Top Ten Movies + OVAs

[mangaman74]

In the past, when looking for short OVA adaptations of manga, I came across the following near enough unknown (according to MAL's stats) titles, and I thought they may be of interest to internet anime hunters or the Wapanese:

Nozomi Witches
Blue Flames
Nineteen 19
Madonna (had a R1 release)

^ I made chunky recommendations for all but 19, if you glance down to MAL's rec section on each page.

'Tis a pity; seeing such gems ignored and rated lowly. What makes it worse is the fact all four aren't translated on the net in manga form - I don't even think the RAWs are available...

Can't speak for the first three, but I have seen Madonna (got the dvd back in May from Axel Music). It reminded me of GTO (young teacher with a class full of misfits).

 

[Aion]

with the rose-tinted goggles of nostalgia hopefully not too much in evidence.

Giant Robo
Record of Lodoss War

As well as ignoring me, you say one thing and then list an old school JRPG clone where there's no gameplay, woeful characterization, zero chemistry between the leads (elf girl wants human sausage; no real reason - he's gay for an older man) and a mess of what is a simplistic story. Oh, you...

Manga: Madonna's best described as GTO, but with busty, somewhat air-headed female lead and a nasty class of male delinquents. I liked the fact that the Aim for the Ace / Gunbuster training person voiced the hardarse trainer in Madonna.

Typing of GTO, be sure to download the five-part prequel OVA VHS-rips that are somewhere on the internet - a blast for GTO fans.

If you haven't already, look out for Green Legend Ran - another largely unknown OVA and one of the first R1 DVD releases. (I never knew DVDs once came in CD cases, with outer boxes!) It has AIC's lovely art and is best described as the NaTHaT prototype.

And for those who get off easy when watching works that remind you of JRPGs, look no further than the Ys OVA. (Count how many times 'evil' is spoken.)

I got a lot of OVA goodness via SecondSpin for very little. The other day I watched Kite + Liberator and Mezzo Forte, as well as Animation Runner Kuromi and Ayane's High Kick, all of which were purchased from SS. Heck, I even got my #1 movie from them for a few dollars.

 

[Omaru_SD]

can't believe I missed out Gunbuster, my favourite (and probably only) animation to deal with Time Dilation.

It saddens me somewhat to see the old timers blinded, to a certain extent, by nostalgia

yes Streetfighter is a pretty awful film, but I re-fell in love with the Japanese dub, if only because the soundtrack is so completely different, and until Advent Children's Blu Ray Release, it was my favourite animation based upon a video game.

 

[ilmaestro]

OK, I will do my list as 'Twenty awesome things that aren't just "standard" TV series, in no particular order':

Patlabor (especially the second movie)
Evangelion (especially the second Rebuild movie)
Taiho shichauzo (Original OVAs and the movie)
EVE no Jikan (ONA version and theatrical movie)
Candy Boy
Kaze no Tani no Nausicaa
Mononoke-hime
Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi
First Gundam movie trilogy
Gundam 0083
Summer Wars
Hoshi no Koe
Kumo no Mukou, Yakusoku no Basho
Byousoku 5 Centimeter
Perfect Blue
Paprika
Appleseed (especially the 2004 movie)
Waga Seishun no Arcadia
Kara no Kyoukai
Read or Die

edit: I'm still wondering how Bubblegum Crisis or Honnêamise didn't snare those last spots. Maybe they should have done at the expense of Summer Wars and Read or Die or something, but for the moment I'll leave it. Haven't seen either of them since before I last saw the titles that made the list, which doesn't help.

 

[Just Passing Through]

can't believe I missed out Gunbuster, my favourite (and probably only) animation to deal with Time Dilation.

The World of Narue has time dilation used in a small way as part of its plot. And so does, I believe one of the Makoto Shinkai pieces of eye-candy

 

[ilmaestro]

can't believe I missed out Gunbuster, my favourite (and probably only) animation to deal with Time Dilation.

The World of Narue has time dilation used in a small way as part of its plot. And so does, I believe one of the Makoto Shinkai pieces of eye-candy

Hoshi no Koe.

 

[Zin5ki]

Madonna (had a R1 release)

An anime concerning rugby? One would expect that scenes depicting scrummages would place certain demands on the animators. All the mud and sweat would be tiresome to draw.

 

[Rui]

As well as ignoring me, you say one thing and then list an old school JRPG clone where there's no gameplay, woeful characterization, zero chemistry between the leads (elf girl wants human sausage; no real reason - he's gay for an older man) and a mess of what is a simplistic story. Oh, you...

1. It's a pen and paper D&D-based anime, not a JRPG clone.
2. If it seems like a clone now, it's because it's 2010 and other anime since have been trying to do the same thing for years. RoLW was a fantastic dose of escapism when it came out and I still love it today just as much.
3. Lodoss has fantastic artwork, design, music, character interactions and atmosphere as well as a slew of multimedia spinoffs to expand the world. I would go as far as to say that I haven't seen better traditional D&D character designs in anime since. The story isn't as deep and multifaceted as a long running TV series, but this is a top ten OAV list - epic storylines aren't going to be in abundance.
4. Pirotessa.

R

 

[ilmaestro]

I would actually agree that Lodoss War deserves a pass just for Pirotess, tbf.

 

[Aion]

1. It's a pen and paper D&D-based anime, not a JRPG clone.
2. If it seems like a clone now, it's because it's 2010 and other anime since have been trying to do the same thing for years. RoLW was a fantastic dose of escapism when it came out and I still love it today just as much.
3. Lodoss has fantastic artwork, design, music, character interactions and atmosphere as well as a slew of multimedia spinoffs to expand the world. I would go as far as to say that I haven't seen better traditional D&D character designs in anime since. The story isn't as deep and multifaceted as a long running TV series, but this is a top ten OAV list - epic storylines aren't going to be in abundance.
4. Pirotessa.

R

Well, at least you're more responsive than Maes when taunted. Credit whee credit's due.

From my perspective, with me having zero D&D experience and a ton of JRPG experience, it's a clone of my former love, ignoring the LotR-theft opening episode (tyvm for the info, long-arse LotR film). What I said was wrong but the point remains: it mirrors outdated JRPGs. My only shock was the discovery that the elf didn't have a bow.

There's the naive, weak hero, who opens a chest in his basement and gets his father's armour... and then *somehow* finds himself teamed up with people from varying races, with varying skills, after his moronic heroism leads to banishment. (And, of course, there's a whole army of older men for the hero to look up to in a slightly gay manner, as well as a hot elf girl who wants to go down on him, just because he's the lead.)

No idea whatsoever what you're on about when you refer to "fantastic character interactions". I can quite easily visualize more lively exchanges between rocks with faces drawn on them. There's no reason for the group to stick together, and the dwarf & scholar have no bond that reflects a lengthy friendship. Very poorly written stuff, methinks - age has not-a-ting to do with that, sweetness.

Piro's the dark elf (/racist) who lusts after the dark knight's penis... right? Not seen a lot of her. So far, she seems to be no more than a very slutty tanned elf; going all weak at the knees for the first strong man in black armour she comes across. (Must be similar to white women going after black men? Idk.)

FYI, since you no doubt care a lot about me, I watched 1-7 in one sitting and then couldn't be arsed to put in the second disc. I could handle Ys because of everything being split into good and evil categories, making it 'so bad, it's good'... but I just can't get into Lodoss at all. This leads me to assume only old people get kicks from the experience.

Being experienced yet young enough not to be blinded by nostalgia... woe is me!

...Tch. I'm bored, with no interest in anime. Kenichi, Kodocha and Ouran suddenly lack appeal. Lodoss is too old for me. The end is nigh. Etc, etc.

 

[Aion]

Bit random, this, but I thought I'd throw it out there: the Sanctuary OVA had enough about it to make me want to read the first two volumes of the manga, which I just so happen to own. It's a crime/political thriller where, following playing R-P-S to decide who does what, two best friends set down a path of rising to the top - one setting out on a path to rule the underworld, the other entering the political arena and being supported by the money/influence of the underworld.

It ended abruptly, resulting in the subplot with the female superintendent pointless and the story lacking an end, but - like every short OVA adaptation of lengthy works - it succeeded in its goal of making me want to finish the story with the manga.

I now see what someone in Kingyo Used Books meant when he described a friend as being similar to one of Ikegami's male leads - James Bond levels of coolness. No tears, no whining, no hesitation, no anger - just a calm aura of coolness.

 

[Orgun]

This was much harder to do than I first thought. I've put my lists in order but I'm not perfectly happy with that order or what I've left out of them, so possibly subject to change in the near future!

Top Ten Movies

1. Patlabor: The Movie
2. Laputa – Castle in the Sky
3. Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack
4. Grave of the Fireflies
5. Royal Space Force – The Wings of Honneamise
6. Gall Force- Eternal Story
7. Perfect Blue
8. The Five Star Stories
9. Akira
10. The Ideon: Be Invoked

Top Ten OVAs

1. Detonator Orgun
2. Gunbuster
3. Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team
4. Demons of Steel: Battle of the Great Demon Beasts
5. Patlabor – The New Files
6. Armored Trooper VOTOMS – The Last Red Shoulder
7. Dangaizer 3
8. Heavy Metal L-Gaim: Full Metal Soldier
9. Ariel
10. Voogie’s Angel

 

[ayase]

Film:
Ghost in the Shell
Patlabor 2
Perfect Blue
Whisper of the Heart
Nausicaa
Millenium Actress
Akira
Patlabor
Grave of the Fireflies
The Sky Crawlers

Score 4 for Oshii, 2 for Kon. 1 each for the Ghibli impresarios. Shinkai is good, but not yet good enough.

OVA:
Bubblegum Crisis
Gunbuster
Patlabor
Cyber City Oedo 808
Dirty Pair
Gall Force
Riding Bean
Dominion Tank Police
Gunsmith Cats
You're Under Arrest

Proof the world *has* gone steadily downhill since the fall of the Berlin Wall. The future used to be a frightening and/or exciting place. Now it's just a boring one.

 

[ilmaestro]

Score 4 for Oshii, 2 for Kon. 1 each for the Ghibli impresarios. Shinkai is good, but not yet good enough.

No, you are not yet good enough. :-/

I know what you mean about the difference in "future" stuff, although I feel like some people would point towards a fairly high level of derivation in the settings across a lot of the shows you listed (as well as the general de-valuing of "cyberpunk" lately - very much a product of its time in the same fashion as Film Noir). I would, however, point towards shows such as Dennou Coil that still present a similar view of the future. I'm also very much looking forward to Mardock Scramble for similar reasons - I hope you are taking the opportunity to go see it at the Leeds Film Festival.

I think the larger point is more of a move away from "anime as SF" in recent times, certainly compared to the 80s OVA market.