We wish to change along with the animation industry, which is always developing. Our carefully chosen selection of approachable and difficult titles makes it the ideal starting point for anime novices wishing to delve straight into important, unusual, or calming series. We wish you luck in finding a romantic interest. The top ten animated films of all time are listed below.
| Anime Name | Released On | Watch On | IMDb Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michiko and Hatchin | 2008-2009 | CRUNCHYROLL | 7.5 |
| Aku No Hana | 2013 | HIDIVE | 7.6 |
| FLCL | 2000-2001 | HULU, FUNIMATION | 8.1 |
| Revolutionary Girl Utena | 1997 | CRUNCHYROLL, FUNIMATION | 8.1 |
| Tatami Galaxy | 2010 | Disney+ | 8.4 |
| Neon Genesis Evangelion | 1995-1996 | NETFLIX | 8.5 |
| Fruits Basket | 2019-2021 | HULU, CRUNCHYROLL | 8.6 |
| Monster | 2004-2005 | NETFLIX | 8.7 |
| Cowboy Bebop | 1998 | HULU, CRUNCHYROLL | 8.9 |
| Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood | 2009-2010 | HULU, CRUNCHYROLL | 9.1 |
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With its cross-country road journey, irrepressible sense of adventure, groovy samba music by Brazilian composer Alexandre Kassin, and two of the best leads in anime history, Michiko and Hatchin have everything it takes to become an instant classic. The program excels most in Sayo Yamamoto's direction, which painstakingly captures the untamed charm of South America in every scene. In the first scene of the episode, a prisoner named Michiko Malandro breaks out to find her purportedly deceased boyfriend, Hiroshi. Hana, their daughter, who is in foster care with an awful family, is her whole focus. The two ride throughout the nation searching for the only bond they have in common after smashing up their house on a motorcycle.
With themes of exploitation and poverty, Michiko and Hatchin is a raucous story that puts women front and centre. It's one of the few anime that captures the essence that made Cowboy Bebop so iconic, with a strong sense of emancipation. It is deserving of nothing but appreciation.
Released on: 2008-2009
Watch On: CRUNCHYROLL
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It's unlikely that you'll enjoy Aku No Hana. Not after your initial viewing, anyhow. The performance, which is proudly twisted, frequently alludes to both Rimbaud, the contemporary of Baudelaire, and his Les Fleurs du Mal, from which it gets its name. Baudelaire was the most disturbed of his Romantic friends, battling drinking, mounting debt, and syphilitic lunacy. Somehow, he struck a chord with Kasuga, a young middle school student in contemporary Japan.
A fellow outcast called Nakamura notices Kasuga giving in to his lewd cravings and senses his stranger-to-society inclinations. Nakamura blackmails Kasuga into a perverse companionship. In actuality, the novel is a sickeningly repulsive bildungsroman about kids who can't fit in and our disconnections between our aspirations and what society considers acceptable. It never attempts to be humorous.
Aku No Hana, an animated film that uses a controversial rotoscope method, is unpleasant in its moments of contained repulsiveness and unrestrained beauty, flirting with dull images to heighten the misery of its cast. You will come away from Aku No Hana feeling uneasy but also very much seen; it reveals aspects of ourselves that we would want to keep hidden, such as the shadowy, dark part of our brain. That darkness has a life-affirming quality to it.
Released on: 2013
Watch On: HIDIVE
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The idea behind FLCL was to feel completely different from any other anime you have ever viewed. The Pillows' amazing Japanese alt-rock music is included in it. It is hurriedly edited. Its characters behave in wildly erratic, melancholy, or despondent ways. Its storyline, which has robots emerge from a small child's damaged and bloated skull to portend the return of a formidable extraterrestrial creature, is kind of irrelevant. Kazuya Tsurumaki, the director of the series, says none of that matters. "Comprehension challenges shouldn't be a major consideration in FLCL," he previously stated in a Production IG comment thread. "I think a shortcut to understanding it is the 'rock guitar' vibe that plays throughout the show." Keep on, my friend.
Released on: 2000-2001
Watch On: HULU, FUNIMATION
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Kunihiko Ikuhara's opus Revolutionary Girl Utena, with its mental incision on puberty, is a magnificent example of the shoujo genre. Told via a surrealist perspective and romantic, heart-wrenching backgrounds, Utena is a post-structural exploration of lesbian identity and generational trauma, inspired by the groundbreaking works of Riyoko Ikeda and the renowned all-female theatre group Takarazuka Revue. The plot of the program centres around Utena Tenjou, a middle school student who is crazy about becoming a prince to see the prince who saved her as a little child.
She defies the gender expectations of her school—which might pass for a Greco-Roman city-state, complete with a powerful student government and interlocking political systems—and wins over the female student population with her unflinching commitment to protecting other women. After rescuing Anthy, the custodian of the school garden, from her violent lover, Utena finds herself involved in a fight for Anthy's possession—who happens to be strangely crucial to changing the world as we know it.
The majority of the program revolves around character drama, deftly creating a mythological portrayal of the changing, intertwining psychological profiles and forbidden desires of its core group through the use of stock footage and repetition. With its opulent symbolism, Utena has left an equally lasting impression on anime history as Neon Genesis Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop, two other groundbreaking contemporaries from the 1990s.
Released on: 1997
Watch On: CRUNCHYROLL, FUNIMATION
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Though almost any film by Masaaki Yuasa could be on this list, 2010's Tatami Galaxy is the director's most iconic work; the characters speak so quickly it would make Aaron Sorkin blush; the material is delightfully mundane but the style is lovingly surreal; and the content is both immediately relatable and intellectually stimulating. The main plot of Tatami Galaxy follows our protagonist, who is not given a name, as he enrols in college, progressively loses hope, meets a girl and boy with whom he is inextricably linked, and then something horrible occurs, forcing him to restart his academic career. Tatami Galaxy is for anybody who has experienced bone-deep boredom, loves lavish animation, or is a lover of Haruki Murakami's distinct style of gloomy magical realism.
Released on: 2010
Watch On: Disney+
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Because of the massive volume of branded items and the many allusions in popular media, the majority of people now are at least somewhat familiar with Neon Genesis Evangelion. However, the way we talk about a show as deeply rooted in the canon of animation as Evangelion is always changing. At first hailed as a significant dissection of the mecha made popular by Gundam and Macross, the franchise eventually grew bloated and replete with pointless material, akin to the melodramas-as-merchandize they had mocked years before.
However, Evangelion's cultural overlay is evident everywhere, from Persona 3 to Gurren Lagann, and it has a noticeable impact that seems to go beyond the show's actual narrative. Similar to Star Wars, the original inventor of the franchise, Hideaki Anno, has lost control over its expansion and, as a result, has predicted the end of anime as we know it. He previously claimed that the animation industry in Japan is "moving by inertia."
Released on: 1995-1996
Watch On: NETFLIX
Image Source: Twitter
The examination of deeply ingrained familial trauma in Fruits Basket hits like a ton of bricks. Drawing inspiration from Natsuki Takaya's popular shoujo manga, the narrative centres on Tohru, a high school student orphaned by an accident and adopted by two friends cut off from their powerful family. She soon finds out their secret: Yuki and Shigure are periodically transformed into zodiac animals due to a "curse" that runs in the Soma clan. Although this seems like a ridiculous plot at first, as Tohru meets and helps the other curse bearers, the show gradually examines the abuse committed by the family's powerful members.
At its core, this is an empathetic narrative, even when the age of the source material periodically rears its ugly head. It is immensely satisfying to witness our brave heroine assist these folks in challenging the established quo. By the conclusion, it develops into a resoundingly good story about healing that emphasizes its caring ethics and addresses the interpersonal issues of its large ensemble with profound poignancy. Bring Kleenex if you decide to check it out.
Released on: 2019-2021
Watch On: HULU, CRUNCHYROLL
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One of the most highly regarded manga authors of his day, Naoki Urasawa is highly regarded by readers both inside and outside of Japan. He has produced some of the most intricately planned, character-driven, and avant-garde comics ever released. It follows that Monster, one of Urasawa's best-known comics outside of Japan and his sixth serialized work, would naturally become one of the finest anime series ever to grace the screen. The show's idea unfolds across 74 episodes in a way that only the best crime-thrillers can: methodically yet deliberately. This gripping story follows Dr Kenzo Tenma as he goes from being a renowned brain surgeon to a discredited murder suspect on the run and his desperate hunt for the person who framed him. It takes place across Europe and is a fatal struggle of wills. Seize the chance to see this series if you ever get the chance.
Released on: 2004-2005
Watch On: NETFLIX
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Every argument about whether Shinichiro Watanabe's science fiction masterpiece Cowboy Bebop is the best anime ever made is semantic; it is. Its unique fusion of cyberpunk intrigue, Western atmosphere, martial arts action, and noir cool in seinen form is unparalleled and incredibly appealing. Its existential and traumatic themes are universally relatable; its characters are flawed but still ooze cool; and the future it presents is both eerily prescient and ethnically diverse. Its English dub, which features some of the best voice actors in the country, somehow equals the subtitled Japanese original.
Its 26-episode run was near-perfect, and episodes that might have served as filler in another series are tight, taut, and serve the show’s thesis even as they do not distract from its overarching plot, which is compelling but not overbearing. It’s accessible to new hands and still rewards old-timers with every repeated watch. Yoko Kanno’s magnificent, jazz-heavy soundtrack and score stand on their own. Its opening credits are immaculate. It’s an original property, not an adaptation. It feels like a magnum opus produced at the pinnacle of a long career despite being, almost unbelievably, Watanabe’s first series as a director. It is a masterwork that should justly rank among the best works of television of all time, let alone anime.
Released on: 1998
Watch On: HULU, CRUNCHYROLL
Image Source: Twitter
It's understandable why Brotherhood is regarded by many as the definitive anime experience. In almost every regard, Brotherhood is a more accurate translation of Hiromu Arakawa's wildly successful manga series than the original one. It tackles themes of racism, loss, sorrow, war, and ethics in a sophisticated and creative manner, much ahead of its time. Furthermore, the program has a flawless pacing structure, with well-wrapped storylines that reinforce a larger, worldwide narrative on particular issues. Brotherhood exhibits a perfect duration, never going overboard and demonstrating the adaptability and versatility of shounen anime norms.
Brotherhood features a sizable cast of characters with a variety of nationalities, ideologies, and frequently conflicting motivations. The show skillfully employs these dynamic forces to create factions, alliances, and foils that flow in different directions, mirroring the frequently tumultuous and chaotic nature of interpersonal relationships during times of war. The suffering of the Elric brothers, Ed and Alphonse, two alchemists supported by the despotic Amestris military, is the emotional centre of the program. But Ed and Alphonse soon discover just how extreme Amestris' authoritarianism can be, so it's hardly your typical military drama.
Released on: 2009-2010
Watch On: HULU, CRUNCHYROLL
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