Anime films have increasingly grown in popularity over the last four decades as the genre has permeated global markets and won both domestic and international awards. Today, more adults watch anime films than ever before, and in the United States, specifically, almost 90% of adults have heard of anime, and 30% rated anime films as favorable.
How did the Japanese style of animation reach such heights? While there are notable acclaimed anime films that have reached international box office success, some anime films revolutionized the genre itself and how the rest of the world perceives anime. These are some of the classics that influenced generations.
Perfect Blue/Paprika
Perfect Blue (1997) and Paprika (2006) are two films by screenwriter Satoshi Kon that have influenced major Hollywood blockbuster hits, unbeknownst to most. In their own rights, Perfect Blue was well received and won awards at both the Fantasia Festival and Fantasporto Film Festival while Paprika won awards at the Montreal Festival of New Cinema, Fantasport, and the Newport Beach Film Festival.
Perfect Blue influenced Darren Aronofsky's films Requiem for a Dream (2001) and Black Swan (2010) both of which would receive critical acclaim and enter the American Film Institute's top film lists. Film critics and scholars have speculated Paprika's influence on Christopher Nolan's 2010 commercial success Inception due to similarities across the plot, scenes, and even characters. Of course, Inception would go on to win 4 Academy Awards, 3 British Academy Film Awards, a Bradbury Award, and a Hugo Award.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train
The Demon Slayer movie is undoubtedly a commercial hit. With sales upwards of $460 million, it is the highest-grossing anime film and Japanese film of all time. In the U.S. domestic box office, it is the highest-grossing foreign film. It has already achieved many Japanese accolades such as the Hochi Film Award for Best Animation Film, the Japan Academy Film Prize, and the Elan d'Or Award for Special Achievement.
However, Demon Slayer was released about eight months ago and its influence on the genre of anime has yet to be seen even though its success will likely continue to grow. While Demon Slayer is a superb film in itself, the anime film giants upon which Demon Slayer has been propped cannot be understated.
Howl’s Moving Castle
Premiering at the Venice Film Festival in 2004, Howl’s Moving Castle is based on the 1986 novel of the same name and follows a war between 20th-century magical kingdoms. It was heavily influenced by the U.S. invasion of Iraq and Miyazaki hoped to convey the message that “life is worth living.”
An anti-war movie in the early 2000s should have been a recipe for disaster in the U.S. box office. Yet Howl’s Moving Castle grossed over $200 million, making it the most financially successful Japanese film in history at the time and dominated Japanese film awards. It was also nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 78th Academy Awards and won the Nebula Award for Best Script and the Osella Award for Technical Achievement.
Ghost in the Shell
The cyberpunk thriller Ghost in the Shell has become renowned as a cult classic. It was a cinematic masterpiece combining traditional cel (short for celluloid) animation with CGI animation. And the second Ghost in the Shell movie would become the first and only anime film in history to compete for the Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or prize.
While Ghost in the Shell doesn’t have the box office numbers as other films on this list, it would influence major cinematic sensations The Matrix by The Wachowskis to Stephen Speilberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence to James Cameron’s Avatar. In fact, James Cameron called it “the first truly adult animation film to reach a level of literary and visual excellence”.
Mirai
There are a few Mamoru Hosoda films that could appear on any list of most influential anime films. Frankly, 2018's Mirai isn’t the Hosoda film with the highest worldwide box office gross but it is the sixth anime film and the only non-Ghibli anime film to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature. Moreover, it won Best Animated Feature awards at both the Annie Awards and the Stuttgart Film Festival.
After bringing fans the 2006 breakthrough The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, 2009's Summer Wars, and 2012's Wolf Children, Hosada continued to bring a focus on women and children that is often left out of anime films. The animation style of Mirai also reflects a "dying tradition" of hand-painted backgrounds as the industry transitions to digital and the world may not see many more international successes like Mirai.
Pokémon: The First Movie
In the late 1990s, anime took over television by storm with Pokémon arguably becoming the most popular globally. In spite of being released nearly 20 years ago, Pokémon: The First Movie is still the eighth highest-grossing anime film and it is the most commercially successful anime film prior to the 2000s, topping box office numbers for anime films in various countries such as France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
Combined with the already popular television series, playing card game, and video game franchise, Pokémon just may be the most well-known anime worldwide. 2016’s release of Pokémon Go, which topped App Store downloads is a testament to the series’ ongoing fandom. The first Pokémon movie cemented Pokémon’s international acclaim and laid the foundation for the numerous Pokemon movies that would follow.
Your Name
Your Name broke the internet in 2016 when it became the first anime movie to upset Studio Ghibli’s 2001 Spirited Away in the box office, which was the reigning commercial success. A wonder in both animation and narrative, the film won Best Animated Feature at the Sitges Film Festival, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, and the Mainichi Film Awards.
Upon release, Your Name was touted as the most popular anime film of all time with reviews being written in major newspapers. The soundtrack even topped Japanese charts for several months becoming Japan’s most requested Karaoke tune.
The End of Evangelion
Neon Genesis Evangelion is a popular 1990s psychological science fiction dystopian mecha anime. The series received both critical acclaim and controversy, leading to the release of The End of Evangelion to feature the ending from a different perspective.
Evangelion was so immensely influential that it led Tokyo networks to increase censorship of anime for content deemed inappropriate. It also helped to revive the “super robot genre” that Gundam originated and evolve the mecha anime genre creating the “organic mecha” trope as seen in Boogiepop Phantom and Ghost in the Shell.
The movie won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize, the Japan Academy Prize for “Biggest Public Sensation of the Year, and the “Special Audience Choice Award” at Animation Kobe. It was ranked as the fifth-best "All-Time Show” in 1999.
Spirited Away
There likely does not exist a true fan of anime who has not seen Spirited Away. Miyazaki's masterpiece is the longest, highest-grossing anime film of all time with box office numbers upwards of $300 million. Spirited Away is the first and only hand-drawn and non-English language animated film to win an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
It is also one of the most internationally decorated anime films with wins from the Christopher Awards, Saturn Awards, Berlin International Film Festival, New York Film Critics, and more. BBC voted Spirited Away as the 4th best film of the 21st century and the New York Times dubbed it the 2nd best film of the 21st century.
Spirited Away has reached households, classrooms, and hearts all over the world.
Akira
Akira only grossed $28 million but it's at the top of the list for its influence on the industry and beyond. Akira put anime films on the map globally with its release leading to an increase in viewership of anime movies, particularly in the United States.
Akira has been credited with ushering a new wave of animation that would become popular in the West such as Pokemon, Dragon Ball, and Naruto. Regarded as one of the greatest science fiction films of all time, Akira helped to influence the Japanese cyberpunk genre, including Ghost in the Shell, Battle Angel Alita, Cowboy Bebop, Elfen Lied, and more.
Beyond anime, Akira served as one of the inspirations for parts of the Star Wars franchise, famous musicians such as Michael Jackson, Kanye West, and Lupe Fiasco, and the Steven Spielberg film Ready Player One. Even for pop-culture fans who may not have seen Akira, its impact is widespread through their favorite artistic works.