T5W#438-Top 5 Titles I’m Considering for the Anime Corner 10th Anniversary Review

2024 is now underway and that’s a big deal for the Gundam Anime Corner. We’re now about three months away from the blogs 10^th Anniversary on March 31, 2024.  Every year I always reserve that day for a special shoutout and welcome to readers old and new and, more importantly, a stand alone review, typically a movie.  Every year coming up with a Special Anniversary Review gets tougher but picking one for Year 10 is proving super difficult.  I mean, it’s the 10^th Anniversary, it should be big, right? And everytime I feel like I have a solid, locked in candidate, now possibilities and options arise that throw me right back into options paralysis.  So to help clear my head over this matter, our first Top 5 Wednesday of 2024 will be looking at the Top 5 Titles I’m Considering for the Anime Corner 10^th Anniversary Review. 

 
#5-Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom

This one is admittedly kind of a longshot.  The long awaited next entry of the Cosmic Era Saga doesn’t release in Japan until the end of this month.  With the blogs 10^th anniversary only a couple month later, why include this on the list if its unlikely we wont get the movie stateside anytime soon?  Well a couple of reasons.  First off the window of Anime releases in the US, even limited ones, is getting shorter and shorter.  Recent hits like Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero and Godzilla Minus One hit US theaters about a month after their debuts in Japan.  Second, as unlikely as it is, it would be awesome to mark the 10^th Anniversary of the Gundam Anime Corner with a fresh new Gundam movie.  Like I said, chances are slim but I’ll keep the hope alive nonetheless (as long as I can see it before March 30^th that is).

 
#4-Macross Zero

Ten years and so many titles have found themselves in Review Purgatory because they either get pushed to the wayside or forgotten altogether.  Macross Zero is one of those titles.  This one has bounced all over the schedule for a couple of years now and I’ve gone back and forth on whether to review this prequel to Super Dimension Fortress Macross in one or two parts.  Since 2024 does mark the 40^th Anniversary of the first Macross film: Do You Remember Love, it seems like a fun idea to get this one into the rotation.  But Macross Zero isnt a title often talked about in the Macross community and for once I’d like to review an Anime that is at least halfway decent (Perfect 10 is preferable but I’ll settle for anything that can land an 8 at least)

 
#3-The Boy and the Heron

Now if we’re going for pure pedigree status, landmark anniversary reviews don’t get anymore huge than Hayao Miyazaki.  The man came out of retirement for one last hurrah and The Boy and the Heron certainly made an impression when it arrived in the US last December, becoming the 4^th Anime to reach #1 during it’s opening weekend and bumping the Queen of Music (Beyonce) down to sixth place (with a little help from powerful holdover Godzilla Minus One but I’m getting off track).  Many have called The Boy and the Heron the true magnum opus of Miyazaki’s long and distinguished resume.  As a big fan of his works, I did an entire month dedicated the them back in 2016, I feel like I should not only check this out but also seriously consider it for the coveted 10^th Anniversary spot.  Trouble is, it’s not the only Miyazaki related title on this list, but more on that in a moment.
 

#2-Doomed Megalopolis

Doomed Megalopolis is a title I always saw on the Anime VHS shelf at my local Blockbuster, complete with that same “Not for Kids” sticker that plastered every copy of Akira.  I finally got a chance to see some of it at Otakon 2021 and I quickly nabbed a Blu-Ray copy not long afterward…and I still have not checked it out.  This one has teetered back and forth between being a Halloween Review and an Anniversary Review.  It’s certainly my most violent pick of the bunch as the OVA revolves around a generational struggle against a family of Psychics and a guy who looks like M.Bison from Street Fighter, for the future of Tokyo.  There’s blood, nudity and all the excessiveness that defines an entire generation of Anime.  It’s one I’m certainly excited to get to at some point but will 2024 be the year this finally gets reviewed?
 

#1-Spirited Away: The Stage Play

A Stage Play, say what?  Yep, I spotted this on the New Releases shelf at Target and nabbed it without hesitation.  Spirited Away is one of my all time favorite Anime films.  So when talking about a Stage Play version, the question isnt about “Why” you’d do it, it’s “How”. Of all the titles I’ve thought of for the 10^th Anniversary Review, this would be the most unique of the bunch.  Oh yeah I’ve reviewed Live Action Films and even looked at non Anime related properties like Tokyo Vice and The Last of Us on First Impression Friday.  But a Stage Play of a beloved Anime Classic?  Yeah it’s not an Anime feature per say but the temptation and curiosity is epic and it would definitely be a first for me…and a first for the Gundam Anime Corner too.