7 best Satoshi Kon anime you should watch

Satoshi Kon remains one of the most influential anime directors in recent history. His rich legacy of psychologically complex and visually stunning films redefined anime. Many of his works explored the blurring of fantasy and reality, as well as themes like identity and perception.

Known for his dark, psychological themes and pioneering editing techniques that blurred fantasy and reality, Kon redefined the artistic possibilities of animation. His complex, stylized films centering marginalized characters remain unforgettable and influential.

The article explores seven of Satoshi Kon anime achievements that showcase the director's brilliant, boundary-pushing vision and style.

7 essential Satoshi Kon anime to watch

1. Perfect Blue (1997)

Perfect Blue is Satoshi Kon’s directorial debut and arguably his best work. It follows Mima Kirigoe, a former J-pop idol who decides to become an actress. As she takes on grittier and more mature roles, she catches the attention of an obsessive stalker who builds a dangerous delusion around her with deadly consequences.

This Satoshi Kon anime uses innovative filming techniques and visual motifs like reflections, cameras, mirrors, and doubles to explore Mima's fraying sense of self as her doppelganger begins taking over her life.

The line between imagination and truth blurs not just for Mima, but for the audience as well, thanks to Satoshi Kon’s masterful and disorienting storytelling. It set the pace for Kon’s brilliant career with its psychological thrills and suspense. It also provided early insight into some of his later themes around fractured identities and realities.

2. Millennium Actress (2001)

Millennium Actress acts as both an homage to Japanese cinema history and a meditation on one woman's lifelong search for a lost love.

It follows Chiyoko Fujiwara, a former actress looking back on her decades-long career with a documentary filmmaker. As she reminisces about her films and their fictional characters, reality gives way to film reels, sets, and scenes playing out her varied roles through the ages.

From period dramas to sci-fi adventures, the audience gets whisked away into Chiyoko’s celluloid memories even as she herself begins to blur and merge with the characters she once played. With stunning animated sequences and a heartbreaking narrative, it stands as one of Kon’s most poignant works.

3. Paprika (2006)

Paprika is arguably one of Satoshi Kon’s most well-known and beloved works internationally. The cyberpunk psychological thriller centers around a device called the “DC Mini,” which allows people to enter one another’s dreams.

However, when the devices get stolen, the dream and waking worlds start merging into a nightmarish mess. At the heart of Paprika is its exploration of dreams vs. reality as characters wander in and out of one another’s subconscious landscapes and the city itself seems to take on fantastical dream qualities.

Visually, it’s a stunning and almost hallucinatory feast for the eyes with its parade of images, motifs, and references drawing from art, film, Japanese culture, and dream theory. As Paprika seamlessly transitions between dreams and the physical world, Satoshi Kon leaves viewers in awe of his boundless imagination.

4. Tokyo Godfathers (2003)

In contrast to his usual fare, Tokyo Godfathers is Satoshi Kon’s more grounded take on the Christmas movie staple. It follows three homeless people who discover an abandoned newborn girl on Christmas Eve and set out to find her parents.

Despite its festive backdrop, Tokyo Godfathers doesn’t shy away from the grittier reality of its marginalized protagonists as they traverse the streets of Tokyo. Through their hopeful quest, however, all three are able to confront past trauma and find a sense of redemption.

More linear than other Satoshi Kon anime, Tokyo Godfathers demonstrates his versatility as a director. The poignant and heartwarming story about makeshift families is a perfect holiday classic.

5. Paranoia Agent (2004)

Paranoia Agent marked Satoshi Kon’s first and only foray into TV series. While initially appearing to be an eccentric crime show, it quickly evolves into a psychological, Lynchian mystery about the viral spread of a shared madness and delusion plaguing the residents of Musashino City.

Attacks by a mysterious assailant dubbed Li’l Slugger seem to expose his victims’ deepest insecurities, secrets, and lies. Meanwhile, an eccentric cast including detectives, criminals, and hikikomori NEETs get embroiled in the hysterical search for Li’l Slugger, even as they seem to embody aspects of his character.

Paranoia Agent shows glimmers of Kon’s classic themes like fragile realities and split personalities while crafting an eerie, comic, and absurdist atmosphere all its own. This Satoshi Kon anime leaves much open to interpretation, but perhaps that unknowability is part of its allure.

6. Magnetic Rose (1995)

Magnetic Rose is a sci-fi segment from the 1995 anthology film Memories, for which Satoshi Kon wrote the screenplay and contributed to the art direction. Directed by Koji Morimoto, it follows a spaceship crew that comes across a floating space station that seems to contain the remains of a European-style opera house.

Upon entering, the crew begins experiencing vivid hallucinations that draw from their past as the station itself seems to tap into its visitors’ memories and emotions. It’s later revealed that the AI driving the strange phenomena is preserving and replaying holographic memories of a deceased opera singer who once lived there.

As one of the first major anime projects Kon worked on, Magnetic Rose features his screenplay and artistic influence and builds on similar themes of blurred realities and characters unable to distinguish delusions from truth with stunning visuals and atmosphere.

7. Ohayou (2007)

Though lesser known than his other Satoshi Kon anime works, Ohayou is a short animated piece created for the AniKuri15 series on NHK in 2007. It follows the morning routine of a young girl waking up and preparing for her day.

Though mundane at first, the animation captures subtle surreal touches in how she perceives her surroundings as she shakes off sleep. Without any dialogue, Ohayou relies entirely on visuals and rhythm to evoke a dreamlike transition from sleep to wakefulness.

As a director known for his groundbreaking editing style, Kon effortlessly takes viewers from the familiar to the strange in this creative, dreamy short.

Conclusion

In just over a decade of filmmaking before his early death in 2010, Satoshi Kon cemented his legacy as one of the medium’s most creative directors.

His avant-garde storytelling style and ability to blur fantasy and reality have created unforgettable cinematic worlds that deliver psychological thrills while captivating emotion. Kon’s short but legendary filmography will no doubt influence animators and filmmakers for years to come.