Compilation movies are a common iteration of feature-length anime. They usually consist of edited footage from an entire season of an existing show, whittled down to a few hours. Occasionally, some extra footage will be thrown in, or some rough edges will be smoothed out, making for a final product viewers can enjoy in a single sitting as opposed to the time sink of devoting tens of hours of content.

These films serve to bring new recruits up to speed, but they can also work as an extra promotion, or a means of re-selling a series to an already existing fanbase. They have been around for a long time, dating back to some of anime’s biggest hitters in the early 1980s. Needless to say, there are a lot of them out there, so here is a guide to the best of them.

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8

Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX: Beginning

Robot Rock

• Release date: February 28, 2025
• Runtime: 81 minutes
• Director: Kazuya Tsurumaki

An Otaku dream come true, Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX: Beginning brings together some of the biggest names in anime for a bold re-imagining of the series. The Gundam franchise itself has some of the most granular lore in anime, and that’s before the numerous spin-offs set in alternate timelines. Things get even more complex with this clunkily-named new installment, co-written by Hideaki Anno, the head honcho behind Neon Genesis Evangelion.

In the show’s story, the white Gundam is intercepted and stolen by none other than Char Aznable, drastically altering the One-Year War. Conflicted teenagers and an underground Gundam duelling ring are also thrown into the mix. With vibrant character designs and a punk sensibility at odds with the traditional tone of the show, it all makes for one of the most colorful and dynamic Gundam entries in years.

7

Macross Plus

Faster, Better, Stronger

The original Macross Plus was a four-part OVA released in the mid-90s, working as both a standalone story and also a canonical sequel to one of the most influential anime ever: Super Dimension Fortress Macross. The original was a delirious science-fiction stew with ingredients that included idol singers, space opera, and transforming mecha. All three staples are preserved for this iteration, which was one of the standout titles of its era thanks to its stunning animation.

The movie is one of the best examples of a compilation movie as it keeps so much of the series intact. All four episodes hovered around 30–40 minutes in length, so condensing them into a 2-hour film avoids the huge gaps in narrative or character development that affect so many other films of this kind. Extra or improved scenes were added to flesh out the story, so this is a sublime experience for anyone who has or hasn’t seen Macross.

6

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth

You (Can) Re-Do

Neon Genesis Evangelion looms large in the anime landscape. There has been nothing quite like it before or since, thanks to its mix of teen soap opera, neo-Kaiju battles, and apocalyptic ennui. Its final two episodes were famously divisive for fans, due to an ending which can most charitably be described as ‘ambiguous.’ Fan backlash led to The End Of Evangelion, a cinematic coda for the saga, but prior to its release, fans got a recap movie.

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth includes re-drawn scenes from the original show, as well as new material created just for the film, all centered around the show’s main characters — Shinji, Rei, Asuka, and Kaworu — playing Pachelbel’s Canon as a string quartet. Keeping the show’s existential themes intact, it was also subject to numerous re-edits and exists in several different versions. In a very meta touch, footage taken from a screening of the film was included in The End Of Evangelion’s mind-blowing climax.

5

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: The Laughing Man

Who’s Laughing Now?

Released in 1995, the original Ghost In The Shell was a foundational title that foresaw much of humanity’s relationship with AI in the present day. Its success has spawned a slew of TV shows, films and video games. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex was an outstanding TV show which almost worked like a cyberpunk version of The X-Files; each week, Section 9 would investigate and tackle a different threat. For the first of two compilation films, director Kenji Kamiyama opted to condense the Laughing Man storyline.

Named after the cyberhacker who makes life especially difficult for everyone’s favorite paramilitary cybercrime task force, the Laughing Man compilation film chops off a lot of footage to tell its story as effectively as possible. Thanks to Kamiyama’s strengths as a storyteller, it more than succeeds at the task, cherry-picking some of the best action scenes from the series and bringing them all together into a cohesive piece of storytelling.

4

Gurren Lagann: Childhood’s End

Big Robots, Big Action

From Studio Gainax, who gave the world era-defining classics like Evangelion, FLCL, and Gunbuster, comes a spectacular story of nomadic heroes and giant robots so big they engulf the entire universe. Gurren Lagann was the calling card for animators who would eventually go onto the epochal Studio Trigger, and they planted their flag firmly in the ground with a spectacular, bombastic series that became an instant classic on release.

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The first compilation film, Childhood’s End, recaps the events of the first arc of the series (specifically episodes one through fifteen), but was a treat for fans as it threw in 20 minutes of newly animated scenes. As a means of promoting the film, Gainax released several music videos entitled Gurren Lagann Parallel Works. These contained alternative stories from the show, set to songs from the original soundtrack.

3

Mobile Suit Gundam (Parts 1–3)

Time To Suit Up

Mobile Suit Gundam

Release Date

1979 – 1980

Network

Nagoya TV

Directors

Yoshiyuki Tomino, Ryoji Fujiwara, Shinya Sadamitsu

It is fitting that one of the most recent compilation films (the first entry on this list) belongs to the series that helped popularize the trend. Mobile Suit Gundam was, believe it or not, far from a roaring success on release, as the show’s anti-war storytelling was too much for some audiences. It was only when model kits started doing the rounds that popularity grew, and the franchise enjoyed a resurgence. Around this time, a total of three compilation movies were made, whittled down from the original TV series.

Series mastermind Yoshiyuki Tomino used the films to remove some aspects from the show that he felt were too cartoonish, instead playing up the drama and emphasizing the disastrous impact of war and the senseless waste of human life. While the trimming involved is ruthless, it also cuts out a lot of filler, and the films work surprisingly well as coherent slices of storytelling. Whether the viewer is a Gundam vet or a newcomer, these films are a must-watch.

2

The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love?

My Boyfriend Is A Pilot

• Release date: July 21, 1984
• Runtime: 115 minutes
• Director: Noburo Ishiguro/Shoji Kawamori

Super Dimension Fortress Macross is a series whose legacy in anime cannot be overstated. A household name in its native Japan, it also helped Japanese animation get a vital foothold in the West thanks to its adaptation as Robotech. While it has plenty of spin-offs and sequels, the original told a complete story. That story forms the basis for this spectacular film, which adapted the original and used new animation to cover the main story beats from the series.

It’s evident that a huge amount of love and care went into the film, as the animation is stunningly beautiful. It could be the most visually sublime anime film made by a Japanese studio that doesn’t have the words ‘Studio’ or ‘Ghibli’ in its name. From the first frame to the last, the quality of the animation looks incredible even in the present day. Special mention must also go to its soundtrack, which somehow makes a tender ballad feel appropriate as the soundtrack to the bombastic space battle during the climax.

1

Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train

Bring Some Tissues

Demon Slayer is one of the most recent anime titles that has become a global phenomenon, with a heartwarmingly simple story of good versus evil and the healing power of family and friendship against the darker forces in this world. While the movie Mugen Train was a new story released after the end of Season One and thus very much its own beast, it was reverse-engineered into its own series arc when the TV show resumed, with some additional scenes inserted to flesh out the narrative.

The movie itself, however, is another example of a feature that works even if the viewer has no prior knowledge of the source material. When a band of demon slayers and their mentor hop aboard a train to investigate a series of disappearances, they are sucked into a waking nightmare where they are pitted against seemingly unbeatable enemies. With incredible fight scenes and one of the most emotionally devastating endings of any anime film in recent years, this one is unmissable.

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