Favorite Anime Films
by amietaj1 | created - 23 Feb 2011 | updated - 17 Aug 2022 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. 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: 156,636 | Gross: $0.52M
2. Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (I) (2004)
PG-13 | 100 min | Animation, Drama, Mystery
In the year 2032, Batô, a cyborg detective for the anti-terrorist unit Public Security Section 9, investigates the case of a female robot--one created solely for sexual pleasure--who slaughtered her owner.
Directors: Naoko Kusumi, Mizuho Nishikubo, Mamoru Oshii | Stars: Akio Ôtsuka, Atsuko Tanaka, Tamio Ôki, Kôichi Yamadera
Votes: 40,270 | Gross: $1.04M
3. 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: 204,881 | Gross: $0.55M
4. The Sky Crawlers (2008)
PG-13 | 122 min | Animation, Drama, Sci-Fi
The Kildren, a group of eternally young fighter pilots, experience the sudden loss of innocence as they battle the enemy in astonishing dogfights above the clouds.
Director: Mamoru Oshii | Stars: Rinko Kikuchi, Ryô Kase, Shôsuke Tanihara, Megumi Yamaguchi
Votes: 5,906
5. 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: 63,643
6. 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: 15,111
7. 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: 9,629
8. 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: 70,787
9. 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: 31,748 | Gross: $0.08M
10. 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: 49,395
11. 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: 847,483 | Gross: $10.06M
12. 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: 163,091 | Gross: $15.09M
13. 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: 432,993 | Gross: $2.38M
14. 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: 448,033 | Gross: $4.71M
15. 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: 96,602 | Gross: $0.88M
16. 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: 31,979 | Gross: $0.19M
17. Sword of the Stranger (2007)
Not Rated | 103 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
A swordsman from a strange land is caught in a struggle between morality, righteousness, and devotion as he reluctantly agrees to take a raggedy boy and his dog to a remote, Buddhist temple.
Director: Masahiro Andô | Stars: Tomoya Nagase, Yuri Chinen, Kôichi Yamadera, Akio Ôtsuka
Votes: 18,260
18. Afro Samurai: Resurrection (2009 TV Movie)
TV-MA | 97 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
When his father's body is stolen from its grave, Afro takes up his sword again to tear through an army of deadly foes led by a sadistic leader.
Director: Fuminori Kizaki | Stars: Samuel L. Jackson, Lucy Liu, Mark Hamill, Grey Griffin
Votes: 9,447
19. Blood: The Last Vampire (2000)
Not Rated | 48 min | Animation, Action, Horror
Saya is a Japanese vampire slayer whose next mission is in a high school on a US military base in 1960s Japan, where she poses as a student. She uses a katana/samurai sword to kill vampires.
Director: Hiroyuki Kitakubo | Stars: Yûki Kudô, Saemi Nakamura, Joe Romersa, Stuart Robinson
Votes: 13,290
20. Ninja Scroll (1993)
Not Rated | 94 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
A vagabond swordsman is aided by a kunoichi and a spy in battling a demonic clan of killers - led by a ghost from his past - who are bent on overthrowing the Tokugawa Shogunate.
Director: Yoshiaki Kawajiri | Stars: Kôichi Yamadera, Emi Shinohara, Takeshi Aono, Osamu Saka
Votes: 40,669
21. Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (1999)
R | 102 min | Animation, Action, Drama
A traumatized member of an elite para-military police force falls for the sister of a female terrorist courier who died in front of him on duty.
Directors: Kenji Kamiyama, Hiroyuki Okiura | Stars: Michael Dobson, Yoshikazu Fujiki, Sumi Mutoh, Moneca Stori
Votes: 18,714 | Gross: $0.09M
22. Memories (1995)
PG-13 | 113 min | Animation, Sci-Fi, Thriller
An animated science fiction anthology from the visionary anime director, Katsuhiro Otomo.
Directors: Kôji Morimoto, Tensai Okamura, Katsuhiro Ôtomo | Stars: Marc Swint, Robbie Daymond, Frank Todaro, Laura Post
Votes: 21,324
23. Metropolis (2001)
PG-13 | 108 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama
Kenichi and his uncle Shunsaku Ban must find the mystery behind robot girl Tima.
Director: Rintarô | Stars: Toshio Furukawa, Scott Weinger, Yuka Imoto, Kei Kobayashi
Votes: 22,592 | Gross: $0.64M
24. Vexille (2007)
PG-13 | 109 min | Animation, Action, Sci-Fi
Japan, 2077: A female agent named Vexille is dispatched to Tokyo to investigate whether Japanese are developing robotic technology, which has been banned by the U.N. due to its potential threat to humankind.
Director: Fumihiko Sori | Stars: Meisa Kuroki, Shôsuke Tanihara, Yasuko Matsuyuki, Akio Ôtsuka
Votes: 7,868
25. Appleseed: Ex Machina (2007)
PG-13 | 105 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
With Brialeos convalescing after a mission, Deunan is assigned a new and remarkably familiar partner as a strange wave of terrorist attacks plague Olympus.
Director: Shinji Aramaki | Stars: Ai Kobayashi, Kôichi Yamadera, Yûji Kishi, Kong Kuwata
Votes: 9,840
26. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
PG-13 | 106 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
A scientist makes a last stand on Earth with the help of a ragtag team of soldiers against an invasion of alien phantoms.
Directors: Hironobu Sakaguchi, Motonori Sakakibara | Stars: Alec Baldwin, Steve Buscemi, Ming-Na Wen, Ving Rhames
Votes: 84,032 | Gross: $32.13M
27. Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (2005)
PG-13 | 101 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
An ex-mercenary is forced out of isolation when three mysterious men kidnap and brainwash the city's children afflicted with the Geostigma disease.
Directors: Tetsuya Nomura, Takeshi Nozue | Stars: Takahiro Sakurai, Ayumi Ito, Shôtarô Morikubo, Maaya Sakamoto
Votes: 58,158
28. 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: 182,255 | Gross: $0.50M
29. King of Thorn (2009)
TV-MA | 120 min | Animation, Adventure, Horror
A virus begins to grip the Earth's population and a group of hopeful survivors are cryogenically frozen in attempt to find a cure. But when the group awakens they are flung into a horrifying situation.
Director: Kazuyoshi Katayama | Stars: Kana Hanazawa, Toshiyuki Morikawa, Eri Sendai, Sayaka Ôhara
Votes: 2,904
30. Origin: Spirits of the Past (2006)
Not Rated | 94 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama
It is 300 years into the future. Earth's environment had been devastated by mankind's own foolish plans and humankind is beleaguered by the sentient forests which they have awoken. The ... See full summary »
Directors: Makoto Bessho, Kentarô Mizuno, Ken'ichi Shimizu, Keiichi Sugiyama, Kaoru Suzuki, Yukio Takahashi, Hitoshi Haga | Stars: Ryô Katsuji, Aoi Miyazaki, Yûko Kotegawa, Masaru Hamaguchi
Votes: 4,857
31. 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: 94,855 | Gross: $0.78M
32. Kite (1998)
TV-MA | 50 min | Animation, Action, Crime
A young girl, orphaned at an early age, carries out assassinations at the behest of her mentor.
Stars: Konami Yoshida, Kinryû Arimoto, Kôsuke Okano, Tatsuo Matoba
Votes: 5,300
33. Mezzo Forte (2000–2001)
Not Rated | 80 min | Animation, Action, Comedy
A young woman and her mercenary for hire team run afoul of a violent mob boss and his sociopath daughter.
Stars: Tomoko Kotani, Takumi Yamazaki, Taichirô Hirokawa, Shôzô Îzuka
Votes: 1,528
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