I feel like I haven't seen an anime in years that's been in the same league as Akira or the great Miyazakis (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Totoro). Yes i'd be brutal and include Miyazakis following works in that list, from Howls Moving Castle to The Boy and the Heron. Ive seen lots of incredible animation, sure, but nothing like the cinematic depth.
What am I missing? What should an old fart who's becoming convinced things were better in the old days put myself infront of?
Tokyo Godfathers is an amazing and deeply human christmas comedy about homeless people in the Tokyo streets, filled with magical moments of cinematography.
Paprika is a less lighthearted story about inner lives, dreams and ambitions set across a sci fi backdrop where people are learning to enter each other's dreams and link them together. It has gorgeous dreamscapes and an amazing soundtrack as well as a fascinating plot and interesting characters.
Thre's also Makoto Shinkai's movies, which have good cinematography and interesting themes and soundtrack, as well as somewhat interesting characters (though a bit samey). Your Name is excellent, with Weathering with You and Suzume being good but not great. 5 Centimeters per second is nice as well. Children who chase lost voices underground is his most Ghibli movie and I'd say it definitely gets the tone and aesthetics right for the Nausica/Mononoke era of Ghibli.
On the Ghibli side, I quite enjoyed Studio Ponoc's Modest Heroes, which was a collection of shorts by Studio Ponoc (which has some Ghibli Veterans in it as well as younger talent I believe). Kanini and Kanino has the adventure elements and aesthetics, Life ain't gonna lose has the small child PoV element, Invisible has the social elements.
Seconding: Paprika was amazing (and hard to avoid comparing to Inception, which came out a few years later). Millenium Actress and Perfect Blue are burning a hole in my bookshelf - still haven't got to them.
Also seconding Your Name - hits the whole emotional spectrum, even on second and third watch when you know what's happening.
As lesser-known recommendations from Ghibli, I think Porco Rosso and From Up On Poppy Hill are both underrated-and-good in their own way, though they don't quite leave the impact that some of the others do.
On Kon, Paranoia Agent is also excellent. And if we're taking 2000s shows into account, I also have to mention Kuuchuu Buranko in that category of Paranoia Agent-reminiscent sociologically interesting shows.
All these people giving recs are doing it wrong. You can determine if an anime is worth your time by merely looking at the title and what the source material is and the following simple system:
Candidates start with 5 points. If they have a positive score after applying the system, they're at least worth checking out (although they will not necessarily be good). If not, you are likely wasting your time.
1) Every word in the title past the third is worth -1 point. This includes particles and abbreviations.
2) Each word in the subtitle is worth -0.5 points.
3) Any of the following words or close synonyms are worth -2 points on top of any other penalties:
Academy, Ability, Cheat, Dungeon, Elf, Game, Goblin, Harem, Hero, Idol, Isekai, Level, Loop, Maou, MMO, Mob, Online, Overlord, Party, Player, Re(used as a prefix), Reincarnation, "The Animation"(verbatim only), Vampire, Villainess, Virtual, VR, VTuber, Wizard
4) Subtract an additional point for every word that implies this is a remake, spinoff, adaptation or sequel, such as "Kai", "Gaiden", "2nd" (3rd, etc.), "New", et cetera.
5) Even though you already subtracted a point for "Isekai" in step 3. If the title contains the word "Isekai", subtract an additional 5 points.
6) Apply the following adjustment based on the source material:
History: +3 (Applying only to direct adaptations of historical events, not merely using historical theming)
Literary Fiction: +2
Original Work: +1
Other: +1
OVA: +0.5
Live Action: +0
Web Animation/Motion Comic/Music Video: +0
Comic: +0
Video Game: -1
Light Novel: -1
Writeup of someone's D&D session: -1
CCG: -2
Web Novel: -5
Mobile Game: -10
"Multimedia Project" (This is just a mobile game that doesn't exist yet): -10
Social Media Post: -100
So basically you're steering us away from all the series based on mangas based in turn on "light novels" based on fans writing on the website
Shōsetsuka ni Narō, "Let's Become a Novelist":
Fair enough, I guess, they're silly and unabashedly cliched and are not Miyazaki. But I watched a few and kind of liked them: How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, I'm in Love with the Villainess, My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Parallel World Pharmacy. (That's four different titles, to be clear.)
I could comfortably watch another right now, I'm tempted by Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon. But I would not like to watch GITS, which exists in my mind as a vague painful memory of a self-important plot about cyborgs and a lot of characters jumping around on rooftops and shooting at each other. It's a "neo-noir cyberpunk action thriller", as Wikipedia puts it, or in my terms "not any fun". But I guess it was seminal and genuinely important at the time.
Ha. Stuff like this is entertaining but it is not what I would call good. It’s like the reality tv of anime. Cheap wish fulfillment fan service.
There have been some legit good series recently that play with these fantasy genres, have solid writing and animation.
* Friern: Beyond Journey’s End - an extremely sentimental coming of age tale that explorers children raising parents, loyalty, and platonic love.
* Delicious in Dungeon - a really silly story that subverts the dungeon crawling genre by crossing over with the food/cooking genre and playing with all kinds of genre/tropes.
* Pluto - a classic scifi morality tale on what it means to be human. This series tried really hard to be a modern Ghost in the Shell. It was successful in some ways and fell flat in others. Definitely worth watching though.
There are lots of entertaining anime out now, but so little of it is well made or written. Maybe that’s ok though. I still watch lots of the low quality stuff because it’s like popcorn/candy and is easy to watch.
I’ll echo the titles you recommended, but given what the MC goes through in Re:Zero I’m not sure that it falls into the bucket of wish fulfillment nearly as much as most shows of its genre do. I can’t think of many people who’d want to be the MC.
If you hadn't seen Now and Then, Here and There, or Twelve Kingdoms, or read Red River, then maybe it'd seem fresh and interesting, but I dropped Re:Zero pretty early. Good genre fiction still has something to say about the real world, and Re:Zero felt like it was trying so hard to subvert genre expectations set by other fiction that it forgot that.
Ok, as someone who both loved Now and Then, Here and There and Twelve Kingdoms, I want some recommendations from you :) Those two series were really great.
But I do agree with you, they were great because they actually had something to say about the real world.
There's not a lot else like them in anime, so none of the shows I'm about to list are good for the same reasons that those two were good.
Shinsekai Yori was great, and a rare case of high-effort worldbuilding that actually delivers on its premise. Highly spoilable.
If Akiba Maid Sensou is not my anime-of-the-decade for this decade, I will be very surprised, but it assumes you understand both yakuza culture and maid cafe culture and I'm not sure what someone who doesn't would get out of it.
Hana to Alice, Satsujin Jiken might not even be anime, since it relies extremely heavily on 1:1 rotoscoping, but it is short and doesn't really look like anything else.
Gankutsuou also gets a ton of points for being visually distinctive, and (at least at the time of release, maybe that's not true anymore) being the most faithful adaptation of Dumas' original to video despite casting a blue-skinned space vampire as the Count.
Princess Tutu is a fantastic use of popular ballet as a framing device that was doing the whole 'meta-narrative' thing long before it was cool.
Mononoke (not the Ghibli film Mononoke-hime) is a good-looking take on the classic supernatural detective genre.
Id:Invaded is also a supernatural detective story, which manages to be entertainingly audacious without ever really feeling like it was just going for cheap shock value.
I'm not into anime, but I would like to see some recent series. But! I want an anime with adult MC, no power levels, no schools, not about magic, no mechas, no overtly sexual (inuendos, jokes). No exaggerated facial gestures. Something like the overall tone of Legend of the Galactic Heroes but more recent.
Give Vinland Saga a go, for some gripping historical drama.
Or Bartender: Glass of God (the ongoing 2024 series), for stories in a real-world setting.
For something more fantastical, To Your Eternity, an adventure that makes you feel and hurt. Frieren: Beyond Journey's End for an adventure that's both young and grown-up - it only came out recently, but has instantly been acclaimed as a modern classic.
For something more childlike yet endlessly creative, Delicious in Dungeon or even Ranking of Kings.
For proper literary sci-fi (despite featuring young protagonists), From the New World (Shinsekai Yori).
For true artistic cinema despite a Japanese high-school setting, Ping Pong The Animation.
Other gems mentioned that I second: ODDTAXI (a tightly written mystery-drama despite its art) and Pluto (serious thinking sci-fi with gravitas).
There are always a few upper-tier shows coming out each year that retain an artistic, mature bent. Not very many but at least they're there.
More seriously, no, you can't "determine if an anime is worth your time by merely looking at the title and what the source material is". Especially if you don't have anything to watch, and all the false positives (plenty!) have infinite negative value.
I have not. I have a completely different set of criteria for choosing manga because their production process is so different than for anime. I have a tendency to only buy physical copies, so if something never catches my eye in a book shop, or never makes it into a book shop, I will probably never even know it exists if it's not by an author I already know.
However both Scavenger's Reign and Pantheon feel distinctly different from Japanese anime. They have a much more Western aesthetic eye visually, narratively, and especially in terms of music I feel.
Having just watched Scavenger's Reign, it differs from both Lem novels in an important way.
Lem uses characters as an excuse to tell something about the portrayed worlds. Scavenger's Reign uses the world as a backdrop to tell the story of the characters.
(Same goes for Solaris, although Tarkovsky's adaptation reverses that.)
Frieren is a modern classic, with some of the best animation I've ever seen & deals with the themes of companionship and regret in a surprisingly mature way. It would be my recommendation for sure!
Strangely (maybe), but Attack on Titan I can't stand, and I didn't care much for any of the Full metal Alchemist ones, but Frieren is one of the absolutely best shows I've ever watched.
Yeah, that's a fair point. I haven't yet watched the 3rd season of Made in Abyss. Have been hesitant to do so due to its reputation. ;)
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Hai to Gensou no Grimgar has both manga, and light novels, that stretch on for many more chapters past the anime. The Manga was good and continues on well from the anime. After reaching the end of that I picked up the light novels to continue on further.
Unfortunately (around novel 13 I think?) the author clearly didn't know what to do with the story and it turned silly and boring, so I moved on to other stuff. :(
Somehow I never got into reading manga, probably a good thing too - I checked my MAL stats and I says I have watched 330+ shows and I know I have been lazy and not rating all of them ...
Everything that is not in “Studio Ghibli” wide angle fairy tale style? A number of external films have imitated it, some of them better than the other.
As a side note, “Studio Ghibli” is also not at all equal to “Hayao Miyazaki”.
Say, “Madoka Magica” is certainly large scale, but in totally different style. “Denno Coil” and “Eizouken” has that sense of adventure you can't really describe. And “Drifting Home” is magical, nostalgic, and colourful in its own manner.
I you need some “respected opinion”, here's a list:
It's… okay. Everyone — for a certain definition of attentive viewers — knows most of those.
It is not wise to limit yourself to movies. As mentioned, animated movie is a big investment that can flop at once, while series can be steered somehow in a different production/financing direction, or can become a good merchandise source. Therefore, a lot of movies are more or less straightforward derivatives of existing hit works which rely on the fan crowd. Those make money for more experimental original works.
Your Name (2016, Makoto Shinkai) and Ping Pong the Animation (2014, Masaaki Yuasa) are both IMO top notch (and the creators are active and have extensive oeuvres). The Shape of Voice (2016, Kyoto Animation (RIP)) was also much acclaimed. Of these, I recommend Ping Pong the most (and Yuasa's other works as well).
I suppose for more sci-fi/fantasy, Rebuild of Evangelion (2007-2021) might be interesting, although to me, its popularity in Japan and why the retelling was made is actually more interesting to me than the works themselves. It didn't win any particular awards or acclaim, but I was a fan of the incredibly stylish manga series, and I personally enjoyed the Blame! (2017, Hiroyuki Shesita) CGI anime film for those into the Japanese post-cyber-apocalypse sci-fi aesthetic.
I think these days, the economics of anime has driven more interesting work into series rather than features. Recently some memorable ones I've enjoyed are Steins;Gate (2011-2015, White Fox), Devilman: Crybaby (2018, Studio SARU), Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (2022, Trigger), Pluto (2023, M2), and Frieren (2023, Madhouse).
I didn't understand why people kept recommending this until I spotted that the director is Mamoru Oshii, director of GitS. It's perfectly reasonable as a standalone film without having seen 1. And it's good in the same ways as GitS; mix of action, political thriller, and lingering artistic set piece.
If we're specifically talking stuff from the last few years, and if shows count, I gotta put in a word for ODDTAXI. Feels like a mashup of the best parts of Yuasa Masaaki and Kon Satoshi works.
If you're referring to series then among the best Seinen classics are shows like:
Berzerk (1997)
Monster (2004) [My personal favorite]
Cowboy Bebop
Steins:Gate
Vinland Saga (newer)
Frieren (newer)
There's a lot of Shounen classics as well, my favorite probably being
Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood
granted there's several tropes in it that aren't going to be as enjoyable to watch on repeat for older folks. But the storytelling and plot is practically like Breaking Bad but in anime form.
EVA should not be missed, regardless of how weird and gross it can be for some. I watched it for the first time a year ago after hearing so much about it.
The first five or six episodes are an awful slog, and then there's an exponential curve up through 'quite good' into 'great' then 'I understand why this will print money forever'.
If you're sold but confused how to watch: start with the original release and then watch End of Evangelion; both on netflix.
Paprika is good, but I wouldn't elevate it to greatness. Whereas, for me, Perfect Blue makes the cut. The odd thing is, they both essentially explore aspects of the same theme: subjective reality and what happens when those of different individuals' collide. But they do that in very different ways...
And thank you for bringing up Metropolis, that film tends to be underrated.
Here's a list of some old and new ones, that an old fart might enjoy
Monster (Chasing a serial killer)
Ergo Proxy (Can't describe it)
Samurai 7 (Sci-fi variant off 7 samurai)
Last Exile (Post appocapltic world with lots of flying
machines)
Kino's Journey
Mushishi
Time of Eve
Gargantia
Baccano
Durarara
Psycho Pass
Arslan Senki
Sunaboju (Desert Punk)
Witch Hunter Robin
Hunter x Hunter (old not new)
Texnolyze
Darker than Black
Black Lagoon
Great Teach Onizuka (One of the old and best)
Gintama (Comedy, It's at the level One Piece and Naruto
disgusing as Comedy, you have to get past 30 episodes)
Kabaneri of Iron Fortress (Just for animation quality)
Beck (Music career)
Golden Kamui
Terror in Resonance
Ping Pong Animation (Don't let the animation fool you, it's
one of the best stories)
Area 88 (Story ends abruptly, watch at your own risk)
Ashita no Joe (Old anime, boxing genre)
Valkyria Chronicles (War story)
Scissor Seven (Comedy, Chinese, assassin, in a strange
world)
Shura no Toki (Martial arts, 3 generations)
A Record of Mortal's Journey to Immortality (Chinese
cultivation genre, 3D good animation, faithful adaptation of
one of the good novels in this genre)
Swallowed Star (Chinese cultivation genre Sci-fi variant, great 3D animation)
There are some questionable parts of this anime as it's old and a lot of anime from that time is like that, however, it's one of those anime that got what being a hero is about. Only one that I can think of in recent times is My Hero Academia. If that doesn't sway you to watch it, I think Gigguk included Onizuka as one of the top 20 most badass characters in anime a few years ago.
It's a fun anime if the slapstick comedy resonates with you and don't take everything seriously. If slapstick isn't your cup of tea, then no point forcing yourself to watch it.
I highly recommend "Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!" It's an anime that's a love letter to anime about making anime where the anime-making becomes part of the anime. It's quite a trip, and it's got great energy and love for the medium.
It isn't exactly obvious. They're set two decades apart, and the only character from Dennou Coil who shows up is Michiko, inside Second Seven somehow. Which does at least make me suspect that the Yuukos have been busy.
Though once I noticed the space station was getting entirely covered in Isako's scribblings, that was... a moment.
"A Silent Voice" is the best anime film of the 2010s in my opinion and comes closer to matching Miyazaki than anything else I've seen, in terms of the power of storytelling. Miyazaki is still better, but it's extremely good.
I also enjoyed "Wolf Children" a lot. As others have said, "Your Name" is stellar too, and "5cm/sec" is pretty damn excellent.
>What am I missing? What should an old fart who's becoming convinced things were better in the old days put myself infront of?
I think no reply are really getting at this question.
If you consider the two latter Miyazaki movies not being included, I think "greats" to you must be something that is "very unique and distinct from the western (animated) movie but also distinct enough from its own (anime) peers".
If you see it that is way, Howl's was not distinct at all (based on a UK book & doing what worked in spirited away) and boy and the heron (essentially reusing expressions from all the works of Miyazaki).
I think you're just looking for that "wow" factor again. Something that put your mind at edge because your brain couldn't predict what will happen next, because they don't follow usual (selling) clichés in story telling or cinematography.
I don't think many anime of today really have that. The only one I can think of is the original Evangelion but that's quite old now too. Maybe Attack of Titan, Pluto, but that's a bit subjective.
I can think of multiple Mangas that would fall in to that. Mangas allow more artistic freedom because it's made by a smaller team, and requires smaller fan base so can be bold in trying new expressions. But might lose its charm when (if) adapted to animation. Ghost in the shell mentioned in the original post too, is Very different from the Manga. (source material) and to people that really got intrigued by the deeper theme about consciousness they might prefer the Manga more.
I haven't watched it myself but maybe the recent adaptation of Junji Itos horror might fall under that "wow" category. His style (in writing) is very unique.
You need to see Samurai Champloo if you haven't. It's twenty years old but absolutely timeless.
Reposting my comment from elsewhere here:
For something more fantastical, To Your Eternity, an adventure that makes you feel and hurt. Frieren: Beyond Journey's End for an adventure that's both young and grown-up - it only came out recently, but has instantly been acclaimed as a modern classic.
For something more childlike yet endlessly creative, Delicious in Dungeon or even Ranking of Kings.
For proper literary sci-fi (despite featuring young protagonists), From the New World (Shinsekai Yori).
For true artistic cinema despite a Japanese high-school setting, Ping Pong The Animation.
Other gems mentioned that I second: ODDTAXI (a tightly written mystery-drama despite its art) and Pluto (serious thinking sci-fi with gravitas).
There are always a few upper-tier shows coming out each year that retain an artistic, mature bent. Not very many but at least they're there.
On the ODDTAXI front, I can recommend the currently running "Roots of Odd Taxi (RoOT)" series. Its a nice side-story that adds a lot of texture without making the original worse. Also, the "ODDTAXI in the Woods" movie version definitely added a lot and tied things up in a way that the series didn't.
I'll give two series and a movie, since everyone has mentioned Kon. I think these are also going to appeal more to someone who hasn't been intimately involved in anime fandom.
-Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
It single-handedly revived interest in the game for a reason; it's excellent, particularly as a foil to GITS and a spiritual successor to FLCL (which I'm sure you've heard of). The animation style is VERY different from GITS, but no less technically impressive, and while the story is not quite as philosophical, it's still no less complete and satisfying.
-Sonny Boy
Tinges of Nolan, Kurosawa, Carroll, Cheever's The Swimmer. May seem like a slog at some points, but hang on for the sequence during the last episode. You'll know it when you see it. I don't want to give too much away.
-Mind Game
Again, don't want to spoil. I recommend watching late at night, Adult Swim-style. A prime example of anime that can't exist in any other medium.
I strongly recommend Wolf Children. It's on par with Miyazaki's best. A really moving and heartwarming film.
On the flipside of the spectrum, Grave of the Fireflies and In This Corner of the World are excellent but tragic WW2 films told from the Japanese civilian perspective. Grave of the Fireflies in particular is a difficult watch, but worth seeing once.
Patema Inverted is in the league there, graphics wise. It's crazy how nobody had ever tried the idea of the character pov of falling towards the sky. The immersive feeling is real and genius.
Browse some ranked lists (series and OVAs) over at MyAnimeList.net. Tons of good stuff out there. Though, things were better in the old days. No arguing that.
Watch Redline, Demon City Shinjuku, Ergo Proxy, Psycho Pass, GITS series (not the netflix animated crap), Berserk, Ninja Scroll, Jormungandr, Black Lagoon.
What am I missing? What should an old fart who's becoming convinced things were better in the old days put myself infront of?