The Greatest Anime Films... Ever!

Rabies

Not my words, but Empire's.

A week or two ago I picked up Blood the Last Vampire after seeing it in the top 10. Didn't cost much, only $15 I think. Wasn't impressed with it at all. I did like the way it just threw you in to it straight away, but there was no character development and it was very short. Didn't like it at all.

The only one I don't own from the list is Metropolis. Is that any good.

What do you think of the rest of the list? What would you add or remove?

Ramses

Ninja Scroll, Princess Mononoke and Vampire Hunter D (Bloodlust, not original) are great and are deservedly on the top 10.

I agree with you about Blood - nice visually but not good overall. It definitely shouldn't be on the list.

I'm suprised Cowboy Bebop isn't on the list as it is a great anime.

sme

if blood is in for looking pretty, then appleseed should be there in all its cel-shaded glory. both look good but aren't life changing films the way mononoke and fireflies are. for me anyway. the list could probably be filled with ghibli films and most people wouldn't complain.

monkeyfudge

They seem to think anime and manga are interchangeable terms... what a throughly well researched article.

I was never a fan of Ninja Scroll. It always struck me as gratuitous nonsense.

Metropolis is a very good film though... it's very touching too.

There's certainly a lot more Ghibli films that could go in there and Tokyo Godfathers and Memories wouldn't go amiss.

sme

i assume you are referring to otomo's memories, i wouldn't put that in the top ten, the only good part was cannon fodder. although, yeah, tokyo godfathers thats a good film.

monkeyfudge

I really liked the one with the opera singer... brilliant use of various Puccini operas too. I have the soundtrack and it's amazing.

sme

do you not think that it is an over used theme. that is, a person is seduced by an "intelligent being." its done to death in sci-fi and fantsay films. i suppose its kind of like kurosawa's dreams, not all parts are going to appeal to everyone.

monkeyfudge

Well I'd read the manga years ago, which was actually a very short strip in Otomo's Memories collection. So it was interesting to see how they expanded on the ideas of the original. And I'm just a huge fan of anything that Satoshi Kon is involved in.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

ninja scroll and blood the last vampire were both utter cack. absolute and utter ****e with nothing of any decency about them whatsoever.

honru

I've never seen Ninja Scroll or Blood so I can't really comment on them. Though I disagree with such high placings for Perfect Blue and Ghost and the Shell. And Akira at numero uno is perhaps a tad much.

If I had a top ten, sure it would probably be all Ghibli movies.

Fnz

Mordeth wrote:

ninja scroll and blood the last vampire were both utter cack. absolute and utter ****e with nothing of any decency about them whatsoever.

The VHS and DVD versions of ninja scroll I got (in Ireland) had a number of parts cut out... often pointlessly. :mad:

I saw (part of) the uncut version. More graphic in parts (YAY! ) and leaves in the parts that allow you to see why characters react as they do. Although the versions I'm talking about were back when I'd choose dubbed over subbed sooo...

I disagree with your saying that they're cack. I love the part *SPOILER* in Blood TLV where she minces the two vampire girls in the nurses office. The Vampires where done really well and looked quite nasty (YAY!).

Rabies > Yeah Metropolis is very good - about a young boy and his extremely irresponsible guardian (well that not what it's really about... but you'll see what I mean if you watch it).

o1s1n

Ninja Scroll and Blood the last Vampire don't deserve the high praise they get. BUT, calling them utter cack is a bit much now. They both still feature some pretty decent animation which is worth some credit.

I don't understand why Spirited Away seems to come out on top with the Ghibli films. It is certainly not the best one.

Akira...well, I won't say anything. Total fanboy that I am...

thefinalstage

Nausicaa of the valley of the wind! FTW!

Blood the last vampire is total cack...

o1s1n

thelastangryman wrote:

Nausicaa of the valley of the wind! FTW!

Blood the last vampire is total cack...

Nausicaa is my favourite Ghibli film. Not even on the list.

Sure what do Empire know anyway? :rolleyes:

cork-langer

o1s1n wrote:

Nausicaa is my favourite Ghibli film. Not even on the list.

Sure what do Empire know anyway? :rolleyes:

Love that one too!!!

And Empire shmepire! Total film, much better imo!

Gizzle

Just finished watching Ghost in the Shell 2, I thought it was fantastic. At least on par with the first one.

Rabies

Fnz wrote:

I disagree with your saying that they're cack. I love the part *SPOILER* in Blood TLV where she minces the two vampire girls in the nurses office. The Vampires where done really well and looked quite nasty (YAY!).

Rabies > Yeah Metropolis is very good - about a young boy and his extremely irresponsible guardian (well that not what it's really about... but you'll see what I mean if you watch it).

The animation doesn't impress me. Ok, it looks good, but the story is still terrible.
just like a decent video game. Graphical it doesn't matter as long as the player enjoys the experience. BLV just didn't do it for me.

I wil look out for Metropolis, if I can see it cheap I will pick it up.

o1s1n

I didn't really think roo much of Metropolis. It was good, but not a classic. Maybe my opinion was slightly marred by the fact that I don't like the Osamu Tezuka Astroboy style of animation.

sharingan

Not so much 10-best anime films, more 'we could only identify 15-20 films, heres our best 10 of them'.

I can understand them going for the popular vote, actions sci-fi etc. But no Laputa or Nausicaa ? For shame.

Mononoke was a great film, but Laputa thrilled me to the point of making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

I can't really fault them for not including some US-only stuff like Jin-Roh or The Wings of Honneamise, but omitting Tokyo Godfathers or Millenium Actress? For shame.

Don't really have a lot of time for mainstream publications writing about anime, except for Ain't It Cool News - those guys have a real understanding and appreciation for it.

Makaveli

To be honest I usually just use message boards to see what's worth watching. I've gotten some great stuff off of your recommendations sharingan.

sharingan

Makaveli wrote:

To be honest I usually just use message boards to see what's worth watching. I've gotten some great stuff off of your recommendations sharingan.

True. You find the right board and there's always some loons out there like me who have watched a lot. Shame I don't get to watch much anymore, so I don't get to recommend much recent stuff.

Actual editorial out there that gets it right? Pretty rare indeed. They are writing for the mass market, not us. So even stunning stuff will be rejected if its too obscure (say, like The Place Promised in Our Early Days)

But I really do have to state that Aint It Cool News, really *gets* anime. They are about the only mainstream editorial that does.

CerebralCortex

I think Spriggan deserves a mention. Seriously a kick ass movie! I'm surprise also that Laputa Castle in the Sky didn't make it.

psicic

I know I'm chiming in a bit late on this, but I'd have a serious problem with Metropolis and Ninja Scroll appearing on that list.

Metropolis just wasn't gripping enough for me and the animation was pretty but little else. It may be that it's because I was forced to watch the dub, but the characters were only milimetres deep as far as I could tell.

Ninja Scroll could have been great. A 13 episode TV series could have brought about some character development and allowed more time for a plot that seemed rushed to develop. Sexy, tragic female ninjas? Scheming Lords? Evil-but-skilled villians? It has some great ingredients, but the movie makes no real use out of them.

Blood is very good in my opinion, especially given that it was a technological milestone when it came out. I thought it was atmospheric and just down-right cool when I saw it. I'm not sure it'd make a top 10 though.

I used to think Perfect Blue was brilliant. I thought it was the greatest mix of suspense and confusion ever. But that was when I had only seen the edited English dub AND the satellite kept on losing reception at an important part, leaving me with a very blurred impression of what was reality and not. However, when I got the DVD and saw the uncensored subbed version there was little suspense and it didn't particularly wow me. Again, I doubt it'd make my top ten, but maybe my top 20.

I also have to say that I'm a little tired of Akira alway appearing in the top spot on these things. Okay, it was good in its day, and the animation is still impressive but it always seemed a little overworked....like it took itself waaay too seriously. Perhaps I just don't know enough about the background and reasoning for a lot of the action in the movie, but I could just as well leave it out of the top 10 as well.


Overall, more Ghibli, less focus on the stuff that looks like the author picked up out of the 'special offer' bin in HMV. (All those movies have been on 'sale' with the red stickers in HMV some time over the past 12 months or so)

Spyral

I've never seen Ninja Scroll or Blood so I can't really comment on them. Though I disagree with such high placings for Perfect Blue and Ghost and the Shell. And Akira at numero uno is perhaps a tad much.

not seen ninja scroll.

I liked perfect blue, almost like an anime hitchcock flick or something with th esuspense element. Ghost in the shell inspired the Matrix so it's done something right. Akira is condisered by many to be the 'classic' tho.

Im not an expert however, I've just seen to many films and not enough of the good ones :P

thefinalstage

I hated Metropolis and Akira...am I mad?

Saruwatari

Everybody's their own likes, so no.
I myself think Akira and Metropolis are masterpieces. I'dd add Neo Tokyo in the Empire list though....

nadir

Rabies wrote:

Not my words, but Empire's.

A week or two ago I picked up Blood the Last Vampire after seeing it in the top 10. Didn't cost much, only $15 I think. Wasn't impressed with it at all. I did like the way it just threw you in to it straight away, but there was no character development and it was very short. Didn't like it at all.

The only one I don't own from the list is Metropolis. Is that any good.

What do you think of the rest of the list? What would you add or remove?

i have only one thing to say about that list ....

lol

DOTA_POWA

Final Fantasy VII Advent Children.
Loved it.

andyps2.5

Gizzle wrote:

Just finished watching Ghost in the Shell 2, I thought it was fantastic. At least on par with the first one.

I saw it on youtube and I thought the first film was better. More action

andyps2.5

DOTA_POWA wrote:

Final Fantasy VII Advent Children.
Loved it.

Good movie. I think this must have inspired squarsoft to do FF7 for the ps3 and do the whole like the original but with HD graphics. I can't wait.

Karl Hungus

Any such list like that is going to be entirely pointless, and nobody is ever going to agree with them, so I don't pay any attention to them. Do you think it's possible to get a top ten that everyone'll agree with? No? Then what's the point in faulting such a list, because it's not likely to be improved upon.

Maybe I'm cynical, but I don't think anyone here could come up with a top ten and not get a torrent of responses along the lines of "I can't believe you didn't include X, Y and Z" and "You honestly think A is better than B?"

As for Ninja Scroll being crap... I enjoyed it for what it was; a violent action gorefest, and in that sense it's a success.

Blood: The Last Vampire, well that was more of a start to the series, wasn't it? I don't know, I've not gotten around to watching the series yet, but I thought the film was more of a pilot.