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1001 Animated Films You Should Watch Suggestions Thread - FINAL UPDATE 9/APRIL/2019 (AT 4000 FILMS!)


Apollo Chungus

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Not really sure why I haven't posted in here, seeing as I'm a huge animation fan, but I'll throw in some suggestions. Apologies if I end up accidentally repeating certain stuff:

Samurai Jack: XCIII (2017) - dir. Genndy Tartakovsky 

Probably one of the best pieces of animation I've seen to date, this episode is the point that Samurai Jack Season 5 really began hitting it's stride. With a true sense of desperate attempts of survival, a serious take on guilt and giving up, and bringing a character's very morals into questions, this episode is amazing. The basic story involving Jack being hunted down by the Daughters of Aku, who successfully strip the samurai of all weapons, force him on the retreat, and forces him into a desperate battle for survival, it's extremely well done. 

Batman Beyond: Rebirth (1999) Parts 1 and 2 - dir. Curt Geda, Written by Alan Burnett and Paul Dini 

Since Return of the Joker is already on the list, I want to mention Rebirth as a potential candidate. I feel Rebirth is a great origin story for Terry and in general, introducing us to the new world of Neo-Gotham and the new character dynamics of this new world. From an ageing Bruce Wayne being forced to use a gun for defence despite hating them to the attack on Terry's father, it's a solid two-parter that opens up this excellent series. It also ties into Return of the Joker quite a bit with certain aspects as well.

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22 hours ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Not really sure why I haven't posted in here, seeing as I'm a huge animation fan, but I'll throw in some suggestions. Apologies if I end up accidentally repeating certain stuff.

It's no problem, and you haven't repeated anything at all (until you're planning to edit this post and add more suggestions). In fact, you're the first guy to suggest anything from Samurai Jack, believe it or not. Thanks for the suggestions; I'm happy to hear of anything else you have to offer; and have a great day!

-Jim McGrath/FrDougal9000

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LIST HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH SUGGESTIONS FROM DK VINE, TWITTER, OTHER WEBSITES AND BOOKS I'VE BEEN READING, AS OF 15:48 - 17/NOVEMBER/2017.

Good evening, everyone! I hope you're all doing well! Today's update is another biggun, with 196 films being added to the list. That takes us just over 2500 films, which is a pretty staggering number no matter how I think about it. As usual, I want to thank you all for your contributions and suggestions, since there's no way in hell I could have gotten this far without y'all. Thank you.

To make this update interesting, I'm going to recommend a trio of series, playlists, and channels on YouTube for y'all to watch:

GOBELINS - A French art school that regularly posts animated films by their students on the internet. There's a great variety in terms of visual styles, mediums, storytelling methods, etc. that will ensure you find at least two or three shorts worth watching; if nothing else, they're at least guaranteed to look gorgeous.

Mickey Mouse 2013, dir. Paul Rudish (supervising) - Airing since mid-2013, this latest run of Mickey Mouse provides some of the best slapstick comedy I've seen in years. Great timing, superb storyboarding, hysterical character expressions, and beyond make for a series absolutely worth watching!

A Collection of Kōji Nanke's Music Videos - Undoubtedly the most obscure of this list of recommendations, Kōji Nanke is an animator who primarily works on music videos for the NHK's children series Minna No Uta. His artstyle is often very simple and childlike (personally, it reminds me of Raymond Briggs at times), he often experiments with medium blending (characters animated on scraps of paper), and each video feels distinct from each other. It makes for a fascinating body of work from an animator who really should be given more recognition for how he always tries to innovate.

And with that, I'll leave y'all to do your thing. Please keep contributing with suggestions and feedback, like and share the FaceBook page, and check out a couple of films that grab your interest. Thank you for reading, and until we meet again, have a great day y'all!

-Jim McGrath/FrDougal9000

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LIST HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH SUGGESTIONS FROM DK VINE, TWITTER, OTHER WEBSITES AND BOOKS I'VE BEEN READING, AS OF 22:10 - 1/DECEMBER/2017.

Good evening, everyone! I hope you're all doing well! To ring in the last month of 2017, we've got another update to the list, which features 78 new additions!It's a pretty interesting update, full of the earliest known animations from various countries round the world, which comes from the very interesting Animation - A World History: Volume 1 by Giannalberto Bendazzi, an animation history book that I might discuss later on this week (more on that in a minute). To everyone who has already contributed, thank you all once again. I'll say more in an update later on this month (since it'll likely be the last one for the year), but I do appreciate everything y'all have done.

In the meantime, I've been keeping the Facebook page busy with daily posts, recommending various animated works and articles/books/etc. about animated works. For those who don't use Facebook, I've decided to include the posts in a small document down below for you to read. I hope you enjoy the various things I recommend!

Spoiler

FILM OF THE DAY! (Monday - 27/Nov/2017)
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Adam (1991), dir. Peter Lord

Animation is often seen as the modern-day equivalent of "The Creation of Adam", in which a god-like being sculpts a creature of their likeness from a ball of clay.

It's fitting then, that we begin with a comical interpretation of the myth as directed by Peter Lord, from Aardman Animations (Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run, Creature Comforts).

This was one of the first non-W&G Aardman shorts I ever watched, and it won me over with its purely visual comedy, the myriad of concepts and skits it tackles in such a short runtime, and that charming (if sometimes bleak) tone that made the British Claymation studio a darling the world over.

Hopefully, it will win you over as well. Enjoy.
 


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LOOK OF THE DAY! (Tuesday - 28/Nov/2017)
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Geri's Game - Behind-The-Scenes Interview with Director Jan Pinkava; Cartoon Brew

Geri's Game, a charming Pixar short about an old man playing chess (you might remember it being included on the VHS/DVD of A Bug's Life), celebrated its 20th anniversary just a few days. To add to this, renowned animation news site Cartoon Brew held an interview with the film's director Jan Pinkava, who went into the film's production, his philosophies and inspirations for creating it, and what it meant for Pixar at the time.

It's a great interview, full of interesting insights, sketches and storyboards for unused concepts and story ideas, and even a few name-dropped directors who helped to inspire the film's final direction. If you're a fan of Geri's Game, I can't recommend this interview enough.

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/cgi/geris-game-turns-20-director-jan-pinkava-reflects-game-changing-pixar-short-154646.html

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FILM OF THE DAY! (Wednesday - 29/Nov/2017)
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Neon Genesis Evangelion Episode 9: Both of You, Dance Like You Want To Win! (1995), dir. Seiji Mizushima, Hideaki Anno

(Or in this case, an episode...)

Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of the most widely recognized anime around. Directed by Hideaki Anno (who did Shin Godzilla last year), it's a character-driven mecha anime that soon goes down some very strange roads, and is as ground-breaking as it is divisive. Depending on who you ask, Evangelion is either a masterpiece worth celebrating every day or the biggest pile of pretentious nonsense since City of Angels.

I side with the former, and consider Evangelion to be a series that everyone should watch at least once.

So why am I talking about its NINTH episode, of all things? For three reasons:

1. Today happens to be the 22nd anniversary of this episode's premiere on Japanese TV, so it seemed like a good reason as any to talk about it.

2. It was the first ever episode of Evangelion I ever watched. It's a bit strange, but while I had been wanting to watch the show for some time, I was nervous to do so thanks to many things I'd heard heard about the series (namely, its subject matter and rather disturbing themes). However, when I heard that there was a light-hearted episode that wasn't like the rest of the series, I figured that could be a good way to test the waters before going forward. And so I watched Episode 9.

And that leads onto...

3. Episode 9, despite the somewhat odd tone it can have in relation to the rest of the series, is a fantastic episode. It demonstrates some of the show's key strengths, such as how effortlessly it conveys its world and characters without clunky exposition or awkward cuts between different segments of the cast.
Even though I knew nothing about the show's plot or cast, I still managed to understand quickly what was going on through character interactions. I knew that something had happened between Kaji and Misato in the past, just through the tense scenes they shared together. I quickly grasped onto the relationships between the main three pilots (Shinji, Asuka and Rei), without having to be told upfront about it.

What makes the storytelling really work, however, is that despite its simplicity, there's still a lot left unsaid. Scenes occur and then will often end on a question of some sort, and it always keeps me thinking about these characters, always keeps me reading between the lines to see what's going on underneath. Not that Evangelion confuses obtuse presentation with complex storytelling, mind you. It's simply that the show tells its story in a very straightforward way, but then leaves enough open to keep me thinking about it long after the episode's wrapped up.

The film-making itself is also something to behold. The opening scene, a montage of pictures secretly taken of Asuka while students gossip about her, is a quietly voyeuristic sequence that grabs your attention from the off-set. The superb climactic fight against the Angel contains no sound other than a fantastic classical piece composed by Shiro Sagisu, letting the music sync with the animation in a truly unique way. And that scene between Shinji and Asuka at night! It's been five years since I first watched this episode, and I still haven't seen anything quite so subtly sinister since.

It's a great episode, and it's what made me take the plunge to watch what would become not just my favourite animated TV series, but also something that dramatically changed my life for the better. Maybe I'll tell you about it someday...

Unfortunately, unlike most of these recommendations, I can't easily link to the episode for you to watch it, or even a way to acquire it in a reasonable manner. Evangelion DVDs have been out of print in the West for years (you can find them online, but they're super expensive), and it isn't available on legal streaming sites like Crunchyroll or Netflix. And no, I'm not linking to torrenting or piracy sites; if you're curious enough, you can find that sort of thing by yourself.

At the very least, I'll post the only scene from the episode left unscatched on YouTube:
 

All I can say otherwise is that if someone asks you watch Evangelion with them, if it's Episode 9, maybe consider taking the plunge. You might find more than you expected.

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LOOK OF THE DAY! (Thursday - 30/Nov/2017)
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Dragon Ball Dissection: The Bardock Special; MistareFusion

One of my favourite YouTube series is Dragon Ball Dissection, a retrospective where MistareFusion reviews and analyses the world-renowned Dragon Ball manga every step of the way. It's a series full of great insights into characters and plot points, and one that's had me think about the series in new ways over the years. If you're a Dragon Ball fan, it's a series to definitely keep an eye on.

Occasionally, he also looks at the TV anime adaptation (split into 'Dragon Ball' and 'Dragon Ball Z', the latter of which is much more well known to most of you reading this) to see how it differs from the source material, and any interesting tidbits that get his attention.

In this episode, he examines the TV special "Bardock: The Father of Goku"*, which tells the ill-fated, forgotten tale of series protagonist Son Goku's father, Bardock. It's an fascinating special, due to how it takes on a tone completely unlike anything else in Dragon Ball, and while being a prequel of all things!
This video examines (among other things) how the Bardock Special manages to avoid the pitfalls that come with making prequels, the character of Bardock and an interesting way of writing a sympathetic villain protagonist, and what makes the Bardock Special so... special.

If you're a Dragon Ball fan, definitely give this video (and Dragon Ball Dissection in general) a look. And even if you're not, maybe check this out and see what you think.
 

*This is the name used for the English localization, which I decided to use for the sake of being concise. The original Japanese name is translated as "A Lonesome, Final Battle - The Father of Z Warrior Son Goku, who Challenged Freeza".

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SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND! (Friday - 1/Dec/2017)
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Mickey Mouse (2013), dir. Paul Rudish (supervising)

One of the best things about working on the '1001 Animated Films You Should Watch' project is checking out films, shorts, shows and other works that I might not have previously given more than a passing glance. And what's even better is when I check out one of those works and it becomes one of my favourite things to have discovered this year.

Which brings us onto the topic of this post: the (frankly fantastic) series of Mickey Mouse shorts being released since 2013. If you grew up watching Disney shorts from the 30's-50's and are expecting these new shorts to be like those, please leave your expectations at the door: this is not your grandparents' Mickey Mouse.

It's a fast, frantic series full of wild chase scenes, over-exaggerated character expressions, and ridiculous escapades - it honestly feels more like Ren & Stimpy than anything to do with what most people would think of when it comes to Mickey Mouse, and I love it! There's such a manic energy behind every element of the series; the animation, the storyboarding, the soundtrack, the acting; that I find it utterly delightful, and the release of yet another episode always makes me giddy to sit down and see what wonderful madness is about to unfold.

Even the worst episodes never fail to put a smile on my face, and that really speaks to how much I adore this series. So, I figured that it would be the best place to start with when doing these weekend collections.
 

This custom playlist contains every episode aired of the series so far in chronological order (it's totally legal, too, since it's uploaded on the official Mickey Mouse YouTube channel!). Maybe I'll go more in-depth on some of these shorts at some point, but my highest recommendations would be:

New York Weenie (Season 1, Episode 4), dir. Aaron Springer
Tokyo Go (Season 1, Episode 5), dir. Paul Rudish
Gasp! (Season 1, Episode 7), dir. Clay Morrow
Bad Ear Day (Season 1, Episode 9), dir. Chris Savino
The Boiler Room (Season 2, Episode 9), dir. Paul Rudish
Al Rojo Viva (Season 2, Episode 16), dir. Dave Wasson
Movie Time (Season 3, Episode 4), dir. Dave Wasson
Entombed (Season 3, Episode 17), dir. Dave Thomas
Canned (Season 4, Episode 2), dir. Paul Rudish
Touchdown and Out (Season 4, Episode 3), dir. Dave Thomas
Bee Inspired (Season 4, Episode 5), dir. Eddie Trigueros

But if you enjoy even just one episode, then I'll be glad to have shown them to you. Have a good weekend, everyone!

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FILM OF THE DAY! (Saturday - 2/Dec/2017)
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Diamond Jack (2017), dir. Rachel Kim

This animated student film's gotten quite a bit of attention ever since it was uploaded earlier this year, and for good reason.

It's a short, exciting chase full of twists and turns, simple character designs that lend themselves very nicely to animation, and a great jazzy tune that punctuates the action. But what I particularly like about it is how it echoes the spirit of 1960's TV anime (and I'm not talking about the Osamu Tezuka/Astro Boy inspired look).

Creation animation for TV is always going to be an arduous task, since it demands a ridiculous amount of content in an unreasonably small span of time. In order to get things done without killing their entire workforce, animation studios chose to make cuts in certain areas - namely, the number of drawings used.

In America, this led to shows where dialogue-driven stories was the main focus, since the animation wouldn't be anywhere near as good as during the days of theatrical animation (Hanna-Barbera, Filmation, etc.). While in Japan, this led to shows where the creators tried to make those few drawings as interesting as possible, through storyboarding, exciting character animation and so on (for examples, go watch this collection of animated sequences by Hayao Miyazaki).

Diamond Jack echoes and respects this legacy by containing a small number of drawings, but using each one to effectively express the characters' emotions and actions. It can be a bit rough at first, at least compared to Western cartoons full of silky smooth animation, but there's something impressive about how there's so much life put into these characters with only a fraction of the drawings used elsewhere.

If you don't believe me, check this short out and see what you think. Maybe you'll learn something new.
 


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LOOK OF THE DAY! (Sunday - 3/Dec/2017)
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Creating 3-D Animation: The Aardman Book of Filmmaking; Peter Lord & Brian Sibley*

To round off this first week, I'm going to recommend the book that arguably kicked off my interest in animation appreciation. This book was given to my brother when working on his Game Design course at St John's College, and I started reading it whenever he wasn't using it for anything.

It's a detailed book that goes into the history of animation (as provided by famed animation historian Brian Sibley), the tools needed to create plasticine animation, insight into various aspects of production such as animation principles, set design, lighting, model-making, and more.

To demonstrate many of its points, the book used examples of films Aardman had created over the years, and it encouraged me to go and give many of them a look. Adam (as discussed earlier this week), Wat's Pig, Not Without My Handbag, and Loves Me, Loves Me Not were among those shorts, and they made me want to know more about the world of animation.

This book is arguably responsible for leading me down the path I'm on, the creation of the 1001 Animated Films project, and for this Facebook page. For that, I'm eternally grateful, and I can only hope that if you are curious enough to check out this book, you'll get something out of it too.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cracking-Animation-Aardman-Book-3-D/dp/0500291993/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1511716445&sr=1-5

*Also known as "Cracking Animation: The Aardman Book of 3-D Animation", which is what you'll find in the link (the book has since been updated to feature some of their newer work, such as the Shaun the Sheep movie)

There's not much else I have to say for now, so I think I'll leave it at that. Please continue to contribute with suggestions and feedback, share this project and the Facebook page around, and thank you all again. Until we meet again, have a great day!

-Jim McGrath/FrDougal9000

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LIST HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH SUGGESTIONS FROM DK VINE, TWITTER, OTHER WEBSITES AND BOOKS I'VE BEEN READING, AS OF 16:25 - 22/DECEMBER/2017.

Good evening, everyone! I hope you're all doing well! Today's update will mark the last update to the 1001 Animated Films You Should Watch project of 2017, and I would like to mark this occasion with three things.

First, the latest update features 130 new additions, which means that the total number of suggestions is a little over 2700 FILMS! No matter how long I've been working on this project, the fact that there's still so many works to consider including on the list; nevermind the fact that there's always a dozen or so new things over the horizon; is both ridiculous and amazing!

Secondly, here's the collection of daily recommendations I've been doing on FB since the last update. I hope you enjoy my thoughts and whatever I recommend.

Spoiler

FILM OF THE DAY! (Monday - 4/Dec/2017)

Kung Fu Cooking Girls (2011), dir. Jin Roh*

WARNING: Slightly NSFW (Not Safe For Work)

An exhausted traveller wanders into a town, desperate for rest and food. Two cooks of excellent skill, but opposite ideals for what makes a good meal, compete for his attention and money in every way imaginable.

For fans of simple but effective character designs, very expressive animation, and action scenes full of gorgeous smears and impact frames, this is the short for you.

The video quality's not the best (360p might have been the best the studio's Vimeo channel could upload at back in 2011), but the quality of the animation, the storyboarding and the action still shines through regardless.

https://vimeo.com/28494779

*Any jokes about the anime movie will be punished with a silly thing from the internet

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LOOK OF THE DAY! (Tuesday - 5/Dec/2017)

Slice of Like: Milt Kahl's Character-Animation for Madame Medusa; A Humble Professor

I'll keep this recommendation short, since there's not a lot that I can say that isn't already said in this frankly great video by A Humble Professor, which provides a brief but well-made gateway into the topic of appreciating quality character animation (and for a Disney film, at that!).

If you're a fan of The Rescuers (the film being discussed in this video), or Disney animation in general, please check out this video. I guarantee you'll get something out of it.

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FILM OF THE DAY! (Wednesday - 6/Dec/2017)

SIAMÉS: The Wolf (2017), dir. Fer Suniga & Rudo Co.

I'm a sucker for animation with a very stylized use of colour, so it shouldn't be too surprising that the first music video to be recommended in these daily posts is one that goes all out on style.

I'm not really a fan of the song (it's just not my thing), but I'll happily admit that a lot of work was done to make sure that the animation fit it as well as possible: the calm turning into a storm when the song transitions from verse to chorus, the timing of the animation syncs up to the song's beats, and even the use of colour changes depending on what of the song we're at.

It's a visually distinctive video, and one backed by some great animation. The different characters each have their own designs and mannerisms that shine through in the animation, the strong lighting adds a unique atmosphere, and there's excellent shots that pull off complex camera movement without a sweat. It's an all-round great music video, and one I'd happily urge anyone to check out.

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LOOK OF THE DAY! (Thursday - 7/Dec/2017)

Animation: A World History Volume 1 - Foundations/The Golden Age; Giannalberto Bendazzi

In my ongoing search for important works in the history of animation, and to simply gain a better understanding of that history, I've been hitting up the local library quite frequently to see if they've got any books to help me out. And one such book, lurking deep within the reference section, is the first in a three voulme series covering the history of animation from the 1890's up until now.

Overseen by Giannalberto Bendazzi, considered the world's best animation historian, this first volume looks at the various developments in the medium of animation (and by extension, the history of film) from the beginning up until the mid-1940's. It looks at various directors and animators from all across the world, the many works they created, and how they contributed to animation in all manner of ways.

It's a very in-depth book, and one that can be a bit too daunting for those who are only just getting into animation appreciation, but it's one that I would highly recommend checking out however you can. I link to Amazon, but you can easily get it on Google Play Books, eBooks, your local library, and many other places.

If you're at all interested in the history of animation, or the history of film since the two are frequently intertwined, please consider giving this book a look.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Animation-World-History-Foundations-Golden/dp/1138854522

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SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND! (Friday - 8/Dec/2017)

A Celebration of Richard Williams!

Today marks a truly exciting occassion, with the beginning of the European Animation Awards (http://animationawards.eu/) - an animation festival meant to celebrate the medium and the work of European animators on a scale previously unseen in the continent. As a European, it's really cool to see such a thing happening, and one area that's got me particularly excited is the Lotte Reiniger Lifetime Award.

Named after the acclaimed European animator/director, the award is handed out to an individual who has spent their lifetime contributing to and forwarding the medium of animation in any way possible, and so it's fitting that the very first Lotte Reiniger Award should be handed to the great Richard Williams.

Richard Williams is a British animator who is known for directing films and commercials packed to the brim with incredibly smooth animation, insane camera movements that are pulled off effortlessly, and the final works of many great Golden Age animators such as Ken Harris, Art Babbitt and Grim Natwick.

He is primarily known round the world for directing the sublime animation in the game-changing Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, but animation fans remember him for his unfinished masterpiece The Thief and the Cobbler: a decades-spanning film intended to demonstrate what traditional animation could do when pushed to its limits and beyond. I'll talk about the latter at some point, but that's the least of Williams' work.

His animation studio was well known for producing excellently animated commercials and opening sequences for films such as Charge of the Light Brigade and Return of the Pink Panther, alongside cult classics like A Christmas Carol (1971), The Little Island, and Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure (all of which were directed by Williams).

Today, Williams is known for creating The Animator's Survival Kit, one of the modern-day essentials in teaching animators how to animate. In all these ways and more, Richard Williams is undoubtedly deserving of the very first Lotte Reiniger Lifetime Award, and I personally congratulate him and wish him the very best on his future endevours.

The first link below will take you to TheThiefArchive, a YouTube channel dedicated towards archiving as much of Richard Williams' work as possible. This includes the various commercials and opening sequences made for dozens of clients, the critically acclaimed Recobbled Cut for Thief and the Cobbler, his shorts films A Christmas Carol and The Little Island, and more.

If you want to know why Williams is heralded throughout the world, please look through the channel, and consider checking out his other films (or watching them on whatever you have if they're readily available).

Congratulations, Richard Williams.

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheThiefArchive

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Who-Framed-Roger-Rabbit-Special/dp/B000085RPU

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FILM OF THE DAY! (Saturday - 9/Dec/2017)

Story Time (1968), dir. Terry Gilliam

Watching Monty Python's Flying Circus (and their various films) when I was younger, one of my favourite things were the endlessly weird animated segments created by Terry Gilliam. Often used to transition between sketches, they would feature paper cut-outs of old photographs and classical artwork mingling with whatever strange creatures Gilliam would draw in his own distinctive way, and be comprised of a very strange logic that made them a joy to watch.

But before Monty Python, Gilliam made a couple of short films using his distinctive style, one of which is the hilariously barmy Story Time. I'll not say any more than that, since it would be an impossible, and a wasted, effort to try and describe Gilliam's animation anymore than I already have.

Give it a look, and it might pick up your weekend.

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LOOK OF THE DAY! (Sunday - 10/Dec/2017)

The Stylistic Influences of Cuphead; Super Eyepatch Wolf

One of the biggest games to have come out this year is the madcap shooting game Cuphead. What captures most people's attention is not its high level of challenge, or the variety of bosses you'll be facing off against, but instead its visual style. Cuphead is very clearly inspired by the 1930's rubberhose era of animated, as demonstrated by the likes of the Fleischer Studios and early Disney, but how much so?

In this informative and interesting video, Super Eyepatch Wolf goes through the many inspirations Studio MDHR took in creating Cuphead - from character designs to the atmosphere conveyed to the animation principles used to give the enormous, charming cast life. It's a good example of how animation can affect the creation and enjoyment of the many mediums surrounding it, and ultimately the kind of impact that animation can have when recognized and used to its full potential.

Please check it out, and hopefully you'll see what I mean.

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FILM OF THE DAY! (Monday - 11/Dec/2017)

Loop Ring Chop Drink (2014), dir. Nicolas Ménard

While looking for films or music videos to include in the latest update to the '1001 Animated Films You Should Watch' list, I ended up watching quite a few shorts by the animator Nicolas Ménard. His shorts often use very distinctive, almost 'pop art' like imagery with a strong use of colours, often fused with an absurdist bent that can lead to some quite strange, and quite dark, stories.

One such short is Loop Ring Chop Drink, a short covering the lives of 4 people living in the same apartment block, and how they are end up impacting each other in little ways. If you're in the mood for bright colours with dark undertones, or at least in the mood for some absurdist humour, look no further than this short.

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LOOK OF THE DAY! (Tuesday - 12/Dec/2017)

From Mexico To Germany, Polish Artists Are Playing A Key Role In Global Animation Productions; Cartoon Brew

One of the most exciting aspects of working on the '1001 Animated Films You Should Watch' project is that it encourages me to pay attention to the animation industry, and any interesting developments that occur at time goes by. One development in particular that's got me interested is the way that Polish artists have been contributing to numerous stop-motion animated works in recent years.

This article from Cartoon Brew looks at the studio Momakin, which has helped with the production of the upcoming Inzomnia (Mexico's first feature length stop-motion film!),  and the overall movement to help promote the impact that Poland has had on the art of animation. For fans of stop-motion, or people who like to keep abreast of positive news within the animation industry, this an article I highly recommend you read!

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/presented-by-momakin/mexico-germany-polish-artists-playing-key-role-global-animation-productions-155225.html

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FILM OF THE DAY! (Wednesday - 13/Dec/2017)

For Socks Sake (2008), dir. Carlo Vogele

I'll happily admit that when it comes to animated shorts, I am a complete sucker for novelty. Tell me about a short featuring any kind of unconventional material being animated; wool, sand, thumb tacks and rubber bands; and I am guaranteed to check it out. One such example is today's For Socks Sake, a 2008 short about the adventures of numerous articles of clothing and their attempt to save a friend.

It's a silly, irreverent short, but it always impresses how animators have the ability to humanize anything (considering how often we draw the line between organic and inorganic, for instance), and it's always a joy seeing the animation and trying to decipher the steps they took to make give these clothes life. It won't be for everyone, of course, but I highly urge you give it a watch and see what you think!

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LOOK OF THE DAY! (Thursday - 14/Dec/2017)

Why Batman: Mask of the Phantasm works; B-Mask

I'll keep this one short, since (much like the Milt Kahl video I linked last week) there isn't a whole lot that I can say about this interesting analysis of what is considered by many to be the best Batman movie that isn't already said within the video itself.

I'm not really a fan of Batman: The Animated Series, which Mask of the Phantasm is a part of, but this video has at least helped me to get a better understanding of why this series (and Batman in general) is often given such critical acclaim.

Maybe you'll understand as well after watching this vid (or hell, maybe you're a fan and will enjoy hearing a good analytical insight onto the film - that's also pretty good!).

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SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND! (Friday - 15/Dec/2017)

Kōji Nanke Collection

Kōji Nanke is an animator primarily recognized for his work on the opening and ending sequences to various hit anime such as Urusei Yatsura, Ranman 1/2 and Maison Ikkoku, due to his eye-popping visuals and unique use of medium blending (which is the combination of numerous forms of animation to create something distinct). However, he is also well known for the music videos he creates for the Japanese TV programs Minna No Uta (Everyone's Songs) and Ponkikki.

What's great about Nanke is that he's always trying something new with each video; while there ocassionaly may be a recurring style to the way he draws people (a simple, child like look that always reminds of Raymond Briggs), he's never content to rest on his laurels. Each video contains some new method of medium blending, a different artstyle or colour design, or generally a new way to tell a compelling story that fits the music and its overall mood.

Even though he's been in the industry for just over 45 years, he's still working on music videos, and still experimenting. Just earlier this year, he produced "My birthday has come! Wai! Wai!" for Ponkikki, and I can only presume that he's still got more up his sleeve.

This linked playlist, created by Servernode/Animated Golem (who got me into Nanke to begin with), features every Nanke music video that has been found and uploaded onto YouTube (in chronological order as well), along with the various openings and endings he's animated over the years.

Hopefully, this'll brighten up your mood, and demonstrate how versitile a single animator can be.

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FILM OF THE DAY! (Saturday - 16/Dec/2017)

Symphony No. 42 (2013), dir. Réka Bucsi

I'm feeling a bit silly today, so I've decided to post a short with a very odd, sometimes bleak sense of humour. It's not particularly impressive in terms of animation or production values, but there's something about it that I can't help but find really funny.

If nothing else, show it to your friends to weird them out.

---

NO MORE POSTS HAVE BEEN DONE SINCE THEN, DUE TO THINGS GETTING BUSY FOR A WHILE

And finally, I want to thank everybody who has contributed to it over the last several months. I wish I could find the words in me to express the gratitude I have for all of you, for helping me find all kinds of amazing things from across the history of animation, for helping me to further understand and appreciate how amazing this medium is, and for giving me something to work towards during times when I felt like I couldn't do anything.

I thank you all from the bottom of my heart, and I want to wish you all the very best in everything. Have a lovely Christmas, have a wonderful new year, and have a fantastic life in general.

-Jim McGrath/FrDougal9000

Spoiler

Paul Cronin
Richard Cross
Laura McGrath
Dave McGrath
tamerlane
Daniel Thomas MacInnes
Jerry Beck
Fred Patten
Steve Stanchfield
Chris Patmore
Adam Cook
Mark Whitehead
Hector Gonzalez
Stephen Cavalier
Giannalberto Bendazzi
Amid Amidi
Alison Herman
Sun-Wukong 
SurrealBrain 
NathanVS. 
MFWolfe 
King Smithy 
koopaul 
Karate Joe 
AwesomeCauliflower68 
Prika 
Kara Kong
Sabertooth1000000000 
Twilight Vestige 
ILDC 
Zedxclon 
DarkBluePhoenix 
Reichu 
Joseki
Kazuki_Fuse 
Cosmo11 
Mr Tines 
pwhodges
Director Black 
cyharding 
Maxtiis
Nightly 
Indigo Rush 
CleverSonicUsername
AxelPrime 
Bowbowis
Monkey Destruction Switch
Soldier: 76 
Joy 
Ernest-Panda
CottonCandy 
Ryannumber1gamer
YTWes
ibcf
Josh Dunham
AnimeGolem
feezy_fezz 
Felipe Rojas 
DJAHa 
Jmcfarlane49 
turtlestack 
Time Out 
Cartoon Brew 
Laputa Animation Festival

 

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Don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but another great movie to add to the list would be Beavis and Butt-Head Do America.

I wasn't a fan of the show when I first saw it (just never watched it, but liked Mike Judge's other work) but it pulled me in pretty easily. It's a great introduction to the characters if someone hasn't seen the show before, and you don't need much knowledge of the characters going into it. I've known a lot of people who brush Beavis and Butt-Head off as just mindless humor, but it actually has very smart writing delivered through very dumb characters.

The animation is very nicely done, though it still has the stylistic "shakiness" that the show, and to a lesser extent King of the Hill, has. It's also one of the last few animated movies to have been done almost entirely through cel animation, so anyone who is a fan of traditional animation will probably enjoy watching it if not just for that. It's likely the nicest animation you'll see out of anything Beavis and Butt-Head, except for maybe the short revival season in 2011.

Some big name celebrities guest star as well, with Bruce Willis and Debi Moore playing the main antagonists, and Cloris Leachman playing an old lady that the duo run into a few times during the movie. One of my favorite bits from the movie is when Beavis mishears the lady talking about "doin' the slots" at Vegas as "sluts", which excites both of them. Her difficulty hearing means that their vulgarity goes right over her head as well.
 

It's a bit different from the usual Beavis and Butt-Head episodes, what with there being no music videos for them to watch, but people who enjoyed King of the Hill will probably enjoy the movie as well.

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LIST HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH SUGGESTIONS FROM DK VINE, TWITTER, OTHER WEBSITES AND BOOKS I'VE BEEN READING, AS OF 13:52 - 9/JANUARY/2018.

Hello, everybody, and Happy New Year! (Plays slightly odd, but somehow fitting celebratory music) I hope you're all doing well! Today marks both the first update to the 1001 Animated Films You Should Watch project for 2018, and the nine month anniversary of this project. To ring in the occasion, we've got another big update to kick off the year!

This update contains 182 films, which means that the total number of suggestions has gone a little bit over 2900 FILMS! It's baffling to think that in just nine months, we've nearly reached 3000 suggestions of movies, shorts, episodes, music videos, and all manner of subjects that define why animation is such an excellent medium, but here we are! I thank you all once again, and to the various websites and books I've visited as of late; I don't know where I'd be without you.

I haven't been updating the Facebook page since the last update, so I don't have any recommendations or write ups to offer you. Sorry about that. As for any possible plans for 2018, part of me does want to get back into video making (I used to make YouTube videos once upon a time, doncha know) but with a particular focus towards animation. However, we'll see.

In the meantime, please contribute with any suggestions/questions/ideas you have, share this project around to friends, and check out anything on the list that takes your interest! Thank you very much, and until we meet again, have a great day y'all!

-Jim McGrath/FrDougal9000

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  • 4 weeks later...

AN EXPLANATION FOR MY ABSENCE:

It's been nearly a month since the last update, and I apologize for the delay and my lack of explanation as to why there is such a delay. I've had a busy few weeks in which I've been doing work experience for my college, and subsequently working on the paperwork I had to do afterwards. It's left me pretty tired by the time I get home, and writing a post about the new update, rewriting the opening post to include all the new updates, and so on is a bit too much for me to want to do at the moment.

Don't worry, the next update is done; I just need to have the desire and drive to upload it online and then write about it. I'm sorry about that, and will strive to work on it as soon as things quiet down. Thank you, and have a good day.

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LIST HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH SUGGESTIONS FROM DK VINE, TWITTER, OTHER WEBSITES AND BOOKS I'VE BEEN READING, AS OF 18:52 - 5/FEBRUARY/2018.

So that update came a bit more quickly than I thought it would, thanks to some free time I happened to find today. That makes yesterday's post a little redundant, but I think it can be forgiven considering the big news that comes with today's update.

Now, there is over 3000 FILMS, TV EPISODES, SHORTS, MUSIC VIDEOS, FAN ANIMATIONS AND MORE listed under consideration for the 1001 Animated Films You Should Watch List. It is baffling to think that in just under ten months (not even a year!), I've been able to accumulate so many works; and it's thanks to everyone who has contributed to this project and beyond. To everyone who gave recommendations, feedback, ideas, and all manner of support, I thank you. And to every animation fan, enthusiast, historians and more whose blogs/books I've read and whose videos I've watched to get a better understanding of the wide and wonderful world of animation, I thank you as well.

Like I said some time back, I'll continue to work on gathering suggestions until we're in the realm of 4000 films, which I reckon will happen sooner than I think, and that's because of all of you. I'll also try to get back to updating the Facebook page, and to try and make animation-centric videos on YouTube in the near future, but I just want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

Y'all are amazing. Have a wonderful life. Thank you.

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LIST HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH SUGGESTIONS FROM TWITTER AND CARTOON BREW, AS OF 12:49 - 18/FEBRUARY/2018.

Good afternoon, everyone! I hope you're all doing well! This update's the biggest one in quite some time (taking us a bit over the 3200 FILMS mark), largely due to me taking recommendations from Cartoon Brew's Cartoon Brew Pick, an almost daily section of the site where the site runner recommends a music video, episode, animated short or anything in general that is worth checking out. I've not listed every short that has been recommended back to mid-early 2015, since they are live-action films with an interesting use of video FX (CGI, basically) but otherwise could not be considered animated films, but there are a lot of cool or amazing works that I otherwise would have missed out on, and I urge you to check out any that catch your attention.

As well as this, I'm uploading a video later today on my YouTube channel, in which I announce the fact that I'm back and am planning to work on videos discussing animation, as something of a way to help promote this project. If you have any suggestions for videos or animated works I could look at, please let me know! I really want to get back into the game, and would love to hear as many ideas as I can to give me inspiration!

In the meantime, thank you all again for your support. Share this project with your friends, contribute with suggestions/feedback/questions, and until we meet again, have a great day!

-Jim McGrath/FrDougal9000

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LIST HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH SUGGESTIONS FROM TWITTER, THE ANIME ENCYCLOPEDIA AND CARTOON BREW, AS OF 15:06 - 13/MARCH/2018.

Hi, everyone! I hope you're all doing well! This next update isn't quite as big as the previous one (though it's large enough to take us over the 3300 FILMS mark), and that's because I've been pretty busy these last couple of weeks. One of the things I've been up to is getting that old YouTube channel of mine back into action, and I've begun producing videos on a semi-regular basis again!

Here are the first three so far, for you to check out and enjoy:

 

 

I've decided to make a focus on producing videos about animation, as both a supplementary to the 1001 Animated Films You Should Watch project and also a way to help spread awareness and get people talking about all the many wonderful things that exist in this medium. If any of these videos take your interest, subscribe to me on YouTube (the channel name is FrDougal9000), share my videos around, and provide feedback or suggestions through the comments or otherwise.

In the meantime, thank you all once again for contributing to the project in whatever way you've done so for nearly the last year, and I'll see y'all for the next update. Share the project around to other animation fans, provided feedback and suggestions if you have any, and have a great day!

-Jim McGrath/FrDougal9000

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LIST HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH SUGGESTIONS FROM DK VINE, TWITTER, OTHER WEBSITES AND BOOKS I'VE BEEN READING, AS OF 18:52 - 5/FEBRUARY/2018.

Has it been a year already? Blimey, that was quick.

Yes, you read that right. One year ago today, I decided to start a series of threads based on an idea I'd been kicking around for a couple of weeks. I thought it'd be pretty interesting to get other folks involved, see how it would go. As it turns out, "pretty interesting" was something of an understatement.

Over the last 12 months, through taking people's suggestions, visiting recommended websites, reading books, watching shows, films, shorts and more, I've come to realize how bafflingly huge the world of animation is. Whenever I think there's nothing more to see, I'll check out a website or book and uncover several dozen animators and films that I'd never heard of before, but still doing all manner of inventive and incredible things.

There are so many films, shorts, videos, episodes and other types of animation that I would have never otherwise seen, and I am happier for having seen them. These include, among countless others:

-Mickey Mouse (the 2013 series)
-Gauche the Cellist
-Sita Sings The Blues
-A Boy Named Charlie Brown
-Hotel Translyvania
-Gurren Lagann
-Rex the Runt
-Student Shorts from GOBELINS
-Diamond Jack
-Just about every Aardman short from 1977 to 2000
-Little Nemo
-Early Betty Boop shorts
-Underrated Looney Tunes from the 30's and 40's
-Tony del Peltrie, one of the earliest CGI films with a human character
-Music videos by the surprisingly versatile Koji Nanke
-Pixar's first dozen short films

In addition, I've started to interact with people on the internet again thanks to this project. I'd been staying away from places like Twitter and Facebook, but this whole venture got me into talking with people about animation in a bunch of different ways. I've gotten new perspectives, learned about fascinating animators and films, and have made internet friends who I'm always happy to see post something or to talk with.

It's even gotten me back into making YouTube videos, which is how I first started doing things on the internet, funnily enough - talk about coming full circle. I want to give back to the animation community, even if only in the smallest of ways, by providing my own perspective on certain areas and helping to inform people with what I've come to know. Hopefully, I'll be able to do that.

With all that in mind, I want to thank everyone who helped to contribute to this project over the last year. Even in the most minor way, you've helped me to see how wide and wonderful the world of animation is, and you've given me a reason to keep moving forward; even on the days when I feel like I can't do anything.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for everything. I'll do whatever I can to make you feel the same, if not tenfold.

In the meantime, please check out anything from the list of suggestions that grabs your interest - I hope you enjoy it. If you have any ideas for films to go on the list or possible video ideas I could do, please suggest them. If you know anyone who would be interested in a project like this, please share it with them.

Thank you again, and until we meet again, have a great life!

-Jim McGrath/FrDougal9000

Spoiler

Paul Cronin
Richard Cross
Laura McGrath
Dave McGrath
tamerlane
Daniel Thomas MacInnes
Jerry Beck
Fred Patten
Steve Stanchfield
Chris Patmore
Adam Cook
Mark Whitehead
Hector Gonzalez
Stephen Cavalier
Giannalberto Bendazzi
Amid Amidi
Alison Herman
Thad Komorowski
JB Kaufman
Michael Lyons
Disgaeamad
Devon Baxter
Mark Mayerson
Terry Gilliam
Andrew Osmond
Barry Purves
Jonathan Clements
Helen McCarthy
Chris Robinson
Rolf Giesen
Stefanie Van De Peer
Amber Shields
Colleen Jankovic
Mike Toole
Tunde Vollenbroek
Jonathan Boschen
Leonard Maltin
Roger Ebert
Charles Brubaker
Ben Ettinger
Cathy Munroe Hotes
Florian Höhr
Sun-Wukong 
SurrealBrain 
NathanVS.
MFWolfe 
King Smithy
koopaul 
Karate Joe
AwesomeCauliflower68 
Prika
Kara Kong
Sabertooth1000000000 
Twilight Vestige 
ILDC 
Zedxclon           
DarkBluePhoenix           
Reichu           
Joseki           
Kazuki_Fuse           
Cosmo11           
Mr Tines           
pwhodges           
Director Black           
cyharding           
Maxtiis 
Nightly 
Indigo Rush
CleverSonicUsername 
AxelPrime 
Bowbowis           
Monkey Destruction Switch           
Soldier: 76           
Joy           
Ernest-Panda                     
CottonCandy           
Ryannumber1gamer           
EmmBee                     
tailsBOOM!           
Kunzait_83           
YTWes           
ibcf           
Josh Dunham           
AnimeGolem           
feezy_fezz           
CanipaShow           
FoutonS           
illegenes           
liborek3           
animeblue00           
paeses           
Yuyucow           
DestructoKitteh           
AnimeAjay           
RollingPiranha           
0XMURADX0           
BusterBeam           
braves133           
kyouray           
khwan_           
ponkts           
AshitanoGin           
HosannaEx           
arasansan           
Adanusch           
gemonsw           
kraker2k          
Magicmew12          
Felipe Rojas          
DJAHa          
Jmcfarlane49          
turtlestack           
Time Out          
Cartoon Brew              
Laputa Animation Festival (collective)
Animation Now! (book)

 

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LIST HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH SUGGESTIONS FROM DK VINE, TWITTER, OTHER WEBSITES AND BOOKS I'VE BEEN READING, AS OF 10:54 - 27/APRIL/2018.

Hi, everyone! I hope you're doing well! This update's another big one, with a little under 100 new suggestions being added to the list - which brings us past 3500 films and very close to breaking the 3600 FILMS THRESHOLD! Considering the limit I imposed some time back at around 4000 films, that means we're getting quite close to that limit, and the possible end of the suggestions gathering.

It's crazy to think how that's taken just over a year to happen, and I thank each and every one of you for contributing once more, but we're not there just yet. There's still a while to go, and who knows what could happen along the way? In the meantime, I've only uploaded one new YouTube video to promote the channel since the last update (been busy and all), and it concerns the troubled production of Dragon Ball Super - but with a positive angle.

I've also recently become a member of the World Animation Discord, which is a community full of folks who care about and happily discuss the world of animation. If you'd like to get involved, follow this here link: discord.gg/nAMqZH5

And that's about it for today! If you have any suggestions for films to consider for the list, questions about the project, or general feedback, please let me know and I'll do my best to address it! If you like what you see, share this project around to like-minded friends! Thank you for reading, I hope you decide to check out one of the latest additions and enjoy them, and until we meet again, have a great day!

-Jim McGrath/FrDougal9000

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  • 1 month later...

ABOUT MY ABSENCE:

So... it's been about a month and a half since I last posted anything related to this project, or anything much in general. Sorry about that. Things have just been really busy on my end, mainly due to having to help make a college play that we've been doing for the last week or so. This left me pretty tired most days, to the point where I didn't want to work on the project or anything - I just wanted to chill out.

Still, I really should try get back into the swing of things. Hopefully, I'll be able to do that at some point in the next few days; though I should point out that the next update won't be terribly big, since I haven't been collecting that many suggestions. Again, sorry about that.

To make up for that, I'm going to give a brief recommendation for a TV series: Heidi, Girl of the Alps. Primarily directed by Isao Takahata, it's an animated adaptation of the novel Heidi's Years of Wandering and Learning, and is honestly a really good series. I've been watching over the last month or so, and it's something that I find both comforting and emotionally gripping. I'm sorry to keep things vague, but I do ask that you watch the first three episodes and see what you think. The entire show is available on YouTube via fansubs, and I highly recommend it.

Thank you, and I should hopefully see y'all soon. Until then, have a great day!

-FrDougal9000

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LIST HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH SUGGESTIONS FROM DK VINE, TWITTER, DISCORD, OTHER WEBSITES AND BOOKS I'VE BEEN READING, AS OF 16:17 - 22/JUNE/2018.

I'm finally back with an update to the list! I apologize for it taking so long, even though there aren't a lot of films included to make up for that (on the bright side, that's still taken us over the 3600 FILMS threshold). Like I said last time, I was extremely busy with a bunch of things, and then I wanted to make a video montage of the various films added to this update for the YouTube channel (which went nowhere because I had no idea how to edit at least five hours worth of stuff down into a good music video and that caused me to put things off for longer than I should).

Still, I'm sorry I took so long with things, and I hope that the next update won't take as long. I've already gotten started on it, with plenty of new films for decades that haven't gotten anything new in a while, so that should be pretty interesting. In the meantime, I'm gonna post some of my favourite films from this latest update, to at least give y'all something new to check out. Please continue contributing to the project with either suggestions or feedback, like and share this project around to other fans of animation, and until we meet again, have a great day! Enjoy!

-FrDougal9000

Michael Andrews: Bubbles in Space (2012), dir. Josh Hassin (A rotoscoped music video where every frame is drawn in a completely different way by around 100 people)

A Boy And His Atom: The World's Smallest Movie (2013), dir. Nico Casavecchia (A short film animated with ATOMS - I'm not even kidding)

Conor Grebel: WoodSwimmer (2017), dir. Brett Foxwell (A short music video where the animation is based on wood as it was slowly cut away)

Go! Samurai (2015), dir. Keiichiro Kimura (A short film animated by animator who began his work on 1960's anime such as Tiger Mask)

Lunch With Me Today (2018), dir. Anatola Howard (A sweet short film that I just really liked)

 

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LIST HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH SUGGESTIONS FROM DK VINE, TUMBLR, OTHER WEBSITES AND BOOKS I'VE BEEN READING, AS OF 11:55 - 1/AUGUST/2018.

Hey there, everyone! I hope you're all doing well! Today comes with another update, and it's a pretty big one. With 118 films, shorts, music videos and more, that takes the number of suggested films over 3700 FILMS! Once again, it's ridiculous and amazing as to how many things are being made or discovered every day, and even moreso when you consider how close we're getting to that 4000 film limit. Almost seems like that might not be enough sometimes, but I'm gonna keep that the limit so I can try to work and get this done in less time than it's taken for The Overcoat to be made (look it up)!

This'll be a brief post, since I don't have a lot of energy today, and I'm going to be preparing to head off for a couple of days with my folks tomorrow. However, since I'm finally on my summer holidays, I should be able to dedicate a little bit more time to researching and watching things than I have been these last few months. In the meantime, please keep contributing to the project with suggestions and feedback, share this project around to friends and anyone who might be interested, and check out anything that catches your eye. Thank you very much, and until we meet again, have a great day!

-Jim McGrath/FrDougal9000

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LIST HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH SUGGESTIONS FROM DK VINE, ALONG WITH OTHER WEBSITES AND BOOKS I'VE BEEN READING, AS OF 18:54 - 4/SEPTEMBER/2018.

Hey there, everyone! I hope you're all doing well! Today's update isn't quite as big as the previous one (more on why in a bit), but with 48 new films, episodes, videos and more, that takes us just a little over 3800 FILMS! That's right: we're less than 200 films away from reaching the 4000 film limit I decided on months ago. It's really weird to think that I was originally going to stop gathering films when the limit was only 2000, but we've nearly doubled that in the span of just under a year and a half. It's crazy to think that, but it's proof that the world of animation is indeed wide, weird, and wonderful!

I don't have much else to say for this post, and I don't have any YouTube video news to talk about, since I'm currently going through a pretty nasty drain of motivation right now. I was working on a couple of other things besides this project, but they'll all wrapped up and I don't know what to do with myself for now. I had a plan of remaking a video I did last year, but I gave up when I realized that it would have had only slightly better audio and video (which isn't really worth the pain of trying to make Windows Movie Maker Live co-operate). So I'm just existing for the moment, occasionally taking the time to watch and research more animated things, but not much else. Hopefully, I can get back into the swing of things. Besides, there's less than 200 films till that goal is reached. Let's keep moving towards it, eh?

In the meantime, please keep contributing to the project with suggestions and feedback, share this project around to friends and anyone who might be interested, and check out anything that catches your eye. Thank you very much, and until we meet again, have a great day!

-Jim McGrath/FrDougal9000

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  • 2 weeks later...

LIST HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH SUGGESTIONS FROM WEBSITES AND BOOKS I'VE BEEN READING, ALONG WITH THINGS I STUMBLED ACROSS, AS OF 11:47 - 6/OCTOBER/2018.

Hey there, everyone! I hope you're all doing well! I apologize for the lateness of this post (I'd actually updated the list some time last week, but I haven't written a post promoting it until now). Things had gotten quite busy and stressful on my end recently, and while most of it's been sorted out thankfully, it left me pretty tired and unable to write much of anything. I'm going to try and get some creative energy going again, and I hope that doing this post will be one way of doing that.

Anyway, I do have to write this post, since it's kind of a big deal. With 101 films, episodes, shorts, music videos and the like added to the list, that means the current number of suggestions is a little over 3900 FILMS! For those who don't know, my original plan with this project was to stop gathering suggestions for the list when the number was around 2000. I thought that might've been a bit too restrictive given how many animated works have been made, so I doubled the limit to 4000 films quite some time ago.

But yes, this update means that we're less than 100 films from reaching that limit. Good lord.

I don't plan on extending that limit again, because I do think it's stretching it at this point, so it's likely that the suggestions gathering will be officially finished in the next update or two. It's possible that there are a few duplicates scattered about (considering it's nearly 4000 films organized in a Notepad file I've been working on for a year, that's practically a given), and I'll knock those off. But regardless, it does mean that this stage of the project is very nearly done.

On the one hand, that's amazing. I've read a lot of books, browsed through many articles and websites, talked to a good number of folks, watched a heck of a lot of stuff - and it's all made me realize how fascinating the world of animation is. There's so many connections, so many interesting ways to visually depict an idea, and generally so many things out there to find and enjoy. That we've nearly reached that limit is testament to that fact.

However, I'll admit that I'm slightly worried about where to go from here. The plan I had was to try and turn this into some sort of official work that people could read, in the style of the "X THINGS IN Y MEDIUM YOU MUST SEE" books it's based on. But that means trying to communicate and organize an effort to get this done, and to do it as much justice as possible.

This is somewhat scary because I'm pretty bad at trying to promote anything I do and trying to communicate with people online, and I have no idea how to go about doing anything. Hopefully, I'll figure out something when the time comes, but I'll keep looking for more suggestions in the meantime (and maybe turning it into an Excel document to make it more easily readable, as someone suggested some time ago).

For now, please keep contributing to the project with suggestions and feedback, share this project around to friends and anyone who might be interested, and check out anything that catches your eye. Thank you very much, and until we meet again, have a great day!

-Jim McGrath/FrDougal9000

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LIST HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH SUGGESTIONS FROM WEBSITES AND BOOKS I'VE BEEN READING, ALONG WITH THINGS I STUMBLED ACROSS, AS OF 18:29 - 5/APRIL/2019.

Hey there, everyone! I hope y'all are doing well!

It's been quite a while since the last time I last updated this project (nearly six months, I think - yikes!), and that's because I've been working towards something pretty big. I mentioned in a previous post explaining my absence that I was working away on a spreadsheet version of the suggestions list, which includes more information such as the country it was made in, the nature of the film, and a little more. Well, it's finally, finally finished. And here it is:

https://1drv.ms/x/s!AqVD-HKcr39Sgx0SqE2u5i2AgeC3

Doing this gave me the chance to more accurately cover the films I'd already listed, finding proper or alternate names, removing any accidental duplicates I made over the last two years, and seeing how many films were actually in the list. I've also included the recommendations and suggestions I found while creating the spreadsheet, with 82 new inclusions. Combined with corrections, that leaves the total number of films at 3999.

That number's not just insane and amazing, but it's also very important in a particular way. For those who don't know, the idea behind this project was to gather as many films as possible before narrowing it down to a final 1001. To stop the suggestions gathering part of the project from going on forever, I established a limit of 4000 films - and we're one film short of that, but I'm going to consider that goal to have finally been reached.

What that means is that this is going to be the final update to the 1001 Animated Films You Should Watch Suggestions Project: something that started exactly two years today (April 9th), and something I never thought would be so interesting. My original goal for this project was to prove to the world how much there was to the world of animation beyond mainstream American and Japanese films and children's shows, and that absolutely happened for me.

There are so many directors, animators, shorts, films, TV shows, music videos, and so much more that I never would have discovered had I not started this project, and it's one of the greatest things to have ever happened to me. There's no hyperbole when I say that: I can't be thankful enough for all of it, and I hope that I can do something even remotely close for other people by going somewhere with this project.

On that note, I admit that I'm a bit nervous about moving forward with this project. My overall idea is to try and contact as many people as possible; animation enthusiasts, animation historians, maybe even directors and animators; to get more perspectives in and to narrow the ridiculous number of films down to a list of 1001 essential animated works. But I'm quite bad at networking and promoting things I'm doing, so I'm not quite sure how to go about that just yet.

However, I'll hopefully find a way, and within a few years, maybe this project will turn into something that you can buy in a shop and read - and maybe people will realize that there's way more going on in animation than the likes of Disney and Ghibli, and that they'll find something that inspires them in any way possible. If I can do that, I'll be more than happy to try and move forward with this project.

I want to thank everyone who contributed to this project over the last few years; through suggestions or recommendations for films I'd never heard of before, through feedback and ideas on grey areas that had me puzzled, through writing books and articles that I read to find more information, and so much more. I also want to thank my family and friends, both online and offline, for giving me emotional support and being there for me on days when I wasn't feeling great about much (not even this project) - you all mean the world to me, and I can't thank you enough just for being there.

And with that, I'm going to close this phase of the 1001 Animated Films You Should Watch Project. Thank you for sticking around, however long you've been doing so, and I hope to see y'all again someday to announce that this has gotten somewhere big. Until then, have a great life!

-Jim McGrath/FrDougal9000

Spoiler

Paul Cronin
Richard Cross
Laura McGrath
Dave McGrath
tamerlane
Daniel Thomas MacInnes
Jerry Beck
Fred Patten
Steve Stanchfield
Chris Patmore
Adam Cook
Mark Whitehead
Hector Gonzalez
Stephen Cavalier
Giannalberto Bendazzi
Amid Amidi
Alison Herman
Thad Komorowski
JB Kaufman
Michael Lyons
Disgaeamad
Devon Baxter
Mark Mayerson
Terry Gilliam
Andrew Osmond
Barry Purves
Jonathan Clements
Helen McCarthy
Chris Robinson
Rolf Giesen
Stefanie Van De Peer
Amber Shields
Colleen Jankovic
Mike Toole
Tunde Vollenbroek
Jonathan Boschen
Leonard Maltin
Roger Ebert
Charles Brubaker
Ben Ettinger
Cathy Munroe Hotes
Florian Höhr
Dave Merrill
Brian Sibley
Sharon Katz
Dave Bossert
Milton Knight
Andreas Deja
Kōsei Ono
Akira Tochigi
Ren Fukuzumi
Taku Furukawa
Mirai Mizue
Hirohito Miyamoto
Emily Rand
Sun-Wukong 
SurrealBrain
NathanVS. 
MFWolfe 
King Smithy 
koopaul 
Karate Joe 
AwesomeCauliflower68 
Prika
Kara Kong 
Sabertooth1000000000 
Twilight Vestige 
ILDC 
Zedxclon 
DarkBluePhoenix 
Reichu 
Joseki 
Kazuki_Fuse 
Cosmo11 
Mr Tines 
pwhodges 
Director Black 
cyharding 
Ambiant23 
Maxtiis 
Nightly 
Indigo Rush 
CleverSonicUsername 
AxelPrime 
Bowbowis 
Monkey Destruction Switch 
Soldier: 76 
Joy 
Ernest-Panda 
CottonCandy 
Ryannumber1gamer
EmmBee 
tailsBOOM! 
Kunzait_83 
JulieYBM
YTWes 
ibcf 
Josh Dunham 
AnimeGolem 
feezy_fezz 
CanipaShow 
FoutonS 
illegenes 
liborek3 
animeblue00 
paeses 
Yuyucow
DestructoKitteh 
AnimeAjay 
RollingPiranha 
0XMURADX0 
BusterBeam 
braves133 
kyouray 
khwan_ 
ponkts 
AshitanoGin 
HosannaEx 
arasansan 
Adanusch 
gemonsw 
kraker2k
Magicmew12
Adanusch 
SamsonSanchoSan 
CAP 
Felipe Rojas 
GoatJesus 
DJAHa 
Jmcfarlane49 
turtlestack 
yihagathe 
raygirlramblings 
maxtaro 
mushlord 
Time Out 
Cartoon Brew 
Laputa Animation Festival 
Ghibli Blog Animation Poll
Animation Now!

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