My 10 Favorite Directors

I love anime, but I also love directors just as much! Here's a list of some guys I've been following, and have admired for a long time as an anime fan.

I would also like to apologize for how long this is going to be, but I guess being the hopeless enthusiast I am, I just have a lot to say, don't I? ^_^

Also, keep in mind this list is merely my opinion, and that any recommended works on this list are also just opinions that pretty much show what my favorite works from them were.

1. Mamoru Oshii

Recommended Works - Urusei Yatsura Movie 2: Beautiful Dreamer, Angel's Egg, Twilight Q 2: Labyrinth Objects, Patlabor: The Movie, Patlabor 2: The Movie, Ghost in the Shell

His techniques are very abstract and dreamlike, showing characters in unusual situations and inserting symbolism to give normal situations new meaning. He is a director that does things his way and leaves no compromises, and in the process has many things to say within his own projects.

Since his humble beginnings directing the Urusei Yatsura TV series, he broke free from his boundaries with Beautiful Dreamer and wanted to put all the characters inside a neverending dream world that utilized an old fable as a rather dubious hint to, perhaps, his belief on the development of the series before he decided to do the movie.

With Angel's Egg, the story involves a girl nursing an egg and carrying it with her through dark and barren landscapes, only to be met by a man who carries a cross-shaped object that follows her everywhere. The symbolism in that production would point to some of Oshii's commentary on religion, including the concept of creating a world where people have been forsaken by the very deity they worship.

Twilight Q 2 was a wonderful exercise in changing the perception of the world through a confused detective's mind. Like days were but a blur, the job he took a completely undocumented mystery, the location being a body of water on the world map. It was also a homage to his own father, who was actually an out-of-work detective.

Both of the Patlabor films showed Oshii bringing in the motif of man playing god, with the first film showing a man who takes his own life and creates a tower known as Babel. Also, the first film makes some great commentary on the reliance society has on technology. The second film, however, makes great commentary with the ideas of war and peace, showing the thin line between what we think is right, and what we believe to be wrong.

Finally, I will say that his Ghost in the Shell adaptation was infused with some rather worthy commentary on the effects of giving up one's flesh for cybernetic enhancement, and questioning how human one can really be in a world filled with artificiality. His cold analysis and meditation on the world of GitS proved an interesting viewpoint on a rather popular manga, once again showing Oshii's tendency to do things his own way and express himself in the process.

2. Hideaki Anno

Recommended Works - Gunbuster, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, Neon Genesis Evangelion, The End of Evangelion, Kare Kano

A master of character study, Anno always had characters that were filled with emotions and very human flaws as well.

Gunbuster was a strong work that showed his will to drive a character like Noriko Takaya, who had been ridiculed by most of her peers, to find herself and do what she knew was right. The science-fiction details to the world of Gunbuster are also notable, using the effects of time in space to good use.

Nadia continued his ability to create characters of difficult pasts with the humanitarian title character, and her friend Jean who was like the counterbalance to her rather modest upbringing. It shows the difference industrialization can give to someone in comparison to a rather simple life away from industry. Nadia was also a character of the same dynamic as Noriko Takaya from Gunbuster, but sadly, Anno would not finish the series and promptly left around the halfway mark. Still, Nadia was a great example of how Anno dealt with characters in his prime, and it even displayed a rather evil villian in Gargoyle.

After being away from the director's chair for quite sometime, he emerged with a new project with Neon Genesis Evangelion, a culmination of his experiences with philosophy and religion, although it remains a personal bearing on his own personality at the time. It was a bitter conflict with the lead character Shinji, and his worst enemy, himself. The beings known as "angels" that attacked the populace were merely an afterthought to Shinji's own personal stress over himself to put it bluntly. The supporting cast had their equal shares of emotional trouble and personal doubt. The film The End of Evangelion did an excellent job closing the book on a rather rich study on Anno's own personal ideas, and his meditation on the world as we knew it. It would also be an interesting message to all the Evangelion fans who objected the ending of the TV series that came before it.

Kare Kano would show his character strengths in the school setting with a character who had a rather large streak of confidence to begin with, letting Anno deliver some rather unique perspectives to what he previously did in his career. However, the analysis of measuring one's self to their peers may have been as dominant as ever, but it also showed the development of one's reputation through the rather dubious existence of High School cliques. Sadly, Anno would also leave this series halfway through, but his portions were certainly among the finest of his own respectable career to say the least.

3. Takahiro Omori

Recommended Works - Hyper Police, Fancy Lala, Koi Kaze, Gakuen Alice

Works I'd like to see - Baccano! and Hell Girl

A rather unique career to say the least, Omori worked with ideas that showed the balance of fantasy and reality through suprisingly practical means, with worlds that were definitely filled with their own unique touches, and then evolved to working on anime that seem to reach even deeper than his original light-hearted material had previously specified.

Hyper Police was an interesting manga adaptation that showed his warm touch with a society that felt like it didn't understand itself to say the least. Humans, beasts, spirits, and gods had to live together in society as one big family. Add in the disputes between the rights of humans over other forms of life, licensing one's self for work, and the general poverty that beings aside from humans go through, and we have a series that delivers a surprising touch of commentary despite what one may originally suspect from it. Even so, as stated with the director's warmth towards the subject, it seems like catgirl Natsuki finds her own ways to be happy in a society that ultimately puts her in second place everytime, and her friends always seem willing to join her pursuit in living life to the fullest despite their harsh circumstances. The cast is fun and lively, there's a good balance of down time and cop drama, and the universe of Hyper Police creates plenty of X-factor for any viewers that like eccentric touches. Worth noting is the rather unique ending, which shows Natsuke coming to terms with what the right world to live in would be, comparing the ideas of modern society to what the fantasy of Hyper Police portrays.

After Hyper Police, Omori would work on Fancy Lala, a series about a girl who finds a magic pen that turns her into a pop idol. Fancy Lala shows a rather playful depiction of a young girl's idea of adulthood, and how being an adult changes one's own perception of what life is really about. Even as main character Miho learns to accept responsibilty in her adult form, it seems like she begins to realize who it is she really wants to be in the process of switching from grown up to child each and every day. The warmth shown through her life with her family and the difference depicted through her work as her idol personality shows the kind of fantasy with practicality that Hyper Police depicted in itself. Also, like Hyper Police, the ending of the series tied everything together in Miho's life and showed the importance of living one's life to the fullest no matter what happens.

Koi Kaze remains director Omori's most challenging work, as it's amazingly worthy for its mature and open approach to a brother and sister who, beforehand not knowing they were siblings, had fallen in love with each other. The approach shows two people who have lived some rather unique lives, find themselves unsure as how to react to their feelings, and ultimately develop throughout the series trying to understand themselves and each other. The depth of work in this series allows the viewer to ask their own questions and debate the subject with themselves, yet it is also a work that shows no pandering to any fanbase in particular and wishes to challenge whoever views it. It would also signal a period in his career in which he would try to go beyond what he already affiliated himself with, but first he had to return to his pastime before moving forward.

Gakuen Alice was a prominent return for Omori to the subject of fantasy with a touch of practicality. Lead character Sakura Mikan is a girl who goes to a low-grade school that eventually shuts down due to money problems, her best friend leaves to a rather esteemed school in the meantime, and she decides to chase her friend in hopes of finding out what's going on. In the process, she finds this school her friend is at to be a place for people with magical abilities, and yet Mikan is also accepted strangely enough, even though she doesn't understand what her ability is. The directing shows a proper development of a girl who tries to fit in with a school that rewards gifted people, yet she herself is still discovering what her own gift is. The characters in the Alice Academy are also of a fun variety, as everyone has their own unique gift to tie themselves to lead character Mikan, showing a community not unlike the one Omori had with Hyper Police.

As of late, Omori seems to be tackling some unique subject matter, and I look forward to viewing Baccano! and Hell Girl in due time.

4. Isao Takahata

Recommended Works - Grave of the Fireflies, Only Yesterday, Pom Poko, My Neighbors The Yamadas

One of Ghibli's finest, Takahata taught Miyazaki everything he knew about directing, and his own works remain some of the most respected in all of anime for their deep and realistic portrayals of people and their societies in general.

Grave of the Fireflies was a decidedly uncompromising work that showed war as it was with no strings attached. The lost lives of many, and the children who had to survive in such harsh conditions, it was the ultimate discovery of what happens when two children lose everything, and have no idea where to go from there in a society that had suffered as much as they did.

Only Yesterday was definitely another bold move for the director, showing a character that had lived a rather interesting life, but a life that also seemed strangely unfulfilling. Taeko was a girl who never knew where she belonged, and though she had dreams like any other girl, she was getting older and found herself looking for a life she really wanted.

Pom Poko is a rather interesting commentary on industrialization that takes things to a more practical level than any of Miyazaki's works by showing the Tanuki of the forest trying to scare normal folk away from their beloved habitat. The brutal struggle of the mighty human vs the forest creature remains surprisingly powerful in this production, and the Tanuki start to divide as a result of their struggle.

My Neighbors The Yamadas was an inventive look at family life through a more "Sunday-comic" kind of viewpoint, though the situations were universal enough to bring out an appeal unlike anything else Ghibli has ever done.

5. Yoshiaki Kawajiri

Recommended Works - Running Man, Wicked City, Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust

A director who has a notable streak of dark imagery, his lighting techniques in his 80s work, and his gothic flourish in his latter works prove he is a man who can leave a mark on the viewer off of asthetic alone. His ability to directing action sequences is also worth noting, as his way of keeping a sequence flowing remains something of a standard for me to say the least.

In the production known as Neo Tokyo, Kawajiri directed one of the three shorts, his segment titled "The Running Man." In this segment, he shows a cyberpunk world where racing isn't just profitable, but deadly. The lead character Zach Hugh is a racer who had a telekinetic ability and uses it to sabatoge other racers, but it is also something he had kept hidden from the public, that is, until a reporter found the truth through a visit with the man himself. Undergoing his own madness with being the best, Zach would hallucinate about the ghosts of those he killed, and find himself crazed with his own hunger to be the best at his game. A rather intriguing portrait of a man who only lived for one thing and nothing else.

Wicked City saw him working with collaborator, and author, Hideyuki Kikuchi. An adaptation of one of Kikuchi's novels, Wicked City showed a seedy underworld in which beings from another dimension shape-shifted into humans to blend in and destroy humankind from within. The use of eroticism was surprisingly ahead of its time, showing human desire destroy itself through creatures that preyed on them, and action sequences that had a variety of creatures evolve from human forms and transform into beasts of superhuman strength. Kawajiri's usage of blue lighting was also a great stylistic touch, and his action sequences were handled with great care and sumptious speed.

Ninja Scroll explored more of Kawajiri's ability to show corruption within human means, along with showing his ability to put together great action pieces, such as lead character Jubei Kibagami's weaving and evading of certain peril through attacks from many deadly monstrosities. It was a perfect companion piece to Wicked City to say the least.Kawajiri would later collaborate with author Hideyuki Kikuchi again on Vampire D: Bloodlust, which was a return to the action/horror genre that he remained prolific in.

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust also showed Kawajiri perfecting his form with action-timing and the capturing of horror elements at the same time, as D found himself tackling many deadly foes and debating the principles between humans and vampires, a subject that Kawajiri previously meditated on with Wicked City's dark beings.

6. Ryutaro Nakamura

Recommended Works - Serial Experiements Lain, Colorful, Kino's Journey

A rather Avant-garde director, his techniques with cold and open-ended viewpoints on situations remains something of a unique trait to say the least.

In Serial Experiments Lain, Nakamura found himself approaching technology as though it was a way of life. The commentary behind Lain is also proverbial in how it shows the helplessness of those who are not in the newfound technilogical trends, and it even gives a good look at what internet personas possess in importance to the individual. Also, Lain remains an enigmatic figure in the world of The Wired, showing there's layers of commentary regarding her and the internet-like world most people in the series embrace. The static of Lain's life in the real world in comparison to her life in the Wired is well depicted by Nakamura's coldness to the subject at hand.

Colorful was a production of perverted shorts involving some men and their urges to peek at girls whenever they could get an opportunity. Nakamura's directing has the same cold approach he did with Lain, showing the men in the series as nothing more than instinctual machines programmed to peek at women, in which none of these men, interestingly enough, approach the girls in question. It's intended as a comedy, but it remains surprisingly interesting as to how the perverted people in question are also depicted as being socially-challenged.

Kino's Journey found Nakamura giving his audience a more practical viewpoint than his previously isolated works, showing Kino as an observer of life, and the world around Kino is of course filled with many trials and tribulations that show plenty of commentary towards life as we know it. It's an open-ended analysis that gives Nakamura a chance to keep things lively with lush locales that sometimes define human practicality through their own means.

7. Satoshi Kon

Recommended Works - Perfect Blue, Millenium Actress, Paprika

Satoshi Kon is a director that knows how to play with one's perception, yet he also wishes to address issues involving the life of the celebrity, the difficulties of the lower-class, and the dreams of all people in general.

Perfect Blue remains a masterwork of the anime medium, showing Kon as a gifted director of psychological suspense. Pop star Mima goes through her career in a blur, being with pop outfit Cham to doing an acting gig and having to deal with what her fanbase thinks. Kon does an excellent job showing Mima's identity crumble under the stress of who she is and who she's expected to be, battling hallucinations of herself and finding herself losing track of reality between her life and her new job.

Millennium Actress, on the other hand, shows a woman who's had a career that was pretty much based off her need to see a man that had an effect on her life. The passionate struggle that fueled her acting showed just how unique and heart-wrenching her life really was, and Kon's directing was inventive with the use of showing a sort of documentary style that had the two people interviewing her inserted into her memories firsthand.

Paprika was a production that would let Kon flex his visual inventiveness and provide the viewer with characters and situations unlike anything else in the realm of anime, or even most of cinema for that matter. The movie looks into a group of individuals that focus on working insde of people's dreams to help them better understand themselves. The dreams of people were also depicted with proper abstraction, yet they were also shown to house unique mysteries with their sudden twists and turns. To put it bluntly, he made dreams a reality within themselves.

8. Yasuomi Umetsu

Recommended Works - Presence, Kite, Mezzo Forte

Umetsu was a character designer that would wade through much of his career without any substantial directing work. However, in the 1987 production Robot Carnival, Umetsu would catch his big break and direct the segment "Presence."

Presence was a story of a man who lived a seemingly happy family life, however, it's revealed that he is working on a robot behind his family's back to give him the feelings of warmth and love on a more practical level. In the process of making this robot, the robot starts to ask him questions and desire his own presence, thus making the creator scared of the robot and fearful of what he has done. It is a deep short that analyzes the loneliness of its main character and the subject of basic human needs in regards to what their own life offers them. It is also a proper character study when considering the man who created the robot had ultimately admited something to himself by undergoing the project.

After such a deep piece of work, Umetsu would disappear from the director's chair and continue working as an animator and character designer until 1998, in which he would get to completely create his own project with Kite. Kite, however, would be influenced from his tenure with the hentai series Cool Devices, in which he was character designer for a segment titled "Yellow Star" about a girl involved with a corrupt stepfather, in which he was a popular detective, that drugged her and did what he wanted with. The girl in question retaliated in her position and tried to stop him from abusing her, but the seedy drug underworld proved to be a powerful beast that wouldn't let her go so easily. Such a cold and unforgiving atmosphere played a crucial role in giving Umetsu the courage needed to go with his vision on Kite.

What makes Kite quite a crucial work for Umetsu is its uncompromising world and its rather interesting viewpoints on society. Main character Sawa is used and abused by her employers, the only friend she has is a fellow contract killer that seems to be in no better shape than she is, and her targets are seedy and terrible celebrity figures in which some of them deserve the death they're getting. Take for example the comedian in the beginning of Kite, in which this guy tries to take advantage of Sawa, only to have Sawa put an exploding bullet through his head (which is a nice stylistic choice by the way). After his death, a colleague of his speaks to the media as if he was a wonderful man who didn't deserve to die like he did, when in fact, it seemed like nobody knew who he really was in the end. In the same token, Sawa's boss is a corrupt investigator who ultimately stole her from her family and trained her to be a cold-blooded killer to use her for his gain. After finding the courage to leave such a life, Sawa tries to find a way out, but the end of the OVA shows that such a life is ultimately difficult to ever escape from. Also worth noting is his excellent usage of colors and a ludicrious action sequence in which Sawa falls off a building while using a man underneath her to cushion the damage.

After the dark and gritty Kite, Umetsu decided to pay homage to some of his favorite action influences and made Mezzo Forte as his follow up. Mezzo took some of the stylistic action cues of Kite and put them to a whole other level, as main character Mikura could kick people through walls and flip her way past anything. The ludicrious action pieces are complimented by equally intense characters, ranging from a sadistic mob boss' daughter to even dealers of bizarre sex dolls that inhabit this corrupt, but decidedly less serious universe of the Mezzo Forte series. Umetsu's style is definitely hard to replicate, as his raw and unrelenting view of the darker side of humanity is worth a look for anyone who's got the courage and mindset to tackle his subject matter.

9. Hayao Miyazaki

Recommended Works - The Castle of Cagliostro, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Kiki's Delivery Service, Porco Rosso

Easily the most popular director in all of anime, his works have a relative beauty among them that shows a sort of magic that's evident in most Disney productions, yet his films show some rather interesting points when one takes the sort of care to analyze a certain number of his works.

Miyazaki would make his first notable mark with The Castle of Cagliostro, making probably the most exciting Lupin film in existence, yet also showing the sort of chemistry he likes to give the cast of any of his films. Lupin and Zenigata find themselves working together, yet also resuming their roles as officer and thief respectively. There's also a rather interesting usage of gravity-defying jumps and there's an epic duel in a clock tower that also remains highly memorable.

However, Miyazaki would establish a strong female lead in Nausicaa, yet he would also show his concern with enviromental issues with the barren world in the film. Nausicaa would remain his grittiest work, as the humans of this world seemed to live alongside the creatures and their natural habitiat, yet there is a certain conflict between those who wish to live in peace with their environment, and those who wish to control it ultimately with their power. It's one of the deepest films in his catalogue hands down.

Likewise, Kiki's Delivery Service would continue his trend of strong female leads, though Kiki seemed interested in showing the idea of maturity through a witch that wished to find her way into adulthood. The simple approach to Kiki and her newfound friends in society proved sucessful, as Kiki had to find a job and a place to live amongst everyone else, yet she also found a few profound things that her own life hadn't shown her previously.

Miyazaki would eventually turn his interests inward and make a more personal production with Porco Rosso, taking his rather broad messages aside and crafting something for himself. It's an ode to older World War II films, yet it is also a personal statement towards his interest in flying. Porco is also a chracter that undergoes scrutiny by the Italian Air Force, yet he also has to fight for his love with another rival pilot, making the circumstances quite unique from anything else he had done previously or even after.

10. Hiroyuki Yamaga

Recommended Works - Daicon IV, The Wings of Honneamise, Mahoromatic

One of the mainstays of Studio Gainax, he helped bring the company forward with his work on the Daicon shorts, as Daicon III and IV showed a company that had plenty of potential to capture aspects of anime that many could appreciate, yet also find throwbacks to old franchises at the same time.

When Gainax recieved funding for a large project, Yamaga helmed his triumphant work, The Wings of Honneamise. A deep look into the life of a man named Shiro who didn't know what to do with his life, the movie focuses on all the social stratum that came with his position in a space program, and all the political intrigue that was tied to his rather dubious position. At the same time, a passion enveloped Shiro, as he pushed himself to move forward with the space program not just for himself, but for anyone that wished to follow him. The production work was well displayed, and the directing showed Yamaga's abilities to capture art on the screen with his many intimate sequences involving Shiro and his encounters with a certain girl who seemed to catch his attention.

After 14 long years, Yamaga would get to helm the director's chair once more, providing a rather surprising warmth to the production known as Mahoromatic. It was a seemingly cliche instance of a maid and her master, but at a closer glance it is actually Mahoro and her dark past catching up to her as she leads a double life of trying to combat her demons in her military past and serving her newfound employer through his many instances of awkward social behavior. It would break the very convention it stemmed from and prove Yamaga fair game for breaking the rules of anime standards as they were set.

Honorable Mentions: Akiyuki Shinbou, Makoto Shinkai, Hiroyuki Kitakubo, Koichi Chigira, Koichi Mashimo, Katsuhiko Nishijima, Koji Morimoto, Tomomi Mochizuki, Naohito Takahashi, Yoshiyuki Tomino, Fumihiko Takayama, Koji Masunari, Katsuhiro Otomo, Rin Taro, Akitaro Daichi and Shinichiro Watanabe.