Anime List

What’s better than reading a book? Reading subtitles on an Anime movie.

In high school, I avoided television like it was the plague; I still do, but Anime is an art and exception that I’ve come to appreciate. It certainly is not a habitual pleasure of my taste, but it’s not worth being disregarded either.

Given that each animation is special, I retracted my attempt to rate them. Each was a 5/5 while watching them, and deserves full attention individually.

Amongst all animations I watched the most obvious themes were love and companionship, therefore it’s the undisputed best lesson I got from delving into this unfamiliar world.

These were part of my goal list, and turned out to be great:

1. Spirited Away

Touted on lists as the best anime movie in history, it certainly impressed.

Favorite Character: Chihiro Ogino

• Her monk-like fortitude throughout the film kept me curious about her next move. She went against my initial instincts to either freak out or get excited, and the wisdom portrayed in a young girl was wisely used to feel relatable to young people, like myself.
• She treats both strange and familiar alike, leaving me in awe of her unbiased lack of judgment towards others.

2. Weathering with you

Favorite Character: Mitsuha Miyamizu

• I didn’t like Taki an awful lot at the start until we get to meet him through his troubled circumstances and his naive pursuit for a better life, where he then risks it to save Mitsuha.
• Mitsuha, not to spoil anything, hides her identity to become someone able to care for her younger brother ever since she had to fill her mother’s shoes. She left me with tearing eyes when her bravery was exposed through the identity reveal.

3. A Silent Voice (My top pick by far)

Writing this review after some time, I still see why it is my top pick. This film plays with tone and beats to evoke strong emotions; among some other films on this list, it made me cry.

Favorite Character: Shoko Nishimiya

• Shoko is unreasonably strong-willed and kind. Given her situation, she still tries to fight the injustice thrust upon her by her condition attracting undeserved bullying.
• Shoko made some unfathomable decisions during the film, helping me to rethink how much empathy even the best of people need, and how much there is hidden that we’ll never know about our favorite people.

This film was a lesson in psychology.

4. Your name

Favorite Character: Taki Tachibana

• Taki and Mitsuha are inseparable characters, although Taki is a male making him more relatable. His luxurious lifestyle is in deep contrast with his counterparts; his ever-increasing love for the body he switches to every other day, along with his concluding passion to connect with her made a great portrayal of love’s work.

5. Princess Mononoke

Favorite Character: Forest Spirit

• In all its manifestations the forest spirit is a serene and divine presence felt throughout the storyline; unlike the treatment of Gods, it is treated like a killable and fragile animal, to the dismay of those who try to cut off its head.
• In essence, it’s a reminder that good should be left to its own devices, for it could spill into an unnecessary evil the world is already filled with.

6. Violet Evergarden (Common question: Why are my eyes wet?)

Favorite Character: Violet Evergarden

• I found it hard to connect to Violet since I’ve never loved deeply enough to understand losing it in the face of death and war; although, Violet represents my demeanor of light admiration towards others, being reclusive, and the longing for a type of love she feels is unbreakable. This longing is not unique to me, but the film played the strand well to make me feel deep empathy for Violet’s loss, as well as awe for her unfalterred perserverence to actualize the pestering dreams to return to the only man she has ever loved.

7. Bubble

This film is too light-hearted to have felt deep emotions but supplemented it thoroughly with an upbeat tune to lift the spirits.

Favorite Character: Uta

• Uta is the eyes of the film, through which we learn the rules of the dangerous games played alongside her.
• This is not a character I could connect to either, but she was peculiar and strange, like some friends I’ve had or phases in my life, but her non-conscientious way of having adventure gave me a childlike curiosity, yet one with a proficient ability to learn complex movements fast, that threaded into the rapid soundtracks. Her presence is a mood-lifter, for sure.

8. A whisker away (Bad if this is the reason I get a cat?)

Favorite Character: Miyo Sasaki

• Miyo has a crazy, bordering on dangerously obsessive, proactive attitude about impressing the guy she likes. Upon becoming a cat, she lives out her dreams in a newfound feline body - cuddling him and meowing her way through one-sided conversations.
• It is a typical “becareful what you wish for” film that Miyo is placed excellently in, affirming the addage that what we want might not be what we need. The community willing to help her regain what she has lost inspires a sense of comraderie.

9. Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train is also the highest-grossing anime movie in history.

Favorite Character: Kyoujurou Renogoku

• When fighting his last battle, to the death, Renogoku is offered a chance to become a Demon; Demons live forever and constantly fight to become stronger, then use their power to kill the meek. He chooses his fate as death with my favorite quote: “Life is a series of decisions, you never have unlimited options or unlimited time to think, but what you choose in that instant defines who you are.”
• The meaning of this character stretches far beyond the animation he is confined to. Here are his quotes:
  1. “It’s precisely because we age and die that our lives have value and nobility.”
  2. “Go ahead and live with your head held high, No matter how devastated you may be by your own weakness or uselessness, set your heart ablaze.”
  3. “Grit your teeth and look straight ahead, Even if you stop and crouch down, time won’t wait for you or snuggle you and grieve along with you.”
  4. “Those who are born blessed with more bountiful gifts than others, are obligated to use those gifts for the sake of the world.”
  5. “You have a burning passion in your heart. So let’s do our best. Let’s work hard in life. Even if we’re lonely.”
  6. “Warriors who strive to save other people’s lives are precious. Their pure and single-minded dedication is separate from their natural talent.”

(Note: These quotes must have been translated from the original language, making them sound slightly off, but retain their meaning)

10. Howl’s Moving Castle

Favorite Character: Calcifer

• Calcifer, a fire demon, is treated not as an all-powerful magical creature that he is but rather as a water-heating, breakfast-cooking, wood-needing, ever-diminishing source of heat. His animated irritation draws away from the serious nature of the film.

11. Ponyo

Favorite Character: Ponyo

• This superficially childish film cut deep, into topics of true love and companionship, adventure and childish honesty; the untainted curiosity that both Ponyo and Sôsuke have toward each other, with a glimmer of magic in the mix, made it all more worthwhile to see this film through.
• Critically, the film concludes that there are sacrifices, often harsh ones, that are needed for love to bloom, and that these sacrifices must be made by will - not coercion towards or away from, but a pure choice of love is the ultimate individual choice that can be made.

After a brief detour into unexplored terrain, I’ve converted into a lover of art outside my domain; Anime is masked as childish play, but hidden within lie sophisticated questions of meaning and togetherness, portrayed through visuals, in-tune music, and a storyline to wrap it neatly in a memorable package. As a mathematical and literary-minded student, this has given me a theatrical argument that the deepest depths aren’t confined to a specific intellectually-praised, dopamine-deficient medium, but can be hidden between the colors and music that artists paint in short bursts called Anime.