Ginga Tetsudou no Yoru

The Oofuji Noburou Award (大藤信郎賞) is an animation award given at the Mainichi Film Awards. It is named after Japanese animator Noburou Oofuji.

Following the death of Noburou Oofuji in 1961, Mainichi established a new award in his honor to recognize animation excellence. A specialist in silhouette animation, Oofuji was one of the earliest Japanese animators to gain international recognition.

With the growth of the animation industry in Japan, the award in the 1980s came to be dominated by big budget studio productions, over the work of the independent animators for whose efforts it was originally established. To address this concern, the Animation Grand Award was established to reward large scale cinematic animation, enabling the Oofuji award to focus on shorter pieces again.

(Source: Wikipedia)

impressionistic emotional pieces that express a powerful melancholy

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R E T R O = at least 20 years old, but not yet 40 years old!
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░{ 𝐀𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐅𝐢𝐥𝐦 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟐-𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟐 }
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Art direction, harmony with the narrative, framing and uniqueness.

Most unic anime form 1980s

This is the kind of stuff you'll want to show to your older relatives or a friend / significant other who isn't into anime in particular but is open to new experiences. Not necessarily to hook them on anime but simply to share a good time together.

What helps an anime end up on this list:
* either subdued or distinctly avant-garde appearance that transcends common anime design sensibilities;
* mature, adult-life-related themes;
* well-crafted, compelling story and character interactions;
* fresh and daring ideas or their execution;
* being otherwise remarkable as an art piece;
* moderate length.

What DOESN'T help an anime end up on the list:
* referencing or pandering to otaku culture, incessant fan service, and all that crap;
* slow-burn slice-of-life narrative;
* overly random, absurdist, reference-heavy humor;
* being too long or narratively incomplete;
* being too tropey;
* not being very good in general (regrettably, this includes bad and mediocre adaptations of good manga/LNs, so no Berserk, My Home Hero, or Golden Kamuy on the list).

These aren't absolute rules but they're hard enough that I would only consider minor exceptions. There is most certainly not enough room for every single piece that fits the bill, so take this as my personal, heavily curated top-50. If there is a sequel or a side-story that also deserves attention (or, conversely, one you should skip), I will mention it in the annotations, so please watch them.

List is subject to revisions and reordering.

What I look for the most in an anime above everything else is high-quality writing. That's not to say that manga, visual novel, and light novel adaptations are written poorly; in fact, there are some that have incredible, masterfully-crafted storylines. I have simply personally found that some of the most unforgettable series for me have been novel adaptations.

Given that there currently exists no anime search option for this, the basis of this interest stack is to provide a list of full-length novels that have been adapted into series or movie format.

*Disclaimer: not enough space to add children's classics to this, go check out Nippon Animation's studio page if you want more!

Need more cats in your life? Or in your anime? Get your feline goodness right here!

Animes starring anthropomorphic animals.


Part 2: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/3720
Part 3: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/6893

Surreal anime that have an upbeat tone!

list of psychological, strange and experimental anime.

This list has a part 1: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/3795

Art house, in relation to cinema, is a genre of films that are intended to be serious artistic works rather than merely popular entertainment but the descriptor can also be applied to anime. Furthermore, avant-garde refers to innovative, experimental, radical or unorthodox concepts and techniques. This can of course also be used in reference to anime and manga.

As MAL currently sadly only allows a max of 50 entries on interests stacks this list mainly prioritises the stand out and most high quality examples of avant-garde and art house anime television shows, feature films, OVAs and short film compilations. For a more comprehensive list which features the numerous experimental short films on the site as well as manga, I direct you to my accompanying Art house, Avant-Garde and Experimental club of the same name.

100% purity here! Not a single bit of nonsense relating to sex.

I can't believe I had such a hard time making this stack >:'[ I'm a poor Christian boy


((If you find anything here with a sex joke please contact me immediately I want this place to be a light in the ecchi-filled darkness ahaha))

Part 2: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/11405

Although none of these anime have a tag/theme that denotes them as psychological, they all use cinematographic tactics often seen in psychological media to explore different aspects of the human condition and tackle atypical and philosophical topics.

Exhausted Studio Ghibli's filmography but want more? These anime have a visual presentation evocative of your favorite Ghibli films, but aren't made by Ghibli themselves.

Anime with an intriguing, immersive, rich, or otherwise memorable atmosphere. Usually a combination of artistic, imaginative visuals, distinctive music, a slowish pace, and cryptic, emotional, and/or philosophical dialogue. Atmospheric doesn't necessarily mean good, though.

Movies that bang
Some of them are short movies

Featuring little to no dialogue and/or characters and the experience is carried by the music and/or visual atmosphere.

Part 1 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/311
Part 2 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/5128
Part 3 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/8036
Part 4 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/8173
Part 5 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/9135
Part 6 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/9240
Part 7 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/9448
Part 8 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/9461
Part 9 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/20874