Top 8 Best Japanese Anime Films (Ghibli and More)

Top 8 best Japanese anime films (Ghibli and more)

1. “Your Name”

The film follows a body swap between Mitsuha, a high school girl tired of her dull life in the countryside, and Taki, a Tokyo schoolboy who loves drawing and is passionate about architecture.

Behind a series of strange, hard-to-believe events, Mitsuha and Taki gradually form a relationship that is special and happy yet full of uncertainty, which is why it feels like part of everyone's youth…

2. My Neighbour Totoro

The Kusakabe family moves to the countryside, into a new house that locals say is haunted. The two sisters Satsuki (11) and Mei (4) are very curious about the rumours; there they meet a kind elderly neighbour and her grandson Kanta.

While playing in the forest near the house, Mei stumbles upon the forest spirit, a big-bellied but adorable creature she names Totoro after an animal in her picture book. After hearing Mei's story, her older sister Satsuki also wishes to meet Totoro.

So the two sisters meet Totoro together while waiting for their father at the bus stop, and from then on their lives begin to change and a wonderful adventure begins.

3. Spirited Away

Spirited Away tells the story of a stubborn girl named Chihiro whose family moves from the city to the countryside, a change she is not at all happy about.

Chihiro's father, a poor driver with a bad memory, gets lost and arrives at an abandoned town with no one in sight. Tempted by the delicious smell of food, Chihiro's parents start to eat, and are turned into fat pigs.

After dark, the empty town comes to life and ghostly figures appear. What will stubborn Chihiro do to save her parents and escape?

4. GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES

Grave of the Fireflies is a famous anime based on the novel of the same name by Nosaka Akiyuki. It is set in Japan in the final stage of World War II.

It tells the heartbreaking and moving story of two orphaned siblings, Seita and his little sister Setsuko. They lose their mother in the fierce American firebombing of Kobe, where the family lived, while their father is fighting in the Imperial Japanese Navy. Seita and Setsuko have to stay with relatives and struggle to survive amid hunger and the cruel indifference of those around them.

Grave of the Fireflies reflects not only self-respect but above all the anti-war spirit of the Japanese people through the fate of the two children.

5. From Up on Poppy Hill (2011)

The film follows 16-year-old Umi Matsuzaki, who runs a boarding house inherited from her mother, a university professor. Although Umi is very busy in the mornings, she always takes time to raise flags with the wish “safe voyages to all ships”.

At Umi's high school there is an old historic building kept as the culture clubs' clubhouse. To prepare for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, the city is demolishing old buildings to make way for new ones.

A campaign is started by a group of students who want to save the building. Umi joins the group opposing the demolition, and through it she meets Shun Kazama. They gradually develop feelings for each other, which would be fine if a problem didn't arise: they learn they may be siblings.

6. WHEN MARNIE WAS THERE

The film follows Anna, a friendless girl living with her foster parents, who one day is sent to Norfolk to stay with the Peggs. In her new home Anna runs across the dunes, and while wandering one day she comes across the Marsh House and befriends a mysterious girl named Marnie.

Marnie becomes Anna's friend, her very first, but before long Marnie suddenly disappears. Later, the Lindsay family moves into the Marsh House. Anna becomes close to the Lindsays and through them learns the truth behind Marnie's identity.

7. Only Yesterday

The film is set in 1982, when Taeko, 27, is a woman born and raised in Tokyo. She is an ordinary office worker, single, with no interest in her job.

Taeko's life is dull and uneventful until she decides to take some time off to go to the countryside and help her brother-in-law's family harvest safflowers (a saffron-coloured flower used for dyeing fabric).

On this trip, childhood memories of her last years of primary school flood back. Those memories, together with what happens in the countryside, completely change her dull life.

8. Ponyo

The story follows the fish girl Brunhilde who, trying to run away from her father's kingdom, accidentally gets stuck in a glass jar and is swept by the waves onto a Japanese shore. Near the shore is a pretty little town where 5-year-old Sosuke lives with his family.

Sosuke happens to find the jar, rescues Brunhilde and names her Ponyo. Ponyo adores Sosuke and wants to become human. Her father tries every way to bring her back to the sea.

Back in the sea, Ponyo is locked in her father's palace, while her sisters try to help her become human. Ponyo resolves to steal her father's magic to fulfil her dream, not realising this will cause a terrible disaster. In the end she becomes human and escapes the palace once again.

See also:
Japanese Vocabulary You Need When Shopping at a Supermarket in Japan
100 Japanese Words Often Heard in Manga and Anime