# The 31 Best Anime Films of the 2000s

> Ghibli's hand-drawn peak shares this decade with mind-bending psychological thrillers, cult action spectacles and a few quiet films that only found their audience years later.

*By YPB Team · Published October 31, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-31-best-anime-films-of-the-2000s*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Spirited Away** — score 1000/1000
   Hayao Miyazaki's 2001 Studio Ghibli fantasy about a girl trapped in a spirit bathhouse, winner of the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.
2. **Howl's Moving Castle** — score 897/1000
   Miyazaki's 2004 Ghibli adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones' novel about a cursed young woman and a vain wizard's walking castle.
3. **Summer Days with Coo** — score 822/1000
   Keiichi Hara's 2007 film about a boy who befriends a kappa revived from centuries of sleep.
4. **Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone** — score 795/1000
   The 2007 first Rebuild of Evangelion film, retelling the opening of the series with new animation.
5. **5 Centimeters per Second** — score 708/1000
   Makoto Shinkai's 2007 three-part story of two childhood friends drifting apart over the years.
6. **Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust** — score 708/1000
   Yoshiaki Kawajiri's 2000 gothic action film following the dhampir hunter D on the trail of a kidnapped woman.
7. **The Sky Crawlers** — score 658/1000
   Mamoru Oshii's 2008 film about eternally young fighter pilots in a staged corporate war.
8. **Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence** — score 610/1000
   Mamoru Oshii's 2004 sequel in which Batou investigates gynoids that murder their owners; it competed at Cannes.
9. **Summer Wars** — score 602/1000
   Mamoru Hosoda's 2009 film in which a math prodigy and a sprawling family fight a rogue AI in a virtual world.
10. **The Cat Returns** — score 601/1000
   Studio Ghibli's 2002 fantasy about a schoolgirl whisked away to the Kingdom of Cats after saving a cat prince.
11. **Conqueror of Shamballa** — score 601/1000
   The 2005 Fullmetal Alchemist film that concludes the 2003 series, with Edward Elric stranded in 1920s Germany.
12. **Millennium Actress** — score 538/1000
   Satoshi Kon's 2001 film that follows a retired actress whose memories blur with the roles she played across Japanese cinema history.
13. **Piano Forest** — score 538/1000
   Madhouse's 2007 film about a boy who grows up playing an abandoned piano in a forest and a rival from a family of pianists.
14. **Tales from Earthsea** — score 538/1000
   Goro Miyazaki's 2006 Ghibli debut, loosely based on Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea books.
15. **Metropolis** — score 466/1000
   Rintaro's 2001 adaptation of Osamu Tezuka's manga, scripted by Katsuhiro Otomo, about a robot girl in a towering city.
16. **Mind Game** — score 466/1000
   Masaaki Yuasa's 2004 feature debut, a wildly inventive story about a loser who gets a second chance at life.
17. **The Adult Empire Strikes Back** — score 466/1000
   Keiichi Hara's 2001 Crayon Shin-chan film about a nostalgia-obsessed cult, often called the franchise's masterpiece.
18. **Paprika** — score 466/1000
   Satoshi Kon's 2006 psychedelic thriller about a device that lets therapists enter patients' dreams.
19. **The Place Promised in Our Early Days** — score 466/1000
   Makoto Shinkai's 2004 feature debut about two boys, a girl and a mysterious tower in an alternate divided Japan.
20. **Cowboy Bebop: The Movie** — score 466/1000
   Shinichiro Watanabe's 2001 film in which the Bebop crew hunts a bioterrorist on Mars.
21. **Mai Mai Miracle** — score 466/1000
   Sunao Katabuchi's 2009 film about a girl in 1950s rural Yamaguchi who imagines the town's thousand-year-old past.
22. **The Girl Who Leapt Through Time** — score 466/1000
   Mamoru Hosoda's 2006 film about a high schooler who discovers she can leap backward in time.
23. **Blood: The Last Vampire** — score 384/1000
   Production I.G's 2000 short feature about a vampire hunter at a US air base in Japan during the Vietnam War.
24. **Sword of the Stranger** — score 384/1000
   Bones' 2007 samurai film about a nameless ronin protecting a boy from Ming dynasty warriors.
25. **Tekkonkinkreet** — score 290/1000
   Michael Arias' 2006 Studio 4°C film about two street orphans, Black and White, defending their city from yakuza.
26. **Ponyo** — score 290/1000
   Miyazaki's 2008 hand-drawn tale of a goldfish princess who wants to become a human girl.
27. **Steamboy** — score 290/1000
   Katsuhiro Otomo's 2004 steampunk adventure about a young inventor caught up in a fight over a powerful steam ball in Victorian Britain.
28. **Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance** — score 179/1000
   The 2009 second Rebuild film, which breaks away from the original series with new pilots and set pieces.
29. **Redline** — score 179/1000
   Takeshi Koike's hand-drawn racing film, seven years in the making, which premiered at Locarno in 2009.
30. **Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children** — score 179/1000
   Square Enix's 2005 CG-animated sequel to Final Fantasy VII, following Cloud Strife two years after the game.
31. **Tokyo Godfathers** — score 0/1000
   Satoshi Kon's 2003 Christmas story about three homeless people in Tokyo who find an abandoned baby.

Tags: movies, 2000s, animation, japan