Most gorgeous anime series

[Eliseu Gouveia]

I was googling for an anime show just a while ago, when I stumbled into a LAST EXILE poster.
"- God, that show was gorgeous."
And then I started combing my mind for another show that could rival with its beauty and, well, I hate to say it but I was disapointed.
Boogiepop Phantom is probably my favorite anime show of all time (as you can tell by my avie) and yet even I have to admit it can be quite ugly sometimes.
Giant Robo is a fantastic masterpiece, great designs, superb animation and concepts... and yet its visuals don´t hit a chord the way L.E. does.
Rahxephon is just beautiful but it fails short and NGE doesn´t even register.

So, I was wondering...
Which anime series, in your opinion, are the greatest visual masterpieces of all time?

[Laughing Mask]

FLCL
Paranoia Agent
Samurai Champloo
Samurai 7

[Robotech Master]

*shrugs* I think The Stand Alone Complex series of Ghost in the Shell is damn beautiful for two 26 episode TV series.

Full Metal Alchemist had really fluid animation for a 50+ episode series.

Blood+ is generally appealing as well, and the way Superspeed is animated in that series is just godly-cool, IMO

[The Xenos]

Last Exile is gorgeous. Though with steampunk vehicle and character desgins by Range Murata, I'm not surrpised. I love that stuff and his work.

I haven't seen it yet, but Gankutsuou - The Count of Monte Christo looks amazing and spellbinding. Might be a bit busy for some, but I think it looks fantastic and unique in a very good way.

[Thorlief]

I always found particularly beautiful Maison Ikkoku and Conan

[Alex L]

I have a soft spot for Vandread, being one of the first titles I've seen that mixed CGI and more traditional-looking cell animation.

Kanon (2006) has some great looking backgrounds.

I watched Initial D (4th stage) entirely on the strength of the animation team.

EDIT: I don't think I'd consider any of them masterpieces, though -- except maybe for Kanon, and even then it would be on the lower end.

[cosmic eagle]

I was googling for an anime show just a while ago, when I stumbled into a LAST EXILE poster.
"- God, that show was gorgeous."
And then I started combing my mind for another show that could rival with its beauty and, well, I hate to say it but I was disapointed.
Boogiepop Phantom is probably my favorite anime show of all time (as you can tell by my avie) and yet even I have to admit it can be quite ugly sometimes.
Giant Robo is a fantastic masterpiece, great designs, superb animation and concepts... and yet its visuals don´t hit a chord the way L.E. does.
Rahxephon is just beautiful but it fails short and NGE doesn´t even register.

So, I was wondering...
Which anime series, in your opinion, are the greatest visual masterpieces of all time?

Tenchi Muyo OVA 1 & 2.

I like Kajishima's original art style.

Fate/ Stay Night was also pretty well drawn IMO.

[Quilt]

Samurai Champloo.

[The Xenos]

Actually, there are two obscure anime movies with art based on Yoshitaka Amano. One is Angel's Egg and the other is an animated film of Amano's retelling of 1,001 Nights.

Good luck finding them, though. A bit dry or more for the arthouse crowd, but I love them. Their visuals are amazing.

[Hitokiri]

Karas. Seriously some of the best animation and effects I've seen.

[Ghost]

Lots of Hayao Miyazaki works have really impressed me on the visual front. Just the way his characters move when they run and climb and do other such stuff is amazing. The way he uses animal movements from personal experience (check out the extra materials for Spirited Away for some insight to what inspired Haku's dragon form), his fondness for using "goo", etc, etc, just makes it very fun to watch.

[Arilou]

Yeah, Miyazaki does pretty, pretty work.

LastEXILE is amazing.

FLCL is also very, very good in a more offbeat way.

Gankutsouh has a really cool impressionistic design.

Very different is some of studio SHAFT's work (Most recent being Sayonara Zetsobu Sensei & Ef: A Tale of Memories) They aren't *technically* great, but they have a visual style that is distinctive and veyr neat. SZS underscores the dark humour of the show really well (in some ways it reminds me of the stuff that was done in Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou only.... Well, it didn't just stop mid-series)

Ef is similar, very basic story, but uses some very impressive impressionistic artwork to convey emotions (there's this scene with one character shutting another character out, and it's all splotches of red and black and grey, think Sin City, almost, and in another scene it is all (LITERALLY!) sparkles and lights and starshine and glowing outlines and uh.... It's hard to explain but it works really well)

Naruto is notoriously uneven, but when they really splurge on the animation deparmtent is plain gorgeous, when they take animation and movement and score and blend it into something awesome.

I've counted and about 1 episode in 60 has that quality of animation, though. So it probably doesen't count :p

[Kage Kisaragi]

I always felt that the Original 1985 release of Shadow Skill was the most beautiful in the entire series of Shadow Skill knock offs to come. The story as to how it was developed, the true relationship Elle had in her mind with Gau, the spectacular battle they had at the end of the movie, the awakening of what it truly meant to be a sevaar. ;_; it was amazing.

[Yun Lao]

I have to agree with Hayao Miyazaki's works and Karas.

[Devil_LeonX]

Elfen Lied had some pretty damn good animation, yeah sometimes it looked ify ut other times it just felt good to look at it. Too abd they had to make it only a 13 episode series and kind of rush toward the end undermining the manga .