Recommendation: Fifteen anime movies you need to watch.

Being a good anime fan, I have been encouraged to make a list of recommendations (and almost like a top 15) of what I consider the best anime films of recent years. Focusing on the quality of the story they tell, I'll put aside those movies with predecessor animated series. So they can see the film that most catches their attention without having to watch several seasons before. My name is Yahshua, and today I bring you my more-than-ten anime films to watch.

Kotonoha no Niwa or The Garden of Words, my second favorite film from Makoto Shinkai. This director has turned animation cinema upside down, creating successful films in the last decade never before seen in it. (until good, Kimetsu no Yaiba arrived and all that). Kotonoha no Niwa is one of those films that does not seek to surprise you with some plot twist or something similar. On the contrary, it gets fully into the relationship of two characters that cannot be together in any way on their day-to-day. Still, they find their little moment, their forbidden glances, their inspiration and their counter beat on rainy days.

The Memory of Marni, which was the last film (in quotes) of Studio Ghibli for a few years after the retirement of Hayao Miyazaki and the incredible Kaguya-Hime no Monogatari or best known as The Princess Kaguya from director Takahata. Yonebayashi, the director of this film, has never been mainly to my liking, but I think he certainly hit the right key with The Memory of Marni. An excellent adaptation of the famous novel captivates you by the characters and the outstanding and careful attention to detail of Studio Ghibli's animation. And that also has a plot that comes as a surprise and excites you at the end.

Doukyuusei, This is a surprise for me because I think that until now I had not found any yaoi/boys love work, whatever you want to call it, that would make me fall in love in this way and that the plot is straightforward: two boys who They go to the same institute that they start to have a relationship and that despite prejudices or self-doubt, they try to understand each other and be able to move on, that's it. I think the difference comes from Shōko Nakamura and Ē-wan Pikuchāzu exquisitely direct the film as the studio behind it. You know precisely what kind of story you are in front of it and how to take advantage of it—blurring the stage and everything disposable around the characters so that they exist and you feel part of said romance. Besides, I love both protagonists. Primarily it seems to me that he has a vast personality point, very catchy and empathetic. In short, a film of only one hour is a complete delight.

At number 12 is my second favorite Mamoru Hosoda movie, Mirai no Mirai. I honestly do not understand much the indifference that many people have had with this film. It seems to be the roundest I leave that gives and how he gives a twist to the whole family theme that he has always dealt with in his films—using fantasy as an excuse to unite past, present and future on the same plane. Showing us that a significant part of who we are now, because of our parents, grandparents, and family that surround us with the tenderness and brilliant Hosoda's storytelling and the main house's architecture to turn it into another character, the film itself.

Koe no Katachi, and as a reader of the manga, I think that the film overlooks many details and is normal. It is necessary to cut some things because the manga is seven volumes that it is impossible to fit in a single film, although this lasts two and a half hours. But I think that sometimes you lose the perspective of a character entirely without the context that appears in the manga, which happens with this Koe no Katachi movie. It's still a great movie with otherworldly visuals with a director like Naoko Yamada doing what he does best and improving it using today's digital techniques. Thus giving life to a heartbreaking story that I do not think will leave anyone indifferent.

K-on! I consider it not only one of my favorite animes but one of the best life-of-life that have ever been made. I don't think any other series conveys the feeling of friendship. I think you will enjoy an incredible series, with a spectacular breed, incredibly magnetic chemistry between all of them and many moments that will make you excited until the fucking tear. And the movie is that, and more. With the quality of a significant direction again by Naoko Yamada and the perfect tie to the whole series.

Penguin Haiwei or Penguin Highway, the most recent film I have seen of all the ones on this list, and that has entered my top 10 films of the decade without discussion. I'm in love with this movie, and I feel like I haven't had this feeling with one for years, the feeling of being a child and discovering something completely new. He is sitting in the movie theatre, and each step fascinates you, surprises you and wakes you up to endless questions, but without making me feel lost, being fully immersed in his world and his incredibly charismatic characters. Not to mention a fantastic animation, backgrounds, colors and music, all-dancing in perfect tune. The colorful studio offers us a display that I have rarely seen on the big screen, capable of mixing the most organic movements at the point of a pencil, with digital and 3D use to finish with the attention to the tiny details of studies of the caliber of Studio Ghibli. Easily one of my favorite films of recent years and where it lasts for two hours, I have not been able to take my eyes off the screen for a single second.

Kimi to, Nami ni Noretara or Ride your Wave, which for many was the worst and most mainstream film by Masaaki Yuasa, for me it has been the only one of which I have not to doubt whether to put on this list or not. Films like Yoru Wa Mijikashi Aruke yo Otome (Night Is Short, Walk On Girl) or Yoake Tsugeru Rū no Uta (Lu over the Wall) have also been very close to entering, but I don't know why I choose to Ride your Waves. Well, I do understand why it may not be Yuasa's most daring film, let alone the most original, because the plot is nothing more than a romance between the characters with a little fantastic and dramatic twist. Still, I have cried two of the two times that I have seen this movie, and I don't cry with anything. The couple's relationship touches my soul, what unites them and how the film makes you feel not only a spectator but part of their love. The title track of the film, apart from being gorgeous and a mainstay for the plot also becomes a dagger that slowly and painfully clenches your chest as it progresses. I don't know; I think that Yuasa has been able to tell the same old story, but in a way that ultimately concerns me personally; every time I think about it makes me want to cry. Either sadness or happiness.

Kimi no na Wa or Your Name, It is the most influential film of this last decade that was able to dethrone Chihiro's trip as the highest-grossing film in history in Japan (before, again, Kimetsu no Yaiba ) is a film that, having reached so many people, also divides many of them. First, people who think it is incredibly overrated and others believe it is the best anime movie of recent times. In the same way that I think it does not deserve so much hype it has had and the title given to it of the best anime film, I am also unable to listen to its soundtrack without getting emotional. Your name is the only film I have seen twice at the cinema and about six in total at home, in one situation or another, the movie you put on that friend or that you put on your parents who have not seen much anime. Still, you know that at least with this one, he is going to hallucinate and get a little excited. It will not be the best, it will have its flaws, it could have done things better, but it is not to deny that it is a very significant film that either at some point or another it will make your heart beat faster and if not then you are made of stone. It is an accelerated journey that makes your skin crawl, and that will be able to go through time with a Radwimps soundtrack that is already in place and, I believe without discussion, as one of the best anime soundtracks ever.

Suzumiya Haruhi no Shōshitsu or The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, this movie for me is like a good vanilla shake after dinner, the dinner itself may be more or less like it, but when it comes time for dessert, it is complete you're dying because it's time to enjoy that smoothie, that ice cream, whatever. Haruhi Suzumiya, the series for me, is an anime that passes without pain or glory before me, a life of life that had its moments, but that I did not fall in love as I would have liked. However, the film is the culmination of all this. It is the union of all the threads left in the series and a step further. A step further in the evolution of the characters and a step further in everything that involves production. Kyoto Animation takes every opportunity to shine enormously in every way. I find it challenging to recommend anime, to remember Haruhi to anyone, but when I think that they can enjoy these last two and a half hours of film, my decision to recommend it becomes exponentially much easier. I believe that everyone should see it, and everyone should have the context of the series so that there are moments that come to them much more that wake up that click. Even so, if the string is very long, if you have not been able to finish it, if you have tried at least watch the movie although many times you will feel lost, I think it is worth it because it simply does not make any sense how good it is.

Konosuba: Kurenai Densetsu, I may be breaking my word here about no movies without predecessor anime series, but Knosuba has directly become my favourite comedy anime. I know that comedy is one of the most subjective things in history, that I can laugh at myself, I can die at the house with Konosuba, and you can see it and not be damn funny, but it seems to me simply brilliant. A hilarious script, an incredibly charismatic cast of characters, with which you will cry with laughter and excess that, apart from laughing, will completely dislodge you most of the time. And I make this description referring to the series; as far as the film is concerned, it seems to me that this is multiplied by a million. Without a doubt, the film that I have laughed at the most. It is Knosuba's formula shining for an hour and a half with the definition of the Pulp Fiction’s script writer himself that these kinds of films are the reason why cinema was invented. If you like Knosuba, it doesn't make any sense how good this movie is, and if you haven't seen that Konosuba, do yourself a favour and watch the first two seasons and then enjoy what for me is the best comedy anime movie of the last years and indeed my whole life.

Kizumonogatari trilogy, the Monogatari saga is one of the sagas that has caught my attention the most. I have come to consider it one of my favourite anime because it was the first one that made me see that the medium could be more than mere entertainment. Kizumonogatari manages to mix two completely different worlds and in a way that has never been achieved until now. The completely traditional hand-drawn and two-dimensional animation with 3D. 3D that, Apart from being computer-generated, is ultra-realistic. a contrast that on paper seems unfeasible, but that Shaft, the studio behind this anime, has managed to dominate and take advantage of it without forgetting what made the saga special. It is a complete media display divided into three films that make no sense at the level to which the series rises and the medium with, also, all those ionized moments that will dislodge your jaw. Kizumonogatari is chronologically the first, so you could watch these movies without having seen anything before, but I would recommend watching the series in order of broadcast and discovering the magic of what started everything at the end.

Kaijuu no kodomo or children of the sea, Kaijuu no kodomo seems to be one of the best films and one of the most influential for the entire anime medium of the last decade. I say all this without analyzing the film, dissecting it, and trying to understand each step because I sincerely believe that it is unnecessary. I think they feel as if it is more a film of sensations than a movie you have to understand with a trip from point A to point B. They are metaphors, emotions, experiences, feelings, climaxes coming to life in animation. Kaijuu no kodomo as is the 2001 ultra sensory journey space odyssey or the final festival of Suspiria. It is a film that envelops you, turns your stomach and all the senses and lets you go so that you can soak up thousands of things that you want to soak up in it. It is an entirely inspiring movie that makes you see life from each perspective at the same time.

Wolf Children, even though I wouldn't say I like all Mamoru Hosoda movies, I especially like him as a director. Still, for Bakemono no Ko, I'm not fond of anything at all. Summer Wars is not a holy movie either of my devotion. Even so, his central theme is latent in all of them, which is, as in Mirai no Mirai, the family. And I think Wolf Children of 2012 is the culmination of all his work, and I have never personally surpassed Wolf Children. I have seen it about 8, 10 times, and I have been excited about each of them even though I know what will happen and how it will happen. Without being a father, I understood how difficult it can be and how happy it can make you. The problematic dilemma between wanting to protect them and mark the path that Would you like for them or let them decide, that they form their way and cross their fingers so that everything you have taught them and all the values ​​that they have instilled in them make it go well for them. Simultaneously, you say goodbye with everything the pain in your heart because you can't do anything else. Because no matter what happens, no matter how old they are, they will continue to be your children (here I cry) and the figure of a father and a mother who does everything for you. Never in life does it disappear for you or them, and just thinking about it, remembering how the film is capable of transmitting all this in such a perfect, direct and straightforward way destroys me.

Now, what has been the best movie of recent years is a masterpiece by Hayao Miyazaki, The Wind Rises or Kaze teaching in Japanese. The one that was supposed to be his last film and where he omitted "fantasy and magic" a bit to focus on one of the most mature works in his repertoire. Going aside from the incredible animation of Studio Ghibli in his glory years, I think that in this film, Miyasaki describes himself directly and strips more than he would like. Adapting the story of a character who is so obsessed with his work, what he can bring to the world and his passion that everything else around him fades away, including his family or the love of his life who passes before her eyes much faster than he would like. It is a simply magnificent, passionate and inspiring film. You feel the protagonists' deep love without them kissing or telling each other an inch from the face they feel and the pain of the same with a mere breeze of wind.

So far, these were 15 favourite anime movies to watch for all those who would like to enter this animation world. There have been many more that I have loved, but I had to cut back a bit and show you the ones that have been especially most important to me. Thanks :)