I’ve been terrible with staying current on anime movies. As you can probably guess from how I struggle to stay on time with my TV anime and with my blog posts, you can imagine how difficult it is for me to be up-to-date on all the anime movies that air every season. And with my movie backlog continuing to grow and grow, I made a decision early on in 2014 to make an effort to watch anime movies this year… and not just the ones that air, but to go back and catch up on all the ones I’ve missed.
Rather than describe my reviews and opinions on each movie, the purpose of this post will be to evaluate this undertaking. In 2014, I watched The Princess and the Pilot, Puella Magi Madoka Magica Movie 1, Persona 3 the Movie 1, Sword Art Online Extended Edition, Sakasama no Patema, Redline, Voices of a Distant Star, and Neon Genesis Evangelion: You Can (Not) Redo. Not included in this list are a number of lengthy OVAs that were released in 2014 as well, though those were omitted from now since I don’t have as much of an issue with OVAs as I do with feature films. And while a number of these films are long overdue, I felt as if I was able to make progress on both my backlog and the current movies that aired in 2014. However, it is worth mentioning that I missed out on a number of other films that I intended to watch too, so this improvement is far from perfect. Still, I think the most rewarding aspect is that I finally discovered how good some of these movies are, and I was able to greatly enjoy almost all the movies I watched.
Of particular note is The Princess and the Pilot (Toaru Hikuushi e no Tsuioku), which I watched at the same time as Pilot’s Love Song (Toaru Hikuushi e no Koiuta). While I was enjoying the anime independently, watching The Princess and the Pilot opened up the setting to me, and it was able to put the TV anime into a better perspective and context. And though I do believe that Pilot’s Love Song is one of the best TV anime of the year, I found the movie to be far and away the better of the two, and I advocated for it on my blog immediately after finishing the movie. It’s just one example of how putting an effort into watching movies this year paid off tremendously.
I anticipate that I will be able to continue this promise into 2015 too, especially since my movie backlog continues to grow with no end in sight. And as I continue to enjoy the vast array of anime movies, I continue to find new ones that I hope to watch someday. This is a good problem to have considering that I am enjoying almost every anime movie I watch, and I hope that 2015 brings me even more fulfillment and enjoyment as the movies of 2014 did.
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