Recommend me an animated Japanese film. - General Discussion Discussion

[–] zephyr_cape (2979) 5 years ago

Tenshi no Tamago (1985)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0208502/

reply

[–] samoanjoes (58658) 5 years ago

I've seen that one but you got the right tone that I like.

reply

[–] zephyr_cape (2979) 5 years ago

Y’seen Belladonna of Sadness?

reply

[–] samoanjoes (58658) 5 years ago

Not yet. My friend has a copy and said he'd loan me his.

reply

[–] zephyr_cape (2979) 5 years ago

Vampire Hunter D?

reply

[–] samoanjoes (58658) 5 years ago

I was just on the thread for Bloodlust. A user told me that it was stand alone? Is that true? Bloodlust looks better than the 1985 movie.

reply

[–] zephyr_cape (2979) 5 years ago

Yeah start with Bloodlust. You won't have to have seen the '85 flick, and it is definitely more beautiful and up your alley if Angel's Egg is your shit. Check out Bloodlust, and then if you go back to '85 just imagine that it looks like Bloodlust.

Also how 'bout Wicked City?

reply

[–] samoanjoes (58658) 5 years ago

Is it a sequel though?

Never heard of Wicked City. Went to IMDb sounds decent.

reply

[–] zephyr_cape (2979) 5 years ago

It technically is but the story stands completely on its own. IIRC it was made with American audiences in mind with the understanding that they wouldn't already be familiar with the '85 film.

reply

[–] samoanjoes (58658) 5 years ago

Okay thanks.

reply

[–] zephyr_cape (2979) 5 years ago

Enjoy, buddy!

👍💯 And cool points awarded for having seen and liking Angel's Egg and already having Belladonna on lockdown. 💯👍

reply

[–] zephyr_cape (2979) 5 years ago

Vamp Hunter D and Wicked City are both based on novels by the same guy, Hideyuki Kikuchi. If you end up being into both of those, you might want to check out Darkside Blues too, also based on his work.

reply

[–] samoanjoes (58658) 5 years ago

If I can find the Japanese dubs of all of these I'll check them out.

reply

[–] zephyr_cape (2979) 5 years ago

👍💯 Additional CPs awarded 💯👍

reply

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Wicked City is a waste of time, IMO.

Imagine Men in Black with gratuitous rape, sex and gore, except instead of aliens, the agents are going after demons. And imagine all of this playing out in a tedious way, as in, "Where is this all going?"

reply

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

that was streaming on shudder a few years ago. i liked it quite a bit. a little dull in patches perhaps, but something very different & not like anything i'd seen before.

reply

[–] zephyr_cape (2979) 5 years ago

If anyone can recommend anything else similar to Angel's Egg btw, I'm in the market as well. It's one of my favorite things ever.

reply

[–] Stratego (31087) 5 years ago

Pokémon.

reply

[–] Kowalski (79200) 5 years ago

NAILED IT!

reply

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

None of them, because every single one of them are overrated, IMO.

Don't get me wrong--Japanese movies are beautifully animated and put Western animation to shame. However, they always suffer from some major drawback, whether in the way of lack of payoff, self indulgence, gratuitous sex and violence (particularly rape scenes) or convoluted story lines.

But to play along, I suppose you could watch these so-called "classics":

1. Akira
2. Perfect Blue
3. Kite
4. Ghost in the Shell
5. Barefoot Gen
6. Steamboy (made by the same guy who did Akira)
7. Paprika (made by the same guy who did Perfect Blue)

reply

[–] samoanjoes (58658) 5 years ago

I agree. There is a lot of rape and convoluted storylines, but I miss animation like this and they're better than the American ones.

reply

[–] zephyr_cape (2979) 5 years ago

The demented excess, nonsense and elusiveness that Japan is the world's number one purveyor of is part of the appeal for me. The Japanese are off their got damn gourd and I love it.

Haven't seen Kite, Barefoot Gen, or Steamboy, will check out, thanks!

reply

[–] samoanjoes (58658) 5 years ago

There's a Japanese dub of Barefoot Gen on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/DqDQd1wkDj0

reply

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

The Japanese are off their got damn gourd and I love it.

The Japanese aren't off their gourd. A lot of the "cool" anime that we watch in The States is the fringe stuff that gets dumped on TV in late night, much like soft core porn used to on late night cable. Most Japanese don't watch or respect it, because it's strictly for a niche "otaku" audience (otakus=their version of Comic Book Guys, except far creepier). This "fringe" anime is so little respected that Hayao Miyazaki famously trashed otakus (the niche audiences who watch this kind of stuff) for ruining anime: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/131872-Hayao-Miyazaki-Anime-Suffers-Because-the-Industry-is-Full-of-Otaku

The reason why I point this out is that what a lot of Westerners think of as Japanese being "crazy cool" is just craziness--in other words, the least stable, least disciplined animators/creators being given the freedom to do what they want, without being reigned in when they need to be. Once you watch enough anime, you start to notice that what looks like avant-garde or envelope pushing or whatever is just fringe elements of Japanese society with these personal demons and fetishes playing them out in their work, without anyone to tell them when they're being self-indulgent or weird. You also notice that a lot of the craziness is due to storytelling incompetence, as in, "I have no idea where to take this story, so let's throw shit at the wall and see what sticks."

For example, a lot of people keep praising Kite as some kind of anime masterpiece. The problem is that it's just an X-rated ripoff of The Professional. It's a movie from a guy with a rape/pedophilia fetish who obviously saw the movie, was frustrated that it didn't go far enough, so did his version of the movie with the rape and child abuse scenes put in. Yet because it's anime, people are thinking that it's oh, so avant garde. it's not. It is what it is.

reply

[–] zephyr_cape (2979) 5 years ago

What are some of the best examples of these fringe otaku animes? What about stuff like FLCL or Evangelion? I've heard this beef from Hayao before but I've always been a little unsure of what he's talking about exactly. I kind of get what you're saying but I'm a little fuzzy about it. I'll check out Kite soon so I have more of a point of reference.

reply

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

All of the stuff that's become popular in the US, like Neon Genesis Evangelion, Gantz, etc. So, anything that's aimed towards adults and has stuff like fanservice, rape, gore, etc. It's all shown in late night or is OVA (straight-to-video).

BTW, I always find people's obsession with Neon Genesis Evangelion bizarre, because it's obvious that several episode in, the creator just started losing the plot (literally and figuratively). But a guy having a nervous breakdown onscreen because he couldn't keep up with the deadlines and then running out of budget (to the extent that he could only show stills and rough drawings) is somehow seen as being so ingenious.

Incidentally, if you're going to watch Kite, I strongly urge you to watch The Professional, too, because you'll see for yourself that it's just a pornographic ripoff of that movie. But people will keep recommending this to others because they'll say it's brilliant or out there or whatever.

reply

[–] zephyr_cape (2979) 5 years ago

These are series, but they're both short enough, (a dozen and two dozen 20min eps respectively,) that they're not an over the top commitment: Serial Experiments: Lain, and Berserk.

reply

[–] MovieManCin2 (26342) 5 years ago

None of them!

😎

reply

[–] actionkamen (23176) 5 years ago

Your Name (2016)

reply

[–] samoanjoes (58658) 5 years ago

I can't find an original Japanese dub of that.

reply

[–] kuku (3510) 5 years ago

A trick with Anime is to look for the japanese name (not in kanji, but in western alphabet). In the case of 'your name', the original japanese is 'Kimi no Na wa'

There's a site called MyAnimeList, you can find the original titles there. The 'Recommendations' tab will give you other movies/series similar to the one you're looking. It's very useful.
https://myanimelist.net/anime/32281/Kimi_no_Na_wa

reply

[–] samoanjoes (58658) 5 years ago

Thanks. Bookmarked.

reply

[–] maclite (41) 5 years ago

Great movie!

reply

[–] actionkamen (23176) 5 years ago

Best movie of 2016.

reply

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

mind game (2004) - streaming on hoopla if you have access to that service.

my letterboxd review:

wonderfully trippy animated film that would have been perfect in my eyes if its momentum hadn't slightly stalled somewhere around the 55 minute mark & if it had been just a little bit sleazier. still, it's a terrific mind bending exercise that is also very visually exciting & dynamic, moving from photo-realistic to almost amateurishly crude at times. a great surprise & a real terrific & unexpected find.

reply

[–] samoanjoes (58658) 5 years ago

I tried looking for that a few years ago and couldn't find it. The real faces is what drew me to it.

reply

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

if you're in a north american town/city whose library gives you access to hoopla, you can watch it for free with your library card.

https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/12175636

it's absolutely worth your time imo.

reply

[–] samoanjoes (58658) 5 years ago

I just checked YouTube. It's there with a slight watermark on the top left but the quality is decent and it's the Japanese dub.

reply

[–] zephyr_cape (2979) 5 years ago

Ooo definitely going to check it.

reply

[–] kuku (3510) 5 years ago

You should be more specific. What are you looking for? Fantasy? Scifi? Thriller? Slice of Life? Relaxing? Anime covers a lot of genres.

reply

[–] samoanjoes (58658) 5 years ago

I like the dark ones like Angel's Egg. I haven't seen Vampire Hunter D yet, but that looks like the similar tone.

reply

[–] kuku (3510) 5 years ago

Mmm... anime movies are usually more 'good feeling', perhaps sad, but rarely dark. If you wanna go dark, you'll find more material in series. Most of them only have one season and about 10-20 episodes.

Shiki could be a nice option, it's like an anime version of Salem's Lot
https://myanimelist.net/anime/7724/Shiki

Psycho-Pass, scifi
https://myanimelist.net/anime/13601/Psycho-Pass

Ergo Proxy, scifi too
https://myanimelist.net/anime/790/Ergo_Proxy?q=ergo%20proxy

Monster, about a psychopath
https://myanimelist.net/anime/19/Monster

Elfen Lied has the best start I have seen. The rest is not that good, though
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxi0cqs-AmQ
https://myanimelist.net/anime/226/Elfen_Lied?q=elfen%20lied

Future Diary, with time travel
https://myanimelist.net/anime/10620/Mirai_Nikki?q=diary

You have some ones that look childish but turn VERY dark. A couple of examples. If you're going to watch any of them, avoid any spoilers.
From the New World
https://myanimelist.net/anime/13125/Shinsekai_yori?q=from%20a%20new%20world
Puella Magi Madoka Magica (the link is correct and it's not a joke, it turns dark and depressing)
https://myanimelist.net/anime/9756/Mahou_Shoujo_Madoka★Magica?q=puella%20magica
The promised neverland
https://myanimelist.net/anime/37779/Yakusoku_no_Neverland?q=the%20promised

reply

[–] samoanjoes (58658) 5 years ago

Solid list. They all have good IMDb scores as well. I'll see if I can find them anywhere, legally (not) of course.

reply

[–] kuku (3510) 5 years ago

You'll see that most of the time you'll find them with english subs included (with some very few exceptions, japanese audio is much better than english dub).

In case they don't include subs, check here, best place to look for subs for anything Asian-related: https://subscene.com

Another recommendation that just came to my mind, Tokyo Ghoul. It's a bit battle shounen, but it's a good (and dark) series:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3741634/

reply