and Steins;Gate.
Favourite movie is The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Ghost Hunt is my favorite anime. Followed by Gunslinger Girls.
Wings of Honneamise for me was probably what I consider the best technically, musically, conceptually. I’ve yet to see one that made me feel the same as that movie.
-Bakemonogatari, Nisemonogatari, Nekomonogatari, Monogatari Second Season
-Attack on Titan
-Neon Genesis Evangelion, including remakes
-To Aru Majutsu no Index/Railgun
-Oreimo
-AnoHana
-Steins;Gate
-Watamote
I haven’t really got a favourite series. If I had to pick a few I’d have to say Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun and Hellsing Ultimate.
G-g-g-g-ghost in t-t-the shel-l-l-l, h-h-h-h-hacker.
(Welcome to my world, insect.)
Would have to be Ghost in the Shell (the first film), Neon Genesis, Akira and Spirited Away for me. Couldn’t really pick a single best out of the 4, but perhaps GitS and Eva come out every so slightly ahead.
Others of note would be Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, the rest of the Ghilbli films, GitS:SAC, and… Card Captors. Of all the early morning animes I watched (Dragon Ball Z, Pokemon, Sailormoon etc), Card Captors is the one that stood out the most to me. I get the feeling though if I were to rewatch it I might be a little dissapointed :/
Black Lagoon, Samurai 7 or Cowboy Bebop for series. Deathnote is amazing too. Movie…. The Skycrawlers or Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. Since everyone has already mentioned Studio Ghibli films.
Oh man, why did I only come to this conversation so late? I don’t really go in for anime movies, but by far my favourite anime series is Shiki. I want more anime like Shiki. Or Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni. Or Another. I wish there was more psychological horror anime where things actually happen 🙁
My favourite anime series is Trigun.
The best anime movie is “Paprika” by Satoshi Kon
I recomend “Cencoroll” from Atsuya Uki, animated by himself
Also I recomend “Red Line” from Mad House