This probably goes without saying, but we’re head-over-heels for physical media here at MediaOCD. We love it so much, our shelves are overflowing with our favorite films, thrilling television series, and of course, amazing anime. With that in mind, each of us plucked a trio of titles from our collections and have set them on a digital rack for y’all to peruse! And before we get started, let me tell you this: The gang’s picked some real winners.

Justin Sevakis – CEO

Jin-Roh – Mamoru Oshii wrote this political fantasy masterpiece, building on the world he created in an earlier live action film—a police state 1960s Japan, rocked by constant civil unrest. The resulting love story between a SWAT Team officer and the sister of a suicide bomber is poignant, heavy, and understated. The whole world feels different after you see this.

Project A-ko – The first anime I ever saw, this ornately animated parade of chaos, alien invasions, and vaguely gay schoolgirls destroying cities was so nuts, it completely blew my mind, despite not knowing most of the anime it parodied. It holds up extremely well today, and the soundtrack is everything I love about 80s music.

Too Much Sleep – The first film we restored and released entirely by ourselves at Whole Grain Pictures, this absurd, deadpan comedy about a lost young man wandering darkest suburban New Jersey was a film I loved in the theater, before a bankruptcy rendered it Lost Media. Restoring it with the director was an absolute dream come true.

Caleb McPhee – Customer Service

It wasn’t so long ago that fans thought these anime titles would never be available to own on Blu-ray. But it’s thanks to such fans who believe in the value of physical media that allows each of these companies to make our dreams come true! I chose these titles, one from different publishers, to represent what’s possible in this current exciting period of the anime business.

Steven E. – Store Administrator

These three titles made some profound impact on me, and have stuck with me after watching them. They connect with me on a level that cuts deeper than usual and remind me of why I love the anime medium as a whole. I feel like these works are some of the best the medium has to offer and I consider all of them a must-watch. If you haven’t seen these yet, do yourself a favor and watch ’em already!

Marc Levy – QC & Social Media Manager, Digimon Home Media Producer

These are all releases that have benefited from a major upgrade. Maybe the materials weren’t always the best or it was out of print for years, but these are all beloved titles that now have truly special releases. If you’re a fan of some of these, you’ve probably been waiting for much of your life to get a true upgrade for them. And they’re all pretty solid places to start for people new to these franchises or even anime as a whole.

David Miranda – Post-Production Manager

My first choice is a film that changed everything, one that made the general public take anime seriously as an art form—Galaxy Express 999 (1979). A story so otherworldly, yet so personal at its core, it reminds us what it means to be human. A king among classics, this Leiji Matsumoto epic delves deep into the Sea of Stars—a complex multiverse that was around before it was cool. This film brings together characters from other fantastic franchises such as Queen Emeraldas and the oh, so badass Captain Harlock. A true masterpiece of cinema with excellent direction, storyboarding, vocal performances, and music that every single animation fan absolutely has to see at least once in their lives. You’ll wonder how you were carrying on without it.

Second up is Kamikaze Girls (2004), Tetsuya Nakashima’s delightfully campy buddy comedy about a refined city-crazed lolita and a country bumpkin gangster who develop the most unlikely of friendships. While its chaotic style and nonstop quips may seem difficult to stomach at first to some, it’ll leave you loving the pair and cheering on the power of friendship by the end—all while singing along to TommyHeavenly6’s most iconic tunes. I’ve been a fan of this movie ever since I discovered it over a decade ago, and getting to work on it has been one of my proudest achievements. For Discotek Media‘s release, I took charge of the subtitle translation, completely revamping and improving upon the existing translation—giving it more life, character, and accuracy than ever before.

Lastly, we have the maybe-a-bit-controversial Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend (1989), specifically the film version. It’s one of those titles that you really have to be like “trust me, bro” when you’re trying to convince anyone to check it out, but it is a surprisingly well-made film. It tells a very interesting story and has a similarly fascinating production history to boot. The film spawned many sequels, but I’m not blowing smoke when I say Overfiend is so exceptionally made, it warrants the cult status it enjoys today. Though I might be a little biased on this one as I spent nine long, grueling months restoring the VERY beat up film prints we had the privilege of scanning in HD for our Blu-ray release. Going frame by frame and cleaning up the spec on demon danglies is not something you get to do every day, that’s for sure! And yet, I wouldn’t give up that experience for anything. The result is just so satisfying to behold and share with the world.

Elaine Morland – Associate Producer

I’ll start off with Giant Robo: The Day The Earth Stood Still, and there’s a few things about it I keep thinking about. It’s short, but it packs a whole lot into that runtime. It’s also just a beautiful show, with a lot of life in even the most mundane shots. It’s very, very pretty. It’s been several years since I worked on the set and I still think about it often.

The next one is Ronin Warriors. The sheer effort it took to get that show in sync will always stay with me, especially considering that I also dealt with the worst cold of my life around that time. Shout out to Jose Argumedo for his contributions to the project!

Finally, it’s… Ninja Robots! For entirely selfish reasons, it’s the only release in the entire catalog that you can hear me playing guitar on. By the way, I was able to buy that guitar thanks to my work on another release. My musical contribution was enabled by another project entirely, so it represents a lot to me! You can hear said guitar on the instrumental previews from episode 20-ish onward, as I had to cover the preview music from scratch for the episodes we didn’t have surviving previews of. The whole effort to get the show in shape was pretty crazy.

Logan Rebholz – Subtitle Manager

My first two picks are my favorite “gateway entries” into franchises that have a sometimes overwhelming number of titles to choose from. In a similar thread, Bubblegum Crisis was my own gateway into working in the industry and so it holds special significance for me.

Brady Hartel – Producer & Graphic Designer

Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie is not only one of the best animated martial arts films to ever be made, but one of the coolest martial arts films in general. Gisaburo Sugii brings an auteur’s touch to something that could otherwise just be a video game cash-in.

Moving on to a certain master thief’s Italian travelogue, Lupin the 3rd Part IV is the perfect balance of the gallant Lupin with the scoundrel Lupin. If you’re curious about the Lupin series, this beautifully animated series is a great place to start.

Based on the renowned Argentinian comic series, my final pick, Cybersix is a superhero story that asks what it means to truly be human. A haunting tale of love and monsters brought to life by TMS Animation’s heavy hitters with the dark deco flare of Batman: The Animated Series.

Mike Toole – Producer & Live Events Coordinator

My three picks are stand-alone, one-and-done affairs—nice n’ easy to have a movie night instead of picking up yet another long series. Let’s get the race underway with Nasu, a gorgeous feature film from famed Studio Ghibli alumnus Kitaro Kosaka about a pro team cyclist faced with the chance to grab for his own glory instead of quietly supporting from the back.

Then, it’s on to Short Peace, an artsy, challenging anthology film (remember those?). Its four parts are overseen by Akira creator Otomo Katsuhiro, and the best part is the ultimate one, A Farewell to Weapons—based on a classic Otomo one-shot manga and directed by mecha ace Hajime Katoki!

Finally, introduce (or reintroduce) yourself to the world of City Hunter with 2019’s City Hunter: Shinjuku Private Eyes—a nostalgic yet forward-looking return to action for Ryo and Kaori’s die-hard detective agency. It’s even got a great new English-dubbed version!

Coop Bicknell – Features Editor & Copywriter

While I’ve discovered plenty of great shows on my own over the years, most of my absolute favorites were recommended to me by a friend. Flowers of Evil is perhaps the one of the most recent examples of that phenomenon, spurred on by ANN’s Lynzee Loveridge digitally shouting “COOP! YOU’VE GOT TO WATCH EVERYTHING HE’S DONE” when I mentioned I was unfamiliar with Hiroshi Nagahama’s filmography. It’s safe to say that I’m quite familiar with him now.

Akiba Maid War was a hearty recommendation I caught in the middle of the 2022 Fall Anime season, and it ended up being right up my alley thanks to its jolting juxtaposition of maids and classic crime thriller storytelling.

Finally, if you’ve ever found yourself looking to scratch that Utena itch, Revue Starlight is the sword lesbian show for you. Even more surprisingly, the series’ sequel film manages to hit the same emotional highs I’ve only felt in films like End of Evangelion and Adolescence of Utena. If that’s not good word of mouth, I don’t know what is.