BES is fantastic. In fact, I think it was your recommendation, Matt, that got me to press play. I don’t watch a lot of animated shows but this was well worth it. I finished it in two days and immediately started a rewatch with my wife. It was just as good the second time through.
Haven’t seen Scavengers and I hear a lot of good things about Arcane. Maybe I should put aside my preconceived notions and watch them.
Absolutely to both, Arcane is very heavy on stroy but also has some beautiful animation.
Scavengers is much more heavy on vibe, atmosphere, and wonder, and the art style is incredibly unique. It isnt my favorite of the recent animated shows, but its probably the most visually interesting and unique of the bunch
Also, so glad you loved BES. It easily topped my best of 2023 list for all media.
I liked BES, but was not a fan of the ending.
Ep 8 is probably the weakest of the set, yeah, but Ep 5 more than makes up for anything bad in the show.
Alright, Matt. I’ll give Arcane a go next week. Are there any other animated series that you would place above it that would be preferable? I’ve watched Bojack which was excellent but other than Futurama and Old Simpsons stuff I am out of the loop.
Same with the Miyazaki films. I haven’t watched any of them. Blindspot?
Blindspot for me too unfortunately. Howl’s moving castle and Ponyo which are likely two near the bottom of his catalogue, though I did enjoy Howl’s.
Inside job is much more sitcomy than anything I’ve mentioned so far, but I really enjoyed it. Excellent cast and the writing is top notch, just know it ends on a cliffhanger and will not be renewed.
Primal is gorgeous. It is made with 0 dialogue and is unbelievably compelling.
Pantheon comes close to BES for favorite animated show in the last 5 years, but its difficult to find. It was never released fully in the states, so you would have to catch a river somewhere to grab it.
It kinda depends on what sort of genre you’re interested in.
I think the consensus opinion is that Howl’s is pretty high up the list. I thought it was pretty good.
My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service are probably the ones that have worked best for me. But none of them blow me away.
Yeah the three above are all different genres
Inside job is an office sitcom, Primal is a prehistoric buddy dramedy, and Pantheon is hard Sci-Fi set in current times
Oh ok, I’m not super versed on the catalogue, just heard very good things, and Howl’s, while fun, didn’t blow me away so I thought it might be near the bottom for that reason.
I’ll recommend Papika for anyone at all interested in anime. It’s like a trippy psychological thriller. On Tubi rn.
My wife gets mad that I don’t think they’re all masterpieces. I think Spirited Away is incredible, but the rest are in the 6 or 7/10 range for me.
I had an odd experience with Spirited Away during my mid-20s. I basically didn’t know what anime was, and I was just blindly working my way through every title in what was then the top 50 on IMDb. I got this on DVD from Netflix back in the physical mailer days, fired it up, and was left at a complete loss for what the hell I was watching. I sat through the whole thing but only really retained the feeling that it was incredibly odd and not at all engaging to me.
When I revisited many other Miyazaki works much more recently, with more of a grip on what the whole anime style is, I was at least prepared for what I was getting. I think it’s clear that I owe Spirited Away another watch by now.
SA is the only Miyazaki I really liked. Totoro etc were cute, but weird in a dumb way. SA was weird in an awesome way.
This is a pretty great watch many have missed imo!
I think also Perfect Blue could be a good anime for people who don’t watch anime, besides the Miyazaki moveis. Psychological horror/thriller about a singer with a creepy internet stalker, from way back in 1997.
I’m not much of a reader…TV show is fantastic…Book is fucking elite.