I saw Everythings Going to be OK - the "prequel" to Such a Beautiful Day at Sundance in the early 2000's. After the film ended, the lights came up, and Don Hertzfeldt himself stood up to do a Q and A. He was just a kid!. So witty and warm and unassuming. It was such a revelation and inspiration how such a powerful film came from one auteur who was barely old enough to order a drink at a bar. He said he made the whole film in his bedroom. One of the greatest artistic experiences I've ever witnessed.

Animated films like these deserve more praise cause they all have an interesting concept and a unique style that can make it’s audience hooked, intimidated, and moved. It is rare to see films like these nowadays because it is hard to do. When creating a mature animated film you need to get the script, settings, themes, suspense, and writing right. if not done right the audience won’t see it the same way how you view it

Not even joking, “Grave of the Fireflies” and “It’s Such a beautiful day” are two mature animated films that make me cry so hard. Thank you for mentioning them.

Absolutely wonderful picks. I actually gasped aloud in delight and clapped my hands when you said 'It's Such a Beautiful Day,' haha. Don Hertzfeldt and his animations have always been a great inspiration to me as an animation student. There's something really amazing to me about taking what's basically a flipbook and turning it into what he did.

When you get right down to it, animation is probably the single greatest distilation of art you can think of since it must utilize so many to get it's message across. To assume animation is for children is this weirdly modernist viewpoint that I find quite a bit stunting in intellectual and cultural growth.

Grave of the fireflies is the only movie that actually made me cry. No film has ever came close to being as emotionally resonant as this one. 5:03

Baby, you started HARD....MAD GOD is the absolute epitome of adult animation, in every sense.

Waltz with Bashir is such a hard hitting movie. The ending was utterly gut wrenching.

Waltz with Bashir is criminally underrated war movie!

Thank you.

You picked great choices for examples of mature animated movies I love " Its such a beautiful day" and "waltz with Bashir" and am glad to see more people talk about them

Another great mature animated film is Persepolis, based on Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel of the same name. It's beautifully animated, mostly in the black and white style of the graphic novels, and it perfectly tells the story of a young girl growing up in Iran under political turmoil. I don't want to spoil anything but I highly recommend it.

Love you for making the distinction between age and maturity

"The Painting" is an excellent animated film.

I love all styles and aspects of story telling, but theres just something so unique about the story telling and visuals in animation that stand out to me

If Grave of the Fireflies doesn't break your heart, then you probably don't have one. Great list and a great video! A number of films on here that I hadn't heard of before and that I'll look for now because of this video.

two other examples of great mature animation are the movie 'Mary and Max' and the show 'Tear Along the Dotted Line' one dealing with loneliness and self love, and the other dealing with anxiety and the path we take in life; I highly recommend these two if you haven't seen them

This was a simply incredible video Hard to believe you only have 83 subscribers or rather 84 now

enjoyed your video mate. i still cant even THINK of grave of firerlies without a tear coming to my eye. it resonated with me deeper than any film ever did.

Fantastic list, I would recommend When the Wind Blows and Plague Dogs..

Such an amazing video ! And really glad you atleast mentioned Scavengers Reign. That show was amazing and it absolutely deserves more attention.

Im more of a "world of tomorrow" guy than a "its such a beautiful day" guy, but I appreciate this essay

Grave of the fireflies absolutely broke me. I was a sobbing wreck at several points during the film.

i'd say Barefoot Gen (Hadashi No Gen) hits even harder than the Grave of Fireflies. Speaking of adult animations - if we appreciate the philosophical component - it would be an omission not to mention 'The Tragedy of Man' based on the play of the 'Hungarian Goethe', I. Madach.

Excellent look! I yearned and i learned!

This made my day. Thanks!

amazing list!

6:15 I'm so glad more people are starting to find out about unicorn wars, It is the best animated movie I have ever seen in my life!

After you've watched "It's Such a Beautiful Day" watch Roy Batty's 'Tears in the Rain' monologue at the end of Bladerunner. That scene will hit a lot harder.

Fascinating choices, of which I've only seen Grave. Those you passed over without mentioning, and some you did without them being on your list, all looked intriguing. So much to see, so little time!

Thank you for this list.

Thank You!

When the Wind Blows should be added to the list - deeply disturbing, funny, tragic, and gorgeous animation.

It's such beautiful day used to be my favorite film

Beautiful! I also appreciate the sensitivity and maturity of whoever put this gem together, that is, warning us at each point if there was going to be graphic and/or disturbing imagery coming up.

I would love to mention the existence of both A Scanner Darkly and Waking Life. I think Linklater came through with some bold animated projects that contribute much to the mature animated American indie animation canon.

Your precise knowledge of movie genres is astounding, your way of talking about them so inspiring! I was baffled when I saw the view count.. I subscribed and hope your channel will grow this year!!

Hey I like these keep showing them

I think every medium, every form and every style of expression has unique ability. These movies may include difficult themes, but what they also include is unique use of the mediums to tell a story in ways no other medium could. It’s an absolutely awesome list with explosively powerful titles. A ten minute video that could give you more than a lifetime of experience. Pretty cool. Another very consistent theme in this list which is not a unique ability of animation is confrontation at a distance, but animation puts the audience at a distance which allows for very intimate confrontation of things which might otherwise be much more difficult to watch. Every form of confronting ideas at a distance has an optimal medium and these are some great examples of animation being optimized for that purpose.

Grave of the fireflies is the most beautiful movie I'm probably never gonna watch again. It just tore me apart and left me broken to pieces.

A well crafted and carefully considered piece of work. Thank you. More Please!

Waltz with Bashir is my favorite film of all time, it is in every way a true work of art. I would also like to recommend a movie called Waking Life.

Amen!

I just came across your channel, and I must say you are doing a wonderful job. I favored this video to check out all your recommendations later

I brought home 'Grave of the Fireflies' for my kids to watch (10 and 4) because they loved Studio Ghibli and I assumed they would love it as another of Ghibli's fantasy masterpieces. I left them to watch it on their own (I had never seen it and it seemed like a safe parental choice in the middle of the holidays). In the much the same way I later brought home 'Mary and Max', another great animated film, I learned it is still important to curate material as a parent regardless of my assumptions. My children (now 29 and 23) still love me, and learned things about being human they probably never expected (but they rarely let me choose their viewing material).

Thank you for reminding me of Waltz With Bashir.

I always make the effort to watch the animated short films nominated for Oscars each year. I love the range of mediums, tones, styles and the length of them creates an opening for creators without needing to finance 90minutes of footage.

Great video! So glad to see Waltz with Bashi getting the credit it deserves, such an amazing film. Surprised that Mary + Max wasnt mentioned in the stop motion part, but i will be checking out the ones you mentioned that i havent seen

Impressive list for sure I now want to see or own them.

In 1977, "Wixards" came out. Still an animated masterpiece.

"This is the section dedicated to Studio Ghibli.", I snort laughed at that! Good job man.

I'm surprised no Jinn-Roh The Wolfbrigade lol and omg thank you for telling people more about Mad God

Animation is an incredible avenue for expression

Mad God kept me riveted. Grave of The Fireflies was amazing.

Incredible selection. You’ve got great taste in a wonderfully broad pallet

Nice "teeth" shout out :) Thank you!

thanks it was good. please introduce more films and animation from your unique perspective. we have the same taste in this.

I met a guy that was locked up in prison from early 80's until 2020 and he went into prison the Simpsons hadn't even come out yet so animation was still considered primarily for kids so when he got out and seen people watching stuff like South Park or Rick and Morty he would flip out and say anything animated was for kids because he hadn't experienced the change in context and content of animation due to being locked up. No matter how much one tried to explain things to him he refused to watch anything animated and looked down on anyone that viewed animated works.

I'm going to watch these. These have been around other people's recommended. I need to finally see them.

Thank you for this! I hadn’t come across any of these five other than Fireflies. Two i can recommend are Oni: Thunder Gods Tale and Kubo and the Two Strings. Both are PG rated and I’m sure you’ve seen them but for anyone else looking to get into animated films that aren’t from Disney/Pixar/Illumination

Always love these sort of great animations

Animation can be so powerful when utilized correctly, as seen with the films you’ve presented in this video!

For anyone who might like a bit of genre with their animation - scifi specifically - you won't go wrong with another of Don Hertzfeldt's works: the World of Tomorrow series of science fiction short films. The entire trilogy is just a bit over an hour combined but it really packs a punch, and it's fascinating in itself to watch the artist who made It's Such a Beautiful Day work in the genre space. Although if you've seen Hertzfeldt's celebrated Simpsons intro animation you might have some idea of what you're getting into.

GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES WAS JUST FUCKING DEPRESSING, I'm happy you mentioned it

The actors at the Oscar's that mocked animation as for kids should be black listed

I still can't believe my Standard 4 Chinese teacher (4th grade, basically) put Grave of the Fireflies on the projector for all of us to see. She knew it was dark and mature, I think she wanted to teach us something, I forgot. And I'm pretty sure I aged like 50 years from that day. Great movie though, one of the best Ghibli has put out.

Waltz with Bashir is a mesmerizing movie

I have seen & own (a good deal of), All/Most, of the features (both on “this” list & some of your other: “Honourable Mentions”), showcased in this production/video; Waltz With Bashir, was a total Gut Punch, to me, BUT, Brilliant - I have told/warned, Many friends ‘bout this one, and can wholeheartedly agree w/a good deal of Your, Commenters. Great Choices/Selections, stumbled upon Your Channel, and Immensely grateful, that I did.🤙😉🙏 Keep Up the Great Production’s, and now, I have to source the 2, missing from My, Collection🤣 Cheerz Matey

ik it's a show but one that comes to mind is infinity train

5:12 That movie broke me.. and then broke me again on each subsequent viewing. No other movie has ever done that. Even seeing these few scenes here made me tear up.

Great job all around. I love the picks, but also all of the mentions. It really hurts when people discount animation as kids or family-only material. Would also highly recommend A Silent Voice for a film displaying Humanity.

Stupid question: was the use of the KMFDM song "angst" a direct callback to the use of that song as promotional material for anime in the 90's (sorry, I forget the particular company)?

you are a masterful essay writer from small creator to (soon to be big) small creator :)

Grave of the Fireflies literally broke my heart.

What's the song used at the beginning of the video? It's really striking and I'd love to listen. Thanks!

"it's such a beautiful day" kinda cured me of anxiety and brought me out of a depression.

Goot animation - is art, animation can express what films cant and tell the story that is hard or beyond intensive to tell with reality and cgi. Never look down on power of animation. They can tell stories just as powerful and you get to enjoy art-gallery in motion for the next 1-3h ☺️ Good collection, thanks.

The anime that impressed me the most as adult outside yours is 'barefoot gen' .. As a kid, I shouldn't watch it but I did and terrified me.. Fist of the north star

The last film, whether live action or animated, that made me go WOW!!! was Waking Life by Richard Linklatter. I got to see it at a local art theatre and was absolutely blown away by it. I liked that it offers no clear explanation and we are only given a few possibilities what's happening with the unnamed character as he encounters various people and their ideas. Is this a prolonged dream, is he dead, or is he being prepared for something? I prefer the last suggestion. Only two scenes spoil the otherwise positive nature of the film. One scene is now somewhat tainted because it features Alex Jones, and was my favourite scene at one time. I imagine many will find it very pretentious but what is art without a little pinch of it. The animation is mind-boggling at times. I was happy that the DVD release featured a few scenes before they were rotoscoped by the animators. It looks like something you might find on a late-night public access channel. I'm hoping that the Criterion Collection acquire the rights and release it on blu-ray.

Great video!

Some other top mature animations not mentioned or referenced here: Alice, Krysar, Ninja Scroll, Tekkonkinkreet, When the Wind Blows, Jin Roh.

Wow, coming up with Hertzfeldt as the final entry. Best pick!!

"Animal Farm" by George Orwell comes to mind when talking about political animation

Cartoon the genre and cartoon the medium are different things, many people who see the medium also think it is a comedy for children

Tokyo 10.0 is worth a watch. It's about how people stick together in crisis. A.G.

Toyko Godfathers (2003) is a must see. Sad and funny and somewhat crazy.

Ninja Scroll is my favorite studio Ghibli movie.

Thank you so much for making this you did a wonderful job Im subscribed and gonna start watching most of these grave of the fireflies would break me tho I couldn't think of my two lil nieces growing up in a war striken land all famished and malnourished I would break down those lil girls are the closest I got to kids and my sister had to go to prison instead of raising them I would cry 2 hard man but damn u made a great list and I'm a die hard fan of animation for life so kudos and thank you hope your well and can't wait to see your channel grow thank you bi

Animation is a great medium bc it allows you to do things that either wouldn't be possible in live action or would look goofy

Waking life I think deserved a mention.

Grave of the Fire Flies is a movie (or the movie) that I wish I had not seen. I will never watch it again. But, it is that good.

Its such a beautiful day has one of my favorite endings to a movie. Its beatifully niave, we wish we could live forever.

These are wonderful picks. Great talking point about Mature and Adult media. There's definitely media that are heavy without the dark and grotesque, but because of the delicate topics instead. And so many Adult media are actually very tawdry and raunchy, or yes grotesque and dark, and my definitely tackle heavy topics. Some things overlap, but Adult media seems to not always need to be Mature. And Mature media isn't always just for adults.

Best animated series like scavengers Reign

Ninjascroll is one of my favourite movies ever..

You can also keep your eyes on French directors. Just this past decade, they've put up banger after banger in terms of mature animation, and are certainly spearheading the genre right now (Funan et le Peuple Nouveau is a direct spiritual descendant of Grave of the Fireflies, and Les Hirondelles de Kaboul is an adult tragic version of The Breadwinner. And I haven't yet talked about I lost my body, and The Summit of the Gods, also all formidable UFOs on their own right)

Grave of the Fireflies broke my heart.

An excellent line of analysis 🧐 The field of animation is as vast as the exploration of Manga … it can go anywhere while ignoring history and physics. It uses the line, color and surface to show us a story, perhaps impossible for any other medium. So, for this I thank you.

A good list. I didn't agree with it but here's my five:- Lascars (2009) ; Midori-Ko (2011) ; Cat Soup instead of Ghibli ; Tale of Tales (1979) for history ; Anomalisa (2015)

What are the sources of all of the movies shown?