My Neighbor Totoro to Your Name: 10 best anime movies of all time

Anime movies aren’t a genre, they’re a spectrum. From neon-soaked cyberpunk nightmares to quiet rural fantasies where spirits wait at bus stops, the best anime films stretch what animation can do emotionally and visually.

Long before streaming made subtitles mainstream, these films were already bending cinema’s rules, influencing Hollywood directors, redefining sci-fi, and proving that animation could hit harder than live action ever dared.

This list isn’t about box office numbers or nostalgia alone. It’s about impact. The movies that reshaped anime’s global reputation, pushed visual storytelling forward, and lodged themselves permanently in pop culture, meme cycles, AMV edits, and the collective consciousness of anyone who’s ever fallen down the anime rabbit hole.

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From the tender magic of My Neighbor Totoro to the emotional time-knot that is Your Name, these are the 10 best anime movies of all time. Roll the opening theme.

10. Suzume (2022)

Makoto Shinkai’s melancholy-tinged adventure, Suzume, sees a high-school heroine racing across Japan to shut mysterious doors that unleash supernatural chaos. Visually radiant and brimming with youthful energy, it underscores how modern anime bridges the gap between a blockbuster spectacle and a movie that radiates quiet introspection. A must watch for animation lovers.

9. Weathering With You (2019)

A literal storm of a movie, Weathering With You blends romance with the heavy topic of climatic upheaval. A runaway teenager meets a girl who can stop the rain, and together they grapple with youthful hope and urban isolation. It earned accolades at animation festivals and even stood as Japan’s Oscar entry of the year, which is a testament to its global resonance.

8. My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

Studio Ghibli’s gentle masterpiece, My Neighbor Totoro, is folklore turned into flesh. It tells the tale of two sisters, rural Japan, and forest spirits that feel plucked from Shinto dreams. Totoro himself has since become anime’s most enduring mascot. Every frame indulges in the wonder of childhood, making this a perennial entry in any anime movie listicle.

7. Akira (1988)

The city of Neo-Tokyo burns at the heart of this cyber-punk titan of a film, dubbed Akira. Katsuhiro Otomo’s vision of psychic powers and societal collapse sparked Western interest in anime with its riotous energy and trailblazing animation. Nearly four decades on it still looks and feels audacious.

6. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

Boy, there were a lot of bangers in 1988. Grave of the Fireflies is a gut-punch of a movie that refuses to let you look away from its harrowing portrayal of two siblings surviving wartime Japan. This isn’t comfort anime; it’s cinematic reckoning. Its emotional weight has made it an essential, heart-wrenching staple of the medium.

5. A Silent Voice (2016)

Bullying, redemption, and the ache of connection: A Silent Voice is a 2016 movie that weaves its story with a quiet precision that belies its commercial appeal. It’s the kind of anime that lingers in conversation long after the credits roll, and helped bring deeper social themes to mainstream audiences.

4. Perfect Blue (1997)

Satoshi Kon’s psychological labyrinth, Perfect Blue, blurs the lines between fame and self-identity with dazzling, disorienting flair. It’s not just one of anime’s most influential thrillers; it has inspired countless live-action directors too. Dark, hypnotic, and ruthlessly clever, this one’s a must watch.

3. Spirited Away (2001)

Hayao Miyazaki’s ode to wonder and capitalism’s oddities, Spirited Away, stands as one of anime’s most celebrated achievements. It’s the story of a girl trapped in a spirit world, packed with weird, wild entities, contract-signing bathhouses, and transformation metaphors.

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The movie snagged the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and opened countless eyes to the world of anime across the globe.

2. Princess Mononoke (1997)

Miyazaki’s eco-epic film, Princess Mononoke, is deep, nuanced and spectacularly animated. It is a period drama set in late Muromachi period of Japan where wolves, Gods of the forest, and iron-forging humans clash in a narrative that refuses to settle for easy answers. It’s anime that thinks, breathes and rages with equal intensity.

1. Your Name (2016)

Emotionally magnetic and stunning to behold, Makoto Shinkai’s Your Name (Kimi no Na wa) is the anime film that cracked global box offices and hearts in equal measure. A body-swapping romance wrapped in comet-lit visuals, it’s both a love letter and a meditative reflection on time, memory, and the strangeness of a connection.

P.S. keep a bunch of tissues handy when you watch this masterpiece because it’s bound to bring you to tears.

Do you agree with our list? What’s your #1 anime film and do you think we’ve missed out on mentioning any? Drop a comment to let us know.