The Crow and the Pig

A few years ago I read an article on Princess Mononoke. I later discovered that a friend had the DVD; I borrowed it and found it to be as every bit as good as it was said to be. I subsequently caught Spirited Away during its criminally brief visit to Wichita. It confirmed my opinion that Miyazaki is one of the outstanding story-tellers active today.
Miyazaki is great, but is he all that's noteworthy in Japanese animation? I've spent an appalling amount of time during the past year researching that question. My tentative conclusion: Sturgeon's Law fully applies to anime, but the ten percent that isn't crud includes some gems. I started this page in part to call attention to those I found worthwhile.

I divide anime into three parts of roughly equal importance: the series that yoshitoshi ABe has been associated with, the movies of Hayao Miyazaki, and everything else.

yoshitoshi ABe

Yoshitoshi ABe, like Neil Gaiman and R.A. Lafferty, operates in the region near the borders of myth, fairy tale and science fiction. He has been involved with four anime series. This may not sound like much, but those four include the complex, disorienting and haunting Serial Experiments Lain, for which he designed the characters, and the extraordinary Haibane Renmei, based on a doujinshi of his and for which he wrote the script. The other two series are Texhnolyze, which I haven't seen yet, and NieA_7, of which I've only seen the first disc (an uneasy mix of melancholy and slapstick so far; I need to to see the rest of the series before I write about it).

Haibane Renmei

Serial Experiments Lain

Hayao Miyazaki

For the past twenty-five years, Hayao Miyazaki has been the outstanding maker of animated movies and one of the best of all movie-makers of any kind. From The Castle of Cagliostro through Spirited Away, every film he's done has been at least very good, and a few approach greatness. My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service are movies for youngsters that grown-ups will enjoy, Nausicaä and Princess Mononoke are also well worth your time.

Porco Rosso

The Castle of Cagliostro

Castle in the Sky

Howl's Moving Castle

... and others

Ah! My Goddess: the Movie

Angelic Layer

Azumanga Daioh

Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040

Cardcaptor Sakura

Excel Saga

Hikaru no Go

Interstella 5555

Jubei-Chan: Secret of the Lovely Eye-Patch

Kino's Journey

Martian Successor Nadesico

Noir

RahXephon

Read or Die (OVA)

Sugar, a Tiny Snow Fairy

Tenchi Muyo! (OVA)

The Triplets of Belleville

Anime princesses

Elf Princess Rane; Princess Tutu; Shamanic Princess; Vampire Princess Miyu

Rumiko Takahashi

Urusei Yatsura; Beautiful Dreamer; Ranma 1/2

Brief reviews I

Akira; Cowboy Bebop: The Movie; Dragon Half; Ghost in the Shell; Those Who Hunt Elves; The Wings of Honneamise

Brief reviews II

Birdy the Mighty; Original Dirty Pair (OVA); Shinesman; Video Girl Ai; Voices of a Distant Star; You're Under Arrest

Mistakes

Devil Hunter Yohko; FLCL; Heroic Legend of Arslan; His and Her Circumstances; Nazca

et cetera

Polls

Who's the most kawaii of them all?
SF Babe Poll, Anime Edition, round 2
SF Babe Poll, Anime Edition, round 1

The Kawaii Menace
Animation, Japan and women with blue hair

Scuffulans hirsutus
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My peculiar music

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Text copyright © 2004, 2005, 2006 by Don McClane