Skip to content
Curated category

Drama anime and manga

  • My Neighbor TotoroMy Neighbor Totoro, a 1988 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, opens on a family driving to an old house in the…
  • Kiki's Delivery ServiceKiki's Delivery Service opens with a rule every witch must follow. On turning thirteen, she leaves home alone for a year, taking only a cat and a broomstick.
  • The Cat ReturnsIn 1995, Studio Ghibli released a film titled Whisper of the Heart. That project introduced Baron, a cat figurine who came to life within a fantasy sequence.
  • Only Yesterday (1991 film)"Only Yesterday" cost its color department roughly a year of searching for a single shade of red. The goal was accurately capturing the safflower in summer…
  • Whisper of the HeartWhisper of the Heart is a 1995 Japanese animated film that begins with a small, almost invisible mystery: a girl notices that every library book she picks up…
  • Kurau Phantom MemoryKurau Phantom Memory begins with a birthday gone wrong. A twelve-year-old girl named Kurau follows her father, Dr. Amami, into his lab.
  • The Wind RisesThe Wind Rises opens not with a battle or a disaster, but with a boy's dream. In 1918, Jiro Horikoshi longs to fly. His eyes are too weak to let him be a…
  • Kaze to Ki no UtaKaze to Ki no Uta opens with a scene that its publisher's editors spent nearly seven years trying to prevent from reaching readers: Gilbert Cocteau in bed…
  • Heidi, Girl of the AlpsIn the summer of 1973, Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki traveled to Maienfeld in Switzerland. They spent two days walking through the mountains that would…
  • Oshi no KoOn the night of Ai Hoshino's delivery, obstetrician Gorou Amamiya stands in a hospital room filled with the sterile scent of antiseptic and the hum of…
  • Royal Space Force: The Wings of HonnêamiseRoyal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise began not in a studio but in a proposal handed to a toy company executive in September 1984.
  • Space Runaway IdeonSunrise produced Space Runaway Ideon in 1980, immediately following the massive success of Mobile Suit Gundam. Director Yoshiyuki Tomino led the project with…