Madhouse

9 - Perfect Blue: Satoshi Kon (1998)
8.5 - Millenium Actress (2001)
6.5 - Tokyo Godfathers: Satoshi Kon (2003)
6.5 - Hellsing Ultimate (2006)
5.5 - Black Lagoon (2006)
8 - Paprika: Satoshi Kon (2006)
6 - Death Note (2007)
7.5 - Redline: Takeshi Koike (2009)
6.5 - The Tatami Galaxy: Masaaki Yuasa (2010)
5 - Hunter x Hunter (2011)
6 - Chihayafuru (2012)
4 - No Game No Life (2014)
4.5 - One Punch Man (2015)

The learning curve of Perfect Blue (1998) feels tremendous in my opinion. Satoshi Kon surveys the viewers expectations only to reality check them on those pre-conceived notions. For example, the clip where Mimi continues to wake up in the same bed after clips of dysphoria is used in greater effect to trick the viewer into believing Mima is at the core of these crimes and attrocities happening around her; for instance, the delivery man who ends up murdering their subject wherein the bloody clothes are found in Mima's. Eventually we discover that Mima's friend Rumi is at the core of these incidents; either Rumi placed these bloody clothes in Mima's room to deceive her (since she frequents her room many times in the film) into thinking she was responsible for these crimes. Everything that builds up to the finale of this movie feels deliberate. The three plot pieces (Mima, Rumi and her online stalker) coincide when Mima is attacked by the stalker (who very likely started the by-proxy threats) and she ends up murdering her attacker. elieving all threats nullified,
*Believing all threats nullified is only a farce, since it becomes apparent that Rumi disposes of the body which Mima attempts to look for in the after-math. After the drive home a-tension lingers as-if-to-say "why hasn't this movie fininshed?". Alas, Mima discovers her surrounding aren't hers - only a sociological replicant of which Rumi is the by-product of. The lengthy chase scene between Mima and Rumi adds a much needs peril to an otherwise corely psychological movie. The ending, I believe, can be interpreted in multiple ways. One scenario involves Mima to be the cause of the attacks. The bloody clothes mentioned earlier could only be placed one who can access her chain-locked room (there is a specific scene where this door is almost torn apart by paparazzi). However, this becomes less believable given Rumi's scarily intimate involvement to Mima - which segways into scenario two,
Rumi is the predator of the attacks and Mima is the victim: Rumi has an identical room to Mima (which should already raise red flags), Rumi has relations to Mima's acting career and can easily pull strings in the background, and Mima often becomes baffled by actions she cannot see herself commiting. Rumi would be the puppet-master to segmenting Mima's life between the believable (the actions Mima, the actress, commits) and the unbelievable (the actions that Rumi deceives Mima into believing are hers).

An experimental third scenario is as follows. Rumi is a by-product of an unrelated obsessive behaviorism to Mima's previous idol career; her strange involvement to the story is merely a coincidence. Mima, however, is still delusional as the story portays (her acting role investigating a split-personality victim is as true to fiction as it is real life). Mima's stalker is responsible for the threats and the murders. Rumi attacking Mima is simply a delusion caused by her schizophrenic perceptions (we can see the mirror reflecting the real and fake Rumi). The scene at the end of the movie demonstrating Mima as "assured" of her real identity is false due to her "mirror effect" (previous parenthesis) reflects a self which she has conjured up as an aftermath to Rumi's obsessive behavior. Under these conditions, no characters of this story have a solid grasp on reality and any sense of certainty Satoshi Kon wants the viewer to believe are only psychological traps (or strings pulled by much larger entities).

Redline (~2002), a film which took seven years to produce (starting date est.), plays with its visual jungle using almost 3d like environments. The long time obviously gave way to detail, emphasizing its impact with over the top racing scenes. A dynamic range of characters and scenarios, akin to Speed Racer, leaves the viewer with a breath of fresh air. In contrast, the socio-political conversations add nothing to the film.

Tokyo Godfathers (2003) depicts a not well off family who are given the sudden burden of protecting a child. Interesting plot deviations such as the haikus splices into the middle of stories adds nuance; alongside other ideas: symbolism presented by a dying windmill and its resident, dark surrealist backstories alongside the more family friendly atmosphere, etc. Where no element is groundbreaking, Tokyo Godfathers uses small amusing ideas to design an intricate experience.

Hellsing Ultimate (2006), produced by Yasuyuki Ueda - taking six years to make - is a smorgasbord of eventful action sequences stacked on top of each other. The plot, which is intended to be non-serious, pits majorities (nazis, britians) against each other - maximizing blood shed.

Black Lagoon (2006) is a hyper-masculinized action thriller. Each scene attempts to demonstrate absurdist scenarios with as much tongue and cheek as possible. The gimmick eventually gets old by the half-way point, as the story begins focusing on a rescue mission rather than its fun open world elements.

Paprika (2006) is a visual puzzle. Stripped of thought-provoking analysis (nonetheless a positive attribute here), the film takes a Hitchock-ian approach: to relay an experience rather than a message; to attach to a viewer's own individual's interests, which large portions of their lives' are spent: sleep and dreams. Without these, Paprika becomes a character drama, yet such a shallow depiction would be made without including these dream like states. They add a layer of complexity. Aside from taking humanistic ideas, Satoshi Kon stretches outside of that realm. He borders on fantasies conjured from the 1900s: Alice in Wonderland and the like. Akin to spiritual attachment, learning from childhood inpsirations and intuitively adding onto them, Kon creates nuance in otherwise cliche fairytails. Paprika dressed as a fairy - but as a means of navigation rather than a characteristic trope. To jump past any further fictional references is a clever idea, there are so many, and it's core the quality of them create their own footprint as Satohshi Kon's own stylistic collage. He owns these franchises, presenting them with the humbility of a soldier. Even the end of the movie show references to other works, all of which are his! Taken from these four other films, his portfolio in ways, he reminices on how much he's grown and changed (for better or for worse) as a director.

Death Note (2007), created by Tetsurou Araki who now has the highest popular (and highest grossing) animes of all time (Attack on Titan, Guilty Crown, High School of the Dead) is a psychological thriller focused on an idealistic main character. Each episode he utilizes clever plans to assassinate his targets while simultaneously revealing more of his identity to the law in the process. What could have been an interesting idea is destroyed in the slow paced generic action thriller of the second half.

Hunter x Hunter (2011) based on the discontinued manga and thus not a full adaptation improperly converts the highly expositive style of manga into a muchly stiff anime, loaded with highly inconsistent arcs and often a snorefest.

The Tatami Galaxy (2010) plays with the idea of philosophy under a college setting. Alongside memorable and comedic symbolism, Tatami’s Galaxy accomplishes competent dialogue, likeable and expressive characters, and an unorthodoxically nuanced art-style. At its core, Tatami’s Galaxy may present a metaphor for life itself.

Chihayafuru (2012) provides education on its card game and demonstrates competency in character writing and slice-of-life atmosphere. While boring in certain arcs (sometimes numbingly) card fights actually provide elevation, using creative tactics and styles for each character (similar to March Comes in Like a Lion but to different effect). Romantic relations are not overdone and are portrayed as realistic. It’s a shame certain arcs suffer so much in quality.

No Game No Life (2014)... well at least makes as little sense as its concept. The highest sensei, analysing every grain of rice, wouldn't be able to notice everything connecting to an arbitrary conclusion. Many light novel tropes are added as well for increased vomit.

It's a shame One Punch Man (2014) becomes more successful than its counterpart Mob Psycho 100 (disregarding its flaws but made by the same writer). Instead, Madhouse attempts animating another repetively comedic "meta" analysis on superhero tropes. Anything fun or mindless (aka redeeming) becomes a chore bogged down by its attempt to be witty or clever. Alternative recommendation: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.