What is the most visually stunning anime you've seen?

[jojo_home]

Just talking visuals--art direction, designs, animation, etc. The story could be total crap but the pictures are the prettiest damn things you've seen.

I re-watched the Utena movie a week ago and I still think it's the most visually impressive 2D animated movie I've ever seen--that includes Disney. I'm not saying Utena is better animated than Ghibli or Disney, but the total package still blows me away more than anything I've seen. The art direction, the character designs, the animation, it all comes together to create something really something visually in my eyes.

I don't know if it's a very coherent movie (In contrast, I felt the TV series was actually pretty coherent despite its weirdness), but damn if it isn't some of the most awesome pictures I've ever seen.

The "X" movie is a popular candidate as well, but I personally feel the imaginative architecture in Utena's setting bumps it up another level visually.

What's YOUR favourite "eye-candy" anime?

[Splitter]

Le Portrait de Petit Cossette. I literally drown in that series' animation every time I watch it. Sumptuous, rich, and surreal. I love it.

Makes me wish Akiyuki-san would stop doing "chalkboard gag" anime...

[something]

It's more artistic creativity than pure animation quality (though it has that too), but the just completed ef - a tale of memories is pretty damn stunning.

Haruhi is still my favorite KyoAni show in terms of visuals, though they're all up near the top.

I can only imagine what some scenes in Touka Gettan might look like with a nice, high quality encode. It did dip in consistency from time to time, but certain scenes were just breathtaking even under the blurriness of the version I watched.

And I need to give Shamanic Princess a nod for having such incredibly intricate and beautiful character designs.

[joelgundam01]

The first series that jumps right into my mind is Gankutsuou.

[Cyporiean 2.0]

the 'God Knows' segment of Haruhi

[Andrew Cunningham]

Mononoke. Just looks like nothing else, and kept taking new and even more dramatic choices with each successive arc. Even if the actual show wasn't to your tastes, visually it was one of a kind.

[LelouchLamperouge]

The first series that jumps right into my mind is Gankutsuou.

Same here. That series was so crazy beautiful and gorgeous. My 2nd favorite visually stunning anime is The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

[ADC]

Two-cour series? Last Exile. Gorgeous show, beautiful CG and excellent character designs. And the last five discs were all DVD5s, but it's Pioneer and SpeeDVD, so it's still going to look better than anyone else's stuff. For my money, it's Gonzo's best work.

One-cour series? Probably Haruhi. Great look to the show, stylish. The discs were all done by SpeeDVD, so there you are.

OVA series? So far, Hellsing Ultimate. I could just be reacting to the fact that everybody's so happy in that show, especially when it's time to do some killins. Pioneer and Nightjar LLC.

Flick? I'll go with The Place Promised in our Early Days. Shinkai's better than Miyazaki. ADV and MOFC did a sharp job on this one.

[Pastachan]

Ghost in the Shell S.A.C. and Guardian of the Sacred Spirit share the kind of visual greatness I usually go for. And I'm an I.G fan on top of that, so I expect great animation from them.

KyoAni has also proven themselves many times, especially with Haruhi.

But I think the anime with the most unique look is Mononoke -- there really isn't anything like it, animation-wise. Personally, I think it wins here for most visually stunning anime. You really gotta pay attention to the details to see what I mean.

Gankutsuou and Tweeny Witches both have a nice unique look to them as well.

[aagranov]

Death Note
Appleseed(2004)
GITS: SAC
Shakugan no Shana
RahXephon(in certain episodes)
Paprika
.hack//sign
Cowboy Bebop(certain episodes)
Elfen Lied
End of Evangelion(true mind fuck)
Ergo Proxy
Fafner
Fate/Stay Night
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Gankutsuo
Gantz
Gilgamesh
Gunslinger Girl
Hellsing Ultimate
Last Exile
Malice@Doll
Melody of Oblivion
Noein
Princess Mononoke
Read or Die OVA
Robotech(a few episodes)
Saikano
TehXnolyze
The Place Promised in Our Early Days
This Ugly Yet Beautiful World
Wolf's Rain

[KShinjo]

b]Macross: Do You Remember Love[/b] is my number 1 choice. Made over 20 years old ago and it's still one of the most beautifully produced anime ever. The painstaking detail that went into this anime movie is just something to behold.

Other titles that have visually stunned me in the past include Nausicaa, Bubblegum Crisis, Gundam F91, the Gundam 0079 movies, Wings of Oneamise...

Of recent titles... Yukikaze, Suzumiya Haruhi, Hellsing, and Last Exile come to mind.

[roastedpekingduck]

Ghost in the Shell S.A.C. and Guardian of the Sacred Spirit share the kind of visual greatness I usually go for. And I'm an I.G fan on top of that, so I expect great animation from them.
Production IG's Section 9 team led by Kamiyama absolutely kicks ass. Great animation, great designs, great writing, great direction in one package.

[Raye]

Robot Carnival is pretty awesome considering when it was made. At the same time, I've always been a fan of KyoAni's work, especially Kanon (2006). I was very happy that the remake received great treatment. CG-wise, off the top of my head, I'd have to say KARAS. The animation isn't that great and neither are the character designs, but the fights are incredible and near breathtaking.

[stfram]

Akira. Even after 20 years it's still stunning to behold.

Runner-ups:

DYRL: It's a classic, and a for a good reason. The first anime movie that I ever saw.

Jin-Roh. Beautifully animated, with the typical and thorough attention to detail that Mamoru Oshii gives his productions.

Metropolis, Spriggan, both GITS movies. Quibble all you want with the storytelling on some of them, the animation is beautiful.

Anything by Makoto Shinkai.

TV Shows:

Pretty much anything by KyoAni: Air, FMP:TSR, Kanon, Clannad...and of course that show that nobody knows about, Haruhi-something or other...

[Greywing]

A good 80% of Studio Ghibli's output. That said, I found Gedo Senki to be rather disappointing, visually.

[Dissonance]

Akira for its lavish extravagance; Patlabor 2 for Oshii's visual poetry; and The Place Promised In Our Early Days for the incredible use of lighting.

[Chacranajxy]

Hellsing Ultimate. It's damn well animated and has a manga-ish look to it that few other shows have.

[The Great Bear]

Hmm.

The Ruroni Kenshin OVAs (Samurai X) are very impressive in their appearance.

Oshii's Innocence (GiTS 2), while filled with pretentious nonsense as a movie, is visually one of the most incredible experiences there is in anime, in my opinion.

The attention that Kyoto Animation brings to all of their productions (AIR, Kanon, Haruhi, even FMP), especially to the little details, puts their work in a class of its own for regular TV series.

While it's not filled with high paced action of any sort, the landscape of Aria is beautifully done, with their re-creation of Venice.

EDIT: And I can't forget the works of Shinkai.

[Laputa]

GiTS Innocence
Patlabor 2
Macross Plus
Full Metal Panic The Second Raid
Shakugan no Shana
Trinity Blood
Last Exile
Ghost Hound
Laputa
Princess Mononoke
Spirited Away
Howl's Moving Castle

[Pastachan]

Production IG's Section 9 team led by Kamiyama absolutely kicks ass. Great animation, great designs, great writing, great direction in one package.
Yeesss. <3 <3 <3

I need moar.


Seriously, though, when I first saw GitS S.A.C., I couldn't believe it was first aired in 2002. The visuals were way ahead of their time. What I love best is the unnecessary amount of attention towards detail.

[Lego]

I really have to go with Guardian of the Sacred Spirit. I've seen many a anime, OVA, and movie but that show just sticks with me.

[karen0586]

The first series that jumps right into my mind is Gankutsuou.

Definitely, nothing else can top it on my mind. Wow, they definitely outdid themselves with this series.

[Serial Experiments Nobue]

Adolescence of Utena. I love drowning in surrealism and symbolism. Just another reason that this is my overall favorite anime title.

Serial Experiments Lain, for blurring the lines between reality and the Wired in the series so effectively.

Also, just about anything out of Studio Ghibli.

[Redcoffin]

Oshii's Innocence (GiTS 2), while filled with pretentious nonsense as a movie, is visually one of the most incredible experiences there is in anime, in my opinion.

I strongly second the above opinion.

About Patlabor 2, Wings of Honneamise and Nausicaa little need be said as they are so obviously visually superb. Place Promised also rates very high.

But I would like to add a shout-out to a couple of fine Rin Taro films: Harmageddon (Genma Taisen) and Metropolis. Neither one has a perfect plot but both of them almost obscenely visually beautiful.

[Njr Scrawl]

The R2J anamorphic release of End of Evangelion

Especially when the production Evas first appear, & Asuka's battle with them. All the animation from then on, & the immensity of what's happening is for me totally immersive. Needs a big screen for real impact.

[HellKorn]

Jeez...

Mononoke blows the everything else the fuck out of water for its daring art direction, character designs, and (whenver there IS movement) incredibly slick animation. With the exception of Mind Game, nothing else comes remotely close to it for experimentation and complete mastery.

Innocence, on the other hand, is very accomplished traditional visuals on an absurd budget. I probably would like the movie more if there was absolutely no dialogue at all.

For art direction that fits the anime to a "T," Haibane Renmei and Texhnolyze are prime examples. Both beautiful for entirely different reasons, and when the opposite ends of the spectrum appear in the shows (dark, murky colors and intensely bright and artificial colors, respectively), it's a disorienting effect.

5 Centimeters Per Second is also Shinkai's most accomplished film when concerning visuals. The art is even better than Placed Promised.

Mushi-shi is also another sight to behold, with breath-taking background and superb art direction. But the real highlight is the animation, which is objectively the best animation that any anime television series has ever had (animated on 2s for most movement, and on 1s for the mushi themselves, which is unheard outside of movies for anime).

Forgot to mention a few others...

[Pastachan]

Mushi-shi is also another sight to behold, with breath-taking background and superb art direction.
Ahhh, I completely forgot about Mushi-Shi! It's really impossible to deny that it is one of the most beautiful anime out there.

And I also forgot about Shinkai. I especially love what he does with the sky.

[Daniel_Perales]

Well, for movies, I have to say "Metropolis". It was the kind of movie that must be watched on the big screen.

It was also the movie that I found that the subtitles were just getting in the way.


Danny

[jecca-neko]

The Utena movie, I agree, was definitely eyecandy. It's one of the most gorgeous movies I've seen from an artistic standpoint. The music is phenomenal too. It's too bad that I don't really care for it beyond those two things.

I know a couple of people mentioned Princess Mononoke, but I actually found Nausicaa to be more visually stunning, which is a little strange as it is an older movie. Even the bits of the forest that was poisonous to breathe looked gorgeous and you could really identify with Nausicaa, and her desire to protect it even if everyone else thought it was awful.

Gunslinger Girl is a visually stunning anime. That show overall has a lot of beauty to it despite the topic being a little grim - little girls turned into cyborg assassins.

[RuneLouie]

Let me see:

Movies

Spirited Away
Howl's Moving Castle
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
Appleseed


Series:

Witch Hunter Robin
Angel Sanctuary

[LimePie]

Kanon 2006. The snow effects are incredible; they make me want to reach for a warm blanket and a mug of hot cocoa. KyoAni is truly the top animation studio in the industry. :beat:

Honorable Mentions:
Air TV
CLANNAD TV
ef ~ a tale of memories
Le Portrait de Petit Cossette
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
The Place Promised In Our Early Days
Revolutionary Girl Utena: Adolescence Mokushiroku

[Ohki]

for me, it's easily Haibane Renmei. That series is just...whoa. I love the colors used, and the animation and character designs are gorgeous.

However, I've yet to watch Gankutsuou. I'm sure it will stun me.

[jojo_home]

The Utena movie, I agree, was definitely eyecandy. It's one of the most gorgeous movies I've seen from an artistic standpoint. The music is phenomenal too. It's too bad that I don't really care for it beyond those two things.

I know a couple of people mentioned Princess Mononoke,



I believe most people are referring to Mononoke the TV SERIES, which just finished airing in Japan (I think) and has no relation with the movie of the same name.

As for Princess Mononoke the movie, I think it's good but Ghibli can crank out beautiful forests in its sleep. I think Spirited Away is a lot more visually interesting.

I agree, the Adolescence of Utena is hard to love beyond its visuals. Despite that, I feel it's one of the most interesting experiments in terms of audience manipulation through visuals. It's not a coherent movie at all, but at the same time the movie is suspenseful, exciting and erotic at times, solely because of the pictures they put up on the screen.

I think they kind of blew a really great opportunity to take it another level though.

[Otakufan]

For me it still remains the winter scenes in Patlabor 2. The snow gently falling on the city while the citizens and soldiers stand around wondering what's going to happen next is still one of the most visually appealing scenes in all of anime!

A close runner-up would be the boat ride through the city in the Ghost in the Shell movie, virtually any part of Macross Plus and the final battle scenes in Wings of Honnemeise.

Even today, they've never been beat.

J.A.

[Sensuifu]

a couple not mentioned:
Steamboy
Memories

[BigPants]

I was thinking a little about this today when I was talking about Arjuna with someone and would easily put that in my list. Absolutely love the look of that show.

I'd also second Akira. Seeing it on the big screen made it even more stunning than it already was.