50 Best Anime Movies of All Time, Ranked (2024)

For decades now, the Japanese film industry has produced some of the most remarkable animated movies of all time, to the point where the term "anime" has come to define animation specifically from Japan. Many of these great films have come from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki and others at the famed Studio Ghibli, but this is far from the only source of great anime movies. What follows is an effort to rank some of the greatest examples of anime from the medium's rich history.

Japanese animation remains as popular as ever, with 2023 arguably being a particularly big year for the medium, thanks to the release of Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron. It's as good a time as any to look at the best anime movies out there; indeed, the sorts of anime movies that you don't even have to be a huge fan of anime to appreciate. It's impossible to cover all the great ones within a single list, and it should also be noted that the following are movies only, with plenty of great anime also being released in the form of a TV series or miniseries. The following will highlight some of the best and most popular movies in this unique genre, and all provide good starting points for those wanting to explore the world of Japanese animation.

50 'The Secret World of Arrietty' (2010)

Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi

Ranking up there as one of Studio Ghibli’s biggest earners at the box office, The Secret World of Arrietty is one of many fantastical movies by the studio that aims to transport viewers to an unusual world… kind of. The Secret World of Arrietty does largely take place inside and just outside of an ordinary country house, but many of the characters are tiny, and live in hiding from the regular-sized inhabitants of the house.

It's a film that moves slowly, eventually introducing some conflict when the two differently-sized families clash, but otherwise seeming happy to keep things focused on aesthetics and an overall fantastical feel. That’s in line for Studio Ghibli, at least for a good deal of its output, and those wanting a fairly relaxed (and potentially immersive) anime film will likely find things to appreciate within The Secret World of Arrietty.

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49 'Pom Poko' (1994)

Directed by Isao Takahata

On the surface, you might not expect Pom Poko to be a particularly sad Studio Ghibli movie, because it’s about shape-shifting raccoons waging war on the human race due to how the latter decimates the land the former lives on. It gets pretty strange and goofy at times, but it also unpacks environmental themes seriously, and doesn’t shy away from highlighting the environmental devastation the main characters deal with.

At two hours long, and with some strangely paced moments, it’s not the most consistent of Studio Ghibli movies, but it could well be one of the most creative. For the parts that work, Pom Poko is undoubtedly worth watching, because some of it’s quite funny, surprising, and moving. It’s all typically well-animated, too, and, in the end, certainly scores points for its unique qualities.

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48 'When Marnie Was There' (2014)

Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi

When Marnie Was There begins a little like The Secret World of Arrietty, with an unwell young character going to live in a new place and meeting someone unexpected, kicking off something of a fantastical adventure. But with When Marnie Was There, there are no tiny people, with the person here instead – the titular Marnie – being someone mysterious who may be real, or could just be a figment of the protagonist’s imagination.

It's up there as one of the best anime films of the past couple of decades, proving to be patiently paced yet ultimately rewarding to stick with, not to mention strikingly emotional when it needs to be. When Marnie Was There is fairly grounded, as even the fantasy elements are underplayed, but the approach works and the experience it offers is ultimately quite powerful.

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47 'Ride Your Wave' (2019)

Directed by Masaaki Yuasa

Showing that Studio Ghibli isn’t the be-all and end-all when it comes to anime movies, the Science Saru-produced Ride Your Wave is creative and visually distinct, not to mention novel when it comes to the story it tells. In fact, describing that story feels like doing the movie a disservice. It’s something of an animated romantic dramedy, and does contain some interesting fantasy elements, though describing them would force one to wade into spoiler territory.

It's very good in the end, and successful at providing an emotional rollercoaster for anime watchers willing to take a chance on something a little non-traditional. That being said, some of the other films by the director of Ride Your Wave, Masaaki Yuasa, are much trippier and indeed harder to explain, so Ride Your Wave might well be worth watching before going back and watching some of the director’s older titles.

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46 'Suzume' (2022)

Directed by Makoto Shinkai

Suzume was an immensely successful anime film from 2022, and deservedly so, clearly having a massive amount of appeal owing to its striking visuals, moving thematic content unpacking grief and loss, and entertaining narrative. Said narrative involves a teenage girl getting involved in saving Japan from a large worm that causes earthquakes. Also, her would-be companion is turned into a chair that can walk, staying that way for most of the movie.

It has some unusual elements and can be funny and surprising owing to some of the turns it takes, but Suzume does still have serious themes at its core, and ends up proving surprisingly dramatic in its second half. It’s a movie that’s trying to do a lot all at once, and it largely succeeds in pulling it all off, feeling like one of the best anime films to come out in recent years.

Suzume

PG

Where to Watch

*Availability in US

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Director

Makoto Shinkai

Cast

Nanoka Hara , Hokuto Matsumura , Eri f*ckatsu , Shôta Sometani

Runtime

122 minutes

45 'Kiki’s Delivery Service' (1989)

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

An excellent fantasy movie by Hayao Miyazaki, Kiki’s Delivery Service might not get quite as much love as other films by the legendary Japanese filmmaker, but it’s still worthy of its classic status. It’s about a young woman dealing with life on her own for the first time… and she’s also a witch, which makes her stand out and adds further to the feelings of isolation she has.

Kiki’s Delivery Service, despite its fantastical elements, also works as a surprisingly grounded narrative about coming of age, and is easy to recommend to anyone who’s either going through young adulthood or remembers the highs and lows of that time in one’s life. It should go without saying, given this is Miyazaki we’re talking about, but Kiki’s Delivery Service is also beautiful to look at throughout, and expertly scored by frequent Miyazaki collaborator Joe Hisaishi.

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44 'Memories' (1995)

Directed by Koji Morimoto, Katsuhiro Otomo, and Tensai Okamura

There are a total of three stories featured throughout Memories, a unique and rather underrated anthology film from 1995. The first leans toward horror/mystery, the second is a darkly funny science fiction story, and then the third also feels like sci-fi with a satirical spin, only in a bleaker and more unnerving way.

No one could fault Memories for being derivative or predictable, and even though each of its three segments can be defined as belonging to the sci-fi genre, each part offers something interesting, visually inventive, or unnerving. Memories is a bit of a deep cut as far as anime movies from the 1990s go, but anyone who particularly likes the style of animation that defined that decade ought to check it out, and it’s arguably one of the more consistent anthology movies out there, too.

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43 'Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance' (2009)

Directed by Hideaki Anno

Anyone who enjoys fiction that explores existentialist themes is likely well aware of Neon Genesis Evangelion, a groundbreaking and endlessly compelling anime series that first aired in 1995 and 1996. Evangelion has since become a franchise that stretches well beyond the original series, and was reimagined/rebooted in the form of four movies released between 2007 and 2021 that are known as the Rebuild of Evangelion series.

Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance isn’t quite the best of these, but it’s definitely up there as one of the most compelling entries for Evangelion as a whole. It retells some narrative beats that will be familiar to Neon Genesis Evangelion fans, but also branches out into some unexpected directions, all the while looking seriously impressive from a visual standpoint, and undoubtedly more cinematic than the initial series ever was.

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42 'Tekkonkinkreet' (2006)

Directed by Michael Arias

An eye-popping animated crime movie, Tekkonkinkreet is strange, dizzying, and sometimes overwhelming as a viewing experience, but it’s nevertheless compelling and more than a little underappreciated. It’s about two young boys living in a giant metropolis, both trying to get by in their own ways and eventually clashing with a powerful corporation that wants to reconstruct much of the town, all in the pursuit of profit.

The narrative sometimes feels secondary in Tekkonkinkreet, but the sensation of the film being – arguably – style over substance is more than forgivable when the style is this stylish, and everything looks this colorful and visually impressive. It’s something of a deep cut within the world of Japanese animation, but is worth seeking out for anyone who’s seen their fair share of anime and is in the mood for something rather unique.

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41 'Ponyo' (2008)

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

By 2008, Hayao Miyazaki was well-established as a filmmaker who’d basically mastered the fantasy genre, with Ponyo just making that clearer than ever before. It’s a modern fairytale that’s perhaps the director’s most family-friendly movie to date, but not in a way that will turn off older viewers. There’s something to be enjoyed for everyone within Ponyo, regardless of age.

Plot-wise, Ponyo revolves around a young boy meeting a strange goldfish with a surprising history, and the two end up going on an adventure that builds in scale. It starts small and humble, and ends up being expansive and even epic, and never in a way that feels overdone or abrupt. Ponyo just works really well as a simple and satisfying family movie, and stands as yet another winner within the filmography of Miyazaki.

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40 'On-Gaku: Our Sound' (2019)

Directed by Kenji Iwaisawa

The plot of On-Gaku: Our Sound is gleefully simple, centering on three friends who don’t seem to be doing much in life, and one day collectively agree to start a band together. They do this despite not having much by way of musical experience, but take their inexperience and turn it into a strength, playing minimal, basic music that ends up feeling very punk, in a way.

As a film, On-Gaku: Our Sound overall also has a punk spirit, with limited but striking animation, little concern about telling a complex story, and a deliberately offbeat sense of humor that probably won’t be for everyone. But for anyone who likes understated deadpan comedy punctuated with moments of borderline surreal absurdity, this quirky musical anime film might well be surprisingly appealing.

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39 'Gunsmith Cats' (1995)

Directed by Takeshi Mori and Kazuya Murata

Anyone looking for something to scratch the itch only a blending of comedy and action can should look into the underrated Gunsmith Cats, which functions as a movie – and is approximately 90 minutes long – yet was released as an OVA in three parts. The two lead characters are a pair of young women who run a gun shop, with the plot revolving around what happens when they’re roped into taking down a gun-running ring.

What follows is a breezy and never too serious ride, mixing solid banter with surprisingly good animation and a few well-executed action sequences to boot. Gunsmith Cats is a good time for anyone who wants to unwind with something that feels classic anime in some ways but surprisingly modern in other ways. Regarding the latter, the fact it doesn’t get nearly as sleazy as some other anime movies from around this same time would get (particularly those with female main characters) does have to be recognized.

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38 'Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust' (2000)

Directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri

Putting an extra dark, brooding, violent, and operatic spin on vampire lore in much the same way Francis Ford Coppola did with Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust isn’t related to Dracula, but does have that same kind of spirit. The protagonist is a half-human/half-vampire, and his goal in the film is a simple one: track down a vampire and rescue the young woman he’s kidnapped.

Along the way, there are other competitors and threats, of course, but the story feels secondary to the immensely well-crafted world and atmosphere on offer in Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. It’s among the most striking-looking anime movies of the early 2000s, and successfully looks dark and ominous without ever feeling drab or colorless. The essential vampire anime movie is a feast for the eyes, and really, the solid storyline and characters attached to the whole thing really just end up serving as icing on an already great-looking cake.

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37 'In This Corner of the World' (2016)

Directed by Sunao Katabuchi

While it’s not the most well-known anime film to look at World War II through the eyes of younger characters, In This Corner of the World does do this effectively, and in a way that proves oftentimes moving. It takes place over numerous years, beginning in the 1930s and concluding with the end of World War II, showing how a young woman perseveres with life in Kure while Japan continues to fight in the global conflict.

In This Corner of the World works as a coming-of-age story, deals with family drama, looks at tragedy and the processing of grief that follows, and also becomes about finding connection with others during dark times. It’s presented in an interesting way that mostly works in getting the viewer inside the head of the main character, making the more emotional scenes hit even harder while feeling more intimate.

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36 'The First Slam Dunk' (2022)

Directed by Takehiko Inoue

There are recognizable sports movie tropes and conventions found in The First Slam Dunk, but it would be unfair to call the film clichéd or formulaic. For one thing, its structure is fascinating, given the movie runs for two hours yet focuses on a single game of high school basketball. With the match playing out in what feels like real-time – or sometimes even slower – there are frequent flashbacks utilized to flesh out the players, with such backstories making the game even more compelling to watch, once viewers work out more and more who these guys are as people.

The First Slam Dunk builds to a fantastic climax, too, with the final scene being worth sitting through the whole movie just to get to. It helps that the rest of the movie is also very good, mind you, with the well-animated basketball sequences being equally compelling as the flashbacks, which deal with themes/ideas of family conflict, growing up, and coping with - as well as eventually overcoming - life-altering tragedies.

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35 'Wolf Children' (2012)

Directed by Mamoru Hosoda

The premise of Wolf Children might sound outlandish on paper, but the film itself makes it work… somehow. It begins by telling a story about a young woman falling in love with a werewolf, and even having two children with him, only to find herself forced into the position of raising two unique children as a single parent after he abruptly passes away.

That fantastical set-up is key to getting the whole narrative in motion, but much of Wolf Children plays out like a grounded and oftentimes emotional family drama, being simply presented and told yet remaining effective when it comes to developing interesting characters and feeling emotional. It’s also noteworthy for having a surprisingly good English dub, for English-speaking viewers who might be concerned about the act of reading subtitles distracting from the visuals.

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34 'Patlabor: The Movie' (1989)

Directed by Mamoru Oshii and Kouji Sawai

Patlabor: The Movie is niche enough to probably qualify as a cult classic sci-fi/anime movie, and so it stands to reason that it’s unlikely to be the kind of thing that’ll appeal to everyone. It takes a fairly dry approach to the science fiction genre, and certainly features less action than most anime movies or shows that deal with mecha (large humanoid robots), but this does help it stand out.

It’s one part of the overall Patlabor franchise, and tells a story about various robots being potentially infected with a software virus that could lead to societal collapse in a futuristic Tokyo where such robots are essential to most areas of life. It explores engaging sci-fi ideas within a well-realized and presented world, and those who don’t mind mecha anime willing to take its time pacing-wise should find a good deal to latch onto here.

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33 'Neo Tokyo' (1987)

Directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, Yoshiaki Kawajiri, and Rintaro

An offbeat animated anthology movie that ultimately runs for less than an hour (yet doesn’t waste a second), Neo Tokyo is made up of three interesting stories that feel sometimes fantastical, and sometimes sci-fi-centered. The first shows a surreal fantasy adventure, the second revolves around a high-stakes futuristic race, and the third shows a workplace turned upside down by the introduction of robots tasked with doing the sorts of things humans used to do.

The first story is trippy, the second is probably the most explosive, and the third manages to be darkly funny and even a bit satirical. If anything, Neo Tokyo could probably get away with being a good deal longer – it might have been even better that way – but as it stands, it’s still pretty great overall, and definitely worth a watch for any anime fans pressed for time who still want to watch something that can technically be called a movie.

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32 'Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time' (2021)

Directed by Hideaki Anno

The Neon Genesis Evangelion series/franchise is an odd one that’s been consistently mutating and rewriting itself over many years at this point, with Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time being one of many endings for the series. It’s the fourth film in the Rebuild of Evangelion spin-off/remake series, which began by retelling events from the original TV series with a bigger budget and improved animation, but eventually branched off to seemingly become its own thing.

As a result of the way this four-film series progressed, Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time feels unlike anything else found within Neon Genesis Evangelion as a whole. It’s noteworthy for being one of the longest animated movies of all time, and for feeling a great deal more hopeful than much of the series – on TV or in film – had felt, which makes it a clean and oddly crowd-pleasing end (probably of the definitive variety... or maybe not) for the franchise overall.

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31 'Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro' (1979)

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

Not just a great animated movie, but also a surprisingly great crime/comedy movie in general, Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro is also notable for being Hayao Miyazaki's debut feature film. It follows a master thief going on a grand adventure to steal various valuables from the titular castle, playing out like a humor-heavy heist movie.

It might not have the same level of polish in animation as future Miyazaki movies have, but it's still dazzling to look at and creatively assembled. Those who want more Lupin the Third are in luck, too, considering it's a huge franchise that began as a manga and now contains numerous movies (live-action and animated, and some surprisingly recent, too), anime series, and television specials.

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