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The recommend anime movies to newbies thread

archard

Joined: Jan 11 2007

I was never into anime growing up, but recently some friends have been recommending that I watch certain anime movies and I have to say I'm impressed by the quality and depth of the stories. They are very much unlike typical hollywood movies, and I can appreciate that. So tell me what some of your 'must watch' anime movies are. I don't think I'm ready to start a series yet, so just movies for now.

Submitted on Wed, 10/28/2009 - 16:47

Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru

TrangOul

Insomaniac

Location: Germany

Joined: Feb 24 2008

Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora

Well, actually this is a series but there are only 6 episodes. So totally (after substracting intros, outros and previews) it's not much longer than a movie.
It's a sad yet optimistic love story. Don't wanna tell much more than the genre to avoid spoilers...

Princess Mononoke or any other movie directed by Hayao Miyazaki

Miyazaki's movies usually don't have a big story to tell. Instead they focus all effort on the development of their lead characters. They're also famous for soundtrack and artistic value.

The Girl who leapt through time

Actually, I think this one's the best to get in touch with animes. As the title suggests it's about a girl who accidentally discovers a way to travel through time.

Submitted on Wed, 10/28/2009 - 17:09

Akira... It's kind of a

Kain

What is... Gee-taar?

Location: Tennessee

Joined: Mar 13 2009

Akira...
It's kind of a standard, though the animation is beautiful, I've never cared much for the story.
Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door.
The series also kicks ass.
Anything Hayao Miyazaki, like Trang said.

Grave of The Fireflies.
WWII orphans, realistic and serious, but extremely good.
Ninja Scroll.
That animation's great, but don't expect a serious story. It is also a massive influence on other anime, like Naruto, which sometimes blatantly steals from it.
Ghost in the Shell.
The Blackjack movie was pretty good.
A Detective Conan (Case Closed) movie. They're all pretty good.
-_- Crap. I only know series...

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One word: Thundercougarfalconbird

Submitted on Wed, 10/28/2009 - 17:41

Re: Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru

SpiderTemplarius

Music hunger

Location: Poland

Joined: Oct 22 2008

TrangOul said

The Girl who leapt through time

Actually, I think this one's the best to get in touch with animes. As the title suggests it's about a girl who accidentally discovers a way to travel through time.

Truly agree - I really enjoyed this movie.

Titles that I would recomennd:
Bakemonogatari
[12 eps, mystery&puzzle]
Fresh anime, about boy who just become human again, after being vampire. Now he's facing other mysteries cases and try to puzzle them (with help of specific homeless friend). Now it sounds schematic, but believe me - absolutely it's not. One of most non-schematic anime I've ever seen - story, music and especially visual style is really innovative.

Samurai Champloo
[26 eps, katana&hip-hop]
It doesnt matter if you like hip-hop or you dont. This is story about Japan in samurai's period mixed up with some of nowadays culture. Must-see.

Maybe later I'll add some other. I'd like to ask other people to do replies in this style so all recomendation were straight and clear to all reading this topic.

Submitted on Wed, 10/28/2009 - 17:33

Ive only seen like 4 or 5

Vic9mm

The Fingerstyle Mechanic

Location: Dallas Texas

Joined: Aug 27 2008

Ive only seen like ? anime/manga movies.

1.) Ninja Scroll - Original
2.) Princess Mononke
3.) Bearfoot Jin - sad sad movie
4.) Ghost in a Shell
5.) Akira
6.) Gundam Wing Endless Waltz

Ive seen a few DBZ movies but I wont count these as full fledged anime movies

The other 2 I cant remember. I remember one ending to one. Main guy was paid by a village to help kill off these soldiers another guy was also a hired killer but the story didn't really focus on him but they showed scenes of him killing people through out the movie, well they meet at the end and that one guy tells the main guy I can tell you have much blood on your hands. The main guy replied yes...you as well...let us be glad it is not our own and they went there separate ways.

The other all I can remember is this guy would i guess power up and call out something and all the Asian symbols would appear all around him.

These last two were pretty old

I might edit this alot my memories are starting to come back

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Watch me: http://www.youtube.com/user/Vic9mm

Submitted on Wed, 10/28/2009 - 17:37

Princess Mononoke is a great

BooDoo

People

Location: Somerville, MA

Joined: Mar 24 2008

Princess Mononoke is a great film, and Spirited Away is similar in theme if not in tone or pace.

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence is not really a sequel- it works on its own and is, I think, easier to watch than the original GitS. If you like it, I would highly recommend you look into the TV series, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.

I'd also recommend Jin-Roh, though it has more weight if you know (the gist of) the political unrest from Japan's left-wing in the 60s and how those issues were 'resolved.' Grave of the Fireflies, as mentioned, is a really well done and incredibly sad movie.

Millenium Actress made some tears well up, but that's more 'emotional' than 'depressing.' The same director made Perfect Blue, a seminal psychological thriller.

Vampire Hunter D is a classic, they used to run it a lot on Sci-Fi along with the Fatal Fury movie(s). If you're going to watch just one 'retro' anime movie though, it should be AKIRA.

I can't remember many other movies that stand out to me right now. For series, I would recommend Cowboy Bebop (or Samurai Champloo), serial experiments: lain, and FLCL.

I definitely recommend watching FLCL at some point (only 6 episodes!) but it probably isn't a great place to start. NieA_7 is another great show that may not be super accessible at first and lain is a cyberpunk mind-fuck.

Submitted on Wed, 10/28/2009 - 19:54

Thanks for the suggestions,

archard

Joined: Jan 11 2007

Thanks for the suggestions, keep them coming. I've seen Spirited Away, Akira, and Grave of the Fireflies. I thought Spirited Away was awesome. Akira was wild.. but to be honest I didn't really "get it". I might have to watch it again (sober). I didn't like Grave of the Fireflies that much. I found it hard to connect with the characters. All I could think about was how much of an ungrateful brat the little girl was, and how much of a dumbass her brother was.

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DANG

Submitted on Wed, 10/28/2009 - 20:24

Samurai X OVA 1-6 There's

surreal

Eric: tank,godlike

Location: Arizona

Joined: Jan 04 2009

Samurai X OVA 1-6

There's something special about watching an entire person's life unfold from beginning to end. I teared up.

Jin-Roh

The human aspect in this movie is so overwhelming it's terrifying. I felt drained and empty after it was over.

Ninja Scroll

Old School.

Submitted on Wed, 10/28/2009 - 21:28

If your into some furry

TheDophine

Joined: Jun 18 2009

If your into some furry action, Stormy Night (Arashi no Yoru ni), is a perfect choice ;D.

Submitted on Wed, 10/28/2009 - 22:51

Sword of the Stranger

VizardAnshin

Joined: Oct 08 2008

Submitted on Wed, 10/28/2009 - 23:17

You need to watch: *Saint

SalemJeanette

Save Your Tears.

Location: Popular Land.

Joined: Jul 03 2009

You need to watch:
*Saint Seiya: The Legend of Crimson Youth
*Saint Seiya Heaven Chapter: Overture (Tenkai Hen Overture)
*You Are Under Arrest The Motion Picture
*The 3 Fatal Fury Movies
*AKIRA

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23:33 Vic9mm said: its ture ida benn gone she took out like 3 kids before had what was that fat ass asian kid gonna do

Little J.

Submitted on Thu, 10/29/2009 - 02:20

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Maikoi92

Linsey

Location: Belgium

Joined: Apr 21 2009

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Centimeters_Per_Second

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this one yet. If you plan on watching this, make sure you get a HD file, or you'll be missing out on Makoto Shinkai's amazing animating.

Love the piano pieces in it too ^^

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http://www.youtube.com/user/maikoi15011

Submitted on Thu, 10/29/2009 - 02:24

Re: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

surreal

Eric: tank,godlike

Location: Arizona

Joined: Jan 04 2009

I feel utterly silly for forgetting a movie I loved enough to make an arrangement of the main theme. <<;

Submitted on Thu, 10/29/2009 - 03:01

Re: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

SalemJeanette

Save Your Tears.

Location: Popular Land.

Joined: Jul 03 2009

Maikoi92 said

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Centimeters_Per_Second

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this one yet. If you plan on watching this, make sure you get a HD file, or you'll be missing out on Makoto Shinkai's amazing animating.

Love the piano pieces in it too ^^

I'm more suprised no one has mentioned this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUUPIkib5I0
Epic movie. One of the most memorable anime movies.
You should rent the DVD and watch it in a bigh HD screen with a home theather.

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23:33 Vic9mm said: its ture ida benn gone she took out like 3 kids before had what was that fat ass asian kid gonna do

Little J.

Submitted on Thu, 10/29/2009 - 08:37

Re: Sword of the Stranger

Vic9mm

The Fingerstyle Mechanic

Location: Dallas Texas

Joined: Aug 27 2008

VizardAnshin said

WOW that looks badass I wanna watch that!!!

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Submitted on Thu, 10/29/2009 - 09:35

Re: SF2: TAM

BooDoo

People

Location: Somerville, MA

Joined: Mar 24 2008

SalemJeanette said

I'm more suprised no one has mentioned this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUUPIkib5I0 (SF2: The Animated Movie)
Epic movie. One of the most memorable anime movies.

You know, I was embarrassed to admit that I liked this movie. But now that it's out there, I will say that this movie was pretty bad-ass as a 13-year old taping to VHS from Starz! or whatever channel ran it.

The fact that Sony did the US release makes the music a factor- Ken races down the highway listening to Alice in Chains. Vega (claw) fights Chun-Li to KMFDM. It's so 90s it's absurd.

Submitted on Thu, 10/29/2009 - 10:04

Re: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

surreal

Eric: tank,godlike

Location: Arizona

Joined: Jan 04 2009

SalemJeanette said

Maikoi92 said

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Centimeters_Per_Second

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this one yet. If you plan on watching this, make sure you get a HD file, or you'll be missing out on Makoto Shinkai's amazing animating.

Love the piano pieces in it too ^^

I'm more suprised no one has mentioned this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUUPIkib5I0
Epic movie. One of the most memorable anime movies.
You should rent the DVD and watch it in a bigh HD screen with a home theather.

Ahaha, I remember this from waaaay back. Nothing beats M Bison driving a semi truck, NOTHING.

If only they took that anime trailer they were playing for SFIV and made it into something, that would be crazy awesome.

Submitted on Thu, 10/29/2009 - 11:04

If you like Miyazaki

smiley

shadock number zo zo bu zo meu ga

Location: Laputa

Joined: Jul 04 2008

If you like Miyazaki (Spirited Away), try Castle in the Sky.

If your up for a t.v show that has 40ish episodes (i watched it in a day), watch the Gundam Wing series.
You won't be disappointed.

Submitted on Sat, 10/31/2009 - 10:59

Re: The recommend anime movies to newbies thread

soundsandstuff

Joined: Sep 27 2009

I recommend the movie Daft Punk - Interstella 5555. It has a really cool story about alien musicians from another galaxy. There's no dialogue since visuals are used to tell the story (no need to read subtitles!). They look great and the music goes along with them too. There's also a guitar spaceship in there somewhere :)

Here's a link to the movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ5XOwiryv0

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Submitted on Fri, 11/06/2009 - 18:04

Stay away from the bleach

yoshistrings

ヨッシー

Location: trapped in an egg

Joined: Oct 29 2007

Stay away from the bleach movies until you watch the series. You'll be totally lost.

Submitted on Fri, 11/06/2009 - 23:00

Re: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

SalemJake

Bewitched

Location: Popular Land

Joined: Oct 13 2008

There are two street fighter alpha movies but nothing special

Submitted on Fri, 11/06/2009 - 23:45

Re: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

yoshistrings

ヨッシー

Location: trapped in an egg

Joined: Oct 29 2007

yeah that's the problem. compared to their respective series, most of the movies are nothing special.

Submitted on Sat, 11/07/2009 - 09:39

....tell me when you're ready

Shrurikam

Joined: Dec 01 2010

....tell me when you're ready for anime series i;ve got a whole list for you :D:D
as for movies...
Gurren Laganns ones would be good
also...Black Rock Shooter, its an OVA , but yeh its awesome :D:D

Submitted on Mon, 04/18/2011 - 06:38

Makoto Shinkai's work: A

tiganior1

The following post may contain mature humour, violence and coarse language which is not suitable for younger audiences. Parental discretion is advised.

Location: Look behind you

Joined: Apr 09 2010

Way2Necrobump...carrying on,

Makoto Shinkai's work:

A Place Promised in our Early Days
Voices of a Distant Star
5 Centimeters Per Second
(New, released in May 2011) Children Who Chase Lost Voices From Deep Below (Grant the title, look up some of it s artwork. 1080p, I dare you.)

Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata and Studio Ghibli's more famous works:

Nausicaa - Valley of the Wind
Laputa - Castle in the Sky
My Neighbour Totoro
Porco Rosso
Kiki's Delivery Service
Princess Mononoke
Grave of the Fireflies
Whisper of the Heart (Prequel)
The Cat Returns (Sequel)
Spirited Away
Ponyo
Howl's Moving Castle
The Borrower Arriety

Various Titles:

Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo / The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Summer Wars
Paprika
Akira
The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya

Frankly I try to stay away from movies which require you to watch an entire series to understand prior. The only exception is the last one listed, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. There are tons of mecha, space opera/science fiction and action movies which should be watched after the series, but I don't think you're interested in that.

Submitted on Mon, 04/18/2011 - 23:04

im SURE i put a comment in

wayfaerer

"Embrace your dreams."

Location: The Lifestream

Joined: Apr 03 2011

im SURE i put a comment in here somewhere, what the hell...

1. akira
2. princess mononoke
3. DBZ movies (cant remember the titles)
4. Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz

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"i seem to be find a lot that apparently dont contain the .exe actually" -Anonymous

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Submitted on Mon, 04/18/2011 - 23:16

Re: Makoto Shinkai's work: A

SalemJeanette

Save Your Tears.

Location: Popular Land.

Joined: Jul 03 2009

tiganior1 said

5 Centimeters Per Second

You will cry so much at the end of this movie.............. because you will loose 1 hour of your life with this crap.

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23:33 Vic9mm said: its ture ida benn gone she took out like 3 kids before had what was that fat ass asian kid gonna do

Little J.

Submitted on Mon, 04/18/2011 - 23:33

Re: Makoto Shinkai's work: A

tiganior1

The following post may contain mature humour, violence and coarse language which is not suitable for younger audiences. Parental discretion is advised.

Location: Look behind you

Joined: Apr 09 2010

SalemJeanette said

tiganior1 said

5 Centimeters Per Second

You will cry so much at the end of this movie.............. because you will loose 1 hour of your life with this crap.

No Madoka means it's not for Salem, lolol

Submitted on Tue, 04/19/2011 - 00:23

Not awesome means it's not

SalemJeanette

Save Your Tears.

Location: Popular Land.

Joined: Jul 03 2009

Not awesome means it's not for Salem :<

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23:33 Vic9mm said: its ture ida benn gone she took out like 3 kids before had what was that fat ass asian kid gonna do

Little J.

Submitted on Tue, 04/19/2011 - 00:32

5 Centimeters per second sure

TrangOul

Insomaniac

Location: Germany

Joined: Feb 24 2008

5 Centimeters per second sure is a great movie but honestly, I think it's a horrible choice for people who want to get in touch with Anime. This movie is so ridiculously Japanese, it might scare away people who aren't used to this style of storytelling.

Submitted on Tue, 04/19/2011 - 04:17

A lot of the good one's have

Kabukibear

Happy Strumming!

Location: Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

Joined: Mar 22 2007

A lot of the good one's have been mentioned...hmm I'm trying to think of the last decent movie I've seen...

Steamboy - a very pretty steampunk anime. Music is good as well
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eAk6oNBSMU
Tokyo Godfathers - Very good anime, interesting subjects and animation. Really liked it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q6mcx2qF4Q
Paprika - is a STRANGE one but I like everything by Satoshi Kon (Millennium Actress/Perfect Blue/Tokyo Godfathers)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yn7U1KIGeuQ&feature=fvwrel
Pale Cocoon - was an odd one, but it's short.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1lJMuYq-uU
Mind Game - At this point you should be ready for some weirder stuff. This one IS WEIRD BUT AWESOME.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU4EfF85u60

Submitted on Tue, 04/19/2011 - 06:27

One is allowed to recommend

Hakoria

Laon King

Location: gmt+1

Joined: Apr 03 2011

If one is allowed to recommend weird-as-fuck anime movies to anime newcommers? These weren't mentioned so:

Cat Soup and Cencoroll.

Otherwise the rest of the thread pretty much mentions some good anime movies for beginners, although it'll also depend on the person to decide between which to show.
Like, don't show a 12 y.o girl Jin-Roh. Unless she's that hardcore.
And Trang is right, 5cms/s might not be the best thing to show first but if the person is willing to learn about different cultures then I figure it's not really a problem. Just put it under 'romance' and 'good music' categories.

Submitted on Tue, 04/19/2011 - 07:20