10 Best War Anime Movies, Ranked

129 8 minutes read

Poignant and highly effective tales which discover considered one of humanity’s most devastating and calamitous experiences, warfare is the topic of among the most acclaimed narratives throughout mediums & historical past. Be it a yearning for blood-pumping motion, intriguing methods and politics of large-scale conflicts, or the human drama and tragedy in mild of the target horridness of warfare, military-themed cinema has at all times uniquely appealed to audiences.

Anime isn’t any exception, and among the medium’s most impactful cinematic exemplars dive deep into warfare, inspecting its horrors and implications via the lens of fiction. From historic movies rising as much as the problem of recounting humankind’s historical past of battle to mecha and fantasy anime delving into real-life points via an allegorical lens, unbelievable anime motion pictures heart across the topic of warfare, every approaching the troublesome theme from a novel perspective.

10 Best War Anime, Ranked

Some of the anime medium’s most compelling and thought-provoking works are devoted to depicting how warfare and its horrors have an effect on folks.

10

Porco Rosso’s Fierce Anti-War Sentiments Shine in Studio Ghibli’s Creative Action-Adventure

Streaming on Max

Despite the legendary director’s repute because the creator of anime’s most magical family-oriented adventures, Hayao Miyazaki’s filmography isn’t any stranger to warfare – be it within the fictional context of Nausicaä or the extra sensible method in The Wind Rises. A fusion between the 2, Porco Rosso follows a World War I fighter ace who was became a pig by a magical curse, now crusing the skies as a talented bounty hunter.

1:50

Split Images of The Wind Rises, Grave of The Fireflies, and The Boy and The Heron

15 Darkest Studio Ghibli Movies, Ranked

Not each Ghibli movie is as gleeful as Ponyo or My Neighbor Totoro; some motion pictures are completely haunting, venturing into darkish themes and heavy ideas.

Porco Rosso masterfully blends the fantastical appeal of Miyazaki’s directorial type with sensible allusions to historical past and politics, the movie famously selling highly effective anti-war and anti-fascist messaging. While lighthearted in its adventurous plot and witty with its character writing, Porco Rosso is a thought-provoking movie extra nuanced than meets the attention.

Porco Rosso

Release Date: July 18, 1992
Runtime: 93 minutes

9

In This Corner of the World Merges Slice-of-Life and War Drama

Streaming on Crunchyroll

In This Corner of the World's Shuusaku Houjou and Suzu Urano

While most military-themed narratives concentrate on how warfare impacts these straight concerned within the battle, simply as beneficial are explorations of warfare’s devastation of unusual lives. In This Corner of the World’s heroine, the artistically inclined and kind-hearted Suzu leads a easy existence on the outskirts of Hiroshima – till World War II comes knocking at her door.

The movie’s mixture of somber slice-of-life plots centered on Suzu’s mundane troubles and all of the methods – each refined and life-changing – that war alters her reality makes for a uniquely heartfelt viewing expertise. In This Corner of the World’s poignantly human method to depicting warfare’s horrors is a sobering reminder of how far-reaching and cruelly indiscriminate large-scale warfare actually is.

In This Corner of the World

Release Date: November 12, 2016
Runtime: 129 Minutes
Director: Sunao Katabuchi
Writers: Sunao Katabuchi, Fumiyo Kono, Chie Uratani

8

The Sky Crawlers Presents an Alternate History Where Wars Are Waged in a World of Global Peace

Streaming on Apple TV

After humanity has achieved world peace, wars are superficially orchestrated between firms to fulfill humanity’s pure aggressive tendencies. Dying in these conflicts are Kildren, forever-young synthetic people whose odd but tragic lives the movie follows.

Unique in each its idea and execution, The Sky Crawlers is mild on motion but dense with existential contemplation, its heavy ambiance and gradual tempo inspiring the viewers to lose themselves within the movie’s somber world and replicate on the very actual implications of warfare and its purposelessness the narrative poses.

The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces

Released: January 12, 2010

7

Memories Is a Sci-Fi Anthology Featuring Two Very Different War-Themed Entries

Streaming on Prime

A character in a large suit sits on a chair in the Memories 1995 anime — Image through Shochiku

A uncommon anime characteristic to make the most of the anthology format, Memories is a group of three science fiction brief movies, every produced by a unique trade legend and distinctive in its theme, style, and artwork type. Although essentially the most well-known a part of Memories, Magnetic Rose, is a space-themed psychological horror that has nothing to do with warfare, the remaining two shorts embrace very totally different but equally engaging takes on the topic.

The movie posters of Perfect Blue, Memories and Angel's Egg

10 Most Thought-Provoking Anime Films

Anime movies like The End of Evangelion and The Garden of Sinners are shining examples of anime’s capacity to problem viewers’ views.

Stink Bomb is a darkish comedy a couple of man who by chance turns himself right into a organic weapon, plunging Japan into grotesque chaos, and Cannon Fodder is a gritty, brutal warfare drama that, whereas missing in standard narrative points, offers the viewers rather a lot to consider. While little connects the segments of Memories outdoors of the sci-fi style, each of the movie’s war-themed entries have sturdy thematic attraction and handle to inform insightful, thought-provoking tales in a concise, hard-hitting method.

Memories

Release Date: December 23, 1995
Runtime: 113 minutes
Director: Katsuhiro Otomo, Koji Morimoto
Producers: Hiroaki Inoue, Masao Maruyama, Shigeru Watanabe, Atsushi Sugita, Yoshimasa Mizuo, Eiko Tanaka, Makoto Yamashina, Teruo Miyahara

6

Berserk: The Golden Age Arc Brings Dark Fantasy’s Best War Story to Life

Streaming on Crunchyroll

The influential cult basic of the darkish fantasy style, Berserk has by no means had a stellar observe file in the case of anime adaptation. However, the collection’ most competent try to breach the hole between mediums additionally occurs to adapt its most well-known arc: the Golden Age. Brutal in its depiction of fantasy warfare, The Golden Age Arc film trilogy chronicles Guts’ early days as a member of The Band of the Hawk – a mercenary group led by the formidable and charismatic Griffith.

While extra impactful within the grander context of Berserk’s storyline, The Golden Age Arc works extremely properly as an introduction to the medium’s greatest excessive fantasy epic, highlighting all three of its greatest points – the stellar character writing, the mesmerizing brutality of its motion, and the haunting darkness of its worldbuilding.

Berserk

Created by: Kentaro Miura
First Film: Berserk: The Golden Age Arc 1: The Egg of the King
First TV Show: Berserk

Summary

Berserk (Japanese: ベルセルク, Hepburn: Beruseruku) is a Japanese manga collection written and illustrated by Kentaro Miura. Set in a medieval Europe-inspired darkish fantasy world, the story facilities on the characters of Guts, a lone swordsman, and Griffith, the chief of a mercenary band known as the “Band of the Hawk”. The collection follows Guts’ journey in search of revenge on Griffith, who betrayed him and sacrificed his comrades to develop into a strong demonic being.

5

The Mobile Suit Gundam Movie Compilation Shaped Mecha Warfare’s Current Identity

Streaming on Netflix

The Mobile Suit Gundam franchise was a history-altering milestone for anime as a medium, kickstarting the golden age of mecha – a style famously targeted on area warfare and allusions to real-life army themes. Still anime’s most outstanding mecha collection, Gundam has come a great distance and expanded its universe significantly over its half-century-long historical past.

The unique Mobile Suit Gundam narrative stays a basic of army sci-fi, and one of the simplest ways to expertise this iconic story is the 1981 Mobile Suit Gundam movie trilogy. Condensing the 43-episode plot of the primary Gundam TV collection right into a a lot brisker and extra participating format, the old-school Gundam movies epitomize every thing that makes the franchise so timelessly interesting – from its area opera drama and large robotic motion to the thematic complexity and realism.

4

Patlabor 2: The Movie Explores the Nuances of Military Politics

Not Currently Available for Streaming

Section 2 receives their orders in Patlabor.

War is ever-present in mecha anime, but the Patlabor franchise is a extra grounded tackle large robots that focuses on their implementation in day-to-day life. The franchise by no means favored the over-the-top area battles the style is most identified for. Instead, Patlabor explores army themes from the angle of a political drama, considering the ethics of utilizing army power in peaceable instances and reflecting on how the very threats of warfare and terrorism have an effect on society as an entire.

Patlabor Is the Most Underrated Mecha Anime Franchise

More all the way down to Earth and relatable than most mecha anime, the basic Patlabor franchise has iterations set throughout manga, anime, motion pictures and different medium

Patlabor 2: The Movie is especially notable for leaning into the franchise’s social commentary connotations, being rooted within the historical past of post-World War II Japan. While not a standard warfare film, Patlabor 2 is an insightful and thought-provoking examination of the topic’s broader themes.

Patlabor: The Movie

Release Date: July 15, 1989
Runtime: 100 Minutes

Cast

Toshio Furukawa

Asuma Shinohara
Ryusuke Ohbayashi

Kiichi Goto
Yoshiko Sakakibara

Shinobu Nagumo

3

Akira’s Legacy as a Cyberpunk Cult Classic Remains Undisputed

Streaming on Crunchyroll

Arguably the most iconic anime film of the ‘80s, Akira takes place in a dystopia devastated by the flames of World War III – a disaster set into movement by a toddler with psychic powers destroying town of Tokyo. Decades later, the world in Akira stays merciless and apocalyptic – the rebuilt Neo-Tokyo stricken by civil unrest, gang violence, and a brand new large-scale tragedy looming on the horizon.

While largely remembered for its creative deserves and affect on the cyberpunk style, Akira is simply as competent in exploring the themes of warfare, its lasting penalties, and the advanced relationship between army forces and civilians. Fans of cyberpunk have this cult basic anime film to thank for the way warfare and army are portrayed within the style to this present day.

Akira

Release Date: July 16, 1988
Runtime: 124 Minutes

2

Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade Is a Complex Meditation on Violent Political Ideologies

Streaming on Crunchyroll

Set in an alternate model of post-World War II Japan torn by authoritarian rule, social unrest, and terrorist threats, Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade is an underrated gem that explores how warfare and oppression rupture human nature in agonizing element. Kazuki Fuse, upon witnessing a teenage woman perish in a suicide bombing, units on a journey to reevaluate his understanding of war, human nature, and beliefs. Jin-Roh is each thematically dense and endlessly compelling.

The theme of warfare within the movie is available in as each a component of its different historical past worldbuilding and the throughline connecting the horrid state of Jin-Roh’s society to its previous. A murals with rather a lot to say about timeless topics, Jin-Roh is a basic of military-themed cinema extra folks would profit from experiencing.

1

Grave of the Fireflies Is Brutally Honest in Its Depiction of War’s Lasting Horrors

Streaming on Netflix

Studio Ghibli’s darkest movie and some of the tragic warfare motion pictures in historical past, Grave of the Fireflies takes the viewers to grueling war-torn Japan on the tail finish of humanity’s most devastating large-scale battle: World War II. The movie’s principal characters are a pair of orphaned siblings traversing the Japanese countryside in a determined – and fruitless – try to survive.

A soul-crushing tragedy exploring the repercussions of warfare from an intimately human, emotionally shifting perspective of youngsters, Grave of the Fireflies is a poignant anti-war movie that doesn’t pull its punches. Instead of main into the warfare theme’s motion attraction or dramatic thrill, the movie is an earnest and grounded meditation on warfare’s horror and inescapable struggling.