Cookies help us deliver our Services. By using our Services, you agree to our use of cookies. Learn More.
Tohokushinsha Film
By Phil Archbold/July 23, 2021 3:14 pm EDT/Updated: July 24, 2021 4:42 am EDT
With so much to choose from across a myriad of different genres, the wonderful world of anime can sometimes seem a little inaccessible to newcomers. The history of Japan's lucrative animation industry can be traced back to the early 20th century, when a five-minute, chalk-drawn film was created by Shimokawa Oten. The medium grew steadily in the decades that followed (experiencing a boom during World War II, when the Japanese government used anime for propaganda purposes) and would come to be recognized as part of the country's cultural identity, both at home and in the West.
The anime industry is bigger than ever nowadays, and, with the rise of streaming services, fans have never been more stuck for choice. Whether you're a newbie looking for your perfect entry into anime, or an aficionado on a mission to see every unmissable anime film ever made, we've got you covered.
Updated on July 23: New anime films get released all the time. When they're so good that you simply need to know about them, they will appear right here. We're regularly updating this list to make sure it includes the latest masterpieces alongside the all-time classics.
Laputa: Castle in the Sky
Studio Ghibli
The first film from the world renowned Studio Ghibli, "Laputa: Castle in the Sky" is the story of an orphan boy named Pazu, whose life in a small mining town is thrown into chaos when he decides to shelter a girl with a magical crystal. Sheeta's amulet powers Laputa, the film's floating island fortress, and shady government agent Muska will stop at nothing to get his hands on it. Directed by Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki, "Laputa: Castle in the Sky" is a seminal steampunk adventure that's not to be missed.
Original Voice Cast: Mayumi Tanaka, Keiko Yokozawa, Minori Terada
English Dub Cast: James Van Der Beek, Anna Paquin, Mark Hamill
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Year: 1986
Runtime: 124 minutes
Rating: PG
Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%
Grave of the Fireflies
Studio Ghibli
One of the other great minds behind Studio Ghibli, the late Isao Takahata was best known for his haunting classic "Grave of the Fireflies." The film follows Seita and Setsuko, orphaned siblings clinging to life in the last days of World War II. Routinely ranked among the best wartime movies ever made, "Grave of the Fireflies" is a difficult but ultimately rewarding watch. Veteran film critic Roger Ebert called it "an emotional experience so powerful that it forces a rethinking of animation."
Original Voice Cast: Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Yoshiko Shinohara
English Dub Cast: Adam Gibbs, Emily Neves, Shelley Calene-Black
Director: Isao Takahata
Year: 1988
Runtime: 89 minutes
Rating: NR
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%
Your Name
Toho
Makoto Shinkai's "Your Name" was Japan's highest-grossing film of 2016, and it took the rest of the world by storm the following year. Shinkai's exquisitely animated coming-of-age fantasy follows Tokyo boy Taki and country girl Mitsuha, a pair of high schoolers who inexplicably wake up in each other's bodies one day. The phenomenon continues to occur throughout the film and the two teens begin to form a special bond, each embarking on a quest to learn the other's name.
Original Voice Cast: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Mone Kamishiraishi, Ryo Narita
English Dub Cast: Michael Sinterniklaas, Stephanie Sheh, Kyle Hebert
Director: Makoto Shinkai
Year: 2016
Runtime: 107 minutes
Rating: PG
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 98%
Perfect Blue
Rex Entertainment
Satoshi Kon's "Perfect Blue" is the story of J-Pop star Mimi Kirigoe, who decides to quit her band and start over as an actor. The decision doesn't go down well with one obsessive fan, who begins stalking Mimi. When murders start occurring around her, the idol's already eroded grip on reality is lost entirely. It's a psychological thriller very much in the vein of Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan," which, as fans of Kon's film have been keen to point out, actually contains several near-identical shots.
Original Voice Cast: Junko Iwao, Rica Matsumoto, Shinpachi Tsuji
English Dub Cast: Ruby Marlowe, Wendee Lee, Gil Starberry
Director: Satoshi Kon
Year: 1997
Runtime: 81 minutes
Rating: R
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 80%
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Madhouse
Mamoru Hosoda burst onto the anime scene with "Digimon: The Movie" at the turn of the millennium, and he followed that up with "Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island," consistently ranked among the best "One Piece" movies. His next film, sci-fi romance "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time," led to him being dubbed the next Hayao Miyazaki. It follows Makoto Konno, a 17-year-old high schooler who discovers that she has the ability to time jump after she's hit by a train and miraculously reappears right before the accident occurs.
Original Voice Cast: Riisa Naka, Takuya Ishida, Mitsutaka Itakura
English Dub Cast: Emily Hirst, Andrew Francis, Alex Zahara
Director: Mamoru Hosoda
Year: 2006
Runtime: 98 minutes
Rating: PG
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 83%
Ghost in the Shell
Shochiku
Hollywood's remake of "Ghost in the Shell" didn't live up to the standard set by Mamoru Oshii's anime of the same name, which James Cameron once called "the first truly adult animation film to reach a level of literary and visual excellence." Set in the now not-so-distant year of 2029, Oshii's existential cyberpunk thriller is centered around Motoko Kusanagi (aka the Major), a cyborg agent on the hunt for a rogue hacker. In Oshii's cybernetically advanced world, every part of the human body can be augmented, even the brain. Originally rated R in the States, the film has since been deemed suitable for younger viewers.
Original Voice Cast: Atsuko Tanaka, Akio Ōtsuka, Iemasa Kayumi
English Dub Cast: Mimi Woods, Richard Epcar, Tom Wyner
Director: Mamoru Oshii
Year: 1995
Runtime: 82 minutes
Rating: NR
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%
A Silent Voice
Shochiku
Naoko Yamada's "A Silent Voice" examines the relationship between bullies and their victims. The film opens with remorseful high school student Shoya Ishida going through a crisis. He became an outcast among his peers after relentlessly bullying deaf classmate Shoko Nishimiya during sixth grade, and things have gotten so bad that he's considering suicide. He decides to seek Shoko out and apologize as his final act, but ends up asking her to be friends instead. She agrees, though there's plenty of ups and downs to come before their relationship gets truly repaired.
Original Voice Cast: Miyu Irino, Mayu Matsuoka, Saori Hayami
English Dub Cast: Robbie Daymond, Ryan Shanahan, Lexi Cowden
Director: Naoko Yamada
Year: 2016
Runtime: 130 minutes
Rating: NR
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
Mary and the Witch's Flower
Toho
The first feature film from Studio Ponoc, founded by a group of former Studio Ghibli animators and producers, "Mary and the Witch's Flower" is a charming anime adaptation of Mary Stewart's "The Littlest Broomstick." Set in Northern England, it's the magical tale of Mary Smith, who comes across a rare flower named fly-by-night. As she'll soon discover, the flower is called fly-by-night because the powder held in its bulbs will transform you into a witch. After breaking one of the bulbs, Mary is transported to Endor College, a school for witches that's hidden in the clouds.
Original Voice Cast: Hana Sugisaki, Ryunosuke Kamiki, Yuki Amami
English Dub Cast: Ruby Barnhill, Louis Ashbourne Serkis, Kate Winslet
Director: Hiromasa Yonebayashi
Year: 2017
Runtime: 103 minutes
Rating: PG
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%
Akira
Toho
Hollywood has been trying to adapt "Akira" for years now, but Katsuhiro Otomo's visually striking anime film (based on his manga of the same name) has proved a difficult act to follow. Otomo's post-apocalyptic classic became a cult hit in the West when bootleg copies began to circulate, and it's still considered a benchmark in anime to this day. It follows a young biker gang in Neo-Tokyo, the neon-lit metropolis that sprang up after the previous capital was destroyed in a devastating explosion. When gang member Tetsuo Shima starts developing powerful psychokinetic abilities following an accident, his friends have to stop him from causing another catastrophe.
Original Voice Cast: Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama
English Dub Cast: Johnny Yong Bosch, Joshua Seth, Wendee Lee
Director: Katsuhiro Otomo
Year: 1988
Runtime: 124 minutes
Rating: R
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Toei Company
While it technically predates the company, Hayao Miyazaki's "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind" is often viewed as an unofficial Ghibli film, as its success led to the formation of the famous anime studio. Based on Miyazaki's manga of the same name, it takes place a thousand years into the future, in a toxic world largely destroyed by bioweapons. Humans do battle with giant, mutated insects, though Nausicaä (princess of the titular valley) hopes to find a way for them all to live in harmony. The environmental and anti-war themes explored here would go on to become a staple of Studio Ghibli's films.
Original Voice Cast: Sumi Shimamoto, Goro Naya, Yoji Matsuda
English Dub Cast: Alison Lohman, Patrick Stewart, Shia LaBeouf
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Year: 1984
Runtime: 117 minutes
Rating: PG
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%
My Neighbor Totoro
Studio Ghibli
The distinctive silhouette of Studio Ghibli mascot Totoro is known the world over nowadays. Hayao Miyazaki's "My Neighbor Totoro" didn't capture the imagination of audiences right away (largely down to the fact that it was released alongside "Grave of the Fireflies" as a double feature), but the film and its eponymous forest spirit went on to carve out a place in Japanese pop culture. It follows sisters Satsuki and Mei, who just moved to the countryside with their father. Their new house is old and drafty, but it's near the hospital that's treating their sick mother. Totoro becomes a guardian to the girls after they discover him in a nearby forest.
Original Voice Cast: Noriko Hidaka, Chika Sakamoto, Shigesato Itoi
English Dub Cast: Dakota Fanning, Elle Fanning, Tim Daly
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Year: 1988
Runtime: 86 minutes
Rating: G
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%
Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise
Toho
It's long been considered one of the best anime of the 1980s, and Hiroyuki Yamaga's "Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise" still more than holds its own against newer entries in the sci-fi genre. Humans have yet to venture into space in Yamaga's film, set on an alternate version of Earth. Interest in space travel is practically nonexistent when failed fighter jet pilot Shiro Lhadatt joins the Royal Space Force, but that all changes when he volunteers to go into orbit. The flight sequences are stunning, and it's impossible not to root for the world's first astronaut.
Original Voice Cast: Leo Morimoto, Mitsuki Yayoi, Aya Murata
English Dub Cast: David A. Thomas, Heidi Lenhart, Wendee Lee
Director: Hiroyuki Yamaga
Year: 1987
Runtime: 119 minutes
Rating: NR
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%
Kiki's Delivery Service
Studio Ghibli
Based on Eiko Kadono's book of the same name, "Kiki's Delivery Service" follows a trainee witch who leaves home to find work at the age of 13, as per witch tradition. In this world, witches are neither feared nor unusual, seen as helpful public servants rather than creepy conjurors. Kiki finds the perfect job in Koriko, using her broom to earn her keep in the big city: she delivers packages for a very friendly (and very pregnant) bakery owner. In the words of director Hayao Miyazaki, it's a film for those "who do not deny the joy of youth, nor are carried away by it."
Original Voice Cast: Minami Takayama, Rei Sakuma, Keiko Toda
English Dub Cast: Kirsten Dunst, Phil Hartman, Tress MacNeille
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Year: 1989
Runtime: 103 minutes
Rating: G
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 98%
Millennium Actress
KlockWorx
One of several anime masterpieces from genius director Satoshi Kon (who died of pancreatic cancer in 2010 at the age of 46), "Millennium Actress" follows two TV journalists tasked with interviewing the former star of a bankrupted film studio for a documentary. The elderly Chiyoko Fujiwara is unwilling to cooperate at first, but when the pair present her with a key she hasn't seen in three decades, the reclusive actor proceeds with her story, a tale of jealousy and lost love that takes them back to her youth.
Original Voice Cast: Mami Koyama, Shozo Iizuka, Masaya Onosaka
English Dub Cast: Erin Yvette, Christopher Swindle, Benjamin Diskin
Director: Satoshi Kon
Year: 2001
Runtime: 87 minutes
Rating: PG
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%
Only Yesterday
Studio Ghibli
Isao Takahata's "Only Yesterday" isn't your typical Studio Ghibli film. The company co-founded by Takahata is known for its whimsical fantasies, but he decided to make a movie for a different audience here, creating a straight-up drama targeted at grown-ups. Based on Hotaru Okamoto and Yuko Tone's manga of the same name, it follows 27-year-old city dweller Taeko Okajima during a visit to the Japanese countryside. She's dedicated years to her job in Tokyo, but the memories triggered by her trip (and the attentions of her brother-in-law's second cousin, Toshio) lead to a reevaluation of her life choices.
Original Voice Cast: Miki Imai, Toshiro Yanagiba, Yoko Honna
English Dub Cast: Daisy Ridley, Dev Patel, Alison Fernandez
Director: Isao Takahata
Year: 1991
Runtime: 118 minutes
Rating: PG
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%
From Up on Poppy Hill
Toho
Directed by Goro Miyazaki, son of the great Hayao Miyazaki, "From Up on Poppy Hill" takes place in Yokohama during the post-war period. It's the story of Umi Matsuzaki, a 16-year-old girl who lives in a boarding house overlooking the city's famous port. When a poem about the signal flags she raises every morning gets published in the local high school's newspaper, Umi decides to help staffer Shun Kazama in his quest to save the school's clubhouse from demolition. The teens develop feelings that become extremely complicated when they discover an old photograph that seems to suggest they're long-lost siblings.
Original Voice Cast: Masami Nagasawa, Junichi Okada, Keiko Takeshita
English Dub Cast: Sarah Bolger, Anton Yelchin, Edie Mirman
Director: Goro Miyazaki,
Year: 2011
Runtime: 92 minutes
Rating: PG
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%
Porco Rosso
Studio Ghibli
Hayao Miyazaki has always been fond of Italy (the word "Ghibli" is actually an Italian term that means "hot desert wind"), and the filmmaker reportedly visited the country in 1990 to do some location scouting for "Porco Rosso." Set in a fictional version of Italy in the aftermath of the First World War, this vividly animated film follows a former fighter pilot who's been turned into an anthropomorphic pig by an unidentified curse. Now a world-weary bounty hunter, he spends his days pursuing seaplane pirates over the azure waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
Original Voice Cast: Shuichiro Moriyama, Akio Otsuka, Akemi Okamura
English Dub Cast: Michael Keaton, Cary Elwes, Kimberly Williams-Paisley
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Year: 1992
Runtime: 94 minutes
Rating: PG
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl
Toho
Before they brought us the hit Netflix series "Devilman Crybaby," anime studio Science SARU and director Masaaki Yuasa combined on the award-winning "The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl," an adaptation of Tomihiko Morimi's romantic comedy novel of the same name. It follows two Kyoto University students (credited simply as Senpai and Kohai, which roughly translates to Senior and Junior) on a wild night out in Japan's former capital. The smitten guy plans on confessing his love to his female friend at the end of the evening, though fate keeps conspiring to keep them apart.
Original Voice Cast: Gen Hoshino, Kana Hanazawa, Hiroshi Kamiya
English Dub Cast: Kellen Goff, Jackie Lastra, Eddy Lee
Director: Masaaki Yuasa
Year: 2017
Runtime: 93 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%
Tokyo Godfathers
Sony
Anime films set in Tokyo tend to focus on the famous green spaces and neon-lit neighborhoods, but Satoshi Kon's gritty Christmas classic "Tokyo Godfathers" shows us a different side of the city. It's the story of three homeless people who discover an abandoned newborn on Christmas Eve. Transgender woman Hana, aging alcoholic Gin, and teenage runaway Miyuki (who names the newest member of their makeshift family Kiyoko, meaning "pure child") set out on a quest to return the baby girl to her parents.
Original Voice Cast: Tooru Emori, Yoshiaki Umegami, Aya Okamoto
English Dub Cast: Jon Avner, Shakina Nayfack, Victoria Grace
Director: Satoshi Kon
Year: 2003
Runtime: 92 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%
Princess Mononoke
Studio Ghibli
In 1996, Studio Ghibli struck a deal with Disney that made the Mouse House the sole distributor of its films abroad. The first release under that deal was Hayao Miyazaki's fantasy epic "Princess Mononoke," which Disney put out via Harvey Weinstein's Miramax. The now-disgraced producer wanted Miyazaki to make a ton of cuts, but the director insisted that the film be released entirely unedited. Set during Japan's Muromachi period, it follows a wolf-raised woman named San and an earnest prince named Ashitaka, whose cursed arm is slowly killing him. The unlikely pair join forces to stop an impending war between the industrial-minded humans and the angry forest gods.
Original Voice Cast: Yoji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida, Yuko Tanaka
English Dub Cast: Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Minnie Driver
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Year: 1997
Runtime: 133 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%
Mirai
Toho
Mamoru Hosoda's Annie Award-winning fantasy film "Mirai" explores the complexities of family dynamics and how they can change over time. It's the story of a naughty little boy named Kun, who runs away from home when his new baby sister, Mirai, starts stealing his limelight. The jealous four-year-old accidentally stumbles across a time portal while sulking in a nearby garden, which gives him a chance to get to know his sister — a future version of Mirai shows up, and she needs Kun's help.
Original Voice Cast: Moka Kamishiraishi, Haru Kuroki, Gen Hoshino
English Dub Cast: Jaden Waldman, Victoria Grace, John Cho
Director: Mamoru Hosoda
Year: 2018
Runtime: 98 minutes
Rating: PG
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%
Ninja Scroll
Tokyo Theatres
Yoshiaki Kawajiri's ultra-violent period piece "Ninja Scroll" was among the first wave of anime films that made their way West in the 1990s, quickly becoming a cult favorite. Set in Japan's feudal era, it's the tale of mercenary Jubei Kibagami, a skilled swordsman hunted by a team of supernatural ninjas loyal to the treacherous Yamashiro clan. With the help of female ninja Kagero (who he meets during a particularly disturbing scene that justifies the film's rating), Jubei faces off against the Eight Devils of Kimon in a series of unforgettable battles. If you have a strong stomach and love a good ninja fight, this one's an absolute must-see.
Original Voice Cast: Koichi Yamadera, Emi Shinohara, Takeshi Aono
English Dub Cast: Dean Wein, Wendee Lee, Stephen Apostolina
Director: Yoshiaki Kawajiri
Year: 1993
Runtime: 94 minutes
Rating: NR
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%
Whisper of the Heart
Studio Ghibli
In 1995, Yoshifumi Kondō became the first person other than Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata to direct a Studio Ghibli film, taking the reins on "Whisper of the Heart." This Tokyo-set love story begins when middle school student Shizuku Tsukishima notices that a boy has been checking out all the same library books she has. That boy, she'll later discover, is Seiji Amasawa, who dreams of becoming a master violin maker. Unfortunately, that dream means leaving Japan — and Shizuku — behind for an apprenticeship in Italy.
Original Voice Cast: Yoko Honna, Issei Takahashi, Shigeru Muroi
English Dub Cast: Brittany Snow, David Gallagher, Jean Smart
Director: Yoshifumi Kondo
Year: 1995
Runtime: 111 minutes
Rating: G
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%
Summer Wars
Warner Bros.
Mamoru Hosoda's Animation of the Year winner "Summer Wars" is part cyber-thriller, part family dramedy. It follows math genius Kenji Koiso, who works as a mod for the company behind a computer-simulated virtual reality world known as OZ. When his account gets hacked and an AI avatar begins terrorizing OZ, Kenji has to figure out how to stop it before the damage spills over into the real world. Aiding him are his friend (and crush) Natsuki Shinohara and her huge family, proud descendants of a samurai clan. The action takes place between OZ and Natsuki's grandmother's estate in the country.
Original Voice Cast: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Nanami Sakuraba, Mitsuki Tanimura,
English Dub Cast: Michael Sinterniklaas, Brina Palencia, Maxey Whitehead
Director: Mamoru Hosoda
Year: 2009
Runtime: 114 minutes
Rating: PG
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 78%
Metropolis
Toho
Written by "Akira" creator Katsuhiro Otomo and directed by mononymous anime veteran Rintaro, "Metropolis" is a tale of class, prejudice, and robots. The story begins with private detective Shusaku Ban and his nephew Kenichi, on the hunt for a wanted scientist. They get to him minutes too late: he's been shot, and the killer has set his lab on fire. Kenichi manages to escape the blaze with a young girl named Tima. What neither of them know is that she's actually a robot, created by the scientist at the behest of Metropolis' crooked ruler, Duke Red.
Original Voice Cast: Kei Kobayashi, Yuka Imoto, Kosei Tomita
English Dub Cast: Brianne Siddall, Rebecca Forstadt, Tony Pope
Director: Rintaro
Year: 2001
Runtime: 113 minutes
Rating: PG
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%
The Secret World of Arrietty
Studio Ghibli
Studio Ghibli's "The Secret World of Arrietty" (or "Arrietty the Borrower" in Japan) is the story of a little girl with a big heart. An adaptation of Mary Norton's novel "The Borrowers," the film follows a sick boy named Shō, who finds a family of tiny people living beneath the floorboards of his mother's home. He befriends the curious Arrietty and hopes to win over the rest of her family before Haru, the suspicious housemaid, calls in pest control.
Original Voice Cast: Mirai Shida, Ryunosuke Kamiki, Shinobu Otake
English Dub Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Tom Holland, Olivia Colman
Director: Hiromasa Yonebayashi
Year: 2010
Runtime: 95 minutes
Rating: G
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
Vampire Hunter D
Toho
One of the most memorable anime imports of the 1990s, Gothic horror "Vampire Hunter D" rapidly earned a cult status upon its arrival in America. The story begins when the eponymous vampire hunter gets hired by Doris Lang, a farm girl who wandered into the domain of 10,000-year-old vampire Count Magnus Lee and paid the ultimate price for it. The Count bit her, and the only way she won't turn into a vampire is if D manages to kill Lee before her transformation is complete.
Original Voice Cast: Kaneto Shiozawa, Michie Tomizawa, Seizo Kato
English Dub Cast: John Gremillion, Luci Christian, David Wald
Director: Toyoo Ashida
Year: 1985
Runtime: 80 minutes
Rating: NR
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 78%
Ponyo
Studio Ghibli
It's one of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli's most child-friendly offerings, but there's still plenty for adults to enjoy in "Ponyo," the story of a goldfish girl who desperately wants to become human. Real name Brunhilde, Ponyo is the daughter of a sea-dwelling wizard and the goddess Granmamare, queen of the ocean. Against her father's wishes, she escapes to land and forms a bond with a human boy named Sōsuke, using her magic to turn herself human. She's promptly taken in by Sosuke's hardworking mom, brilliantly voiced by Tina Fey in Disney's English dub.
Original Voice Cast: Yuria Nara, Hiroki Doi, Tomoko Yamaguchi
English Dub Cast: Noah Cyrus, Frankie Jonas, Tina Fey
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Year: 2008
Runtime: 101 minutes
Rating: G
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%
Wolf Children
Toho
Mamoru Hosoda's "Wolf Children" is the tale of an unusual family forced to deal with some very normal issues. It follows a young woman named Hana, who falls head over heels for a man who's half wolf. They start a family together, but he's killed on a hunt when their two kids are still infants. Like their dad, Yuki and Ame can transform into anthropomorphic wolves, a fact they strive to keep hidden. Hana, now a single mother, decides to start over in the countryside, hoping her mischievous wolf children will somehow blend in.
Original Voice Cast: Aoi Miyazaki, Haru Kuroki, Yukito Nishii
English Dub Cast: Colleen Clinkenbeard, Jad Saxton, Micah Solusod
Director: Mamoru Hosoda
Year: 2012
Runtime: 117 minutes
Rating: PG
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
A Whisker Away
Netflix
Coronavirus-related complications meant that Netflix users had to wait a little longer than expected for the English language version of "A Whisker Away," a beautifully animated romantic dramedy. By the time the highly anticipated dub dropped on the streaming platform in June 2020, the film was already on its way to becoming one of the summer's big hits. It's the story of Miyo Sasaki, a middle school girl who comes into possession of a mask that allows her to transform into a cat. She befriends her crush while in cat form and begins to consider making the change a permanent one.
Original Voice Cast: Mirai Shida, Natsuki Hanae, Hiroaki Ogi
English Dub Cast: Cherami Leigh, Johnny Yong Bosch, Robert Buchholz
Directors: Junichi Sato and Tomotaka Shibayama
Year: 2020
Runtime: 104 minutes
Rating: PG
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%
Paprika
Sony
The fourth and final film from the late, great Satoshi Kon, "Paprika" is the story of a visionary scientist whose groundbreaking tech falls into the wrong hands. Doctor Atsuko Chiba and her team have perfected a device that allows the user to enter the dreams of others, and she takes it upon herself to use it for good. By night, the psychiatrist secretly uses the device to treat her patients, going inside their heads using her virtual avatar/alter ego, Paprika. When the dream technology gets stolen, a game of cat and mouse played out across the dream world — and the real one — ensues.
Original Voice Cast: Megumi Hayashibara, Toru Furuya, Toru Emori
English Dub Cast: Cindy Robinson, Yuri Lowenthal, Michael Forest
Director: Satoshi Kon
Year: 2006
Runtime: 90 minutes
Rating: R
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%
Ride Your Wave
Toho
Surfing is the focus of Masaaki Yuasa's "Ride Your Wave," the director's most polished-looking feature to date. The wild, surreal style of animation he's known for (inspired in part by the Beatles film "Yellow Submarine") is toned down massively, making way for crisp blue skies and crystal clear waters. The film follows college student Hinako Mukaimizu, who falls in love with a firefighter after moving to a surf town on the coast. Sadly, the man of her dreams drowns while rescuing a stricken jet skier, though she soon discovers that he appears to her in water whenever she sings their favorite song.
Original Voice Cast: Ryota Katayose, Rina Kawaei, Honoka Matsumoto
English Dub Cast: Joey Richter, Merit Leighton, Sarah Anne Williams
Director: Masaaki Yuasa
Year: 2019
Runtime: 96 minutes
Rating: PG
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%
The Cat Returns
Studio Ghibli
Studio Ghibli film "The Cat Returns" features an appearance from Baron Humbert von Gikkingen, the living cat statue from "Whisper of the Heart." The Cat Kingdom is thoroughly fleshed out during this delightful spinoff, in which Haru Yoshioka (a sheepish high schooler who hides the fact that she can communicate with felines) gets a marriage proposal from Lune, prince of the aforementioned kitty kingdom. She's whisked away before she can answer, and it seems as though the Baron is her only hope of escape.
Original Voice Cast: Chizuru Ikewaki, Yoshihiko Hakamada, Tetsu Watanabe
English Dub Cast: Anne Hathaway, Cary Elwes, Peter Boyle
Director: Hiroyuki Morita
Year: 2002
Runtime: 75 minutes
Rating: G
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%
Redline
Tohokushinsha Film
Considered one of the all-time great racing movies, "Redline" is an eye-popping sci-fi thrill ride that's become a firm cult favorite. The title of the film (which took seven years to complete) refers to the most popular race in the galaxy, one that cocky but lovable driver Sweet J.P. longs to win. He manages to qualify for the all-important race, but he'll need the help of fellow racer Sonoshee "Cherry Boy Hunter" McLaren if he's going to make it to the finish line in one piece — J.P. is in trouble with both the authorities and the mafia.
Original Voice Cast: Takuya Kimura, Yu Aoi, Tadanobu Asano
English Dub Cast: Patrick Seitz, Michelle Ruff, Liam O'Brien
Director: Takeshi Koike
Year: 2009
Runtime: 102 minutes
Rating: NR
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 70%
Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms
Showgate
She's been a leading female voice among anime writers for years, and in 2018, Mari Okada made her directorial debut with the hit fantasy film "Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms." Okada's award winner follows a girl called Maquia, who belongs to a race of near-immortal beings called Iorphians. When her people get attacked by the humans (who are desperate to learn the secrets of their longevity), she flees her home, rescuing a recently orphaned child along the way. She names the boy Ariel and decides to raise him as her own.
Original Voice Cast: Manaka Iwami, Miyu Irino, Yuki Sakurai
English Dub Cast: Xanthe Huynh, Eddy Lee, Ryan Shanahan
Director: Mari Okada
Year: 2018
Runtime: 115 minutes
Rating: NR
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%
The Boy and the Beast
Toho
Mamoru Hosoda's "The Boy and the Beast" is a heartwarming tale of loyalty and friendship. It follows nine-year-old street kid Ren, who has been living rough in Tokyo since losing his mother. His fortunes change after an encounter with the equally down-and-out Kumatetsu, a grouchy talking bear who happens to be the potential heir to the hidden Beast Kingdom. After initially balking at the idea, Ren agrees to become Kumatetsu's disciple. He grows up in the Beast Kingdom and becomes a highly trained kendo expert during that time, but he's drawn back to the human world when his long-lost father suddenly resurfaces.
Original Voice Cast: Koji Yakusho, Shota Sometani, Aoi Miyazaki
English Dub Cast: John Swasey, Eric Vale, Luci Christian
Director: Mamoru Hosoda
Year: 2015
Runtime: 120 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Rotten Tomatoes score: 88%
Barefoot Gen
Herald Enterprises
Numerous anime have explored the impact of the Hiroshima bombing, which destroyed the city and killed approximately 140,000 people. Most of them are pretty haunting, but few stay with you quite as long as Mori Masaki's "Barefoot Gen," a wartime drama based on the manga of the same name. It's the story of Gen Nakaoka, a Hiroshima boy eking out a living during World War II. He miraculously survives the bomb, but his best friend and several members of his family aren't so lucky. The effects of the atomic blast are shown in extremely graphic detail, and this film is definitely not for kids.
Original Voice Cast: Issei Miyazaki, Takao Inoue, Yoshie Shimamura
English Dub Cast: Catherine Battistone, Kirk Thornton, Iona Morris
Director: Mori Masaki
Year: 1983
Runtime: 85 minutes
Rating: TV-PG
Rotten Tomatoes score: 75%
The Tale of Princess Kaguya
Studio Ghibli
"The Tale of Princess Kaguya" was widely hailed as one of the most beautiful films of 2013, more than five decades after Isao Takahata first pushed the idea of a feature film about the 10th-century literary character. The girl that comes to be known as Princess Kaguya is discovered inside a bamboo shoot by a farmer, miniature and glowing. She grows into a normal child and becomes a popular figure in the village, but, eager to further her reputation as a divine being, her adoptive parents force her to abandon the countryside for a life in the big city.
Original Voice Cast: Aki Asakura, Kengo Kora, Takeo Chii,
English Dub Cast: Chloe Grace Moretz, Darren Criss, James Caan
Director: Isao Takahata
Year: 2013
Runtime: 137 minutes
Rating: PG
Rotten Tomatoes score: 100%
Weathering With You
Toho
Makoto Shinkai's "Weathering With You" is a romantic fantasy about an impulsive country boy and a city girl with a huge secret. After arriving in Tokyo to start over, Hodaka Morishima lands a job at an occult magazine. This leads to him investigating the local legend of the Sunshine Girl, who they say has the ability to control the weather. It turns out the Sunshine Girl is Hina Amano, an orphan who works at McDonald's. Hodaka befriends Hina after saving her from some shady types and she decides to reveal her incredible gift to him. The film features cameos by several characters from Shinkai's 2016 hit "Your Name."
Original Voice Cast: Kotaro Daigo, Nana Mori, Tsubasa Honda
English Dub Cast: Brandon Engman, Ashley Boettcher, Alison Brie
Director: Makoto Shinkai
Year: 2019
Runtime: 112 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%
The Wind Rises
Studio Ghibli
Hayao Miyazaki grew up with a love for aviation (his father's company, Miyazaki Airplane, built aircraft for the Japanese military) and the thrill of flight has always been a theme in his work. His passion is at its most unrestrained in "The Wind Rises," the director's most personal film. It tells the (fictionalized) story of Jiro Horikoshi, the real-life engineer of numerous fighter jets used by Japan during WWII. In the film, Jiro turns his attention to engineering after he's told that he's too nearsighted to be a pilot, but his new dream of building beautiful aircraft is complicated by the fact they'll be used for war.
Original Voice Cast: Hideaki Anno, Miori Takimoto, Hidetoshi Nishijima
English Dub Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt, John Krasinski
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Year: 2013
Runtime: 126 minutes
Rating: PG
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%
When Marnie Was There
Studio Ghibli
"When Marnie Was There" is the last film that Hiromasa Yonebayashi directed for Studio Ghibli before leaving to found Studio Ponoc, and he went out on a real high. It's the story of a loner girl named Anna, whose foster parents decide to take her away to the countryside for summer break. She begins to conquer her self-esteem issues with the help of Marnie, a mysterious but charming local girl who, as Anna comes to discover, is more than meets the eye. Yonebayashi's adaptation of Joan G. Robinson's novel changes the setting from the U.K. to Japan, but he insisted on Marnie remaining English.
Original Voice Cast: Sara Takatsuki, Kasumi Arimura, Hana Sugisaki
English Dub Cast: Hailee Steinfeld, Kiernan Shipka, Ava Acres
Director: Hiromasa Yonebayashi
Year: 2014
Runtime: 103 minutes
Rating: PG
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%
Howl's Moving Castle
Studio Ghibli
Loosley based on the Diana Wynne Jones novel of the same name, Hayao Miyazaki's "Howl's Moving Castle" is routinely ranked among the director's top works. This mesmerizing steampunk adventure takes place in a war-torn kingdom where magic and machinery work hand in hand. It follows a hatmaker named Sophie who, after an encounter with the vindictive Witch of the Waste, is transformed into an old woman. The young milliner sets out on a quest to find the witch and lift the curse, which leads her to the titular castle. She becomes Howl's cleaning lady and begins to care for the wanted wizard, who sees her for what she really is.
Original Voice Cast: Chieko Baisho, Takuya Kimura, Tatsuya Gashuin
English Dub Cast: Emily Mortimer, Christian Bale, Billy Crystal
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Year: 2004
Runtime: 119 minutes
Rating: PG
Rotten Tomatoes score: 87%
Pom Poko
Studio Ghibli
They're incorrectly referred to as raccoons in the English language dub, but the creatures that make up the cast of little-seen Studio Ghibli gem "Pom Poko" are in fact tanuki, important animals in Japanese folklore. The film begins in the 1960s, when Tokyo's urban sprawl was consuming rural communities and green spaces alike. When a group of tanuki living in a forest south of the city discover that their home is to be flattened to make way for a new suburb, they form a resistance and fight back.
Original Voice Cast: Makoto Nonomura, Shigeru Izumiya, Nijiko Kiyokawa
English Dub Cast: Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Clancy Brown, Tress MacNeille
Director: Isao Takahata
Year: 1994
Runtime: 119 minutes
Rating: PG
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%
Dragon Ball Super: Broly
Toei
Even those with a mere passing interest in anime have heard of the "Dragon Ball" franchise. Akira Toriyama first adapted his own manga series in the '80s, though fans in the West will be more familiar with the sequel series "Dragon Ball Z," a huge crossover hit in the '90s. Dozens of spinoff movies followed, but the best of the bunch by a considerable distance is 2018's "Dragon Ball Super: Broly," which remolds the titular Saiyan warrior into a more sympathetic figure. This record-breaking box office hit follows Nagamine's updated version of Broly from his exile in childhood to his inevitable showdown with his fellow Saiyans, Goku and Vegeta.
Original Voice Cast: Bin Shimada, Masako Nozawa, Ryo Horikawa,
English Dub Cast: Vic Mignogna, Sean Schemmel, Christopher Sabat
Director: Tatsuya Nagamine
Year: 2018
Runtime: 100 minutes
Rating: PG
Rotten Tomatoes score: 82%
In This Corner of the World
Tokyo Theatres
If you want to watch an anime movie about the Hiroshima bombing that opts for gut-wrenching storytelling over graphic imagery, Sunao Katabuchi's "In This Corner of the World" is for you. The film begins in the run-up to WWII and spans an entire decade, focusing on a kind and hardworking Hiroshima native named Suzu Hojo. She moves to the port city of Kure with her Navy husband and does her best to maintain a positive outlook amid the conflict, even after losing a hand in an air raid. When news of her home city's total annihilation reaches her, we're left as devastated as she is.
Original Voice Cast: Rena Nonen, Yoshimasa Hosoya, Mayumi Shintani
English Dub Cast: Laura Post, Todd Haberkorn, Barbara Goodson
Director: Sunao Katabuchi
Year: 2016
Runtime: 129 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89% (Audience Score)
Tekkonkinkreet
Asmik Ace Entertainment
Tokyo-based American Michael Arias became the first foreign director of a major anime film in 2006, when his adaptation of Taiyō Matsumoto's manga "Tekkonkinkreet" hit cinemas. It follows orphaned street kids Kuro and Shiro (Black and White) as they attempt to drive the yakuza out of Treasure Town, a sprawling, gaudy metropolis inspired by real-life locations all across Asia. It takes place in "a parallel universe that is kind of like Japan, but it's not Japan," Arias told the Los Angeles Times, revealing that he considered the film's memorable location a "central character of the film."
Original Voice Cast: Kazunari Ninomiya, Yu Aoi, Yusuke Iseya
English Dub Cast: Scott Menville, Kamali Minter, Rick Gomez
Director: Michael Arias
Year: 2006
Runtime: 111 minutes
Rating: R
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 75%
The Castle of Cagliostro
Toho
The directorial debut of Hayao Miyazaki, crime caper "The Castle of Cagliostro" follows gentleman thief Arsène Lupin III as he attempts to trace the source of some counterfeit bills while aiding a runaway bride. After realizing that the money he just stole from a casino is fake, our suave anti-hero heads for the Grand Duchy of Cagliostro, hoping to find a lead. After saving a young woman from some local thugs, Lupin finds himself embroiled in a shady count's plot to marry the princess, his way of gaining access to the fabled treasure of Cagliostro.
Original Voice Cast: Yasuo Yamada, Kiyoshi Kobayashi, Eiko Masuyama
English Dub Cast: David Hayter, John Snyder, Dorothy Elias-Fahn
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Year: 1979
Runtime: 100 minutes
Rating: PG
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
I Want to Eat Your Pancreas
Aniplex
Released in 2018, "I Want to Eat Your Pancreas" is an exquisitely animated film about a girl with a terminal illness. When high school student Haruki discovers that popular classmate Sakura is hiding her pancreatic condition from everyone at school so she can live out her final days in relative normality, he decides to help her tick off everything on her bucket list before it's too late. One of the saddest anime storylines ever, you'll need a steady supply of tissues for this one.
Original Voice Cast: Mahiro Takasugi, Lynn, Yukiyo Fujii
English Dub Cast: Robbie Daymond, Erika Harlacher, Kira Buckland
Director: Shinichiro Ushijima
Year: 2018
Runtime: 109 minutes
Rating: PG
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
Nippon Herald Films
From "Ninja Scroll" director Yoshiaki Kawajiri, "Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust" is an adaptation of the third installment in Hideyuki Kikuchi's series of "Vampire Hunter" novels. It pits D against the villainous Baron Meier Link, a high-ranking vampire accused of kidnapping beautiful brunette Charlotte Elbourne from her home. After being hired by her worried family for a tidy sum, the vampire hunter tracks the girl down and discovers that she left willingly — she's fallen in love with the baron and doesn't want to leave.
Original Voice Cast: Hideyuki Tanaka, Koichi Yamadera, Megumi Hayashibara
English Dub Cast: Andy Philpot, John Rafter Lee, Pamela Adlon
Director: Yoshiaki Kawajiri
Year: 2000
Runtime: 102 minutes
Rating: R
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 72%
Spirited Away
Studio Ghibli
The Oscar-winning jewel in Studio Ghibli's crown, Hayao Miyazaki's "Spirited Away" is the unforgettable tale of a girl named Chihiro, whose parents are transformed into pigs after they wander into what they believe is an abandoned theme park. It turns out to be a bathhouse for spirits, and if Chihiro wants her mom and dad restored to human form, she'll have to work for the witch that runs it. With a host of colorful new friends helping her out, she formulates a plan to save her parents and get back to the human world.
Original Voice Cast: Rumi Hiiragi, Miyu Irino, Mari Natsuki
English Dub Cast: Daveigh Chase, Jason Marsden, Suzanne Pleshette
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Year: 2001
Runtime: 125 minutes
Rating: PG
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%
0 Comments