anime movies

[Dog Moon]

For the record, I'd recommend the series rather than the movie. The movie is stylish, but tries to pack way too much into a short time. The series gives you a chance to learn what the characters want, and how far they're willing to go to get it.

I totally agree. The movie was good, but the series was awesome.

 

[Filby]

Vampire Hunter D A classic. The animation is a little dated, but it had a unique gothic look for the time, not typical anime styled. One of my classic favorite anime movies for the style, the vampire hunting storyline, I first saw it as a dub and liked it, one of few dubs I can say that about.

Ugh. Vampire Hunter D was one of the first anime I saw, along with Odin: Photon Space Sailor Starlight. Together the two turned me off of anime for more than a decade.

I would like to see the recent sequel, though.

 

[Tinker Gnome]

I will second Trigun. It is probably my favorite anime series to date. Vash has got to be one of the best characters I have ever seen in any form of entertainment ever.

 

[ShinHakkaider]

If you haven't seen Ghost in the Shell, I recommend seeing that before almost any other anime movie. Not instead of, but before, mind you.

It wouldn't appeal to everyone, but as far as anime goes, it's definitely a (the?) classic.

IMHO, The two Ghost in the Shell TV series, Stand Alone Complex and Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig, are a heads and shoulders above both GITS movies. The movies are OK, but the series are EXECELLENT, if not a little dense in terms of plot.

 

[Aus_Snow]

IMHO, The two Ghost in the Shell TV series, Stand Alone Complex and Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig, are a heads and shoulders above both GITS movies. The movies are OK, but the series are EXECELLENT, if not a little dense in terms of plot.

Heh. I do take things a bit literally sometimes. IOW, I read the title 'anime movies', and the first post, and went from there. :\

I'm still catching up on some of the GitS follow-ons, but yeah, I'd more or less agree so far.. on some levels at least. Still, the original, while not the 'best' anime ever made, remains (IMO) an almost timeless classic. And fairly accessible, if that's a relevant concern.

 

[jester47]

Its better if you think of Anime as a way of filming a movie rather than a kind of movie. Certain conventions that are assiciated with Anime and cause many to think of it as a genre of film are actually japanese cultural conventions and come from Japanese film, literature, theater, and art.

Just like using regular film stock and a camera, anime is capable of producing amazing pieces of art and huge piles of crap. Just like western cinema about 10% of what is made is really worth watching.

In my opinion much of it does not age well.

Ghost in the Shell is pretty good, but the epilogue is kind of dumb.
Princess Monoke is good
Macross Plus (the movie edit) is amasingly good.
I know you are looking for movies, but check out "cowboy bebop". The episodes stand alone, so you can get a DVD and check it out. There is also a film and you don't need the series to understand it.

Also, want to second Ghost in the Shell SAC series. This one is really good. One of the cool traits of the series is that it has "Stand Alone" episodes that don't tie into the ongoing story, and "Complex" ones that do.

 

[Arkhandus]

I will second Trigun. It is probably my favorite anime series to date. Vash has got to be one of the best characters I have ever seen in any form of entertainment ever.

This sentiment needs to be seconded.

There's very little in the reccomendations of folks here in this thread that I don't agree with, though a few stand out, just differences in taste I think.

Disclaimer though: Anything made by Miyazaki is good, but only if you're a bit of a sap/not-too-grown-up, like me. If you consider yourself too 'macho', then probably not to your liking.

 

[Merlion]

Personally my suggestion is this. Rather than avoiding series (theres more anime series than movies, and a lot of the best stuff are series, and even many of the movies are tie ins to a series), dont worry about buying them, just rent them. Preferably through something like Netflix, which has an awesome selection of anime.

As for stand alone movies, I will second some that have been mentioned here: everything by Studio Ghibli/Miyazaki, and both Vampire Hunter D movies. Pet Shop of Horrors is 1 disk containing 4 episodes, its pretty good. FLCL is a strange and wonderful series consisting of only 6 episodes. Ninja Scroll is very good.

As far as series...once you are ready to move on to them as you most likely will, I strongly recomend:


Neon Genesis Evangelion (and the End of Evangelion movie)
Serial Experiments: Lain
Haibane-Renmei
RahXephon
Outlaw Star
Paranoia Agent
Saiyuki
Get Backers
.//hackSIGN


Just to name a few

 

[Tinker Gnome]

This sentiment needs to be seconded.

This sentiment needs to be thirded.

Love the Vash avatar.