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Funny Peculiar▲▼
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Rating▲▼
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Comment▲▼
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| Alien Nine (special) |
Excellent |
Probably the most striking, and most successful, use of mood dissonance in anime. The show unravels a delirious setup with malignant glee and sheer ruthlessness, fabulously counterpointing the light-and-fluffy narrative tone with malignant glee at Yuri's miserable fate, and the unmitigated cruelty of all the characters' destinies. The result is frankly unsettling, and fascinatingly destructive of the tropes of its genre. explores the very insanity of the destruction of Certainly not this bad. The very last image may be the most absolutely brutal narrative send-off ever.
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| Angel's Egg (movie) |
Good |
aka "Zen and the Art of Spearing Coelacanths" This allegory for God-knows-what is Oshii at his most obscure. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. |
| Broken Down Film (movie) |
Very good |
Master Tezuka’s little homage to classical animation is quite a bit of loving meta-anime. As it happens, it also stands as a paean to the era of cel animation, whose end was about to come. |
| Cat Soup (OAV) |
Very good |
Those with small kids will have the hell freaked out by the first segment (I was). But that water elephant should cheer you back up. |
| Comedy (OAV) |
Excellent |
Nice little bit of gothica with interesting artwork. Winner of the Bar Association Prize for Best Worded Contract. |
| Damekko Dōbutsu (TV) |
Decent |
Again, this series positively clamors for college kids and consciousness-altering substances. The trippy character design is inspired, and the arch-genki OP theme screams “drunken karaoke”. |
| Dead Leaves (OAV) |
Very good |
Hyperactive bit of fun by IG, brilliantly animated at points. And the Inuyasha voice was somehow... appropriate. |
| Digital Juice (OAV) |
Good |
4°C stretching its digits. As short tales, these animated shorts are poorly conceived. As exercises on the use of CGI they are quite entertaining. |
| Ergo Proxy (TV) |
Decent |
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| Eternal Family (TV) |
Very good |
Best part: Jim Carrey is nowhere to be seen. And that dance, that dance!!! |
| Higan (OAV) |
Very good |
An exciting representation of the sheer despair and panic of combat. |
| Ippatsu Kiki Musume (TV) |
Good |
What can you say? Very weird and very funny, but not exactly refined high aht. You'll get a day's supply of etchi jokes and loads of absurdist humor involving extremely limber females. Asking for more would be churlish. |
| Jumping (movie) |
Excellent |
Tezuka-sensei having a little experimental fun, and showing how well aware he was of the arty trends of the late seventies and early eighties. |
| Kimagure Robot (TV) |
Good |
Quirky little showcases for the directing abilities of 4°C's key animators. The quality is as variable as the above precis should lead you to believe. |
| Kogepan (TV) |
Good |
This has all the hallmarks of an instant stoner classic, down to the continuous ingestion of intoxicating substances (milk). Character design is trippy or creepy depending on whether you took the green or the red pills. |
| Labyrinth (movie) |
Decent |
As surrealist animated shorts go, it's fairly middling. You gotta like the Bosch and Daliesque touches. |
| Memories (movie) |
Very good |
You getta wonder if Kon could not not use some Zoloft. Or Levitra. Or something. |
| Millennium Actress (movie) |
Excellent |
Kon keeps working on his treatise on Self-Deception and the Human Soul, Chapter 2: In Dreams Begin Responsibilities. The entangled parallels of Chiyoko's life, career and thousand years worth of roles are executed flawlessly, in a paean to the human need to adore the unattainable. |
| Mind Game (movie) |
Excellent |
A relatively simple tale with a simple message (life is the choices you make), animated eclectically and brilliantly by 4°C. I'm a sucker for stuff in Osaka-ben, too. Winner of the Benedict XVI Award for Best Cinematic God. |
| Mt. Head (movie) |
Good |
Is it or is it not? Well, it's animation, and it's a rakugo piece, shamisen 'n' all, so it sure is Japanese. In style, it's almost exactly what you would expect from an Oscar nominee, which are almost a sub-genre in themselves. |
| Nekojiru Gekijō (TV) |
Good |
Instead of the surreal acid trip that is Nekojiru-so, these energetic shorts feel like Itchy & Scratchy snorting wasabi. It is cartoon violence at its most classic and heartwarming meanness, bless ‘em. |
| Night on the Galactic Railroad (movie) |
Very good |
Malrapida sed certe vidinda filmo. La muziko estas belsonega kaj interesa. A ponderous and pontificating adaptation of Miyazawa Kenji's religious allegory. It's paced like galactic condensed milk, and frankly the philosophy feels very homespun. However, it does sport many utterly gorgeous moments and a near-perfect score by Hosono Haruomi (note to the world: Joe Hisaishi is a hack). |
| Noiseman Sound Insect (movie) |
Excellent |
A masterclass on the joys of animated expressionism, 4°C uses broad strokes and an impeccable sense of rhythm to paint a surprisingly clear story. With La Kanno providing the beautiful noise, it has some of the best integration of sound and image in Anime. |
| (The) Order to Stop Construction (movie) |
Very good |
One joke can be enough provided it is a good joke, and this one is good. There is a level of sheer energy in the proceedings that Otomo seems to have lost since. |
| Paranoia Agent (TV) |
Masterpiece |
Malaise and dread condensed into 13 episodes. The creepy creepy tone enhances the brutal social critique, and gives strength to Kon's trademark musings on the dangers of self-delusion and the rejection of responsibility. The ED alone gave me nightmares for a week. |
| Perfect Blue (movie) |
Very good |
Kon Satoshi's most influential work and Aronofsky binkie well deserves its reputation. The musings about fame, identity and the flimsiness of reality are almost secondary to the many, many powerfully constructed scenes and the peculiar Konian editing techniques. |
| Professor Dan Petory's Blues (OAV) |
Good |
Fun mixed-media romp by 4C. Trust me, people, get all four of 'em. |
| Rampo (live-action movie) |
Good |
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| Running Man (movie) |
Decent |
Liked the Metal Hurlant feel. |
| Spring and Chaos (movie) |
Excellent |
Very beautiful and affectionate biopic of one of Japan's most beloved authors. Top-notch animation and felicitious imagery mixes well with the story of a man that seem to have been born to inspire. |
| Tamala 2010 (movie) |
Good |
Not even vaguely "Punk," despite its full title. This fringe flick is an exceedingly deliberate effort at artsy mayhem. Alas, as "mayhem" it's unconvincing. The faux-retro CGI animation and the artwork are impressive at times (me digs the Romanesque Feline Last Judgment), and the soundtrack is firmly on this side of cool. The group responsible, t.o.L. says that the purpose of the movie is to create a marketing kyara empire around Tamala. If a jokey hoax, as seems likely, it's a so-so joke. If true, terrifying images of Maromi running rampant come to mind. |
| (The) Tatami Galaxy (TV) |
Good |
Wherever you go in the multiverse, there you are. Interesting take on the mourning of lives unlived and the yearning for paths not taken. Visually, it's Yuasa in moderate mode. |
| Trava (OAV) |
Very good |
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| Twilight Q (OAV) |
Very good |
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| Zettai Shonen (TV) |
Very good |
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