What’s Better Than a 2nd Season? An Anime Movie!

I went to see the second Seitokai Yakuindomo film that was recently released. I went to see the movie — in an actual movie theater, remember those? — partly because I wanted to enjoy some normalcy in my life, but also to support one of my favorite anime franchises financially.

The film was great, essentially more of the same endless sexual jokes as we got in the series, but with slightly higher quality animation. All our friends are back: student body president Shino, the always-perverted Aria, and the best girl Uomi, making endless ecchi joke set-ups which are reacted to sharply by “the breeding stallion of Ousai Private Academy,” Tsuda.

The film was unique in another way because in the ending credits a large number of Twitter handles floated past. It turns out that crowdfunding has finally arrived in Japan and been embraced by (some) studios as a way to fund projects that would otherwise be impossible. I think it’s a great way for fans to support projects by creators they love and I hope to see more about クラファン kura-fan — the Japanese abbreviation for “crowdfunding” that cleverly works in the word “fan” stressing the importance of fans to the overall success of the industry — in the future. I hope we can all be kura-fans someday!

What’s Better than a New Season of Anime? A Proper Anime Movie!

Seeing one of my favorite anime series return in a feature film format made me wonder what ways in which anime movies might be better than the often elusive second or third season that anime fans always seem to be clamoring for… often despite not have having purchased the anime or supported the work in any way financially. Anime films are potentially better than a new season for several reasons, including:

• They can tell a complete, well-thought-out story that the fans want to watch.
• It can be easier for anime production committees to plan and fund.
• They become huge “events” that fans wait months or years for, and during that time they’re more likely to stay active in that fandom rather than move on to other things.
• Obviously, the financial model of a limited theater release helps studios combat the difficulties raised by Internet file-sharing.

What Are the Best Anime Movies? Let’s Rank Them!

I asked J-List’s awesome customers to give me examples of the best anime movies, most well-executed films that shined brightly as they brought closure that loyal fans had been waiting for. Here’s the list we came up with!

Goblin Slayer: Goblin’s Crown

I was happy to see that a follow-up to the Goblin Slayer series in the excellent anime film Goblin’s Crown, which was shown in Japanese theaters and should be available on your favorite streaming services. It told a great new story of our favorite goblin-obsessed warrior and his friends.

No Game No Life ZERO

While NGNL remains one of the shows fans would most love to get a second season, at least we got this excellent film. We also got a ton of gorgeous No Game No Life figures for fans to collect.

City Hunter Shinjuku Private Eyes

Anime never dies… it just hibernates for 30 years until it’s resurrected again. I loved the new City Hunter anime film because it brought back all the characters from the popular series, and also all the great music from that era. My wife and I especially love it because we have an apartment in Shinjuku now, and all our favorite locations showed up in the film.

My review of the 2019 City Hunter movie is here!

Violet Evergarden the Movie

Another film I went to see in the theatres was the Violet Evergarden movie, which nicely concludes the long journey of Violet in the most beautiful way possible. The trailer is above but be warned that it’s quite spoiler-y.

Saenai Kanojo no Sodatekata Fine

The long-awaited Saekano movie was another great example of how an anime film can perfectly tie up all the story elements that were left open from the series, and give fans the satisfying closure they’ve been waiting patiently for. Which girl were you rooting for?

Macross: Do You Remember Love?

Back in an era when “anime movie” meant a compilation film made from television footage, Macross: DYRL broke the mold by presenting fans with a re-imagined Macross universe. It was unlike anything we’d ever seen.

Read my post featuring 11 reasons why Macross 1984 is pretty much the best anime film ever made.

End of Evangelion

While it’s in vogue to talk about how great the modern Evangelion movies are, I feel they don’t capture the raw creativity and grit of the original. I believe that the two End of Evangelion films were incredible, paying off the original series like nothing else could.

Kimagure Orange Road: Ano Hi ni Kaeritai

Another oldie but a goodie, this was the film that resolved the love triangle between Kyosuke, Madoka, and Hikaru, telling an extremely dramatic story in the process.

Read my farewell to Orange Road creator Izumi Matsumoto here.

Tamako Love Story

While I’m a lifelong fan of Kyoto Animation, I honestly didn’t like Tamako Market, and didn’t find myself feeling an attachment to the characters. I’m super glad I watched the Tamako Love Story follow-up film, which beautifully resolves all the unanswered questions for fans. Can we possibly get Doga Kobo, the studio behind such frustrating series as Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, This Art Club Has a Problem and Tada Never Falls in Love to take notice of this?

Girls und Panzer der Film

One of the most successful anime series of all time, Garupan is still going strong in this day and age.

Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train

COVID-19 has made us all a little obsessive about strange things, from hand-washing to trading Gamestop stonks. The stress of lockdown seems to have made the Japanese obsess about the Kimetsu no Yaiba series, and you can’t go into a store without seeing its display of Demon Slayer licensed products near the entrance. When the long-awaited Mugen Train film was released, it managed to smash all box office records in Japan, handily beating out such films as Your Name, Spirited Away, and even Titanic. And this was in the middle of a pandemic, where people were afraid to visit movie theatres…

What’s Your Favorite Anime Movie?

I know we only scratched the surface in this post, and there are many great anime films we could have included. What is your favorite anime movie, which really paid off the loyalty of its fans with a satisfying resolution to the story? Tell us what it was below, or let us know on Twitter!