Even though I named Little Amelie my favourite animated movie last year, upon second viewing I think I may even have under rated it. An extremely moving film, and I wanted to pause it every 30 seconds to drink in those visuals. This is why I love animation.

As a Canadian Frédéric Back is part of my DNA. I remember watching his shorts in school. I knew he was a big influence on Takahata. Watch this and then Yamadas or Kaguya. The influence is undeniable.

Heidi, Girl of the Alps. A compilation film from the seminal Isao Takahata TV show. An important and enjoyable piece of Japanese animation. youtu.be/gkB8HGRlapM

I glanced over and someone was watching Grave of the Fireflies on the plane yesterday. I was stunned it was even a choice.

What 5 films would you have nominated for best Oscar and what would be your winner? I would have nominated KPOP, Little Amelie, Arco, Zootopia 2, and Chainsaw Man. My winner would have been KPOP. It’s very different than my personal top 5, but I think cultural relevance should be considered.

Anyone else not getting an English dub or sub for the latest Frieren on Crunchyroll?

Here is an Internet archive link to the best family friendly version of Astro Boy, the reboot from 2003. Great for older kids (I’d say 5 and up) . The adventure is fun and the animation is incredible for a tv show. archive.org/details/tets...

Got this today and Deaf Crocodile really did an amazing job on this. The remastering makes me feel like I’m watching these shorts for the first time. The commentary on each short is incisive and interesting. Haven’t watched the video essays yet. The shorts are of course WONDERFUL.

Pretty cool

5 animated projects where the characters feel like real people. Whether by the writing or animation, the complexity of humanity comes through and no note feels false (partly inspired by the exceptional Journal with Witch anime), in alphabetical order…

My ranking: Top 3 Astro Boy projects. All 3 Of these are quite good, dependent on your tastes. At 3 I have Astro Boy 1980. It’s retro anime and the storytelling and animation is much of that era. It’s light and low stakes storytelling. Sometimes a little repetitive bit watch a few eps for fun. B-

I find it best if I understand the impulses behind my paintings but not necessarily the “meaning”. Lately my little abstracted creatures are turning into islands. It feels correct to life right now.

There are still a few episodes left, but I think Journal With Witch may be my favourite slice of life anime show… ever? At the very least it is the one where the characters feel so real and I am completely invested in their stories and relationships…

The amazing Animation Obsessive newsletter provided a Youtube link to last year’s very charming under seen film from China “Nobody”. Watch it while you can. youtu.be/BaFyvWjEyJQ

1) the director of INSIDE OUT wants you to believe movies are “just entertainment“ with nothing to say. Anyone offended by a family with 2 dads or a kid with a pink bike (what was cut from Elio) is a homophobic shithead and you shouldn’t make movies to appease them. Kids aren’t born hateful.

From Kodansha's "Light Hole" papercraft stop-motion branded film, featuring Akira, Attack on Titan, Ghost in the Shell and many other mangas. Directed by Toru Katori (Animation director: Takuro Oishi). Full video >> www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIL_...

The reason Hoppers is so exciting for Pixar is that despite always being films made by committees Pixar always work best when films feel auteur driven. My least favourite Pixar films you can see the formula. Incredibles feels like Bird, Turning Red like Shi, and Hoppers feels like Chong…

It‘s really good!!! Hey, what if Pixar just made something really entertaining and VERY funny. I hope people support this gem.

A Penguins Memory: A tale of happiness is a 1985 anime about a cartoon penguin‘s battle with PTSD following the Vietnam War. You think it will be silly but it’s actually very well done and affecting. Heres the whole thing on YouTube youtu.be/fk3UfjQ7d-Q

EXCLUSIVE: Watch the first teaser for Cartoon Saloon's 'Kindred Spirits,' the new animated feature in development from studio co-founder Tomm Moore ('The Secret of Kells,' 'Song of the Sea'). www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film...

My apologies to whoever shared this with me the other day. I saw it and didn’t respond and now can’t find it. Thank you for sharing it. I finally watched it, and it is indeed wonderful. youtu.be/ucRulNQsuYQ

Letterboxd top 250 animated films isn’t THAT far off my top 100 (which I might need to redo one day). It is a little silly though and reveals the limitations of film bro Letterboxd which favours current and more trendy films. Disney and Pixar may be untrendy, but their underrepresentation is silly…

My list this week is top 5 animated shorts by Bill Plympton, ranked. Often juvenile and pushing the boundaries of taste, Plympton’s sketchy independent animation is best experienced in short form. At 5 I have the properly titled Sex and Violence. (Censored version) youtu.be/SCyNNlBzQ1s

Good day for distractions, and I just found out today is national Pigs day, so off the top of the dome here are my top 5 animated pigs... (5) Peter Porker (Spider Ham). Comic relief in Into the Spider Verse, and woefully underused in Beyond. How does he not have his own show?

Angels Egg now streaming on HBO Max in the states. I haven’t checked where it’s streaming in Canada where I live. This is wild and great considering the hoops I had to go through the see it the 1st time.

My friend says her 14 year old daughter loves KPop Demon Hunters and plays guitar in a band. She asked me for animation recommendations. I have a short list. I thought I’d open it up and see what people suggest. I’ll post the long list this week.

Every weekend I post an animated project available on the internet. This week it is a classic anime Unico (1981). It looks cute but goes to some surprisingly dark areas. If your kid can handle The Secret of Nimh they could handle this. youtu.be/LAkXAMhAYqA?...

I watched with my kid the new Fantastic Four movie and the original Iron Man movie in the last few days and the differences are very telling on a script level. Iron Man had character arcs and differences among the characters. You could read a line of dialogue and know which character was saying it…

This week I am doing a thought experiment for my list of 5. I asked myself what 5 animated projects would I greenlight if given a blank check? Just a fun thought experiment. Feel free to add your own. For the sake of argument assume the highest quality for each project…

There’s a good chance the 2 best anime this year both have Witch in the title.

We don’t need more Evangelion. I mean, if we need Anno to make a sequel to one of his tv shows, the answer is right here:

One reason to watch older and foreign movies is not only to recognize difference, but common humanity. This movie is almost 80 years old, made in Japan in a very different era, but while its context (and sexual politics) is very different, the main message on how poverty affects the soul is…

Even though I write about them and make up lists I still think awards are silly, just fun. The Annie Awards are respectable though. Would have preferred Little Amelie over Arco, but Arco is excellent so I am delighted it won. Common Side Effects winning is the story of the awards. That's fantastic!

Every weekend I post an animated project for free. This week it’s the 1990s ova mecha anime Giant Robo. If you enjoy 90s anime this is a classic. youtu.be/tW3R0vZds_U

What would be on your list of the most unique anime? Not necessarily the best but the one that feels like there’s nothing else like it? I’m thinking of stuff like Odd Taxi or Mushishi. I’d like to discover new stuff and make a list.

I would be way more interested in Toy Story if they didn’t even have Woody and Buzz anymore. Their arcs completed on 3. Make is star Jesse and Bo Peep and Forky, ya cowards.

I’ll never understand why my interests are considered geeky or counterculture, but being obsessed with sports isn’t.

This week for my 5 recommendations my theme is underrated musical numbers in animated film, in no particular order. First in the torch song Paris is a lonely town by Judy Garland, from Gay Purr Ee. youtu.be/flGvpq9qGs8

I’ve never wanted to see a making of documentary about a movie so bad. How did they make this? It’s so original (and funny).

Tubi continues to be the best streamer for hard to find independent and vintage animation.

My spoiler free thoughts on GOAT. The immediate affects on American animation from the Spider Verse movies not only affected the way they looked, but the ambition of their stories. GOAT looks fantastic and - while this animation doesn’t feel as unique as it once did- it’s still kinetic and exciting.

This weeks free animated movie I cheated a little. I chose a documentary with animated sequences, Isao Takahata’s The Story of Yanagawa's Canals. Only Takahata would make a nearly 3 hour documentary about this, and it’s a fascinating piece of his history. m.ok.ru/video/361097...

Yesterday my country had the first mass school shooting here since 1989, and I have no idea how Americans have come to accept this much grief and anger on a regular basis.

Wowewwwwow

This week for my 5 recommendations my theme is absurdist sci fi animation. I previously did a best of top 50 animated sci fi list, but these films push the concept of sci fi to weird imaginary spaces. Ranked not according to quality but accessibility to a general audience...

Yeeeeeeah. Choosing love over hate shouldn’t be controversial.

(1) Its almost Valentines Day, so let's look at some famous cartoon couples and decide if their relationship will last or not. I'll start with an easy one. Of course the Lady and the Tramp will last. They have been through it and still have eyes for each other, plus a love of spaghetti. 100%...

My Hosada ranking, updated. 1 to 4 are in the A range. 5 to 7 are in the B range. The rest are in the C range.

Season 2 of Frieren so far is mostly just hanging out, and I had no idea I would enjoy that so much.

My spoiler free thoughts on Scarlet. For context I always appreciate an animator who pushes their boundaries. I also had very low expectations going into this movie based on its reviews. Hosada does not suffer from lack of ambition,