Over the summer, I tossed around the idea of creating an "Anime Musings" sort of blog, primarily to discuss some of the different anime titles I've watched. This will be a place for me to jot down thoughts on not just anime, but manga, and Japanese pop culture in general. To get the ball rolling, I'm going to re-post my current top-ten Anime list.
As with any top ten list of this kind, this is clearly objective, and based solely on what I've seen. Feel free to comment with your own lists or about any of the choices. Once again, I must give a nod to Andrew's Cinevistaramascope for inspiring me to do my own writing on the media I enjoy so much.
-Top Ten Anime-(As factored through emotional, visual, auditory and expierences as well as story weight)
1) FLCL
In short, FLCL is a feast for the eyes, ears and imagination. While moving along, the audience is brought into something that might as well be a non-stop music video, with its powerful soundtrack. It is the perfect vision of adolesence. It doesn't take the route of an overzealous nostalgia for those days, or that of "It was the worst part of my life", purely writing it off. It finds away to create the right feeling of empathy for those who know what it is to go through this all-too-bizarre time of growing up. Naota's lackluster assesment of the world around him, his quest for an adult to look up to, and search for understanding love, encapsulate all-too well the level of twisted outlook that comes out at this time in life. (Favorite episode: Full Swing)
2)Grave of The Fireflies
Visually well drawn with a story that rips your heart out and stomps on it, and leaves you stunned. The best anecdote I can think of is when this was shown in the MCLA Anime Club. Normally as we finish a viewing, there's lots of talking immedeatly following the start of the credits. Not so in the case of Fireflies. The credits began rolling and all that could be heard aside from the score, was me walking across the room to get the lights. It will take me a long time to forget the sight I saw as I panned the room after turning on the lights, a sea of faces that all said one word; "Wow".
3)Neon Genesis Evangelion*
I'm sure more than a few of you are surprised that Eva isn't the top of my list. Indeed, it was a tough call to let two others oust Eva out of number one. While it is my favorite series hands down, there were a few minor factors that kept it from holding the top. To put it frankly, Evangelion is loaded. Anno created something amazing when he created Eva. Every time I re-watch it, I find myself enthralled and telling myself "This is an awesome work of art." I cannot say enough good things about it. If Eva commits any crimes, it's that it takes a bit of work to wrap around everything. Yet even now 10 years since its creation, the story still holds an amazing weight. It has become the new standard, and broken ground in countless areas. It has endured, and I'm sure will continue to hold the high place it rightfully deserves among the legends and standards of what makes an amazing piece of anime.
4)Akira
The post-apocolyptic never looked so amazing. Otomo's film, which is only a fraction of the manga it is based off of, stuns audiences with visuals that draw us in, making us feel like we're beneath the tower skyscrapers of Neo-Tokyo, and entices imagination to new levels. Kaneda and Tetsuo's story of trying to find a way to understand the world around them is further accented by elements that when all brought together create the barbaric shout that proves, animation can be more than just children's entertainment, it can be film. Maintaining full 24 frames per second in the film is just one of the ways that Otomo made something that furthers this truth. This year at Anime Boston, I had the privlage to be a member of the audience in the main video screening room when they tested the sound setup. Akira's opening motorcycle chase was the film of choice, and with its sound effects and score that mixes technological with primal chants and old instruments, my breath was taken away. Once I have the ability to buy myself a true home theatre with an adequete sound system, you can bet Akira will be my film of choice to test things out.
5) Ghost in The Shell
The first of two fims directed by Oshii Mamoru on this list. While perhaps suffering an American fate similar to Akira, where so many people have seen it and know its good, but don't know why other than "Well it was very successful in Japan...", Ghost in the Shell is something profound. Oshii knew exactly what to do with Shirow Masamune's story, and captured the themes perfectly. Kawai Kenji's score adds an element of mystery. Above all it is the story that lays a foundation for the rest of the work.
6)Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade
Oshii film no.2 on the list. Another amazing mystery film too. Mizoguchi Hajime's score is one part that draws me to this film, but beyond that, twists and turns keep the audience guessing and intrigued. It's a film that stands so well on its own. Oshii switches between reality and surreal so well,the switches sneak up, and come out with flawless timing. It's nothing short of a tour de force.
7)Zeta Gundam**
While not the original series, Zeta takes what was done right in Mobile Suit Gundam, and rolls with it. Taking characters from the previous seriers, and inserting them, but not using them in favor of the new ones. The story shows all too well that time may heal alln wounds, but all too often it is forgotten how much time is needed. Kamille fits so many roles, the reluctant hero, the rebellious/confused youth, and even the deeply caring friend or lover. His choices and actions are very believable and feel very genuine. The audience can understand his anger toward Jerid, his sudden love for Four that cause him to think with a less than sturdy head, his wrath upon those who have hurt the people he's become so attached to. It is little wonder that by the end of the series Kamille is just mentally worn out. Tomino's story has some interesting weight. While 12 people are killed within the last 5 episodes of the series, the deaths (as well as the others earlier in the series) do not feel meaningless, we are genuinely brought to care about the characters. Whether or we like them or hate them, we have a sincere interest in what happens to them. (Favorite Episode: Forever Four)
8)Cowboy Bebop
I still feel somewhat ashamed for not grasping just how awesome Cowboy Bebop is the first time I saw it. It wasn't until my second time through that I truly caught how well so many elements came together to make this show an incredible piece. Weaving back and forth so well between episodic pieces and an overall story, Bebop holds true as an anime that knows its roots, but at the same time builds itself into something all brand new. The music Kanno and The Seat Belts made for the series keep up with the show's title and episode title, making some amazing moments. Even still, there are some equally incredible moments that lack any music. Possibly the greatest moment would be a mixture of the unaccomanpanied, almost awkwardly quiet that quickly switches to a part where a soundtrack is the driving energy for the scene. The second half of the final episode, where we get some amazing moments of quiet conversation between Spike and Jet and Spike and Faye just grab us and don't let go, to the rapid switch to Spike's finale with "See You Space Cowboy" drawing us further in to an emoitionally packed climax. (Favorite Episode: The Real Folk Blues Part II)
9)The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Tacking another title on to the list of series that I've completed, earlier this summer I finished the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. If there was worry that the well is starting to run dry for really groundbreaking stuff in anime, Haruhi proves that fear to be unfounded. Visually, the series is amazing, it's obvious that Kyoto Animation did quite a great deal of work. Its 14 episodes are chronoligcally scattered, (the 1st to air falls in 11th place, the 14th episode to air is the 6th in terms of when it happens in the overall story), which while taking a bit to get adjusted to, forms something much bigger by the time we reach the finale. Yet what pushes Haruhi into an even higher tier, is that while it is confusing on purpose; it's not frustrating to follow. To phrase it better, it's confusing for the sake of making the story interesting, whereas other titles (including some of my own personal favorites) sometimes come off as being confusing simply for the sake of confounding an audience. (Anyone who tells you they understood The End of Evangelion after their first time seeing it is a liar.)
(Favorite episode: undecided)
10)Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
My first though upon seeing this film was "Wow, Princess Mononoke seems like a bit of a cop-out now". While Miyazaki makes some amazing pieces of work, nothing I've seen seems to compare to Nausicaä. No one character is without flaw, or beyond some degree of redemption. I can only dream of what this film would be like on the big screen, the amazing shots such as the stampedes of Ohms are breathtaking enough on a small screen. The film has aged well visually, and its story is virtually timeless.
*includes The End of Evangelion
**TV series
Honorable Mentions (in no particular order): Turn A Gundam,My Neighbor Totoro, Rurouni Kenshin: Memories, and Mobile Suit Gundam
