RELATED: Best Anime Movies You Can Watch For Free On Tubi
Launching in 2020, RetroCrush is a free anime streaming platform that specializes in old series and movies. The service has an impressive selection of both formats, and while the films are less well-known than projects such as Perfect Blue or Your Name, there are some stellar titles on offer. Here are the best anime movies available to stream on RetroCrush.
Memories (1995)
An anthology sci-fi series, Memories takes inspiration from three of Katsuhiro Otomo’s short manga. Touching upon mature themes through grim dark visuals, Memories is a technical tour-de-force, with each short utilizing a different art style.
Split into Magnetic Rose, Stink Bomb, and Cannon Fodder, each entry contains unique ideas along with a different tone that sets it apart from its partners. Magnetic Rose is the most effective short in the collection, but there is also a lot to love in Stink Bomb’s black humor and Cannon Fodder’s experimental animation.
Adolescence Of Utena (1999)
An alternate take on the influential Revolutionary Girl Utena series, Adolescence of Utena is about a tomboy who attends a new school and gets involved in a war to capture Anthy’s hand. Ripe with symbolism, Adolescence of Utena is not only a masterpiece in terms of animation but also storytelling.
It is recommended to watch the series prior to the movie as the latter can be difficult to follow on its own. More importantly, both the show and film are fantastic works of art.
Hells (2008)
An adaptation of the Hells Angels manga, Madhouse’s Hells is an energetic explosion of bizarre character designs, kinetic action sequences, and striking visuals. Amagane Rinne inadvertently finds herself in hell, so the high school girl sets out on a quest to escape from her new home.
RELATED: Best Anime On Hulu (November 2021)
Hells has a simple storyline that primarily serves to highlight the movie’s fun characters and environments. Surprising nobody, Madhouse brought its A-game for the animation, delivering one of the studio’s most unique art styles in the process.
Cardcaptor Sakura: The Movie (1999)
A side-story to the brilliant ’90s magical girl anime, Cardcaptor Sakura: The Movie takes everything great about the show and adds a feature-length budget. Sakura and her friends win a trip to Hong Kong, a journey that ultimately proves to be anything but relaxing.
Cardcaptor Sakura has always succeeded in balancing its magical and slice of life elements, exploring its characters not just as larger-than-life heroes but also ordinary people. The film understands and highlights this aspect of the franchise, and it does it extremely well.
Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (1999)
Directed by Hiroyuki Okiura and penned by Mamoru Oshii, who had previously directed Ghost in the Shell, Jin-Roh takes place in a borderline dystopian Japan where the government keeps people in check through an army of armor-touting cops. Fuse is one such person, but he begins to question his role after witnessing the death of a girl.
Jin-Roh is a slow-paced thriller that seeks to create a constant mood of fear and depression, the latter of which is echoed through the movie’s washed-out color palette. Although a testing watch at times, Jin-Roh is engrossing.
Barefoot Gen (1983)
The perfect companion piece to Studio Ghibli’s Grave of the Fireflies, Barefoot Gen also centers around children trying to survive during World War 2. Unlike Ghibli’s film, Barefoot Gen places a heavier emphasis on the war itself, crafting a story centered around the bombing of Hiroshima.
Barefoot Gen has harrowing imagery, harsh realities, and flashes of hope towards the end of its narrative. It also dedicates its opening act to showing its characters behaving as normal children, causing the later sequences to hit even harder. Barefoot Gen 2 is also available on RetroCrush.
The Princess And The Pilot (2011)
Co-produced by Madhouse and TMS Entertainment, The Princess and the Pilot is a grand adventure that feels ripped right out of pulp tales from the mid-30s. During a war, an ace pilot is tasked with flying a kingdom’s princess to meet her prince. Things get complicated from there.
RELATED: Best Animated Movies On Netflix Right Now
The Princess and the Pilot’s animation is simply gorgeous; the film looks crisp, clean, and detailed. The narrative moves by at an enjoyable pace, although it is slightly on the forgettable side.
Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer (1984)
Urusei Yatsura is a classic anime that has aged relatively well due to its willingness to embrace silliness. Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer has elements of that, but Mamoru Oshii’s movie takes things about a hundred steps further.
Urusei Yatsura 2 is a contemplative and beautiful film that shatters the line separating reality and fiction. Thematically complex and narratively intriguing, Beautiful Dreamer serves as a great introduction to the filmmaking style that Oshii would go on to perfect in the Patlabor and Ghost in the Shell movies.
Fusé: Memoirs Of A Huntress (2012)
An adaptation of Kazuki Sakuraba’s novel based on Takizawa Bakin’s Nansō Satomi Hakkenden, Fusé: Memoirs of a Huntress imagines a world where humans target the fusé, which have some wolf in them. The anime centers around Hamaji, a huntress who meets her brother to take out some fusé but ends up forming a connection with one of the group’s members.
An accessible stand-alone entry set in an expansive literary universe, Fusé: Memoirs of a Huntress blends short but unsettling explosions of action with beautiful landscapes and fascinating themes.
Night On The Galactic Railroad (1985)
Night on the Galactic Railroad follows two cats traveling in a train through the Milky Way. While this premise might suggest this is a sci-fi adventure film, Night on the Galactic Railroad is a more meditative experience, one that prioritizes quiet moments of contemplation and reflection above anything else.
Night on the Galactic Railroad tells a moving and intelligent story that deals with death. Although its leisurely pace can be offputting, the anime’s conclusion is worth the wait.
MORE: Classic Anime That Fans Want Sequels For
