T5W#344-Top 5 Anime I Rented from Blockbuster

Ah Friday nights.  Back in the day, school got out, you’d get picked up and go out to dinner with family…and right nearby there it was, the most magical place on Earth: Blockbuster Video.  Yeah so after watching a retrospective video on the legendary video rental store, it got me thinking about the countless hours I spent there perusing isle after isle of Movies and Video Games for rent.  Naturally, I spent the bulk of that time going through the Anime Section.  It was a different kind of experience having to rent each volume or movie one at a time (ok you could do more but it was like one title per family member and I never got a proper membership til right before the chain closed…I worked with what I had).  But they were formative years and today I’m gonna take a quick moment to talk about the Top 5 Anime I Rented from Blockbuster.  Chances are high I’ve reviewed all of these movies at some point and I’ll include links along with each one.

 
#5-Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death and Rebirth & Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion

After finally catching edited versions of the first two episodes on Toonami as part of an event, I was eager to find and watch more Evangelion.  Blockbuster did have the first volume…but after that the only other titles they had were the original two part theatrical finale: Death and Rebirth & The End of Evangelion.  Honestly, I’m surprised I enjoyed both even though I was watching the end of the story and man the graphic violence lived up to the legend around it.  Luckily, this didn’t totally ruin the Evangelion watching experience for me when I went back and finally saw the show in full followed by the Movies.  Guess no matter where you start Neon Genesis Evangelion, it’s gonna leave an impact.
 
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death and Rebirth & Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion Reviews:
http://gundamanimeblog.blogspot.com/2015/05/neon-genesis-evangelion-part-7-death.html
 

#4-Spriggan

During my youth, R Rated movies were almost totally forbidden in my household, or rather my Dad didn’t really want me watching them (mostly for good reasons).  And yet, sometimes, an Animated movie would slip through the cracks and get an OK approval from Dad, Spriggan was one of those titles.  I don’t think he even watched it with me, I just saw it and thought it would be cool to watch with the guys during sleepovers.  While it’s not a perfect movie, the second half kind of drags, the first half is an awesome spectacle of over the top action with plenty of blood and gore…how the hell did Dad let me watch this again in Middle School, I’ll never know and just be grateful
 
Spriggan Review:
http://gundamanimeblog.blogspot.com/2021/03/spriggan.html

 
#3-X-1999: The Series

By High School, Blockbuster had expanded it’s Anime Section a great deal and had full series collections waiting for me to delve through week after week.  One of the first on my list was X-1999: The Series.  Thanks to a preview on a Hellsing DVD, I knew this was a TV Adaptation of the X Movie that I’d seen ages ago.  In spite of the apocalyptic finale, I still wanted to give this version of X a try…and it was ok.  My review many years later might show the cracks in the armor a bit but at the time, this was a thrilling story to me and I couldn’t wait to get back to Blockbuster the following week…and hoping no one had taken the next Volume before I did.
 
X-1999: The Series Review (Part 1):
http://gundamanimeblog.blogspot.com/2016/11/x-part-1-episodes-1-5.html
 
 
#2-Martian Successor Nadesico

While I was mostly looking to expand my own Anime knowledge through Blockbuster, there was also a lot I wanted to share with my sister.  That meant finding an age appropriate for us both to enjoy, one that was fun if not a bit safe.  Enter Nadesico, another title I’d seen some of thanks to Toonami.  Seeing as how my Sis and I were both big Gundam Wing fans, this was right up our alley.  Plus, it was funny.  I never knew it was a deconstruction of the Mecha genre til years later but even without that knowledge, you can still laugh at the Gekiganger worship or Yurika’s constant pratfalls or Ruri just calling everyone an idiot all the time.
 
Martian Successor Nadesiso Review (Part 1):
http://gundamanimeblog.blogspot.com/2017/01/martian-successor-nadesico-part-1.html
 

#1-Princess Mononoke

“It’s the Star Wars of Anime”.  That was all I needed to see on a VHS cover that offered little besides a warrior thrusting his sword up at an unseen foe.  I had no idea I was about to immerse myself into a Miyazaki world for the very first time, nor did I know it would be one of the absolute best ever.  While I do enjoy Spirited Away and Ponyo a lot, Princess Mononoke still stands as one of Miyazki’s truest masterpieces, some even argue it’s THE best.  For me, as amazing as it is, i’ll never forget watching it with my ten year old sister when a soldier lost both of his upper arms to an arrow from Ashitaka.  I never looked around the room so quickly to make sure neither of my parents were around to see that…good times.
 
Princess Mononoke Review:
http://gundamanimeblog.blogspot.com/2016/01/princess-mononoke.html