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The Summit of the Gods is based on a manga series by Jiro Taniguchi, which was in turn inspired by a novel written by Baku Yumemakura. The plot follows climber Fukamachi, on the trek with a friend, when he comes upon a camera. Closer inspection reveals it belonged to another climber, George Mallory, a photojournalist who never returned from his ill-fated climb.
Although the original source materials are Japanese, the animated movie is a collaborative effort that includes animation and production companies from France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Many of the following titles are similar, created and released by writers, animators, and directors from all over the world and equally loved by audiences and critics.
7 Flee (2021)
Amin Nawabi currently lives in Denmark, and he’s looking forward to getting married. On the surface, Flee is a heartwarming story of love and acceptance, but underneath the surface is the harrowing tale of Amin’s flight from his home country of Afghanistan as a refugee.
The movie is fairly new to North America, seeing a limited release in theaters in December 2021, but it’s already received critical acclaim in a variety of other venues. Flee was initially released at the Sundance Film Festival in January of the same year, so it spent about 12 months winning awards, including being nominated for a few at the Oscars, before most people even had a chance to see it.
6 The Animatrix (2003)
Browsing through a digital library that seems like an endless catalog of information, the viewer finds a collection of nine animated short films that take place at various stages in the lore of The Matrix universe. There’s a nice variety of styles here since there’s a different writer and director for every segment, but The Animatrix is intended to simulate the information that a researcher might find in Zion or the machine city.
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Most of the animated shorts are stories about the history of humans and machines in general, but there are some directly connected to the events from other parts of the franchise. Kid’s Story takes place a few months before The Matrix Reloaded and The Final Flight of the Osiris sets up the premise for the video game, Enter the Matrix.
5 Belle (2021)
The latest offering from the brilliant Mamoru Hosoda and Studio Chizu, Belle does borrow the basic plotline from Beauty and the Beast, but that’s not what got this film a 14-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival. The story also confronts issues of trauma, abuse, and loss, with some of the most stunning animation audiences have ever seen.
It looks like a fantasy that takes place in a virtual world, but the stakes are painfully real and extremely high. Suzu Naito, the main character, loved to sing until she watched her mother drown saving another child. The trauma of this loss robbed her of her voice, and she can only regain it in a virtual world called U. It’s here that she interacts with the Dragon, this adaptation’s version of the “beast” where they find out you can’t judge a person by their avatar.
4 The Red Turtle (2016)
A French film originally known as La Tortue Rouge, this is more than a simple tale of survival and escape. Dutch animator and writer Michaël Dudok de Wit is responsible for the story and direction, while Studio Ghibli and a variety of French animation studios brought the ideas to life.
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It looks like a documentary at first, even a found-footage type movie given that there’s little or no dialogue. The story evolves into a fantasy drama in which survival is no longer the challenge, and escape falls off the priority list completely. The ultimate moral of the story is that paradise is where you find it.
3 Ghost In The Shell: Innocence
Ghost In The Shell: Innocence is the only direct sequel to the original Ghost In The Shell that started the whole cyberpunk trend and blew the world’s collective mind. Mokoto does make an appearance, but it’s little more than a cameo near the story’s conclusion.
Instead, her disappearance is the subject of some speculation between Batou and Togusa as they investigate a series of gruesome murders perpetrated by seemingly harmless companionship dolls. The plot is a slow burn that’s more about the nuances of the investigation and poetry quotations than action sequences.
2 Perfect Blue (1997)
This movie isn’t exactly new, but the animation and storyline have stood the test of time surprisingly well. In a time when social media has the power to elevate lives or destroy them, the harrowing tale of a pop idol and her stalker are still relevant.
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The film was directed by Satoshi Kon, and like many of his other films, the story and images often blur the line between reality and fantasy. The film has segments where it plays like a news or gossip column about the main character, Mima Kirigoe, a former pop idol who is trying to break into mainstream acting. The tone of the movie changes to psychological horror when Mima’s stalker surfaces and a series of gruesome murders take place, and always near her location.
1 Where Is Anne Frank (2021)
Where Is Anne Frank takes the famous story of a lost diary and tells it from another perspective. Directed by Ari Folman and produced by various animation companies in Europe and Israel, this version of The Diary of Anne Frank tells the story from Kitty’s point of view, including her quest to find out what happened to Anne Frank.
“Kitty” was the name to whom Anne addressed her diary, and it’s usually assumed that this person was imaginary, but nobody really knows for sure. Aside from Kitty’s search, the plot includes the rise of the Nazi Party, daily life in the Secret Annex where Anne and her family were hidden, and connects the subject to the modern plight of refugees and human rights.
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