By far the most obscure movie on this list, Mind Game received rave reviews when it was screened in New York at the Museum of Modern Art then inexplicably failed to pick up a distributor in the West until it finally landed on Netflix in 2015 (with a disappointing whisper rather than a celebratory bang). After reuniting with his childhoos sweetheart Myon, manga artist Nishi finds himself literally facing death after a run-in with a hot-headed Yakuza and decides that he's done with being an underachiever, setting out to reinvent himself as the hero - even if that does entail leading his companions into the belly of a giant whale. Summarising the kaleidoscopic plot of Mind Game is almost irrelevant - it's the textures and rhythms of its characters, with scenes which plunge into their dreams and memories utilising a wild variety of animation techniques, which makes this among the most imaginative and engaging animated films of all time (and the dense, rapidly edited montage sequences make repeated viewing almost essential). Mind Game director Masaaki Yuasa is without a doubt one of the greatest animators working today, with his work on the TV series The Tatami Galaxy, Kaiba and Kenomozume cementing his reputation as the king of avante garde anime.
