Are there any other Japanese animated films as impressive as Akira and GITS

[SymbioticFunction]

Are there any Japanese animated films as impressive as Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira and Mamoru Oshii's first two Ghost In The Shell movies? Honest question.

Am looking for both quality animation and intelligent screenplay. Whilst I realise that those 3 films are an extremely tough act to follow, I'm thinking that there must be others out there.

Any recommendations welcome...

[goresnet]

Vampire Hunter D is a good one

[MifuneFan]

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

[JeffTheMovieGuy]

Vampire Hunter D

[Mike1981]

Vampire Hunter D is actually quite terrible and has animation equivalent to a modern day flash video. I love it out of pure nostalgia, but it's objectively bad.

For more upper crust anime, check out both the Patlabor series of films and Jin Roh.

[P-Rock]

Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise
Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade
Patlabor 1, 2 & 3
Perfect Blue
Rebuild of Evangelion
Steamboy
Tekkonkinkreet
Grave of the Fireflies
The Sky Crawlers
Paprika
Metropolis

[MifuneFan]

Some of the films from Animatrix should be up your ally. The Second Renaissance for one is excellent.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by P-Rock

Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise
Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade
Patlabor 1, 2 & 3
Perfect Blue
Rebuild of Evangelion
Steamboy
Tekkonkinkreet
Grave of the Fireflies
The Sky Crawlers
Paprika
Metropolis

Forgot about Perfect Blue, amazing film.

[Shingster]

That's a tough question to answer really because are you talking intelligent in a general sense or are you looking specifically for intelligent in terms of sci-fi/philosophy/futurevision, etc? I think on face value the obvious next step I would recommend to you is to check out the work of Satoshi Kon, specifically Perfect Blue and Paprika. I happen to think Millennium Actress is his masterpiece but that probably requires more of an understanding of Japanese film history to fully appreciate (still a cracking film if you have little to no experience of Japanese cinema though).

EDIT OK some suggestions made while I was writing the above, to what has already been stated I would suggest checking out the work of Makoto Shinkai as well. IMO his best works are Voices of a Distant Star and the recent Your Name. If you really like arthouse anime then I could also suggest Night on the Galactic Railroad.

Oh and another film that isn't really as deep as classics like GitS but is quite recent and a fun idea: Patema Inverted. And another Otomo film not mentioned: Roujin Z.

[JeffTheMovieGuy]

I remember back when the Sci Fi channel was in it's infancy they would have anime all day on Saturday and it wasn't censored at all.

Good times. Good times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEGzjlPk7sM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIfu-FsxG00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG-L07hD7EQ

[P-Rock]

Originally Posted by Shingster

That's a tough question to answer really because are you talking intelligent in a general sense or are you looking specifically for intelligent in terms of sci-fi/philosophy/futurevision, etc? I think on face value the obvious next step I would recommend to you is to check out the work of Satoshi Kon, specifically Perfect Blue and Paprika. I happen to think Millennium Actress is his masterpiece but that probably requires more of an understanding of Japanese film history to fully appreciate (still a cracking film if you don't have little to no experience of Japanese cinema though).

Millennium Actress is my fav Satoshi Kon movie. Too bad we'll probably never see The Dreaming Machine.

[shinobipopcorn]

Only Yesterday is a good one, but you have to consider the story is about a near thirty year old woman reminiscing about her very typical Japanese childhood. Disney wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole, and that's why it wasn't accessible for many until GKids got it out last year. Same director as Grave of the Fireflies, but nowhere near as much crying. Most likely no crying at all.

Whisper of the Heart is also good, Miyazaki wrote the screenplay but did not direct it. Has a few fantasy cutaways but is mostly about a wide-eyed teenager trying to find her calling in a more grounded and serious world.

[SymbioticFunction]

Originally Posted by Shingster

That's a tough question to answer really because are you talking intelligent in a general sense or are you looking specifically for intelligent in terms of sci-fi/philosophy/futurevision, etc?

Intelligent in a general sense, not just in terms of sci-fi or philosphy, much as I love the first two GITS and Akira. For example, Redline is highly recommended for it's animation but seems very simplistic scripting wise. Must reiterate that I was looking for both excellent animation and intelligence in story. Will further investigate the recommendations made thus far and any further additions, many thanks.

[Galactus]

Ninja Scroll
Princess Mononoke
The Place Promised in Our Early Days

[cheez avenger]

Vampire Hunter D
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
Metropolis
The Professional: Golgo 13
Fist of the North Star (1986 feature anime film)
SkyCrawlers
Tenkonkinkreet
Papirika
Batman: Gotham Night
Cowboy Bebop (series & movie)
Hal
Wicked City
Blood: The Last Vampire
Battle Angel
Animatrix
Jin-Roh: Wolf Brigade
Steamboy
Appleseed
Ninja Scroll
Redline
Royal Space Force: Wings of Honneamise
Neo-Tokyo
My Neighbor Totoro
Patlabor 2
Baoh



That's all I got for now.

[Al_The_Strange]

I can't say these have particularly "intelligent" scripts, but I do think this lot is good, fun, often artistic anime with decent stories.

Battle Angel
Belladonna of Sadness
Demon City Shinjuku
Escaflowne: The Movie (although the series is better yet)
Evangelion 1.11 and 2.22 (watch 3.33 if you like what you see)
Highlander: Spirit of Vengeance
Memories
NeoTokyo
Ninja Scroll (one of my all-time favorites, it's a must next to Akira and GITS)
Redline
ROD: Read or Die
Steamboy
Vampire Hunter D
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
Venus Wars
Wicked City

If you're okay watching a whole series, these are a must (and a lot of these will have supporting movies):

Berserk (1997) (has been and remains my all-time favorite story...ever)
Bleach (first couple of seasons)
The Cowboy Bebop
Dirty Pair
Fullmetal Alchemist
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Gantz
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Neon Genesis Evangelion (follow immediately with the End of Evangelion movie)
Hellsing
Hellsing: Ultimate
Outlaw Star
Samurai X (Trust & Betrayal OVAs)
Speedgrapher
X

[Shingster]

In terms of intelligent are you after complicated plots, complex characters? Studio Ghibli films are extremely intelligent and heartfelt and are phenomenally well animated, but they're also kinda simple (Takahata dramas excluded) and tend to be dismissed as "kids films" by westerners.

Anyway, to add other genre films to the list:

Tale of Princes Kaguya (another Takahata masterpiece)
A Letter to Momo
Ninja Scroll
Sword of the Stranger
Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal (if you like samurai films these are essential viewing imo)
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (don't need to have seen the TV show to enjoy it)
Wolf Children
Memories
Giovanni’s Island

Originally Posted by P-Rock

Millennium Actress is my fav Satoshi Kon movie. Too bad we'll probably never see The Dreaming Machine.

His death was such a monumental blow to the industry!

[redxrebellion]

Ninja Scroll
Trigun
Cowboy Bebop

And if you can find it the Urotsukidoji series is just nuts

[P-Rock]

Originally Posted by redxrebellion

And if you can find it the Urotsukidoji series is just nuts

You're taking the piss right?

[animefan77]

I generally like anime series more than movies. Exception are Ghibli films, Satoshi Kon, Makoto Shinkai, and Mamoru Hosoda. I recommend all of movies from them.

I really don't recommend any movies that is coming from TV series. Most of the time, you do need to see the TV series and know the characters first, and they usually feel like a long episode that would have been better with shorter time. It does have better animation than TV, but pacing seems off. Usually making it slow, long and tedious for most part. I would only recommend if you're a huge fan of those TV series.

Difference is if the movie came out before the TV series (ex. Ghost in the Shell, Ninja Scroll, Read or Die) - those movies are great.


If you don't mind DVD, then I would also recommend like lot of others here.

Millennium Actress

this really is a great movie and my favorite from Satoshi Kon. If you are looking for more adult theme with great animation and intelligent story, he is your director. Check all of his filmography. All of them are great, including his TV series, Paranoia Agent. He is probably my favorite anime director of all time, maybe even better than Miyazaki for me. Except that My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service is my childhood favorites and holds special place.