Top 8 Anime Movies Americans Should Have Seen in 2009

You know what's terribly underrated by American theatres? Anime. 2009 was no different. We had one Miyazaki film. That's about it. This list showcases the movies American should have seen but didn't because they were watching Monsters vs Aliens. For those of you fallen victim to crappy American animation, take a tour into the world of Japanese animation. 2009 was a pretty good year for Japanese anime movies, in terms of the quality of movies that was released. With franchise movies, stand alone movies, and a Miyazaki film, this list will satisfy those hungry for good animated movies.

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1

Sword of the Stranger

This movie was released in the US in 2008 in limited showings, and on DVD and Blu-Ray in 2009. Also, this movie has won various awards and have become one of the candidates to be a nominee as best animation for 2009 Academy Awards. Therefore, you know that this movie is legit. The story is about a swordsman who enters into an friendship with an orphan that he saves. Without going too much into detail, I will say this, you will not be disappointed. This is an excellent anime that American animation should learn a few tricks from.

2007-09-29

Koichi Yamadera,Naoto Takenaka

Anime

佐藤直紀
2

Afro Samurai Resurrection

Afro Samurai Ressurection is an awesome movie because is it jam packed with loaded sword battles. The drawing is also different than the usual anime out there. It feels grimy and dark which fits the anime perfectly. If I didn't catch your attention yet, then... did I mention Samuel L. Jackson is in this! Yup, so you know it's going to be good!
3

The Sky Crawlers

While his film is only 2 hours, it feels like a lot longer because it is a drama. This movie is based on a novel written by Hiroshi Mori. The story is about 4 young fighter pilots set in a fictional world. With emotions running all over the map in this movies -hence the drama, the only thing certain is that the airplane flight/battle scenes are amazing. The visual effects is ridiculous! At one point I had to question whether I had been watch an anime or a live action movie, its that extraordinary.

Mamoru Oshii

2008-08-02

Chihiro Itō

Tomohiko Ishii

2008 Toronto International Film Festival,65th Venice International Film Festival
4

Gurren Lagann The Movie Childhoods End

Gurren Lagann debut in 2007 as an anime series and garnerished much praise by winning several animation awards in Japan. This movie has been created, because of Gurren Lagann's popularity. The movie only tells about half of the anime's 27 episode as it is condensed into a 2 hour movie to allow for easy viewing for the time constrained audience. Gurren Lagann tells of the story a young boy who loves to dig, gets trapped underground beneath Earth, and sees the open sky for the first time by realizing that his drill neckless that he wears actually controls a gunmen (a mecha type robot) that gives him extraordinary powers. This is a must see for any anime fans.
5

Cencoroll

Cencoroll is yet another sci-fi anime short movie, but this one is quite interesting. Atsuya Uki is a one man factory as he wrote, designed, and directed this whole movie. In this movie, white shape shifting blobs come in control of humans who can communicate through telepathy shown by static hair. The movie is short, so I won't go into details about the plot, but in my opinion I though this showcased innovative characters and concepts, which is worth 30 minutes.
6

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea

It's a Hayao Miyazaki film. On rottentomato it recieved a 91%. Ponyo is a visually stunning animation drawn in 2-D. It's about a goldfish, and while that may not seem interesting compared to Nemo (a clownfish), that's where the magic of Miyazaki comes into play -his genius storytelling. With only 14 million in box office sales in America, more Americans need to watch this "classic in the making."

Hayao Miyazaki

2008-07-19

Hayao Miyazaki

Toshio Suzuki

65th Venice International Film Festival
7

Bleach: Fade to Black, I Call Your Name

Fade to Black is the third Bleach movie that has come out thus far. I thought this one brought forth a thoughtful insight of how memories are linked together. This particular idea attracted me to this movie, more so than the action. Though there were fight scenes, it was just alright (because *spoiler alert* Ichigo didn't go hallow). All in all, this was an entertaining movie.

Fumihiko Tachiki,Shinichiro Miki,Romi Paku,Kentaro Ito,Masakazu Morita,折笠富美子,川上とも子

Shiro Sagisu

Bleach: The DiamondDust Rebellion
8

Pocket Full of Rainbows

Pocket Full of Rainbows is a prequel to the highly praised Eureka Seven anime series. This movie focuses on the beginnings, the childhood of Eureka and Renton, their separation, and their fateful reunion later. Die hard fans of anime will appreciate this epic story, but so will the frequent anime viewers as this movie is packed with action, romance, and drama. By watching this movie, this will be a good way to get into the story of Eureka Seven.

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