Mankind is no longer rulers of Earth and the planet has been ravaged by powerful monsters. One of these monsters is Godzilla has been laying waste on both the humans and monsters, and mankind was forced to leave the planet in search of a new world. 20 years have passed, the emigrant ship “Aratrum” is running low on food and resources, and the planet they’ve discovered isn’t fit for human life. One of the surviving crew is Haruo and after analyzing every recorded footage of Godzilla, he has found a potential weakness to the invulnerable monster. Convinced of Haruo’s findings and, frankly, they’ll die if they keep searching for new worlds, the crew of the Aratrum went back to Earth via hyperspace jump and reclaim the planet from Godzilla. Will Haruo and the remaining humans succeed or will they slowly die of starvation in space?

Was Godzilla 2014 hard to see even at max TV brightness? Or was Shin Godzilla too focused on government red tape and boring humans? Will Godzilla fare better in animated form (no, not that western cartoon series from the 90s)? Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters is not the answer, but it has the potential to be one. You see, Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters is part 1 of a 3-part movie series, and part 1 covered all the introductions and established the main setting of kicking Godzilla’s ass. After all, we’ll get to see Godzilla’s iconic nemesis Mecha-Godzilla in action soon!

Graphics-wise, Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters uses cell-shaded 3D animation you find in other anime shows like Ajin and Knights of Sidonia. It’s not the best-looking 3D/CGI film out there, but it’s good enough for the movie to stand out from the rest. You don’t need to make every film realistic as humanly possible. And besides, the character designs in Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters are certainly better than looking at live-action characters in suits arguing over evacuation plans, taking 80% of the movie!

Steamboy tells the story of James Ray Steam, a young inventor living in the steamy and bustling city of British Victorian Era London. James’ life as a young boy turned upside down as he is caught in a web of chaos that involves a device called the Steam Ball that was given to him by his grandfather, also an inventor, from the United States. The Steam Ball is a breakthrough device that can produce a limitless amount of steam power, and evil forces are out to steal this powerful invention.

Unless Steamboy is all hand-drawn, then by golly it’d be one of the most meticulously drawn anime in the universe! Now, back to Earth, Steamboy is part 2D and part 3D—the characters are hand-drawn, but the steampunk world of London, especially the machinery, are all computer-generated. The moving gears, the belching of hot steam, the sound of the pistons running made everything around London feel like it’s one moving machine with people keeping it in tip-top shape. This level of detail cannot be attained through hand-drawn animation, and Steamboy is a good example of how to make good use of 3D graphics.

A death merchant is out to spread his deadly biological merchandise to New York City, and it’s up to veteran BSAA operative Chris Redfield, Government Agent Leon S. Kennedy and researcher Rebecca Chambers with her newly-developed vaccine to put an end to this viral terror that has infested the world for many years.

The third and perhaps the last of the Resident Evil CG film series, RE: Vendetta takes place within video game canon, so everything that has happened in these 3 films are tied together unlike the alternate universe of Milla Jovovich’s Resident Evil. In the end, though, these CG films are all about Leon S. Kennedy looking good at everything he does because, apparently, a lot of fans really love this babyface zombie slayer. The art style for Vendetta are more anime-like compared to the previous 2 films and the flexibility of the CGI was put to good use with heart-stopping action like the John Wick-inspired gunplay, and Gun Kata--martial arts mixed with guns. Oh, and your waifu since Resident Evil 1 Rebecca Chambers is now one hot special operative! Well, she was and still is, but… uhh… you get the point!

Renegade captain and pirate Harlock travels across the universe with his dark matter-powered ship the Arcadia planting detonators on planets. After 100 years of traveling the universe, Harlock and his ragtag crew sets their sights on humanity’s homeworld Earth, and plant the final detonator there. Harlock’s motives are unclear and are a danger to planet Earth, so the Gaia Sanction has sent a spy posing as Harlock’s crew to gather information. What are Harlock’s goals and how did he manage to stay alive for more than 100 years? Undercover agent Yama will soon find out as he travels the galaxy along with the most wanted man on the universe.

Captain Harlock is a standalone movie with no relation to the original TV series. Frankly speaking, the story in the movie is nothing to write home about mainly because the movie is too short—even at 2 hours—to cover a ton of characters and lots of background info. You’re better off watching the TV series… but with that said, the 3D visuals of the Captain Harlock movie is second to none with detailed character designs and a world that could rival CGI Final Fantasy films. Captain Harlock looks bad-ass while retaining his iconic look, his pirate ship the Arcadia is as intimidating as ever, the character designs look modern while keeping design cues from the original, and the space battles are very intense and flashy.

98% of the human population has fled to a massive space station called DEVA, and digitized themselves after Earth was ravaged by a disaster. These digitized humans are living a seemingly immortal life free from disease, hunger, and strife, but until one day a rogue hacker originating from Earth has disrupted the peace of the inhabitants of DEVA and showed them that he has created a spacecraft capable of leaving the Solar System in search for habitable worlds for humans to settle. The higher-ups at DEVA has assigned law enforcement officer Angela Balzac to travel to Earth, establish contact with the remaining human population still living on Earth, and bring the rogue hacker—only known as Frontier Setter—to justice.

3D visuals of Expelled from Paradise is cell-shaded and more anime-like than any film on this list, and if you want a future for 3D anime that doesn’t involve photorealism, this film is one of the finer examples of 2D art style rendered in 3D. Angela, her Earth contact Dingo, and the denizens of Earth all look exceptionally good on 3D, so there are a lot of moments that Expelled from Paradise that genuinely looks like a 2D anime.

It’s fair to sum up Kingsglaive as a long cutscene for the Final Fantasy XV video game, but it does help further establish the background story behind the conflict and politics between Lucis and Niflheim, and how things unfolded prior to progressing through the game as now the grown-up Noctis. The story focuses on the war between Lucis and the Niflheim empire. Lucis is one of the remaining nations left that isn’t under control of the technologically advanced Niflheim, all thanks to the power of the Crystal, blocking all invasion attempts. King Regis Lucis Caelum CXIII assembled the Kingsglaive, a task force of elite soldiers that uses the power of the Crystal to protect his kingdom of Lucis.

The visuals in Kingsglaive is the best in the industry that, if you take a glance, it’s hard to tell the characters are live-action actors or were digitally crafted. From the detailed worlds to every strand of hair, to every pore of the skin, down to the wear and tear of damaged armor—Everything is so photorealistic. Unfortunately, the visuals are so realistic, it went so far as doing the same mistake other movie does to their action scenes: a shaky camera. The battles are visually impressive and it’s great to see iconic monsters in action, but you don’t get to see much of the set pieces because of thanks to the shaky camera and tons of motion blur.

Go and try to make out of what’s going on during the confrontation of the Glaives and Ultros, to, say, Cloud against Bahamut in Final Fantasy VII Advent Children. Kingsglaive is indeed visually stunning and puts every movie on this list to shame, but it went too far on the realism.

Upon reaching the age of 16, Kido Saori was saved from an attack by 4 young men donning magical armor. They are called Saints and they come to Saori’s aid because she’s the reincarnation of the Goddess Athena, protector of love and peace of Earth. The forces that attacked Saori are also Saints from the magical land of Sanctuary because Saori blasphemously claimed to be the goddess. To understand what’s going on, Saori and her 4 protectors travel to Sanctuary and confront the pope for answers.

When making a CGI film, you need to give the 3D art purpose and make use of it. If a CGI movie is all dialogue with nothing going on, then you just wasted the potential of 3D animation, and the movie is better off in live action instead. Take Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, for example. For its time it was a technical achievement of bringing realistic CGI characters to life, but if you take a closer look, that’s all the movie is about. The movie didn’t take full advantage of the potential of 3D animation like impossible to do stunts, camera angles, and action scenes.

Saint Seiya: Legend of Sanctuary is the exact opposite and the director took full advantage of 3D animation by creating energetic and sometimes exaggerated character movements, expressions making each scene and battles feel more alive and fun to watch. And it should be fun because Saint Seiya is an action movie featuring powerful warriors protecting their princess from the bad guys! It’s an old-school concept and old-fashioned fun!

Katou Masaru is your average teenage boy waiting for the train to arrive. A disaster happened when a madman appeared at the station and stabbed someone. Being the good Samaritan, Masaru runs to help the injured man, only to get attacked by the madman and died of stab wounds. Masaru suddenly woke up, alive, along with other people who claimed they also died and resurrected. In front of them is a giant black sphere known as Gantz and they are forced to fight for their lives against demons that are attacking the cities of Japan. If they win, they get to live another day, and if they gather enough points, they are given the chance to return to their normal lives.

Gantz:O is one of the most realistic 3D/CGI anime film, rivaling that of Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV. The tone of Gantz:O is darker and gloomier than Kingsglaive that you’re like watching a survival horror game unfolding with intense—sometimes hard-to-follow—action scenes, blood and gore everywhere, a metric ton of bare boob shots (it’s not as enticing at it sounds, FYI!) and there are moments that’ll make your heart. Oh and there’s one major advantage Gantz:O has over any Final Fantasy Film ever—the jiggle physics!

Advent Children takes place two years after the RPG Final Fantasy VII, and it focuses on Cloud Strife who distanced himself from his comrades and the rest of the world after the defeat of Sephiroth. After saving their world Gaia, a plague called the Geostigma spread across the planet and infected the people, including Cloud himself. What is Geostigma and why did it appear after defeating Sephiroth? And who are these silver-haired soldiers that have appeared before Cloud?

It’s hard to point who or what to blame for the trend of shaky camera action scenes, and movies like Kingsglaive and Gantz: O suffered leading to confusing action set pieces filled with shaky camera and tons of motion blur. Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children was made before the shaky camera trend and in a lot of ways, the overall presentation is cleaner, the battles are way more exciting and easy to figure out. From the chaotic bike chase across the highways of Midgar, Cloud and the gang taking out Bahamut, and to the final battle between Cloud and Sephiroth, each set pieces are beautifully crafted and easy to follow.

Plus, Final Fantasy VII has more iconic and memorable characters than Final Fantasy XV, so as time passes, fans of the franchise will fondly remember Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children as one of the best 3D/CGI films ever made. Everyone will still remember the part where Cloud descends from the ruined Shi-Ra tower as he tries to stop massive falling debris from hitting him… WHILE avoiding getting his ass kicked by Sephiroth.

Nobi Nobita isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer and his life as a kid is nothing short of pathetic. He sucks at everything, bigger kids take advantage of him, and with nothing to look forward to, Nobita’s future is going to suck. That’s not until Nobita’s descendant from the future paid him a visit and offers his help the troubled youth to improve his life and change the future. In order to do that, the Nobita’s great, great grandson sent in Doraemon, a caretaker robot, to help Nobita improve. Can Doraemon fix Nobita’s future using the countless gadgets stored away in his 4th-dimensional pocket, or is Nobita really fated to grow up as a pathetic person?

Like Mario successfully jumping from 2D to 3D with Super Mario 64, Doraemon made the transition from 2D to 3D intact in the film Stand by Me, Doraemon. Not only the high production values kept the original art style, and the overall film looks visually impressive, the film has kept the charm of Doraemon. For most of the time, CGI films, especially the most expensive ones, are more style than substance, ending up with films that are very good-looking, but lacks the story and characters. Doraemon, on the other hand, didn’t neglect the story nor its characters, and the result is a film that has the heart and soul of the original, but now in 3D. Yes, we all agree Nobita is an idiot, a complete coward, and relies on Doraemon a lot, but that’s Nobita and that’s what Doraemon is and was.

Aired: June 2014

Let’s start this list with one of the most recent movies, shall we?

Saori Kido has to learn a shocking truth: she is the reincarnation of goddess Athena and responsible for bringing love and peace to earth. Her job would already be difficult enough, if it wasn’t also for the fact that there are some people out to get her. Can Seiya, a Saint of Athena, protect her life before it’s too late?

Saint Seiya: Legend of Sanctuary divides the audience; some seem to love it, others hate it. Of course, it’s a big step to turn the original artwork into 3D animation and at first, it might not feel like an original Saint Seiya. But soon enough, you will notice that the character design is solid and the action scenes are more than just nice to look at. This movie caters to all fans of the original series, so if you are looking for more Saint Seiya then check out this addition to the franchise.

Moving on, next up is a franchise most of you should be familiar with: Resident Evil.

In this action thriller, special agent Leon infiltrates a European country to find out the truth behind the actions of the local government. On the search for illegally used biological weapons, Leon doesn’t back away from danger to fulfill his duties.

So far, so good, but how does modern animation support this action-filled storyline? Let’s just say that a lot of viewers were positively surprised at how much the art has improved from predecessor Resident Evil:Degeneration. And they are right! The movements are fluid, the setting looks nice and the characters are actually presentable. Thumbs up for Resident Evil: Damnation!

There was no way we would talk about Resident Evil without also mentioning Final Fantasy. It’s time for Advent Children!

Sephiroth has been defeated and the world is trying to recover. In a newly built city, the remaining survivors are moving on and working hard to forget the past. Cloud and Tifa, too, are hoping for a quiet life, but their hopes are being destroyed when new enemies are trying to resurrect Sephiroth. Another fight is about to begin.

This is the first movie that we have already mentioned in our original list, but our opinion hasn’t changed: Final Fantasy belongs to Japan as much as sushi and sumo and this movie doesn’t disappoint fans of the well-known series. The story is engaging and, more importantly, the animation works perfectly with the Final Fantasy franchise. It looks good without trying to be too realistic and sucks you right into the action. A must-watch!

What would be the most suitable genre to combine with CGI? Science Fiction of course!

It’s the near future and mankind has decided to leave its bodies behind to relocate to virtual reality. Life would be easy if it wasn’t for the imminent threat of a hacker who wants to take control over the system. Time for law enforcement forces to step into action and take justice into their own hands.

Expelled from Paradise looks great without slapping you in your face with their CGI. You get quick-paced action followed by stunning sceneries and then some battle scenes again. This diversity not only keeps the story interesting, but also gives you some time to appreciate all the aspects of this movie’s animation. Expelled from Paradise’s story might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but you should at least give it a try for its 3D animation.

Did you know that Japan has produced their own version of Alice in Wonderland? No? Then listen up as we tell you about Oblivion Island.

Where do your childhood treasures go after you’ve grown up and forgotten about them? With the help of a mythical fox called Teo, girl Haruka finds her way into the world of forgotten things that looks like it has just jumped out of a fairytale. On Oblivion Island, Haruka is about to go on a great adventure that takes her back to her own childhood.

This movie is so charming, you cannot help but simply enjoy it. True, it might not be the best choice if you are looking for an action-filled adventure, but it is perfect for a quiet evening in. Its 3D animation is one of the best you can find when it comes to Japanese movies and perfectly depicts the magical world of Oblivion Island. Check it out if you haven’t already!

An infamous story and one of the best known 3D anime movies - next up is Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence.

Based on a chapter of the original manga, this movie takes place in the Ghost in the Shell universe. A serious of mysterious deaths involving “sexaroids”, androids designed for sexual pleasure, is troubling the local law enforcement. Police officer Batou and his partner Togusa are up and about to solve the mystery.

First of all, we need to clarify something: Ghost in the Shell 2 doesn’t use 3D exclusively. Rather, traditional 2D animation builds the foundation while 3D is used to enhance the viewing experience with well-chosen details. This unique approach is the reason we had to include Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence on this list. Rather than trying to completely venture into unknown territory, the producers have used CGI in reasonable doses that do not distract from the main ideas of the movie.

Sci-Fi? Check. Pirates? Check. 3D animation? Triple check.

Mankind has succeeded at moving into space, but resources are limited. The people left on earth now have to protect their home from the threat of other humans trying to reclaim the land. Coming to their rescue is Captain Harlock and the crew of his spaceship Arcadia. He is ready to risk anything to win this fight, but can he succeed? Watch Captain Harlock to find out!

With a CGI-animated space setting, action-filled fights and a theme song performed by famous rock band One Ok Rock, it becomes obvious that this movie only tries to be one thing: epic. And it succeeds! What might sound like a run-of-the-mill space adventure turns out to be actually interesting. Even if you are not a fan of Sci-Fi, you ought to watch Captain Harlock for its great animation that really brings outer space to life.

We are moving into our Top 3 and first up is Vexille.

Once again, we find ourselves in the future - the year 2077 to be exact - in the midst of an ongoing battle between mankind and technology. Japan has established itself as the main manufacturer of new technology, but it has done so at a big price. To continue futuristic research programs it had to distance itself from the rest of the world and go back into seclusion. A series of mysterious events involving banned technologies might force the country to re-emerge.

If you are a fan of attention for details, cyberpunk elements or simply engaging visuals, then we can definitely recommend Vexille to you. It is a solid Sci-Fi story that combines an interesting idea with good animation and music. As with the previous recommendations, CGI is used to support the action and create a certain atmosphere that fits the overall style of the story. If you like Ghost in the Shell, chances are high you will also enjoy Vexille.

Our next recommendation comes from the mind of mangaka Masamune Shirow, internationally known as the creator of Ghost in the Shell. It’s time for AppleSeed!

After a long and gruesome war, humanity is looking for peace in a futuristic city called Olympus. Here, humans and bioroids - genetically created clones - live side by side. Former soldier Deunan Knute doesn’t believe in the seemingly perfect world everyone thinks they live in, so she sets out on a quest to find out more about the fate of bioroids.

We are the first ones to admit that AppleSeed might look a little bit old-school at times, but keep in mind that it is already more than 10 years old. Still, while the fashion choices of the characters might be questionable, the overall animation definitely stood the test of time. The backgrounds and futuristic design of the city are great to look at and make for a fun viewing experience.

You’ve been waiting patiently, and now it’s finally time to reveal our top pick for CGI/3D anime movies. A round of applause for Short Peace!

For this movie, four different directors have come together to create short stories that will drag you right into the action. “Possessions,” tells the meeting of a mysterious traveler with strange spirits. “Combustible” is a tale of love written by the creator of Akira. “Gambo” introduces you to a white bear of the special kind and, lastly, “A Farewell to Weapons” brings you right back to an apocalyptic version of Tokyo.

The concept of Short Peace is unique in the way that it tries to combine completely different stories that have all been created with the theme of Japan in mind. Each short film differs greatly from the other ones - and not all of them use 3D animation - but the end result is still astonishing. Not only do these stories look great, but they are so rich in details and thoughtful storytelling that you cannot help but fall in love with them. Short Peace is our final recommendation!