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Top 9 best Anime about World War II

World War II is always a sensitive topic and causes controversy due to the wounds that war left behind. Japanese animators have been very successful in creating works on this topic, with plots full of realism and humanity, reflecting the pain caused by war and the spirit of overcoming. human difficulties in that reality.

1. Grave of the Fireflies

Grave of the Fireflies is an animated war drama film written and directed by Isao Takahata and produced by Studio Ghibli. The film is based on the 1967 semi-autobiographical short story of the same name by Akiyuki Nosaka.


Set in Kobe, Japan in June 1945, the film tells the story of brothers Seita and Setsuko and other war orphans, their desperate struggle to survive during the months of war. the end of World War II.


Highly acclaimed worldwide, Grave of the Fireflies has been ranked as one of the greatest war films of all time. For Japanese people, the film is often understood as a parable about self-esteem rather than anti-war sentiment.


IMDb score: 8.5
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2. The Wind Rises

The Wind Rises is a historical animated film with script and direction by Miyazaki Hayao based on the comic of the same name, released in the summer of 2013. Miyazaki Hayao weaved the story decades long inspired by the life of Horikoshi Jirô - the father of the Zero fighter plane in World War II.


The main character of the film is Jirô, born at the transition between old Japan and new Japan with a strong love for the air and dreams of flying a plane to conquer the sky, surpassing old spaces. techniques from Japan. Passionate about airplanes since childhood, Jirô is nearsighted. However, that was not an obstacle when he was determined to become an aircraft design engineer. Not only does it focus on the path to conquering dreams, the work also helps the audience discover another aspect of this guy's inner world through the love story and happiness of the couple.
Rising Wind takes the audience to a story about passion and love in the midst of a chaotic era of war. Through Jirô's journey to reach his dream, the work urges viewers to find aspirations and meaning in life.


It is the highest-grossing film in Japan in 2013. The Wind Rises has received praise from critics and many prestigious awards such as the Japanese Academy Award for best animated film, along with many prestigious nominations. If only it had an Oscar nomination for best animated film, a Golden Globe nomination for best foreign language film.


IMDb score: 7.7
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3. In This Corner of the World


In This Corner of the World is a Japanese animated film of the historical genre released in 2016 produced by MAPPA. The film is based on the manga of the same name by Kōno Fumiyo. The film began screening in Vietnam on August 18, 2017.


The film is set in the 1930s-1940s in Hiroshima city and Kure city, Japan about 10 years before and after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the film, nature and traditional Japanese culture are portrayed and reflected in the scenes of cruelty and despair brought about by war. Although this is a work of fiction, the underlying content is based on real events, researched by the film producer himself. The pre-war landscape of Hiroshima city, devastated by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is accurately recreated based on old photos and memories of the people living here.
Taking the theme of war, the film mainly focuses on the normal life of Japanese people and its changes with the times. Instead of pain and darkness, Hidden Corner of the World chooses peace, love and optimism as the message conveyed throughout the 2-hour duration. The movie is about war, but the scene of falling bombs is only depicted in a single frame.


When it premiered in November 2016, the film was considered one of the best anime of its time. The film even surpassed the "blockbuster" Your Name to become the Best Animated Film of the Japanese Film Academy that year.


IMDb score: 7.8

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4. Ushiro no Shoumen Daare

Anime Kayoko's Diary (Ushiro no Shoumen Daare) is adapted from the novel of the same name by author Kayoko Ebina by Mushi Production studio, the film aired in 1991.


The film is set in 1940, the crybaby girl Kayoko still innocently enjoys a peaceful life in her hometown. She likes to play with her peers, sing nursery rhymes and is looking forward to being an older sister. War broke out, but little Kayoko and the Japanese people were hardly aware of what kind of war it was. They just know that being patriotic and supporting the country is completely natural.


The image of Kayoko innocently donating her favorite doll to use as raw material to make explosives evokes many sad thoughts for the audience. The childhood and joy of a little girl also disappeared over the years due to the devastating impact of war. The film is based on Kayoko Ebina's memories of the Showa period but also of millions of Japanese children during that period.

IMDb score: 7.9
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5. Giovanni’s Island

Giovanni's Island is an anime released in 2014, directed by Nishikubo Mizuho, ​​co-produced by Production I.G and Japan Association of Music Enterprises (JAME).


Giovanni's Island is a story about two brothers named Junpei and Kanta who live on the island of Shikotan. After Japan's defeat in World War II, Shikotan was invaded by Soviet troops. Despite language and cultural differences and warnings from friends, the two brothers met and befriended a Russian girl on the island named Tanya. The brothers' father was imprisoned and exiled to Siberia, and the entire Japanese population on the island was relocated. Therefore, they began their journey to find their father again.


Giovanni's Island is a beautiful film with soft 2D drawings, cleverly combining two elements of humor and loss to tell the story of young people and the recovery of humanity after grief. The scene that makes the strongest impression is when the Japanese children sing a Japanese nursery rhyme while in the next room, the Russian children are learning to sing a Russian folk song. But at the end of the film, two groups of children sang together the song of people who do not live on the same border.


IMDb score: 7.3

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6. Barefoot Gen

Barefoot Gen is a Japanese adult animated war film, released in 1983, based on the Japanese manga of the same name by Keiji Nakazawa. The film depicts World War II in Japan from a child's perspective and revolves around the events surrounding the bombing of Hiroshima and the main character's first experience with the bomb.


Barefoot Gen is the story of the boy Gen Nakaoka during the period when Japan suffered from two atomic bombs dropped by the United States in 1945. The first film depicts the struggling and difficult life of 6-year-old boy Gen. and family as the war was coming to an end. It's been hard and miserable, but Gen and everyone are still optimistic and working hard. On August 6, 1945, the bomb named Little Boy was dropped by an American plane on the center of Hiroshima, changing everyone's lives forever.
Part 2 of the film, released by director Mori Masaki in 1986, continues the journey of survival of Gen and his mother in the devastation of Japan three years after the Hiroshima incident. Despite many life events, Gen still maintains his optimistic spirit and spreads his strong hope to everyone.


Barefoot Gen's characters appear with multi-dimensional perspectives. The revealed historical truths and the unclear moral aspects of right and wrong are the prominent messages in the work. Barefoot Gen also conveys positive things through the message of "living strong and steadfast like a wheat plant, no matter what life throws at you" as his father's advice to Gen.


IMDb score: 8.0
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7. The Cockpit

The Cockpit is an original Japanese animated film, based on the World War II manga by Leiji Matsumoto. This OVA series is written and directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Takashi Imanishi and Ryousuke Takahashi. The film includes 3 episodes with separate content.


Episode 1: Slipstream is about a Luftwaffe pilot who must choose between protecting a bomber carrying Germany's last hope of victory, the world's first atomic bomb, or meaning. His duty to the world: leave it in flames of enemy Spitfires.


Episode 2: Sonic Boom Squadron, explores the last hours of pilot Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka on August 6, 1945.


Episode 3: Knight of the Iron Dragon is the story of two soldiers trying to get to an air base to fulfill a promise despite the fact that it could have been fulfilled in the reality of war.


IMDb score: 7.2

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8. Zipang

Zipang is a 26-episode anime television series by Studio Deen and directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi that aired on TBS from 2004 to 2006. It is adapted from a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kaiji Kawaguchi.


The film tells the story of members of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force who are transported back in time more than 60 years to 1942. Despite their initial intentions of not changing history, they soon find themselves gradually gradually drawn into the war, although they continued to refuse to choose one side over the other. The struggle of the crew from a modern, peaceful and wealthy Japan to resist the nationalist call to defend their country, knowing that at this time the country is ruled by A brutal, totalitarian, and militaristic government is the central theme of Zipang.


Their rescue of a past Imperial Japanese Navy officer, Lieutenant Commander Kusaka, who would have perished in the normal timeline, caused unstoppable and devastating changes in the past as he sought to create a stronger Japan no matter the cost.


IMDb score: 7.4

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9. Hi no Ame ga Furu

Hi no Ame ga Furu was produced by Mushi Production studio, released in 1988.


The movie Hi no Ame ga Furu is set in 1945. Everything is as usual in Fukuoka city. Some places in Japan have been burned by the flames of war, but here it is relatively peaceful and quiet. School is still running and the boys play in their free time. Daichi is a boy among them. One day, a newcomer to class appears - Yoriko, a girl evacuated from Tokyo.


Yoriko takes life very seriously, she has good reasons, her childhood ended after the death of her loved ones in the bombing. The children get to know each other and become friends. They, like the rest of the city, still don't know that on June 19, their lives will be divided into "before" and "after."


IMDb score: 7.8
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