Over the past few years, anime has transcended from being a niche medium only a select few engage with to rivaling animated media produced stateside and even surpassing it in more ways than one. Anime brings a lot of eyeballs as the wide range and versatility of the medium's storytelling attract both mainstream popularity and a dedicated fan following. So every major streaming service, fighting for viewers' attention, wants in on the action, and Max is one of the prime destinations for anime fans.
To compete with the library of Disney animated classics on Disney Plus, Max acquired the Studio Ghibli Collection, and that has ensured Max has a library of some of the best and most iconic animated movies of all time, with classics that have been entertaining and comforting audiences for generations. But it's not just limited to Ghibli. Max has something special for everyone, from heartfelt dramas and charming children's adventures to sci-fi extravaganzas. So if you're looking for the perfect anime movie to watch on Max right now, look no further.
Belle (2021)
Run Time: 2 hours and 2 minutes | Director: Mamoru Hosoda
Cast: Kaho Nakamura, Takeru Satou, Lilas Ikuta
Mamoru Hosoda is one of the most prolific modern anime directors, known for critically acclaimed movies like The Boy and the Beast, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and Mirai, which was also the first non-Ghibli anime movie to be nominated for an Academy Award. Hosoda's latest feature, Belle, was also a critical darling that opened at the Cannes Film Festival to a rapturous 14-minute standing ovation and became a box office sensation in Japan. Belle, like most of Hosoda's films, is a science fantasy adventure film inspired by the fairytale Beauty and the Beast and tells the story of a high school girl who becomes a global star because of her music and is then caught up in a magical adventure to find the identity of a mysterious monster who's on the run from ruthless vigilantes.
The Night is Short, Walk on Girl (2017)
Run Time: 1 hour and 33 minutes | Director: Masaaki Yuasa
Cast: Gen Hoshino, Kana Hanazawa, Kazuya Nakai, Yuko Kaida
The Night is Short, Walk on Girl is a beautifully animated, hilarious romp focused on a nostalgic romance and the highs and lows of our tumultuous time in university. The film, based on the novel of the name by Tomihiko Morimi, is a spiritual sequel to Masaaki Yuasa's celebrated series The Tatami Galaxy, with all the creative team returning including Morimi, character designer Nakamura, animator Nobutaki Itō, and screenwriter Makoto Ueda. Set at Kyoto University, with most of the character designs, tropes, gags, and motifs of The Tatami Galaxy, the film tells the story of the unnamed Girl with Black Hair and her Senpai on an idiosyncratic night out where Senpai attempts to profess his love for her, said with Yuasa's unique visual style and signature absurd humor.
Pom Poko (1994)
Run Time: 1 hour and 59 minutes | Director: Isao Takahata
Cast: Takehiro Murata, Makoto Nonomura, Yuriko Ishida
One of the lesser-known offerings from the Studio Ghibli Library, this fantasy-parable film from the director of The Grave of Fireflies and Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata, is a sharp satire with solid commentary on the relationship between humans and nature while still being a fun time for the kids. Pom Poko centers around a group of raccoon dogs, or Tanuki, magical creatures in Japanese folklore with the power to shapeshift, as they are forced out of their natural home because of human development and the construction of Tokyo. The Tanuki lead a years-long struggle against the humans to regain their lost lives. Still, almost all their efforts seem too small in front of the might of capitalism and industrialization, as Takahata begs the audience to face the consequences of human civilization on the environment.
Spirited Away (2001)
Run Time: 2 hours and 5 minutes | Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Cast: Miyu Irino, Rumi Hiragi, Mari Natsuki
This serene masterpiece from the master Hayao Miyazaki himself came out just at the beginning of this century but has already claimed its status as a classic. Spirited Away is about a young girl named Chihiro, who ends up at an abandoned theme park with her parents on their way to move into their new house. But there's more to this place than it initially meets the eye, and as soon the sun sets Chihiro's parents transform into pigs, and the place gets filled with spirits from another world. A young boy named Haku finds and rescues Chihiro and tells her the only way to save her parents, and herself is to work at the bathhouse for dwelling spirits owned by the witch Yubaba. The film follows the young Chihiro as she navigates the intricacies of this incredibly detailed world, with beauty and melancholy lurking in every corner and with a string of colorful characters with their own undiscovered stories, as Miyazaki weaves a magical tale of childhood and nostalgia.
Only Yesterday (1991)
Run Time: 1 hour and 58 minutes | Director: Isao Takahata
Cast: Miki Imai, Toshiro Yanagiba, Yoko Honna
Another film by Isao Takahata, Only Yesterday is a quaint and quiet drama set in rural Japan aimed at adults, unlike most Studio Ghibli films. But the film was a surprise hit as adults flocked to the theaters to watch this animated film, and it became the highest-grossing film in Japan in 1991. Painted with more subdued tones, the film is about a 27-year-old woman named Taeko Okajima who has spent her entire life in the bustling city of Tokyo. Never having been on a trip, when she gets a chance to visit the family of her elder sister's in-laws in the rural countryside to help with the safflower harvest and get away from the city, Taeko takes the opportunity immediately. The film is a slow-paced drama where we get to spend time with Taeko as she experiences life in the countryside, reminisces on childhood memories with nostalgia, and tackles her repressed memories from the past along with her present issues with love and career while forming new relationships.
Weathering With You (2019)
Run Time: 1 hour and 54 minutes | Director: Makoto Shinkai
Cast: Kotaro Daigo, Nana Mori, Yuki Kaji
Makoto Shinkai's follow-up to his 2016 sensation Your Name was another mega-hit for the director, and solidified him as a modern voice to be reckoned with. Like most of Shinkai's films, Weathing With You is a story of star-crossed lovers separated by faith set against the backdrop of the gorgeous painted vignettes of Tokyo. The film follows Hodaka, a 16-year-old runaway who takes up a job for Urban Legends magazine in Tokyo, as his family and the police look for him. Hodaka meets Hina, a girl with the magical ability to control the weather, who works at McDonald's and lives alone with her little brother. The two of them develop a romance, but the entire world, including nature's forces, is against them in this gripping tale of love, rebellion, and making out your own place in this lonely world, that takes some bold swings.
The Wind Rises (2013)
Run Time: 2 hours and 6 minutes | Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Cast: Hideaki Anno, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Miori Takimoto
In this semi-biographical World War II drama, Miyazaki takes a fantastical approach to history as he tells the story of a real-life fighter plane designer - Jiro Horikoshi. The Wind Rises chronicles a troubled and turbulent time in Japan's history, filled with tales of terror, as it follows a well-meaning man pursuing his obsession to make the best fighter plane possible. We see how this obsession takes over him, from dreams to daily work, the horrors of the war and earthquakes, and the flourishes of a beautiful tragic romance that develops throughout the story.
Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
Run Time: 1 hour and 54 minutes | Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Cast: Cheiko Baisho, Takuya Kimura, Tatsuya Gashuin
Miyazaki's follow-up to the Academy Award-winning Spirited Away was another universally beloved fantasy adventure with elements of fairytales and steampunk. Loosely based on a British novel of the same name by Dianna Wynne Jones, Howl's Moving Castle is one of Miyazaki's most romantic films as it follows the wizard Howl and a young girl Sophie who is turned into an old woman by a curse, who are brought together by destiny. Sophie becomes a member of the fascinating crew at Howl's Moving Castle along with the demon Calcifer, Howl's apprentice Markl, and a scarecrow she names "Turnip-head." At the same time, there is a war waging in the human world, and Howl is caught in an attempt to stop it. But Howl has a curse too, and it's up to Sophie to free the both of them and like always, the answer lies in love.
Promare (2019)
Run Time: 1 hour and 51 minutes | Director: Hiroyuki Imaishi
Cast: Taichi Saotome, Makoto Sakai, Kenichi Matsuyama
Promare is a science fiction anime, filled with frantic and fast-paced action sequences and a break-neck pace that packs a punch in every frame with its visual grandeur and explosive expressiveness, powered by a pulsating soundtrack from Hiroyuki Sawano. Set during a calamity known as the Great World Blaze in the futuristic city of Promepolis, the film follows Galo Thymos, a young and fearless firefighter, as he joins the elite firefighting team Burning Rescue to combat the fiery chaos caused by the Burnish, an emerging class of people with pyrokinetic abilities.
Princess Mononoke (1997)
Run Time: 2 hours and 13 minutes | Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Cast: Yoji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida, Yuko Tanaka
Miyazaki's work is known for his environmentalist sentiments and strong anti-capitalist and anti-industrialization messages, but no film in his oeuvre is as reflective of his exploration of these themes as Princess Mononoke. The film is an epic historical fantasy set in the late Muromachi period of Japan, wherein a curse afflicts a young Emishi prince named Asikata after a demon attacks his village and sets out to search for a cure, only to find how war and industrialization have ravaged the world. He meets a San, a fierce and enigmatic human raised by wolves, in a magical forest, and together, they try to restore the ecological balance.
Whisper of the Heart (1995)
Run Time: 1 hour and 51 minutes | Director: Yoshifumi Kondo
Cast: Yoko Honna, Issey Takahashi, Takashi Tachibina
This charming little offering from Studio Ghibli is the portrait of the life of a 14-year-old girl in junior high school named Shizuku, her family, and friends in Tokyo. Shizuku encounters a mysterious cat who leads her to an old antique shop run by the grandfather of a boy in her school. She starts spending time at the shop, and an innocent romance rekindles between them as Shizuku expands her horizons and lets loose on her imagination. The film is filled with heart and takes you on a nostalgic trip to the mystical tween days of sweet romance, lazy evenings, and awestruck optimism.
The Animatrix (2003)
Run Time: 1 hour and 40 minutes | Directors: Shinichiro Watanabe, Mahiro Maeda, Takeshi Koike, and More
Cast: Kevin Michael Richardson, Tom Kenny, Tara Strong
Produced by The Wachowskis, this anthology film was the first of its kind when it came out. Heavily inspired by anime classics like Akira and Ghost in the Shell on their groundbreaking masterpiece The Matrix, The Wachowskis turned the table back to its roots for exploration of the rich and fascinating world through anime offshoots from talented filmmakers like Cowboy Bebop creator Shinichiro Watanabe and Æon Flux creator Peter Chung. Each short brings its own unique style and explores corners of The Matrix universe with questions of existential dread and technological paranoia.
The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013)
Run Time: 2 hours and 17 minutes | Director: Isao Takahata
Cast: Aki Asakura, Takeo Chii, Kengo Kora
Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki built Studio Ghibli from the ground up, and their success with My Neighbor Totoro and The Grave of Fireflies, which were released simultaneously, built the foundation for the legendary studio. 2013 marked the last year the masters released a film together, with Miyazaki's The Wind Rises and Takahata's final work - The Tale of Princess Kaguya. The gorgeously animated film is a work of art in itself and tells a beautiful story of a tiny nymph who asks her suitors to complete near-impossible tasks to prove their love and is a culmination of all of Takahata's life's work and a final gift from the master to us.
Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
Run Time: 1 hour and 42 minutes | Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Cast: Minami Takayama, Rei Sakuma, Kappei Yamaguchi
Kiki's Delivery Service is a whimsical adventure as comforting as the warm freshly baked bread in the bakery seen in the film. Kiki, a young witch filled with aspirations, leaves her home behind with her talking black cat Jiji to move into the city and live independently. She meets Osono, a bakery owner, and agrees to deliver her goods using her flying abilities in exchange for lodging. The film focuses on the character instead plot and tells a coming-of-age story that, according to Miyazaki, is a portrait of the gulf between independence and reliance among teenage Japanese girls.
My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
Run Time: 1 hour and 22 minutes | Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Cast: Noriki Hidaka, Chika Sakamoto, Hitoshi Takagi
My Neighbor Totoro perfectly illustrates what's so special about Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki in its quick run time as this sweet and innocent film blends whimsy with sadness and deep themes of life, childhood, and nature. The story follows two sisters, Satsuki and Mei, who move into a rural home in post-war Japan with their father while their mother is away due to some illness. The somber tale, with its stunning hand-drawn animation and a gentle pace, sees the sisters get accustomed to this new life through a series of magical encounters and adventures with ancient forest creatures, primarily the fluffy and lovable Totoro, as they find their piece of happiness with nature.