10 Classic Anime Movies Whose Art Holds Up Against CGI
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While all works of media are products of their times, there are a lot of hand-drawn anime movies that still hold up against modern CGI.
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There is no denying that anime has shaped the modern world. From Disney to the MCU, the unique animation styles of Japanese cinema has directly influenced American film productions. In fact, Ghost in the Shell’s art was the model that the Wachowskis hopes to emulate when designing the CGI effects for The Matrix.
While all works of media are products of their times, there are a lot of hand-drawn anime movies that still hold up against modern CGI. Some look as good or better than modern computer graphics, while others just have a unique aesthetic. These are ten anime classics that hold up against modern CGI:
10 Akira (1988)
This dystopian sci-fi classic is considered one of the greatest animated films ever made. Its story of Akira deals with gang wars between the bosozoku motorcycle gangs of Japan’s youth, doomsday cults, military abuse, government corruption, and human experimentation on children.
Beyond the brilliant storytelling, the animators use light brilliantly to create realistic effects that pop off the screen, increased frame count of 24 frames per second, and painstaking details created realistic technologies and realistic people. To this day, it is hard to think of a better portrayal of the neon urban sprawl that is synonymous with the cyberpunk genre.
9 Spirited Away (2001)
If the last entry on this list, Akira, is a sci-fi techno-dystopia that expresses Japan’s fears in the post-nuclear world, then Spirited Away is its opposite in every way imaginable. This all-ages film is wholesome but explores the traditions of Japan’s Shinto spiritualism through the lives of the spirits themselves, whose society has been driven to the margins by the expansion of industry in the 90s. The urban sprawl of Tokyo with its economic developments is absent from this film, which follows a ten-year-old girl, Chihiro, who becomes trapped in the spirit world after her parents are turned into pigs.
The animation here does now wow audiences. Rather, it calms them. The supernatural spirits feel like a part of the natural world. Flocks of paper cranes, draconic river spirits, jumping sentient coals, and the glistening rings on the hands of a witch all feel real in this masterpiece of modern animation.
8 My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
When people think about director Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, it is usually the movie My Neighbor Totoro that comes to mind. This movie stands out for the way it beautifully shows the world as experienced by young children.
While this movie does a lot well, what stands out about the animation is the portrayal of nature, as well as the depictions of food. In fact, Ghibli films as a whole have some of the most realistic food in all of cartooning. One’s mouth waters watching every time the characters enjoy a meal.
7 Ninja Scroll (1993)
After the success of Akira, anime fans outside Japan looked for other films that showcased the maturity of the medium they loved. Ninja Scroll was one of the few films which seemed to have a mature sophisticated plot to go along with its adult content of violent sex scenes and magical shinobi fights.
The fights in this movie are the equivalent of modern movies using CGI to showcase martial arts maneuvers that actors could never pull off in real life. A ninja whose snake tattoos slide off her skin into real serpents is treated with the same serious fight choreography as a straight-up sword fight in a bamboo forest. The use of sound editing reinforces the sense of realism within the historical fantasy epic.
6 Ghost in the Shell (1995)
This cyberpunk classic is famed for its exploration of identity, consciousness, and transhumanist philosophy, but it was the beautiful animation as much as the awesome sci-fi fight scenes that inspired the Wachowskis to use it as a reference when making The Matrix.
There is so much to love about this film! But since there is only so much space to write here, the use of cloaking technology and the detailed minutia of the city during the montage in the rain are perhaps classic examples of how hand-drawn animation can showcase both the quiet moments and huge epic ones.
5 Perfect Blue (1997)
Many of the films on this list are remarkable for their ability to convey larger than life concepts like complex action scenes, supernatural elements, or complex technology. Perfect Blue is noteworthy for its mastery of realism, using a minimalist approach that is hauntingly personal.
Underwater bubbles escaping the protagonist’s mouth in a bathtub or a glimpse of a leering stranger eyeing her through the closing doors or a subway car are handled with a deft lifelike quality that makes the animation feel more real than most live-action films.
4 Vampire Hunter D (1985)
Many of the films on this list are from the 90s, as they were created in that perfect slice of time after Akira had kickstarted Japan’s animation revolution but before the advent of digital technology overtook the industry. The original mid-80s Vampire Hunter D is the rare exception.
It is hard to imagine this movie being made at any other time than in the mid-80s. It combines magical fantasy elements, gothic horror, and post-apocalyptic science fiction seamlessly, using light and shadow to create an atmosphere where audiences can’t help but accept these different genre aspects as coexisting.
3 Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade (1999)
Jon Roh is another dark dystopian film, but rather than being set in the near future, it actually takes place in an alternate past of 1950s Japan. The militarized police with their riot armor feel particularly prescient these days.
The sleek look of the armor worn by the military police in the film seems just as real as the smoke-filled settings and the shaggy wolves snarling through the film.
2 Wicked City (1987)
As a movie, Wicked City has not aged particularly well. The sexploitational horror story does not make a lot of sense from a narrative perspective, but it is beautifully drawn.
Light and shadow work to create a gothic atmosphere of body horror ripping through the misty streets of 80s Tokyo. The physicality of bodies is sometimes used to titillate with sensuality, at other times to terrorize with grotesque demons and incomprehensible carnage. There is a stylized physicality to how characters move through the film, communicating power and grace.
1 Princess Mononoke (1997)
The final entry on this list, Princess Mononoke, is an iconic work from Studio Ghibli. Though this is not nearly as dark or graphic as other entries here, in many ways, this story is far more mature than most Ghibli works.
The film combines traditional hand-drawn art with 3D digital animation, but (as with all Ghibli works) the hand-drawn aspects are the most impressive parts. Nature spirits and human warriors feel alive, while the pillars of smoke look as though they could rise right off the TV screen.
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