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June 28, 2016 11:28 AM Subscribe
Top Ten Mamoru Oshii Films (that Are not Ghost in the Shell): does what it says on the tin, ten movies, animated and live action, which were directed by Mamoru Oshii, all of which probably offer better entertainment than the Hollywood adaptation of Ghost in the Shell could.
I would surely include Roujin Z on this list. Haven't seen it in years, but I remember it as a powerful black satire on how society treats the elderly and infirm.
posted by naju at 11:42 AM on June 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by naju at 11:42 AM on June 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
Timely! I literally picked up the DVDs of Patlabor 1+2 on impulse at Half Price Books yesterday, because I'd always heard great things but had never seen them. Looks like I'm going to be watching at least one of them this weekend!
posted by Strange Interlude at 11:43 AM on June 28, 2016
posted by Strange Interlude at 11:43 AM on June 28, 2016
the Hollywood adaptation of Ghost in the Shell
what
no
posted by Gerald Bostock at 11:49 AM on June 28, 2016 [4 favorites]
what
no
posted by Gerald Bostock at 11:49 AM on June 28, 2016 [4 favorites]
Angel's Egg. Holy shit, Angel's Egg. Track that one down however you can and watch it ASAP.
Okay.
the Hollywood adaptation of Ghost in the Shell
what
no
Starring Scarlet Johansson! Let us never speak of it again.
posted by Going To Maine at 11:52 AM on June 28, 2016 [4 favorites]
Okay.
the Hollywood adaptation of Ghost in the Shell
what
no
Starring Scarlet Johansson! Let us never speak of it again.
posted by Going To Maine at 11:52 AM on June 28, 2016 [4 favorites]
I haven't watched Beautiful Dreamer in years. I should do that tonight.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:59 AM on June 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:59 AM on June 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
>Let us never speak of it again.
That seems unlikely.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 12:12 PM on June 28, 2016
That seems unlikely.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 12:12 PM on June 28, 2016
I've always loved Patlabor. It came during the first flowering of anime in the west, in the late 80's and early 90's. Back then there was this sudden tidal wave of animated movies and TV shows and comics that came out of (seemingly) nowhere, and there was no one to tell you what was bad and what was good. You just had to let it wash over you and form your own opinions. Patlabor presented itself as just another anime, but if you got into it, it quickly became apparent that the stories were much better than they needed to be. It had the money shots of giant robots fighting, but the focus was always on compelling human characters. Then the second movie came out and it was even better then the stuff that came before it. A real crowning achievement.
posted by Kevin Street at 12:17 PM on June 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Kevin Street at 12:17 PM on June 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
Interesting. I happen to just rewatch Ghost a few nights ago. Aside from a bit of leaden exposition and the silly she-must-remove-her-clothes-to-enable-her-full-powers trope I thought it was incredible. I hadn't noticed until now how much of a debt the Wachowski's have to it.
I wonder where the anime masterpiece of the last decade is, though. I haven't heard of anything since Paprika that is supposed to be on par with the best of the genre (as a non-expert my list would be: Akira, Totoro, Grave of the Fireflies (all three made in the same year!), then basically anything by Miyazaki, Ghost in the Shell, and Paprika) What else rises to that level? I'll certainly give Angel's Egg and Patlabor a shot, but they're 25+ years old! Did the better stuff move to serialized TV?
posted by gwint at 12:38 PM on June 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
I wonder where the anime masterpiece of the last decade is, though. I haven't heard of anything since Paprika that is supposed to be on par with the best of the genre (as a non-expert my list would be: Akira, Totoro, Grave of the Fireflies (all three made in the same year!), then basically anything by Miyazaki, Ghost in the Shell, and Paprika) What else rises to that level? I'll certainly give Angel's Egg and Patlabor a shot, but they're 25+ years old! Did the better stuff move to serialized TV?
posted by gwint at 12:38 PM on June 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
Came in here to make sure Avalon was on the list and was not disappointed. In the immediately post-Matrix, pre-sequels time of early college, Avalon was a frequent watch. The copy of the DVD I own was one of my favorite finds in the treasure hunt that was Blockbuster shutting their doors and liquidating their assets.
posted by sleeping bear at 12:41 PM on June 28, 2016
posted by sleeping bear at 12:41 PM on June 28, 2016
The last really good anime I saw was The Tale of The Princess Kaguya. It's an adaptation of a classic Japanese folktale, and one of the last films of Studio Ghibli. Very beautiful watercolor style animation.
posted by Kevin Street at 12:50 PM on June 28, 2016
posted by Kevin Street at 12:50 PM on June 28, 2016
Sky Crawlers. Damn. What an amazing, depressing movie. I should probably watch that again.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 12:52 PM on June 28, 2016
posted by Mister Moofoo at 12:52 PM on June 28, 2016
Did the better stuff move to serialized TV?
In general anime has shifted more to episodic stuff than movies, yeah. Other than Ghibli and the occasional other studio, almost everything you hear about is serialized.
posted by thefoxgod at 12:54 PM on June 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
In general anime has shifted more to episodic stuff than movies, yeah. Other than Ghibli and the occasional other studio, almost everything you hear about is serialized.
posted by thefoxgod at 12:54 PM on June 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
Yeah, watch these and definitely watch Ghost in the Shell (the original, not the 2.0 one. Also I'm kinda iffy on Innocence but if you're a fan of Ghost in the Shell then you should still watch it.) Out of these I've seen Beautiful Dreamer. It's got that weird dreamlike haunting feeling that sometimes permeates some scenes of GITS (especially the montage). Those are some of my favorite anime. It's hard to explain why, for me. It's a kind of ethereal feeling.
posted by I-baLL at 1:01 PM on June 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by I-baLL at 1:01 PM on June 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
Oh, Avalon. Come for the sepia tones and visual style, wait around for anything else at all.
I... think... I've seen The Red Spectacles, but all I can remember is that there are scenes shot on a loading dock and in an alley.
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:28 PM on June 28, 2016
I... think... I've seen The Red Spectacles, but all I can remember is that there are scenes shot on a loading dock and in an alley.
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:28 PM on June 28, 2016
I wonder where the anime masterpiece of the last decade is, though.
Redline.
Wacky Races meets Initial D. meets Death Race 2000 as imagined by Jack Kirby filtered through arguably the best, most consistent anime studio of the past thirty years, Madhouse.
posted by MartinWisse at 1:49 PM on June 28, 2016
Redline.
Wacky Races meets Initial D. meets Death Race 2000 as imagined by Jack Kirby filtered through arguably the best, most consistent anime studio of the past thirty years, Madhouse.
posted by MartinWisse at 1:49 PM on June 28, 2016
I wonder where the anime masterpiece of the last decade is, though.
Seconding Redline (although the plot is arguably weak) and The Tale of Princess Kaguya.
If you allow me to go back to 2004, I would definitely include Mind Game (definitely in the top 5 of anime films for me).
My honorable mentions would be Wolf Children and Welcome to the Space Show. For some cyberpunk, I think Mardock Scramble definitely doesn't get the attention it deserves (although its production values are lower). Finally, for epic mecha in the style of Escaflowne, I would point towards the Broken Blade films.
posted by fmoralesc at 2:47 PM on June 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
Seconding Redline (although the plot is arguably weak) and The Tale of Princess Kaguya.
If you allow me to go back to 2004, I would definitely include Mind Game (definitely in the top 5 of anime films for me).
My honorable mentions would be Wolf Children and Welcome to the Space Show. For some cyberpunk, I think Mardock Scramble definitely doesn't get the attention it deserves (although its production values are lower). Finally, for epic mecha in the style of Escaflowne, I would point towards the Broken Blade films.
posted by fmoralesc at 2:47 PM on June 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
I think Tekkonkinkreet is a contender. Nothing comes close to GitS in the last decade though, imo. Absolutely incredible film.
posted by p3on at 3:17 PM on June 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by p3on at 3:17 PM on June 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
Nearly went apeshit that Jin-Roh wasn't on the list. Then read Mamoru Oshii only wrote it, he didn't direct. I could have sworn...
Patlabor 2 is the pinnacle of anime for me - sublime animation, deep plotting and characterisation, and Goto. Goto! He's like a cyberpunk Vimes!
posted by Molesome at 4:05 PM on June 28, 2016
Patlabor 2 is the pinnacle of anime for me - sublime animation, deep plotting and characterisation, and Goto. Goto! He's like a cyberpunk Vimes!
posted by Molesome at 4:05 PM on June 28, 2016
There is a lot going on that can easily be missed in the GITS serials.. The original GITS movie I felt like was too short to really do a lot of the world building that is required to appreciate the GITS universe. Innocence wasn't really that bad actually once you've watched the series, the scene in the bodega where Batou gets hacked is probably one of my favourite of all time. I actually found Solid State Society to be the most meh of the lot...
posted by some loser at 4:26 PM on June 28, 2016
posted by some loser at 4:26 PM on June 28, 2016
Patlabor 2 is in the correct ranking. I will not quibble with the rest of the list.
posted by Aznable at 5:02 PM on June 28, 2016
posted by Aznable at 5:02 PM on June 28, 2016
Just sent the link to the list to my oldest nephew who loves anime. Now waiting for his email back telling me he's seen them all, and how he'd rank them, which is actually why I sent it so I will know what order to pick.
posted by old_growler at 8:17 PM on June 28, 2016
posted by old_growler at 8:17 PM on June 28, 2016
I actually didn't like Sky Crawlers. It has a fault shared with many anime, -- most recently Kiznaiver -- where you have crappy world building for the sake of angst and the ramifications of that world building aren't explored in favour or tormenting teenagers.
(It's not as bad as Evangelion though: the greatest threat humanity has ever known is flying towards Tokyo. Conventional weapons are powerless. Nukes are powerless. I know! Let's put my estranged, emotionally withdrawn, untrained son in a giant robot and have him fight it. That'll work. )
posted by MartinWisse at 11:30 PM on June 28, 2016
(It's not as bad as Evangelion though: the greatest threat humanity has ever known is flying towards Tokyo. Conventional weapons are powerless. Nukes are powerless. I know! Let's put my estranged, emotionally withdrawn, untrained son in a giant robot and have him fight it. That'll work. )
posted by MartinWisse at 11:30 PM on June 28, 2016
[mild Evangelion spoilers]
Well, that would be true if the goal of SEELE/NERV was to stop the Angels. But that wasn't their real goal at all, and Rei's connection to Shinji is a part of that. That said, I can't remember if Gendo really knew what SEELE was doing or not, which means he still may have been employing some bad logic (although he knew Rei's true "identity").
posted by thefoxgod at 4:16 PM on June 29, 2016
Well, that would be true if the goal of SEELE/NERV was to stop the Angels. But that wasn't their real goal at all, and Rei's connection to Shinji is a part of that. That said, I can't remember if Gendo really knew what SEELE was doing or not, which means he still may have been employing some bad logic (although he knew Rei's true "identity").
posted by thefoxgod at 4:16 PM on June 29, 2016
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posted by naju at 11:39 AM on June 28, 2016 [1 favorite]