Let's talk about the best anime director/writer

NightCrawler

Aeons gone, vast, mad and deathless
...Satoshi Kon.
Forget Katsuhiro Ōtomo, Mamoru Oshii or Miyazaki, Kon's where it's at.

What are your thoughts? Your favourite works?

Here's my top 5:

1 - Millenium Actress - mesmerizing, stunningly beautiful, this is what anime should be all about, pushing the envelope and showing you that a story presented like this could never be filmed in live-action. Arguably the first classic anime of the 21st century.

2 - Paranoia Agent - is there a more complex and satisfying anime series with only 13 episodes? The best tale about modern society, fear and alienation. It covers so much ground, it's impressive.

3 - Magnetic Rose - it's just a wonderful sci-fi short. Amazing writting. I'll always remember that last scene with that haunting choir.

4 - Paprika - it was once higher on my list, but like most Satoishi Kon fans might feel, when you watch it more than once, you feel that it lacks some of the originality and the topics feel a bit recycled from his other works. Even some of the characters feel that way. It's more of a visual anime than anything else. Doesn't feel as groundbreaking as his other works. Still amazing and better than 99% of the anime out there.

5 - Perfect Blue - great thriller, but i didn't connect much with it. Darren Aronofsky bought the rights just to film a scene in Requiem for a Dream.

I still haven't seen Tokyo Godfathers yet.

Oh, and most of his works feature music from our well known Hirasawa Susumu. Always a plus.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
I've seen Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress and Paranoia Agent and I did find each of them to be pretty nice. Now to be honest I haven't seen any Japanese animated TV show or movie in years so I can't really comment further than that.
 

Vampire_Hunter_Bob

Cats are great
Pretty much the same movies both of you have said, any Satoshi Kon movie. I've seen everything he's done except for Paranoia Agent. Out of all of them I have to say Tokyo Godfathers was my favorite.
 

Grail

Feel the funk blast
I've seen Millennium Actress, Paranoia Agent, and recently Tokyo Godfathers, and I have to agree that Kun does have a way of developing incredibly original and engaging stories. Hopefully I can watch some of his other movies soon. :serpico: Also, Susumu Hirasawa has done some composing for Kon, isn't that right? The opening theme for Paranoia Agent was pretty amazing.
 
L'homme qui plantait des arbres (The Man Who Planted Trees) by Jean Giono and adapted into animation by Frédéric Back
GitS by Masamune Shirow
GotF by Isao Takahata
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind & Princess Mononoke by Hayao Miyazaki
Though I gotta admit my all time favorite is The Man Who Planted Trees, with Cowboy Bebop in second.
I haven't really seen much of Satoshi Kon's works. And I didn't like too much of what I saw of Paprika.
 
I do like Satoshi Kon's style of artwork, kinda captures a realistic feel to it. However I am more a fan of Miyazaki & Otomo, sorry NightCrawler. Seeing Akira & Steam Boy...Lets just say I like the style of it, as well as Spirited Away, Porco Rosso & Howl's moving castle, but I wish people would stop comparing him to disney. Miyazaki is in a leauge of his own and I dont think his imagination is compared to Walt Disney's.
 
Skullgrin140 said:
Miyazaki is in a leauge of his own and I dont think his imagination is compared to Walt Disney's.

I agree. Personally I love his work because of the themes he focuses on in Nausicaä & Mononoke. Walt Disney does not do a lot of work pertaining to the conflict between a natural and industrial way of life.
 
Ramen4ever said:
I agree. Personally I love his work because of the themes he focuses on in Nausicaä & Mononoke. Walt Disney does not do a lot of work pertaining to the conflict between a natural and industrial way of life.

God how I miss the days of 2D disney...
 

NightCrawler

Aeons gone, vast, mad and deathless
Grail said:
Also, Susumu Hirasawa has done some composing for Kon, isn't that right?

Did you read my post? :p

I've mentioned Miyazaki because he's probably the most famous one, and although i enjoy some of this work, lets leave this topic for mature and adult anime shall we? ^^
 
NightCrawler said:
lets leave this topic for mature and adult anime shall we? ^^

Millennium Actress has a younger rating than Mononoke Hime. Though I'd hardly call either genuinely mature or adult.
As for more Adult content, Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence by Mamoru Oshii. Gits2 was incredible, especially visually.

The Man Who Planted Trees imo is a must watch.
 

Scorpio

Courtesy of Grail's doodling.
I don't know many of the people behind the anime I've seen, but one name seems to be consistent in many of the movies I've enjoyed: Miyazaki

Castle of Cagliostro, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, and Kiki's Delivery Service are all movies I've enjoyed immensely and rank among my favorites- and I thought Spirited Away was ok.

NightCrawler said:
lets leave this topic for mature and adult anime shall we? ^^

I find most "serious" anime to be overbearing, overdone, and obnoxiously didactic. I did like Perfect Blue a lot, though.
 

Grail

Feel the funk blast
NightCrawler said:
Did you read my post? :p
I missed that last bit. Forgive me! :judo:

I don't think I agree about leaving Miyazaki out of the comparison, just because his movies are largely directed towards children. After all, as Ramen said, both Kon and Miyazaki have stepped outside of their usual age demographics with Millennium Actress and Princess Mononoke, respectively. But either way, I've found what few Miyazaki films I've seen to be as thought-provoking as any of Kon's, regardless of any violence or hanky-panky. :carcus:
 

Vampire_Hunter_Bob

Cats are great
NightCrawler said:
lets leave this topic for mature and adult anime shall we? ^^

I don't see why. You asked us to talk about the best anime director/writer and that's what we are doing.

Anyways, Kenji Kamiyama gets an honorable mention for making an anime series that I watched because it was good and not nausea inducing crap.
 

handsome rakshas

Thanks Grail!
I've sold most of my anime because I really don't watch it anymore but I kept my Satoshi Kon movies. Perfect Blue was one of the second anime movie I'd seen (VHD got me started) and I still love it. I even have the soundtrack! "And when you love her, love her she will be a little angel, angel in you heart!"

I seen a few episodes episodes of Paranoia Agent when they were airing it on t.v and it was pretty darn good. And yes, the opening song done by Susumu Hirasawa is fantastic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-anabfAg06U

NightCrawler said:
lets leave this topic for mature and adult anime shall we? ^^

Don't be bitchy to my girl Grail! You wanna talk adult I've seen some stuff that will knock you're socks off. Things with eggs and enemas....well let's not go down that road right now!
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
Vampire_Hunter_Bob said:
Anyways, Kenji Kamiyama gets an honorable mention for making an anime series that I watched because it was good and not nausea inducing crap.

Couldn't have put it better myself. I'm just disappointed there isn't a third season.
 
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