Any Studio Ghibli fans?

Rhonan

Rhonan

The Unwilling
I used to be into anime when I was younger, then I grew out of it. However, this past Thanksgiving I decided to go through Miyazaki's filmography and have developed a desire to explore the form a bit more. Does anyone have any recommendations for anime similar to Miyazaki's quality? I've seen Full Metal, Naruto - I'm just not into shonen or anything super melodramatic.
 
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Define "Miyazaki quality". Do you mean similar to Studio Ghibli, or generally good in terms of animation and storytelling?
 
Morph said:
Define "Miyazaki quality". Do you mean similar to Studio Ghibli, or generally good in terms of animation and storytelling?
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Yeah, I guess I mean generally good in terms of animation and storytelling. Something with clear, character arcs, isn't episodic, ...
 
I'm just going to toss you some of my favorites.

Monster
A neo-noir thriller that takes place in post-Cold War Europe. If that sounds like a strange premise for an anime, it is. But it works. I can't really go into this without spoiling it.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
You mentioned Fullmetal Alchemist, but I'm pretty sure you meant the original anime series from the 2000's. Brotherhood more closely adapts the manga, which results in a more concise story with less filler and a much more satisfying ending.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes
The animation is old-style and not as high quality as you might expect, but it's one of the most epic space operas ever, anime or not. If I had to sum it up in a single sentence, I'd say it's the tale of one man's journey to rule the galaxy.

Cowboy Bebop
The others would kill me if this wasn't here. It's the quintessential anime. It's about a rag-tag group of bounty hunters in space.

Ghost in the Shell (The Movie)
You may have heard that this is being made into a live action film, but we're not here to talk about that. I will tell you that it's one of the inspirations for The Matrix.

Ghost in the Shell (The TV Series)
This goes against your request a bit, in that it's relatively episodic, but it's worth it. It's basically a police procedural with the same characters, but it doesn't technically take place in the same timeline as the movie.

Samurai Champloo
At once an homage to and a parody of the samurai action genre. It's deliciously anachronistic, stylish, and original. Just watch this video:



Also, someone is inevitably going to tell you to watch Sword Art Online. Don't. It's a trap.
 
Like Morph, who gave great suggestions, just going to throw a few of my favorites:

Log Horizon -
This is a new favorite, which I mainly enjoyed since I played WoW when I was younger. The story takes place in a universe where Japanese players and several hundreds of thousand players worldwide are trapped in a fantasy online game world called Elder Tale. For these players, what was once a "sword-and-sorcery world" is now the "real world".

Pros: Takes a different route to the "trapped in a game" than most current series (exploring the human behavior, what needs to be met for people to be happy), the series takes it's time to world build, Elder Tale FEELS like it's a game that I would be playing in my Wow days, nearly all characters go through some kind of development and do not 'reset' their development.

Cons: Animation might not be as impressive as others, there are some okay jokes but they get repeated through the series, it takes a little while for the story to go any where.
​
Baccano!
I adore this series, the animation is great and the story in interesting. During the early 1930s in Chicago, the transcontinental train, Flying Pussyfoot, is starting its journey that will leave a trail of blood all over the country. Tensions between gang families in New York grew worse as well.

Pros: Opening theme is a amazing (it's a good jazz song with a creative opening), there are going to be more than a few characters that you will enjoy, the story is engaging.

Cons: I do love the story but it has 3 main stories and it does jump around (which I like better on my second viewing, it can be a little confusing during the first watch), there is some development for certain characters but not all (nearly all are very likable, but most stay as they started which does have a reason but I won't spoil it), first couple of episodes are not the strongest in the series.​

I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying-
This is a short comedy series. Each episode is a bout 5-7 minutes long but is addictive. It is about a newly wedded couple with the wife being a non-otaku working woman while the husband is a otaku who blogs. It does start as episodic but there is character development happening between the two. Then it becomes less episodic once the couple find out they are having a kid.

Pros: I adore the couple and can relate well to both of them, they're interactions are fun to watch, I can finish the series in a small amount of time or watch it easily if I'm held up somewhere on my phone.

Cons: There are a couple characters (like the husband's brother) that I find annoying, wish that some of the episodes were longer, animation is not the best since it is a short series that does not have a long run time.​
One Punch Man/Mob Psycho 100:
I both these two together because they were originally created by the same person. One punch man is about a man that is a hero for fun that defeats enemies in one punch. It takes every creative route it can take to make it very fun to watch. Mob is about a kid with extreme psychic powers but just wants to be a normal kid (again, far more interesting than I'm making it sound). The animation of Mob might not be traditional anime pretty but I love it. It mixes media and has many memorable character expressions.

Pros: Opening themes are great, animation are fantastic in both (though again, Mob might not be tradition "great looking" anime), the main characters go through character development and are a joy to watch

Cons: Don't have many personal cons. Sure these series have their flaws,but nothing that lessen my enjoyment out of these two series.​
 
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds - one of my top 5 movies of all time.

Vash the Stampede - I share the hero's ideals.
 
By the way, there is a 20 year anniversary event for Princess Mononoke in theatres across the us this Thursday and Monday. Thursday you get to see the dubbed version, and subtitlez are the following Monday.
 
Morph said:
I'm just going to toss you some of my favorites.

Monster
A neo-noir thriller that takes place in post-Cold War Europe. If that sounds like a strange premise for an anime, it is. But it works. I can't really go into this without spoiling it.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
You mentioned Fullmetal Alchemist, but I'm pretty sure you meant the original anime series from the 2000's. Brotherhood more closely adapts the manga, which results in a more concise story with less filler and a much more satisfying ending.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes
The animation is old-style and not as high quality as you might expect, but it's one of the most epic space operas ever, anime or not. If I had to sum it up in a single sentence, I'd say it's the tale of one man's journey to rule the galaxy.

Cowboy Bebop
The others would kill me if this wasn't here. It's the quintessential anime. It's about a rag-tag group of bounty hunters in space.

Ghost in the Shell (The Movie)
You may have heard that this is being made into a live action film, but we're not here to talk about that. I will tell you that it's one of the inspirations for The Matrix.

Ghost in the Shell (The TV Series)
This goes against your request a bit, in that it's relatively episodic, but it's worth it. It's basically a police procedural with the same characters, but it doesn't technically take place in the same timeline as the movie.

Samurai Champloo
At once an homage to and a parody of the samurai action genre. It's deliciously anachronistic, stylish, and original. Just watch this video:



Also, someone is inevitably going to tell you to watch Sword Art Online. Don't. It's a trap.
Click to expand...

Wow! Thanks for the recommendations. I've had multiple people recommend Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo so I think I may start there.

PS: Sorry I'm so late in replying to this. I've had a pretty busy week.
 
None of the anime I can suggest (nor any of the one's I've seen suggested here) I think would qualify as "Miyazaki like", nor would any anime for that matter. Since Miyazaki has a rather unique way of animating and story telling.

However, there are a few anime's I can suggest as being pretty good Animes.

Fate Zero: Seven Mages in Japan are competing for the Holy Grail, a relic they can use to grant any one wish. However, they don't fight each other for the Grail directly but rather they each summon a real or mythical Hero from History (Like King Arthur or Alexander the Great) to be their "Servant" to fight for them. Where winning the Holy Grail grants the wish of both the Mage and the Servant.

Log Horizon: Ever looked at SAO and said "This had so many things wrong with it! I wish we could have an anime that could go an MMO justice!" then look no further. It has clever writing, good characters and actively explores MMO elements in an intelligent manner, and how being trapped in such a world would manifest. It tackles topics such as: NPC and PC Relations, Class Synergy, PVP Tactics, MMO Economy, MMO Bots, Raids, Guilds, Re-spawning with Memory Loss, World Events, What would MMO food taste like etc.

Gate: A giant Gate suddenly appears in Japan, and coming out from it is a Medieval Army that launches an invasion. Japan, having a modern military though pushes back with ease and soon traverses the Gate themselves. They find themselves in a Medieval Fantasy world and the anime follows their experiences with trying to negotiate with the world, relations caused by their technological dominance, as well as internal politics, both between different Medieval Empires, and back on Earth with America, China and Russia trying to get involved with the new land with minerals new civilisation.
 
YES!!! :D

My favorites are Grave of the Fireflies, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and My Neighbor Totoro. :)
 
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