Anime films occupy a special place in the medium. Without the constraints of a weekly episode format, filmmakers can achieve a visual and narrative density that television rarely matches. The best anime films are among the finest works in cinema — not just in animation but in any medium.
These are the ten greatest anime films ever made.
1. Spirited Away (2001) — Hayao Miyazaki
Spirited Away is the greatest anime film ever made. Ten-year-old Chihiro is moving to a new city with her parents when they stumble into the spirit world. Her parents are transformed into pigs. She must work in a bathhouse for supernatural beings to survive, find a way to free her parents, and find her way home.
Miyazaki's world design is beyond comparison. Every creature in the spirit world is original — drawn from Japanese folklore but transformed into something entirely personal. The bathhouse is one of the most fully realized settings in all of cinema. The emotional journey Chihiro takes is simple but true: she grows from a frightened, passive child into someone capable of agency and compassion.
It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2003 and remains the highest-grossing anime film of all time in Japan.
Runtime: 125 min
2. Your Name (2016) — Makoto Shinkai
Your Name is the highest-grossing anime film worldwide as of its release. A high school girl in rural Japan and a high school boy in Tokyo wake up in each other's bodies on random days. They communicate through notes and eventually develop feelings for each other without ever meeting.
What distinguishes Your Name from similar premise films is the emotional intelligence of the writing and the extraordinary visual beauty. Shinkai's backgrounds — particularly the Tokyo night scenes and the rural mountain landscapes — are painted with a photorealistic quality that goes beyond anything in mainstream animation. The third act twist reframes the entire film.
Runtime: 106 min
3. Princess Mononoke (1997) — Hayao Miyazaki
Princess Mononoke is Miyazaki's most thematically ambitious film. Ashitaka is cursed after killing a god-possessed boar and journeys west to find a cure, becoming entangled in a war between a mining town led by Lady Eboshi and the forest gods led by Princess San.
There are no villains in Princess Mononoke. Lady Eboshi is a colonizer who destroys ancient forests — and also a genuine humanitarian who takes in lepers and freed brothel workers. The forest gods are fighting for survival — and willing to commit enormous violence. Ashitaka tries to find a way for both sides to live and mostly fails. It is the most honest film about environmental destruction and human nature ever made in animation.
Runtime: 134 min
4. Grave of the Fireflies (1988) — Isao Takahata
Grave of the Fireflies is the most devastating animated film ever made. Set in Japan in the final months of World War II, it follows fourteen-year-old Seita and his four-year-old sister Setsuko after their mother is killed in a firebombing. They try to survive together.
Roger Ebert called it one of the greatest war films ever made, and it is. It shows war not from the perspective of soldiers or commanders but from two children who barely understand why everything around them is ending. The film begins by telling you how it ends. Knowing does not prepare you.
Runtime: 89 min
5. Demon Slayer: Mugen Train (2020) — Haruo Sotozaki
Mugen Train became the highest-grossing film in Japanese box office history on its release, surpassing Spirited Away. It is the cinematic adaptation of the Mugen Train arc of Demon Slayer, following Tanjiro and his crew as they join Flame Hashira Rengoku on a mission aboard an enchanted train.
The film is spectacular action cinema. The final act battle between Rengoku and the Upper Moon demon Akaza is among the finest animated action sequences ever produced. But the film earns its emotional power through character — Rengoku's warmth and dedication make the ending genuinely devastating.
Runtime: 117 min
6. Akira (1988) — Katsuhiro Otomo
Akira is the film that introduced many Western audiences to anime and it has lost none of its power in nearly 40 years. Neo-Tokyo, 2019. A biker gang member named Kaneda watches his friend Tetsuo develop uncontrollable telekinetic powers after a military experiment. The government tries to contain him. They cannot.
The animation in Akira was unprecedented for its time and remains breathtaking. The production used more frames per second than any anime before it, giving the action sequences a fluidity that contemporary anime cannot match. The world design influenced decades of cyberpunk aesthetics in every medium.
Runtime: 124 min
7. A Silent Voice (2016) — Yoshitoki Oima
A Silent Voice is about guilt, redemption, and what it costs to make things right. Shoya Ishida bullied a deaf girl named Shoko Nishimiya throughout elementary school. Years later, wracked with guilt and alienated from everyone he knows, he seeks her out to apologize.
The film handles disability, bullying, and social anxiety with remarkable sensitivity. Neither protagonist is idealized. Shoya did something genuinely terrible and the film does not let him escape it easily. The relationship that develops between them is fragile and earned. The animation, by Kyoto Animation, is extraordinary.
Runtime: 130 min
8. My Neighbor Totoro (1988) — Hayao Miyazaki
My Neighbor Totoro is a film about childhood and the magic of seeing the world without cynicism. Two sisters move to the countryside with their father while their mother recovers from illness in a nearby hospital. The older sister discovers that the countryside is full of forest spirits — including the enormous, gentle Totoro.
Nothing bad happens in My Neighbor Totoro. There is sadness — the mother is ill, the children are frightened, there is a scare near the end. But the film holds everything gently. It is the warmest thing Miyazaki ever made and a perfect film for children and adults alike.
Runtime: 86 min
9. Ghost in the Shell (1995) — Mamoru Oshii
Ghost in the Shell asks what it means to be conscious in a world where consciousness can be digitized, copied, and transferred. Major Motoko Kusanagi is a cyborg law enforcement officer investigating a hacker called the Puppet Master who can control people by hacking their neural interfaces.
The film influenced The Matrix, Blade Runner 2049, and virtually every cyberpunk film that came after it. The philosophical questions it poses about identity and the nature of the self are still discussed in academic philosophy. And the 1995 animation holds up — particularly the iconic opening sequence.
Runtime: 82 min
10. The Boy and the Heron (2023) — Hayao Miyazaki
Miyazaki's return from retirement is his most personal film. A boy grieving the death of his mother follows a mysterious heron into another world to find the answers to questions he cannot fully articulate. The film is dreamlike, visually extraordinary, and deliberately difficult to interpret.
It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2024, making Miyazaki the first person to win the award twice.
Runtime: 124 min
FAQ
What is the best anime movie for someone who has never watched anime? Spirited Away or My Neighbor Totoro — both are accessible to anyone regardless of prior anime experience. Your Name is also an excellent entry point.
Which anime movies are on Netflix? Studio Ghibli films (including Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and My Neighbor Totoro) are on Netflix in most markets except the US. Demon Slayer: Mugen Train is on Netflix in many regions. A Silent Voice is on Netflix.
Is Akira worth watching today? Yes. The animation and world design remain extraordinary. The story is dense and rewards multiple viewings. Do not expect modern pacing — it is a 1988 film with 1988 storytelling conventions.
