Anime is a unique version of animated storytelling indigenous to contemporary Japan, a style which exploded in international popularity during the 1990s. And with the ongoing proliferation of streaming services, international audiences have greater access to the large and diverse catalog of anime films than ever before, including these eight classics.
‘Grave of the Fireflies’ (1988)
A harrowing anti-war film, “Grave of the Fireflies” follows Seita (Tsutomu Tatsumi) and Setsuko (Ayano Shiraishi), siblings struggling to survive the final cataclysms of World War II after their mother is killed in the firebombing of Kobe. They move in with an indifferent, cruel aunt and then escape to an empty bomb shelter, where they try to survive by the light of fireflies.
To say that “Grave of the Fireflies” does not soften the cruelty of the children’s fate is putting it lightly, but even in sorrow the movie offers viewers breathtaking beauty. Watching the film is an “emotional experience so powerful that it forces a rethinking of animation” and leaves its haunting impression “not by reproducing reality but by heightening and simplifying it,” said Roger Ebert at the time. (Netflix)
‘Akira’ (1988)
Kaneda (Mitsuo Iwata) is a teenaged motorcycle gang leader in 2019 “Neo-Tokyo,” a postnuclear apocalypse megalopolis. When his friend Tetsuo (Nozomu Sasaki) is abducted by military elites bent on turning him into a supernatural killer, Kaneda tries to rescue him. But Colonel Shikishima (Taro Ishida) finds that Tetsuo could become as powerful as the being Akira, rumored to be capable of destroying the world. Director Katsuhiro Otomo’s “Akira” is “one of the most important flashpoints in the history of animation,” and its depiction of a “rotting society held together with cruelty and desperation” has ongoing relevance today, said Tim Brayton at Alternate Ending. (Prime Video)
‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’ (1989)
Kiki (Minami Takayama) is a 13-year-old witch-in-training who leaves home for the first time with her talking cat, Jiji (Rei Sakuma). Settling into a seaside hamlet, she uses her new broom-riding skills to work as a kind of analog flying Uber Eats for the baker, Osono (Keiko Toda), who gives her a free place to stay while she trains.
Kiki also befriends a boy, Tombo (Kappei Yamaguchi), who yearns for her ability to fly — until she loses her magic altogether. Whimsical, beautiful and quietly moving, it is a coming-of-age masterpiece. Director Hayao Miyazaki’s “timeless” movie is “made for young hearts but also has a way of growing up with us, taking on new meaning when viewed at different life stages,” said Melanie McFarland at Salon. (HBO Max)
‘Ghost in the Shell’ (1995)
Major Motoko Kusanagi (Atsuko Tanaka) is an agent with Public Security Section 9, which tracks cybercriminals in the dizzyingly futuristic New Port City circa 2029, where people can wire their brains directly into the Internet. She’s tasked with apprehending The Puppet Master (Iemasa Kayumi), a hacker who appears to be tapping directly into these networked minds and altering memories. Director Mamoru Oshii’s “hugely influential cyberpunk classic” is a heart-racing thriller that also “dialed deep into the potential of the information age, advances in robotics and subsequent philosophical questions” about digital consciousness, said Ben Travis and Luke Bradley at Empire. (Prime Video)
‘Princess Mononoke’ (1997)
In 15th-century Japan, Ashitaka (Yoji Matsuda), the prince of a dying kingdom called Emishi, is infected by a forest demon and travels west searching for a forest god that provides a cure. Instead, he stumbles into a war between the rapacious smelters of Iron Town, led by Lady Eboshi (Yuko Tanaka) and a coalition of forest spirits and creatures led by the wolf god, Moro (Akihiro Miwa), and her human daughter, San (Yuriko Ishida). Crafted by Hayao Miyazaki, it is a film that “stands against intolerance in all its forms, political or social, and demands coexistence and understanding from its audience,” a “sprawling, perceptive wonder” that “could not be told through another medium,” said Brian Eggert at Deep Focus Review. (HBO Max)
‘Spirited Away’ (2001)
By winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2003, “Spirited Away” gave an art form known to Americans mostly through Saturday morning cartoons and the Pokémon phenomenon the kind of prestige previously reserved for high-end Disney and Pixar films. While 10 year-old Chihiro (Rumi Hiiragi) and her parents are en route to their new home, they take a wrong turn and wind up in what at first appears to be a derelict amusement park.
There, her parents are transformed into pigs and Chihiro is thrust into a vibrant but terrifying underworld. She is forced to take on a job in a spirit world bathhouse, as she tries to retrieve her parents and return them to their human form. The film is generally regarded as director and animator Hayao Miyazaki’s finest work. A “tremendously original and beautiful film,” it gives viewers the feeling of a “nightmare that’s not at all frightening but instead marvelous in its alienness,” said MaryAnn Johanson at Flick Filosopher. (HBO Max)
‘The Girl Who Leapt Through Time’ (2006)
If you associate anime with only one kind of genre — futuristic science fiction or magical realism — you’re in for a surprise with the moving coming-of-age story “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.” When adolescent Makoto (Riisa Naka) discovers that she can travel back in time, she uses her new powers to hold her friendships with two boys in suspended animation, traveling back again and again to short-circuit any developing romantic feelings and to preserve their childhood relationships. This “sweet, credible study” has a “fantastical premise” and succeeds with “subtle character studies rather than large-scale effects,” said Kim Newman at Empire. (HBO Max)
‘The Colors Within’ (2024)
Anime filmmaking remains dominated by men, making Naoko Yamada’s “The Colors Within” a triumph on multiple levels. It not only plants a flag for women in the industry. But as a gentle musical driven by character development rather than plot, it is also a departure from the kind of storytelling most commonly associated with the art form.
Totsuko (Sayu Suzukawa) is a boarding school outsider who has a kind of synesthesia, seeing other people’s auras as vibrant colors. When she links up with fellow misfits Kimi (Akari Takaishi) and Rui (Taisei Kido), they form a band and face the challenges of adolescence and growing up together. Yamada’s film “paints an exquisite rainbow of adolescent blues in this gentle tale of music and friendship,” and its “musically diverse songs beautifully channel the personalities of each member,” said Phuong Le at The Guardian. (HBO Max)