Guaporense's top 100 favorite cartoon movies

I had written up my list of top 50 animated movies in January 2013, now, 18 months later, I think I may have watched more animation than over the 24 years before, so I accumulated a large enough number of animated films watched to make a top 100.

After my quick write-up of my favorite top 100 live action films (which are all taken from my previous top 200 for sake of organization) I will write up this list of top 100 animated feature length films (which also includes a couple of shorts between 20 and 45 minutes in length but 90% of the list consists of feature length movies over an hour in length). Given the fact that most adult animated films exists as direct to video movies several of the movies listed here were never released in theaters (although some direct to video movies were later released on theaters or received limited theatrical release). It's very rare to see a list of top 100 cartoon movies mainly because of the limited number of cartoon movies in existence, however, after watching many movies from North America, Europe and Asia (specially Asia, of course, as most of the animated films in the world are made there, more specifically in that little mountainous island near Korea), I was able to list 100 cartoon movies that I liked enough to want to re-watch. The ordering works as follows: 100th place is certainly less preferred than 25th place, however, the 26th place is about as good as the 25th one.

Also notice how recent most entries are (specially if compared to my top 100 live action films list). That's because adult oriented animation began to be produced in large quantities after Nausicaa (1984) and in quantities that are continuously increasing: in 2006 Japan released in theaters more adult animated films than existed in the world up to 1980.

Let's begin:

100. How to Train your Dragon (2009)

Dreamworks finest film, this American fantasy adventure comedy film possesses a charm and an entertainment value equaled by very few movies. The dragon designs are also very interesting and I loved the comedic elements here more than in other Dreamwork films.

99. Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (1999)

A very serious and violent film, depicting an alternate reality were Japan becomes an occupied police state. It's drama can be very powerful and reminds me of samurai films in some ways (the armor the characters wear also is very similar in design to samurai armor). Perhaps Hiroyuki Okiura finest film, though he only directed 2.

98. Steins;Gate the Movie: Loading Area of Déjà vu (2013)

Based on the TV series, this is a powerful drama film (I think I will use those words repetitively in this thread, sorry for my poor writing skills) that also makes numerous (mostly comedic) references to contemporary Japanese otaku culture.

97. Cat Soup (2001)

This Japanese experimental 34 minutes film features a rich surreal imagery and despite it's short run time it possesses more depth than most 2 hour long films.

96. The Triplets of Belleville (2003)

Another weird film makes the list, this time a Chomet film. Despite not being characterized by any explicit fantasy elements, this film is nearly as surrealistic as Cat Soup while possessing a very distinct french sense of style and visuals, very different from Japanese or American animation style.

95. Perfect Blue (1997)

Satoshi Kon's thriller film constitutes one of the very few animated feature length films that make me actually tense and thrilled. Kon was a master of his craft and his early death will be mourned by animation fans all over the world (although he wasn't extremely popular in Japan).

94. Strike Witches: The Movie (2012)

My guilty pleasure, this is one of the standards of the emerging military moe genre. Despite featuring a combination of extremely ludicrous elements (such as pantless teenager girls which grows tails and cat ears when they use their magic powers, yes, this is perverted stuff, among the worst examples in animation) it is essentially a typical action drama film in terms of writing and direction, nothing special in those regards besides it's more Japanese sensibilities.

93. Angel's Egg (1985)

Another animated art film (perhaps to compensate for the movie above ) this is the first Mamoru Oshii film on this list and indeed an impressive work of art. Perhaps the only example of animation that I watched that fells like super serious symbolic art cinema.

92. Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (2001)

According to film critic Noel Vera, this was the coolest film of the year released in the Philippines in 2003. Indeed, the single word "cool" could be a review of this film which feels very much like the original TV series (as if it were a very long episode of the TV series).

91. Voices of a Distant Star (2003)

This Makoto Shinkai half an hour short is the first of his works to show up on this list and it's easy to see why: Shinkai is a master of the use of still watercolor images to depict the feelings of it's characters.

Looking forward to the rest of your list!
I recently watched the whole Cowboy Bebop TV series and loved it. Would you say the feature film is at the level of the show's best episodes or does it feel more like an action-focused filler (there's nothing wrong with that of course)?

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Cobpyth's Movie Log ~ 2019

90. Time Masters (1982)

Another French film makes the list, this time a purely intellectual science fiction film by Laloux featuring brilliant designs by Moebius (the same artistic genius who worked for the designs in Alien(1979)).

89. RahXephon: Pluralitas Concentio (2003)

This film adaptation of the classic mecha series, while sacrificing the complexity and thematic depth of the TV series, and instead of allowing the viewer to figure out the elements of the plot and details by themselves it sets everything out clearly. However, it still preserves some of the atmosphere of the series and so still is an excellent movie.

88. Mardock Scramble Trilogy (2010-2012)

Recently watched this exhilarating sci-fi film trilogy, it is in the spirit of classic science fiction, but also characterized by more complex character development (if compared to western animation). A worthy entry into the cyberpunk cinema canon.

87. Berserk: The Golden Age Arc: Descent (2013)

One of the film adaptations of the Berserk manga. Although sacrificing the subtlety and psychological complexities of the characterization in the original work (a natural consequence of adapting long literary works into 90 minute films) it still preserves the visceral qualities of the manga.

86. Heavy Metal (1981)

This Canadian film with it's intoxicating sense of juvenile aggression, it's a very interesting and compelling "musical" film featuring several short stories adapted from the magazine. I included it here also partly thanks to having some Black Sabbath in it's soundtrack.

85. Rurouni Kenshin: Reflection (2001)

This movie represents a continuity of the TV series and so requires some knowledge of the characters of the TV series to be fully grasped. It's essentially a period drama film featuring some over the top sword duels and heavy melodrama.

84. Mind Game (2004)

A work characterized by incredible visual aggression, Mind Game is an unique experience. Though featuring some boring character designs (the director Masaaki Yuasa said that he hates those Kawaii character designs common in manga and the commercial pressure to use them in animation, but I like those more than the stick figures he used).

83. Persepolis (2007)

A great autobiographical French "anime" movie (since it's based on a autobiographical comic book and borrows it's drawing style from it, which is the main characteristic of Japanese animation: animated comics). It's minimalist color palette is memorable and provides it with a distinct style.

82. Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2001)

I loved the rich "baroque" visual style and the dark tones used in the movie. The plot is fairly uncreative but at least competent and interesting as well as the extreme violence portrayed.

81. Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004)

One of the most expensive anime films to date (with an enormous budget of 25 million dollars in current value), GitS 2 features some of the most awe-inspiring visual extravaganza in animation. The writing is standard Oshii: paper thin plot serving as scaffold to support his philosophical meanderings. Another entry for the canon of animated cyberpunk.

I think it is slightly below the level of the best episodes of the series but it's exactly the same feeling since it's written and directed by the same person and with a larger budget since it's a movie.

It will be really interesting to see the rest of the list, but personally I would have put The Triplets of Belleville a lot higher. I would also like to see Chomets The Illusionist at least in the top 20...

80. The Plague Dogs (1982)

This hearth-crushing British animated film from the perspective of dogs which are submitted to animal experimentation. It's essentially (and obviously) a criticism to animal experimentation and a very severe one at that. It's from the creators of Watership Down but more complex and way sadder. Interestingly the film was marketed for children even though it's obviously not a children's film.

79. Tokyo Godfathers (2003)

And another Satoshi Kon movie, this time he did a more "slice of life" film rather than his previous two works which were horror/thriller. A very touching and quite sweet film considering the director but that's probably because the scrip was written by the same person who wrote the scrip of Cowboy Bebop.

78. Time of Eve (2010)

This direct-to-internet animation (not even direct to video to but originally released on the internet) directed by Yasuhiro Yoshiura, with his very characteristic style, attempts to depict the social problems caused by the introduction of self aware androids in the population. It's a powerful and poignant emotional experience.

77. Patlabor: The Movie (1989)

Another Mamoru Oshii film, this time one of his early works from the 1980's. Now the philosophical meaderings are a bit lighter than in the GitS films but the plot is thicker and denser. It also features some great vintage hand-drawn animation:



His direction is absolutely brilliant. Indeed, as Miyazaki said Oshii was one of the 3 names that he said when he spoke of animation directors (other than himself).

76. Wall-E (2008)

One of Pixar's most poignant works in it's depiction of a ruined Earth, Wall-E is one of the best science fiction films made over the past few years (one would notice that like 3/4 of the movies I cited here contain science fiction elements). It's a very simple and elegant story that criticizes contemporary American culture by taking it's elements and raising each to 11.

75. Kidô senkan Nadeshiko: Prince of Darkness (1998)

And yet another science fiction movie featuring space battleship Nadesico and it's captain, naturally, a 12 year old girl. It's a comedy satire of science fiction anime and even western media such as Star Trek as the parallels with Enterprise/Nadesico are obvious. Watching the TV series is also required to understand the plot and characters of this movie. Another entry for the canon of science fiction animation.

74. The Second Renaissance (2003)

And yet another science fiction movie, this one is a short one of 20 minutes that's part of the Animatrix collection of short animated films and it's by far my favorite one depicting the process of transition from men controlled earth to machines taking over and setting up the world of the matrix.

I hope Satoshi Kon's true masterpiece appears pretty high.

It already did (Perfect Blue).

I've actually never seen Tokyo Godfathers. I need to get on that.

73. Wolf Children (2012)

Hosoda's most recent film is a poignant family story that borrows heavily from films such as My Neighbor Totoro and Only Yesterday. It's also excellent and one of the best family friendly animated films to come out in recent years.

72. Black Magic M-66 (1987)

One of my guilty pleasures, this action direct to video film from the 1980's. Think of a mix between First Blood and The Terminator with a heavier dose of comedy. All around win!

71. Mary and Max (2009)

One of the best australian movies I ever watched, it's an impressive clay animated film. After reading it's wikipedia page I noticed it cost only 8 million dollars to produce. Extremely cheap for an english speaking film. One of the very few English speaking adult animated feature length films that also attain a level of excellency in writing and character development while working as a drama and as a black comedy.

70. Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie Part III: Rebellion (2013)

While I previously said that it was a cash grab sequel it still was an excellent movie if we analyse it by itself and not compare it to the originals and is worthy of belonging to a top 100 favorite animated movie list.

69. FLCL (2000)

Stretching a bit the definition of animated film, given it was released originally to video in 6 25 minutes episodes, but since it can be watched in a single sitting and has a coherent plot over the 150 minutes with a climax and everything (given it's general weirdness). It's extremely weird and funny, a very Gainax-like production but focused on comedy instead of heavy drama as it's most famous product is.

68. Patema Inverted (2013)

From Yasuhiro Yoshiura, now a film released at theaters! Very similar to Time of Eve in terms of it's human drama but depicting a completely different situation but dealing with essentially the same theme: social exclusion.

67. The Illusionist (2010)

Another Chomet film. This time instead of a more surreal comedy we have a fully realistic setting and a much more elegant execution and the genre changes to a drama still makes it a powerful film.

66. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006)

Hosoda's adaptation of the classic story remains a modern classic. Being the first film he directed with full creative control it is a great success. However, I found the use of j-pop songs in the climax terrible (I have when they do that).

65. Ratatoille (2007)

One of Pixar's grounbreaking films, perhaps the best CGI animated film ever made up to that point in time. It's an excellent comedy film that is also characterized by great emotional depth. It's my favorite Brad Bird film as well, though his Iron Giant and The Incredibles are also very good refined movies but this one achieves greater psychological depth than his others.

64. SDF-1 Macross: Do You Remember Love? (1984)

Epic retelling of the TV series with high budget for quality animation. Depicting a post-apocalyptic situation where alien races of giants threaten mankind's existence the viewer shall learn that the greatest force in the universe is J-pop. Yes, and it's a great movie anyway, also 1980's J-pop is a tad better than contemporary so it doesn't hurt the experience as much.

63. The Garden of Sinners movie 1 to 7 (2007-2008)
(light novel cover)
(checking wikipedia page I noticed that 3 new Garden of Sinner films have been already released since I watched this film series, so I watched the film series from 1 to 7)
A rather typical "seinen" anime movie, in terms of atmosphere, violence and action it's almost the synthesis of the typical seinen manga. Very slow, it is the second slowest movie in this list (first is Angel's Egg, which I already posted above).

62. The Place Promised in Our Early Days (2004)

Another Shinkai film (I just love his work, perhaps my favorite director of animated feature length films working today), like his previous film is a melancholic drama film that can touch people's hearts.

61. Fantastic Planet (1973)

Perhaps Leloux most famous film, this French animated science fiction film is indeed a great one. Like Time Masters it's purely intellectual in nature, not a film to feel emotionally connected unlike the movie directly above (two completely different films that may satisfy very different tastes).

60. Ocean Waves (1993)


Studio Ghibli's first movie not directed by Miyazaki or Takahata and still one of their best. A romantic comedy drama involving 19 year olds. It was made for television and is perhaps the best made for TV movie I ever watched. Interestingly they even advertised coke cans inside the movie in animation (or it was meant as symbolism?).

59. Gauche the Cellist (1982)


Takahata's fifth film and perhaps his most poignant up to that point in time. It deals fundamentally with artistic expression and the challenges of mastering a skill (mostly on a psychological rather than on a technical level).

58. Kill Me Baby: Buddha Statues, Injuries and Fake Halloween (2013)


My guiltiest of the guilty pleasures in this countdown, this 27 minute short original to video. It's the single most stupid film I ever watched (and even compared to TV series such as Beavies and Butt-head, Family Guy and Ren and Stimpy) and I have watched a ton of stupid stuff. By being the single most stupid thing ever this work of comedic genius deserves to be on a list of favorite cartoon movies (even though it's one of the few shorts on this list). It also is horrible on a technical level as it probably cost less than 100 grand to produce.

57. Battle Angel (1993)


This dark science fiction tale now ranks among my favorite science fiction movies of the genre together with Robocop and The Terminator I have watched it last week. It's a very poingnant story characterized by an art and animation style which I found the most pleasing to the eye (considering it's small budget).

56. Paprika (2006)


And yet another Satoshi Kon film. This film reaches a level of visceral power that surpasses all other films of his and it's visually audacious and creative to a degree that very few other movies can claim to be, much less surpass.

55. Gandahar (1988)


And yes, my favorite Rene Laloux movie is not Fantastic Planet! It's this movie! Why? Because it

54. Kenji Miyazawa's Night on the Galactic Express (1985)


Based on a children's novel this elegant and minimalistic film is not sci-fi but more like surrealistic fantasy with a constant feeling of uncanny hovering over it's entire duration. It's a very slow and contemplative film and specially considering it was made based on children's novel is something that you would never see in a commercial western film.

53. UP (2009)


My favorite CGI movie and also my favorite mainstream animated movie. It's a "children's movie" that clearly transcends the label and becomes a complex and poignant comedy drama. The execution is also almost flawless being simultaneously an very entertaining film and a powerful film. First Wall-E was my favorite mainstream animated movie but after re-watching both I decided that UP was better, given it's greater complexity and hence possessing more stuff to chew on multiple watches.

52. From Up on Poppy Hill (2011)

Goro Miyazaki's second film and his first really good one (his first film Tales from Easrthsea is extremely mediocre), a really poingnant and moving story set in post-war Japan as it prepares for the 1964 Olympics. The writing of the film is it's strongest element (courtesy of Miyazaki (the father) of course) and perhaps is the main factor explaining the difference in quality between Tales from Earthsea and this film.

51. K-ON!: The Movie (2011)


Cuteness for the sake of cuteness. It's essentially a more sophisticated form of the visceral types of films such as pure action films (such as Commando) or pornography, but here executed with such beauty and sophistication. The animation is among the best ever in depicting the mannerisms of each character (in fact one can deduce each character's personality by just observing how it moves).

50. Girls und Panzer: This is the Real Anzio Battle! (2014)


Another entry of the military moe type, this time an action comedy that is executed in such a convincing way that I decided to include it in this list even though it's also a short 37 minutes long and was released in Japan 10 days ago, released in 12 screens in Japan, it grossed 400 thousand dollars and already paid back the production costs!

Basically a mix of 3 elements: cuteness like the movie above, tank warfare and sport matches. It's perhaps the single most entertaining thing I ever watched (take that Raiders of the Lost Ark!).

This particular movie depicts the match in the quarter finals of the World Cup of Tanks, between Ooarai girls high school and Anzio girls high school.

And the ed (used in the series and in this movie) So adorable:

Some of these movies are on youtube if anyone is interested (I think few people here watched these ones):







(dubbed though)



(on the comments: A humanoid robot often showing one glowing eye, programed to track down and kill a young woman... a skyscraper scene, large office.. helicopter-like military flier shooting out the windows.. robot loses an arm.. not plagiarism, but... i do see just a little sameness between this and the Terminator..)

(dubbed in Spanish!)

Angel's Egg is

I could literally look at static camera shot for an hour, but I find it hard to contemplate anime.

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San Franciscan lesbian dwarves and their tomato orgies.

49. Cardcaptor Sakura: Sealed Card (2000)


Absolutely brilliant conclusion to a great series based on a great manga (it's for girls). However, some familiarity with the series is required to enjoy this movie (otherwise it would be confusing because you need to at least know a little about the characters and the setting).

48. Summer Days with Coo (2007)


Very heavy family drama film using a mythological Japanese creature as basis for the drama. It reminded me of E.T.

47. Tale of Tales (1979)


The animated version of The Mirror though slightly weaker than the original still an unforgettable experience (specially because there is nothing else similar to it).

46. Summer Wars (2009)


Another movie titled "summer" appears on this list. This time less heavy on the drama but brilliant in terms of comedy: I laughed out loud while watching this and I am not the type of person that usually laughs out loud while watching movies.

45. Ponyo (2008)


And yes, Miyazaki finally shows up! Ponyo is a magical fantasy film and perhaps the most childish film in Miyazaki's canon (though they say it was particularly popular among adults in Japan because it allows adults to enter children's world while children themselves experience nothing with it because they already live in such a world).

44. Dragon's Heaven (1988)


Brilliant short film (35 minutes long) mainly in terms of animation: it's look is completely different from anything else I have watched and it is sparkling with a 1980's vibe to it, more than any other OVA from the 1980's I have watched.

43. The Man who Planted Trees (1987)


Absolutely incredible sense of style and a poignant film it is among the most powerful animated shorts.

42. Magnetic Rose (1995)


One of the most unique horror anime films out there (at 45 minutes long it's borderline short, borderline feature length film). Part of Memories, collection of 3 anime shorts and this is the first one is also the best, one of Satoshi Kon's best films.

It can be watched here:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xzk...ray_shortfilms

41. Evangelion 3.0 (2012)


It is the single most confusing Evangelion film. I loved it enough to rank it among my top animated films, indeed it was a very disconcerting experience and I couldn't sleep well after watching it, hence, it's a great film.

40. Garden of Words (2013)


Makoto Shinkai strikes again, this time with his usual formula as always: very melancholic and very beautiful film (perhaps the single most beautiful animation I ever watched).

The trailer gives an idea of the quality of the animation:


39. The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (2010)


While I personally believe the TV series was rather mediocre but the film is incredible, much superior in relation to the TV series. The characters now feel more real thanks to greatly improved writing.

It's on youtube as well, at nearly 3 hours in length it is the longest animated film I think I have watched:



38. Akira (1988)


You saw it coming. The big bad boy of animation makes it's obligatory entry and pretty high as well: it's absolutely incredible unforgettable film of great power and force (both in terms of action and animation), in 1988 it was the best hand drawn animation ever made and it is still as impressive as it was 26 years ago.

37. 5 Centimeters Per Second (2007)


Dramatic and poignant, beautiful and melancholic, like all of Shinkai's films (they are essentially all the same really, Shinkai is one of the most "consistent" filmmakers). One of the obligatory entries for the best animated films from the 21st century.

36. Millennium Actress (2001)


Kon's love letter to cinema, it is by itself one of the finest pieces of cinema animated or not. Simple as that. I have it ranked on 36th place because I have a couple of guilty pleasures higher up but in terms of pure cinema this would be on the top 15.

35. Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha: The Movie 2nd A's (2012)


Talking about guilty pleasures. Even guiltiest than that Kill Me Baby short is this, a movie that I don't think people who are not hardcore anime fans would like, I discovered it by searching for the most nerdy or nerdy anime titles: by looking out what is it among the most otaku titles and this may be regarded as the best otaku anime movie ever (at least according to ranks on anime sites and my personal tastes as well). Wanna watch Japanese animated melodrama with vibrant glassy colors that lasts for 150 minutes involving colorful battles of flying little girls shooting out big pink beams in ludicrous costumes for half of the run-time? The final battle is on youtube and is even titled "final boss fight". It feels like eating a pound of sugar for lunch for those while whose tongues were not used to eating diabetes inducing animation. Even anime fans are embarrassed to watch this in public: while ranked 98th place in 2012 box office the same movie ranked on 13th place on blu-ray sales in 2013.

Incredible film and definitely one of my personal top three favorite animated movies ever made. Glad to see it appear near the upper side of your list, although I naturally wished it would've been a little higher.

It truly is a masterpiece in terms of artistry and philosophical resonance.

I really liked Perfect Blue and disliked Paprika. Maybe I will watch Millenium Actress some time.

I didn't like Perfect Blue or Paprika but I'm willing to give Millennium Actress a try.

Love Perfect Blue, underwhelmed by Paprika, Millennium Actress would fall somewhere in between for me. Magnetic Rose is my favorite from Satoshi Kon.

some really great films, some i actually watched from your recommendations and several more I'm very curious to see
Thanks for posting!!

34. Sky Crawlers (2008)



Oshii's most cynical movie, perhaps, it is also one of his least dialogue heavy films, being almost as contemplative as Angel's Egg, but this time possessing well developed plot and characters.

33. On Your Mark (1995)



The only short under 20 minutes in this list. It's 6 minutes of Miyazaki being pure Miyazaki, in fact, a collection of all his obsessions in 6 minutes.

32. The Old Man and the Sea (1999)



My favorite animated short and also the last western film to show up on this list (hence, my favorite western animated film), it is this adaptation of the poem of the same name by one of the great disciples of Norstein. It's visually stunning work of art and extremely poignant.

31. Evangelion 1.0 (2007)



Hideaki Anno's first title of the rebuilt of Evangelion project, it is also the film that deviates the least from the original TV series. However, it lack's the depressing nature of the TV series as a reflection of Anno's change from a depressing to a "normal" person.

30. Patlabor 2 (1993)



Another Oshii film (this guy is the man indeed, he has more movies in this list than anybody else). This time he really raised the bar of animation by crafting an extremely sophisticated film, extremely dense and yes, there are giant robots but they play not role in the plot (they are just "there", like houses and streets), differently from the first movie (where the plot centered around a bug in the robot's programming causing them to go berserk).

29. Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Overture to a New War (1993)



How about making a cartoon adaptation of a 7 volume science fiction novel written by a PHD in literature? There is even a youtube playlist in chronological order of all the 165 movies and original video animation episodes adapting the novel series into a cartoon. This movie in particular is the adaptation of the first two episodes and so does not require familiarity with the plot to be understood, it's on youtube as the entire franchise:



28. Adolescence of Utena (1999)



The movie I nominated for the 4th Hall of Fame. Full of Ikuhara's sense of extravagant surrealism. It is on youtube as well:

(with a crappy english dubb as usual)

27. Wings of Honneamise (1987)



A great classic. Perhaps one of the first proper "anime movies" in the sense of being a strictly adult film, strictly serious in terms of atmosphere, celebrates animation as capable of beauty and complexity (instead of the visual simplicity of western animation in general) and deals with technological themes. Absolute classic film, too bad it flopped on the box office.

26. Evangelion 2.0 (2009)



In my opinion the finest of rebuilt films it is a film that while changing the contents from the original series to a great degree manages to even improve on the original material in many ways. My main problem with this movie is the use of J-pop songs during the climax (that happens in several anime films here and is generally the only thing that annoys me the most in those movies).

25. Howl's Moving Castle (2004)



And another Miyazaki film makes the list (wanna guess how many will?). Being the least "normal" of Miyazaki's films in terms of not actually having a well structured linear plot (some even compared it with Fellini's 8 1/2) it is a marvelous fantasy film that is stunningly beautiful (some even claim to be Miyazaki's most beautiful work).