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Curated playlist

Philosophical anime and manga

  • Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (film)The English version of Nausicaä was cut by about 22 minutes and renamed her Princess Zandra.
  • Ghost in the ShellGhost in the Shell is a Japanese cyberpunk franchise that began as a manga by Masamune Shirow. Its 1995 animated film made a lasting impression on the creators of The Matrix. The Wachowskis showed it to producer Joel Silver and told him,…
  • Cowboy BebopCowboy Bebop lost its toy company sponsor after early footage showed it would never sell spaceship toys.
  • Neon Genesis EvangelionDirector Hideaki Anno called Neon Genesis Evangelion a metaphor for his own four-year depression.
  • Princess MononokeHayao Miyazaki spent seventeen years getting Princess Mononoke made.
  • The Wind RisesIn The Wind Rises, a boy with weak eyes builds planes instead of flying them. It follows engineer Jiro Horikoshi.
  • Fullmetal AlchemistTwo brothers try to bring their mother back in Fullmetal Alchemist, and lose a leg and a whole body.
  • Monster (manga)A surgeon disobeys an order and saves a boy instead of the mayor. That boy grows into the killer in Monster.
  • Serial Experiments LainThe anime Serial Experiments Lain begins with a dead girl's email.
  • Psycho-PassPsycho-Pass drew more than 1,000 people to a queue outside a venue that could seat only seventy. They had come for the final episode. Fuji TV producer Akitoshi Mori watched the line form. The show was the first work under his control, and…

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