『MEMORIES』

They actually played it on one screen in America a few years ago, though it took even longer before we got it on home video, because it was rumored that we gaijin would be offended by how we were depicted. But the minute I saw a test reel with the piano scene, I was hooked, and had to track it down, and am glad I did. It's a visual masterpiece, and very approachable. While I liked both equally, I'm not entirely surprised it was more successful at the Japanese box office than Ghost in the Shell, as it had a wonderful sense of variety, in terms of animation and story styles.

And Memories being released at all in the U.S. by then was a real coup, because the non-Makoto Shinkai-esque artsy anime was already considered less lucrative, even though there was still ironically a bigger market for this type of anime here in general. Here is the trailer, and here is a clip of a cosplaying Eva Friedel. She loved the movie, but never heard of Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, or Kon-san until I told her. I hope she's become a bigger fan since then.