Jaymole

I just recently watched Memories and I really enjoyed it and I was wondering if there are any other intelligent, adult oriented Sci-Fi anime movies you can recommend, thanks!

Giles

Paprika

Perfect Blue (it's not sci-fi, but as a 'mystery-thriller' - it's amazingly good)

Royal Space Force: Wings of Honneamise - (there's nothing metaphysical or other worldly, but it's a drama, set against the history of early flight/space exploration)

Voices to A Distant Star

Robot Carnival

Yavin

I enjoyed Steamboy, Akira, (Osamu Tezuka's) Metropolis, and Appleseed (2004).

The Bus

Steamboy isn't really sci-fi, it's more steampunk, which could be considered sci-fi by some. Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle is a mix of steampunk lite with magic, and a better film, imho.

Perfect Blue is also not sci-fi at all, but is probably one of the most "adult" movies I've seen, both in content (which is explicit, but not hentai-explicit) and in themes.

Recently, I really liked Tekkonkinkreet which was directed by Michal Arias, who did the "Beyond" segment in the Animatrix (the house where there's a Matrix glitch).

Akira is a great movie, but it may take repeated viewings to really understand and it can be quite dull in the middle if you're not following the story.

I would avoid Jin-Roh.

Metropolis was very good.

Although these are series, I think you would like Cowboy Bebop and Neon Genesis Evangelion.

visitor Q

Yep!!

Metropolis is under-represented often and really does require a viewing for it's unique animation style and 3D/Cel mixing. Very cool story and awesome sound track.

Tekkonkinkreet isn't really sci fi (more of a blend of super-natural/human elements), but that's not to detract from its quality. One of my favorite films so far seen this year.

Ghost in the Shell / Innocence / Patlabor (OVA or films) are all excellent sci fi choices. Practically anything with the Oshii name slapped on it. And if you enjoy any of these films try out his live action film, Avalon. It has the look and feel of an anime film.

Battle Angel 2 30 minute clips about a female android assassin. A little rough but a fine short film.

Vexille You could try this film on for size. It's a fairly original concept but fails in the same sentence by borrowing a few concepts from other sources - games/films. I didn't fully like this CGI fest as much as some, but you might. There's an American release coming up in May.

Spriggan More action and/or sentient being type film than true sci fi but there are heavy elements throughout. It's a low maintenance fun Saturday afternoon flick with some deep concepts at play.

Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex and 2nd Gig are both required viewing. These are Kenji Kamiyama's works based on Shirow's Manga - same source as Oshii's film versions. Highly intelligent cyberpunk series about a government sponsored agency that investigates matters of national security related to computer crimes. Excellent and well written material.

Maxflier

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie

If you enjoy it (don't see how anyone could not) then you should check out the series also.

fumanstan

I don't watch a lot of anime, but I thought the recent Appleseed and Appleseed Ex Machina are fun to watch.

starseed1981

Always wanted to get into anime, but its an expensive ass hobby.

PixyJunket

It's far more time consuming than monetarily expensive.

The Bus

It's maybe slightly more expensive than regular DVDs but usually less expensive than Criterions, for example.

Evangelion is $45.99 for 650 minutes.

devilshalo

Urotsukidoji and LA Blue Girl.

Jaymole

Thanks everyone for the recommendations so far, please keep them coming.

Giles

and 'Adventure Kid'



however, 'Wicked City' (aka Supernatural Beast City) is amazing - the animation style is stunning.

Hiro11

Nausicaa and Castle in the Sky
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (even better than the first one, IMO)
Planetes

Also, just to reiterate, Cowboy Bebop. Every episode is great.

OldBoy

my first anime ever was the recently released "Appleseed: Ex Machina" and thought it was a very, very good initiation into the genre.

superdeluxe

I like Akira.

I also like the one where a old dude takes the shape of a large robot monster..who was looking for his wife. (I forgot what this was called)

superdeluxe

Best buy recently had a 50% off sale. There are deals out there on occasion.

McHawkson

I'm surprised that no one mentioned Godfather Tokyo. It's great adventure movie (no, it's not gangster movie) and I heard that it's inspired from an American movie with John Wayne, I think.

Oh, forgot to add: Samurai X: Director's Cut. It's pretty good movie.

dugan

Roujin Z.

Roger Ebert's review is interesting.

fumanstan

Kenshin in space! Cool!

McHawkson

Making fun of my choices?

tonyc3742

Anime is about a billion times cheaper now than it was even ten years ago. Complete series for <50 bucks.
Anyway, it's a different sci-fi tack, but I really enjoyed the movie
"A Wind Named Amnesia". More of a 'mad max' type sci fi.

Maxflier

You realize the OP requested sci-fi movies, right?

McHawkson

Yes, but still.

fujishig

I'm not sure Akira is comprehensible by itself... it almost requires that someone be familiar with the original manga (available from Dark Horse) to flesh out a lot of the plot points that they kinda gloss over.

If only Harmony Gold would stop holding the license ransom, I'd recommend Macross Do You Remember Love. A great compression of the Macross series into one movie. On a similar note, Macross Plus is available both in the original OAV episodes and as one movie, both are slightly different.

Both recent Appleseed movies (the latter available on Blu Ray) are decent, but the all-cgi does take some getting used to.

Is Robot Carnival even available on DVD any more? A great collection of short stories done by different directors in wildly different styles.

Patlabor has three movies out now, two of which are available in super deluxe collections by (the overpriced) Bandai Visual. They're not as action packed as you'd expect from what looks like primarily a mecha series, but I like both. Not super sci fi, but basically modern day with robots, and there are also manga (never finished in America), tv, and oav series.

Nausicaa is the most sci-fi out of the many Ghibli releases (maybe tied with Laputa Castle in the Sky), and is excellent (as all of them are), as is the source manga series (out from Viz).

Finally Gunbuster is excellent. Only available in an expensive sub-only set by Bandai Visual, and I recommend the original OAV episodes instead of the movie versions. Gunbuster II/Diebuster is a very different series