Matt's Anime Favourites Page

Rather than just have a list of titles here, I thought I might as well add some commentary. After all these are, in my not so humble opinion, the cream of the crop.

First off, I'd better explain why I've listed 30 films where there are only 10 in each other list. Basically, the fact is that I like anime films far more than I like OVA or TV series. Before anyone starts muttering about inherent laziness or a lack of commitment on my part, I do have a couple of good excuses to hand. Firstly, movies get far and away the biggest budgets and are made under the least pressing time constraints which usually equates to a better quality of artwork and design plus much slicker animation. For sheer quality of production, Memories, Ghost in the Shell, X and Princess Mononoke very much represent the cream of the crop.

Of course, visual flare isn't the only thing that matters. A good storyline usually helps a lot too and here movies have another innate advantage in that the director gets a relatively free rein. Even if the film is nominally based on a novel or manga, or is a spinoff from a series, it'll usually be expected to stand on its own for the benefit of people who aren't familiar.

Of the movies themselves, I'd like to single out the ones that have managed to escape from a release in the West as of yet. Memories is a stunningly good film in both the design and story departments based on three short stories by Katsuhiro Otomo of Akira fame. The Japanese DVD and LD releases have English subtitles so are well worth importing, although they'll set you back an arm and a leg given Japanese prices.

Angel's Egg is perhaps the weirdest and most symbolic anime film ever
made and was directed by Mamoru Oshii who also has Ghost in the Shell, Patlabor, Jin-Roh and the first two Urursei Yatsura movies to his credit. Obviously he's amongst my favourite anime directors of all time. The film was adapted along with some live action footage into another film called In The Aftermath which has a completely different plot, if anything more coherent than the original. This latter version is the most easily found in the West.

Although Spirited Away has yet to make it over here as I write, the
chances are that you'll be seeing it soon as it's the latest from Princess
Mononoke creator Hayao Miyazaki and last year smashed it's predecessors box office records. It's a rather different film though being
more of an outlandish fantasy than an ecological epic.

(* Indicates my favourite film in a series where several individual films could have made the top 30.)

Of the rest, Macross Plus gets in next on account of some truly
stunning animation. It's one of the few OVAs that could stand
alongside the best of the films in that regard. Gatchaman 94
represents the old TV series perhaps the way I'd prefer to
remember it rather than the aged hack-job Battle of the Planets.

Dominion had to get in there somewhere, although I do prefer
the manga. 3x3 is an old favourite that rounds out the lineup.

Also, it's hard to compare shows from different eras. Gundam and Urusei
Yatsura were undeniably groundbreaking when first released but the art and
animation looks rather dated when compared against that from newer series.
However, delving into the characters, stories and in the case of Urusei Yatsura
the humour as well, will show qualities that withstand the test of time.

Eagle-eyed readers will notice that mech shows feature rather heavily on the list,
from late 70s Gundam to Rah-Xephon which has only just finished its run on
Japanese TV as I write. Whilst I will admit to a certain thrill when seeing giant
fighting machines scrapping it out, what I really like about those series listed is their
originality and that they're more driven by stories and characters than robots.

After those two, there's a bit of a mixture of
famous names, who've had their manga works
adapted into (usually inferior) anime and some
lesser names who although just as good never
quite hit the big time. Now, when will they do
an anime of Blade of the Immortal...

(* Indicates my favourite manga by a creator 
who has several worthy of the list.)