ITT we discuss anime with superior art style. This doesn't mean "oh wow the anatomy is all correct, I'm glad they did it RIGHT", but rather stuff that is amazingly original and beautiful and feels like unplanned-for electric shocks in the cerebral cortex.
My favourite anime of this type has to be "Kyougoku Natsuhiko - Kousetsu Hyaku Monogatari" (aka Hundred Stories). It is full of absolutely stunning use of colour and form. It shows enormous self-confidence by using large single-coloured surfaces of pure white, fog that looks like pencil eraser marks, pitch-black shadows and mixing all this with intentionally-bad CG animation - and it gets away with it.
When you watch this anime, nothing matters anymore: you know from the first instant that The Deed is Done, you want it or not. A million tiny needles of art pierce your mind as you get elevated to the Next Level.
One more for the list: Melody of Oblivion. I finally finished it, and not since Utena have I seen such cinematography. Maybe not even then - the Adolescence of Utena movie might come close in terms of artistic surrealism, but it's a close call between the two.
>>6-9 Quadruple post?
Recently, Haibane Renmei and Gankutsuou. Before that, I guess Lain and the high-budget Ghibli movies.
HR has some art flaws, although I'm not sure if you'd see them if you hadn't watched it before. The characters occasionally go incredibly off-model (the worst spot was sometime around the beginning of episode 8 and featured Rakka's facial features drifting around on her head, if I'm remembering them right), but is otherwise extremely detailed and, of course, ABe.
Gankutsuou has a few spots where Gonzo's super incredible texture effects get the best of them, and there was one episode where all the character movements kept twitching, but there's no doubt that it looks unique.
Actually, triple-post by someone....and me cutnpasting it and posting for fun. ; )
Arjuna. Some of the cg earlier on (the 'mecha' in particular) is jarring, but good god, the bike scene in ep1 = i came.
I haven't even seen Boogiepop Phantom, just in case someone is still confused.
Kino no Tabi. Not flashy like Gankutsuou can be at times, but colors and lights are very well used, it ensures a very unique atmosphere.
Maria-sama ga miteru had its own very unique atmosphere, too, especially the first season. Golden leaves everywhere, serene and peaceful, so beautiful...
Makoto Shinkai's works, Hoshi no Koe and Beyond the Clouds.
Uta-Kata had some mad crazy production values. I watched it for the animation and artwork (and music) more so than the weird lesbians and magic girls and suicidal heroines.
Macross Zero had some awesome 3DCG.
Uta-Kata was quite pretty, but I didn't think it was all that exciting visually (although there were some nice touches, like the raindrop's-view footage in the one episode).
What did impress me with Uta-Kata though was the realism in some of the settings. The matsuri that took place on a beach and was a totally urban, packed-full-of-people event was one such thing. None of the usual quaint romanticism you see when there's a festival in anime.
Futakoi Alternative. Crazy ideas. Interesting use of camera angles, split-screens and 'old-photo' colour schemes.
evangelin