Best movies like The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness

The year was 1941, and the world was on the brink of war. In an effort to improve relations between the Americas, the Roosevelt administration called upon one of Hollywood’s most influential filmmakers to embark on a special goodwill tour. Written and directed by Theodore Thomas (“Frank and Ollie”) and produced by Kuniko Okubo, the documentary WALT & EL GRUPO chronicles the amazing ten-week trip that Walt Disney and his hand-picked group of artists and filmmaking talent (later known as “El Grupo”) took to South America at the behest of the U.S. Government as part of the Good Neighbor Policy.

Upon being sent to live with relatives in the countryside due to an illness, an emotionally distant adolescent girl becomes obsessed with an abandoned mansion and infatuated with a girl who lives there - a girl who may or may not be real.

Shizuku lives a simple life, dominated by her love for stories and writing. One day she notices that all the library books she has have been previously checked out by the same person: 'Seiji Amasawa'.

A lifelong love of flight inspires Japanese aviation engineer Jiro Horikoshi, whose storied career includes the creation of the A-6M World War II fighter plane.

An effervescent musical about one of the most unlikely couples seen on screen: two Otaku intent on hiding their nerdiness from their colleagues!

At Kichijōji Station, Tokyo, Taku Morisaki glimpses a familiar woman on the platform opposite boarding a train. Later, her photo falls from a shelf as he exits his apartment before flying to Kōchi Prefecture. Picking it up, he looks at it briefly before leaving. As the aeroplane takes off, he narrates the events that brought her into his life...

On a trip to the countryside to pick safflowers, a young Japanese woman recalls her life when she was ten years old.

The dialogue-less film follows the major life stages of a castaway on a deserted tropical island populated by turtles, crabs and birds.

A young witch, on her mandatory year of independent life, finds fitting into a new community difficult while she supports herself by running an air courier service.

Two high schoolers find hope as they fight to save an old wartime era clubhouse from destruction during the preparations for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

14-year-old Arrietty and the rest of the Clock family live in peaceful anonymity as they make their own home from items "borrowed" from the house's human inhabitants. However, life changes for the Clocks when a human boy discovers Arrietty.

When she was a middle school student, Futaba Yoshioka liked Kou Tanaka who was unlike the other boys and quite gentle. Kou Tanaka then moved away and they lost contact. At the end of Futaba Yoshioka's first year as a high school student she meets Kou Tanaka again. Kou Tanaka’s name has changed to Kou Mabuchi and his personality seems different from his middle school days.

A young boy and a girl with a magic crystal must race against pirates and foreign agents in a search for a legendary floating castle.

Young Haru rescues a cat from being run over, but soon learns it's no ordinary feline; it happens to be the Prince of the Cats.

A young girl, Chihiro, becomes trapped in a strange new world of spirits. When her parents undergo a mysterious transformation, she must call upon the courage she never knew she had to free her family.

Sophie, a young milliner, is turned into an elderly woman by a witch who enters her shop and curses her. She encounters a wizard named Howl and gets caught up in his resistance to fighting for the king.

When Sosuke, a young boy who lives on a clifftop overlooking the sea, rescues a stranded goldfish named Ponyo, he discovers more than he bargained for. Ponyo is a curious, energetic young creature who yearns to be human, but even as she causes chaos around the house, her father, a powerful sorcerer, schemes to return Ponyo to the sea.

The Yamadas are a typical middle class Japanese family in urban Tokyo and this film shows us a variety of episodes of their lives. With tales that range from the humorous to the heartbreaking, we see this family cope with life's little conflicts, problems, and joys in their own way.

Anne is an orphan full of imagination. When she arrives at her new home she learns that sometimes you have to be a sensible person too; at the same time her unique character changes, or at least attracts, the people around her. The story covers Anne's growth from about eleven to seventeen years old as she makes friends, goes to school and studies. At a difficult point in her life, Anne will have to make a hard choice and perhaps find a new dream.

Soichi Negishi moved to Tokyo to chase his dream of becoming a musician playing stylish, Swedish-style pop. Instead, he finds himself leading the death metal band Detroit Metal City, or DMC, as the costumed and grotesquely made-up "demon emperor" Johannes Krauser II. Although he hates the role and the things he has to do as a member of the band, he has a definite talent for it.

Chie Takemoto is a dependable girl who struggles to help her troublesome father run a small tavern in Osaka. Unbeknown to her dad, she occasionally visits her mother who left him not too long ago. She plans on trying to reunite them, but not until her father gets a job.

After a successful robbery leaves famed thief Lupin the Third and his partner Jigen with nothing but a large amount of expertly crafted counterfeit bills, he decides to track down the forgers responsible—and steal any other treasures he may find in the Castle of Cagliostro, including the 'damsel in distress' he finds imprisoned there.

Cooler has resurrected himself as a robot and is enslaving the people of New Namek. Goku and the gang must help.

While the Second World War rages, the teenage Mahito, haunted by his mother's tragic death, is relocated from Tokyo to the serene rural home of his new stepmother Natsuko, a woman who bears a striking resemblance to the boy's mother. As he tries to adjust, this strange new world grows even stranger following the appearance of a persistent gray heron, who perplexes and bedevils Mahito, dubbing him the "long-awaited one."

In the final months of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his sister Setsuko are orphaned when their mother is killed during an air raid in Kobe, Japan. After a falling out with their aunt, they move into an abandoned bomb shelter. With no surviving relatives and their emergency rations depleted, Seita and Setsuko struggle to survive.

Something bizarre has come over the land. The kingdom is deteriorating. People are beginning to act strange... What's even more strange is that people are beginning to see dragons, which shouldn't enter the world of humans. Due to all these bizarre events, Ged, a wandering wizard, is investigating the cause. During his journey, he meets Prince Arren, a young distraught teenage boy. While Arren may look like a shy young teen, he has a severe dark side, which grants him strength, hatred, ruthlessness and has no mercy, especially when it comes to protecting Teru. For the witch Kumo this is a perfect opportunity. She can use the boy's "fears" against the very one who would help him, Ged.

Ashitaka, a prince of the disappearing Emishi people, is cursed by a demonized boar god and must journey to the west to find a cure. Along the way, he encounters San, a young human woman fighting to protect the forest, and Lady Eboshi, who is trying to destroy it. Ashitaka must find a way to bring balance to this conflict.

Two sisters move to the country with their father in order to be closer to their hospitalized mother, and discover the surrounding trees are inhabited by Totoros, magical spirits of the forest. When the youngest runs away from home, the older sister seeks help from the spirits to find her.

Found inside a shining stalk of bamboo by an old bamboo cutter and his wife, a tiny girl grows rapidly into an exquisite young lady. The mysterious young princess enthrals all who encounter her. But, ultimately, she must confront her fate.

A story about the effect of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on a boy's life and the lives of the Japanese people.

In Italy in the 1930s, sky pirates in biplanes terrorize wealthy cruise ships as they sail the Adriatic Sea. The only pilot brave enough to stop the scourge is the mysterious Porco Rosso, a former World War I flying ace who was somehow turned into a pig during the war. As he prepares to battle the pirate crew's American ace, Porco Rosso enlists the help of spunky girl mechanic Fio Piccolo and his longtime friend Madame Gina.

The Raccoons of the Tama Hills are being forced from their homes by the rapid development of houses and shopping malls. As it becomes harder to find food and shelter, they decide to band together and fight back. The Raccoons practice and perfect the ancient art of transformation until they are even able to appear as humans in hilarious circumstances.

Sayaka works at a office. She's not very good at her job or with love. One night, she finds a man, Itsuki, collapsed in front of her home. She takes him inside and they begin to live together. Itsuki teaches Sayaka about cooking wild herbs and collecting wild herbs, but he has a secret.

A daughter is constantly overshadowed by her famous father, but she is determined to make her own mark in the world.

A young Italian boy named Marco is devastated when his mother must leave home to work in Argentina to pay off the family debt. She sends the family letters, but soon the messages stop coming, which worries Marco and sets him off on an epic quest to find her.

A look at legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki following his retirement in 2013.

Live-action adaptation of a madcap manga about art, opposites, love and a whole lot of cosplay.

A young girl named Chihiro finds herself trapped in a mysterious world inhabited by spirits and when her parents are turned into pigs, she must rescue them. The movie version of the stage production was filmed during the play’s 2022 run at the Imperial Theatre in Tokyo.

Heidi (1974) Japanese anime series by Zuiyo Eizo (now Nippon Animation) based on the Swiss novel Heidi's Years of Wandering and Learning by Johanna Spyri (1880). It was directed by Isao Takahata A feature-length film Heidi in the Mountains, aka The Story of Heidi, was edited from the series by Zuiyo (which by then was a separate entity from Nippon Animation, which employed many of the TV series' animation staff) distributed in 1979. All cast were replaced excluding Heidi and the grandfather. This movie is also the only incarnation of the Heidi anime to have been released commercially in the United States in English (on home video in the 1980s). Isao Takahata remarked "Neither Hayao Miyazaki nor I are completely related to any shortening version" on this work.

Gauche is a diligent but mediocre cellist who plays for a small town orchestra and the local cinema in the early 20th century. He struggles during rehearsals and is often berated by his conductor during preparations for an upcoming performance of Beethoven's Sixth Symphony. Over the course of four nights, Gauche is visited at his mill house home by talking animals as he is practicing.

Hyoi and Ryoi, two brothers with the power to take the form of cats, must unravel the mystery of a creeping, tenticled, demon plauge before it consumes them and their classmates. Ultimately, they must confront their old Dark Cat master Jukokubo, though whether they can put an end to the evil he has released remains a mystery.

Moritaka Mashiro doesn't want to follow in the path of his uncle who worked as a manga artist, but ultimately died because of exhaustion. Moritaka Mashiro figures he will graduate from school and work at an office. Things change though when falls in love with a girl at school. The girl, who hopes to become a voice actress, tells Moritaka they can marry, but only after they both achieve their dreams. Moritaka then teams up with fellow classmate Akito Takagi to publish their first manga.

Four years after the events of SHIROBAKO the series, Musashino Animation has gone through unprecedented changes and things are looking bleak for the studio. One day, Aoi Miyamori is offered a role managing a new theatrical animation project. With only a few months left before the deadline, can MusAni complete the project in its current state? It’s up to Aoi to work alongside both familiar faces and new to finish the project in time!

A kind man aspires to become a manga writer, but villains and evil deeds do not come easily to him, for he has little experience or natural inclination for them. Things take a surprise turn when he comes across a family who were described as idealized that are no more. He uses the real-life situation for his work.

BBC's 1994 documentary on the manga and anime phenomenon that was just starting to hit the UK at the time, and its origins in Japan. Presented by Jonathan Ross.

Hosted by John Rhys-Davies, a made-for-TV documentary details the work that went into the production of Aladdin, Disney's musical rendition of the classic Arabian Nights' tale. Animation fans are treated to a behind-the-scenes look at the making of this family favorite, as well as to interviews with the director and cast members, who give their insights into the inspirations for the various characterizations and effects of the film, and also the efforts that were needed to bring this project to completion.

Akihabara is a neighborhood of Tokyo, Japan known as "Electric Town" for its rows of one-meter wide discount computer and electronics stores. In more recent years, Akihabara has evolved into a full-blown Mecca for computer enthusiasts, anime and manga fans, doll or "figure" collectors, video gamers and "Otaku" of all kinds. Because Akihabara caters to interests outside of mainstream Japanese society, it captivates an entire subculture of devotees. Join us as we peruse the shops, streets and Maid Cafes to present an engrossing day in the life view of Akihabara, and focus on the unique people who are passionately plugged into this town.

Documentary telling the story of 14-year-old Rebecca Flint, an ordinary schoolgirl from the Isle of Man who in Japan becomes Beckii Cruel, a teen icon and an internet sensation.

NHK TV special about the making of the Japanese animated film "From Up on Poppy Hill" (コクリコ坂から)

Set in the future: Two men learn that a mysterious winged girl has been taken prisoner, and then decide that they must free her at any cost.