Five on Friday

Five on Friday is a new feature on the blog! Every Friday I'll give you a list of five things of whatever takes my fancy, it may be informative, but it was probably mostly be nonsense.

Today's Five on Friday is all about anime. I know most people are familiar with anime, but there will always be someone who has never watched an anime film who might be interested in giving it a go. Anime can have a pretty bad reputation and yes, there is a lot of shit to wade through, but it is worth it for the gems. This list will deal with classics of the genre and personal favourites of mine!

 1. Perfect Blue

Satoshi Kon's masterpiece Perfect Blue is a psychological thriller dealing with obsession, fame and one girl's descent into madness. It is, simply put, one of the best mystery films of all time. This is a perfect film if you have never experienced anime, as it plays just like a regular film that happens to be animated. The animation is excellent, the story is phenominal and this is quite rightly a classic of the genre. 

 2.Tekkonkinkreet

A popular manga series adapted for the big screen, this film boasts some of the most mind blowing, flawless animation I have ever seen! It tells the story of Black and White, two brothers trying to survive in some futuristic version of Tokyo. Full of symbolism and energetic battle scenes, this film runs a mile a minute and will have you gripped by the end. 

3. Akira

Akira is without contest the most famous anime to reach Western audiences, with its mix of stunning visuals and complex plot it quickly gained cult status over seas. Katsuhiro Otomo turned the whole production and process of making anime on its head when he made Akira, with an unusually high budget he managed to make his vision of dysotopian Neo Tokyo a reality and you'll be hard pressed to find anything that looks as vibrant and rich today as Akira did back in 1988.

 4. Neo Tokyo

An anthology film made up of three parts, Neo Tokyo takes three exciting directors with wildy different styles and lets them go wild. Neo Tokyo is so fun, its only an hour long and brimming with great animation. Only the last segment has any sort of real story, the other two are much more abstract. My favourite is The Running Man and (in my opinion!) the best of the bunch. This is almost impossible to track down in the UK so unless you've got a region free DVD player give this a torrent, its only an hour of your life!

 5. 5 Centimeters Per Second

An anthology film of sorts, this one deals with a touching romance. The hook here is the mind-blowing animation. It is so lush and perfectly realised for the film, it sets the tone beautifully. I honestly don't think anyone can die happy if they haven't witnessed the art in this film!