TOP TEN BEST ANIME FILMS OF ALL TIME Aug 16 '11    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Movies 1776 From $8 Alias - The Complete Fifth Season From $20 The Bottom Line 10 Best Anime Movies of All Times. Top 10 Anime Films. Ten greatest anime movies ever. Call it what you will, these ten movies are my FAVORITE anime films! There's a certain mystique around the genre of anime, but there's nothing complex about understanding the genre. It's animation done in Japan. That's it!  That's why it's often called "Japanimation". Where the mystique is well deserved is in the depth of imagination that many of the films embody. The stories are often complex, and the best anime can simply stun the senses with its brilliant color palettes and its complex movements.  When I was a kid, Japanimation had a reputation for jerky movements and facial expressions that never matched the soundtrack (think old "Speed Racer" cartoons) --- but those kinds of cheesy animation products are ancient history and have as much relevance to modern anime as rickety Ford Model Ts do to Lamborghinis sprinting through a series of switchbacks on a twisty alpine road. Today's anime films are spectacular. As you read through my list, you'll probably notice that I included a disproportionate number of films directed by Hayao Miyazaki and released through Studio Ghibli. That's not an accident and it's not because I couldn't think of any other anime films. It's because Miyazaki is, by far, the best animator in Japan. His films are wildly imaginitive and each is an adventure through a different kind of world. Other film makers do produce works that enter the sublime realm in which Miyazaki routinely works, but I know of no other who consistently produces as many films reflecting artistry, craftsmanship, and great story telling.  If I can offer one piece of advice regarding anime, it would be "Watch a Miyazaki film first and then explore other anime films." Enough chatter though, let's roll the projector and enjoy some outstanding entertainment from Japan's most outstanding animators! *********************** TOP TEN BEST ANIME MOVIES EVER 1. Spirited Away (2001) Director: Hayao Miyazaki Moving to a new home in a strange town is never fun for a kid. It's disruptive as friendships are broken and familiarity is pushed aside by the unknown. Chihiro, like any 10-year old kid anywhere in the world, is not happy about having to move. As the family approaches their new home, Dad decides to take a short-cut --- a short-cut that dead ends at a strange idol guarding a long, dark tunnel. On the other side, is a town: one that seems abandoned, but for the delicious smelling food in the sidewalk restaurants. Mom and Dad pig out, but Chihiro is wary. Perhaps she senses the presence of ancient spirits who will soon fill the streets as they seek food, drink, merriment and perhaps, a bath in the bathhouse. Chihiro's fate depends on her steady heart, hard-work, dedication to her family and the faith she places in Haku. The visual realism of this film is intricate and often photo-realistic, though its not CGI (Miyazaki films are always hand-drawn). The story is fanciful yet filled with complexity. It's a film that entrances adults and challenges kids without ever speaking down to them. Magnificent animation --- and one of the best family movies you could choose. ---------------- 2. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006) Director: Mamoru Hosoda Doc Brown told Marty McFly that he had to be careful about not screwing up the space-time continuum, but Marty listened about as well as Makoto --- a schoolgirl whose life keeps going back to July 13 as if she were Bill Murray in "Groundhog Day". When Makoto discovers that she has the power to manipulate time, she parties like it's 1999! But can she figure out how to keep anyone from crashing into an oncoming train, preserve the romantic machinations of her classmates, keep anyone from getting picked on by bullies, and maybe stretch out a little karaoke quality time? I could tell you, but then we'd both know. Suffice it to say that time waits for no one. ---------------- 3. My Neighbor Totoro (1988) Director: Hayao Miyazaki Imagine being a kid and moving out to the country...to a big old house inhabited with shy, gentle spirits and a nearby forest where mystical creatures dwell. There is no evil in this movie. No real conflict either. Just fantastical imagination and a gentle story full of nature and love. Having gentle spirits in the neighborhood might even be enough to keep a kid's mind off the fact that her mother is sick and lying in a hospital, too ill to come home to the family she loves. Fortunately, the coolest bus in the history of cinema passes through the neighborhood on its route, and maybe, even if the kids do worry, or even get lost, some cool cat will heed the will of Totoro, the forest spirit and soothe the weeping heart. Sweet dreams, Satsuki. Sleep well, dear Mei. ---------------- 4. Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) Director: Hayao Miyazaki  "Are you a good witch, or a bad witch?" Dorothy asks Glinda, the witch of the north, in the 1939 classic, "The Wizard of Oz". In "Kiki's Delivery Service" such a question would be silly because ALL the witches are good. Just like Miyazaki's incredible animation talents, which reveal intricate detail in the settings and the time, which looks vaguely European in some vague period of the early 20th century. Kiki is a witch --- a very young witch, who needs to find her place in the world. She's got hope in her soul, but uncertainty in her heart as she takes stock of her skills and abilities. After befriending a kind-hearted baker, Kiki realizes that she could start a very successful delivery service, flying packages and messages from place to place via broomstick. Great idea! (Though she might want a Plan B if the broomstick ever fails her...and she might want a Plan C in case some local boy gets the hots for her....)  Beauty and maturity ensues... ---------------- 5. Paprika (2006) Director: Satsoshi Kon There's an old saying that "The Devil himself knows not the mind of man."  That's not the case in "Paprika". In this vividly visual tale of intrigue, a machine called the DC-Mini can see into a person's mind. Invented as a tool for psychiatrists to evaluate their patients' dreams, the device is stolen for nefarious purposes. Naturally, they include getting into peoples' minds and manipulating their thoughts and ambitions. Can Chiba, Tokita and Shima help the Inspector to find the thief before their own dreams turn on them? This is the kind of movie that will leave you feeling like going to a theatre and buying a ticket... ---------------- 6. Castle In the Sky (1986) Director: Hayao Miyazaki Some Miyazaki films don't seem to have any villains at all, and then there's movies like "Castle in the Sky" that have bumper crops of evil, greedy, viscious, just plain mean people. Some are meaner than others, but you can't always be sure what fundamental goodness lurks in the hearts of men (or women). Take the pirates --- you see them in the movie's opening scene, and they're obviously the bad guys while the government agents inside the airship are the good guys. Right? Welllll, that remains to be seen. The coolest thing about this movie is the imaginitive machines: airplanes whose wings flap, menacing military mechanations, even a delightfully serendipitous elevator in a deep, dark mine. It's all good... ---------------- 7. Grave of the Fireflies (1988) Director: Isao Takahata One of the things that I love about most of the anime films I've seen is their uplifting spirits and their positive messages full of kindness and hope. There's no such message in "Grave of the Fireflies". I included this movie in my list not because it makes me smile, but because it breaks my heart (even if it is "just a cartoon"). It's the story of a brother and sister, growing up in Japan during World War II. American bombers reign fire and death down on their home, killing their mother and leaving the kids in desparate straits. Relatives help for a while....but the ravages of war wear on extended family relations, and scarcity becomes the watchword of the day. Setsuko does everything he can to help his sister, but there is nothing to eat but marbles that a dying mind wishes were fruit candies. Neither child will survive the war, but their spirits may yet watch their homeland recover, in time. Great movie with brilliant animation and a very serious message --- but perhaps too intense for young kids.  ---------------- 8. Howl's Moving Castle (2004) Director: Hayao Miyazaki I can't decide what the most incredible feat of animation imagination is in this movie. A castle that walks? Battleships that fly through the sky? A scarecrow who can become the instrument of salvation? Doesn't matter, it's an intricately beautiful film, full of brightness and imagination with a story of good and evil played out through the wills of witches and warlords. In the end, it's the fire that glows within our hearts that matters most --- a power that can build up castles, bring rains to parched lands, and tame the heat of the most powerful flame. In the end, nothing matters but a single light kiss. ---------------- 9. Princess Mononoke (1997) Director:  Hayao Miyazaki What Tolkein does for English medieval times, Miyazaki does for a similar era in Japanese culture. It's a time when samurai reign supreme. When horses (or other animals) provide the most powerful means of conveyance and power. It's a time when town is town and country is everything else. It's a time when forests are pure, but changing for the worse. And they're not happy about it. When Ashi-taka is cursed by a powerful boar spirit, he leaves to discover the source of the boar's pain and suffering, and hopefully, a cure for his own curse. Perhaps he'll find his answers in Iron Town, perhaps in the powers of the Forest Spirit, or perhaps in the conflict that lurks in his fellow man's heart. Growth, destruction, and eventually, maybe, regrowth. Perhaps the answers lie in the chattering little tree dwarf spirits... ---------------- 10. Akira (1988) Director: Katsuhiro Otomo Japanese manga are comic books, but they're not like the comics I grew up on. They're usually a lot more complex than anything I got on a newsstand in the 60s or 70s, and they deal with far more challenging themes. Some of them are as long and complex as a Tom Clancy novel (but a lot less predictable). There are a lot of anime films derived from manga, and I'd be a fool to ignore them all, even if I don't particularly like them compared to the films that make up the rest of my list. If you like hard-driving action and modern, semi-realistic scenery then you'll probably like this kind of anime, and if it sounds like something you'd be into, then the first film to check out should be "Akira". It's a futuristic tale of intrigue and technology with gang rivalries, unexplained psychological powers, hi-tech toys and gadgetry, and oh yeah....even some love interest.  *********************** TOP 10 BEST ANIME MOVIES EVER Are these the very best anime movies of all time? I'm sure they are. If you have your doubts, feel free to add a comment with your own suggestions. I'd love to get a few pointers I can use for next weekend's video watching marathon!  Until next time, see you at the DVD Exchange!

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