Slashdot Mirror
The Giants of Anime are Coming
Wired is running a story about the Giants of Anime which discusses numerous things happening on the anime front, including the new Ghost in the Shell movie, and the upcoming Miyazaki release "Howl's Moving Castle". This is something of a background piece for people somewhat unfamiliar, but it also covers a lot of interesting bits that the fans might enjoy as well.
Akira has the most impressive animation, but My Neighbor Totoro is the greatest. It proves you don't need violence and conflict to have a great story, only great characters. I've seen it compared to the Winnie The Pooh stories (the originals, not the Disney crap), which also show how a flawless children's story can be enjoyed by everybody.
Even then you aren't finished. Exactly what do you find entertaining. What does make a story involving. What stuff have you already thought about and don't need to be reminded by a movie?
The one that made me think was "Grave of the fireflies" a movie you could compare with the western "Empire of the sun". Both tell the what happens to kids in times of war. I liked one review that claimed fireflies was the best movie he ever watched and never wanted to watch again.
Of course if you like Akira and Ghost in the shell you might find fireflies very slow moving even boring. Perhaps. Depends for what reason you like the first two.
Another highly regarded movie you don't list is "Angels egg". One of the few movies you could watch without knowing any japanese and still be able to "understand" what is going on.
This will probabaly get me modded down but the movies you list are the typical "hollywood approved" anime movies people in the west have heard about. Doesn't mean the movies are bad or any less then their more unknown, in the west, siblings but if you really want to find the greatest anime movie ever you need to do a little bit more watching. Akira may then still be the greatest to you but at least you will have a longer list to show you watched anime other then the ones with a western approved release.
Oh and my favorite movie? I don't really have such a thing. There are far to many great movies I have seen that I like for different reasons. I am afraid that if I pick a single movie that "scores" best in all my catogories that I am falling into the hollywood trap of creating movies to appeal to everyone that end up appealing to no-one. Just saw a docu on Red Dwarf. American movie studie wants to cast Hugh Grant as Lister.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
The primary reason I tend to enjoy anime more than I enjoy hollywood produced movies is the lack of pandering present in much of anime (much, not all, there are many anime that do pander, but I digress). The reason this is so was touched on briefly in the article. Many artists have total or near-total control of their story from the time they first think of it untill it is released, that just doesn't happen too often in hollywood (and when it does, I tend to like those movies) Many anime producers are allowed to do their work unhampered by focus groups or executives telling them what can and cannot be in their work.
Another reason I like anime is that much of it is not watered down as most hollywood fare is, when someone dies it isn't some quick event that is glossed over; it's messy, it's gory, and it looks painful. I think one of the most unhealthy concepts I have ever seen in mass media is the "looney tunes" treatment of violence. Portraying violence as harmless and fun is much more disturbing to me than seeing more realistic violence with reprecussions attached. I could go on and on, but it would likely fall on deaf ears anyway.