Given you like the Miyazake movies so much, you really should give Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/70019062) a watch.

Avoid the American "Warriors of the Wind" because it is terrible, for reasons similar to what you wrote about Akira.

Glad to see Nausicaä mentioned. While I find it really hard to rate Miyazaki movies (usually the most recent rewatch becomes my favorite), the deep echoing philosophy of Nausicaä and Princess Mononoke is definitely underrated.

I love how one of the comments talks about Roger Ebert calling the lamp post a gift. The entirety of Studio Ghibli is a gift. The empowering characters and almost eternal, non-preachy, storylines are truly some of the greatest epics in modern times.

And, of course, Ohmu are fricking rad as hell.

I have not been able to bring myself to rewatch Grave of the Fireflies more than once. Just thinking about it is almost enough to make me tear up.

+1. Even just seeing the "easter egg" in the poster of the movie that was discovered a few years back was enough to get my eyes to well up. Such an incredible movie, but not something I think I'll ever rewatch!

"‘Grave of the Fireflies’ Poster Has Heartbreaking Easter Egg Discovered 30 Years After Release": https://nextshark.com/grave-fireflies-poster-hidden/

I recently rewatched it, kind of facing my fear of being sad and depressed and oh my god what a different perspective I have now!

The shock factor is completely gone, the gory and meant to be traumatic parts aren’t that bad like I’m always waiting for the part that is triggering and it just doesn't come.

And the main characters I can basically only laugh at, the story is a cautionary tale of degeneracy and all the adults point out other choices the whole time. I completely didn’t notice the first time I saw it as a pre-teen. I just saw freedom, desperation that nobody helped and shock at the resolution. I completely missed that it starts as an anonymous homeless person dying their last breath in a subway station, and ending with it. Seeing that and how I actively avoid that specific scenario and so could these main characters, its more of a comedy at “watch this dumbass burn every bridge with the worst decisions” an expected and purely Machiavellian outcome, as its so common in the cities I live in, and everyone compassionate realizes they cant help people that cant help themselves. The story moreso shows humanizing to the dead anonymous homeless off in the corner, but not really empathy as it might be interpreted, just caution of how not to make those choices. the adults point out other choices the whole time, the writers put that in there.

I don’t think you are getting it.

Grave of the firefly is not a cautionary tale. You are failing to put it in its cultural context. Seita mostly acts or try to act as would be expected from a Japanese man at this time and the people around him are actually not really trying or failing to help because they are trying to survive the war too.

Takahata is actually extremely sympathetic to their plight.

In a lot of ways it is a reverse Hollywood war movie. There is no real heroism. Courage is pointless, people selfish in their will to survive. The protagonists are clueless and ineffective but they are touching in their humanity and try to root for each other and yet they fail and die forgotten.

It’s really a movie about how much of a waste war is. Takahata doesn’t even try to introduce suspense and plays it straight from the beginning. You know from the beginning that the protagonists struggle is pointless and that’s the point.

Quite right. The failed hero is a very deep part of Japanese culture spanning centuries. To continue to the bitter end even in the face of insurmountable odds, even beyond the point where it's become obvious you'll lose and nothing will be gained from it, is considered a very honorable act.

An American published a study of this aspect of Japanese literature in the 70s. "The nobility of failure" I think it was called.

The Nobility of Failure: Tragic Heroes in the History of Japan - Ivan Morris

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/573601.The_Nobility_of_F...

It is first and foremost a story by a man that wished he had died with his sister, instead of surviving similar events of the story. Because if he had died, he couldn't go on to regret not saving her and would know he tried his best. Dying is the courage.

> Takahata is actually extremely sympathetic to their plight.

Yes anyone willing to make a movie about homeless and the more relatable things leading up to it is going to be sympathetic.

I didn't use that word sympathetic, I agree that it does that. Its cautionary for viewers.

Everything's obvious in hindsight though, which is why watching it for the first time really hits so hard because you genuinely see none of it coming.

Kiki's Delivery Service when you had a bad day. Or a good day. Or an average day.

It’s interesting how my appreciation of the “minor” Miyazaki movies grew with times.

I genuinely believe both Spirited Away and Momonoke Hope are better films from a critical standpoint but Kiki’s Delivery Service, Porco Rosso and The Castle of Cagliostro are the ones I have rewatched the most.

Miyazaki really is a master of the adventure genre. All his movies are incredibly tight when it comes to the pacing and I think lighter plots allow this to really shine and make for incredibly breezy movies.

Kiki's is a warm blanket. No major or epic dramatic things happen in it. It's just beautiful imagery and Kiki trying to navigate her new life in the city, with some minor conflict and struggles.

Or when you need to make big life choices

Once in a decade, give Serial Experiments Lain a rewatch. Check each piece of then-crazy-futuristic-technology which since become commonplace; and all the sociological problems which did not get solved then, or since. Eerily prescient.

I'm also a fan of Lain. Looking back, I think it's best if you watch Neon Genesis Evangelion first, and then go into Lain with the expectation that half of the scenes were inspired by the trippy introspective scenes in Eva.

As someone who watched Lain first, I found it much harder to follow as half of the scenes were distinctively dream-like and weren't "happening".

Warm movies:

- Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs (2019)

- Leap! (2016)

And for the series you are really missing out on:

- Final Space (the first season only)

Bojack Horseman used to be top of my list, but now enough has happened in my life I find it a struggle to watch certain episodes.

I'll chime in with:

- Batmat TAS

- Gargoyles

- Howl's moving castle

And if you'll allow "animation" to also cover animatronics and puppetry:

- The Storyteller

- Labyrinth

tokyo godfather and all the satoshi kon movies are pinacle of the genre. his tv show paranoia agent as well

I recently got into a Bob's Burgers kick, that show is delightful.

That reminds me, Central Park is a fun series by some of the same creators. Sweet stories, and I enjoy the music most of all.

I haven't checked that out, thanks for the tip!

Avatar the last air bender should be on this list. Thank me later :-)

I was surprised to see The Dragon Prince but not ATLA.

Even on rewatches, the show is powerful for me. There are two episodes that will always make me at least tear up. I would almost hazard to say it is a perfect show for youth. Even the youth qualifier feels shaky sometimes.

Just to add in, an animated show I have rewatched a lot that still inspires me is "Ping Pong the Animation". I recommend the original voice work for the initial run, especially if you understand Chinese. They recasted one of the characters for the bluray release, and the delivery is not quite right in my opinion.

| There are two episodes that will always make me at least tear up

Tales of Ba Sing Se & Sozin's Comet, Part 2: The Old Masters? ;)

edit: no you are right, The Old Masters gets me too. I just rewatched it and :'(

Half right! "Tales of Ba Sing Se" and the very next episode "Appa's Lost Days", which apparently won a Genesis Award for Outstanding Children's Programming [0].

[0]: https://m.imdb.com/event/ev0000274/2007/1

The tv show, of course. There never was a movie and anything to the contrary should be censored heavily, first amendment be damned.