As one of the greatest creative minds in anime in the last 20 years, Satoshi Kon’s work has been a point of celebration from those trying desperately to get anime seen as a serious art form, with many of his films being classed among the best of the best, side by side with the likes of Spirited Away and Akira.
While he may have died young due to complications with pancreatic cancer, his legacy is hard to ignore, and the impact he has had on the anime scene, both as a writer and director, will be felt for years to come, particularly since several of his works have influenced major Hollywood films.
8 Paprika (7.7)
At first glance, Paprika is simply “Inception but anime”, which isn’t a terrible analysis considering Paprika heavily influenced one of Christopher Nolan’s biggest films of all time. Following the titular Paprika as she helps people through their problems by entering their dreams, things take a turn for the worst when people start abusing her technology, bringing the dream world and real world together with devastating consequences. Paprika may be the lowest-rated film by Satoshi Kon, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth watching.
7 JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (7.8)
Before JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure was turned into an anime sensation in 2012, Satoshi Kon worked on an OVA of the series all the way back in 1992. Focusing on the Stardust Crusaders storyline, this short, six-episode series should have been enough to get JoJo on the map much sooner than it did, but it failed to pick up much of an audience and fell into obscurity. In spite of this, the OVA is well worth watching, even for anime fans who haven’t yet watched the latest series.
6 Tokyo Godfathers (7.8)
Another of Kon’s great anime films, Tokyo Godfathers follows three homeless people living in Tokyo, Gin, Hana, and Miyuki, who find an abandoned baby on Christmas Eve and try to find her parents in time for the holidays. Despite the lighthearted nature of the premise, Tokyo Godfathers manages to touch on some heavier subject matter that elevates it beyond a simple Christmas film.
Although not one of Kon’s more well-known works, Tokyo Godfathers is just as good as the films that made him famous among anime fans and is well worth adding to the list of Christmas films to watch this year.
5 Good Morning (7.8)
This very short piece may only be a minute long, but it puts Kon’s signature anime style on display in a much more down to earth way than any of his other works. The short, a part of the Ani-Kuri 15 that aired in 2008, is just one of 15 shorts that showcase many different anime directors and writers, including Shōji Kawamori, the creator of Macross and, later, Robotech and Transformers, as well as Mamoru Oshii, director of 1995’s Ghost in the Shell film.
4 Memories (7.9)
Taking Kon’s usual conceptual fiction into the sci-fi realm, Memories is a strange departure from most of his more well-known work and is an anthology of three short stories packaged together. Although Kon didn’t work on all three stories, instead writing the screenplay for the first story, Magnetic Rose, his style is easy to see in this 1995 film, despite the fact that it looks more like Akira than anything Kon would come out with after this.
3 Millennium Actress (7.9)
One of Kon’s lesser-known films, though by no means one of his worst, Millenium Actress is an obscure story about an interview with a retired actress, who recounts her life before stardom and her search for a man whose life she saved, using her roles in her past films to narrate her story to the interviewers.
Although the film is much more bittersweet than Kon’s other work, it is an interesting take on historical fiction that is well worth investing 87 minutes to watch the film in its entirety.
2 Perfect Blue (8.0)
While Paprika may have inspired Inception‘s story as well as several of its scenes, Perfect Blue is often seen as the precursor to Black Swan, with several repeated scenes and themes found in both films. Perfect Blue follows a pop idol-turned movie star, wanting to move on from her good-girl image into more serious work, and finds herself being stalked by a dangerous psychopath while also having to deal with her sudden change in fame. Of all of Kon’s films, this is his most well known, though, according to IMDB, it is only outclassed by one of his other works.
1 Paranoia Agent (8.1)
Satoshi Kon’s greatest work, as well as his longest, is the anime series Paranoia Agent. After being attacked by a boy, later dubbed Lil’ Slugger in the media – or Shonen Batto in the Japanese dub – Tsukiko Sagi tries to rebuild her life and career all the while trying to uncover the identity of her mystery attacker. However, as the series goes on, it is clear that not everything is what it appears to be on the surface as Lil’ Slugger becomes a national phenomenon and begins to assault many more people. Although it’s only 13 episodes long, Paranoia Agent is worth the investment and is not only Kon’s best work but also one of the best psychological thriller series in anime.
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