Konnichiwa, and welcome to Anime Rants! Listed are seven random movies from different years. I didn’t pick my favorites or the ones with most acclaim. Rather, I tried to select a few that you might not know about. Entries are listed in alphabetical order by English title. This post was written up in a bit of a rush, so forgive the roughness and brevity if you will.

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King of Thorn

King of Thorn is my favorite on today’s list. The Japanese Title is Ibara no Ou, so a better translation would have been Thorn King. It’s a great psychological thriller to get you thinking. The main character and her twin sister are put into something like cryogenic sleep because humanity is being wiped out by a terrible virus called Medusa. What will the world be like when they wake up? This film was made by studio Sunrise in 2009.

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Midori (Shoujo Tsubaki)

Now we have the one on the list that I find the least enjoyable. Still, it can be interesting to watch. the Japanese title is Shoujo Tsuabki. This is a surreal horror film about an unfortunate girl named Tsubaki who joins a strange circus. It’s known for being terribly violent, and including a scene of animal cruelty. The only reason I watched it was to try to appreciate a fringe movie from the 90s. Midori was released in 1992.

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Summer Wars

Ever played Hanafuda? It’s a fun two-person game that uses flower species as suits for the cards. It’s can be a gambling game, but it requires a lot of strategy and thought. Anyway, Summer Wars focuses on various characters and their competitive Hanafuda games within the virtual reality world. Madhouse produced this film and released it in 2009. It’s a lot of fun.

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Sword of The Stranger

It’s been a while since I watched this, and I only saw it the one time. I’m leery on the plot without looking it up. But to be honest I don’t remember thinking the story was this movie’s strong point. The best thing about Sword of The Stranger is the art/animation. The visuals were stunning for their day and continue to look great even in this new decade. There are awesome fight scenes, too. Sword of the Stranger was animated by studio Bones and released in 2007.

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The Cat Returns

The Cat Returns was actually the first studio Ghibli movie I saw when my younger sister borrowed it from the library one day. It’s hilarious and I remember not being able to stop laughing at the strangeness and silliness of this movie. It’s about a girl who finds herself in the world of talking cats and betrothed to a cat without her consent. She also has this small problem of slowly turning into a cat herself. The Cat Returns is a 2002 studio Ghibli film.

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The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

If you’re a seasoned otaku you probably have seen or heard of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. It’s fairly well-known. I included it here in case there are new and/or young anime fans who haven’t heard of it. People tend to make the mistake of thinking this classical and beautiful movie was a studio Ghibli production. Actually, it was made by studio Madhouse, and released in 2006. I love the spunky main character Makoto.

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Whisper of the Heart

The Japanese title for this film is “Mimi wo Sumaseba” which means, “if you listen closely.” The titles come from a line in the movie that goes something like, “If you listen closely you can hear the whisper of your heart.” Earlier, I said King of Thorn was my favorite on this list, but it might be tied with Whisper of the Heart. It’s about a girl who wants to become a writer and a boy who wants to be a violin maker as they look for inspiration and direction in their lives. Studio Ghibli released this movie in 1995.

Thank you for reading my work today! Please have yourself a soothing Sunday.

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PATREON