How Anime Films Help Me Find the Beauty and Wonder in Ordinary Moments
With 10 film recommendations to get you started
Anime brings back the wonder of childhood
I didn’t discover the world of anime films until I was an adult, but as I worked my way through the Studio Ghibli filmography of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata I was inspired by the calming peacefulness of these films. I soon dived deeper and discovered other similar slice of life anime filmmakers like Mamoru Hosoda and Makoto Shinkai. These films were such a breath of fresh air that have helped bring back the wonder of my childhood and retain the joy and peace of being young in everyday moments.
Making everyday moments surreal
There’s something magical in anime when you see everyday life in Japan transposed into beautiful animation. Seeing normal life painted in such an artistic way with soothing voices and calming music made me take in my own everyday moments more deeply. Everything, from the portrayal of food, to buildings, to trees, parks, and clouds, in these films, compels me to view everyday moments in a new appreciative light. My walk from the parking garage to my office or spending an evening playing in the backyard with my son now seems more magical and surreal.
Everyday life is cinematic
These films make me realize that I’m living a beautiful life that is worthy of gratefulness and joy. I don’t need a bigger pay check, better house, nicer car, or fancier vacations to experience joy. Everyday life is cinematic as I start to envision an enhanced artistic anime version of everything I see and my “boring” life, all of a sudden, seems romantic and a form of living nostalgia.
The beauty we already possess
There’s something powerful about ”slice of life” films because they show us that human connection and the beauty of ordinary life is in and of itself entertaining and artistic. Other genres of film cultivate dissatisfaction, envy, or escapism as are lives seem small in contrast to the larger than life adventures but “slice of life films” show us the beauty that we already possess.
So take a dive into the world of anime with a few of my favorite anime films below (in no particular order):
The Garden of Words (2013) — Directed by Makoto Shinkai
Whisper of the Heart (1995) — Directed by Yoshifumi Kondō
Wolf Children (2012) — Directed by Mamoru Hosoda
5 Centimeters Per Second (2007) — Directed by Makoto Shinkai
From Up On Poppy Hill (2011) — Directed by Goro Miyazaki
My Neighbor Totoro (1988) — Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Mirai (2018) — Directed by Mamoru Hosoda
Spirited Away (2001) — Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Josee, the Tiger and the Fish (2020) — Directed by Kotaro Tamura
Colorful (2010) – Directed by Keiichi Hara
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I enjoy anime films like these, for the same reasons you mentioned. I've watched most of them and some of the others are on my to-be watched list. If you don't mind, i recommend "I want to eat your pancreas", it's one of my best watches.
I agree wholeheartedly with this. I just wrote a blog about why anime is one of the greatest mediums of storytelling out there, and that Hollywood has more to learn from it than most people want to admit.