I prefer watching anime films to series in a specific mood. There is something about sitting with a complete story in two hours that feels different from committing to twelve or twenty-four episodes. Anime films have produced some of the most extraordinary storytelling in cinema history — and several of them are as good as anything I have seen in any medium.
Here are the twenty-five best. I have watched all of these. I have opinions about all of them.
The Absolute Masterpieces
1. Spirited Away (2001) — Studio Ghibli
The greatest animated film ever made. I say this without qualification or hesitation. Spirited Away follows ten-year-old Chihiro whose parents are transformed into pigs at an abandoned theme park that turns out to be a spirit realm. She has to work in a bathhouse for supernatural beings to earn enough to free them.
Every frame is a painting. Every character — including minor background creatures — has a distinct design and implied personality. The world-building is extraordinary without a single line of exposition explaining it. You understand the spirit world by inhabiting it alongside Chihiro.
The Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. The highest-grossing film in Japanese history. These accomplishments barely communicate what this film actually is, which is one of the great works of imaginative art of the twentieth century.
Score: 8.75/10 | Director: Hayao Miyazaki
2. Your Name (2016)
Makoto Shinkai had made beautiful films before Your Name — 5 Centimeters Per Second, The Garden of Words — but Your Name is where everything came together perfectly. Two teenagers in different parts of Japan mysteriously swap bodies. They fall in love through the remnants of each other they find in their respective lives. Then the swapping stops.
The second half of this film contains one of the most effective plot twists I have encountered in any film. I knew something was wrong before I understood what it was, and when the reveal came I had to pause the film.
The ending is one of my favourite moments in cinema. I will not describe it.
Score: 8.85/10 | Director: Makoto Shinkai
3. Grave of the Fireflies (1988) — Studio Ghibli
I have only watched this film once. I cannot watch it again. That is a compliment.
Grave of the Fireflies follows fourteen-year-old Seita and his four-year-old sister Setsuko surviving in Japan after the 1945 firebombing of Kobe. It is the most devastating film I have ever watched — animated or otherwise. Roger Ebert called it one of the greatest war films ever made. He was right.
The film begins by telling you how it ends. The devastation is not in the final moments. It is in watching everything that leads there, the small joys amid catastrophe, the stubborn hope, and the complete indifference of the world to two children trying to survive.
Do not watch this lightly. Watch it once. Never forget it.
Score: 8.44/10 | Director: Isao Takahata
4. Princess Mononoke (1997) — Studio Ghibli
Miyazaki's most morally complex film, and in some ways his most impressive. A young prince cursed by a boar demon travels west to find a cure and finds himself in the middle of a war between the industrializing humans of Iron Town and the gods of the ancient forest protecting it.
What makes Princess Mononoke extraordinary is that it refuses to make either side wrong. Lady Eboshi, who leads Iron Town, is providing shelter and livelihood to people society has rejected — lepers, former sex workers. She is destroying an ancient forest. She is also giving marginalized people dignity and purpose. The gods of the forest are brutal, alien, and in many ways incomprehensible. They are also right that the humans are destroying their home.
No one in this film is the villain. No one in this film is entirely the hero. That moral complexity is extraordinary for what is technically a children's film.
Score: 8.68/10
5. Akira (1988)
The film that introduced anime to the Western world. A biker gang member in dystopian Neo-Tokyo triggers a psychic awakening that threatens to consume the city. The animation, produced in 1988, still looks better than many modern films. The action sequences are breathtaking. The world-building is dense and immersive.
Akira is not the easiest watch — the plot is complex and the pacing demands patience — but it is essential cinema and a landmark of the medium.
Score: 8.08/10
Essential Films
6. A Silent Voice (2016) — Kyoto Animation
A former bully tries to reconnect with the deaf girl he tormented. A Silent Voice is the most emotionally honest film about guilt and forgiveness I have seen. Shouya's journey of trying to make amends when he does not believe he deserves forgiveness is depicted with remarkable psychological accuracy.
Score: 8.93/10
7. Howl's Moving Castle (2004) — Studio Ghibli
A young woman cursed to appear old finds refuge with a wizard whose castle walks on mechanical legs. Miyazaki's most romantic film, with one of the most enchanting fantasy worlds he has ever created. The flying sequences are beautiful.
Score: 8.67/10
8. Ghost in the Shell (1995)
A cyborg police officer begins questioning the nature of her own consciousness. The most philosophically serious sci-fi anime film ever made. The Wachowskis watched it repeatedly before making The Matrix and borrowed liberally from its visual language and themes.
Score: 8.27/10
9. Demon Slayer: Mugen Train (2020)
The highest-grossing anime film of all time. The Flame Hashira Rengoku leads Tanjiro's team against a demon on a train. The action sequences are Ufotable at their absolute peak. The emotional payoff is enormous if you have watched the series.
Score: 8.26/10
10. Wolf Children (2012)
A woman raises her two half-wolf children alone after their father's death. One of the most tender and human depictions of parenthood I have encountered in any medium. Watching the children choose their own paths as they grow is quietly devastating.
Score: 8.63/10
11. The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013) — Studio Ghibli
Based on Japan's oldest folktale. A tiny girl found inside a bamboo shoot grows into a princess. Directed by Isao Takahata in a loose, watercolor sketch style completely unlike any other Ghibli film. One of the saddest films I have watched.
Score: 8.32/10
12. I Want to Eat Your Pancreas (2018)
The title is misleading — this is a quiet, genuine love story about a boy who accidentally discovers his classmate is dying. One of the most emotionally effective films I have seen. The ending hit me completely by surprise.
Score: 8.62/10
13. Weathering With You (2019)
Shinkai's follow-up to Your Name. A runaway boy meets a girl who can control the weather. Visually extraordinary — the rain and light effects are some of the most beautiful animation ever produced.
14. Jujutsu Kaisen 0 (2021)
The JJK prequel film. Yuta Okkotsu bonds with a powerful cursed spirit and joins Jujutsu High. Excellent action and a genuinely moving emotional core.
15. Perfect Blue (1997)
A former pop idol turned actress begins experiencing terrifying hallucinations about her identity. Satoshi Kon's psychological horror masterpiece influenced Black Swan and Requiem for a Dream. Disturbing, brilliant, unforgettable.
More Great Films
My Neighbor Totoro (1988) — The purest joy in Ghibli's catalog. Two sisters discover a magical forest spirit. Perfect for all ages.
Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) — A young witch starts a delivery service. Gentle coming-of-age with Miyazaki's warmest touch.
The Boy and the Heron (2023) — Miyazaki's return from retirement. Won the 2024 Academy Award. Dense, personal, extraordinary.
Dragon Ball Super: Broly (2018) — The best Dragon Ball film. Broly is finally made canon and the animation is sensational.
Summer Wars (2009) — A virtual world is threatened by a rogue AI during a family reunion. Warm, clever, exciting.
Millennium Actress (2001) — A legendary actress recounts her life through film. Satoshi Kon's most emotionally rich work.
Where to Start
If you have never watched an anime film, start with Your Name or Spirited Away. If you want something that will genuinely challenge you, watch Grave of the Fireflies. If you want something beautiful and quiet, watch The Garden of Words. The breadth of what anime film has achieved is extraordinary — and there is something on this list for every kind of viewer.
