If an anime series does not do it for you, then why not check out some of the movies that have been successful. Here are our top five recommendations.
Spirited Away 2001
The film introduces the audience to Chihiro Ogino, who has been placed with a heavy burden. She is only 10, yet she has been tasked with the mission to save her parents. So what must she do? Chihiro has no choice but to abandon everything that she holds dear and enter the spirit world. The only thing standing in her way is the witch of Yubaba. Will she save her loved ones and make it out alive?
Cast: Rumi Hiiragi, Miyu Irino, Mari Natsuki, Takashi Naitô
Release Date: 12 September 2003 (UK)
Grave of the Fireflies 1988
The audience is thrown into the depths of the Second World War as two siblings try to beat the odds and survive. The scene is amok, with every town and city being destroyed in sight. Their mother has been tragically killed by the Americans, while their father is absent, doing time in the Japanese naval forces. How will they cope with surviving, and will they see their father once again?
Cast: Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Yoshiko Shinohara, Akemi Yamaguchi
Release Date: 7 April 1989 (UK)
Ghost in the Shell 1995
Before the Matrix franchise took the world by storm, this movie explored the virtual world and reality. We come across Major Motoko Kusanagi, who is on a mission to find one of the most powerful hackers around. The hacker is simply known as the ‘Puppet Master’, but he is having a major influence in society by controlling large networks. The only question is who is the good guy?
Cast: Atsuko Tanaka, Akio Ôtsuka, Kôichi Yamadera, Yutaka Nakano
Release Date: 8 December 1995
Paprika 2006
We are shown the life of Atsuko Chiba, who happens to be a psychologist. She loves her job and is always on the lookout to find novel ways of helping her patients. When she acquires a weapon that enables her to join a patient’s dream, she unwittingly becomes involved in a scheme that may put her own life at risk. How will it all end?
Cast: Megumi Hayashibara, Tôru Furuya, Kôichi Yamadera, Katsunosuke Hori
Release Date: 25 November 2006 (Japan)
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie 2001
The film covers the existential threat facing humanity itself. The movie is based upon the idea that a virus threatens to depopulate the whole planet. But this is no natural occurrence, though. There is a terrorist who has gotten hold of the virus and is hellbent on unleashing it. There is only one team that can stop this. A group of bounty hunters aim to take down the terrorist.Â
Cast: Kôichi Yamadera, Unshô Ishizuka, Megumi Hayashibara, Aoi Tada
Release Date: 1 September 2001
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