Best Anime

[ANavissi500]

What is your favorite Japanese anime?

My favorite is Cowboy Bebop which I recently discovered on DVD. I have seen others animes without getting into them but Bebop is flawless. I love everything about the episodes and the character development is great. Top it off with the best dubbing around and you have a great series. Also, check out the Cowboy Bebop movie which is in limited release right now.

[ArcticQuakee]

I really like Akira!
It has a good story and it's not too far-fetched.
It's my favourite Anime and I've got it on DVD too! Fell in love with it last year...

[Dafixer]

My vote:

Ghost in the Machine
Akira

[iNF]

I think it's important to make some distictions about what forms that anime takes.

Movies (Feature-length animated, made for the theatre)
OVA's (Short series or short films made for video release, Original Video Animation)
TV Series (Anime episodes for TV, usually 30mins)

You mentioned Cowboy Beebop the series, it's not really a movie, but I believe that there is a Cowboy Beepop movie which is either out or in production. Great series though. If you like series anime you should check out Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO), probably one of the best animated shows I have yet seen, anywhere!

If you want to see good anime MOVIES, watch anything by Studio Ghibli, absolutely amazing films, you will be blown away.

Shortlist: Spirited Away, Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, Laputa, Nausicaa.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE get the subtitled versions!!!

[flowrchild]

So far I have only seen 3 anime movies. But my favorite is Grave Of The Fireflies. And Spirited Away was cute too.

I just rented Perfect Blue so let's see how that goes.

[VincentPrice]

Haven't seen many Anime flicks but I'd have to say...of the ones I've seen...Metropolis and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust are my favorite movies.

I don't watch any Anime series except Trigun which I absolutely love.

[bowieee]

My all time favorite is Princess Monoake but I enjoy a bunch of the genre.

Some other faves:

Grave of the fireflies
My neighbor Totororo
Spirited Away
Akira
Neon genesis Evangelion (Series and movies)
The trigun Series
Vampire Hunter D films

[Slim]

My favourite anime series would be Cowboy Bebop, it's excellent! Lots of style, very high production value, and characters were really well developed. One hell of an entertaining package. Also worth mentioning is Neon Genesis Evangelion and Escaflowne!

As for anime movies, I think Ghost in the Shell and Perfect Blue were amazing. And of course all Miyazaki's films too!

[Slim]

Originally posted by flowrchild
I just rented Perfect Blue so let's see how that goes.

What did you think of Perfect Blue, flowrchild?

[Hannibal21]

Originally posted by bowieee
Some other faves:

Grave of the fireflies
My neighbor Totororo
Spirited Away
Akira
Neon genesis Evangelion (Series and movies)
The trigun Series
Vampire Hunter D films

Nice list! I haven't seen Akira, Neon genesis Evanglion, and The trigun series, but the other ones I loved. :)

[Weapon X]

My top two are easily Cowboy Bebop and Neon Genesis Evangelion (hence my avatar). I'm also quite partial to...

MOVIES:
Akira
Princess Mononke
Spirited Away
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust

SERIES:
Outlaw Star
Soultaker
Trigun (still collecting it)

[flowrchild]

Originally posted by SlimX
What did you think of Perfect Blue, flowrchild?

I rented it from netflix, so I will probably get it within the next couple of days. As soon as I see it, I'll definitely give you my opinion :)

Have you seen Grave Of The Fireflies? If not, I highly recommend it. Amazing movie.

[MickeyKnox]

1.)Akira
2.)Grave of the Fireflies
3.)Jin Roh:The Wolf Brigade
4.)Ghost In The Shell
5.)Ninja Scroll
6.)Spirited Away
7.)Cowboy Bebop
8.)Trigun
9.)Noir
10.)GTO:Great Teacher Onizuka
11.)Vampire Hunter D
12.)Ronin Warriors
13.)Lupin the 3rd
14.)Vampire Hunter D:BloodLust
15.)Princess Mononoke
16.)Perfect Blue
17.)Fist of the North Star
18.)Berserk
19.)Hellsing
20.)Ninja Resurrection

[JCPhoenix]

I haven't watched that many (i mainly watch the studio ghibli animes), but of the ones i've seen, Grave of the Fireflies is by far the best of them all. I love Spirited Away, Castle in the Sky, and My Neighbor Totoro as well though.

I wasn't as crazy over Princess Mononoke as others were...good, but probably my least favorite Miyazaki film.

[ColinM]

Of the few anime movies I've seen, my favorite is Metropolis (7/10). I actually really want to see Grave Of The Fireflies, though.

My friends have been trying to get me into anime for years, and they finally got me into a series called "One Piece". It hasn't come out in the U.S. yet, but it's really popular in Japan and has spawned games, movies, etc. I love it, it's a great show. Has anybody besides me here ever seen it? :)

[eraserhead_99]

Originally posted by bowieee
My all time favorite is Princess Monoake but I enjoy a bunch of the genre.

Some other faves:

Grave of the fireflies
My neighbor Totororo
Spirited Away
Akira
Neon genesis Evangelion (Series and movies)
The trigun Series
Vampire Hunter D films

agree with all 'cept GOTF havent seen it.

Im adding-

Princess Mononoke
Gunsmith Cats
Cowboy Bebop
Blue Seed
some others

plus i really want to check out Hellsing

[Sigur509]

Princess Mononke is in my top 10. Great movie.

[Slim]

Originally posted by flowrchild
Have you seen Grave Of The Fireflies? If not, I highly recommend it. Amazing movie.

Yes, I have seen it. I completely agree, it's an amazing movie!

[Lazy Boy]

Spirited Away
My Neighbor Totoro
Grave of the Fireflies
Metropolis
Castle in the Sky
Kiki's Delivery Service

Those are my favorite anime films. Akira was fine up until the ending bogged it down. I don't really like Princess Mononoke at all.

[rushmore beauty]

Princess Mononoke. A flawlessly beautiful film. I love every aspect of this film.
On my top 10 of All-Time.

Metropolis and Spirited Away (8/10 and 9/10) are both great too.

[eraserhead_99]

Originally posted by Weapon X
My top two are easily Cowboy Bebop and Neon Genesis Evangelion (hence my avatar). I'm also quite partial to...

MOVIES:
Akira
Princess Mononke
Spirited Away
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust

SERIES:
Outlaw Star
Soultaker
Trigun (still collecting it)

Ive heard of soultaker but never saw it. What would you compare it to? Is it good?

[Weapon X]

Originally posted by eraserhead_99
Ive heard of soultaker but never saw it. What would you compare it to? Is it good?

I can't really compare it to anything...it borrows from a lot of other animes, but I can't really choose one or another. As for the quality, the story is filled with melodramatic cheese, but the sci-fi and action elements are worth the corny dialogue of sometimes annoying VAs. My favorite part, however, is just the artistry of the entire series; there isn't a single conventional shot in any of the 13 episodes. Everything's shown from a weird camera angle or through a color filter, and even on top of stained-glass window patterns, which seems to be a favorite of the animators. Bottom line, enjoy the artwork and action, don't take the actual plot too seriously, and you'll enjoy it just fine. To its credit, the final two or three episodes are highly entertaining, and feature some pretty good plot twists.

[Tagia_Romero]

Neon Genesis Evangelion
Nightstalkers
Ranma 1/2
Sailor Moon
Vampire Hunter D
Hellsing
Gunsmith Cats
Bubblegum Crisis
Spirited Away
Akira
Angel Sanctuary
The Ninja Scrolls
Ah! My Goddess!
Battle Angel Alita
Ghost In The Shell
Vision Of Escaflowne

[Golden Ghost]

Originally posted by SlimX
What did you think of Perfect Blue, flowrchild?

Yeah, you seen it yet?

I think Perfect Blue and Akira are the best ones going...well, out of the ones I've seen.

[Ren Hoek]

:) I luuuurve Animes and share a certain obsession for Studio Ghibli movies with a handful of other schmoes...

Here's my top 10:

GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES (9.5/10) - along with APOCALYPSE NOW, this is my favourite war drama of all time. Beautiful and and ultimately heartbreaking at the same time. A masterpiece!

MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO (9.5/10) - my favourite among Miyazaki's movies. Totoro and his little helpers are the most wonderful creatures I've ever seen on screen.

PRINCESS MONONOKE (9/10) - Miyazaki's trademark, the environmental message, has never been so strong; but this time the story and characters are far more complex and the imagery is pretty gruesome at times in comparison to his earlier movies.

SPIRITED AWAY (9/10) - I may sound like a broken record, but Miyazaki-san has done it again: he has produced a bizarre, spiritual, and simply wonderful trip I'll never forget.

AKIRA (9/10) - Kudos to AKIRA mastermind Ôtomo for creating the Anime the meant the genre's breakthrough as "adult entertainment" in the Western world. Confusing at times, but few other Animes can match the kinetic energy of this action-packed sci-fi epic.

GHOST IN THE SHELL (8.5/10) - If you're sick of people comparing the MATRIX style to John Woo flicks, check out GHOST IN THE SHELL and prepare to be surprised.

LUPIN III - THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO (8/10) - Miyazaki's breakthrough movie from his pre-Studio Ghibli era is packed with hilarious slapstick moments and features one of the coolest car chases in the history of animated films.

X (8/10) - I'm a sucker for apocalyptic scenarios in films. This film delivers the goods without resorting to tentacle porn or gross-out violence as some other end-of-the-world Animes. Very cool!

KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE (8/10) - The ultimate feel-good film. No real storyline, extremely adorable characters, an amazing score, and the trademark Miyazaki style... Sit down, relax, enjoy!

WICKED CITY (7.5/10) - I love the noir-ish BLADE RUNNER atmosphere and the top-notch action sequences. This movie moves so fast that you almost forget about the rather messy plot.

[iNF]

You may or may not know that GHOST IN THE SHELL was the inspiration for the Matrix. As far as I can remember the story was that the Warchawski brothers took GHOST IN THE SHELL to Joel Silver (the producer) said that they wanted to do it for real and the Matrix was born. I was actually quite shocked by the amount of similarities between the two films but The Matrix was a good film in it's own right and they definately made it their own in a sense, I have no problems with that.

I do think that it is a little unfortunate that GHOST came first, yet the Matrix seems to get most of the praise, while GHOST is still obsure by comparison. I saw a documentary recently and some of Oshii's staff were a little cheesed about that. It's good that the Matrix guys have released the Animatrix as a showcase for some of Japan's creative talent, a favour returned I suppose :)

[Slim]

There was that shooting watermelons homage in the Matrix. Also, for Requiem for a Dream. Darren Aronofsky bought the remake rights for Perfect Blue, just to do a duplicate of the screaming underwater bathtub sequence.

[Grim H.]

AKIRA...I cannot stress enough that it's a kick ass movie and will leave you in awe...see it! What are you waiting for?! Damn you!..............:confused:

[Shockwave]

CASTLE IN THE SKY-9/10

PRINCESS MONONOKE-10/10

SPIRITED AWAY-10/10

AKIRA-9/10

JIN ROH-8/10

GHOST IN THE SHELL-7/10

GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES- 7/10

COWBOY BEEBOP-9/10 Im adding this one in here because each episode is drawn with such loving craft and attention to detail that each one seems like a small movie.

[Jasonite]

The best ever? Hmm, I'm not that qualified to answer, but I can say what's on the shortlist of the ones that I have seen:

Akira
Vampire Hunter D
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
Ghost in the Shell
Berserk (please God make a second series!)
The original Bubblegum Crisis
Fist of the North Star
Battle Angel


J

[flowrchild]

I just watched Perfect Blue, and I wasn't a fan. It was so campy and cheesy that I found myself laughing at certain parts that I know didn't desire that type of reaction. And there were some VERY gruesome parts in it that caught me off guard. Overall the movie was just too much of a mess for me to get into or really care much about. I give it a 5/10.

[eraserhead_99]

Oh man, i saw Ninja Scroll last night that was a great frigging movie, despite the lack of plot. I give it a 8.5/10.

[boba_medina2000]

ninja scroll the best by far, akira, ghost i the shell, princess mononoke are my favs

[Gravedigger]

Akira.

Vampire Hunter D - Bloodlust.

Wicked City.

Ghost In The Shell.

Ninja Scroll.

Beserk.

Hellsing.

Princess Mononoke.

Super Fortress Macross.