Top 10 Anime Movies of All Time, Ranked
Anime film has a century of history and a handful of works that changed cinema itself. Ranking them means weighing influence against craft against how they hold up today. Here is our ten.
The rankings
- Spirited Away (2001). Hayao Miyazaki’s masterpiece and the only hand drawn film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature on merit alone.
- Akira (1988). The film that told the West anime could be for adults. The animation still looks impossible.
- Grave of the Fireflies (1988). Isao Takahata’s war story is the most devastating film in the medium.
- Ghost in the Shell (1995). Influenced The Matrix and everything after it.
- Your Name (2016). Makoto Shinkai’s global breakthrough and a near perfect romance.
- Princess Mononoke (1997). Miyazaki at his angriest and most ambitious.
- Perfect Blue (1997). Satoshi Kon’s psychological thriller predicted the internet age.
- A Silent Voice (2016). Kyoto Animation’s most humane film.
- The End of Evangelion (1997). A finale so extreme it became a film, and a landmark of animated surrealism.
- Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle (2025). The newest entry earns its spot as the highest grossing anime film ever and a technical peak for Ufotable.
Just outside
Paprika, Millennium Actress, Wolf Children, The Boy and the Heron and Nausicaa all belong in the conversation. A top twenty would be easier and less honest.
My take: Spirited Away is the consensus pick and the correct one, but Grave of the Fireflies is the film I think about most. Watch it once. You will not need twice.
