The 10 Best Avant-garde Anime of All Time
What does it mean? What are themes? If I turn my head to the side will it make more sense? These are the sort of questions that you’d expect to overhear at the MoMA or the Guggenheim, but while watching anime? Can the genre really contain such high art multitudes? After checking out these ten films, the answer will be clear: it can. These surrealist masterpieces are some of the most artistically challenging titles ever created – surely to boggle your mind and dazzle your eyes in equal measure. If you’re looking to anime that will expand your understanding of the medium, or just wanna sound smart talking about them at a party, check out the best avant-garde anime of all time.
Neon Genesis Evangelion
While Neon Genesis Evangelion begins as a relatively straightforward giant robots vs. alien kaiju sci-fi, the plot becomes more complicated as time goes on. In this near future world invaded by extraterrestrials called “Angels,” the government responds to the threat in the most rational way possible: by making middle schoolers pilot mechs to fight them. The logic only gets more absurd from there, as the Angels’ semi-divine presence begins to tear apart the fabric of reality. The series dives deep into the fractured psychology of its main characters, whose minds are equally as broken as the laws of physics that Angels seem to ignore. By the end of the series, Evangelion feels less like an anime and more like an animated version of the Book of Revelations. It’s hallucinatory, terrifying, and awe-inspiring, standard qualities of any divine being.
FLCL
One would think upon first glance FLCL is the anime equivalent of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, but one would be wrong. The pink haired, moped riding, Rickenbacker playing Haruko Haruhara may look like an up and coming indie rocker, but she’s actually a space alien in disguise. What’s she doing on Earth? That’s hard to explain, but essentially she came to bonk a middle school boy on the head with her bass, thereby creating a portal for giant alien robots to emerge through his noggin. She’s gonna use these robots to summon a reality-warping space pirate, then consume it to become the most powerful being in the universe… I think? The plot of FLCL really doesn’t matter. Thematically it’s a story about puberty and growing up, but like music itself, it’s really all about the vibe.
Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo
Despite being an adaption of a famously coherent story, Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo turns its 19th century namesake entirely on its ear. A tale that originally took place during the Bonaparte years, this interpretation is set in 5053 – where planet Earth is warring with the alien Eastern Empire. Imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit, the titular Count swears revenge on those who wronged him, and carries it out with baroque flair. Despite the substance of the story being strong, it takes a back seat to the anime’s style – a technicolor hodgepodge of texture, color and patterns. The finer points of the original narrative are deliberately blunted, making the Count’s motivations appear to follow a strange and dreamy logic. We’re not privy to the Count’s point of view like in the original novel, the anime’s story is told through the eyes of a young aristocrat onlooker. Albert understands what he sees just as little as we do, but is equally dazzled by the sight.
Mononoke
Mononoke is an ukiyo-e painting viewed under the influence of LSD – a hallucinatory good time. Set in a technicolor interpretation of Edo period Japan, the story follows a mysterious Medicine Seller as he rids the world of mononoke – evil spirits. In order to cast out a spirit, he must first ascertain its motives and origins – his understanding of the monster allows him to exorcise it. The result is a spiritual detective story, a series of dreamlike vignettes where the Medicine Seller discovers the secrets of the dead by examining skeletons in the closets of the living. Mononoke aren’t made in a vacuum, foul play is almost always involved. In a world of corrupt bureaucrats, bloodthirsty samurai, and monks devoid of faith, foul play isn’t hard to come by.
Angel’s Egg
The quintessential avant-garde anime film, Angel’s Egg is directed by Mamoru Oshii – responsible for the similarly opaque Ghost In The Shell. Its much debated plot follows a nameless boy and girl through a decaying far-future world. She carries a large egg that she believes will hatch into an angel, while he spends his time dreaming about birds. The pair’s conversation wavers between the philosophical and the spiritual, discussing the origins of the world and the story of Noah’s Ark (told with a few embellishments from the original). It’s a stunning film that puts style entirely over substance – a cinematic experience meant to be felt rather than understood. Mythical, theological, surreal as Salvador Dali on magic mushrooms – Angel’s Egg is one of a kind.
The Boy and The Heron
While Hayao Miyazaki’s films have always played a little fast and loose with plot, The Boy and The Heron decides to throw it out all together. Described by the director as a deeply personal film inspired by his childhood, it’s the story of a young boy sent to live in a rural estate after the death of his mother. As he rambles about the grounds, he discovers a mysterious tower hiding a portal to another world, and an equally mysterious being that’s part man, part bird. As the boy and his man/heron companion journey into the world beyond, the plot soon unravels into a dream sequence as beautiful as it is opaque. Carnivorous parakeets, pyrokinetic women, a wizard who holds the building blocks of the world in his palm – strange beings abound. This one of Studio Ghibli’s most fantastical films to date.
Serial Experiments Lain
Serial Experiments Lain is a day in the lonely life of Lain, a middle school girl who is distant from her parents and peers. Her isolation is interrupted by an email from her classmate Chisa, which wouldn’t be weird if Chisa hadn’t committed suicide not long ago. Chisa’s letter tells Lain that she has found new life in The Wired – a digital realm resembling the early internet. Chisa isn’t alone in cyberspace, she claims that God exists deep within the circuitry. A Y2k acid trip, this anime redefines the idea of deus ex machina – God in the machine. Is it a benevolent God watching over us from a virtual world? Or is it something more strange and sinister? Hopefully the answer doesn’t break Lain’s fragile, preteen mind.
Paprika
The poster child of avant-garde anime, Satoshi Kon’s Paprika is the dictionary definition of the genre. The story takes place in a world forever changed by the DC Mini – a device that allows users to peep into people’s dreams. Researcher Dr. Atsuko Chiba makes unsanctioned use of the machine to dive into the minds of her psychiatric patients, appearing as her dream detective alter ego Paprika. As she gallivants through people’s heads, she discovers a strange “dream parade” made up of gods, demons and household objects – and it’s spreading across subconscious minds like an infection. An anime Inception, Paprika blurs the line between the waking and the sleeping world, and then erases it entirely.
Boogiepop Phantom
One of the most chilling horror anime ever made, Boogiepop Phantom follows an ensemble cast connected by a single event: each witnessed a mysterious pillar of light appear in the sky five years after a string of serial murders. As high schoolers around the city start dropping dead once again, the terrified populace points their fingers at Boogiepop – an urban legend figure said to be death incarnate. While Boogiepop Phantom is technically the first installment in greater Boogiepop series, it’s told out of order from the perspective of multiple unreliable narrators. To truly understand the series, you’d need to take in the entire franchise – but if you’re just looking to experience the creepy, avant-garde vibe as the creator intended, start with Phantom. It’s like a haunted house ride, terrifying because you don’t know what’s going on.
Inu-Oh
Directed by Masaaki Yuasa, Inu-Oh is the story of 14th century besties Inu-Oh and Tomona. One is a dancer with a supernaturally gifted body, the other is a blind biwa player who can see ghosts. Ostracized by Japanese society, the two young outcasts do what young outcasts do best – they form a band. By performing hair metal renditions of historical tales, they begin to become celebrities – and targets of a government determined to suppress history. The film becomes an avant-garde pop concert rife with queer undertones – late 60’s David Bowie at his best. While the plot’s details are lost in the film’s exuberant style, the underlying meaning is clear: the young will always rebel against the establishment, and the establishment will always try, and fail, to put them down.
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