The 10 Best Anime Movies of the 21st Century
Princess Mononoke. Akira. Ghost In The Shell. What do each of these masterpieces have in common besides being three of the greatest anime movies ever created? None of them are on this list. Move over, 20th century, there’s a new millennium in town – and with it comes new anime cinematic greatness! While some of the 20th’s century’s best anime minds were able to adapt to the filmmaking demands of the modern era, others were replaced by a new crop of directors that have emerged to topple the supremacy of the old. Such is the way of the world! If you’re looking for the cream of the contemporary crop, look no further – these are the ten best anime movies of the 21st century.
Suzume
Directed by Makoto Shinkai, Suzume is the story of seventeen year old Suzume Iwato, a teenager still attempting to process the childhood loss of her mother. While on her way to school, she bumps into the totally crushable Souta Munakata – who explains to her that he’s looking for abandoned places to explore. Smitten, Suzume follows after him and discovers a door – free standing in the middle of a puddle of water. As Suzume and Souta vault through these mysterious portal doors, they discover a supernatural force that threatens to wreak havoc by creating natural disasters – the same sort of natural disasters that claimed the life of Suzuki’s mother long ago. This is a rhapsodic romance about doorways to other dimensions, some of which are sure to lead to catastrophe, while others lead to love, healing, and ways to move on.
Millenium Actress
Directed by the incomparable Satoshi Kon, Millennium Actress follows two documentarians conducting an interview with Chiyoko Fujiwara – a once famous actress now living a reclusive life out of the spotlight. As the pair dive deep into Chiyoko’s life, the elderly icon explains the reason why she got into film – which wasn’t for the art at all, but for love. A girl growing up in wartime Japan, Chiyoko fell hard for a painter and political dissident on the run. Rather than settle down and get married like her mother wanted, she took a job offer to become an actress – traveling the world in hopes of finding the one she loves. A sweeping portrait of an extraordinary life, Millennium Actress is a story of pursuit – of love, of art, and of a past that can never be repeated (though Chiyoko sure as hell is gonna try).
Your Name
Directed by Makoto Shinkai, Your Name is the story of Mitsuha and Taki, two teenage strangers that become unexpectedly intimate with each other after a comet passes the planet. How intimate? The switching bodies kind of intimate. After waking up hundreds of miles away from their homes in each other’s skin, the pair use the Freaky Friday situation to communicate with one another – falling for each other in the process. When the body switching inexplicably stops, the pair set out on a county-crossing quest to find one another again – though they soon realize that they’re not just separated by distance, but time as well. An epic sci-fi romance that will have you scratching your head and holding your breath, Your Name is one of the most emotionally evocative films on this list. If you’re anything like me, you’ll be sobbing when the credits roll.
Patema Inverted
Directed by Yasuhiro Yoshiura, Patema Inverted is a sci-fi that grabs physics by the shoulders and flips it on its head. After a scientific attempt to harness the power of gravity went disastrously wrong, Earth’s population is stuck living underground – anything on the planet’s surface goes hurdling into space because gravity is now reversed. Impossible by Newtonian standards of classical physics? Yes. A great premise? Also yes. Patema is a teenage subterranean, compelled to explore the surface world after she sees a figure walking on a ceiling above. She soon encounters the upside down Eiji, who can walk on the planet’s surface like normal – so she’s the inverted one, after all! As the pair travel the world with arms locked around one another so they don’t go flying into the void, they work to lock down a solution to Earth’s gravity problem too. Adventure with a dose of cosmic horror, Patema Inverted is an untethered flight of cinematic fancy.
The Secret World of Arrietty
Hiromasa Yonebayashi’s The Secret World of Arrietty proves that your worst paranoid delusions were right all along! Someone is watching you! And stealing your stuff! In this world, many humans unknowingly share their homes with “Borrowers” – diminutive people so small that they could live off a Cheez-It for a full week. Arrietty is one of these Borrowers, living in a rural house along with her teeny weenie mom and dad. After being discovered by a bedridden boy named Shō, Shō begins a secret friendship with Arrietty – one that’s challenged by the dangers of hungry cats, pest control workers, and his neat-freak housekeeper that views Borrowers as vermin. A total heartbreaker of a tale, Arrietty is a coming of age romance that might have been, but never could be – for obvious, practical, size-related reasons.
Spirited Away
Arguably the greatest Studio Ghibli film ever made, Spirited Away is regarded by many to be Hayao Miyazaki’s magnum opus. It’s the story of ten-year-old Chihiro Ogino, a little girl whose parents share a singular braincell – one with no survival instincts whatsoever. After visiting an abandoned village while on a road-trip, Chihiro’s mom and dad decide to chow down on steaming plates of food that inexplicably appear in the ghost town. As the sun sets, spirits descend upon the place, their magic transforming Chihiro’s parents into pigs. In order to survive, Chihiro does what any child cut off from their parents must: get a job. She finds gainful employment at a bathhouse owned by a witch, and hopes to hold out long enough until she can find a way to free her folks. Hallucinatory, horrifying, and full of heart, this is the best childhood fantasy adventure since Alice In Wonderland.
Wolf Children
Mamoru Hosoda’s Wolf Children is a story about a parent’s dream come true, or worst nightmare: the moment their children leave the house for good. After falling in love with a wolf man, the young Hana gives birth to two half hominid/half lupine children. Left to raise her pups alone after her husband’s untimely death, Hana struggles to deal with her children’s more feral aspects. They like to run around in the forest, hunt live prey – oh, and they can transform into full blown wolves. As they grow older, the children begin to question whether or not they want to keep on living in the human world, or if they want to run off into the woods for good – leaving their mother all alone. It’s a heartbreaking tale about growing up. A reminder that your kids won’t stay kids forever, no matter how much you want them to.
A Silent Voice
Directed by Naoko Yamada, A Silent Voice is the story Shōko Nishimiya, a young girl who was bullied for being born deaf. One of her worst bullies is Shōya Ishida, whose delinquent reputation causes him to grow into an ostracized and suicidal middle schooler. Seeking atonement, Shōya reconnects with Shōko and apologizes, leading the pair to become tentative friends. As their bond deepens, old wounds begin to resurface when Shōya’s old friends start the bullying up all over again. This is a coming of age story as fragile as a baby bird with a broken wing, treated with the tenderness necessary for true healing to occur. Reconciliation and redemption don’t come easy, but they come to those who have truly earned them – Shōya’s doing his best.
The Tale of Princess Kaguya
The most underrated Studio Ghibli film around, Isao Takahata’s The Tale of Princess Kaguya is a retelling of one of the most famous myths in Japanese folklore. It’s the story of an old woodcutter who finds an infant girl sleeping within a shoot of bamboo. After bringing her home to his wife, the childless couple begin to raise her as their own. As Kaguya grows up, tales of her beauty spread far and wide across the land, and countless nobles come to seek her hand in marriage. Little do these humans know, a supernatural force also has its eye on Kaguya, and may spirit her away from her loved ones for good. It’s an absolute crusher of a tale, a cinematic tearjerker that will have you shedding enough tears to water a bamboo forest – and you’ll be glad you sat through it.
The Boy and the Beast
Another underrated anime masterpiece, Mamoru Hosoda’s The Boy And The Beast is a coming of age fantasy about Ren, a runaway child, and Kumatetsu, his monstrous mentor. Named as his father’s successor to inherit the title of grandmaster of the Beast Kingdom, the cantankerous Kumatetsu is tasked with finding a disciple to train. After crossing paths with Ren, Kumatetsu tends the feral flame burning in the child’s heart – seeing the makings of a master swordsman within. An underdog fighting film that feels like an anime Rocky, The Boy and the Beast is the story of a supernatural teacher/student pair who learn an equal amount from one another.
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