Make sure you find someone to guide you through the initial stages. Plenty of people train incorrectly and end up exhausted without seeing any real progress. It would be wise to pair weightlifting with some cardio—running, cycling, or swimming—to prevent just gaining bulk.
I’m not against mixing classic animation with CGI. I just found the execution in Metropolis (especially toward the end) to be somewhat mediocre and a bit forced.
I agree that Nausicaä is probably Miyazaki's best film (personally, my favorites are that along with the Future Boy Conan series). Does anyone know when Howl's Moving Castle will be available? And circling back to Otomo, when is Steamboy coming out? I'm genuinely curious how that'll turn out.
So, a question for the group. Does anyone have recommendations for series or feature films that haven't been mentioned yet? I'm always interested in seeing what people enjoy.
To me, Akira is phenomenal. Part of it is being a fan of both the manga and that incredible animation, but I just love it. GitS feels empty to me—both the manga and the anime. I just can't get into Masamune Shirow's work.
Regarding best-of lists: Pretty much anything from Studio Ghibli. Has anyone seen Porco Rosso? It might be my favorite. The story takes place somewhere around the Gulf Coast in the early 1900s. An absolute must-watch. The animation is stunning. Jin-Roh was impressive. Solid story and great execution. Metropolis is a halfway successful project for me. Visually, the CGI felt a bit forced (especially toward the end), but it's still among my favorites in the collection.
As far as series go, I grew up on the old robots (Mazinger, Grandizer, Getter Robot... mostly Go Nagai) alongside Gundam and Robotech (did anyone catch the original Macross that somehow inspired Robotech?). For newer stuff, my top picks would be Serial Experiments Lain, FLCL, Ranma, Inuyasha, Lupin (especially that first series partially directed by Miyazaki), and Conan (also Miyazaki).