Best Non-Ghibli Anime films

The origin story of one of Anime?s most enduring heroes, Captain Harlock. And what a movie this is! This is the embodiment of everything that is so great about Matsumoto?s work.

The Earth has been conquered by the evil Illumidus Empire with parallels drawn to the post World War Two occupation of Japan. Captain Harlock with a group that will become his life long friends begin their fight against this tyranny visited upon the planet earth with no regard to the costs the struggle will have on them, caring only for the ideal of restoring freedom to the people of earth.

This film cemented Harlock?s and Matsumoto?s godlike status with me. Everything just works so well here, like GE999, it had great story, characters, music, and atmosphere. I think I cry more watching this movie than any other, there are just some scenes that overwhelm me. Harlock is one of my biggest heroes because no matter what, he does what is right in his heart. Even after the Earth Government banishes him because of his defiance against the Illumidus occupational forces, he still hangs around to protect the earth and its lethargic citizenry when the Mazone empire invades in the original TV series, even when they don?t deserve it. To me, thats what being a hero is all about, doing the right thing no matter what has happened to you.


Leiji Matsumoto has provided me with hours of great entertainment, I wish I could thank him personally for all his hard work. Modern fans tend to not understand his style, such as when 2 starships battle it out in an old fashioned Broad-sides duel, or How a starship can be on fire and billowing smoke in the vacuum of space. The explanation is simple, Matsumoto uses these things for dramatic effect. He knows these things are improbable or downright impossible, but its all to create this grand atmosphere his films have. The Fire and smoke gives everything a sense of urgency, you can see they are in trouble without going through every room on the ship. Its these touchs that really give the film a grand old Hollywood feeling, and I love that.

One of Matsumoto?s greatest works is Galaxy Express 999, and its a shame that in never got a chance in the US. I became acquainted with GE999 when I was about 12 or so, flipping through channels I stopped on the Foreign language channel which split its time up between Japanese, Chinese, Italian, and Spanish. It was a thursday evening, and I saw a familiar looks show, because of the character designs I knew it was something by the creator of Yamato, and even though there were no subs, I watched it anyways. It was pretty good and I only wished I had subs so I knew what happened exactly. School got on top of me, and I didn?t get to see the show again. But later in life, I saw that Viz Entertainment had licensed the movie, so I grabbed it. GE999 has been a beloved favorite ever since.

After the death of his mother at the hands of the evil robot Count Mecha, young Tetsuro has become a delinquent street urchin who dreams only of revenge. Tetsuro lives in a far future world in which humans have the choice to travel to another planet where they can exchange their bodies for immortal, robotic counterparts. His goal is to someday acquire (through theft) enough money to board the Galaxy Express 999, a train which is capable of traveling through space, and which will take him to the planet of robots. One day, after escaping from the police, he meets the beautiful Maetel, who resembles his mother. She offers to take him on the Galaxy Express 999 to get a robotic body and to get revenge on Count Mecha. Along the journey, the two meet many varied people (including Captain Harlock and Queen Emeraldas), and Tetsuro learns what it means to be human.

It has a great story, great characters, great music, and a great atmosphere. Its full of emotion, and like nearly every Matsumoto film I?ve seen, it brings tears to my eyes every time I watch it. Some people in today?s anime fandom would accuse Matsumoto?s work to be too long and slow moving, but its not true. These folks seem to not be able to watch anything that doesn?t have an explosion or a panty shot every 2 minutes.

Those familiar with Robotech will know that Macross is the original version of the first section of Robotech. Macross was a great show that got hacked to bits so Harmony Gold could make some quick cash off of the 80s anime boom. Macross was so much more than a saturday morning cartoon, it was a romance story masquerading as a space opera, and it was very well done considering the problems that plagued its production.

A.D. 2009: The human race is in the middle of a three-way war with a race of giant humanoid aliens split into the Zentrans (males) and Meltlans (females). After executing a space fold that sent it and part of South Ataria Island to the edge of the Solar System, the space fortress Macross is on its way back to Earth. During a small skirmish with Zentradi forces, young pilot Hikaru Ichijyo rescues idol singer Lynn Minmay and their relationship develops as they?re stranded somewhere within the ship. But shortly after returning to Macross City, Minmay is captured by the Zentradi, and Hikaru and female officer Misa Hayase end up back on Earth?only to view the aftermath of the destruction of their civilization. Only a song discovered eons ago?along with Minmay?s voice?can determine the outcome of the war.

this is essentially a retelling of the TV series down in a classic Hollywood style, and IMO it surpasses the series. As much as I love that show, this was just so much better. Unfortunately, this was only licensed on Dubbed and Edited VHS a long time ago. Harmony Gold started a big legal battle with Big West, Studio Nue, and Tatsunoko studios over who had the US distribution rights for all things DYRL?, and as a result the winner Big West has decided that no Macross will be licensed in the US after HG?s license runs out. So no DYRL? for us sadly, but there are fansubbed versions that can be acquired, thankfully.

I'm seriously surprised to this day that this isn't a more well known film in the anime fandom. To me, its the best animated Ninja film of them all, and I'm including Ninja Scroll in that remark. Ninja Scroll was good, don't get me wrong, but I think people latch onto it more because of the shock value, what with the sexual bits and huge amounts of gore. Kamui has a bigger, grander feel to it, it doesn't go the shock value route, it goes for a more historical look, while still maintaining a degree of fantasy (which is important to note.). the story is this (abit spoilerish, so marked in red):

A young boy named Jiro finds his mother and sister murdered in his home. Falsely accused of the crime, he flees from his village and meets a priest named Tenkai, who has him kill a rogue ninja named Tarouza. After fulfilling that task, Jiro undergoes training to become a master assassin. Many years later, Jiro finds out that he was an orphan and his real father was Tarouza, who had worked for Tenkai until he aborted his mission when he fell in love with an Ainu woman. The young ninja discovers that the Shogunate was to retrieve the lost treasure of Captain Kidd and use it to once again isolate Japan from the rest of the world. Using the clues that Tarouza had kept secret, Jiro - along with the female ninja Oyuki and a slave named Sam - travels to Russia and America to search for the treasure in hopes of using it to extract revenge from Tenkai.

There are moments where people bitch about how impossible it is historically because he meets so and so and does this or that, but seriously people, its fantasy! Lets have alittle suspension of disbelief shall we? These instances are not so major as to ruin the film, but some people make it a point to bitch and moan about one or two scenes in the whole movie as if the film was utterly destroyed by those moments. If you understand that this isn't meant to be a historically accurate film and that its based off of a series of novels, I think you can easily enjoy it. I say go to www.animeigo.com and go pick up a copy on DVD before they lose the rights to this film too.

My Favorite of all the UY films, Its the only one that captures the Wacky spirit of the series. The others are great, but they all seem to try and be more than what UY is. This is Pure Takahashi lunacy and I love it

Like Walt Disney's Fantasia, this was a pretty bold project. And like Fantasia, it seems that people just didn't get it. Rarely do I see anyone in the fandom these days that has seen this and loved it, most have never seen it, and the ones who have just don't get it. There isn't much to get, it really wasn't that hard to understand, its just Art plain and simple. The idea behind it was this:

9 of Japan's leading animators were asked to create a short segment that followed the theme of "Robots," for their inclusion in this film. Essentially, this "movie" is 9 short films, all independant of one another. The common element is human interaction with robots, namely the consequences of creating life with one's own hands, played in nine very different ways.

Is it really that hard to understand? Anyway, its a beautifully made film with something for everyone IMO, serious moments, comedy, strange moments, scary moments, and poignant moments. I really love this film, I just wish it would get another R1 release.

I'm amazed that I had never seen this film before, but I do vaguely recall seeing the trailer on TV in 1992 when it was release nation-wide in the US. I still don't know to this day why I didn't demand to see it back then, because IMO its a fantastic film. And why not? look who have been involved with it over the long course of its production, Frank Thomas & Ollie Johnston (2 of Walt Disney's 9 old men), Ray Bradbury, Hayao Miyazaki, Osamu Dezaki, Chris Columbus, and many more. Thats an impressive crew list. Sure they didn't all stick around to see it finished because of creative difference or something like that, but their collective input really makes this film a treat. Basic story is as follows:

A young, curious, and adventurous boy, Nemo wakes one night to an invitation to visit the wondrous world of Slumberland. There he is dubbed a prince, but soon finds that his new position involves the responsibility of protecting and saving Slumberland from evils like the Nightmare King.

Based off of the turn of the century comic strip by Winsor McCay, who was a long lost animation visionary who first animated his characters in 1911! This movie made me want to go out and get the collected version of his stories (and next time I'm in Bern, I'm picking it up).

Honestly, this has to be one of the most beautifully animated films not made by Studio Ghibli or Walt Disney himself. I hope another DVD release it made soon. But until then, there are torrents for it, so.....

When strange alien creatures attack experimental Vizorium refining facilities, The WWWA send the Lovely Angels (Don't call them the Dirty Pair if you know whats good for you) in to investigate. They discover that a loony scientist, who is trying to create a new race of perfect beings from the raw Sadinga ore, is responsible for creating the vizorium eating beasties. Now the must stop him before he turns every single piece of ore on the planet into these rampaging monsters!

A very good movie for the Angels, with some characteristically silly moments through out. I love the classic DP character designs by Tsukasa Dokite, Indicative of the 1980s style. And Kazutaka Miyatake's mechanical designs are always wonderful.

Probably the first anime parody film ever made, this thing cracks on everything from Harlock to Hokuto and Macross to Yamato, Its insane. But its not just a parody film it has a pretty action packed story to go with it.

Sixteen years after a mysterious meteorite leveled Graviton City, the rebuilt metropolis faces an even greater threat to it?s architecture: two quarrelling schoolgirls whose superhuman powers threaten to tear the city apart. A-ko and her ditzy sidekick C-ko are the new kids at Graviton High School for Girls, and they ought to be pretty popular, given A-ko?s superhuman strength and speed. But things turn ugly when evil-genius classmate B-ko decides she wants C-ko for herself. Can A-ko defeat her rival?s army of giant mechs? How about B-ko?s Akagiyama supersuit, the world?s only flying, missile-launching bikini? Oh, and did we mention the huge alien warship heading straight for the downtown shopping district? Whatever the outcome, you can be sure of one thing: Not much of Graviton City will be left standing!

its totally crazy and totally awesome. If you know your anime, you?ll spot quite a few cameos, be they human, alien, or machine. You really need to know your anime to fully appreciate this film, but I like to think the zaniness is enough for those not in the know to appreciate. I don?t know if this can still be purchased, Central Park Media lost their distribution a few years ago, but I don?t know if they shut down or are just operating low-key at the moment.