talemyn

I've been considering adding some anime into my collection and I was hoping for some insight (you guys have steered me very well in the past ).

Right now, I'm thinking Akira (which I have actually seen) and Ghost In The Shell (which I've heard good things about), but I don't know much about any other ones (apart from names). Personally, I'd like to stick with movies (as opposed to series/collections), but others might be interested in those, so feel free to include thoughts in that area too.

I was going to put this in Movie Talk, but, in addition to looking for good movies, I'm hoping to get some ones with some good good anime related features. Also, in case there are multiple versions, it'd be nice to know which release is the best.

So, I guess this is sort of a combo of a "Best Anime Film/Series" thread and a "Best Anime DVD Release" thread. So have at it and thanks for the input!!

burninator

Are you looking for releases only from a certain region or releases from any region?

Also, when you say you are trying to avoid series, do you mean you are trying to avoid multiple DVD volumes or are you trying to stick to movies (in other words, a single DVD release that has multiple episodes of something on it is okay, versus multiple DVD volumes of a TV series which is not okay)?

- burninator

DVD Josh

I'd recommend Cowboy Bebop the Movie. It's pretty much standalone from the series.

talemyn

Regretfully, I am limited to Region 1 (or Region 0, obviously ).I'm personally interested in "features" as opposed to something like TV episodes. If it is something like a movie series (like the Godfather trilogy or the Alien tetralogy (it's not a "quadrilogy" )), that is fine. However, since I'm just taking a stab into this genre, I'm really more likely to probably go for single film releases to start out.

eau

What genres are you interested in? Mecha? Romance? Comedy? Mystery?...

Some movies to consider:
Ah! My Goddess: The Movie
Akira
Castle of Cagliostro
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
Cowboy Bebop
Dog of Flanders
Escaflowne: The Movie
Grave of the Fireflies
Jin Roh
Junkers Come Here
Macross II: The Movie
Macross Plus: The Movie
Memories
Metropolis
Millennium Actress
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth
Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion
Patlabor WXIII: The Movie
Perfect Blue
Tokyo Godfathers
You're Under Arrest: The Movie

To be released in July...
RahXephon: The Movie

Short series on 1-2 DVD:
Oh! My Goddess
Read or Die (R.O.D.)
Voice of a Distant Star

Of course, don't forget Miyazaki's work:
Castle in the Sky
Kiki's Delivery Service
Princess Mononoke
Spirited Away

To be released in August...
My Neighbor Totoro
Nausicca Valley of the Wind
Porco Rosso

Jackskeleton

BLOOD might be up your alley. The list above covers a great deal I was thinking.

GHackmann

Cowboy Bebop is probably the de facto beginners' choice. It's a very solid (although, IMHO, a bit overrrated) series with a good presentation on DVD. Also, it was somewhat influenced by Western culture, so you don't have the immediate "culture shock" of things like hyperactive anthromorphic cats and giant robots. Unlike most movies based on TV series, the movie is pretty stand-alone (there's a couple of in-jokes you might miss, but not much else) so it might be a good pick before splurging on the series.

My roommates (who are not into anime at all) also really enjoyed Princess Mononoke, Ghost in the Shell, and Neon Genesis Evangelion, so consider them "newbie-approved" choices. (The latter is a TV series followed by two movies. Be sure to watch the series first, as the two movies respectively recap and end the series.)

I highly, highly recommend finding a video rental place that rents anime or getting a NetFlix/Walmart/etc. subscription. Anime DVDs are usually relatively expensive, and IMHO there's a lot of garbage out there. (Usually, for each series I watch all the way through, there's at least one or two series I rent from NetFlix and send back before finishing the first disc.)

Jackskeleton

Wow, so cowboy bebop is the new introduction series. I recall when it was evangelion, and before it when it was macross and so on and so on.

Macross Plus is a really great series of episodes. 2 disc are a whole lot better then the 1 disc movie. I would suggest going that route.

TomOpus

My thoughts on the ones listed above:

Anything by Miyazaki

Metropolis - Kick-ass jazz score and a great DTS track.

Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers - All by Satoshi Kon and all recommended.

Blood - It's short but a great blend of cell/computer animation. Great 5.1 soundtrack.

Not mentioned yet:

Vampire Hunter D
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust - Gorgeous animation, great sound

Ninja Scroll - 10th Anniversary SE has an outstanding transfer and your choice of OAR and widescreen.

PixyJunket

talemyn, try Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie.. and I'll try that beer you suggested in the Other Forum. After 6-7 years of anime, this is the only one I can still tolerate.

dragonstitch

if you like the matrix films then the animatrix is a must-have.

PixyJunket

Yeah but if he watches Akira and Ghost in the Shell, he's already seen Ani-Matrix.

burninator

Although most/all of these have already been mentioned, here are my recommendations:


Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
Ghost in the Shell (I am not a *huge* fan of this movie, but it is nice)
Cowboy Bebop movie
Escaflowne movie
Patlabor WWIII
Jin Roh
Metropolis
Memories
Anything Miyazaki


Some of my favorites that are older/obscure/series oriented:

Dagger of Kamui (older ninja theme movie)
Crusher Joe (there is a single release with the movie and 2 OAVs on it)
Record of Lodoss War (again, a single release with 13 OAV episodes)
Bubblegum Crisis (older OAVs that are supposed to be redone by Animeigo in the near future. I did not care for the later released, Bubblegum Crash)

VamPirateXXX

I pretty much agree completely with TomOpus's suggestions above. All of Satoshi Kon's films are amazing, and what I've seen of Miyazaki's are as well.

Vampire Hunter D is pretty good, but the sequel Bloodlust is superior, IMO. You could probably watch Bloodlust without having seen the first.

Personally, I think the Cowboy Bebop movie assumes a bit too much familiarity with the characters to watch it without having seen the series. It's basically an extended episode that takes place between episodes 22 and 23, so you'd be missing out on 22 episodes' worth of character development. And definitely stay away from the Evangelion movies, since they'll make no sense without having seen the series.

Voices of a Distant Star is a short (30 minute) film made almost entirely by one person on his home computer and is definitely worth checking out. It's also pretty cheap as far as anime goes.

PublicEnemy#1

Fooly Cooly (FLCL) is a great anime series, but expensive for 90 bucks for 6 episodes. -_- I also suggest getting Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke.

NoxHaveN

Excellent lists and suggestions so far. I'll throw in a few "seconds" and new suggestions into the mix (as if you needed more )

Grave of the Fireflies Excellent. Emotional. Endearing. Be warned though, it is definitely not something to watch when you're looking for a "pick-me-up." But after you've watched it, you'll be forever changed and glad that you did.

Spirited Away Although you really can't go wrong with anything from Miyazaki, this Spirited Away is really a culmination of all of Miyazaki's skill as a master storyteller. IMO, it's his best work to date.

Ninja Scroll Excellent standalone feature with a strong storyline and detailed animation. Certain scenes are on the adult side (in case you have kids to consider).

Tenchi Muyo The Movie: Tenchi in Love Watching the Tenchi series before hand will give you a little more insight into the characters backgrounds and relationships, but is really not a prerequisite to enjoying this feature.

just my $.02


-NHN

Cedrock

Yea my top 2 are ninja scroll and vampire hunter d, I also got all 8 dragonball z movies that are released so far depends on how much you like dbz but movies are all good in their own way.

talemyn

Wow! Great replies so far, guys . . . thanks!

Now let me answer some of your questions . . .Well, I don't think I really realized that the genre was that diverse. I've always sort of associated Anime with Sci-Fi and some Fantasy. I'm open to most styles really.

Honestly though, I think the most important thing to me would be the same criteria that I would look for in most other movies . . . a solid plot, strong visuals (cinematography is the thing that tends to impresses me in standard film), and preferably an intelligent story. Also, while I enjoy a good kids film from time to time, I think I'd like to stick with Disney, Pixar, etc. for that kind of animation . . . it's cheaper. It's a deal. We can comeback and swap reviews.


After all your suggestions, here is my new "considerations" list:

- Akira
- Ghost in the Shell
- Cowboy Bebop - Seems like almost a unanimous recommendation
- Princess Mononoke - I've heard good things about this, too. thanks for the reminder.
- Metropolis - The visuals look great and the relationship to Fritz Lang's film is a definate plus.
- Vampire Hunter D - I think I actually saw part of it in college and remember the animation to be excellent
- Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust - Sounds like it's just as "pretty" as the first one, with possibly a better story?
- Revolutionary Girl Utena - Although, the cover is exceedingly pink . . .
- Grave of the Fireflies - For some reason, the description of this made me think of Ikiru . . . I consider that a good thing.
- Spirited Away - NoxHaveN's description won me over on this one
- Ninja Scroll - the visuals look fantastic and the story looks strong

PixyJunket

Yes. YES! MUAHAHAHA.

I'll probably try the beer Monday night (beer night).

By the way..

Visuals, Music, Cinematography = Utena, Utena, Utena!

TomOpus

Well, talemyn, you have a nice list to start things off. I can't believe I forgot to mention Grave of the Fireflies. It's so damn good but can be a downer. You might want to have Spirited Away ready to watch right after

And... to be honest, I never considered watching Utena but maybe I'll check it out also.

svenge

The Utena movie is indeed gorgeous, but it's also weird and can be hard to understand. Still, it's not as strange as the TV series, especially after the "Black Rose" arc. Now THAT'S some crazy stuff.

I also second (third?) the recommendation for the Miyazaki films. Of the 4 released to date, here's my take from best to not-best (there is no "worst" in his movies...)

Princess Mononoke
Kiki's Delivery Service
Spirited Away
Laputa: Castle in the Sky

For the 3 future releases on 8/31, I'd put Totoro ahead of Kiki, Porco Rosso tied with Spirited Away, and Nausicaa... well I didn't care for it that much to be honest. The manga is much better.

talemyn

So it seems like my list checks out okay . . . the next question would be where to buy them . . . is there a store that tends to have better prices for anime than anyone else (a la DVDPlanet with Criterions) or are they all pretty much in line with each stores' typical pricing policies (i.e., DDD and DVDPlanet - generally the lowest, Amazon and Buy.com - cheap only for pre-orders and new releases, etc.)?

Thanks again for all of the input, guys!

eau

Be cautious that the initial pressing of the disc is defective. It has the wrong audio for the alternate Japanese track. ADVfilms has since corrected the disc but stores still have the initial pressing. There is no easy way to distinguish between the two. However, if you end up with the defective disc, you can get ADVfilms to replace it free of charge. Details here.

TomOpus

New releases I'll check my Wal*Mart first. They will sometimes beat ANY price (online or B&M) but YMMV with W*M's.

Otherwise, I'll find them at my used DVD places or I'll use DDD. But definately shop around because anime can be pretty pricey.

acostigan

What does OAV stand for?

Thanks,
-AC