The Greatest Anime
by wytygoldfinch | created - 4 months ago | updated - 1 week ago | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. 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: 95,764 | Gross: $0.78M
2. 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: 32,108 | Gross: $0.19M
3. 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: 46,804 | Gross: $0.13M
4. 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: 97,062 | Gross: $0.88M
5. 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: 40,755
6. Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000)
R | 103 min | Animation, Action, Drama
A legendary dhampir competes with a motley family of bounty hunters to return a young woman, who has been seemingly abducted by a vampire, to her family.
Director: Yoshiaki Kawajiri | Stars: Andrew Philpot, John Rafter Lee, Pamela Adlon, Wendee Lee
Votes: 35,848 | Gross: $0.15M
7. 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: 434,170 | Gross: $2.38M
8. 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: 18,317
9. 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: 182,512
10. The Animatrix (2003)
Unrated | 100 min | Animation, Action, Sci-Fi
A collection of nine short films featuring stories related to The Matrix (1999).
Stars: James Arnold Taylor, Julia Fletcher, Dwight Schultz, Kevin Michael Richardson
Votes: 82,093
11. A Silent Voice: The Movie (2016)
Not Rated | 130 min | Animation, Drama
A young man is ostracized by his classmates after he bullies a deaf girl to the point where she moves away. Years later, he sets off on a path for redemption.
Directors: Taichi Ishidate, Naoko Yamada | Stars: Miyu Irino, Saori Hayami, Aoi Yûki, Kenshô Ono
Votes: 101,512
12. Your Name. (2016)
PG | 106 min | Animation, Drama, Fantasy
Two teenagers share a profound, magical connection upon discovering they are swapping bodies. Things manage to become even more complicated when the boy and girl decide to meet in person.
Director: Makoto Shinkai | Stars: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Mone Kamishiraishi, Ryo Narita, Aoi Yûki
Votes: 320,947 | Gross: $5.02M
13. Weathering with You (2019)
PG-13 | 112 min | Animation, Drama, Fantasy
Set during a period of exceptionally rainy weather, high-school boy Hodaka Morishima runs away from his troubled rural home to Tokyo and befriends an orphan girl who can manipulate the weather.
Director: Makoto Shinkai | Stars: Kotaro Daigo, Nana Mori, Tsubasa Honda, Sakura Kiryu
Votes: 55,750 | Gross: $7.80M
14. 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: 380,756 | Gross: $1.11M
15. 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: 18,778 | Gross: $0.09M
16. 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: 182,694 | Gross: $0.50M
17. Suzume (2022)
PG | 122 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
A modern action adventure road story where a 17-year-old girl named Suzume helps a mysterious young man close doors from the other side that are releasing disasters all over in Japan.
Director: Makoto Shinkai | Stars: Nanoka Hara, Hokuto Matsumura, Eri Fukatsu, Shôta Sometani
Votes: 39,629
18. Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (1997)
TV-MA | 87 min | Animation, Action, Drama
Concurrent theatrical ending of the TV series Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995).
Directors: Hideaki Anno, Kazuya Tsurumaki | Stars: Megumi Ogata, Megumi Hayashibara, Yûko Miyamura, Kotono Mitsuishi
Votes: 64,384
19. 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: 157,046 | Gross: $0.52M
20. Angel's Egg (1985 Video)
Not Rated | 71 min | Animation, Drama, Fantasy
A mysterious young girl wanders a desolate, otherworldly landscape, carrying a large egg.
Director: Mamoru Oshii | Stars: Mako Hyôdô, Jinpachi Nezu, Keiichi Noda
Votes: 12,025
21. 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: 53,205 | Gross: $1.00M
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: 72,731
23. The Boy and the Beast (2015)
PG-13 | 119 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
When a young orphaned boy living on the streets of Shibuya stumbles upon a fantastic world of beasts, he's taken in by a gruff warrior beast looking for an apprentice.
Director: Mamoru Hosoda | Stars: Koji Yakusho, Aoi Miyazaki, Shôta Sometani, Suzu Hirose
Votes: 26,950 | Gross: $0.45M
24. 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: 102,263
25. Berserk (1997–1998)
TV-MA | 23 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
Guts, a wandering mercenary, joins the Band of the Hawk after being defeated in a duel by Griffith, the group's leader and founder. Together, they dominate every battle, but something menacing lurks in the shadows.
Stars: Marc Diraison, Nobutoshi Canna, Carrie Keranen, Kevin T. Collins
Votes: 53,340
26. Trigun (1998)
TV-14 | 24 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
Vash the Stampede is the most infamous outlaw on the planet Gunsmoke and with a 60 billion double dollar price on his head the most sought after.
Stars: Masaya Onosaka, Hiromi Tsuru, Satsuki Yukino, Johnny Yong Bosch
Votes: 24,203
27. Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995–1996)
TV-MA | 24 min | Animation, Action, Drama
A teenage boy finds himself recruited as a member of an elite team of pilots by his father.
Stars: Megumi Ogata, Megumi Hayashibara, Kotono Mitsuishi, Spike Spencer
Votes: 85,445
28. Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (2007)
PG-13 | 98 min | Animation, Action, Drama
The fate of the world is threatened by seemingly monstrous entities known as Angels. NERV is an organization set up to counter this threat and it is up to young pilots to protect Earth but exactly what are the real motives behind NERV?
Directors: Hiroshi Haraguchi, Masayuki, Kazuya Tsurumaki, Hideaki Anno, Kôbun Shizuno | Stars: Megumi Ogata, Megumi Hayashibara, Kotono Mitsuishi, Yuriko Yamaguchi
Votes: 27,674 | Gross: $0.11M
29. Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance (2009)
TV-14 | 112 min | Animation, Action, Drama
In the face of increasingly bizarre and powerful Angel attacks, Shinji Ikari and his partner Rei Ayanami are assisted by two new pilots: the fiery Asuka Langley Shikinami and the mysterious Mari Illustrious Makinami.
Directors: Masayuki, Kazuya Tsurumaki, Hideaki Anno, Joe Fria | Stars: Kotono Mitsuishi, Megumi Ogata, Megumi Hayashibara, Yûko Miyamura
Votes: 24,915 | Gross: $0.13M
30. Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo (2012)
TV-14 | 96 min | Animation, Action, Drama
Fourteen years have passed since the near Third Impact. Most of the world has changed, except for Shinji Ikari, who awakens in a strange new environment without having aged.
Directors: Mahiro Maeda, Masayuki, Kazuya Tsurumaki, Hideaki Anno, Joe Fria, Kiyotaka Suzuki | Stars: Megumi Ogata, Megumi Hayashibara, Yûko Miyamura, Maaya Sakamoto
Votes: 18,516 | Gross: $0.17M
31. Evangelion: 3.0+1.01 Thrice Upon a Time (2021)
TV-MA | 154 min | Animation, Action, Drama
Misato and her anti-NERV group WILLE arrive in Paris, a city now red from core-ization. Crew from the flagship Wunder land on a containment tower.
Directors: Mahiro Maeda, Katsuichi Nakayama, Kazuya Tsurumaki, Hideaki Anno, Joe Fria | Stars: Megumi Ogata, Megumi Hayashibara, Yûko Miyamura, Akira Ishida
Votes: 14,225 | Gross: $0.83M
32. Elfen Lied (2004)
TV-MA | 24 min | Animation, Action, Drama
Two university students come across a seemingly harmless girl named Lucy, unaware that she's actually a mutant serial killer with a split personality.
Stars: Sanae Kobayashi, Chihiro Suzuki, Mamiko Noto, Sam Saletta
Votes: 36,958
33. Death Note (2006–2007)
TV-14 | 24 min | Animation, Crime, Drama
An intelligent high school student goes on a secret crusade to eliminate criminals from the world after discovering a notebook capable of killing anyone whose name is written into it.
Stars: Mamoru Miyano, Brad Swaile, Vincent Tong, Ryô Naitô
Votes: 379,082
34. Death Parade (2015)
TV-MA | 24 min | Animation, Drama, Mystery
After death, humans go to either heaven or hell. But for some, at the instant of their death, they arrive at the Quindecim, a bar attended by the mysterious white-haired Decim.
Stars: Jamie Marchi, Alex Organ, Asami Seto, Tomoaki Maeno
Votes: 20,222
35. Pluto (2023)
TV-14 | 62 min | Animation, Action, Drama
When the world's seven most advanced robots and their human allies are murdered one by one, inspector Gesicht soon discovers that he's also in danger.
Stars: Shinshû Fuji, Yôko Hikasa, Rachel Slotky, Kirk Thornton
Votes: 12,493
36. Golden Boy (1995–1996)
Not Rated | 165 min | Animation, Comedy
A University drop-out rides Japan on his bicycle, taking part-time jobs and trying not to take women.
Stars: Doug Smith, Matt Greenfield, Mitsuo Iwata, Gorô Naya
Votes: 7,207
37. Cowboy Bebop (1998–1999)
TV-14 | 24 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
The futuristic misadventures and tragedies of an easygoing bounty hunter and his partners.
Stars: Kôichi Yamadera, Unshô Ishizuka, Megumi Hayashibara, Steve Blum
Votes: 139,114
38. Vinland Saga (2019–2023)
TV-MA | 24 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
Following a tragedy, Thorfinn embarks on a journey with the man responsible for it to take his life in a duel as a true and honorable warrior to pay homage.
Stars: Yûto Uemura, Mike Haimoto, Shin'ya Takahashi, Alejandro Saab
Votes: 72,063
39. Hellsing (2001–2002)
TV-MA | 23 min | Animation, Action, Fantasy
A British taskforce, lead by the daughter of the vampire hunter Prof. Van Helsing, battles the supernatural with the aid of two vampires.
Stars: Jôji Nakata, Yoshiko Sakakibara, Fumiko Orikasa, Steven Brand
Votes: 18,260
40. Welcome to the N.H.K. (2006)
TV-MA | 24 min | Animation, Comedy, Drama
This surreal dramedy follows Satou Tatsuhiro as he attempts to escape the evil machinations of the NHK.
Stars: Yutaka Koizumi, Yui Makino, Michael C. Pizzuto, Monica Rial
Votes: 7,953
41. To the Forest of Firefly Lights (2011)
45 min | Animation, Drama, Fantasy
Hotaru is rescued by a spirit when she gets lost in a forest as a child. The two become friends, despite the spirit revealing that he will disappear if he is ever touched by a human.
Director: Takahiro Ômori | Stars: Kôki Uchiyama, Ayane Sakura, Shinpachi Tsuji, Izumi Sawada
Votes: 21,728
42. Serial Experiments Lain (1998)
TV-14 | 316 min | Animation, Drama, Horror
Strange things start happening when a withdrawn girl named Lain becomes obsessed with an interconnected virtual realm known as "The Wired".
Stars: Kaori Shimizu, Bridget Hoffman, Dan Lorge, Randy McPherson
Votes: 17,238
43. Samurai Champloo (2004–2005)
TV-MA | 24 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
Fuu, a waitress who works in a teahouse, rescues two master swordsmen, Mugen and Jin, from their execution to help her find the "samurai who smells of sunflowers."
Stars: Kazuya Nakai, Ginpei Sato, Ayako Kawasumi, Steve Blum
Votes: 55,442
44. Paranoia Agent (2004–2005)
TV-MA | 25 min | Animation, Drama, Horror
Seemingly unconnected citizens of Tokyo are targeted for bludgeoning by a boy with a golden baseball bat. As detectives try to link the victims, they discover that following the assaults, the victims' lives have improved in some way.
Stars: Shôzô Îzuka, Toshihiko Seki, Mamiko Noto, Michael McConnohie
Votes: 14,247
45. 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: 450,015 | Gross: $4.71M
46. The Garden of Words (2013)
TV-14 | 46 min | Animation, Drama, Romance
On a rainy morning in Tokyo, 15-year-old Takao, an aspiring shoemaker, decides to skip class to sketch designs in a beautiful garden. This is where he meets Yukari, a beautiful yet mysterious woman. They strike an unlikely friendship.
Director: Makoto Shinkai | Stars: Miyu Irino, Kana Hanazawa, Fumi Hirano, Gou Maeda
Votes: 52,662
47. 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: 63,830
48. 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: 33,608
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