Animation Challenge (Official, September 2020)

[frbrown]

Above image found at https://feelinganimatedblog.wordpress.com/



Welcome to the 2020 Animation Challenge!
The challenge runs from 1-30 September, midnight to midnight, your local time.


Goal
Watch as much animation as you can.

Rules (for competitors)
- Title (year) is the preferred format
- Each film or episode over 40 minutes counts as one point
- A total of 60 minutes of episodes or short films count as one point
- Rewatches are allowed and good for the soul, but you can only count any film/episode once in the challenge
- Post the years of your watches.
- Do not edit posts to add new watches, just create a new post
- Also if you're in the top 5, please post regularly (at least every second day). So that the competition stays fair
- I will not allow anyone to enter the top 5 during the final three days with their first post.

If you don't like the competition aspect, you are still welcome to participate in the challenge! Post your animated viewings (no need to number them), and your reactions to your and other people's viewings.


Official lists
IMDb's Animation Top 50
BFI's 100 Animated Features
OFCS's Top 100 Animated Features of All Time
Paste's 100 Best Anime Movies of All Time
Jerry Beck's 50 Greatest Cartoons
Annecy Festival's 100 Films for a Century of Animation


Two unofficial lists useful for finding challenge doubles
Golden 100 of Russian Animation
IMDb top 250 animated shorts pre-1930

More unofficial lists

https://www.icheckmovies.com/lists/icm+ ... /joachimt/
https://www.icheckmovies.com/lists/time ... es/enigma/
https://www.icheckmovies.com/lists/lapu ... on/mjf314/
https://www.icheckmovies.com/lists/the+ ... ms/mjf314/
https://www.icheckmovies.com/lists/the+ ... es/mjf314/
https://www.icheckmovies.com/lists/500+ ... ragonflyk/
https://www.icheckmovies.com/lists/forc ... 0/frbrown/
https://www.icheckmovies.com/lists/imdb ... 30s/adamh/
https://www.icheckmovies.com/lists/imdb ... 40s/adamh/
https://www.icheckmovies.com/lists/imdb ... 50s/adamh/

Interesting personal lists by two of our forum members
mjf314's Top 50 Obscure Animated Movies
Onderhond's Top 100 Animated Films

A few lists not on iCM
Sakuga anime lists
80s anime primer
Mike Toole's Other 100 Best Anime Movies of All Time (response to the Paste list)
Various Japanese animators recommend some animation they like (In Japanese)
GAC Forums' "50 Greatest Cartoons" thread

Some online resources about animation

Internet Animation Database
Cartoon Research
Golden Age Cartoons Forum (archive only)
Anipages

Sakugabooru
YouTube playlist of animator reels

Screenshot contest
One of my favorite things about animation are the pretty pictures. So, if you watch a nice-looking piece of animation, share a screenshot/GIF of it in this thread.

They can be your own screenshots, or something you found on the Internet. Original aspect ratio is preferred, but not required. Please put NSFW screenshots in spoilers.

At the end of the month we might have a poll to choose the best screenshot poster.

Leaderboard

1.	flavo5000	297
2.	psychotronicbeatnik	100
3.	blueboybob	83
4.	frbrown	66
5.	jdidaco	46
6.	Lonewolf2003	45
7.	vortexsurfer	37
8.	sebby	33
9.	sol	32
10.	mjf314	29
11.	OldAle1	21
12.	Obgeoff	20
13.	maxwelldeux	16
13.	Onderhond	16
15.	adwest	14
16.	Daviddoes	13
17.	wasabi	12
18.	ororama	11
18.	shugs	11
20.	blocho	10
20.	Mochard	10
20.	cinephage	10
23.	AB537	8
24.	morrison-dylan-fan	7
25.	hurluberlu	6
26.	ChrisReynolds	5
27.	allisoncm	3
27.	Melvelet	3
29.	jal90	2
29.	nimimerkillinen	2
29.	peeptoad	2
29.	RogerTheMovieManiac88	2
29.	zzzorf	2

Screenshots

ChrisReynolds

cinephage

frbrown

hurluberlu

jal90

jdidaco

Mochard

morrison-dylan-fan

OldAle1

shugs

sol

[blueboybob]

Do things like Mary Poppins count? or does it have to be 100% animated?

[frbrown]

Do things like Mary Poppins count? or does it have to be 100% animated?

The first response, and it's about eligibility

No, it doesn't have to be 100% animated - let's say 50%.

I haven't seen Mary Poppins, but I believe only a small part of it is animated. So, normally, it would not be eligible. BUT, Mary Poppins appears on this animation list from a reputable source, so I'll treat it as an exception and allow it.
However, other films with similar amounts of animation, but not included in lists like the one above, would not be eligible.

[Onderhond]

Partly animated would be a problem, as pretty much every modern blockbuster would be eligible.

[frbrown]

Partly animated would be a problem, as pretty much every modern blockbuster would be eligible.

I can't define the difference between animation and special effects, but I consider pretty much every modern blockbuster to be a case of the latter, and they are all ineligible. Cameron's "Avatar" is an exception, only because it's included in one of the official animation lists.

[allisoncm]

I'm in. I've been saving all the animated films I haven't seen that are available on Disney+.

[flavo5000]

I am definitely in. This is one of my favorite challenges, and we were deprived of it last year on a technicality.

[Onderhond]

I'll no doubt be posting some films, animation is a sizeable part of my default film diet.

[jal90]

I'm in, no doubt. Looking forward to this challenge as I'm already quite into animation.

[mjf314]

Interesting personal lists by two of our forum members
mjf314's Top 50 Obscure Animated Movies

Here's a more recent list of my favorite obscure animated movies (the old list is from 2012, this one is from 2015).
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls013346769/

[Onderhond]

00. 2.5* - Lupin III: Burning Memory - Tokyo Crisis [Rupan Sansei: Honô no Kioku Tokyo Crisis] by Toshiya Shinohara (1998)

Not the best Lupin film out there, even though on paper it's quite the typical Lupin project, with all the usual ingredients present. Lupin takes on some bad guys in search of an important item and ends up saving the day, with a slew of familiars either helping him or getting in his way, just like in every other film. It's a pretty successful setup, but it's also rather basic. Most Lupin films counter this by being extremely silly and over-the-top, that's exactly where Tokyo Crisis disappoints (though it's far from straight-faced). It's just a bit tamer compared to the other films in the franchise, which takes away part of the fun. The animation too looks cheaper, but that may just be due to the slightlier slower pacing (leaving fewer opportunities for hyperactive animation). It's not a terrible film mind, Lupin is a great lead and there's still plenty of silliness to go around, it's just not as lively and amusing as the other ones I've seen.

[frbrown]

01. 2.5* - Lupin III: Burning Memory - Tokyo Crisis [Rupan Sansei: Honô no Kioku Tokyo Crisis] by Toshiya Shinohara (1998)

Is it September already in Belgium, Onderhond?

[jal90]

01. 2.5* - Lupin III: Burning Memory - Tokyo Crisis [Rupan Sansei: Honô no Kioku Tokyo Crisis] by Toshiya Shinohara (1998)

Is it September already in Belgium, Onderhond?

Pretty much and we have the same time zone in Spain, so here I go:

1. Catnapped! The movie / Totsuzen! Neko no kuni Banipal Witt (Takashi Nakamura, 1995)

Oh my. What a cute little trippy gem. Weird, extravagant, colorful and bordering surreal, and yet so conventionally sweet, so traditional as a kids' story that it has lasting charm. I wish I had found a better looking version because this one is visually astounding, there's so much inventiveness and creativity in it, so much movement that flows greatly, it's an absolute joy to watch. There is a sort of redemption arc that is all kinds of rough, but well-intentioned and that's all that matters in the end. A happy memory I wish I had as a kid, a lovely and enjoyable movie that I'm fond of as an adult. 8/10

And like, when I say that I wish I had found a higher quality version, I mean it:

Spoiler

also, spooky transformation avatars because why not

[Onderhond]

01. 2.5* - Lupin III: Burning Memory - Tokyo Crisis [Rupan Sansei: Honô no Kioku Tokyo Crisis] by Toshiya Shinohara (1998)

Is it September already in Belgium, Onderhond?

Yeah, film finished around 00:10

[mjf314]

01. 2.5* - Lupin III: Burning Memory - Tokyo Crisis [Rupan Sansei: Honô no Kioku Tokyo Crisis] by Toshiya Shinohara (1998)

Is it September already in Belgium, Onderhond?

Yeah, film finished around 00:10

I think you have to watch the entire film during the challenge for it to count, but I might be mistaken. I guess it's frbrown's decision.

[Onderhond]

00. 2.5* - Lupin III: Burning Memory - Tokyo Crisis [Rupan Sansei: Honô no Kioku Tokyo Crisis] by Toshiya Shinohara (1998)

There, I fixed it!

[Onderhond]

01. 1.0* - Fritz the Cat by Ralph Bakshi (1972)

This is probably fun if you're a big fan of the (late) 60s, preferably the Jewish/NY scene. Fritz the Cat was my first Bakshi, so I didn't really know what to expect. What I know I didn't expect was a pretty explicit and adult-oriented film, but for once that wasn't a very pleasant surprise. There's a lot of political/activist/anti-establishment dialogue to wade through, already touching upon subjects like white guilt. I guess you could say the film still has relevance. But these instances seems rather incidental, as Bakshi races through most of the political issues of that time and does so with little care for subtlety. The animation is functional, the art style ugly, the music horrendous (but again, if you're a fan of the 60s, you'll probably love it), the voice acting grating and the comedy not that funny. And for a film that tries to be controversial, it has lost a lot, if not all of its impact. Fritz the Cat is a relic from a time period I don't really care for.

celf-exploration

00. 2.5* - Lupin III: Burning Memory - Tokyo Crisis [Rupan Sansei: Honô no Kioku Tokyo Crisis] by Toshiya Shinohara (1998)

[frbrown]

I think you have to watch the entire film during the challenge for it to count

That's right. So I have you at 1, Onderhond.

[Onderhond]

No worries, I'm not really "playing" anyway, just listing appropriate films whenever I watch them

[sol]

1. When Marnie Was There (2014)



I found the ultimate mythology here way too complex, especially as the film progresses from a simple friendship, to more than just friends, to perhaps something slightly more twisted. The film comes so alive though in its scenes of the two main characters bonding, playing and having fun together, all of which plays out against striking backdrops with lush colours. A strange mansion and foreboding silo also make for great locations, but yeah - weird plot.

[hurluberlu]

1.Money as Debt (Paul Grignon, 2006) 7

[OldAle1]

01. 1.0* - Fritz the Cat by Ralph Bakshi (1972)

This is probably fun if you're a big fan of the (late) 60s, preferably the Jewish/NY scene. Fritz the Cat was my first Bakshi, so I didn't really know what to expect. What I know I didn't expect was a pretty explicit and adult-oriented film, but for once that wasn't a very pleasant surprise. There's a lot of political/activist/anti-establishment dialogue to wade through, already touching upon subjects like white guilt. I guess you could say the film still has relevance. But these instances seems rather incidental, as Bakshi races through most of the political issues of that time and does so with little care for subtlety. The animation is functional, the art style ugly, the music horrendous (but again, if you're a fan of the 60s, you'll probably love it), the voice acting grating and the comedy not that funny. And for a film that tries to be controversial, it has lost a lot, if not all of its impact. Fritz the Cat is a relic from a time period I don't really care for.

celf-exploration

00. 2.5* - Lupin III: Burning Memory - Tokyo Crisis [Rupan Sansei: Honô no Kioku Tokyo Crisis] by Toshiya Shinohara (1998)

Well I AM a big fan of the late 60s - at least in terms of American culture - and R. Crumb in particular, whose work Bakshi was "adapting" with this film. I love Crumb's art and have dim memories of this getting the look right, pretty much, though not being that well animated. But I don't think I liked it that much, and am not a fan of Bakshi in general. He was, though, probably the biggest name in American animation in the whole decade following this film - in large part I believe because there just wasn't much else. It was the nadir for Disney, there wasn't much if any animation that wasn't aimed at little kids on TV, and it just wasn't a significant part of the cinema market. So Bakshi was the guy, and I remember him being all over the place in genre magazines of the period, and remember being excited to see his films in the cinema (which I didn't get to do much, 'cuz they didn't play for that long or in small cities like where I lived) and those rare other animated films that showed up (i.e. Pink Floyd: The Wall). Of course there was no way to see Japanese or any other foreign animation at the time, at least not for me, and even once I was in college and there was video, I didn't start to learn about that stuff for a long time. So Bakshi kind of has a bigger presence in my mind than he should have, and still maybe a bigger presence in American animation history than he deserves.

But I haven't seen any of his films except for Fire and Ice in at least 10-15 years and now you got me interested. Think I'll give Fritz a re-watch myself and maybe catch up to the few other Bakshi films I haven't seen this month. If I watch anything.

[mjf314]

If you feel like giving Bakshi another chance, I recommend Heavy Traffic.

[OldAle1]

If you feel like giving Bakshi another chance, I recommend Heavy Traffic.

Yeah I don't think I ever saw that. I'm thinking of that, American Pop (also never seen), and maybe re-watching Fritz, Wizards and The Lord of the Rings. We'll see, I'm probably more likely to focus on animation of this decade if I watch much of anything.

[jal90]

01. 1.0* - Fritz the Cat by Ralph Bakshi (1972)

This is probably fun if you're a big fan of the (late) 60s, preferably the Jewish/NY scene. Fritz the Cat was my first Bakshi, so I didn't really know what to expect. What I know I didn't expect was a pretty explicit and adult-oriented film, but for once that wasn't a very pleasant surprise. There's a lot of political/activist/anti-establishment dialogue to wade through, already touching upon subjects like white guilt. I guess you could say the film still has relevance. But these instances seems rather incidental, as Bakshi races through most of the political issues of that time and does so with little care for subtlety. The animation is functional, the art style ugly, the music horrendous (but again, if you're a fan of the 60s, you'll probably love it), the voice acting grating and the comedy not that funny. And for a film that tries to be controversial, it has lost a lot, if not all of its impact. Fritz the Cat is a relic from a time period I don't really care for.

I think Fritz the Cat has value mainly as an artifact of its time, and its place in history is because it pioneered adult animation in the US and pretty much exemplified in the medium the countercultural wave that was bursting in its era. It is not my favorite of Bakshi, but it is not my least favorite either. I enjoyed the fun and the overall sense of creative freedom its taboo breaking narrative exudes. But he has done better in this sense, and sociopolitical controversy isn't all there is to his work. I'd recommend you to keep exploring because his films are varied enough (he made a bunch of sword & sorcery for instance), and on the subject of observing the social reality of the US, there are better movies than this in his filmography. My overall favorite is Heavy Traffic, I think it's where the transgressive elements that made him famous work better as a cohesive narrative and observation of society, but I'd also recommend American Pop, a more serious approach to the history of contemporary music in the US. And speaking of, my latest watch:

2. Coonskin (Ralph Bakshi, 1975)

I don't like it as much as Bakshi's best, but it's certainly better and has more meat to it than Fritz the Cat. While not necessarily more clearly structured in the narrative (far better as satire though), it is raunchier, it is more aggressive and it feels a lot more transgressive, to the point it borders plain racism. Some people actually argue that this is straight up racist mockery and it's not like Bakshi doesn't entertain the thought, but ultimately I think it's just a ridiculously extreme and nasty way to portray racial struggle in the US, just one with tons of rough edges that I have to concede to his, I assume, good intention. Perhaps his more radical work, it's a sort of experimental mishmash of animation and a few live action sequences, with heavily charicaturized characters, tons of graphic violence and a constant and very unpleasant reliance on racial stereotypes that further makes it hard to swallow. It is not an easy watch but there's an energy to it that is almost mesmerizing, and at times, exhausting to follow through. 7/10

drawing conclusions

1. Catnapped! The movie / Totsuzen! Neko no kuni Banipal Witt (Takashi Nakamura, 1995) 8/10
2. Coonskin (Ralph Bakshi, 1975) 7/10

[Onderhond]

Thanks for the Bakshi pointers! I'm sure I'll bump into some of his other films at some point (going by OldAle1's account), but it's not a director I'll actively explore. I've got little interest in US history, nor its political and social struggles, the dreary art style and basic animation isn't a big draw either. Sword & sorcery in this style doesn't sound very attractive either I'm afraid

@sol: funny you thought the lore was too complex, for me that was the main draw of the film, with the slower middle part (and the play dates) being a little too basic (not sure how much comes from Robinson's book). I do feel for Yonebayashi, who suddenly ended up making Ghibli's swan song, even though he was supposed to be working his way up between the two giants, got a bad deal with this film. Too much weight on the shoulders of this one man. I think it's his weakest film so far (though I still liked it quite a bit, basic Ghibli is still very beautiful).

[jal90]

Thanks for the Bakshi pointers! I'm sure I'll bump into some of his other films at some point (going by OldAle1's account), but it's not a director I'll actively explore. I've got little interest in US history, nor its political and social struggles, the dreary art style and basic animation isn't a big draw either. Sword & sorcery in this style doesn't sound very attractive either I'm afraid

Fair, I hope you enjoy what you casually watch at least more than this first one. Just a side note here, his sword & sorcery work tends to be drawn in a more realistic style and uses mainly rotoscoping, so it also deviates stylistically from his social satire movies.

[psychotronicbeatnik]

Thanks for hosting FrBrown!

1.Toy Story 4 (2019 / Josh Cooley) FTV 8+/10 {100 m.}
2. Kung Fu Panda (2008 / Mark Osborne, John Stevenson) FTV 5/10 {92 m.}
3. Up (2009 / Pete Docter, Bob Peterson) FTV 8/10 {96 m.}
4. A kaito; aka: Kite (1998 / Yasuomi Umetsu) FTV 7/10 {47 m.}

[mjf314]

1. Now and Then, Here and There (1999) episodes 1-3

After 1 episode, I was thinking it's a little bit like Future Boy Conan, with a girl being kidnapped and a boy trying to rescue her, but it quickly becomes much darker than that. I need to watch more before I can give it a rating.

[maxwelldeux]

1. Rango (2011)

You know, I liked this more than I thought I would, but I think I appreciated it more than I liked it. A nice western-animation with a lot of homages to the classics that made it fun and engaging. Overall, the story was too fantasy for me without enough substance for me to get really into it. Overall, 6/10 for me.

[frbrown]

1. When Marnie Was There (2014)

I found the ultimate mythology here way too complex, especially as the film progresses from a simple friendship, to more than just friends, to perhaps something slightly more twisted. [...] but yeah - weird plot.

A review on Criticker described it as "loneliness and melancholy passing through generations". Good explanation, but I still find it disappointing that after all the plucky Miyazaki heroines, the final Ghibli film would be about depressed teens, like so many recent anime films.

Which brings me to my first film of the challenge:

1. A Silent Voice (2016)

Very melodramatic, but at least that helps keep it entertaining during the long runtime. The visual style, however, grows tiresome over 2+ hours - endless shots of people's backs, or their faces cut off, or characters alone on the screen, surrounded by sky and empty space.


2. In This Corner of the World (2016)

Another 130 minute film from 2016. This makes an interesting contrast to A Silent Voice, since it largely avoids melodrama, despite being set during WW2. Instead, much of the film has a breezy slice-of-life mood, until the final stretch, when tragedy can no longer be avoided.


Having now seen the three most acclaimed anime films of 2016, my favorite is still the one directed by Makoto Shinkai - much to my surprise!



3. Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (2007)

Or, more precisely, Evangelion 1.11

I only finished Evangelion TV series earlier this year, so it's still pretty fresh in my mind. It may have been a mistake watching this movie so soon, since it sticks to the series very closely.


A Silent Voice and Evangelion got me Platinum on Paste's Anime list (though I didn't exactly finish the list on high note)

[Mochard]

1. Ernest et Célestine (2012) - 7/10 (80 mins)

The story of an unlikely friendship between a bear, Ernest, and a young mouse named Celestine.




This is the sort of film to watch on a Sunday afternoon inside a warm cozy house with the fire burning and rain or snow falling outside. I didn't know their was an English Soundtrack, if I did, I still would have gone with the French.

Watched: 1
Total Minutes: 80
Average Minutes: 80

Drawing my own conclusions

1. Ernest et Célestine (2012) - 7/10 (80 mins))

[Onderhond]

Fair, I hope you enjoy what you casually watch at least more than this first one. Just a side note here, his sword & sorcery work tends to be drawn in a more realistic style and uses mainly rotoscoping, so it also deviates stylistically from his social satire movies.

Guess I could give Fire & Ice a spin, that one isn't too long. Not particularly looking forward to 2 more hours of LOTR



02. 3.0* - Lupin III: Dead or Alive [Rupan Sansei: Dead or Alive] by Monkey Punch, Jun Kawagoe (1996)

A decidedly darker Lupin III film. While the action is still pretty goofy and over-the-top, the setting is rather ominous. I never linked Lupin to post-apocalyptic, futuristic landscapes, but that's exactly what you're getting here. Apart from that, the formula is pretty much the same. It's nice to see Lupin in a different setting though, it's what keeps these films fresh, especially when watching a couple of them so closely together. Lupin is chasing some treasure again, this time it lands him on a remote island governed by biotech weaponry. Not quite the kind of enemy he is used to battling, though it doesn't really faze him. The whole crew is there of course, the stakes are high and the action is pretty hectic. While I quite like these films, the somewhat subpar animation quality and repetitive formula keep me from giving a higher rating. It's prime entertainment and Dead or Alive is another solid entry in the franchise, but I keep hoping for more.

celf-exploration

00. 2.5* - Lupin III: Burning Memory - Tokyo Crisis [Rupan Sansei: Honô no Kioku Tokyo Crisis] by Toshiya Shinohara (1998)
01. 1.0* - Fritz the Cat by Ralph Bakshi (1972)

[cinephage]

I started with a few short films from the Annecy list...

01.a. Franz Kafka, by Piotr Dumala (1992) 5/10 - 16 minutes

I enjoyed the painted animation, but found the story to be bland and to rely too heavily on its hommage...

01.b. Dojoji, by Kihachiro Kawamoto (1976) 9/10 - 19 minutes

Spoiler

This was a fantastic film. I usually like puppets, but here, they mingle with japanese storytelling and pictural art, it is gorgeous, and the story's great too.

01.c. Repete, by Michaela Pavlátová (1995) 6/10 - 8 minutes

This a witty film, which relies on changes in repetition. Not unforgettable, but it doesn't last long, and remains entertaining.

01.d. Atama-yama, by Koji Yamamura (2002) 7,5/10 - 10 minutes

Spoiler

Surreal, ironic and fun. That's a good, crazy, film...

01.e. Le chapeau, by Michèle Cournoyer (1999) 8/10 - 6 minutes

Spoiler

A short film that addresses pedophilia in a very direct, but subtle, manner. It's almost unbearable at times, but the director balances things in a smart way.

02.a. Great (Isambard Kingdom Brunel), by Bob Godfrey (1975) 7/10 - 30 minutes

An educational documentary animated film with songs and digressions. Still, I was only vaguely familiar with Brunel's name, and this interested me deeply, even though the musical aspect of the film is sort of outdated...

02.b. Seiltänzer, by Raimund Krumme (1987) 6,5/10 - 10 minutes

A witty film, that plays with a frame and two characters pulling a string... Entertaining, but I will forget all about it by tomorrow.

[sol]

1. When Marnie Was There (2014)

I found the ultimate mythology here way too complex, especially as the film progresses from a simple friendship, to more than just friends, to perhaps something slightly more twisted. [...] but yeah - weird plot.

A review on Criticker described it as "loneliness and melancholy passing through generations". Good explanation, but I still find it disappointing that after all the plucky Miyazaki heroines, the final Ghibli film would be about depressed teens, like so many recent anime films.

What I took out of the film was that it was ultimately a film about a girl who -

Spoiler

falls romantically in love with her grandmother, with all sorts of incestuous implications

- though I doubt that's what the filmmakers were going for.

[sebby]

01 Watership Down (1978) 6/10
02 Fantastic Planet (1973) 6/10
03 Madagascar (2005) 3/10

Spoiler

01 Watership Down (1978) 6/10
02 Fantastic Planet (1973) 6/10
03 Madagascar (2005) 3/10

[funkybusiness]

01.b. Dojoji, by Kihachiro Kawamoto (1976) 9/10 - 19 minutes

Spoiler

This was a fantastic film. I usually like puppets, but here, they mingle with japanese storytelling and pictural art, it is gorgeous, and the story's great too.

you might want to check out this inactive anime release group called anonymoose. they specialized in this sort of stuff, atypical japanese animation.

oh but if you find their blog, don't click the links, they lead to a dead site. you have to go to .si not .se.

[cinephage]

01.b. Dojoji, by Kihachiro Kawamoto (1976) 9/10 - 19 minutes

Spoiler

This was a fantastic film. I usually like puppets, but here, they mingle with japanese storytelling and pictural art, it is gorgeous, and the story's great too.

you might want to check out this inactive anime release group called anonymoose. they specialized in this sort of stuff, atypical japanese animation.

oh but if you find their blog, don't click the links, they lead to a dead site. you have to go to .si not .se.

Thanks, that's good to know.

[flavo5000]

1. Gosuto Suipa Mikami - Gokuraku Daisuken! a.k.a. Ghost Sweeper Mikami: The Movie (1994)
Basically a stand-alone movie that takes during the run of the TV series but doesn't really reference anything that happens in the series at all. It's light entertainment with a pretty standard mix of silly comedy (much of the humor revolving around how callous and obsessed with money Mikami is) and big action horror spirit battles.


2. Uchû shô e yôkoso a.k.a. Welcome to the Space Show (2010)
The incredibly imaginative visuals are the main draw to this overlong flick targeted mainly to kids. The story is overly simplistic with a pretty typical 'kids swept off on a big space adventure to help defeat the big evil' plot which is a shame. given the stunning animation, with a better and more emotionally involving plot, this could've been a real classic. As it is, it's still beautiful to look at and a solid one to watch with the family.


3. Lego DC Super Hero Girls: Brain Drain (2017)
Some of the Lego movies can actually be pretty amusing which makes this one all the more disappointing. The jokes mostly fall flat and the plot has little in the way of suspense or sense of threat. Utterly forgettable.


4. Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic (2010)
Creating a hyper-violent, anime-inspired movie adaptation of Dante's Inferno makes about as much sense as creating a hyper-violent, stylized God of War-esque video game adaptation of Dante's Inferno. It's all pretty ridiculous but if you can separate this dark, bloody screamfest from the classic source material (or if you've never read it or are familiar with it to begin with), you might be entertained by it.


5. The Cosmic Eye (1986)
Fusing new age mysticism, anthropological tribal art and the Hubleys' admittedly somewhat dated animation style results in a frequently bizarre, obtuse narrative with a visual inventive and unique flow that doesn't always make sense but is still fairly engaging.


6. Gekijô ban Bleach: Fade to Black - Kimi no na o yobu a.k.a. Bleach: Fade to Black (2008)
New villain. Same bland, predictable Bleach.


7. Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018)
In a similar vein to the first two films, it's decently entertaining with some mildly amusing jokes for adults and a lot of wackiness that kids will like too. It's also weird that Adam Sandler seems more energized in these movies than he does in most of his lazy Happy Madison productions.


8. Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers (1987)
I wasn't much of a fan of this one. With most of the gang not involved, Scooby, Scrappy and Shaggy head to a creepy old house left to Shaggy in a will. Of course it's haunted and the Boo Brothers (a trio of annoying Three Stooges-esque ghosts) show up to help Shaggy get rid of the spirits. When a Scooby movie forces Shaggy to play a straight man, you know you aren't going to have a good time. It's mostly of interest as one of the first instances post 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo to have actual ghosts rather than a dude in a costume.


9a. Flying Witch Petit (2016)
9b. Plastic Neesan (2011)
9c. Green Green OVA (2002)
Flying Witch Petit is a series of short gag anime spin off of the slice of life light fantasy series Flying Witch. It has even less to do with witches than the main series and is pretty typical silly chibi specials.
I actually liked Plastic Neesan. It's a wacky, absurdist gag anime in the style of Nichijou (although not AS funny) that is in theory about girls in a model building club but seems to have zero to do with model building in favor of ridiculousness.
Green Green OVA is basically an alternate truncated version of the TV series about an all-girl school who has a group of male students introduced into their midst. Naturally the boys are mostly a bunch of pervs. It's mildly diverting but similar plots have been done much better elsewhere.

Love for Cel

1. Gosuto Suipa Mikami - Gokuraku Daisuken! a.k.a. Ghost Sweeper Mikami: The Movie (1994)
2. Uchû shô e yôkoso a.k.a. Welcome to the Space Show (2010)
3. Lego DC Super Hero Girls: Brain Drain (2017)
4. Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic (2010)
5. The Cosmic Eye (1986)
6. Gekijô ban Bleach: Fade to Black - Kimi no na o yobu a.k.a. Bleach: Fade to Black (2008)
7. Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018)
8. Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers (1987)
9a. Little Witch Petit E-19 (2016)
9b. Plastic Neesan E1-12 (2011)
9c. Green Green OVA (2002)

[frbrown]

1. When Marnie Was There (2014)

I found the ultimate mythology here way too complex, especially as the film progresses from a simple friendship, to more than just friends, to perhaps something slightly more twisted. [...] but yeah - weird plot.

A review on Criticker described it as "loneliness and melancholy passing through generations". Good explanation, but I still find it disappointing that after all the plucky Miyazaki heroines, the final Ghibli film would be about depressed teens, like so many recent anime films.

What I took out of the film was that it was ultimately a film about a girl who -

Spoiler

falls romantically in love with her grandmother, with all sorts of incestuous implications

- though I doubt that's what the filmmakers were going for.

I don't remember that at all!