Millennium Actress

Sennen Joyū (Millennium Actress, 2001) is a master piece. It's an splendid drama movie written and directed by Satoshi Kon. The movie depicted a documentary filmmaker named Genya Tachibana, who is investigating the life of one of Japan’s most famous actresses, Chiyoko Fujiwara. Hence, an intriguing plot takes place while Chiyoko gradually unveils her memories. The storytelling is outstanding and the narrative is built over different perspectives including flashbacks from Chiyoko's memories, Tachibana's memories, and film segments. Reality and cinema are mixed up where sudden changes in settings, characters, and visual style make the film better by the second. The drama is touching from beginning to conclusion.

 Grade (0-10) : 9.5

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P.S.: If you liked Millennium Actress as much as I did, you must watch Perfect Blue (1997) and Paprika (2006).

FLCL

FLCL (Fooly Cooly, 2000) put a "?" over my head. Yeah, that's it. I really didn't get it at the first episodes.  I just found myself caught by the OVAs. It's an action/comedy full of insanity and nonsense. During the series, animation itself is changing all the time including references to mecha series, south park, matrix style camera swings, manga streams, choreographed fights, and dialogues with the audience. Seiyuu (voice actors) cast is excelent and characters are actually great and vivid. I don't think the series suits everyone's taste, but I recommend it for those tired with the current clichés.

    FLCL goes around with Nandaba Naota, a normal kid. Suddenly, Haruhara Haruko bursts the scene running Naota over with her Vespa scooter, then giving him CPR and hitting him on the head with a blue vintage Rickenbacker 4001 left-handed electric bass guitar. After that, Naota's world is turned upside down as new things seem to keeping popping out from his head.

Grade (0-10): 7.5

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Eiken

Eiken (2003) is a fanservice obscene comedy anime. Densuke Mifune, the main character, enrolls to the exclusive Zashono academy. He was accused to be a lecher and suddenly gets forced to join the Eiken Club. In order to redeem himself in front of the school and to get money to buy a birthday present to his crush Chiharu Shinonome, he chose to participate in a strange sport contest.

    It was most certainly the worst comedy anime I've ever seen. In my opinion, it's really a waste of time. No premise, no storytelling, nothing. Only a kid around cute girls with giant boobies.

Grade (0-10): 1.5

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Kara no Kyoukai

Kara no Kyoukai (The Garden of Sinners, 2007) is a series of 7 action/drama movies which impressed me from the first minutes. The anime was so intriguing and well interpreted that I could not avoid watching all movies in a row. Seven different directors succeed in bringing up a consistent tone to the series. The atmosphere is full of suspense and mystery, and artwork is fantastic. Each drop of rain, expression, shadow and glance seem to contribute to storytelling. Music does not stay behind, thanks to the brilliant work of Kajiura Yuki (the best work among those I've listened in 2009). The action scenes are breathtaking, and characters are enigmatic and profound. The story itself is full of philosophy, symbolism and puzzles, demanding a lot from the audience.

    Ryogi Shiki, the main character, possesses the ability to see the death of all things (called Mystic Eyes of Death Perception). She interacts with Aozaki Touko (mage) and Mikiya Kokutou (friend/love) to solve mysterious cases.

Grade (0-10): 9.0

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Mushishi

Mushishi (2005) is most probably the best anime I've seen in 2008. It's not about explosions, boobies, disturbing mechas, lousy comedies, or other clichés. The series is characterized by a balance, atmosphere and calmness which has a fantastic impact on storytelling. Silence followed by subtle sound effects and musics (Masuda Toshio) build shivering environments  throughout the episodes. The artwork is outstanding and each story brings up something mysterious but, at the same time, plainly natural.

    Mushi are beings in touch with the essence of life, far more basic and pure than other creatures. Due to their ephemeral nature, most humans are incapable of perceiving Mushi and are oblivious to their existence. There are a few, however, who possess the ability to see and interact with them. 

    Ginko, the main character, chases rumors that can be related to Mushi. He also aids people suffering from problems caused by them. All for the sake of understanding more about Mushi, life and himself.

Grade (0-10): 8.7

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