people: Madhouse
2021
'Memories': Three By Otomo & Co. July 05, 2021
Katsuhiro Otomo's anthology project dazzlingly animates three of his stories, showing more sides to the man most only know through 'AKIRA'
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2019
'Black Lagoon': Boiled Harder June 10, 2019
The animated adaptation of Rei Hiroe's ferocious homage to '80s action and Hong Kong cinema has all the attitude and muscle of its source, and also all its soul and insight
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'Twilight Of The Cockroaches': The Bugs Shall Inherit The Earth March 07, 2019
Despite the wretched condition of the current reissue, this idiosyncratic and allegorical fusion of live action and animation has black comedy and deeper meanings alike
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'Hells': Infernal Affairs January 07, 2019
Visually and stylistically uninhibited, but a narrative and logistical jumble, this afterlife fantasy is as divisive as it is inventive
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2018
'Perfect Blue': Even Better Than The Real Thing February 16, 2018
Satoshi Kon's hallucinatory, jolting feature film debut still electrifies -- all the more so in light of how its recently translated source novel was a sub-'Silence Of The Lambs' stalk-and-slash thriller
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2017
'Kaiba': This Body Holding Me October 24, 2017
Masaaki Yuasa's psychedelic exploration of the mutability of bodies and memories, in the form of a child's tale, is a one-of-a-kind masterwork
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'Carried by the Wind: Tsukikage Ran': Crouching Tigress, Nitwit Dragon April 22, 2017
It looks at first to be a mere genderswapped spoof of the samurai genre, but underneath it's actually a loving and observant homage to all the great things about those stories of lone wolves vs. corrupt power
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2016
'Aoi Bungaku: No Longer Human': The Man Without Qualities June 11, 2016
The first of the 'Aoi Bungaku' animated adaptations of classical Japanese literature is a keen, well-devised adaptation of Osamu Dazai's novel of downfall and decadence
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2015
'Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust': Beyond The Pale September 14, 2015
Adapted from the third novel in the 'D' series, 'Bloodlust' tops its source material, the earlier animated 'D' film, and a good deal of the competition that's come along since
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'Ninja Scroll': Faster, Shinobi! Kill! Kill! May 29, 2015
Sleek, stylish, violent, and sleazy, the visual flair of this '90s gateway title remains unmatched -- but it's a child of its time in ways that aren't all positive
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2014
'REDLINE': Faster Than The Speed Of Love December 24, 2014
Even if the story's little more than a placeholder, 'REDLINE' seethes with visuals so propulsive and uninhibited, they alone guarantee it a place in anime history
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'Paranoia Agent': We Have Met The Enemy And He Is Us October 03, 2014
The real monster in Satoshi Kon's genre-defying black comedy of horrors is human nature itself
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