Some of the most overlooked anime films are also among the best. These fantastic films may not have been seen by all moviegoers, but they are well worth seeking out.
5 Mind Game (2004)
Masaaki Yuasa’s (of Devilman Crybaby and Tatami Galaxy renown) 2004 film Mind Game is a lesser-known effort in his career, but it is also one of his most inventive. To say the least, the plot is a little tough to summarize. Nishi gets murdered by criminals after reconciling with his high school crush, and in the afterlife, he meets an uncooperative trickster god. The story of reanimation, yakuza, and unrequited love that follows is weird and surreal.
4 Interstella 5555 (2003)
Interstella 5555 is a Daft Punk animated musical that features Leiji Matsumoto, the famed mangaka behind such classics as Space Battleship Yamato, as the art director and character designer. Yes, you read that correctly: Daft Punk collaborated with Leiji Matsumoto on an anime musical. An unscrupulous Earthling record producer kidnaps a band of alien artists, and it’s up to space pilot Shep to save them and restore their actual identities.
The story takes a back place to the music and graphics here, but that’s not a problem because the music and visuals are both fantastic, and this funky space opera is likely to please both sci-fi and Daft Punk lovers. The film is still relatively unknown due to its restricted streaming possibilities, however it is currently available on Amazon through Qello Concerts.
3 Spring And Chaos (1996)
“Unbeaten by the rain, Unbeaten by the wind,” read the first lines of Ame ni no Makezu, a poem by Kenji Miyazawa, one of Japan’s best poets of the twentieth century. Spring and Chaos, directed by Shoji Kawamori, the creator behind the mecha classic Macross, is a biographical recreation of the poet’s life in animation from 1996. Befitting the biography of a great poet, Spring and Chaos is depicted with visual surrealism and narrative passion.
Spring and Chaos is musically beautiful in visuals and heartbreaking in thought, employing the aesthetic freedom of animation to present a resonantly true-to-life story, much like the work of its subject. Spring and Chaos is unfortunately tough to find streaming on major platforms. It can be found on Mubi from time to time, as well as on DVD through various vendors.
2 Belladonna Of Sadness (1973)
Belladonna of Sadness is based on La Sorcière, a treatise about Satanism and witchcraft written by French historian Jules Michelet in the nineteenth century. A woman named Jeanne is molested by a nobleman on her wedding night in this psychedelic watercolor nightmare. Jeanne, having exhausted all options in the mortal realm, makes a deal with the devil himself to exact her vengeance.
Belladonna of Sadness is guaranteed to be unlike anything even the most seasoned anime fan has seen before, with captivating, surreal imagery. Check it out on Kanopy or Fandor if you’re seeking for anything with an unusual premise or very experimental aesthetics.
1 Time Of Eve: The Movie (2010)
Time of Eve is a touching film set in a not-too-distant future Tokyo, in which robotics technology has advanced to the point where household androids that are nearly indistinguishable from humans have become widespread. Two lads stumble onto the Time of Eve, an underground cafe where the distinctions between androids and humans are completely eliminated.
The story of “robots becoming sentient” has been portrayed before in sci-fi classics like Blade Runner, but Time of Eve is refreshingly cheerful in its depiction, foregoing the cynicism of its genre rivals in favor of a positive optimism about mankind’s future with machines. The story is offered in two versions: a cinematic form on iTunes and a shorter episodic version on Crunchyroll.
