Best Anime Movies of the 2020s So Far, Ranked

The 2020s are shaping up as a historic decade for anime film. Here are the movies that have defined it so far, ranked.

The rankings

1. The Boy and the Heron. Miyazaki’s Oscar winning meditation on grief and creation. Strange, personal and towering.

2. The First Slam Dunk. Takehiko Inoue reinvented the sports film with one game told in real time. A technical miracle.

3. Suzume. Makoto Shinkai’s disaster trilogy closer, equal parts road trip and national memorial.

4. Jujutsu Kaisen 0. The template for how to make a franchise film that stands alone.

5. Demon Slayer Mugen Train. The box office earthquake that rewrote what anime films could earn worldwide.

6. Look Back. Fujimoto’s short, devastating love letter to why anyone draws at all.

7. Belle. Mamoru Hosoda’s internet fairy tale, flawed and gorgeous and swinging for everything.

With the Madoka Magica film arriving this month and more heavyweights lined up, this list has years of fights ahead of it.

My take: Look Back is the one that stays with me. Fifty eight minutes, no wasted frame, and it says more about art and loss than films three times its length.