Anime

[James Y]

I’m sure the word ‘anime’ conjures up different thoughts and images to different people.

The first Anime I ever saw were on TV back in the ‘60s...Gigantor, Kimba the White Lion, Speed Racer, etc. Even the Saturday morning King Kong cartoon was Canadian/American/Japanese, with Japanese animation. There were also some movies that played on TV that I thought were amazing, though I forgot their titles.

I cannot say that I’m an anime junkie, because I’m not. What I can say is that, especially in the past several years, anime movies have really evolved...big time. The new “it” director is Makoto Shinkai who, in his past two films, has even outdone the legendary Hayao Miyazaki.

Makoto Shinkai’s 2016 movie, Your Name (Kimi no Na wa) became Japan’s most successful anime movie ever, and its highest-grossing movie ever, period. And it became my personal favorite movie, which says a lot. The artwork and animation are visually stunning, and the storyline, while perhaps aimed mostly at young adults, is sophisticated enough (including a bit of quantum physics) to appeal to adults of all ages. From what I’ve heard, even people who hate anime and saw Your Name loved it. I gave copies to my older brother and his wife (they’re in their 60s), and my niece and her family, and they all loved it. I’m now in my late 50s; and before I saw this about 3 years back, I never would have expected an anime to become my favorite movie.

Here is an unofficial trailer; the official trailers don’t do the movie justice:

https://youtu.be/NooIc3dMncc

Jim

[James Y]

The latest anime movie by Makoto Shinkai, ‘Weathering With You’ (Tenki no Ko), from 2019. Just recently saw it, and it has become my second-favorite anime, though probably not my second-favorite movie. ‘Your Name’ is still king, IMO, but this one comes close. It’s about a teenage runaway who falls in love with a girl who possesses the power to stop the rain.

Since at least 2013’s ‘The Garden of Words’, these films occupy a “Makoto Shinkai Universe.” The protagonist(s) of one film make(s) a brief appearance in the next film. It is no spoiler to say that the protagonists from ‘Your Name’ appear briefly in ‘Weathering With You’.

Note: The official movie music video below *may* contain some visual spoilers:

https://youtu.be/nSNQ_Qh9Pss

Jim

[OrangeShoes]

Thanks for sharing! Would definitely watch it - thanks for your review; coming from a non-fanatic means that this movie is indeed awesome!

[James Y]

Thanks for sharing! Would definitely watch it - thanks for your review; coming from a non-fanatic means that this movie is indeed awesome!

You’re very welcome, OrangeShoes, and I hope you enjoy it, too!

Jim

[shunsui]

Thought of posting this in Fav Movie Fight Scenes, but it might be better here.

https://youtu.be/LbG5STFZ3C0

[James Y]

Thought of posting this in Fav Movie Fight Scenes, but it might be better here.

https://youtu.be/LbG5STFZ3C0

Thanks for posting, shunsui!

Jim

[Doc Dan]

I've not been into anime, much. So far, none of it appeals to me. I have students that are bonkers over it, though. I do not dislike it, it just never did much for me.

[James Y]

I've not been into anime, much. So far, none of it appeals to me. I have students that are bonkers over it, though. I do not dislike it, it just never did much for me.

The thing I like about (what I consider to be) the best anime movies is they often betray a depth of humanity and feeling that live-action (or animated) Hollywood features simply cannot match, or can rarely match. Especially in today’s Hollywood films.

One of the great examples is the 2014 anime When Marnie Was There, directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi. Set in the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, where a friendless young girl with asthma and severe social anxiety disorder is sent from Sapporo to a small town, to stay with relatives for health reasons. She eventually befriends a mysterious blonde girl who lives in an abandoned mansion built decades ago by a foreign couple. At first glance, it may look like a “kiddie” movie, but it is far from that. And there is nothing sexual about it either, as some simple-minded YouTube commenters who’ve only watched the trailer have suggested it must be.

As I mentioned, I’m no anime junkie, but there are some anime movies that I feel are excellent, and that have transcended the genre into simply great cinema. I am pretty picky about which ones I’ll watch, though.

IMO, anime is best when watched in Japanese with English subtitles, as the voices match the characters and their emotions much better.

https://youtu.be/jjmrxqcQdYg

Jim

[The Mastiff]

I'm a big kid and still enjoy a lot of anime. I probably always will. The stuff wrote for ( and by) kids more annoys me than anything and I stay away from it but that is only a small part. There is anime for everything and everyone I'd think. Shunsui, I have all the Samurai Shamploo . It's one of my favorites. I have watched others that were really dark and violent, others that were lighthearted tongue in cheek. It's generally going to be the action genre that I watch the most of.

Jim, that looks like a good movie. I'm going to watch it later. Thanks.

I got started watching whatever my kid was watching back in the early "Adult Swim" days when they would play anime until dawn. Those were my hours as I worked 2nd and 3rd shifts at my state job and a couple part time jobs that I had including one ad-minning a website from home on my off days. That was easily the most PITA job I had. :)

[Water Bug]

A friend introduced me to anime some time back. Initially, I wasn't into it much... then I saw, Gurren Lagann. Now that was quite the adventure series. It was kind of like BattleTech meets G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero.

I liked the story development of the main characters as the series progressed, and ya gotta appreciate a fiery redhead (Yoko Littner) who is skilled in hand-to-hand combat as well as in the use of various weaponry from her two metal "chopsticks" that keep her hair up (and double as melee weapons) to her LARGE, long-range sniper rifle modeled after the Barrett M82. :)

[shunsui]

Another anime fight.

https://youtu.be/UeKRLAhoeFg

[James Y]

Although my all-time favorite anime is Your Name, directed by Makoto Shinkai, my favorite of the Hayao Miyazaki-directed films is still Princess Mononoke, that I first saw back in the ‘90s:

https://youtu.be/YOuG8m2RqOs

Jim

[nerdlock]

I’m sure the word ‘anime’ conjures up different thoughts and images to different people.

The first Anime I ever saw were on TV back in the ‘60s...Gigantor, Kimba the White Lion, Speed Racer, etc. Even the Saturday morning King Kong cartoon was Canadian/American/Japanese, with Japanese animation. There were also some movies that played on TV that I thought were amazing, though I forgot their titles.

I cannot say that I’m an anime junkie, because I’m not. What I can say is that, especially in the past several years, anime movies have really evolved...big time. The new “it” director is Makoto Shinkai who, in his past two films, has even outdone the legendary Hayao Miyazaki.

Makoto Shinkai’s 2016 movie, Your Name (Kimi no Na wa) became Japan’s most successful anime movie ever, and its highest-grossing movie ever, period. And it became my personal favorite movie, which says a lot. The artwork and animation are visually stunning, and the storyline, while perhaps aimed mostly at young adults, is sophisticated enough (including a bit of quantum physics) to appeal to adults of all ages. From what I’ve heard, even people who hate anime and saw Your Name loved it. I gave copies to my older brother and his wife (they’re in their 60s), and my niece and her family, and they all loved it. I’m now in my late 50s; and before I saw this about 3 years back, I never would have expected an anime to become my favorite movie.

Here is an unofficial trailer; the official trailers don’t do the movie justice:

https://youtu.be/NooIc3dMncc

Jim

Ugh! I'm a grown man, but darn, this anime/movie was a revelation!

I usually am more a fan of sci-fi/fantasy type/historical samurai animes, and I never even gave a second look to animes that do not have some sort of heavy action/fighting involved. So it was a surprise when I gave this movie a shot. I could not actually recall what made me watch this but one thing's for sure, I would not have watched this movie on my own without someone's recommendation.

This movie was a genre-bender. Part comedy, part drama, part fantasy - you could not put this one into any single genre of anime. And the payoff at the end was soooooo worth the time put watching this.

I cannot say enough about Kimi no Nawa. I'm a big fan. And that's saying something when most of my anime playlists involve giant robots or fantasy tropes. Highly recommended. :)

[VashHash]

I also like anime. Been watching it since I was a kid and it's carried on. Someone once said " the only difference between a man and a boy is the size and price of his toys." I firmly believe that to be true. It seems to hold true on this forum too. My first introduction to anime that I can remember is Akira. It was very polarizing on a young child. Of course I didn't fully understand it then either.

If you want to see something different in anime watch Grave of the fireflies. It's actually based on a true story.

Gurren Lagan was a really good anime. It just went from ridiculous to, wow that's really ridiculous to wow this is really really ridiculous. Of course you can't stop watching it.

My 2 favorite animes were Trigun and rurouni kenshin. Samurai Champloo was good too. Honestly I wish most animes were longer. Usually 24 episodes tops em out. Then again DBZ has been going on forever in one form or another.

Cowboy bebop was a good series too can't forget that one. Space western at its best and the music is fantastic. I have all the albums on my Playlist. The seatbelts are a really talented group.

I watch a good bit of anime on Amazon prime and Netflix. Used to watch it online but times are changing and more animes are coming.

I'll have to check out kimi no wa.

[James Y]

If you want to see something different in anime watch Grave of the fireflies. It's actually based on a true story.

Somebody once described Grave of the Fireflies as “the best movie you’ll never want to watch again.” I agree. It’s a great and very important movie, with moments of beauty showing through amongst the tragedy; but for me it was a hard watch. I don’t normally get too emotional watching movies, but this one got to me.

Jim

[VashHash]

If you want to see something different in anime watch Grave of the fireflies. It's actually based on a true story.

Somebody once described Grave of the Fireflies as “the best movie you’ll never want to watch again.” I agree. It’s a great movie, with moments of beauty showing through amongst the tragedy; but for me it was a hard watch. I don’t normally get too emotional watching movies, but this one got to me.

Jim

It's probably not for everyone. But it shows that anime can be more than what people expect it to be. That animation in general isn't just for kids stories. Also I probably wouldn't watch that with a kid around. Maybe when they were older and could understand better.

[James Y]

If you want to see something different in anime watch Grave of the fireflies. It's actually based on a true story.

Somebody once described Grave of the Fireflies as “the best movie you’ll never want to watch again.” I agree. It’s a great movie, with moments of beauty showing through amongst the tragedy; but for me it was a hard watch. I don’t normally get too emotional watching movies, but this one got to me.

Jim

It's probably not for everyone. But it shows that anime can be more than what people expect it to be. That animation in general isn't just for kids stories. Also I probably wouldn't watch that with a kid around. Maybe when they were older and could understand better.

Very true. Personally, I’ve always considered animation as more than just for kids.

At the 1976 San Diego Comic Con, I got to meet Mel Blanc (the original voice of Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam, Dafffy Duck, Foghorn Leghorn, Barney Rubble, etc., etc.) right after he gave a talk about his experiences making the Looney Tunes/Merry Melodies cartoons back in the day. During his talk, he stated that the cartoon makers at Warner Brothers weren’t making them for children at all, but for themselves, including little in-jokes. They put in things that they thought were funny and entertaining for themselves, and if other people liked them, great. Many of the early ones were clearly aimed at adults, anyway, probably because they played in theaters before the feature films.

Interestingly enough, the anime movies I like the most tend NOT to be fight-oriented or transformer-type robot-oriented. In spite of the fact I have a ‘Favorite Movie Fight Scenes’ thread.

Jim

[James Y]

1929 vintage Japanese animation.

An old woodcutter with an unsightly growth on his face encounters a clan of tengu (Japanese supernatural beings).

https://youtu.be/ShzmzcJM7QI

Jim

[James Y]

The Garden of Words (Kotonoha no Niwa; 2013).

This was Makoto Shinkai’s movie that directly preceded his mega-hit Kimi no Na wa (Your Name). Unlike Your Name and Weathering With You, this movie really doesn’t contain any magical aspects. It is a short, 45-minute-long movie about loneliness; that maturity doesn’t always occur chronologically with age, and that some adults may not feel any more mature or further along in life than they did as a teenager. The fact that the story revolves around a 15 year-old boy who is an aspiring shoe designer, and a 27 year-old school teacher may raise some eyebrows, but there is nothing suggestive in this film. The shoes are used as a metaphor for walking ahead in life. The boy DOES have feelings for her, naturally, but the story is really about how their first chance meeting in the park eventually helps both to begin finding their way, in order to move forward in life.

The main protagonists in Makoto Shinkai’s works tend to be either loners, introverts, or simply people who are out of step with ‘the majority of society’, for whom ‘simple’ things (such as love and deep personal connections) that many people take for granted, seem to be almost beyond reach. And that sometimes miraculous things must happen for them to find it.

This movie seems to have been the start of the ‘Makoto Shinkai Universe’; Yukari Yukino, the female protagonist here, has a small role in Kimi no Na wa (Your Name) as Mitsuha’s high school literature teacher. In the same way, the four main characters from Kimi no Na wa (Taki, Mitsuha, Teshi/Tessie and Sayaka) have brief appearances in Tenki no Ko (Weathering With You).

https://youtu.be/FMabhvDoolc

Jim

[shunsui]

I liked The Garden of Words and Your Name. They are excellent productions.

I prefer things like Neon Genesis Evangelion. But like Icarus, that anime flew too high and the wax melted. I think that may be why we're seeing simpler anime that doesn't wrestle with angels.

We have a new kind of animation now in digital special effects that exceeds the strengths that anime used to be known for. Now you have Thanos, Apocalypse, and Dark Phoenix productions that boggle the imagination of people who grew up watching George Reeves playing Superman back in the 50's.