With Hayao Miyazaki's grand return to filmmaking The Boy and the Heron hitting screens, here are some of our favourite anime films we think you should check out.
The Boy and the Heron (2023)
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
After 'retiring' from filmmaking in 2013 after The Wind Rises, the celebrated Studio Ghibli master has returned with another masterpiece. The Boy and the Heron plays almost like a greatest hits set for Miyazaki: a young protagonist journeys to a secret world, strong anti war messages, morally ambiguous villains, cute side characters — albeit from the standpoint of an 82 year old embracing the twilight of his career. If it is indeed his final film, what a way to go out.
Akira (1998)
Director: Katsuhiro Otomo
Katsuhiro Otomo's landmark work is responsible for popularising the anime in the west, and for good reason. Set against the backdrop of post World World III in the Japanese city of Neo-Tokyo, a biker gang accidentally discovers a military project that plans to use telekinetic humans as weapons. Its influence on the cyberpunk genre looms as large as Blade Runner and its state of the art hand-drawn animation is still unprecedented. The gold standard of Japanese animation.
The First Slam Dunk (2023)
Director: Takehiko Inoue
The long-awaited feature adaptation of the popular sports manga by creator Takehiko Inoue takes place entirely within a single, intense high school basketball game. Boldly, Inoue sidelines the original series' protagonist Hanamichi, opting instead to retell the same pivotal match through the perspective of a onetime side character. This approach guarantees surprises for both long-time fans and newcomers.
Your Name (2016)
Director: Makoto Shinkai
A global sensation upon release, Makoto Shinkai's body-swap romance is the perfect blend of breathtaking animation, heartfelt storytelling and a touch of the supernatural. While the film's first half follows the familiar tropes of the body-swap genre, a genius midway plot twist elevates this title to instant classic status. The infectiously catchy score by the Japanese rock group RADWIMPS is the cherry on top.
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Director: Isao Takahata
Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli contemporary, Isao Takahata, delivers a haunting anti-war film that is as profound as it is heartbreaking. Set in Japan during World War II, the story follows two young siblings struggling to survive in the midst of devastation after their home is destroyed in a bombing raid. Faced with the harsh realities of wartime, their journey becomes an emotionally challenging depiction of the consequences of war on innocent lives.
Perfect Blue (1997)
Director: Satoshi Kon
Satoshi Kon's hyper-stylish thriller is a paranoid fever dream that echoes the psychological mastery of Hitchcock and De Palma. After beloved pop idol Mima makes a career switch to acting, she becomes the target of an obsessive stalker whose violent intrusions blur the boundaries of her reality and fantasy. An eerily disturbing and fortuitous take on fandom and parasocial relationships.
Ghost in the Shell (1995)
Director: Mamoru Oshii
A neo-noir techno thriller whose influential cyberpunk aesthetics and themes heavily inspired the Wachowski's Matrix series. Set in a dystopian future where humans can enhance themselves with cybernetics, the film tells the story of Major Motoko Kusanagi and her team on the hunt for a hacker: The Puppet Master. Mamoru Oshii's sci-fi opus explores deep questions about the mind and technology—and the consequences of blending human minds with machines.
The End of Evangelion (1997)
Director: Hideaki Anno
Where do you even begin with Neon Genesis Evangelion? When fans of Hideaki Anno's subversive TV series were left unsatisfied by the original ending (affected by production challenges and budget constraints), an alternate, movie-length remake of the finale was announced. The end result was surreal, abstract, and confronting, proving to be a fittingly cathartic close for both fans and creator …until Anno-san decided to retell Evangelion again with the Rebuild series. But that's another story…