Best Anime Movies
by sidalmighty | created - 12 Feb 2015 | updated - 13 Feb 2015 | PublicOnly standalone movies are included
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1. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006)
TV-PG | 98 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
A high-school girl named Makoto acquires the power to travel back in time, and decides to use it for her own personal benefits. Little does she know that she is affecting the lives of others just as much as she is her own.
Director: Mamoru Hosoda | Stars: Riisa Naka, Takuya Ishida, Mitsutaka Itakura, Ayami Kakiuchi
Votes: 70,835
2. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Not Rated | 89 min | Animation, Drama, War
A young boy and his little sister struggle to survive in Japan during World War II.
Director: Isao Takahata | Stars: Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Akemi Yamaguchi, Yoshiko Shinohara
Votes: 310,172
3. Ponyo (2008)
G | 101 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
A five-year-old boy develops a relationship with Ponyo, a young goldfish princess who longs to become a human after falling in love with him.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Liam Neeson, Tomoko Yamaguchi
Votes: 163,360 | Gross: $15.09M
4. Spirited Away (2001)
PG | 125 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
During her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches and spirits, and where humans are changed into beasts.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Daveigh Chase, Suzanne Pleshette, Miyu Irino, Rumi Hiiragi
Votes: 848,768 | Gross: $10.06M
5. Princess Mononoke (1997)
PG-13 | 134 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
On a journey to find the cure for a Tatarigami's curse, Ashitaka finds himself in the middle of a war between the forest gods and Tatara, a mining colony. In this quest he also meets San, the Mononoke Hime.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Yôji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida, Yûko Tanaka, Billy Crudup
Votes: 433,465 | Gross: $2.38M
6. 5 Centimeters per Second (2007)
TV-PG | 63 min | Animation, Drama, Family
Told in three interconnected segments, Takaki tells the story of his life as cruel winters, cold technology, and finally, adult obligations and responsibility converge to test the delicate petals of love.
Director: Makoto Shinkai | Stars: Kenji Mizuhashi, Yoshimi Kondou, Satomi Hanamura, Ayaka Onoue
Votes: 63,723
7. Ghost in the Shell (1995)
TV-MA | 83 min | Animation, Action, Crime
A cyborg policewoman and her partner hunt a mysterious and powerful hacker called the Puppet Master.
Directors: Mizuho Nishikubo, Mamoru Oshii | Stars: Atsuko Tanaka, Iemasa Kayumi, Akio Ôtsuka, Kôichi Yamadera
Votes: 156,799 | Gross: $0.52M
8. Voices of a Distant Star (2002)
TV-PG | 25 min | Animation, Short, Drama
The love of Japanese high school students Mikako Nagamine and Noboru Tera is tested when Mikako is sent to fight aliens in a distant universe and voice mails to and from Earth become months to years in transmission.
Director: Makoto Shinkai | Stars: Mika Shinohara, Makoto Shinkai, Sumi Mutoh, Chihiro Suzuki
Votes: 9,642
9. The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (2013)
PG | 137 min | Animation, Drama, Family
Kaguya is a beautiful young woman coveted by five nobles. To try to avoid marrying a stranger she doesn't love, she sends her suitors on seemingly impossible tasks. But she will have to face her fate and punishment for her choices.
Director: Isao Takahata | Stars: Chloë Grace Moretz, James Caan, Mary Steenburgen, James Marsden
Votes: 53,961 | Gross: $1.51M
10. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
PG | 117 min | Animation, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Warrior and pacifist Princess Nausicaä desperately struggles to prevent two warring nations from destroying themselves and their dying planet.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Sumi Shimamoto, Mahito Tsujimura, Hisako Kyôda, Gorô Naya
Votes: 182,432 | Gross: $0.50M
11. Perfect Blue (1997)
R | 81 min | Animation, Crime, Drama
A pop singer gives up her career to become an actress, but she slowly goes insane when she starts being stalked by an obsessed fan and what seems to be a ghost of her past.
Director: Satoshi Kon | Stars: Junko Iwao, Rica Matsumoto, Shinpachi Tsuji, Masaaki Ôkura
Votes: 95,329 | Gross: $0.78M
12. Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
PG | 119 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
When an unconfident young woman is cursed with an old body by a spiteful witch, her only chance of breaking the spell lies with a self-indulgent yet insecure young wizard and his companions in his legged, walking castle.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Chieko Baishô, Takuya Kimura, Tatsuya Gashûin, Akihiro Miwa
Votes: 448,854 | Gross: $4.71M
13. The Wind Rises (2013)
PG-13 | 126 min | Animation, Biography, Drama
Jiro Horikoshi studies assiduously to fulfill his aim of becoming an aeronautical engineer. As WWII begins, fighter aircraft designed by him end up getting used by the Japanese Empire against its foes.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Hideaki Anno, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Miori Takimoto, Masahiko Nishimura
Votes: 98,676 | Gross: $5.21M
14. Only Yesterday (1991)
PG | 119 min | Animation, Drama, Romance
A twenty-seven-year-old office worker travels to the countryside while reminiscing about her childhood in Tokyo.
Director: Isao Takahata | Stars: Miki Imai, Toshirô Yanagiba, Yoko Honna, Mayumi Izuka
Votes: 37,205 | Gross: $0.45M
15. Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal (1999)
TV-MA | 118 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
In the era of Japan's Meiji Restoration, an assassin regains his humanity.
Stars: Mayo Suzukaze, Junko Iwao, Nozomu Sasaki, Masami Suzuki
Votes: 16,181
16. My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
G | 86 min | Animation, Comedy, Family
When two girls move to the country to be near their ailing mother, they have adventures with the wondrous forest spirits who live nearby.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Hitoshi Takagi, Noriko Hidaka, Chika Sakamoto, Shigesato Itoi
Votes: 379,967 | Gross: $1.11M
17. Porco Rosso (1992)
PG | 94 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
In 1930s Italy, a veteran World War I pilot is cursed to look like an anthropomorphic pig.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Shûichirô Moriyama, Tokiko Katô, Bunshi Katsura VI, Tsunehiko Kamijô
Votes: 102,006
18. Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)
102 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
A dashing thief, his gang of desperadoes and an intrepid cop struggle to free a princess from an evil count, and learn the secret of a treasure that she holds part of the key to.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Yasuo Yamada, Eiko Masuyama, Kiyoshi Kobayashi, Makio Inoue
Votes: 33,548
19. Paprika (2006)
R | 90 min | Animation, Drama, Fantasy
When a machine that allows therapists to enter their patients' dreams is stolen, all hell breaks loose. Only a young female therapist, Paprika, can stop it.
Director: Satoshi Kon | Stars: Megumi Hayashibara, Tôru Emori, Katsunosuke Hori, Tôru Furuya
Votes: 96,786 | Gross: $0.88M
20. Wolf Children (2012)
PG | 117 min | Animation, Drama, Family
After her werewolf lover unexpectedly dies in an accident while hunting for food for their children, a young woman must find ways to raise the werewolf son and daughter that she had with him while keeping their trait hidden from society.
Director: Mamoru Hosoda | Stars: Aoi Miyazaki, Takao Osawa, Haru Kuroki, Yukito Nishii
Votes: 49,445
21. Akira (1988)
R | 124 min | Animation, Action, Drama
A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath who can only be stopped by a teenager, his gang of biker friends and a group of psychics.
Director: Katsuhiro Ôtomo | Stars: Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama, Tesshô Genda
Votes: 205,096 | Gross: $0.55M
22. Whisper of the Heart (1995)
G | 111 min | Animation, Drama, Family
A love story between a girl who loves reading books, and a boy who has previously checked out all of the library books she chooses.
Director: Yoshifumi Kondô | Stars: Yoko Honna, Issei Takahashi, Takashi Tachibana, Shigeru Muroi
Votes: 72,572
23. The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (2010)
Not Rated | 162 min | Animation, Drama, Family
A week before Christmas, Kyon wakes up in a world where the SOS Brigade doesn't exist. Mikuru and Yuki don't recognize him, and Haruhi and Itsuki seem to have vanished.
Directors: Noriyuki Kitanohara, Kazuya Sakamoto, Noriko Takao, Yasuhiro Takemoto, Hiroko Utsumi, Naoko Yamada, Mitsuyoshi Yoneda, Tatsuya Ishihara | Stars: Aya Hirano, Tomokazu Sugita, Minori Chihara, Yûko Gotô
Votes: 8,008
Slightly connected to the anime but totally worth a watch.
24. Millennium Actress (2001)
PG | 87 min | Animation, Drama, Fantasy
A TV interviewer and his cameraman meet a former actress and travel through her memories and career.
Directors: Satoshi Kon, Kô Matsuo | Stars: Miyoko Shôji, Shôzô Îzuka, Mami Koyama, Fumiko Orikasa
Votes: 32,031 | Gross: $0.19M
25. Castle in the Sky (1986)
PG | 125 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
A young boy and a girl with a magic crystal must race against pirates and foreign agents in a search for a legendary floating castle.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Mayumi Tanaka, Keiko Yokozawa, Kotoe Hatsui, Minori Terada
Votes: 182,245
26. From Up on Poppy Hill (2011)
PG | 91 min | Animation, Comedy, Drama
A group of Yokohama teens look to save their school's clubhouse from the wrecking ball in preparations for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
Director: Gorô Miyazaki | Stars: Sarah Bolger, Chris Noth, Anton Yelchin, Christina Hendricks
Votes: 51,967 | Gross: $1.00M
27. The Secret World of Arrietty (2010)
G | 94 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama
The Clock family are four-inch-tall people who live anonymously in another family's residence, borrowing simple items to make their home. Life changes for the Clocks when their teenage daughter Arrietty is discovered.
Director: Hiromasa Yonebayashi | Stars: Bridgit Mendler, Amy Poehler, Will Arnett, Mirai Shida
Votes: 104,286 | Gross: $19.20M
28. Tokyo Godfathers (2003)
PG-13 | 92 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
On Christmas Eve, three homeless people living on the streets of Tokyo discover a newborn baby among the trash and set out to find its parents.
Directors: Shôgo Furuya, Satoshi Kon | Stars: Tôru Emori, Yoshiaki Umegaki, Aya Okamoto, Shôzô Îzuka
Votes: 46,723 | Gross: $0.13M
29. Summer Wars (2009)
PG | 114 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
A student tries to fix a problem he accidentally caused in OZ, a digital world, while pretending to be the fiancé of his friend at her grandmother's 90th birthday.
Director: Mamoru Hosoda | Stars: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Nanami Sakuraba, Mitsuki Tanimura, Takahiro Yokokawa
Votes: 31,772 | Gross: $0.08M
30. Pom Poko (1994)
PG | 119 min | Animation, Comedy, Drama
A community of magical shape-shifting raccoon dogs struggle to prevent their forest home from being destroyed by urban development.
Director: Isao Takahata | Stars: Shinchô Kokontei, Makoto Nonomura, Yuriko Ishida, Norihei Miki
Votes: 34,547
31. Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (2001)
TV-14 | 115 min | Animation, Action, Crime
A terrorist explosion releases a deadly virus on the masses, and it's up to the bounty-hunting Bebop crew to catch the cold-blooded culprit.
Directors: Shin'ichirô Watanabe, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, Tensai Okamura, Hiroyuki Okiura, Yoshiyuki Takei | Stars: Beau Billingslea, Melissa Fahn, Nicholas Guest, Kôichi Yamadera
Votes: 53,117 | Gross: $1.00M
32. Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
G | 103 min | Animation, Family, Fantasy
A young witch, on her mandatory year of independent life, finds fitting into a new community difficult while she supports herself by running an air courier service.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Kirsten Dunst, Minami Takayama, Rei Sakuma, Kappei Yamaguchi
Votes: 165,373
33. The Cat Returns (2002)
G | 75 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
After helping a cat, a seventeen-year-old girl finds herself involuntarily engaged to a cat Prince in a magical world where her only hope of freedom lies with a dapper cat statuette come to life.
Director: Hiroyuki Morita | Stars: Chizuru Ikewaki, Yoshihiko Hakamada, Aki Maeda, Takayuki Yamada
Votes: 64,457
34. The Place Promised in Our Early Days (2004)
TV-PG | 90 min | Animation, Drama, Romance
In an alternate postwar timeline, Japan is divided into the Union-controlled North and the US-controlled South.
Directors: Makoto Shinkai, Yoshio Suzuki | Stars: Hidetaka Yoshioka, Masato Hagiwara, Yuka Nanri, Unshô Ishizuka
Votes: 15,126
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