Whereas the Academy Award for Finest Animated Function was formally established 24 years in the past, the class has largely ignored Japanese productions, with a number of the finest anime movies being not noted of the race. In what followers name the Oscar anime curse, solely eight Japanese animated movies have earned a nomination up to now, and solely two have received the accolade.
Solely Studio Ghibli’s Hayao Miyazaki has received two Oscars, proving that regardless of the rise in world reputation of anime with productions of spectacular inventive high quality and revolutionary tales, a number of the finest movies within the business have been repeatedly ignored. These anime movies aren’t solely masterpieces of animation but additionally have all the things to win an Oscar of their respective years.
Chainsaw Man The Film: Reze Arc
Chainsaw Man The Film: Reze Arc turned a worldwide field workplace hit in 2025. Nevertheless, regardless of being eligible for the 2026 Oscars, the movie was ignored together with Demon Slayer: Infinity Fort. Though Oscar-winning animated movies are usually household entertainment-oriented titles, which pass over Chainsaw Man for its graphic violence, Denji and Reze’s story goes far past combating.
Along with being an genuine visible marvel with a manufacturing degree that surpasses most of the present animated movies, Chainsaw Man The Film: Reze Arc tells a tragic story of manipulation, longing and deception with a dynamic that explores the humanity and connection of the characters past the loopy motion sequences.
Look Again
Based mostly on the manga by Tatsuki Fujimoto, Look Again is an impressive anime movie that was sadly neglected and not noted of the Oscar race in 2024 regardless of receiving essential acclaim and optimistic rankings from viewers world wide.
Whereas the movie boasts spectacular animation from begin to end, Look Again‘s most necessary characteristic is the way it managed to convey its message. Following a pair of buddies who join over their widespread ardour for drawing manga, Look Again is a movie about desires, the significance of connections, the transience of life, and easy methods to transfer ahead.
Demon Slayer: Infinity Fort
Though the Oscars have solely awarded works by Studio Ghibli up to now, Ufotable managed to cross the borders of Japan to a degree by no means seen earlier than with Demon Slayer: Infinity Fort. Changing into one of many highest-grossing motion pictures of 2025, Demon Slayer: Infinity Fort is stuffed with rigidity, tragedy, and mind-blowing animation sequences.
20 Best Anime Motion pictures of All Time, Ranked
Anime has typically produced masterful works in not solely TV exhibits, however in motion pictures, as effectively, and listed below are the ten finest anime motion pictures that stand out.
Demon Slayer: Infinity Fort was affected by the truth that it was mandatory to observe the anime sequence beforehand to grasp it and that it’s the first a part of a trilogy, however most followers agree that the movie deserved at the very least one nomination in recognition of its record-breaking theatrical run and inventive high quality.
Mirai
Whereas Makoto Shinkai turned a fan-favorite anime director, Mamoru Hosoda is the one who has been thought of a potential successor to Hayao Miyazaki, along with his 2018 movie Mirai turning into the primary Japanese animated film not produced by Studio Ghibli to acquire an Oscar nomination.
The movie tells the story of Kun, who finally ends up touring in time and studying about easy methods to be an excellent brother to the new child Mirai. Mirai is a narrative about progress and emotional ties that appears like a love letter to household in the identical vein as different movies by Hosoda, equivalent to Wolf Youngsters and The Boy and the Beast.
Your Identify
Your Identify rapidly rose as top-of-the-line anime motion pictures of all time. The movie revolves round two youngsters, Mitsuha and Taki, who mysteriously share a supernatural connection and start to arbitrarily swap our bodies. Stuffed with symbolism about future, identification, time, the distinction between the countryside and town, and a romance that transcends house, Your Identify managed to maneuver viewers.
Though many viewers have been unhappy that Makoto Shinkai’s movie wasn’t acknowledged on the Oscars, the trigger was much more disappointing. In response to CBR, Your Identify‘s producer revealed the movie wasn’t nominated for distribution causes. Nonetheless, Your Identify stays probably the most visually breathtaking anime movies whose story can join with any kind of viewer and even tug at their heartstrings.
The Wind Rises
Eight years after Howl’s Transferring Fort, The Wind Rises turned Studio Ghibli’s third Oscar nomination. With a premise that appeared controversial at first look, centered on Jiro Horikoshi, a fighter plane designer throughout World Struggle II, the movie had been introduced because the final of Hayao Miyazaki’s profession on the time.
But, feeling deeply linked to Miyazaki’s pacifism, The Wind Rises, slightly than glorifying battle, is a heartfelt tribute to the ability of inventiveness and willpower to comply with one’s vocation. Sadly, The Wind Rises misplaced to Frozen, which turned a revolution in 2014.
In This Nook Of The World
Though it flew below the radar of many viewers, In This Nook of the World had greater than sufficient advantage to be nominated as the perfect animated movie in 2016. Past its superbly animated model that appears virtually like a watercolor and breaking a world file because the longest theatrical animated movie, Suzu’s life story is extremely touching.
In This Nook of the World follows Suzu from her childhood to her married years, displaying how she adapts to her new surroundings and the struggles of the time. Stuffed with melancholy and reaching devastating heights, the movie portrays magnificence and hope within the midst of a battle battle, being an anime masterpiece that deserves extra consideration.
The Story Of The Princess Kaguya
The most recent work directed by Isao Takahata, The Story of Princess Kaguya, is nothing lower than a murals. Based mostly on “The Story of the Bamboo Cutter,” the movie is stuffed with visible metaphors, being an ode to each Japanese folklore and conventional animation with a shocking artwork model utilizing marked strokes and pastel colours that strays removed from digital methods.
Whereas The Story of Princess Kaguya misplaced the Academy Award in 2013 to Huge Hero 6, in all probability as a result of it didn’t get pleasure from as a lot reputation because of its sluggish, bittersweet story linked to Japanese tradition, which makes it tougher to resonate with worldwide viewers, it is a must-see Ghibli movie filled with symbolism that can make viewers suppose.
Howl’s Transferring Fort
Howl’s Transferring Fort went past the boundaries of anime, conquering a whole technology of fantasy followers with its story filled with magic and private progress. Based mostly on the novel by Diana Wynne Jones, the movie tells the story of Sophie, a younger lady who has been became an outdated girl by a curse, and her relationship with the wizard Howl.
Howl’s Transferring Fort misplaced to the stop-motion animated movie Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Have been-Rabbit on the 78th Academy Awards.
Though it was the subsequent Studio Ghibli title to be nominated for an Academy Award after Spirited Away’s victory in 2003, it didn’t win. Nonetheless, Howl’s Transferring Fort shouldn’t be solely spectacularly animated however can also be greater than only a love story. The movie has a robust anti-war message, delving into themes like environmental points, technological innovation, and vanity.
Paprika
The final movie by the famend Satoshi Kon, Paprika, is a sci-fi psychological thriller that proved there aren’t any limits to what animation can obtain. Sadly, as anime wasn’t mainstream in 2006 and the Academy Award for Finest Animated Function class was ascribed to child-friendly titles on the time, Paprika did not obtain a nomination.
Centering on a machine that permits a gaggle of researchers to enter the unconscious minds of their sufferers, Paprika‘s authentic premise and surrealist animation gained it the standing of cult basic. Paprika even influenced Christopher Nolan’s Inception, including to Satoshi Kon’s legacy as probably the most groundbreaking administrators in animation historical past.
- Launch Date
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October 1, 2006
- Runtime
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90 minutes
- Director
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Satoshi Kon
- Writers
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Seishi Minakami, Satoshi Kon
- Producers
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Masao Takiyama
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Megumi Hayashibara
Paprika / Atsuko Chiba (voice)
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Tohru Emori
Seijiro Inui (voice)