Ninja Scroll (1993)

Ninja Scroll (1993)

Dir. Yoshiaki Kawajiri

I don't understand why Ninja Scroll is so named. It has a ninja — actually, it has lots of ninjas — but what's the scroll part about? Fuctifino. But what I know for certain is that when it comes to 90s era anime movies, NS is a classic. I've watched it a dozen times over the years and it impresses me every time. It isn't packed with plot like, for example, Akira (1988) or Ghost in the Shell (1995) are, but it has a visceral quality that many of its genre imitators failed to capture. [1]

Somehow, the historical setting enhances the fantastical elements, even though logic says they ought to be at odds with each other. A similar kind of complementary contrariety surrounds the two main characters: a skilled swordsman named Jubei, and a female Kōga ninja named Kagero, who has a special, hidden, devastating talent.

The villains, known as the Eight Devils of Kimon, are a peculiar bunch of freaks with unusual powers, and are all the more memorable for it.

The Wind of Amnesia (1993)

aka A Wind Named Amnesia (1993)

Dir. Kazuo Yamazaki

A peculiar wind blows across the world, erasing mankind's memories. It's like nature hit a reset switch: people forget how to speak; parents forget their children, and vice versa; drivers forget how to drive; doctors forget how to heal, etc. The knowledge in books remains, but no one knows how to read. With even basic life skills lost, how will humanity survive? And more to the point, do they even deserve to?

But like every post-apocalyptic scenario in fiction, not everyone is affected. A memory-wiped youth named Wataru meets one such individual and learns from him. Thereafter, Wataru journeys across America looking for something that honours his mentor / friend.

I'm a big fan of stories that encourage us to question what makes cultures tick, and by extension examine humanity's true worth. E.g., with a clean slate, can we do things better? With religion dead, will our unconscious fears cause us to invent it again? Post-apoc settings are a tremendous framework for that kind of thing.

The Cat Returns (2002)

The Cat Returns (2002)

Dir. Hiroyuki Morita

TCR is a spin-off from Ghibli's Whisper of the Heart (1995) film, and while it's not wholly necessary to have watched WotH prior to TCR, it's recommended, nevertheless, because two of TCR's characters were first introduced in WotH. The earlier film is also where you get the back-story of smartly dressed cat Baron Humbert von Gikkingen. If you don't care about any of that, though, you can enjoy TCR on its own merits.

It's the story of high-school student Haru Yoshioka, a young girl who seems to be constantly running late for class. She's often disorganised, has a messy room, and is a little clumsy. But she has a kind heart, is a good friend, and looks out for animals in need, all of which are positive, inspirational traits.

A selfless act at a busy road earns her the gratitude of the Cat Kingdom, which turns out not to be as welcome a blessing as it may sound.

Millennium Actress (2001)

Millennium Actress (2001) 

Dir. Satoshi Kon

Chiyoko Fujiwara is an ageing actress with a fascinating story still to tell. It'll remain untold until the proper audience is found. At the whim of fate, the proper audience finds her.

Once again, Japanese director Satoshi Kon tears down the boundaries between what's real and what's imagined, allowing past and present to overlap with fiction and reality in captured time. It's my personal favourite of his works. It's both a skilfully written love letter to the film medium and a poetic celebration of the human heart. If you hate it, you're probably dead inside.

It would take a thousand words to address all of Millennium Actress' merits, but I'm determined to keep this one short so that you can stop reading and more quickly get to the watching.

Princess Mononoke (1997)

Princess Mononoke (1997)

Dir. Hayao Miyazaki

There's often an environmental message in Hayao Miyazaki's works, but it's much more aggressive in Princess Mononoke than in any Ghibli film that he'd made prior, and because of that it feels less safe.

It's Nature versus Industry in a war that neither side can win. Trapped in the middle is a village Prince named Ashitaka. The youth is unwilling to take sides, but at the same time is determined to put an end to the conflict. He's even prepared to die, if necessary.

The girl with the warpainted face on the cover is San. She sides with the animals, which gives her a very direct focus, initially, but, for reasons that are too spoilery to go into, she's also one of the more interesting characters.

Perfect Blue (1997)

Perfect Blue (1997)

Dir. Satoshi Kon

PB explores the true cost of success for twenty-one-year-old Mima Kirigoe as she makes the difficult transition from beloved Japanese idol status to impressionable TV drama actress.

Eager to please, when the fiction in Mima's head overlaps with the fiction on the film set, shit gets real, with the kind of meaningful editing that Alfred Hitchcock might applaud, if he was alive.

Perfect Blue is director Satoshi Kon's début full-length movie, but it flows like it was his fourth or fifth. It's both a careful study of splintering, crumbling reality and a skilful exercise in artifice.

The result is a genre classic that's chilling, creepy, and can be uncomfortable viewing at times, but is highly recommended to fans of anime with bite.

Ghost in the Shell: SAC: Complete 1st and 2nd GIG (2018)

GitS: SAC: Complete 1st + 2nd GIG (2018)

Dirs. Various | Seasons: 2 | 52 episodes, approx 25 mins each [Make sure and stick around for the short Tachikomatic Days entries after the credits roll on each one!]

An 8-disc collection that contains all 52 episodes of the Stand Alone Complex TV series - that's 26 episodes apiece for each of the two seasons.

The year is 2030. Public Security Section 9 is a counter-terrorist branch funded by the Japanese government, a team of ass-kicking professionals that get the job done no matter what.

The world is overly dependent on cybernetic bodies; the web has become the medium of choice for terrorists and as a result there exists a large potential for cyber-crime and hacks.

Section 9 specialise in that area. Led by Major Motoko Kusanagi the team deal with corporate terrorism, kidnapping, human trafficking, Ghost hacks (a technique in which a subject's memories are replaced with false ones) and a host of other internal and external threats. They're the people that keep the rest of us safe, often without us even knowing they exist.

Serial Experiments Lain (1998)

Serial Experiments Lain (1998)

Dir. Ryūtarō Nakamura | 13 episodes, approx 24 minutes each.

Lain Iwakura is small for her age. She's reserved, quiet, and emotionally inexperienced. She has a small group of friends but their connection is tenuous, based more on shared location than on similar interests. That's the nature of the world in which Lain exists.

But there's more than one reality; the real world exists alongside the Wired. Among other things, the Wired is a network that allows communication between distant parties. It connects the individual to other individuals and enables information to be passed along. The synergy between the two existences has a profound maturing effect on the young Lain.

I've watched the series more than once and I'm positive there are things in it that I still haven't found. It's densely packed with subtleties and philosophical concepts. Where do we go when we die? How do we know we're alive? Did God create us? If so, then who created God?

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004)

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004)

Dir. Mamoru Oshii

Loosely based on a story from the same Masamune Shirow manga as the first Ghost in the Shell film, Innocence is nevertheless very different to its predecessor.

I'm limited in what I can say because it'll be mostly spoiler, so I'll stick to basics: Section 9 members Batou and Togusa are assigned to investigate a series of 'gruesome murders' perpetrated by gynoids who thereafter end their own existence. The investigation opens doors to a great deal of spiralling philosophy and musings on the nature of humanity.

The animation and character movement are superb, and backgrounds are even more detailed than before, with exquisite lighting - although the latter has a deep brown / coppery tint that won't be to everyone's liking. The plot is at times mind-bending and at other times simple and understatedly heartfelt. It's certainly not passive viewing, so you'll need to engage and question what you're given if you want to get the most from it.

Ghost in the Shell (1995)

Ghost in the Shell (1995)

Dir. Mamoru Oshii

Like many people outside of Asia my introduction to non-TV anime was Akira (1988); in my case, specifically, a UK VHS edition by Manga in 1991. There was an occasional good title in the slew of OVA crap thereafter, but Ghost in the Shell (1995) was a monumental leap forward in quality.

American-born author William Gibson had popularised cyberspace a decade before in his novel Neuromancer, but the mass appeal of movies over books meant that director Mamoru Oshii's adaptation of author Masamune Shirow's manga reached a wider audience in the same genre, making it kick mainstream ass in the process. The first GitS film was a landmark release that the world of sci-fi anime fandom collectively applauded.

Rebuild of Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 (2021)

Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time (2021)

Dirs. Hideaki Anno / Kazuya Tsurumaki / Katsuichi Nakayama / Mahiro Maeda

Given my feelings about part three — and that in the lengthy interim between it and part four Anno had helped make what I consider to be the worst live action Japanese-language Godzilla movie since the Showa Era lost its way — I didn't feel the pang of the nine-year wait that happened, but I sympathise with anyone that did.

Evangelion: 4.0 You Can (Not) be Fucking Serious, as it'll forever be known to me hereafter, has some stunning animation, but is less successful in other ways. It has the dubious honour of being the least engaging anime movie that I watched in 2022.

The frantic aerial battle that fills a large chunk of the opening was off-putting to me, but I can see how it could be considered impressive by others, in how it resembled some kind of futuristic fighter plane conflict. In retrospect, when paired with what follows, it plays a successful part in conveying how important the role of contrast is to the whole.

Rebuild of Evangelion: 3.33 (2012)

Evangelion: 3.33 You Can (Not) Redo (2012)

Dirs. Hideaki Anno / Mahiro Maeda / Kazuya Tsurumaki

Parts 1.11 and 2.22 stayed recognisably close to the original NGE TV Series plot, but part 3.33 spirals off to places new. There are big changes and most of them aren't good.

Firstly, none of what's teased in 2.22's post-credit preview is actually in the third film. Instead, it's set a significant number of years after, which could be as jarring for the viewer as it is for one of the characters.

In retrospect, it's helpful to accept that what was teased did actually happen, albeit offscreen. Mercifully, the implied level of 'fan service' is largely absent, besides some cheap low angle female pudenda shots.

A dramatic space-set action scene opens proceedings, and is quickly followed by some tedious Anno dialogue; as someone who prefers to watch anime subbed, it felt more pronounced than it might otherwise have seemed.

Rebuild of Evangelion: 2.22 (2009)

Evangelion: 2.22 You Can (Not) Advance (2009)

Dirs. Hideaki Anno / Masayuki / Kazuya Tsurumaki

I said previously that the film is faithful to Dir. Hideaki Anno's original vision 'at least for now'. To expand upon that, it's more than just a retelling, it's a 'rebuild' of the story - like its English language title states. The original series fell in on itself before its ultimate completion, so a redesign isn't necessarily a bad thing, if done correctly.

The foundation upon which the 'rebuild' is constructed is largely the same as before - but as more tiers are added, the resultant structure takes on a wholly different appearance. That change becomes more apparent in 2.22 than it was in 1.11. [1]

It covers episodes 7-19, which is quite a task in such a short amount of time.

Rebuild of Evangelion: 1.11 (2007)

Evangelion: 1.11 You Are (Not) Alone (2007)

Dirs. Hideaki Anno / Masayuki / Kazuya Tsurumaki

A cinematic 'Rebuild' of the 'classic' Neon Genesis Evangelion TV Series. The first film (of four) covers episodes 1-6. It's overseen by the same director as the series, Hideaki Anno, so is faithful to his original vision - at least for now, but that's for a future post.

Newcomers to the world of NGE may find it difficult to assimilate everything on first viewing, but in truth even the series didn't make complete sense to a large percentage of its audience until the second sitting, so in a way being perplexed is par for the course.

Nevertheless, for the benefit of anyone that's wholly unfamiliar with the basics, a quick intro: fourteen-year-old Shinji Ikari arrives in Tokyo-III, having been summoned there by a father he's not seen in three years.

Whisper of the Heart (1995)

Whisper of the Heart (1995)

Dir. Yoshifumi Kondō

Based on a manga of the same name (by Aoi Hiiragi), WotH is a wonderful coming of age drama set in a typical suburb of Tokyo.

Its primary character is fourteen-year-old Shizuku Tsukishima, a junior high school student who loves books. Shizuku is a voracious reader who makes regular trips to the school library. She notices one day that many of the books she's borrowed that year were checked-out also by one other person.

For the benefit of anyone born after the turn of the millennium, it's important to note the era because before everything everywhere existed in a computer database, checkout cards were a real thing in library books. It isn't something the writers made up, and it wasn't exclusive to Japan. It's a true reflection of what folks my age might call a 'simpler time', before smartphones and social media, etc, and all the negativity that now exists as a result.

Pom Poko (1994)

Pom Poko (1994)

Dir. Isao Takahata

When their peaceful but playful way of life comes under threat by mankind's push for "urban development," a tanuki community is forced to abandon the rundown farmhouse in which they live, a building that was previously abandoned by its human occupants.

To combat the destructive 'modernisation', the critters call upon the past, rekindling the ancient tanuki art of shape-shifting.

There are references to the role of religion and superstition in the modern world, but foremost is the themes of ethics and nature and how both are often trodden on by an encroaching and money-hungry industry.

It's a Ghibli film directed by Takahata, whose work is often more hard-hitting and arguably more daring than a lot of Miyazaki's, so if you're planning to let the kids watch it, be aware that there are some unpleasant deaths.

Ocean Waves (1993)

Ocean Waves (1993)

aka I Can Hear the Sea

Dir. Tomomi Mochizuki

Originally, I considered writing something for each of the Studio Ghibli feature films and presenting them in chronological order, but I'm not a completist and I don't like all of the films, so I'm skipping the ones that I don't want to watch again. Of the selection that remains, the next is the lesser-known Ocean Waves.

Produced by Studio Ghibli but made-for-television, it's a story about youth and maturity, set in a competitive Japanese high school environment and in the wider world.

The three main characters are friends Tako and Yutaka and the girl who turns both their heads, a transfer student named Rikako. She's self-centred and takes advantage of Tako's good nature, but that doesn't stop him pursuing her.

Neon Genesis Evangelion: TV Series (1995-96)

Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995-96)

Dirs. Hideaki Anno / Masayuki / Kazuya Tsurumaki | 26 episodes, approx 23 mins each

Fourteen-year-old Shinji Ikari arrives in the futuristic Tokyo-3, having been summoned there by a father that he's not seen in over three years.

Shinji's abandonment issues and his father's overbearing (though often silent) judging of the boy's measure puts an excruciating amount of stress upon the youth's inexperienced shoulders.

The emotional tearing that develops from the conflicting hatred of his estranged father and the simultaneous craving for his approval and love is a major defining attribute of the teenager.

But if that wasn't enough to deal with, Shinji is required to take on a task that would challenge even a hardened combat veteran, with nothing less than the fate of humanity on the line if he fails.

It's a situation that puts him directly in his father's line of sight, and increases the fear of failure and sense of worthlessness that the boy nurtures.

Only Yesterday (1991)

Only Yesterday (1991)

Dir. Isao Takahata

A twenty-seven-year-old Tokyo resident named Taeko takes a summer trip to the countryside. It's a holiday away from city life, but Taeko plans to work whilst there, helping with the annual safflower harvest. What she hadn't planned was that her ten-year-old self would choose to accompany her.

It's the same person but in two different eras. The adult Taeko (Miki Imai) replays and relives her memories of fifth-grade Taeko (Yōko Honna), reflecting on the trials of youth, the hopes and dreams she had and how they stack up to where she is now in her life. When combined they make one complete story – one lengthy journey toward an unwritten future.

The deliberate undefined edges that some scenes employ suggests that feelings and situations we thought were complete at the time might actually have lines that aren't filled in until years later, provided we're wise enough, and perhaps even daring enough, to make the connections.

Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)

Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)

Dir. Hayao Miyazaki

Tradition dictates that at age thirteen a young witch should leave her home behind, in order to continue her training elsewhere.

For Kiki, it's an adventure that ends up being equal parts hard work; but she's headstrong when necessary, and with the help of her friend Jiji (a cat), she strives to make her mark.

With delicate pacing and timely underpinning it teaches us that each person has a purpose, even if they aren't aware of it or don't consider what they do to be anything special. 

If you dare to rise to a challenge, do your best for yourself and for others, like Kiki, then the rewards can more than equal the effort put in.

It's not action-packed and doesn't need a dramatic setting to be appreciated (you can watch it on a sunny day), but it's refreshingly sincere, and the attention to detail in environments is noteworthy, making the houses feel lived-in, which gives them a beauty all of their own.

There's a scene during the closing credits, so don't turn off too soon, if you want to see it.