Other than ghibli films, what other anime films look as good or iconic as those two.
Cowboy Bebop
A Wind Named Amnesia
The Girl who Leapt Through Time
The Place Promised in our Early Days
Macross Plus (Watch Super Dimensional Fortress Macross to get the background, even though it's not that good)
As for Ghibli, Miyazaki's most moving work is Grave of the Fireflies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo_Tokyo_(film) is a good 80s compilation.
Otomo has another nice anthology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memories_(1995_film)
From Oshii related work - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jin-Roh:_The_Wolf_Brigade is fantastic (but slow moving except for a few places)
It's a good example of extraordinary detail in design and animation around mechs/military vehicles, cityscapes, and retro UI designs, plus Oshii's proven directorial chops.
I also quite like the plot, which is an unexpectedly serious look at things like the JSDF's case for existence and the danger of military/intelligence bureaucracies to democratic governments.
The opening sequence, which these days looks super vaporwave: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsMTpSDAGxM
It does go well together with synthwave: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=redlketVxn4
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfQjc2hs34Y
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WixQfMABnFA&list=PLCE193349F...
For me at least, that movie's like a bug bite i can't stop itching.
PS. For ESL readers curious about itching vs. scratching:
If you have an itching itch which itches, you might scratch it scratching a scratch.
Ninja Scroll - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaXJI339uQs
Haha oh boy
The screenplay was written by Sadayuki Murai, who put a unique touch on whatever he worked in (he also worked with Satoshi Kon in Perfect Blue).
Also not a film, but I found "Mōryō no Hako" (a short series adapted from a 1995 book) worth watching: at the heart it's basically a crime story, but the execution, with some "hallucinated" scenes, and also the characters are interesting.
venus wars