That strange week when nobody knows what day it is deserves a film night. These five are worth turning the lights off for.
Between December 26 and New Year's Eve there is a week where time stops: leftovers, pyjamas, no plans. It is the best week of the year for a long film on the biggest screen in the house.
These five anime films each work for a different kind of evening, from a family afternoon to a date night to the friend who swears they do not like anime. Pick the evening, then pick the film.
1. Your Name (2016)
2016 · Film · CoMix Wave Films
A city boy and a country girl start waking up in each other's bodies, and a comet changes everything.
Makoto Shinkai's film became one of the highest-grossing anime films of all time, and the twist halfway through is the reason people go back to watch it again. RADWIMPS' songs carry the whole second half.
It is the anime film for people who do not watch anime, and the best one to show someone you want to impress.
2. Spirited Away (2001)
2001 · Film · Studio Ghibli
A girl gets lost in a bathhouse for spirits and has to work her way out. It won the Oscar and it still feels like nothing else.
Chihiro, Haku, No-Face and the witch Yubaba belong to the most famous anime film ever made, and Hayao Miyazaki fills every corner of it with something strange to look at. Kids love the spirits, adults notice what the film is saying about work and greed.
Put it on in the afternoon with the whole family. Nobody walks away.
3. Akira (1988)
1988 · Film · Tokyo Movie Shinsha
Neo-Tokyo, 2019. A biker gang, a government experiment and a friend who gains powers he cannot control.
Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira was drawn by hand, frame by frame, and nothing since has looked quite like Kaneda's bike sliding sideways through the neon. It is the film that made the West take anime seriously.
Show it to the friend who says anime is for kids. They will not say it again.
4. Princess Mononoke (1997)
1997 · Film · Studio Ghibli
A cursed prince walks into a war between a mining town and the gods of the forest. It is Miyazaki at his biggest.
Ashitaka, San, Lady Eboshi and the Forest Spirit make Princess Mononoke the most grown-up Ghibli film, with battles, wolf gods and a forest that looks alive. Joe Hisaishi's score sounds best loud.
Save it for the night you can turn the volume up and the lights off.
5. Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
2004 · Film · Studio Ghibli
A young hat maker cursed into an old woman moves into a walking castle with a vain, kind, impossible wizard.
Sophie, Howl and Calcifer the fire demon are Ghibli's great romance, and the castle clanking across the hills is one of the studio's most loved images. Sophie's hat counter at the start is as cozy as a winter evening gets.
It is the Ghibli film couples rewatch every December. Pour something warm and press play.
Want to make a night of it? Two of these back to back with snacks is the best kind of New Year's Eve warm-up.
And if one of these is someone's favourite film, the shelf under it is the gift that will remind them of the night you watched it.
More gift ideas: Anime Christmas Gifts, Anime Stocking Stuffers, Cozy Anime Gifts, Anime Gift Boxes.
How we picked: five feature films that work as a big night in, ordered by Anime Crush on how wide an audience each one wins over. Years and studios are from the original Japanese release.
