20 Top Anime Videos

First up one of my all time favourites the Tezuka directed ‘Bagi the Monster of Mighty Nature’ (1984). It fosters  psychedelic allusions and experimental techniques to tell the story of a girl who has 50/50 cat/human DNA and is the last of her kind after the rest got slaughtered.

At number 2 is Nadia : Secret of Blue Water.  Starts in Paris in 1889, its got good battles, good characterisation and while a handful of the 39 episodes are throwaway the series is strong with the central theme being the relationship between the mysterious bluewater jewel and the lost city of Atlantis.  Original concept on ANN is listed as none other than Hayao Miyazaki.

3rd is Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal, Rurouni Kenshin in Japanese.

Next is Barefoot Gen, its a horrific look at the atomic bomb drop in Hiroshima.The is a a trailer for the live action version.

At 5 comes Tokusatsu show Kure Kure Takora. In many ways it can be seen as a convergance of Teletubbies and The Magic Roundabout. With 260 2:41 minute episodes it will keep you entertained for a while. Here’s episode 244, inspired by William Tell?

New Miyazaki film ‘Gake no ue no Ponyo’ or Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea is looking good. Its been 4 years since Howl’s Moving Castle and it looks set to be another winner.

No list would be complete without Paprika, a film that simply dazzled me when I first saw it. Here’s a guy playing a paprika.

At 8 is Kirby of the Stars (Hoshi no Kaabii). Featuring a round 100 episodes we see Metaknight fighting alongside Kirby as King Dedede conjurs up a range of well animated monsters to take him down, there’s a lot social opinion in there and plot structures are unusually adept . JK Rowling gets a speaking role here in Episode 38 – watch out for demonbeast Broom King.

Rumiko Takahashi creator of Ranma 1/2 created Rumic Worlds in the beginning.

Still on TV in Japan its Regios.

Tamala 2010, similar in theme to my final choice.

At 12 its everyone’s favourite studio  Gonzo with Linebarrel, excellent mechs.

She rocks, Queen Millenia.

Number 14 is Demon City Shinjuku or Wicked City as its known in the West.

At 15 its Cyborg 009. Good rave soundtrack in this AMV.

This one’s a bit special. If you watch one video on this list make it this one.

Lets bust out the mechs – Gasaraki, the only anime with a country called Belgistan. This one intersperses Noh culture through some kind of mystic dance with some decent mech on mech sequences. Not bad.

Back to the oldskool the one that started it all Bubblegum Crisis 2033. In this scene a ginger turns into a terminator. Fight scenes of this period don’t get much better than this.

Number 19 is one for the otaku -Ayakashi Bakeneko.

At 20, well you’ll just have to play it and see…