This is a phenomenal Sci-Fi Story, not a minute is wasted on this film! The story is full of mystery and takes a different approach to defeating the enemy rather than gun blazing at it. Unfortunately, it did not perform well at the box office, probably because it was too ahead of its time.

The animation is superb for its time, in fact, "Square Pictures rendered the film using some of the most advanced processing capabilities available for film animation at the time. A render farm consisting of 960 workstations was tasked with rendering each of the film's 141,964 frames. It took a staff of 200 about four years to complete The Spirits Within. Square intended to make the character of Aki Ross into the world's first photorealistic computer-animated actress, with plans for appearances in multiple films in different roles.

Each character's base body model was built from more than 100,000 polygons, plus more than 300,000 for clothing alone. Aki's character model bears 60,000 hairs, each of which were separately and fully animated and rendered. In creating the characters, designers had to transition between using PowerAnimator, Autodesk Maya and RenderMan." -Wikipedia

In the end, the look of the phantoms using transparently and lights, the incredible attention to detail for both characters and their world; have left a visually stunning movie that has been able to stand the test of time for this long.

But what I find the most interesting is the story itself, with plenty of sci-fi to let your mind wander with the possibilities and a philosophy that not only contrast a classic story of good vs. evil but adds the scientific method to find the "real cause" of the problem, and then offers a new perspective.

Give it a try, I don't think you'll be disappointed! Although I have to mention that most of the bad reviews are because the movie does not follow the Final Fantasy Game Plot, not in regards to this story itself.

The dub is great!

Studio Ghibli does not just create high-quality movies, they also create whole worlds to contain their stories out of their imagination. They really went all out on this film, which became the most successful film in Japanese history, receiving widespread critical acclaim. Is frequently ranked among the greatest animated films. See for yourself!!!

"Spirited Away is truly a trip into the imagination with excellent animation, a whimsical execution, and a storyline that leaves one not only liking the characters and progression of events, but also with warm emotions with the overall atmosphere.

One could say that this film focuses primarily upon very abstract presentation to entertain in its overall story, from the creatures to the environment of this seemingly unstable carnival-revealing places like a machinized factory, a bath house, a dojo, a farm house, among others. Like Miyazaki's other films, it reaches into a broadened sense of imagination, appealing to an audience both young as well as mature...

I would definitely recommend Spirited Away as a title to view. It's one of the most imaginative anime films I've seen to date and also one of my favorites overall." -mariprosa

"This anime is a true representation of what the mind can really do for others. I believe the first time I watched this anime was around the ages 12-13. Looking back at it now, I can clearly understand why it was so popular with me. The plot was so beautifully driven, animation was smoot and flawless, and let's not forget the music! With all of these elements brought together, Miyazaki sure went all out in this one." -PigeonRick

The dub is great.

"The Underground Fighting Anime", with one of the greatest villains ever conceived, a ruthless man who truly loves fighting, killing, war, and destruction. He will go to any lengths to find a worthy adversary, to feed the demon on his back!

The fighting scenes are brutal and extreme, with great animation for its time. And it's not just about fighting, but also about improving yourself. Despite the exaggerated action scenes, they still contain some level of realism. The characters are extreme and meant to shock you. There are different arcs through this season and the change of pace, opponents & environment makes it feel refreshed. The tension is maintained throughout the story.

"I was extatic to find these series becouse it's if only take in the fighting aspect is one of the best if talking about hand to hand combat i would say eaven the best anime there is, ofcourse it isin't perfect.

Character development  as the anime goes it reviels Bakis backround  the other characters where being introdused quite often and all of them only with preliminary small backrounds.

BUT ITS A MUST WATCH IF YOU LOVE FIGHTING ANIME." -Green4Man

"Baki the grappler is such a great anime sometimes you tend to forget how young the character is haha.It has alot of drama and ALOT of action if you like fighting animes this is one of the best and is a must watch" -voldiaran

The dub is ok.

Unfortunately, this sequel, it's not as good as the first season. Quality of the fighting scenes drops considerably, some look more like a parody, and as the story progresses, it starts to become more cheesy and full of pointless bravado. The fights lose tension and just look ridiculous.

However, one of the good things is that you learn more about Yujiro Hanma and how he became the strongest man in the very last episode. So when you feel the fights are getting bored you can just jump to that episode.

The story is not complete, Netflix's continuation exaggerates, even more, the ridiculous characters, fighting styles, and parody overall :( so I don't recommend keep watching, but you can give it a try to see if you like the style, it was not for my taste.

I have not read the manga, so I have no idea how serious or ridiculous it is? Maybe one day this series will receive a proper remake that will make sense of the manga story. I can always dream!

The dub is ok.

Loosely based on the 1949 Metropolis manga created by Osamu Tezuka, itself inspired by the 1927 German silent film of the same name, though the two do not share plot elements. This anime, however, does draw aspects of its storyline directly from the 1927 film. The art is awesome with a similar style to the 1930s.

"Despite that, the setting is masterful, especially the paradoxical nature of Metropolis' society; it is very technology-heavy whilst maintaining a strong hostility towards the robots that run it. For example, Pero the robot guide explains that robots are not given human names because that would infringe upon ‘human rights'. In my opinion, this reflects the human irony of proximity breeding hatred as well as the sad fact that we can't help but ‘improve' upon ourselves when we know we don't like where that progress takes us. However, that's about as eye-opening as Metropolis gets; to a large extent it is predictable and simplistic.

The story may not be jaw-dropping but the animation certainly is; in terms of style, this movie lives up to its name. Firstly, CG is almost seamlessly integrated with the rest of the animation, making for breathtaking panned shots of tall, colourful blocks, spiralling staircases, flocking birds and milling crowds. The attention to detail is delightful and generous helpings of wide shots help us appreciate that fact... Metropolis also stands out from a lot of its contemporaries due to the way the cute, old-style character designs contrast with the mature and disturbing subject matter.

Metropolis harks back to the days when sci-fi explored possibilities and used those possibilities to glean an understanding of human nature. It is the kind of tale we don't really see much anymore because our era belongs to the cynic and, let's face it, morals are kinda passé. However, despite its flaws, there is a fanciful flair to Metropolis' approach which still makes it enjoyable." -VivisQueen

Similar in a sense to Great Teacher Onizuka, but with a business setting instead of school, if you enjoy GTO you'll like this one too.

"Some anime are just so manly that they no longer can be considered mere anime. They fall into the rare niche genre of MANIME!. Anime for men! Yes this anime is very manly! Its so manly infact I cried manly tears several times during my time watching this...

The story is hard to believe at times and has some really cheesy dramatic moments, but contains many emotional scenes of camaraderie, men standing up for their fellow man, chivalry and all that good stuff. I wouldn't be lying if I said I watched this anime just for those scenes, just waiting to shed tears of manliness.

Overall- Despite all the faults of this anime I still enjoyed it a lot. Kintaro's story is tragic and compelling, albiet rather cheesy. Obviously not for everyone but if you enjoyed anime like GTO, Rainbow and Silver Fang Gin you might just enjoy this anime as much as I did." -TheStampede01.

Why this anime still doesn't have a dub? Meanwhile, plenty of terrible animes have received a dub over the years :( Whoever is in charge really needs to get their priorities straight.

This anime deserves a Dub!

This is a good assassins anime, but not perfect by any means. With some cliches like assassin with amnesia, stoic vs bubbly personality and an overused music soundtrack, this show may not be for everyone. But for its time it was better than average and I still think it remains a good watch if you like the genre. It has a good ending.

This is a good Sci-Fi anime with themes of racism and a society separated into haves and not-haves. It has good character development although the story may feel predictable at times.

A good story, set in a town with two opposing gang factions and a man seeking for answers to a mystery that unveils slowly as the story progresses.

Most movies are a side story, not related to the main series. Chronologically takes place between the Loguetown Arc and the Warship Island Arc, but fits better between episodes 45 and 46. But you can really watch it at any time. If you enjoy One Piece, then you'll probably like this movie too.

From the same author and preceding Fairy Tail, you'll notice that some of the characters personalities have been reworked and polished for the later. This is still a good animation, unfortunately, just when it started to get really good, it got cut short, due to the multiple edits Tokyopop made to the original version which resulted with uninteresting and confusing dialogues in an attempt to make it more kid-friendly.

Hopefully, we will see a remake one day. Never the less, this is still a good show and you may want to give it a try.

After watching the 75 episodes of this anime, I cannot say I learned anything about the Go game, not at all! Nor I can exactly pinpoint why did I find this show so entertaining? but the reality is that this show is just hypnotizing, captivating and addictive. Is perhaps the case that when you see someone excited and engaged in an activity, you just want to keep watching.

"As the story progresses and Hikau learns more about Go, Hikaru becomes more interested in playing Go himself instead of just moving the stones for Sai...

The story does earn some points for having some unusual subject matter (the anchient board game of Go). The pacing is also pretty good for the most part.." -LadyPsychic

"The character’s are what makes this show; while each Go match is very detailed and elaborate, I wasn’t able to keep up with them personally, so the only draw for me to continue was the cast, and thankfully I wasn’t let down. Hikaru no Go provided me with some very complex, likable, flawed characters who I could really relate to and rally behind.

The best part of the show are the intense, exciting Go matches, which take up it’s largest duration. On one hand, it had the risk being horribly uninteresting to me because I don’t care at all about Go. However, I don’t care any more about Go than I did before watching, it remained interesting by delving into each player’s mind as they competed, and showing their strategies in full. I’ll admit most of it went over my head, but I don’t have to understand something to know how smart it is. And even if I did, the intensity is also apparent; especially when two pros are facing each other

Probably the most interesting theme in Hikaru no Go is the difference between those with talent and those without... and contemplate on multiple occasions if they’ll ever be able to become Masters." -JakCooperThePlumber

The dub is ok.

Crazy, crazy, crazy. Just watch the intro and first episode, that will be enough to determine if you are up for the journey or not. This show is stupid, silly and fun. It also hides some meaningful moments to teach a lesson or two.

"...With a crazy overall plot, there is so much more uncharacteristic depth to this bizarre comedy... there is a carefully presented moral tale that permeates, regardless of the slapstick surrounding it.

Much of the humour relies on Halé’s worrisome monologues that apparently only Guu can hear... Despite her pretence of naivety, there is a hint of mischief that gives the impression that she knows exactly what she’s doing. This dark comedy pervades every episode of the series, never failing to make the viewer laugh out loud...

It’s difficult to review the story part of an episodic show, where any semblance of plot is constantly changing and evolving. All I can say is this presentation suits the story down to the ground...

Most of the standout comedy moments come from the pan-faced Guu and her torment of the naive Halé. Her dark humour is what makes the series so attractive; the constant barrage of new and inventive ways to terrorise her poor victim are frequently laugh-out-loud funny. Although the origins of this bizarre pink haired girl remain a mystery, this also adds to the love/hate charm of the character. Is she an alien? A freakish science experiment? And what is going on in her stomach? Frequently playing naive and innocent, she certainly understands a lot more than she lets on, much to the chagrin of Halé and delight of the viewer.

Overall

Close to animated perfection for me, I quite simply adore Halé and Guu. It’s stupid, it’s silly and it’s fun. Victims of my recommendations have also agreed with this one, sharing the jokes and numerous screenshots with anyone who would look or listen. As Guu grows on you like Chouji's chest hair and makes you laugh like a retarded Waji, I'm surprised there are not more people championing the series' universal appeal." -KiraRin

More Guu-iness

Even more Guu-iness!

A reimagining of the Pinocchio tale, set in some kind of dystopian future. This story is dark, with violence, very moving, and very compelling in a lot of ways. It's also slow-paced, with the main theme being a journey to discover what it truly means to be human.

This is an adaptation of The Return of the Condor Heroes, set in the 13th century at the time of the Mongol invasion of China. This is an extra long epic story. There are many events to this adventure and it could be viewed as a full biography of the main character from childhood to adulthood.

The story starts slow, actually, the full first season is mostly about introducing all the characters and the background story of what happened before the events of this anime. Once this world is explained and the setting is done the story picks up really fast with a lot of action and adventure, it has a lot of romance as well and a little bit of everything.

The animation is bad for its time, almost like a show from the 80s, but the story still comes through.

Continuation and here is where the story really starts to pick up with more action.

Continuation of the story.

This is a good OVA with an original storyline where books come to life. It has a good animation for its time and at just 3 episodes is long enough for anyone to enjoy.

This OVA is actually a sequel to the Manga story.

This sequel is loosely connected to the OVA, and some events in the series are related. The series takes place five years after the OVA with new protagonists. The first half of the series feels more like a filler arc, episodic, with not so good comedy, the main story only picks up at the end of the series around episode 15 or more closely 18.

Today, this series may feel cliche and predictable, but it was a good shōnen anime for its time of release. I think is still enjoyable though and if you like shōnen, then you should give it a try.

Continuation of the story.

This is first and foremost, an art film and on a category of its own. The description on this site explains what is about. This film has won critical appraise and several awards over the years. It may not be for everyone but you won't know until you try.

This is so bad that is good. Watch at your own risk. Read the reviews before attempting to watch. You may experience psychotic nightmares after watching this show, the effects are irreversible! You have been warned!