My Favorite Anime movies, 11-33
Jan 29 '06 (Updated Jul 12 '09)
The Bottom Line My favorite Anime movies, #11-33
This is my current eleven through thirty-three favorite anime movies. These are only Anime movies and not Anime series. Hope you find this list useful. >
You will find a link to my favorite 10 here and at the bottom of this review.
33) Fists Of The Northstar: The Movie
Chief Executive Director: Satonori Imada
Based on a graphic novel by: Buronson & Tetsuo Hara
Director: Toyoo Ashida
Art director: Shiko Tanaka
Music: Katsuhisa Hattori
Languages: English and Japanese
Subtitles: Chinese
Rating: NR but should be R
Buy or rent? Rent.
This is one of those emotional picks. It is an older Anime with unrealistic physics, powerful character abilities, and sub-par animation. Reminds me a lot of Saturday morning cartoon of long ago. But if you are getting into Anime and want to see where it came from, then I would recommend renting this.
It will at least give you an idea of early Anime. I just do not recommend buying it unless you have some sort of emotional attachment to this movie.
It is another post-apocalyptic world where the strong survive; and the weak die or are forced into service. Technology is useless in this new world and some individuals have super human martial arts abilities. It is also one of the traditional good versus evil movies and the world can be viewed as “black and white”.
I highly suggest a parent preview this before letting their older children watch it.
32) Porco Rosso
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Writer: Hayao Miyazaki
Rating: PG
Buy or rent?Rent.
The story takes place in Italy between the 2 world wars. The main character is a famous pilot that is also a pig. The movie has a lot of action and is a good story. But if you wanted lots of blood and mayhem then you need to look elsewhere.
This is another cool children’s Anime by Ghibli studios.
31) Perfect Blue
Director: Satoshi Kon
Writer: Sadayuki Murai
Music: Masahiro Ikumi
Duration: 80 minutes
Rating: NR but should be R due to violence and sexuality
Buy or rent?Rent.
This movie is just plain disturbing. It is billed as a psychological thriller and it certainly met all of my expectations, and then some. The animation is well done as is the writing, but I would recommend you rent this before you buy. Seeing it once may be all you would want. I have only watched it once and that was enough for me.
This is a movie for mature adults only. There is a sex scene and some violence. I am not even sure I’ll admit to my kids that I own this, let alone allow them to watch it before their 50th birthday.
30)Blood the Last Vampire
Director: Yusuke Takeda
Writer: Kenji Kamiyama
Music: Yoshihiro Ike
Rating: NR but I classify it as R.
Buy or rent?
Should children watch it?No, mature youth or adults only.
This is a movie about Saya, a vampire. She is commissioned to hunt down and kill Chiropterans. They blend into the human population but feed on them too. It is a short movie at 45 minutes.
29) Macross Plus
Director: Shinichirô Watanabe & Shôji Kawamori
Writer: Shôji Kawamori & Keiko Nobumoto
Rating: NR
Buy or rent?Rent. If you’re a Robotech fan then you may want to buy this.
This takes place 30 years after the first Robotech wars. It is a story about 2 fighter pilots testing two different transformable planes. This is not only the story about the conflict between 2 pilots but also a love story, which also gets out of control. The music in the film is one of the highlights. I liked it so much I bought the CD soundtrack. This is just a fun movie.
Even though there is some violence, I would put it on the same level as Robotech. I would feel comfortable letting older children watch it.
28) Pom Poko
Director: Isao Takahata
Screenplay: Isao Takahata
Producer: Toshio Suzuki
Rating: PG
Duration: 119 minutes
Buy or rent? Rent.
This is a story about a bunch of raccoons and how they tried to defend their forest from the human encroachment. It is not only a funny movie but it has a great message. After this film was released there was some land that was preserved because of this movie. It had that type of impact in Japan.
There is some mild violence but I have no problem with my children watching this.
27) Karas: The Prophecy & Karas: The Revelation
Director: Keiichi Sato
Screenplay: Masaya Honda & Shin Yoshida
Music: Yoshihiro Ike
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 79 minutes
Buy or rent?Rent.
This is actually 2 movies, not one. But because it is one whole story I lumped both of them together. The best thing about this movie is the animation; it is absolutely breath taking. But animation isn’t enough in my book. I find the story to be a little hard to grasp and character building is weak. But it is over the top anime if you like that sort of thing.
There is some violence so parental preview is necessary. I’d rate this at PG-13.
26)Samurai X
Writer: Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rating: NR but should be R.
Buy or rent? Rent.
Should children watch it?No due to violence
This is the opening story to a series called Rurouni Kenshin. It is about how Kenshin became a master swordsman. The strong points of this movie is the character building and a unique story. But the English dub, poor editing, and some confusion in delivering the story are reasons I would say this is just a rental for the average movie goer.
25) The Cat Returns
Director: Hiroyuki Morita.
Screenplay: Reiko Yoshida.
Music: Yuji Nomi.
Languages: English, French, and Japanese.
Subtitles: English and English for the hearing impaired.
Rating: G
Buy or rent? Buy if you have kids.
This is a fun children’s story along the same vein as Alice in Wonderland and Spirited Away. A girl saves a cat from being run over and the cat kingdom tries to repay her. This apparent act of kindness spirals out of control and forces our heroine to go on an adventure.
This is a movie for all ages.
24)My Neighbor Totoro
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Writer: Hayao Miyazaki
Music: Joe Hisaishi
Rating: G
Duration: 88 minutes
Buy or rent? Rent.
This is a story about a family of 3. A father and 2 daughters. They are foced to move and start a new part of their lives. It is a cute movie but not all that exciting. It does drag a little if you’re ADHD. A good family movie.
23)Tokyo God Fathers
Director: Satoshi Kon
Rating: PG-13
Buy or rent? Rent
Should children watch it? No, for mature youth or adults.
This is a story of three bums. They each have a unique story to tell which adds a real dimension to the movie. They come across an abandoned baby in the cold of winter and they must make some hard choices as well as face their own demons.
22) Vampire Hunter D, Special edition
Director: Toyoo Ashida
Screen writer: Yasuhi Hirano
Music: Noriyoshi Matsuura
Rating: Not rated, but should be R due to violence and nudity.
Duration: 80 minutes
Buy or rent? Rent
This is the first Vampire Hunter movie (that I know of anyways.) D basically does the same thing in this movie; rescue a damsel in distress and kill lost of evil creatures in the process.
While the story is good; the animation and pacing just is not that good. It is a good movie to rent if you liked Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust but I can’t recommend buying it.
There is violence, blood, and nudity; so I do not recommend this for children.
21) Grave of the Fireflies
Director: Isao Takahata
Screenplay: Isao Takahata
Music: Michio Mamiya
Buy or rent? Rent. I don’t feel it has any replay value but it is a must see movie if you consider yourself a movie fanatic.
This is a powerful movie, not because of the action (which was limited) but for the story the movie told. The story and how it is told, both verbally and physically, is what makes this such a good movie. It is a story of how two children survive in Japan at the end of WWII. You follow them along as they struggle to find some sort of identity and their struggle to survive.
I see no problem with letting older children watch this but I am sure they would find it a bit boring. There is only one violent scene where someone is assaulted.
20) Wings of Honneamise
Director: Hiroyuki Yamaga
Screen writer: Hiroyuki Yamaga
Music: Ryuichi Sakamoto
Rating: NR
Buy or rent?Rent.
The setting reminds me of the cold war between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. but is takes place in a different world. This is a story of a potential astronaut who is conflicted about the world he lives in. He is forced to explore the things that motivate him, sort of like a story about a boy becoming a man (sort of.) This is one of the first anime movies I saw and it holds a special place for me. If you do not mind slow paced movies than you should check this one out. If all you crave is action then skip it.
Because of one scene I would suggest that parents preview it first before letting their children view it.
19)Vexile
Director: Sori
Writer: Haruka Handa & Sori
Music: Paul Oakenfold
Rating: PG-13
Buy or rent?Rent
Should children watch it?Older more mature children/youth. A lot of people die but it is not very graphic compared to other films. Currently my own children haven't watched it for that reason.
This movie takes place in the future. Japan has been messing around with mixing technology and machines and because it doesn't want the rest of the world to know what it is doing it has created an electromagnetic net over the entire country and no one can enter or exit without permission. This is a cautionary tale of what can happen if we do not respect the human body.
18) Howl’s Moving Castle
Director: Hayao Miyazaki, Rick Dempsey.
Writer: Cindy Davis Hewitt (II), Donald Hewitt
Screenplay: Reiko Yoshida, Hayao Miyazaki
Music: Joe Hisaishi
Rating: PG
Buy or rent? Buy
This is another beautiful and unique movie by the famed Miyazaki. We are taken to a world completely different from our own. The towns remind me of the 1800’s in nature as are the apparent customs. But they battle each other with giant air ships and the world is at war. Howl is a great magician but he has a curse placed upon him and it is up to a “young” girl to rid him of it. My only complaint is the flow of the movie is not as smooth as I think it could have been but it is still a great movie that is worth buying.
I feel fine about letting my children watch this, the only concern is some violence in the movie, but that violence is not graphic.
17) Animatrix
Languages: English and Japanese
Subtitles: English, French, and Spanish.
Rating: NR but some of the films should be R
5.1?: Yes
Buy or rent? A must have if you are a matrix fan, otherwise rent for a nice example of the various anime artforms.
This did for Matrix reloaded what Cartoon Network’s Clone Wars did for Star Wars III. It gave us the back-story of some of the events and characters in the world of the Matrix. You are given the background story as to what happened to Earth, how the robots took over the Earth and built the Matrix, the story of the Osiris and the boy in the second movie, as well as a couple of cool non-essential stories that just elaborate on the matrix and the revolution. As you could probably guess, this is just a bunch of short stories. Even though it is just short stories, it is still worth buying.
There are some disturbing scenes so I only recommend it for mature audiences.
16)Paprika
Director: Satoshi Kon
Screen writer: Seishi Minakami & Satoshi Kon
Music: Susumu Hirasawa
Rating: R because of violence and sexual images.
Duration: 90 minutes
Buy or rent?Rent (Only buy if you're an anime fanatic)
Should children watch it? No due to violence and sexual references.
If you want to go on a rollercoaster ride of fantasy, this would be the one to go on. While I do not recommend you buy this unless you're an anime fanatic, I suggest you rent it and watch it through 2-3 times just to appreciated the beauty and the bizarre aspects this film brings up.
This is not a movie you watch once an immediately get it, it’s just too weird. But it is very well done. A device that allows the user to view dreams is stolen and all hell breaks loose. Soon reality and dreamland merge and only Paprika can save the day.
15) Metropolis
Director: Rintaro Director & Tarô Rin
Writer: Osamu Tezuka
Screenplay: Katsuhiro Otomo
Composer: Toshiyuki Honda
Rating: PG-13
Buy or rent? Rent before you buy.
Compared to his other works, this is a bit cartoony. But the animation is still beautiful and rich, and it has a great story. Definitely one I would suggest owning. Basically you have a Japanese detective that is investigating a case and he gets in the middle of something far bigger than he originally intended.
There is some violence but nothing too major in my opinion, I suggest parental preview for children under 13.
14)Appleseed 1 (2005)
Director: Shinji Aramaki
Writer: Haruka Hanada, Tsutomu Kamishiro
Music: Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Basement Jaxx
Rating: R
Buy or rent?Buy if you are an anime fan, otherwise rent first.
Should children watch it?Older children.
13)Appleseed EX (Appleseed 2)
Director: Shinji Aramaki
Screenplay: Kiyohito Takeuchi, Todd W. Russell
Rating: PG-13
Buy or rent?Rent on Blu-Ray unless your an anime fanatic, then buy on Blu-Ray
Should children watch it?Mature youth
This takes place after the first Appleseed (2005) movie. Utopia is still standing but needs some major repairs done. The city is alive as never before and there is an optimism in the air. Sadly there seems to be some rogue cyborgs making a mess of things and the E-Swat gang need to take some action to stop it.
12) Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
Directed and screenplay by Mata Yamamoto
Music: Marco D’Ambrosio
Based on the novel by Hideyuki Kikuchi
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
Rating: R
Buy or rent? Buy
This is a story of a half human, half vampire and a group of mercenaries. They both are hired to complete the task of destroying a vampire and rescuing someone’s daughter. I feel the story is well done but in the end it was a bit anticlimactic. But if you are in for animated blood and violence like Ninja Scroll then this will fit the bill.
It is graphic and bloody. I do not recommend it for children. I would be ok with my teenagers watching it (when that time comes.)
11) Nausica: Of The Valley Of The Wind.
Director: Yoshiaki Kawajiri
Writer: Hayao Miyazaki
Music: Joe Hisaidhi
Languages: English and Japanese
Subtitles: English for hearing impaired and a literal translation English version.
Rating: PG
5.1?: No
Buy or rent? Buy
This is another post-apocalypse movie. We are about 1000 years in the future and mankind is living like they did during the middle ages with a few differences. They have guns and big planes. Oh ya, there is also lots of menacing, and beautifully drawn, insects. A great anime for the whole family. But my biggest complaint is the movie is very predictable and not that original. But what it does do it does beautifully.
There is some violence but it is not graphic (in my opinion). I have no problem letting my children watch this. Both my daughter and son love this movie.
Other top ten lists
My Favorite Anime 1-10. Updated February 09
My 10 favorite comedies
My 10 favorite science fiction movies
My 10 favorite children's movies
My 50 favorite movies
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