Even more surreal than the TV show, the visual metaphors are probably more obvious but that actually adds more to it for a movie length running time. It's also absolutely gorgeous.

The story of a boy and his curse, and a girl and her home, and how the two clash and find equal footing in the world. The show doesn't have such an in your face ecological message as some of the other Miyazaki movies, and this is a movie definitely aimed at an older audience than Spirited Away and the like. Some of the scenes are brutal in their portrayal of death and detachment.

As the title suggests, this definitely has the bleakest atmosphere of all three of the Gundam movies in this line. The film is made by its characters though, particularly the "villains", who come across as heroes in their own right, holding themselves to strong ethical beliefs and following them through in the face of absolute adversity. 

This is so much fun, it manages to cram so much into it's short run time, and never lets up in just how overtly joyous it is the whole way through. The perfect popcorn movie.

The perfect ending to the franchise, whatever your theories on how it ties into the original TV show ending. It has one of the best fight scenes of all time, and probably the best mecha fight scene, and then as things get increasingly worse for everyone, the descent into the hellish reality is played through the eyes of surrealist philosophy. It might be pretentious for some, but it was great for me.

Mamoru Oshii takes one of my favourite police-drama franchises and turns it into an amazing espionage thriller. Only he could do that, and do it so amazingly well. It's possibly one of the finest pieces of animation ever made too.

There's not much to say about this movie that someone hasn't already said, but it's just utterly brilliant. Another Oshii film, with this he takes a manga that's heavy on the tech babble and lighter on the philosophy, and turns it the other way, and actually improves on the source material.

It's an old story, and it's just brilliant in every respect. It's a great look into the meaning of life and death, through the eyes of children. It's simultaneously uplifting and tragic and ultimately bittersweet in its execution.

An extra story during the time of the Yamato 2199 TV show, it's a great look into the idea's of perception and manipulation. The TV show never shied away from going beyond hard sci fi into a more fantastical direction, and it was all the better for it, this movie pushes that further and adds to just how brilliant it can be. It also culminates in a brilliant space battle.

Mamoru Oshii once again (please get used to it), this is his first foray into the Patlabor franchise, and he takes a great look into how an AI can work, but in a completely different way to how he does with GitS. This has some brilliant mecha fight scenes, and, again, some brilliant animation. The visual direction is also amazing.

Oshii and surrealism wasn't something I though would ever be a good combination, but this definitely proves me wrong. There's an almost Noah's Arc style story here, but actually, the movie is a study in aesthetic over narrative, and it's brilliantly executed. You can see how the visual direction he uses here, carries over into some of his more mainstream works.

A lot of people don;t like the rebuilds, and I completely understand why, why fix what isn't broken? But if you consider that they're actually a sequel to EoE and not a retelling, you get a better look into what makes them good. I don't want to go into it too much as that could give away some major spoilers, but the character growth here is brilliant, and the set pieces are great.

Another divisive title. The ending of the TV show was satisfying for me, and I didn;t think they'd be able to add much more to it, but I was proved wrong here. It benefits from the extra budget of a movie, has more surrealist elements, and subverts the original ending completely. I can see why it angered fans, but for me it was a brilliant twist.

I absolutely love the original book, and there are some big changes here, but none of them really bother me. It's feast for the eyes, and a really lighthearted story of a curse and the will to overcome it.

Miyazaki's first film, the first time we see Hideaki Anno animate something at such a level, and an ecological theme that can at times be quite heavy handed. However, the film is more than the sum of its parts and winds up being a brilliantly paced film in a truly great setting.

Many people disliked the CGI in these films, understandably so as it can be a little grating at times. However, the conclusion to the arc that we followed through the first 2 films is a roller coaster ride into the depths of hell, and has one of the best scenes of gore I've ever seen. 

I love the setting in this film, I want to live in that house in that area. But there's more to it than that, the film is about trusting the agency of your children, and how much trust should you put into their decisions.