@09philj Fair warning, while Akira is an excellent movie and its impact on anime in America shouldn't be ignored there's a lot of hype around it. If you go in expecting too much you'll probably be disappointed.
I'm a huge Miyazaki fan. I've seen almost all of his movies. The ones I haven't are surprisingly hard to find, it took me years to find working videos of My Neighbor Totoro and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds. My personal favorite among his movies is Princess Mononoke.
@Ishtaron Of the ones i've seen (Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Kiki's Delivery Service, and My Neighbour Totoro, all in close succession quite a few years ago when Channel 4(?) had a Miyazaki season) I liked Laputa the best, possibly because it's one of his more conventional works and I was a lot younger then.
Yeah, all of Miyazaki's films have a little weirdness to them and few are actually meant for children. Howl's Moving Castle is a love story set during a war, Princess Mononoke has lots of gore and violence based around a theme of learning to live in harmony with nature, Spirited Away is very dark when you think about it (a ten year old girl is kidnapped and forced to work in a bathhouse, if you're old enough read between the lines there), etc. Lot of adult themes to his movies. Laputa is one of his more conventional movies and certainly works better with most western audiences, possibly because as far as I can tell the story of Laputa originates in Gulliver's Travels so there's already a direct connection to western culture built into the setting.
Unrelated note to anime, but there is a fantastic indie movie starring Ted Danson as he plays Gulliver narrating his adventures from an insane asylum, since he feels compelled to share the story before he can move on with his life. It stays close to the source material, which makes it quite long, but it's a far better film than that abomination starring Jack Black.
I just watched Akira. Basically, it's the cinematic equivalent of being beaten round the head for two hours, but in a good way. I would definitely recommend watching it. The animation, art, and cinematography are fantastic, and the story is not one I'm likely to forget in a hurry.
I finished Sword Art Online. It is now my favorite anime, next to One Piece and Akame Ga Kill. I loved them all so much! Can anyone make a suggestion for what I should watch next?
@Saphire24 If you haven't yet seen the films Akira or Ghost in the Shell, I'd advise you to watch them. There's a good reason why they're cult favourites.
@Saphire24 I'd very highly recommend Fullmetal Alchemist and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. I liked them so much that I started rewatching them within a few days of finishing.
The two shows are in alternate universes from each other but I'd recommend that you watch FMA before watching FMA:B.
