If I were to only watch 1 anime/manga film

robototitico

I know nothing about anime/manga.

If I could only watch one film what would it be? A classic. Something that is represnetative of the entire thing.

Karl Hungus

robototitico wrote: »

Something that is represnetative of the entire thing.

It's a tough question, because there's no one film that's going to represent the entire medium. There's as many differing genres within Anime as there is within films or TV, from action to comedy to sci-fi, so there's never going to be any one film that can represent the whole.

Lets take for example Spirited Away, which is a wonderfully imaginative children's fantasy, and then look at Perfect Blue which is a very dark and deeply psychological thriller. Neither film is in any way representative of each other, they're entirely different kinds of film for entirely different audiences.

I'll recommend 5 films that I think are particularly excellent:

Spirited Away
Grave of the Fireflies
Tokyo Godfathers
Jin-Roh - The Wolf Brigade
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

Take a moment to read about what kind of film each of those are, see if that appeals to you, and pick one. You can't really go wrong there, I think they're all exceptional films, but keep in mind that you're not going to find something that's representative of Anime as a whole.

Sephiroth_dude

2 words,Devil Man........

L31mr0d

robototitico wrote: »

I know nothing about anime/manga.

If I could only watch one film what would it be? A classic. Something that is represnetative of the entire thing.

Re-word your post like this, and you'll understand how hard a question this is to answer.

"I know nothing about photography.

If I could only look at 1 photo what would it be? A classic. Something that is representative of the entire thing."

I'd maybe start with Akira. Everyone whos anyone and claims to like Anime has seen it. But it's really only the tip of the iceberg.

18AD

Genius Party.

NothingMan

Akira broke my Anime virginity, but I didn't have a clue what was going on through half of it.

Favorites now are probably more the ones aimed at a more broad audience as opposed to the crazy ones like Akira.

Love Princess Mononoke or Howls moving castle.

Coriolanus

Your best bet is going for something that reflects and complements your taste in "normal" movies. If you liked the mishmash of philosophy and violence in Matrix, try Akira and so on.

In other words, what type of films do you watch, maybe even list a couple of your favorites.

Sephiroth_dude

NothingMan wrote: »

Akira broke my Anime virginity, but I didn't have a clue what was going on through half of it.

I was lost half way through it too :-/.

gearoidof

Akira has a bit of a sudden ending.

And no, anime isn't quite like photography or Film/TV. While Photography is anything taken with a camera, anime is limited to animated films from japan, and the entire genre do have some common themes.

Of course, ya, some more detail would be nice.
Assuming you won't give it:
Spirited Away
Has the visual detail to lull you in, doesn't have a crap ending like some other anime, doesn't have any shortcuts in it.

Sephiroth_dude

Ninja scroll is excellent too.

Cy_Revenant

First:

As has already been stated, there is no work that is representative of all anime and manga, because anime and manga is not a genre, it is a medium.

Second:

If you must watch only one work, make it The Girl who Leapt Through Time.

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

Ninja scroll is excellent too.

No. It's not.
Get out.

Sephiroth_dude

Cy_Revenant wrote: »

No. It's not.

:eek:

Zeouterlimits

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

:eek:

He's right. It may be a technical/artistic great work, but there's so little depth there.
It's not in the same league with something like, as CyRev suggested, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.

Crowcifer

I wouldn't consider myself an expert/fanatic at all but I really recommend Grave of the Fireflies.

Akira is very enjoyable too, but as people have said above it is a little bit of a head melt at times!

Varik

Crowcifer wrote: »

I wouldn't consider myself an expert/fanatic at all but I really recommend Grave of the Fireflies.

Akira is very enjoyable too, but as people have said above it is a little bit of a head melt at times!

you must hate this guy so much that you never want him to feel happiness again

Spunge

I havent seen many anime movies, mostly series, but id highly recommend spirited away and princesss mononoke to any fan of films, let alone anime.

vinylbomb

I quite liked these two, surprised they havent been mentioned (but Akira and Spirited Away are good recommendations too)

Metropolis

Fist of the North Star

Coriolanus

Varik wrote: »

you must hate this guy so much that you never want him to feel happiness again

Lol. I'm tempted to track it down myself now just to see. Is it really that bad?

Beruthiel

Ghost in a Shell?

Sephiroth_dude

vinylbomb wrote: »

I quite liked these two, surprised they havent been mentioned (but Akira and Spirited Away are good recommendations too)

Metropolis

Fist of the North Star

+1

Funky

Just after watching The Girl Who Leapt Through Time again and it really is one of the greatest films i've ever seen

gearoidof

Having watched all the recommendations (so I'm not just being a fanboi), The Girl who leapt through time is the best.

Ghost in the Shell, is a bit too mindf*ck to be completely enjoyable as a "let's see what's anime like, sure" film.
Metropolis is very different from all the other anime I've seen, not in a good way.
FonS is good nuff. but girl who leapt through time is da besht

tman

Nevore wrote: »

Lol. I'm tempted to track it down myself now just to see. Is it really that bad?

They're both good films in their own right, just a bit on the grim side...

Going to have to check out the girl who leapt through time after all of these recommendations!

Phil D

There are loads up on youtube. If I were you I'd have a look there and see if there was anything that grabbed me.

eoin5

gearoidof wrote: »

Having watched all the recommendations (so I'm not just being a fanboi), The Girl who leapt through time is the best.

Ghost in the Shell, is a bit too mindf*ck to be completely enjoyable as a "let's see what's anime like, sure" film.
Metropolis is very different from all the other anime I've seen, not in a good way.
FonS is good nuff. but girl who leapt through time is da besht

Great film but too mushy to represent the genre. Something like Vampire Hunter Bloodlust that has a bit of everything in it would be a better choice I think.

edit: actually Howls Moving Castle might be better as its not as ott on the violence, a nicer way to welcome people to the genre.

gearoidof

Hmm, what do you mean by "too mushy to represent the genre" ? :S

redshoulder

galaxy express 999
robot carnival
macross dyrl
vampire hunter d bloodlust

Karl Hungus

I wonder, did the OP watch one film yet?

eoin5

gearoidof wrote: »

Hmm, what do you mean by "too mushy to represent the genre" ? :S

Anime films arent usually so luvvy duvvy.

Cy_Revenant

eoin5 wrote: »

Anime films arent usually so luvvy duvvy.

Anime films aren't usually.

Varik

gearoidof

Varik wrote: »

off topic: I love how different the US ghibli trailer is from the jap one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIaBn9Emmlw

Ridley

Karl Hungus wrote: »

I'll recommend 5 films that I think are particularly excellent:

Spirited Away
Grave of the Fireflies
Tokyo Godfathers
Jin-Roh - The Wolf Brigade
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

Couldn't get into The Girl Who Leapt Through Time myself.

People highlight Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away aswell, but I much preferred My Neighbour Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service and Howl's Moving Castle of the "Studio Ghibli Collection".

Varik

can anyone see my youtube post, for some reason i can't.

eoin5

Varik wrote: »

can anyone see my youtube post, for some reason i can't.

Nop, just a white square

Varik

what part do you use to get a youtube link to play, i've done it before but can't get it working

Numina

Varik wrote: »

what part do you use to get a youtube link to play, i've done it before but can't get it working

Only put the part I've highlighted of the following example into the youtube tags: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1I73J3JFbw. All you need is the code.

BTW, the example below is actually a very good anime short.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1I73J3JFbw

garvielloken

Akira is usually a good starting point. Spirited Away for the inner child, Legend of the Overfiend for the pervert within and Fist of the North Star for some kung fu madness.

GisforGrenade

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds, close second Princess Mononoke. But honestly anything by Hayao Miyazaki(Studio Ghibli).

Sephiroth_dude

GisforGrenade wrote: »

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds

Thats a brilliant movie.

Konata

Watched Spirited Away for the first time last night - great film!

regmcd

Howl's Moving Castle rocks.
My Neighbour Totoro for a lazy day

HereticPrincess

Ninja Scroll is pretty cool.

But as many would I'd go with Spirited Away.
I just love it, I don't think it would bore me,
And the music is just amazing.

fitz0

regmcd wrote: »

My Neighbour Totoro for a lazy day

Agreed, its such a brilliant film.

Lorcano

i,ve read a lot of manga and watched a lot of anime to this would have been a hard choice... THAT WAS UNTIL I READ BERSERK. OH MY GOD I SERIOUSLY HAVE NOT READ ANYTHING BETTER. SO YEAH YOU HAVENT READ BERSERK THEN YOU HAVENT BEEN BORN YET. I SAT DOWN LAST WEEKEND AND READ VOL 1-13 WITH 200+ PAGES OF QUALITY PER VOL. its very graphic though.

Zen 2nd

Lorcano wrote: »

i,ve read a lot of manga and watched a lot of anime to this would have been a hard choice... THAT WAS UNTIL I READ BERSERK. OH MY GOD I SERIOUSLY HAVE NOT READ ANYTHING BETTER. SO YEAH YOU HAVENT READ BERSERK THEN YOU HAVENT BEEN BORN YET. I SAT DOWN LAST WEEKEND AND READ VOL 1-13 WITH 200+ PAGES OF QUALITY PER VOL. its very graphic though.

Wait till you read the later volumes

Lorcano

Zen 2nd wrote: »

Wait till you read the later volumes

OH it was on a sataurday i read 1-13. it was sunday and sunday night i read 14-31...i almost failed the maths exam the nest day because every 4 seconds i was shouting in my head :pac:< GRRRIIIFFFFITH!!!

Delta_Raven1

Goku Midnight Eye

carbonkid

Tokyo Godfather is a good one to start with...i recommend this because ive had friends over to watch it who will watch very little anime (they're film buffs) and everyone so far loves this film.

I think it works for most people even if your not into anime ^_^

neoviper

Id agree with Goku Midnight Eye if your into the more violent aspect also try Golgo 13 and Violence Jack.