10 best adventure anime movies that you should watch

From dense forests and bustling, timeworn cities to skies adorned with floating castles, Japanese anime films craft boundless worlds of adventure. These adventure anime movies are full of motion: heroes change, trains cross eras, and journeys span great distances.

These films feel like journeys themselves, where peril and wonder intertwine, and saving the world begins with self-discovery. Audiences come for thrilling chases and visuals, but leave pondering questions on identity, environment, and the delicate ties that hold societies together.

The ten adventure anime movies listed here have achieved iconic status because they deliver exciting spectacles while also satisfying a profound need for meaningful stories.

Disclaimer: This article reflects the author's opinions.

10 must-watch adventure anime movies

1) Princess Mononoke

Princess Mononoke (Image via Studio Ghibli)

An ancient forest stands in opposition to the iron forges of Irontown, a stronghold pushing forward with industrial progress. Ashitaka, a prince afflicted by a curse and riding a red elk, steps in as the mediator between the wolf-goddess Moro, the determined human girl San, and the ambitious leader Lady Eboshi.

Anger takes shape through charging boar gods and furious battles, with leaves, gunfire, and spirits scattering over the hills as nature clashes directly with human advancement. The film's natural settings inspire wonder, but the real adventure lies in ethical dilemmas in which no side is purely good or evil.

Princess Mononoke movie offers a balanced ecological story where violence from both humans and nature carries equal sorrow. The epic scenes, such as the massive Night-Walker's appearance and horde of demonic boars, are breathtaking.

2) Spirited Away

Chihiro falls into a mysterious bathhouse where tiny soot sprites scamper about and the river spirit Haku shifts into a dragon form. Her parents, transformed into gluttonous pigs, motivate the ten-year-old to find her bravery step by step.

Amid foul-smelling spirits, a witch named Yubaba who binds people with contracts, and a masked figure that devours entire feasts, and others, Chihiro explores a realm that is both enchanting and threatening. Spirited Away anime film stands out by turning a coming-of-age story into thrilling pursuits.

Trains glide across glassy seas, and paper charms give chase to a dragon in mid-air, while each corridor unveils tempting foods that can prove dangerous. Audiences leave having seen an adventure, marked with maturation and defined by the courage to embrace identity and move beyond childhood comforts.

3) Castle in the Sky

Castle in the Sky (Image via Studio Ghibli)

A shining pendant launches Sheeta and Pazu into a quest for Laputa, a fabled castle floating amid turbulent clouds. The screen is packed with sky pirates wearing oversized goggles, agents backed by the government, and fleets of steampunk robots that move with a life of their own.

Vines hang from crumbling towers while luminous gardens thrive, suggesting that a peaceful haven can exist within a machine-driven structure. Pursuits race through mine tunnels, railway lines, and into the core of a stormy airborne stronghold.

For sheer velocity and grandeur, few adventure anime movies like Castle in the Sky make airships feel more thrilling, even compared with modern aircraft battles.

4) Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (Image via Topcraft)

A poisonous jungle releasing spores blankets the remnants of a fallen industrial society; gliders weave among massive Ohmu creatures like pilots navigating the brink of doom. Nausicaä, princess of the Valley of the Wind, uncovers a hidden truth that could halt endless conflicts between kingdoms over scarce resources.

Tanks from militaristic forces plow through poisonous fungi as a huge armored guardian stirs the sands beneath skies briefly darkened by swarms of enormous insects. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind anime movie stands apart by portraying hope as a form of wisdom rather than foolishness.

Nausicaä's mission focuses on understanding the jungle rather than conquering it, connecting with its every element. Her glider flights reflect humanity’s mistakes, while each landing teaches respect. The story goes beyond survival to explore ethical coexistence with moral depth, wonder, and action.

5) Howl’s Moving Castle

Howl’s Moving Castle (Image via Studio Ghibli)

A timid young hat-maker named Sophie is cursed with rapid aging by a spiteful witch, leading her to enter a mobile castle fueled by the fire demon Calcifer. Within it, stairs rearrange, a magical door links to multiple environments, and the self-absorbed wizard Howl confronts his fears alongside a growing magical conflict.

Flying warships glide above fields of battle, while captured stars and subtle incantations spark explosions of color and disorder across the landscape. The mix of love and warfare works seamlessly because the core adventure is about personal transformation, not domination.

In Howl’s Moving Castle anime, Sophie's path from a reserved young woman to a self-confident character demonstrates that bravery can emerge at any stage of life.

6) Akira

Neo-Tokyo throbs with glowing neon signs and unfinished stadiums echoing unfulfilled Olympic dreams. Kaneda's motorcycle gang cuts through the streets on powerful bikes, with Kaneda's own red model leading the charge.

Then, a clash with a psychic escapee leads them to secret government labs holding children with psychic powers. Tetsuo, Kaneda's troubled friend, awakens telekinetic forces that rip apart the urban landscape like mental explosions, revealing that human progress does not ensure mastery.

Blasts melt roads into flowing glass; a falling satellite weapon strikes like a luminous projectile. Pulsing industrial sounds mirror visions of fear, where outer destruction reflects inner turmoil. Akira anime redefined mature animation by combining cyberpunk style with the terror of uncontrolled abilities.

7) Your Name

Mitsuha, a girl from a rural shrine, switches bodies with Taki, a boy from Tokyo, in a cycle illuminated by comets and dreams, involving marked calendars, woven cords, and messages scrawled on hands and notebooks.

In Your Name, the situation escalates from playful romance to urgent disaster when a breaking comet endangers the town of Itomori. Timelines twist apart, memories fade like diluted paint, and transit timetables turn into clues for a connection that overcomes separation and calamity.

Few adventure anime movies blend love and intense missions with such graceful intensity. Rapid sequences interweave cosmic destruction with everyday school moments, illustrating that protecting a community is tied to safeguarding one cherished person.

8) Weathering With You

Weathering With You (Image via CoMix Wave Films)

Endless rain hammers Tokyo like a steady drumbeat as Hodaka, a teen runaway, meets Hina, a girl who can summon patches of clear sky by praying. Their work selling sunshine for events grows into a thriving venture until their constant interference with nature’s balance comes at a great personal cost.

Pursuits through markets and flooded staircases build an adventure drenched in the doubts of young people about the costs of their wishes. Weathering With You anime examines how personal desires clash with broader needs without being judgmental.

Soaring cloud formations shift into crystalline liquids as raindrops hang like frozen gems. This rare story submerges a whole urban area under shimmering floods, creating a visual expedition that is both close-up and vast in scale.

9) The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Image via Madhouse)

In The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Makoto, a high schooler nearing graduation, tumbles toward the train tracks but is saved by an unconscious leap back in time, landing with scraped elbows and a newfound power.

By leaping through time, she skips tests, fixes mishaps, and spies on romances, until her changes bring unforeseen consequences for her and her friends. Simple activities like baseball games turn into timers for farewells, and time begins to fracture under the weight of her actions.

Set in everyday neighborhoods, this time-travel tale carries the excitement of larger productions. Quick outcomes turn playgrounds into gateways and corridors into junctions, as fun experiments shift into a desperate race against broken relationships, proving adventures anime movies can fit within life’s brief moments.

10) Sword of the Stranger

In feudal Japan, sword fights echo under moonlit winters as a nameless ronin, who resists unsheathing his weapon, guards a young orphan across snowy peaks.

Warriors from the Ming dynasty, masked fighters, and wolves in the woods set the stage. A violent pursuit leads them to a remote temple as the final destination. Blades clash with ringing sounds, sparks scatter, and waterfalls halt in icy stillness as the expert fighter Luo-Lang seeks ultimate mastery in battle.

Reduced to raw essentials amid the cold, the movie delivers pure adventure through visuals that echo classic directors like Kurosawa. Fights unfold in extended, fluid shots that let audiences sense each step on the frozen ground. Beneath the action is a story of two people finding strength in protecting others.

Conclusion

From airborne islands to flooded cityscapes, these ten exceptional adventure anime movies stretch the boundaries of creativity as much as animation allows.

Each one of these adventure anime movies orchestrates its unique mix of risk and marvel, connected by the idea that small actions, like praying to the clouds, sharing a name, or holding back a sword, can shift entire worlds and touch emotions deeply.

No matter where anime storytelling heads in the future, these films have secured their place in history, encouraging viewers to pursue those elusive horizons that glow just out of reach on the screen.