Top 10 Anime Movie Masterpieces of the Last 20 Years, Ranked

It’s easy for anime fans to name some of the greatest anime masterpieces of all time, such as Kaguya-Sama: Love is War and Vinland Saga, and then there’s the question of anime movies. Including both independent anime movies and series tie-ins, the world of anime movies is a rich one, loaded with classics. In previous decades, fans loved watching hits like Spirited Away, Akira, Perfect Blue, and Ghost in the Shell.

Those are hits from the 1980s to the early 2000s, which means it’s time to venture into the next era of anime movies. The last 20 years, from 2006 to 2026, added many more outstanding cinematic works to delight fans around the world, many of them coming from a few particular directors. It’s a given that Studio Ghibli has made many of the best anime movies, as that’s their specialty. For that reason, fans could name just one or two Ghibli movies to stand in for all of them, then explore more options from other directors and studios as well.

Demon Slayer: Mugen Train Astounded Moviegoers With Fantasy Action and Grief

Kyojuro Was the Real Star of This Demon Slayer Arc

Tie-in anime movies typically aren’t quite as good as standalone anime movies, and they’re not as accessible, either. Movies such as Mugen Train from the Demon Slayer franchise are for established fans, hardly slowing down at all for newcomers. That’s one reason why Mugen Train and movies like it have relatively low ranks among the best anime movies of the last 20 years.

That aside, Mugen Train has a lot to offer, and still has a place among the best, even if it’s far from #1. Everything is in place for an outstanding Demon Slayer adventure: energetic pacing, charming humor, powerful character moments, stunning animation, and high-octane battles. Thi movie was a brutal preview of the horrors of the Upper Moons, and it worked wonders.

My Hero Academia: World Heroes Mission Pits Deku Against Anti-Quirk Radicals

Flect Turn Speaks For Everyone Burdened By Quirks

My Hero Academia’s four anime movies helped strengthen the modern trend of canon tie-in movies, contrasting with fluff non-canon movies for franchises such as the shonen “big three.” In particular, My Hero Academia: World Heroes Mission is an example of a tie-in movie done well.

That’s because World Heroes Mission drives the stakes through the roof in ways not even the core My Hero Academia anime can, with the entire globe threatened by Humarise’s genocidal plan. That leads to fantastic action and breathtaking tension in this great anime movie, but there’s more. Fans can see a kernel of truth of what the villain Flect Turn says, because the narrative often ignores the people for whom Quirks really are a terrible burden no one asked for.

Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is an Exciting Yet Tragic Story of Yuta and His Curse Friend

Yuta Might Make a Better Protagonist Than Yuji Itadori

Jujutsu Kaisen’s main anime series is one of the best shonen series out there right now, what with its blend of creative action sequences, hard-hitting emotional stakes, and its careful use of comedy to balance the dark tone. All this also applies to the Jujutsu Kaisen 0 prequel movie, turning it all up to 11.

Yuta Okkotsu feels like an even better version of Yuji Itadori himself as a tough, good-hearted sorcerer with a strong will and a bizarre companion, Rika the curse. Rika is both heroic and heartbreaking to see, challenging all preconceptions of curse/human relations as Yuta battles his nastiest foes of all.

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc Throws Denji Into Battle Against a False Lover

Denji Thought He’d Get a Happily Ever After

Chainsaw Man’s anime is chugging along rather slowly, with it being an example of quality over quantity in the anime sphere. Until the main anime returns for Season 2, fans can savor the Reze Arc movie, which is arguably the strongest, deepest tie-in anime movie from 2006 to now.

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc thrives on its intimate and small-scale conflict as Denji meets and then fights Reze the Bomb Devil assassin. This movie doesn’t need to threaten the entire world or even the whole country, nor should it, since Chainsaw Man is most gripping when it’s about Denji’s personal woes as the miserable antihero Chainsaw Man.

Summer Wars Combines the Power of Family With Terrifying Technology

One Rural House is the Battlefield For Humanity’s Survival

A number of delightful standalone anime movies have made the last 20 years a rich era of anime movies, such as Summer Wars. This offbeat sci-fi movie can’t quite compete with Makoto Shinkai’s or Hayao Miyazaki’s masterworks, but it comes impressively close. To start with, Summer Wars feels fresh by blurring quaint slice-of-life antics in the countryside with advanced tech.

This helps Summer Wars become either a stylish “countryside life” anime with a strong twist, or a sci-fi anime that feels wonderfully different than the likes of Akira or Ghost in the Shell. Tying together this amusing cinematic package is the incredible conflict of a sentient AI trying to tear down civilization, with only a panicking extended family and their limited tech skills standing between that rogue program and utter doom.

Look Back Will Resonate With Creative Types in the Audience

Tatsuki Fujimoto Writes More Than Dark Action Stories

It’s true author Tatsuki Fujimoto made a name for himself with dark action manga such as Chainsaw Man and Fire Punch, but he’s no one-trick pony. Mr. Fujimoto’s creative talents also nurtured the likes of Goodbye, Eri and Look Back as heartfelt explorations of people’s love of art.

Most likely, Look Back will speak to artistic types the most among all anime fans. Anyone may enjoy the coming-of-age angle in Look Back as co-protagonists Kyomoto and Fujino draw four-panel manga together, but it’s the artists who will fully understand the inner workings of these anime girls. This movie is a delicate and deceptively deep take on friendship and the creativity it may foster.

Weathering With You Centers on a Rainy Dilemma of Love

True Love Calls For Steep Sacrifices

Director Makoto Shinkai has found a place among the finest anime directors in the modern era, with Weathering With You ranking among his greats. Fans also enjoyed the likes of Suzume and Five Centimeters Per Second, but his very best movies offer even more, including the breathtaking weather-based visuals in Weathering With You.

Best of all, Weathering With You roots its central romance on the agonizing dilemma of whether the weather girl Hina Amano can sacrifice her weather-related duties to be with her new beau, the lovable Hodaka. Audiences will feel the strain of this tough choice, with it being uncertain whether one girl should have to give up so much as the maiden of weather or whether she deserves happiness as a human being.

A Silent Voice Probes the World of Communication and Bullying

Redemption is Shoya Ishida’s Greatest Battle to Fight

The original A Silent Voice manga is already one of the best dramas in all of manga and anime, so it was a delightful bonus when Kyoto Animation crafted a stellar anime movie to expand the fanbase. This lushly animated movie offers a strong OST and a powerful central message that’s shortened somewhat compared to the manga.

Rearrange the covers into the correct Japanese release order.

Easy (5)
Medium (7)
Hard (10)

Start

Rearrange the covers into the correct Japanese release order.

Easy (5)Medium (7)Hard (10)Start

A Silent Voice is partly about Shoya Ishida’s sympathetic quest to find forgiveness for his bullying ways, both from others and from himself. However, the real story here is about the struggle to communicate, with Shoko Nishimiya’s combined deafness and fear of Shoya making it tough for either of them to mend bridges after all this time.

Your Name. is a Masterwork of Romance and Supernatural Action

Body-Swapping Hijinks Give Way to Breathtaking Local Stakes

Makoto Shinkai’s best anime movie is still 2016’s Your Name., even if Weathering With You and Suzume are both excellent movies that he has produced since then. Mr. Shinkai even thought Your Name. was a bit unpolished when it released, though critics and audiences don’t seem to mind.

Your Name. has all the makings of a Shinkai classic, grounding a tender young adult romance in bizarre supernatural shenanigans that threaten to tear them apart. The stakes and mystery of Your Name. progress smoothly and keep viewers engaged as the funny body swapping gives way to Taki’s and Mitsuha’s desperation to meet up, along with Mitsuha’s abrupt disappearance and Taki’s quest to find — and save — Mitsuha at any cost.

The Boy and the Heron is Another Hit From Studio Ghibli

Another Miyazaki Classic

Every anime fan recognized and respects Studio Ghibli’s place in the anime industry, with Ghibli bringing fans some of the finest classics of all, from My Neighbor Totoro to Kiki’s Delivery Service and much more. Often, Hayao Miyazaki’s movies discuss humanity’s relationship with nature, advancing technology, and war, and even death itself. The Boy and the Heron is the strongest Ghibli movie in the last two decades, and it definitely mediates on that last theme.

The Boy and the Heron, aside from itsd touching autobiographical elements, is about the inevitability of death and how people cope with it in the context of personal loss and the Pacific theater of World War II. Critically, The Boy and the Heron makes sure to not provide concrete answers, leaving fans to meditate on these things themselves. That’s the mark of a truly great anime movie — presenting a them while encouraging viewers to fill in the blanks with their own philosophies and experiences to create an answer that means everything to them.