Anime, a category of animation that goes back at least to 1958’s The Tale of the White Serpent, has nothing to prove at this point—though non-Japanese audiences are sometimes still surprised by the variety and depth of the films it encompasses, which are generally a lot broader and more varied than American animation (still mostly thought of as just kids’ stuff).
The word “anime” is just a form of a Japanese word referring to animation, and, though Japanese filmmakers have excelled in crafting animated films for decades, it’s often taken to represent a particular and specific style or genre. Not so: Movies like Ghost in the Shell, The Red Turtle, Weathering with You, and Howl’s Moving Castle have very little in common other than their statuses as cinematic classics at large, and their brilliant, usually hand-drawn animation.
Many of the best anime movies streaming will be familiar to animation fans, but for newcomers, any of them would be a great place to dive into the broad world of anime.
Your Name (2016)
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Country girl Mitsuha begins mysterious trading bodies with Taki, a boy from Tokyo, and the two slowly come to understand each other and their separate lives. Gut-punching revelations in the second act take what begins as a coming-of-age rom-com into deeper science-fictional waters, the film revealing itself to have far more on its mind that a metaphysical meet-cute. Director Makoto Shinkai (Weathering with You) and the animators brilliantly play with light, giving some of the movie’s real-life locations stunning glow-ups. Never has a body-swap story been this gorgeously rendered, and the film holds a well-earned place near the top of all-time anime box office champs.
Where to stream: The Criterion Channel, Crunchyroll
Roujin Z (1991)
This wild ride from Hiroyuki Kitakubo, one of the animators of Akira, takes place in the near future—which, because this was made way back in 1991, happens to be the early 21st century. An 87-year-old widower named Kijuro Takazawa is the first test subject for an experimental robotic hospital bed designed to take care of all of a patient’s needs. But then the bed begins transmitting his thoughts, and things get more dramatic from there (if you think this story of a dying man and future healthcare couldn’t possibly turn into a mecha anime, you’re mistaken). For all the wild plot developments, there’s some smart commentary about our eagerness to ignore the needs of the elderly, and the ways in which even “humane” technological advancements can be dehumanizing.
Where to stream: YouTube
Akira (1988)
This is one that everyone’s heard of, and with good reason: its wildly kinetic animation and its highly detailed cityscape set a new standard for anime—writer/director Katsuhiro Otomo and company gave birth to a new animated world with this movie, and we’re still living in it. Set in a dystopian 2019 (well, differently dystopian than our 2019), the cyberpunk classic finds biker Kaneda forced to face down his friend Tetsuo after the latter gains telekinetic abilities in an accident. Akira is more than just its action, and it’s dense enough that it can be hard to follow for the uninitiated—but it’s a movie that keeps going bigger with every scene.
Where to stream: Hulu, Crunchyroll, Funimation
The Red Turtle (2016)
This Studio Ghibli production is, technically, a Japanese and French co-production with a Dutch director—pushing, perhaps, the definition of anime just a bit (globally, we tend to use the term for animation explicitly from Japan). But we’re not here to nitpick, especially over something this lovely and moving. The dialogue-free film tells the story of a man who becomes trapped on a desert island with only a giant turtle for companionship, and it turns out the turtle is guarding a secret that changes the man’s life. What starts as a survival tale takes on deeper resonance as their bond grows in this powerful emotional journey.
Where to stream: Starz
Paprika (2006)
Dr. Atsuko Chiba and her colleagues are working on a therapeutic tool, a device that allows for the sharing of dreams. She’s a scientist by day, and, as her titular alter ego Paprika, a dream detective by night, venturing into dreams to help her psychiatric patients. The device she’s using can shatter minds when in the wrong hands and so, when it is stolen, she knows it must be recovered. Satoshi Kon’s mind-bending masterpiece was a clear inspiration for Christopher Nolan’s Inception, playing as it does with layers of emotion and reality without ever leaving its audience feeling disoriented.
Well, maybe a little bit disoriented. You’ll definitely get a little lost now and again, but it’s worth the ride.
Where to stream: Tubi
Dragon Ball Super: Broly (2018)
This one might be tough sell for the uninitiated, given that it’s the twentieth Dragon Ball film—and that’s without even mentioning the multiple TV series (nor, of course, the long-running manga). Still, as an entry to the series, you could do a lot worse than this wildly action-packed entry, which is probably the best of the films. Series leads Goku and Vegeta encounter exiled and incredibly powerful Saiyan fighter named Broly, leading to some typically colorful chaos. The sensitive and out-of-control Broly is a genuinely tragic antagonist, and the emotional stakes place this one a bit above the Dragon Ball average.
Where to stream: Crunchyroll
Tokyo Godfathers (2003)
Roughly inspired by John Ford’s 1948 3 Godfathers, this one opens on a drag queen, a teenage runaway, and a good-hearted middle-aged alcoholic living on the streets of Tokyo. The odd companions come across a baby in a trash bin on Christmas Eve. With few clues to go on, the three spend the night searching the streets of Tokyo for the baby’s parents. The moving adventure that follows comes from director Satoshi Kon, who also directed other classics on this list, including Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, and Paprika, in his too-short life and career (in 2010, he died from pancreatic cancer at just 46 years old).
Where to stream: Tubi, Hoopla, The Roku Channel
The Girl Who Leaped Through Time (2006)
Yasutaka Tsutsui’s 1965 novel of the same name is often cited as an early (and popular) use of the now-familiar time loop narrative, and it’s been adapted multiple times in Japan. The best version (even the book’s author loved it) is this 2006 anime from director Mamoru Hosoda (Mirai), following 17-year-old Makoto Konno, who, following a bit of clumsiness that puts her in the path of an oncoming train, discovers that she has the ability to send herself backward in time. Quickly deducing that the use of the power for her own gain can have unexpected consequences, she begins deploying the power only for small and frivolous things. Which is fine, until she also realizes she can only use her power a finite number of times. Potentially tragic circumstances soon threaten to leave her powerless when she needs to alter time the most. Unlike some of the more mature or action-oriented films here, this one perfectly captures the vibe of shōjo manga, with its emphasis on its teen girl lead.
Where to stream: Crunchroll
Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (1994)
For a newcomer, it can be deeply confusing trying to find an entry point into any of the Japanese mega-franchises. This one’s an adaptation of the Street Fighter II Capcom game—but the movie, naturally, has a bit more plot than the fighter, and it’s almost entirely standalone. There’s not a lot of socially redeeming value here, nor emotional resonance…but the movie does offer exactly what’s suggested by the title: sweet violence, with just enough character work to make the punches land a bit harder. The fight scenes are all impressively choreographed, and the ’90s animation style, while very ’90s, holds up beautifully.
Where to stream: Prime Video
Mirai (2018)
Mirai feels ignored and abandoned when his new baby sister arrives, his feelings complicated by his father’s affectionate, yet emotionally awkward nature. But then Mirai wanders into a strange garden that transports him through time. He meets his mother as a child, and also his new baby sister as a grown-up. There’s adventure to be found along the way, but the movie’s real resonance comes in quiet, emotional moments, and from its sensitivity to the complications of growing up—both for us, and for the families that have to deal with us. It always helps to get a new perspective.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Redline (2009)
The plot is minimal, but that’s not in any way a disparagement: This gorgeously hand-drawn thrill ride is a work of art nonetheless. On a distant planet in an evocative future, the most popular race in the galaxy is set to begin. A daredevil driver is determined to compete, but before he has the chance, he’s got to overcome a criminal cartel, the police, and an army of robots. The movie tanked at the box office back in 2009, but quickly became a cult classic. It looks like nothing you’ve ever seen before.
Where to stream: Vudu
Ghost in the Shell (1995)
A legitimate cyberpunk mind-bender, Ghost in the Shell easily stands alongside spiritual cinematic siblings like Blade Runner or The Matrix (which it explicitly inspired). From director Mamoru Oshii and writer Kazunori Itō, the film finds cyborg security officer Motoko Kusanagi on the hunt for a seemingly invincible hacker. The case leads her to question not only her own identity as, essentially, a robot with a human mind—but also the very nature of reality itself. Along with Akira, this movie became a gateway to anime for an entire generation of American fans, and it holds up well.
Where to stream: Prime Video, Tubi, Freevee
Demon Slayer—Kimetsu no Yaiba—The Movie: Mugen Train (2020)
A dark fantasy with some old-school shōnen style (albeit from a very R-rated point-of-view), Mugen Train picks up following the first season of the Demon Slayer series—that, and the excessive title, would seem to make it a tough recommendation, but it broke box office records in 2021 and became the highest-grossing anime of the year while scoring excellent reviews and winning awards. While there’s undoubtedly some extra resonance to be had when watching the movie in sequence, it works well on its own as the story of a tragic lead Tanjiro Kamado who board the titular train determined to save its passengers. The movie satisfyingly balances its stellar action sequences with some real emotional consequences.
Where to stream: Funimation, Crunchyroll
Only Yesterday (1991)
Though Only Yesterday was Japan’s highest-grossing film of 1991, it remains less well-known than many of its Studio Ghibli siblings, and that’s unfortunate. From director Isao Takahata (also the author of the criminally non-streaming Grave of the Fireflies), Only Yesterday follows 27-year-old Taeko Okajima, who works at a company in Tokyo but takes a train trip into the country side to visit relatives and escape from the hectic pace of the city. The journey conjures memories, both good and bad, of her past life, forcing her to reconcile her present with the life she left behind. It’s a lovely, melancholy take on life’s unexpected pathways.
Where to stream: Max
The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013)
Isao Takahata capped his career with this Academy Award-nominee based on the 1,000-year-old folktale known as “The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.” The deceptively simple pencil and watercolor style is endlessly gorgeous. The story itself involves a woodsman who finds a baby in the bamboo and ultimately decides that it’s his fate to give her the life of a princess. The girl wants nothing more than the love of her family, but the movie turns on the dichotomy between that simple virtue and the need to satisfy the desires of family and community.
Where to stream: Max
Blame! (2017)
In the future, the City grows like a virus, endlessly in all directions, and humans have long since lost control of the automated systems designed to run things. Those same systems now see views humans as “illegals” to be purged, leaving flesh-and-blood survivors caught between the city’s murderous defense systems and the need to find food. One group of humans is on the hunt for the existence of someone with a genetic marker that they believe will allow for access to the city’s control systems—a hunt lead by Killy, a synthetic human who might have the key. Some deeply cool world-building here, and solid CGI animation.
Where to stream: Netflix
The Sky Crawlers (2008)
In a world largely at peace (imagine!), mega-corporations hire fighter pilots to engage in genuinely dangerous combat operations that serve, on one level, as entertainment, but also as a way for the world’s population to blow off some steam and experience the visceral thrills and nationalistic fervor of war without any of the devastating consequences. There’s a lot going on here, including the stories of pilots genetically engineered to remain adolescents, but the beautifully animated aerial sequences (involving mysterious attackers who endanger what was initially intended as a reconnaissance flight) are a highlight. Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell) directs.
Where to stream: Tubi
Josee, the Tiger and the Fish (2020)
A meet-cute between 22-year-old university student Tsuneo and Josee gives way to a more unconventional relationship: Tsuneo is hired as a caretaker for disabled Josee by her grandmother. Money, tragedy, and regular life threaten to get in the way of their budding relationship, but the two keep finding themselves drawn back together. The typical “inspirational” disability tropes are kept to a minimum—Josee is a fully rounded character, and the movie takes great lengths to emphasize the barriers that a wheelchair-user is likely to face in Japan, both culturally and practically.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Child of Kamiari Month (2021)
Kanna Hayama was a dedicated runner until the death of her mother, after which she becomes withdrawn and joyless, refusing to share her feelings with her friends and family. Of course, we’re in an anime fantasy, so she soon meets a fanged demon-boy during a race who tasks her with taking up her mother’s mantle as a literal footrace deity, and sends her on a quest with the help of a talking rabbit. Her adventures put her on a path toward coming to terms with her mother’s passing and rediscovering her own sense of joy.
Where to stream: Netflix
Weathering With You (2019)
Makoto Shinkai followed up Your Name with this equally successful successor, a gorgeous vision of rain-soaked Tokyo, and a young woman who can control the weather (visually, this movie beautifully does for water what Your Name did for light). Troubled runaway Hodaka meets and befriends Hina, whose emotions impact the weather. There are life- and world-threatening consequences to all of this, but, ultimately, it’s about the triumphs and tragedies of first love.
Where to stream: Max
Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop (2020)
A cute, music-filled teen love story, this one finds shy, haiku-writing Cherry working at a senior center when he meets Smile, an outgoing social media influencer who’s secretly embarrassed about her teeth and braces. They’re both deeply insecure in different ways, and each has developed their own coping strategies. Their relationship soon takes a backseat to the story of a couple from five decades earlier, and the quest for a record that connects their love story to that of one of Cherry’s clients. The stakes are relatively small and entirely personal, and that’s more than OK. It’s vibrant and fun, one of the better modern examples of teen romance in modern anime.
Where to stream: Netflix
Memories (1995)
This science fiction anthology is comprised of three short films, each well-done and darkly entertaining. The highlight is the opening segment, directed by anime master Satoshi Kon (Perfect Blue, Tokyo Godfathers, Paprika)—it’s called “Magnetic Blue,” and is the story of space salvagers and the engineers who discover a haunted and unforgettably haunting abandoned space station. It’s a perfect blend of science fiction and existential horror.
Where to stream: Prime Video, Tubi
The End of Evangelion (1997)
Hideaki Anno’s Neon Genesis Evangelion TV series ended with a brilliantly abstract and shocking whisper—one that left many action-craving fans cold. They might have been careful what they wished for. Fim coda The End of Evangelion offers a slice of hell through the eyes of its child-soldier lead, giant robot pilot Shinji Ikari. Where the show ended with the imagery of group therapy gone well, this alternate finale hinges on an apocalypse so horrifying, survival is the cruelest twist imaginable.
Where to stream: Netflix
Perfect Blue (1997)
Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue isn’t going to be for everyone, a blurring of fantasy and reality that draws comparisons to the films of Darren Aronofsky—though, of course, it’s really the other way around, as Perfect Blue came before both Requiem for a Dream and Black Swan, which echo it. (Perfect Blue has also inspired Madonna, so do with that what you will). If nothing else, it proves that anime can do the psychological thriller genre at least as well as any medium can. Its story follows a young Japanese singer who is pushed to quit her career to take a job on television—a move with horrific consequences in the best tradition of high-price-of-fame stories.
Where to stream: Shudder
The Hayao Miyazaki Collection
Hayao Miyazaki’s career in animation began in the 1970s, but his work as an artist of global stature began in earnest with 1984’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, the first of an unbroken sequence of masterpieces that have pushed subsequent animators into new territory. One can easily make the case that without Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli (which he co-founded), we don’t have anything like the varied world of animated films we’re privileged to see today. Miyazaki’s oeuvre could easily take up half of this list so instead, I’m going to suggest that all his movies are similarly great, which is not the same as saying that they’re all similar.
Among the director’s most beloved are Spirited Away (2001), involving young Chihiro’s quest to save her parents from puckish beings in a fantasy realm; Princess Mononoke (1997), a epic environmental parable; Howl’s Moving Castle (2004), about a young woman’s quest to break a curse and the castle with legs; and My Neighbor Totoro (1988), a sweet story of two girls who meet fantastic creatures in the first near their new home. There are really no bad choices, though, with all but Miyazaki’s most recent (Oscar-winner The Boy and the Heron) currently streaming on Max. While wildly varied, each is stunningly animated and lushly detailed, and each deals with the trials and challenges of growing up (at any age).
Where to stream: Max