Is there any series out there that are as great as the first two "An American Tail" films or the first "Land Before Time" film? I just got done watching them and WOW, all the nostalgia. Is there anything out there like these three films?

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The Secret of NIMH -- another Don Bluth classic (when he left Disney). It was really good. I liked that a whole lot more than An American Tail.

If you're talking about artstyle... uhmm... try these Disney movies:
The Sword in the Stone
The Jungle Book
Robin Hood
The Rescuers
The Great Mouse Detective

Oh yea... also: The Hobbit (for artstyle)

Last edited by hobbitelf518 at 1:10 am, Nov 1 2012

What you're looking for. or more specifically, this guy (he did both of the films you mentioned).

I guess you could say that I'm looking for something as good as a Don Bluth movie. I recently found out that I have about half of the films that he worked on with the last being Titan A. E.. So because it seems that he vanished off the face of the Earth, I was wondering if there is anything as good as the films he made or worked on. If that is a bit hard to understand, basically, I want something that is as good quality as these films.

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I love those movies >_< You should try Balto! its by the same studio.

....but thats movies, you said 'series' (which is confusing as you can get a series of movies, which land before time is) so what I take that to mean is that you're looking for a manga series similar to the movies, If so I would say:

The first one that came to my mind was Kimi no Kakera, it has some essence of what you're after. Its got the whole lost children in a bleak unfamiliar world theme like in those movies, and has pretty nice art, with very characatured humans and detailed backgrounds.

The first part of Kemono no souja is similar in story line and feel to the beginning of land before time, in that she's happy with her mother and then her world is shattered, and like in land before time she spends the rest of the manga searching for a home, though thats the more figurative sense than the literal goal of the great valley in land before time.

Tegami Bachi has a very similar feel with the whole child with unknown origins thing, that then found a job and friends (like in feifel goes west) and has a good heart (like the main characters in the movies)

+Anima has the feeling of lost or lonely individuals banding together and going on a journey, like in land before time.

Karneval is similar in that one character has very little knowledge of his past, very confused, has one important thing (like the star leaf) that reminds him of an important person he has to find, his mission if you will, like with little foot and the star leaf. Plus he's very vulnerable, weak and lost a bit like how the protagonists are in the films at first.

Theres other mangas where the children/teenagers' familys are destroyed or they're seperated from them or their worlds shattered because of some event and become alone/semi-alone:
Kazan
Smargs won't sing
Vinland saga
Good witch of the west
Pandora hearts
Orfina
Olimpos
No.6
Deadman wonderland

Would you believe that I have Batlo, +Anima, Pandora Hearts, and Deadman Wonderland?

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Oh cool, looks like I got the right genres then XD I thought you would probably have balto, but suggested it just in case

bump

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bump again

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I loved the movie "spirited away"

I loooove Don Bluth~!!

It's just a little tough to find an anime series/movie that's like American Tail, when they're all void of singing. ^__^

Anime-wise? Some of the 80s-90s may be sort of like it? Or give me, at least, some sense of nostalgic feeling of the 90s. Noting: Not all of these are ones I saw when I was little. Some of these, I got to see thanks to Youtube.

+ The Mysterious Cities of Gold - I had no idea this actually existed until several years ago. The theme song is BEAUTIFUL... It's an adventure story with a boy, who everyone thinks he's blessed with the power to bring out the sun. (I can't blame him for thinking everyone else is crazy...) Then, he goes off an adventure with other people to find "the cities of gold" and his own origins.

+ Pretty much most of the Ghibli movies. I grew up with a lot of them so lots of nostalgic factor for me. At least the ones directed under Hayao, Isao Takahata and some of the other Ghibli staff. Hayao's son, Goro, has a different flavor from his father so I wouldn't count his movies in on any level.

Whisper of the Heart involves music, but...I don't consider "Country Home" on the same level with "Somewhere Out There". Grave of the Fireflies is probably the saddest Japanese animated movie for me. Highly recommend Lupin the Third movie just for anyone wanting that classic adventure/action feel with a classic evil bad guy.

+ Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water would've been a contender, but a good portion of it used fillers all because someone (the writer - I forgot) was not involved with those episodes. Thus, the show went a little downhill with the characters before the guy came back and fixed everything. So, I place the classic Nadia way below awesome Laputa and even Disney's Atlantis. (I do recommend hearing the Italian Nadia theme song as it's different.)

+ A Journey Through Fairyland was definitely one dubbed anime movie that I grew up with. I still have the VHS, I think? Pretty cool Sanrio classical music movie of its time.

+ Strange Dawn has an opening that feels a bit old school despite it being made in 2000. All you need to know is that it involves small people and two school girls on an adventure.

+ Oban Star Racers invokes a different kind of nostalgia for me. A nostalgic reminder of when Cartoon Network use to be very watchable at the end of the "golden era". (har) Anyways, Oban is one of a kind racing/adventure type of story and we'll probably never see any sequel....ever. (And speaking of old CN nostalgia, there was that non-anime cg show involving the air ships and sky pirates. Dang, forgot the name.)

+ If I was a kid growing up in Japan around 2006, Dennou Coil is definitely the one show I would watch over and over on NHK. For sure.

+ I can't leave this thread without saying World Masterpiece Theater. This screams nostalgia all over. I never got to see single one of these adaptations, but I know these were pretty good.

Will cut the list to that right there.

Other American made animated movies that haven't been mentioned so far that strikes "nostalgia".

You guys nailed Balto, Nimh, all classic Disney movies, and even Spirited Away. My other favorite Don Bluth movies: Rock-a-Doodle, All Dogs Go To Heaven (first one), Thumbelina, A Troll in Central Park, Pebble and the Penguin, and Anastasia. (I didn't care much for Titan A.E., to be honest... Probably my least favorite Bluth film.) I think Nimh 2 was alright.

Non-Bluth movies that involve singing one way or another: The Elm-Chanted Forest (--however, as I got older, I understood what the shrooms meant. =__= --), Princess and the Goblin, Swan Princess (first one!), Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Prince of Egypt, The Nutcracker Prince, Tom and Jerry: The Movie, Cats Don't Dance, The Chipmunk Adventure, Quest for Camelot, and almost forgot, We're Back! A Dinosaur Story.
Edit 2: I originally had "the Muppet movies", but they're not animated. Agh..But I would recommend them to anyone.

Edit 3 -> Joint Japanese/American venture movie: Little Nemo in Slumberland.

Non-singing honors goes to: The Iron Giant

Singing educational honors goes to: School House of Rock

Edit: Bluth video game honors: Dragon's Lair --- I still remember playing it in arcade format. Way before its time. It was amazing. ^^; Now, I can play it on the 3DS. Whoo!!

As for manga... Er.. Anything made in the 90s and 80s?

Last edited by tgirl at 10:17 am, Nov 28 2012

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