 | Spirited Away
Buy new: $18.49 / Used from: $16.99 Welcome to the film world of Hayao Miyazaki. Spirited Away is a coming-of-age film comparable only with classics such as The Lion King. This film is a perfect introduction to anime.
Rating: Ages 6+ (G)
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 | Princess Mononoke
Buy new: $18.49 / Used from: $8.64 Princess Mononoke is accessible by preteens but deals with issues that cause headaches for adults - environmental stewardship, pacifism, and love, constructed in a marvelous setting of 13th Century Japan.
Rating: 13+ (PG-13)
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 | Castle in the Sky
Buy new: $24.49 / Used from: $14.91 This film by Miyazaki (you know and love him now, right?) is more geared towards children with its slapstick humor and whatnot, but is absolutely charming and stunningly beautiful.
Rating: 8+ (PG)
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 | Howl's Moving Castle
Buy new: $23.99 / Used from: $21.55 A perennial theme of Miyazaki's is love, which is extensively treated in this film. It is at once captivating and beautiful, and is profound without becoming sickeningly sweet.
Rating: 10+ (PG)
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 | Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Buy new: $23.49 / Used from: $21.43 A magnum opus indeed. Miyazaki abandons love for pacifism and environmentalism in the most beautiful way you can imagine. Again, this film has the magic of being appropriate for children but relavant for adults.
Rating: 13+ (PG-13)
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 | Steamboy - Director's Cut (Widescreen Edition)
Buy new: $16.49 / Used from: $2.81 Good film here. By the end, you will probably have seen enough steam valves opening and closing to last the rest of your life, but the movie is worth it, I promise.
Rating: 12+ (PG)
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 | Millennium Actress
Buy new: $12.49 / Used from: $4.51 Fantastic, fantastic anime. Satoshi Kon treats doomed love as good as I've ever seen it. The animation is absolutely gorgeous.
Rating: 12+ (PG)
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 | The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Volume 1
Buy new: $26.99 / Used from: $5.74 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is fantastic. It has just about everything one can ask from an anime TV series. Buying the series over the 'Net is prohibitively expensive so try uh, 'alternate' methods of procuring the series and you won't be disappointed.
Rating: 13+ (PG-13)
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 | Cowboy Bebop Remix Complete Collection (Anime Legends)
Buy new: $33.99 / Used from: $29.57 This series is just plain fun; it's a great way to kick back and relax. Highly, highly recommended.
Rating: 16+ (R)
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 | Death Note - Vol. 1
Buy new: $12.49 / Used from: $2.82 What a great series! Death Note is riveting, exciting, and smart. It is, however, very dark and upsetting towards the end, and one of the few series that captures you right from Episode One. Like Haruhi though, it is horribly expensive to procure online, so try alternate methods.
Rating: 15+ (PG-13); last episode: 17+ (R)
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 | Neon Genesis Evangelion: Platinum Collection
Buy used from: $37.56 Very complex and beautiful TV series. Absolutely riveting. Best science-fiction/mecha/psychoanalysis anime money can buy. It's very dark and often disturbing, but worth every second. [WARNING]: This anime is very very different and takes getting used to; do not use it as anime introduction material.
Rating: 17+ (R)
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 | Outlaw Star: Complete Collection
Buy new: $40.99 / Used from: $25.94 Time for some good old gritty fun! This is another science fiction anime and is a great way to prepare for the more harrowing series such as Eva and Lain.
Rating: 17+ (R)
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 | Paprika
Buy new: $15.99 / Used from: $6.79 Paprika, though not as disturbing as Eva, gives you a real ride through its 120 minutes. The line between dreams and reality is blurred into obscurity.
Rating: 16+ (R)
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 | Grave of the Fireflies
Buy used from: $13.90 This is one of the best films about the cost of war ever made. You'll want to watch something cheerful after this, I promise, but it's worth it all.
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 | The Animatrix
Buy new: $5.79 / Used from: $0.01 Great collection of nine short episodes based on the 1999 film The Matrix. Great fun.
Rating: 15+ (PG-13)
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 | Serial Experiments Lain - Boxed Set (Signature Series)
Buy used from: $54.95 What and where is the dividing line between the Internet and reality? This series explores that question in depth and is excellent, though disturbing as well. WARNING: it is very different from anything you've seen previously, so proceed cautiously.Rating: 15+ (PG-13)
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 | Ghost in the Shell
Buy new: $14.98 / Used from: $4.49 Psychological mindwarp. You will not know what man is after this film.
17+ (R)
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 | Ghost in the Shell 2 - Innocence
Buy new: $15.99 / Used from: $1.30 Sequel to Ghost in the Shell.
16+ (PG-13)
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 | Ghost In The Shell - Solid State Society
Buy new: $10.49 / Used from: $6.98 Sequel to the previous.
16+ (PG-13)
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 | Ghost in the Shell SAC Complete 1st Season Collection Box Set
Buy new: $47.99 / Used from: $39.98 TV series based off the manga/anime movie released previously. Entertaining and well done.
15+ (PG-13)
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 | Ghost in the Shell S.A.C. - 2nd Gig (Complete Collection)
Buy used from: $85.00 Second series of Ghost in the Shell.
16+ (PG-13)
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 | Akira
Buy used from: $6.00 Ready for weird? Buckle your seatbelt 'cause it's going to get crazy. This is a very 'anime' anime film based upon a 1200 page manga. Do not use as introductory material for you may be ruined, but this anime is widely considered to be the greatest anime film ever written.
17+ (R)
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 | Ah! My Goddess - Season 1 Complete Collection
Buy new: $47.99 / Used from: $36.05 Charming! This anime subtly attacks the notion that sex equals love. It's cute, incorporates some stereotypical anime features (when characters are surprised or embarrassed, for example), and worth watching after something so harrowing as Ghost in the Shell. Very lighthearted.
15+ (PG-13)
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 | Gungrave: Fully Loaded Collector's Set
Buy used from: $40.89 Gungrave is a beautiful, riveting series on loyalty, sacrifice, and treachery. It is a crime epic on the proportions of The Godfather.
16+ (PG-13)
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 | Elfen Lied: Diclonius Report Complete Collection
Buy used from: $22.62 The darkest, most violent, most explicit series yet. Elfen Lied is indeed a masterpiece, but the intense violence and nudity will deter many viewers; it will take any remnants of innocence left in you and flay them to shreds, but such a stark portrayal of human nature should not left ignored, if you can endure the pain of watching it.
18+ (AO)
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 | Claymore: Complete Series Box Set
Buy new: $39.99 / Used from: $38.99 Claymore is a top-notch fantasy/thriller anime. It's dark, gritty, and violent, but very compelling and wonderfully tragic. Seldom has a hunter-killer tale been told so well.
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 | Samurai X - Trust & Betrayal (Director's Cut)
Buy used from: $35.97 About the greatest samurai film/series I have seen. Instead of nigh smut like Ninja Scroll it's honorable and tragic.
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