Of course, there are two anime by Hayao Miyazaki in this list.
Anime has become increasingly popular in recent years. Japanese animation is watched by people of all ages, as it was not originally aimed at children, but at teenagers and adults.
This explains the variety of genres, and the presence of large full-length projects. Many anime are so deep in their meaning, quality and content that they can claim an Oscar.
1. Howl's Moving Castle, 2004
Hayao Miyazaki's anime Howl's Moving Castle is a fairly free adaptation of the fantasy novel of the same name by Diana Wynne Jones. The British author's main character Sophie Hatter was a witch and a very assertive girl, and the wizard Howl was a womanizer.
Miyazaki turned Sophie into a modest girl and Howl into a narcissist whose complexes the girl has to sort out. However, thanks to her will and perseverance, the girl overcomes the difficulties that befall her, trapped in the body of an old woman, with dignity.
2. The Wind Rises, 2013
Hayao Miyazaki made an anime based on his own manga about the life of Jiro Horikoshi, a man who designed Japanese fighter planes during World War II and fell in love with a sweet girl, Nahoko, whom he rescued from an earthquake.
It is a touching project, but not the best and (as it turned out later) not the last work of the great master.
3. When Marnie Was There, 2014
Anna, a girl who lost her parents, is withdrawn and rather rude, has a passion for drawing, but no friends at all. The situation changes when she arrives on the island of Hokkaido, where she meets Marnie. The girls become friends, but Anna sometimes feels that Marnie is a figment of her imagination.
When Marnie Was There, by children's author Joan Robinson, ranked eighteenth on the famous list of fifty children's books that Hayao Miyazaki recommended. It is not surprising that his studio Ghibli took on the task of adapting this work for the screen.
The unhurried narrative in the first half of the movie is more than compensated for by the twists and turns in the second half. But first and foremost, this is a story about friendship that knows no boundaries or time limits.
4. Mirai, 2018
The movie tells the story of a young boy named Kun who is facing a serious problem: he has a little sister, Mirai, who takes all their parents' attention. He is not very happy about this and starts to feel jealous. Kun hides in his favorite garden, where he discovers a mysterious gate that turns out to be a portal to the past.
There he meets his mother, still a little girl, and his great-grandfather, a young man in his prime. These unusual adventures will allow the boy to see everything differently and help him become a real older brother.