Anime: 40 Highly Recommended Titles That You Should Watch
by maxbax007 | created - 31 Aug 2012 | updated - 24 Sep 2012 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Star Blazers (1979–1984)
22 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
In the year 2199, a starship must make a dangerous voyage to the distant planet Iscandar and back to save Earth from an alien invasion.
Stars: Eddie Allen, Michael Bertolini, Amy Howard Wilson, Lydia Leeds
Votes: 1,567
A Classic "Space Opera" series. A desperate mission to save Earth from annihilation. Alien forces trying to destroy mankind. Battles. Heroes. Villains. This series has it all.
2. Cowboy Bebop (1998–1999)
TV-14 | 24 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
The futuristic misadventures and tragedies of an easygoing bounty hunter and his partners.
Stars: Kôichi Yamadera, Unshô Ishizuka, Megumi Hayashibara, Steve Blum
Votes: 138,550
Sci-Fi punk meets crime meets cool Jazz. And Cowboy Bebop weaves it altogether into the perfect story. Jaded characters with a colorful and dangerous past; trying to scratch out a living as bounty hunters.
3. Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (2001)
TV-14 | 115 min | Animation, Action, Crime
A terrorist explosion releases a deadly virus on the masses, and it's up to the bounty-hunting Bebop crew to catch the cold-blooded culprit.
Directors: Shin'ichirô Watanabe, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, Tensai Okamura, Hiroyuki Okiura, Yoshiyuki Takei | Stars: Beau Billingslea, Melissa Fahn, Nicholas Guest, Kôichi Yamadera
Votes: 53,061 | Gross: $1.00M
The movie timeline takes place during the time of the TV series. Very well done too.
4. Trigun (1998)
TV-14 | 24 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
Vash the Stampede is the most infamous outlaw on the planet Gunsmoke and with a 60 billion double dollar price on his head the most sought after.
Stars: Masaya Onosaka, Hiromi Tsuru, Satsuki Yukino, Johnny Yong Bosch
Votes: 24,144
If you can get past all the contorted facial expressions (the characters make) that give Trigun it's comedic flavor, this is one of the best "Space Westerns" I've ever seen.
5. Trigun: Badlands Rumble (2010)
TV-14 | 90 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
A gunfighter with a strict no-kill policy, Vash the Stampede arrives in a town full of bounty hunters competing to collect the reward for catching a robber he saved 20 years ago.
Director: Satoshi Nishimura | Stars: Masaya Onosaka, Hiromi Tsuru, Satsuki Yukino, Show Hayami
Votes: 5,879 | Gross: $0.06M
A film made set sometime during the Trigun series. Very good artwork and a really good story.
6. Trinity Blood (2005)
TV-MA | Animation, Action, Drama
In a futuristic world of an unsteady truce between humans and vampires a superhuman priest battles to secure a peaceful co-existence.
Stars: Hiroki Tôchi, Troy Baker, Russell Wait, R. Bruce Elliott
Votes: 2,892
My 2nd favorite genre in anime: Gothic sci-fi horror mix. It's the distant future where super-powers square off against each other in a tout thriller that infuses political intrigue.
7. Death Note (2006)
Not Rated | 126 min | Crime, Drama, Fantasy
A battle between the world's two greatest minds begins when Light Yagami finds the Death Note, a notebook with the power to kill, and decides to rid the world of criminals.
Director: Shûsuke Kaneko | Stars: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Ken'ichi Matsuyama, Asaka Seto, Yû Kashii
Votes: 31,856
This series is really, REALLY good. What if you had the power to kill anyone in the world by simply seeing their face and writing their name down in Death's notebook? (Hence, the title, "Death Note"). What would you do with that power? Change the world for the better? Become a megalomaniac? Would you be willing to risk losing a place in Heaven? This series challenges you with all of these moral dilemmas.
8. Ghost in the Shell (1995)
TV-MA | 83 min | Animation, Action, Crime
A cyborg policewoman and her partner hunt a mysterious and powerful hacker called the Puppet Master.
Directors: Mizuho Nishikubo, Mamoru Oshii | Stars: Atsuko Tanaka, Iemasa Kayumi, Akio Ôtsuka, Kôichi Yamadera
Votes: 156,692 | Gross: $0.52M
My favorite genre in anime: Cyberpunk. "Ghost in the Shell" is a much better movie than "Akira" and it had all the feel of "Blade Runner". I highly recommend all three movies (including the remake of the original); as well as the 2 seasons of the TV series. I'm curious as to how DreamWorks is going to treat this great title when they turn GITS into a live action film.
9. Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (I) (2004)
PG-13 | 100 min | Animation, Drama, Mystery
In the year 2032, Batô, a cyborg detective for the anti-terrorist unit Public Security Section 9, investigates the case of a female robot--one created solely for sexual pleasure--who slaughtered her owner.
Directors: Naoko Kusumi, Mizuho Nishikubo, Mamoru Oshii | Stars: Akio Ôtsuka, Atsuko Tanaka, Tamio Ôki, Kôichi Yamadera
Votes: 40,278 | Gross: $1.04M
Better animation than the original. The story wasn't bad either.
10. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (2002–2005)
TV-MA | 24 min | Animation, Action, Crime
The futuristic adventures of a female cyborg counter intelligence agent and her support team.
Stars: Shirô Saitô, Atsuko Tanaka, Osamu Saka, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn
Votes: 20,924
11. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society (2006 TV Movie)
108 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
A.D. 2034. It has been two years since Motoko Kusanagi left Section 9. Togusa is now the new leader of the team, that has considerably increased its appointed personnel. The expanded new ... See full summary »
Directors: Kenji Kamiyama, Toshiyuki Kôno, Masaki Tachibana, Masayuki Yoshihara | Stars: Atsuko Tanaka, Osamu Saka, Akio Ôtsuka, Kôichi Yamadera
Votes: 7,487
The animation was not like GITS 2: Innocence". It was like the animation for the 2 TV series. The story was also rooted in the TV series as well. But worth watching nonetheless.
12. Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG - Individual Eleven (2006 Video)
Not Rated | 162 min | Animation, Action, Drama
A new terrorist organization known as the Individual Eleven is bent on mass destruction. Will the cyborg detective heroine and her elite anti-crime unit be able to stop them?
Director: Kenji Kamiyama | Stars: Alison Matthews, Russell Roberts, David Kaye, Trevor Devall
Votes: 3,306
13. Appleseed (2004)
R | 101 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
In a utopian society created at the end of the third world war, a female warrior who has been plucked from the badlands begins to see cracks in this new facade. And what does this community have planned for the rest of humankind?
Director: Shinji Aramaki | Stars: Ai Kobayashi, Jûrôta Kosugi, Yuki Matsuoka, Mami Koyama
Votes: 18,537 | Gross: $0.13M
In the same vain as Ghost in the Shell, Appleseed has a really good cyberpunk story to tell.
14. Appleseed: Ex Machina (2007)
PG-13 | 105 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
With Brialeos convalescing after a mission, Deunan is assigned a new and remarkably familiar partner as a strange wave of terrorist attacks plague Olympus.
Director: Shinji Aramaki | Stars: Ai Kobayashi, Kôichi Yamadera, Yûji Kishi, Kong Kuwata
Votes: 9,841
15. Vexille (2007)
PG-13 | 109 min | Animation, Action, Sci-Fi
Japan, 2077: A female agent named Vexille is dispatched to Tokyo to investigate whether Japanese are developing robotic technology, which has been banned by the U.N. due to its potential threat to humankind.
Director: Fumihiko Sori | Stars: Meisa Kuroki, Shôsuke Tanihara, Yasuko Matsuyuki, Akio Ôtsuka
Votes: 7,868
The same people who made "Appleseed" also made this movie; and it's very good.
16. Sword of the Stranger (2007)
Not Rated | 103 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
A swordsman from a strange land is caught in a struggle between morality, righteousness, and devotion as he reluctantly agrees to take a raggedy boy and his dog to a remote, Buddhist temple.
Director: Masahiro Andô | Stars: Tomoya Nagase, Yuri Chinen, Kôichi Yamadera, Akio Ôtsuka
Votes: 18,267
17. Ninja Scroll (1993)
Not Rated | 94 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
A vagabond swordsman is aided by a kunoichi and a spy in battling a demonic clan of killers - led by a ghost from his past - who are bent on overthrowing the Tokugawa Shogunate.
Director: Yoshiaki Kawajiri | Stars: Kôichi Yamadera, Emi Shinohara, Takeshi Aono, Osamu Saka
Votes: 40,681
And this is my 3rd favorite anime genre: Medieval Feudal Japan. And this is the best anime movie in that genre.
18. Highlander: The Search for Vengeance (2007 Video)
Unrated | 85 min | Animation, Action, Fantasy
Highlander Colin MacLeod must choose between confronting the immortal who killed his lover centuries ago, or saving the survivors of a ravaged New York City.
Directors: Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Takuji Endo | Stars: Alistair Abell, Debi Mae West, Nolan North, Scott McNeil
Votes: 4,015
I was a big fan of The Highlander TV series. And when "Highlander: The Search for Vengeance" came out, I knew I had to see it. I'm glad I did. Good story and the same artists who made "Batman: Gotham Knight: Deadshot" made this movie as well.
19. Batman: Gotham Knight (2008 Video)
PG-13 | 75 min | Animation, Action, Crime
A collection of key events mark Bruce Wayne's life as he journeys from beginner to Dark Knight.
Directors: Yasuhiro Aoki, Futoshi Higashide, Toshiyuki Kubooka, Hiroshi Morioka, Jong-Sik Nam, Shôjirô Nishimi, Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Yûichirô Hayashi | Stars: Kevin Conroy, Jason Marsden, Scott Menville, George Newbern
Votes: 30,211
My favorite DC Comics character given really good anime treatment.
20. The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury (2004 Video)
Not Rated | 35 min | Animation, Short, Action
Acting as a bridgepoint between "Pitch Black (2000)" and "The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)", this short film explains why Riddick decides to go into hiding and deliver Jack and Imam Abu al-Walid to New Mecca.
Director: Peter Chung | Stars: Vin Diesel, Rhiana Griffith, Keith David, Roger Jackson
Votes: 12,079
A companion video to the Pitch Black movie sequel, "The Chronicles of Riddick". Wonderfully animated and a good sci-fi story.
21. Vampire Hunter D (1985)
Not Rated | 80 min | Animation, Action, Fantasy
When Doris Lang is chosen as the next bride for the vampire Count Magnus Lee, she will hire a mysterious vampire hunter known only as D in an attempt to escape her ill-gotten fate.
Director: Toyoo Ashida | Stars: Kaneto Shiozawa, Michie Tomizawa, Seizô Katô, Satoko Kifuji
Votes: 17,498
Classic Sc-Fi Goth Horror story.
22. Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000)
R | 103 min | Animation, Action, Drama
A legendary dhampir competes with a motley family of bounty hunters to return a young woman, who has been seemingly abducted by a vampire, to her family.
Director: Yoshiaki Kawajiri | Stars: Andrew Philpot, John Rafter Lee, Pamela Adlon, Wendee Lee
Votes: 35,758 | Gross: $0.15M
The sequel to "Vampire Hunter D" and is a MUCH better story and more richly animated. Done by the same people who made "Highlander: The Search for Vengeance".
23. Kite (1998)
TV-MA | 50 min | Animation, Action, Crime
A young girl, orphaned at an early age, carries out assassinations at the behest of her mentor.
Stars: Konami Yoshida, Kinryû Arimoto, Kôsuke Okano, Tatsuo Matoba
Votes: 5,302
24. Perfect Blue (1997)
R | 81 min | Animation, Crime, Drama
A pop singer gives up her career to become an actress, but she slowly goes insane when she starts being stalked by an obsessed fan and what seems to be a ghost of her past.
Director: Satoshi Kon | Stars: Junko Iwao, Rica Matsumoto, Shinpachi Tsuji, Masaaki Ôkura
Votes: 94,956 | Gross: $0.78M
If Alfred Hitchcock were alive today, and he wanted to make an anime film, this would be it.
25. Metropolis (2001)
PG-13 | 108 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama
Kenichi and his uncle Shunsaku Ban must find the mystery behind robot girl Tima.
Director: Rintarô | Stars: Toshio Furukawa, Scott Weinger, Yuka Imoto, Kei Kobayashi
Votes: 22,595 | Gross: $0.64M
This is a wonderful telling of the classic sci-fi movie.
26. Wonderful Days (2003)
Unrated | 86 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
2142: Pollution and climate change wiped out most of Earth's population. Ecoban city is built to withstand this. Suppression results in revolt. A childhood couple find each other as adults on opposing sides.
Director: Moon-saeng Kim | Stars: Andrew Ableson, Cathy Cavadini, Joon-ho Chung, Mark Lindsay
Votes: 9,443 | Gross: $0.03M
This movie got little fanfare when it was released and that's a shame. It's a post-environmental apocalypse story. Think: Anime meets Logan's Run.
27. Bubblegum Crisis (1987–1991)
TV-MA | 25 min | Animation, Action, Fantasy
A female mercenary team, armed with unique power armor suits, battle the forces of the corrupt mega-corporation, Genom in futuristic Tokyo.
Stars: Yoshiko Sakakibara, Kinuko Ômori, Michie Tomizawa, Akiko Hiramatsu
Votes: 1,761
The Classic (and in my mind, the ORIGINAL) cyberpunk story. Before Ghost in the Shell, there was Bubblegum Crisis.
28. AD Police Files (1990)
Not Rated | 121 min | Animation, Crime, Sci-Fi
Three different, unique stories about an elite police force called the AD Police.
Stars: Toshio Furukawa, Adam Henderson, Brad Moranz, Youko Matsuoka
Votes: 1,016
The A.D. Police was a short series of 3 parts. This was a prequel to the 1987 series "Bubblegum Crisis".
29. Golgo 13: The Professional (1983)
Not Rated | 91 min | Animation, Action, Crime
After killing the son of a powerful oil tycoon, an infamous hit-man is targeted by American governmental forces and superhuman killers.
Director: Osamu Dezaki | Stars: Tetsurô Sagawa, Gorô Naya, Toshiko Fujita, Kôsei Tomita
Votes: 3,366
Golgo 13 was my first exposure to "adult-themed" anime. And I gotta say: He's STILL the man after all these years. Even the TV series is edgy and sharp.
30. Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
PG | 119 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
When an unconfident young woman is cursed with an old body by a spiteful witch, her only chance of breaking the spell lies with a self-indulgent yet insecure young wizard and his companions in his legged, walking castle.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Chieko Baishô, Takuya Kimura, Tatsuya Gashûin, Akihiro Miwa
Votes: 448,294 | Gross: $4.71M
31. Demon City Shinjuku (1988 Video)
TV-MA | 82 min | Animation, Action, Fantasy
A young swordsman and the daughter of a political Messiah enter a ravaged Shinjuku, Tokyo, to stop the man who killed the former's father from opening a portal to a world of demons.
Director: Yoshiaki Kawajiri | Stars: Hideyuki Hori, Hiromi Tsuru, Kiyoshi Kobayashi, Kyôko Tongû
Votes: 3,671
32. Blue Submarine No. 6 (1998–2000)
Not Rated | 125 min | Animation, Action, Sci-Fi
The once famous and well respected scientist Zorndyke has bred a new genre of living being, one that thrives on the oceans and lives to destroy humans. Zorndyke believes it is time that the... See full summary »
Stars: Basile, Hozumi Gôda, Thunderbird Dinwiddie, Tamara Mercer
Votes: 1,298
33. Silent Service (1995–1998)
96 min | Animation, Action, War
The crew of Japan's first nuclear submarine mutinies and deliberately creates an international incident with the United States.
Stars: Akio Ôtsuka, Masane Tsukayama, Kan Tokumaru, Osamu Saka
Votes: 125
I think Silent Service was paying homage to "The Hunt for Red October".
34. Armitage III (1995)
Unrated | 140 min | Animation, Action, Drama
In the year 2046, a cop and his female android partner called Armitage, part of the latest android line known as "class III" models that look, act and feel human, investigate illegal manufacture of class III androids on colonized Mars.
Stars: Hiroko Kasahara, Yasunori Masutani, Ryûsei Nakao, Hirohiko Kakegawa
Votes: 1,593
35. Armitage III: Dual Matrix (2001 Video)
Not Rated | 90 min | Animation, Drama, Sci-Fi
Five years after the OAV series, Third series robot Naomi Armitage and her husband Ross Sylibus now live peacefully on Mars with their daughter, until a corporation wants to know the secrets of the third's ability to bear children.
Directors: Katsuhito Akiyama, Kevin Seymour | Stars: Ryôka Yuzuki, Hikaru Hanada, Yuka Imai, Kazuhiro Yamaji
Votes: 1,234
36. The Animatrix (2003)
Unrated | 100 min | Animation, Action, Sci-Fi
A collection of nine short films featuring stories related to The Matrix (1999).
Stars: James Arnold Taylor, Julia Fletcher, Dwight Schultz, Kevin Michael Richardson
Votes: 82,001
This was a really good companion video to The Matrix movies.
37. Blood: The Last Vampire (2000)
Not Rated | 48 min | Animation, Action, Horror
Saya is a Japanese vampire slayer whose next mission is in a high school on a US military base in 1960s Japan, where she poses as a student. She uses a katana/samurai sword to kill vampires.
Director: Hiroyuki Kitakubo | Stars: Yûki Kudô, Saemi Nakamura, Joe Romersa, Stuart Robinson
Votes: 13,293
38. Crying Freeman (1988–1994)
TV-MA | 60 min | Animation, Action, Crime
Emu Hino, a 29-year-old virgin, witnesses a mob hit and fears that the killer will now find her and kill her. Indeed, he sets out to do so; he's Yo Hinomura, a talented potter and artist ... See full summary »
Stars: Toshio Furukawa, Chiharu Kataishi, Steve Bulen, Kôji Totani
Votes: 1,094
Really, the whole "Crying Freeman" series is worth watching. Not the remake. But the original series from 1989-1993.
39. Akira (1988)
R | 124 min | Animation, Action, Drama
A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath who can only be stopped by a teenager, his gang of biker friends and a group of psychics.
Director: Katsuhiro Ôtomo | Stars: Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama, Tesshô Genda
Votes: 204,965 | Gross: $0.55M
OK, call me crazy. But Akira leaves me like this: Visually stunning. Weak story. Yeah, I know it's on everybody's list as one of the very best anime movies ever made......but not mine. It just makes my Top 20.
40. Halo Legends (2010 Video)
PG-13 | 120 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
The universe of the Halo video game series is expanded in seven short animated films from Japan's greatest anime directors and studios.
Directors: Frank O'Connor, Shinji Aramaki, Hideki Futamura, Toshiyuki Kanno, Tomoki Kyôda, Kôichi Mashimo, Yasushi Muraki, Daisuke Nishio, Mamoru Oshii, Kôji Sawai, Hiroshi Yamazaki, Keiichi Sugiyama, Takahiro Tanaka | Stars: Jessie James Grelle, Brittney Karbowski, Luci Christian, David Matranga
Votes: 5,958
I don't play the Halo games but I'm familiar with the storyline. And this series of short stories is excellent. My personal favorites are "The Babysitter" and "Be Human".
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