10 Great Anime Films Of The 21st Century (That Aren't Studio Ghibli)

6. In This Corner Of The World (Sunao Katabuchi, 2016)

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If any anime filmmaker can wear the tag "versatile" proudly for their transition to from small-to-big-screen, then Sunao Katabuchi should be near the top of the list. The Hirakata native may have cut his teeth as an assistant director on Kiki's Delivery Service over thirty years ago but he was arguably best known up until 2016 as the director-writer of Black Lagoon, the particularly nihilistic adaptation of the manga series of the same name on television.

But his vividly accurate portrait of civilian life in Japan during the dying embers of WWII signaled an impressive shift in tone and subject; a particularly sensitive series of observations of the emotional fortitude and perseverance required when tragedy strikes close to home in times of crisis. It follows a young woman, Suzu, as she approaches adulthood under the shadow of conflict, splitting her time between her birthplace of Hiroshima and her new home of Kure as she juggles the new responsibilities of married life.

It shares some similarities with Ghibli's own wartime masterpiece Grave of the Fireflies but strikes more than enough different chords to comfortably stand on its own as a study of human cost. Critics went mad for it in its home country, where it pipped the arguably more internationally acclaimed Your Name and a Silent Voice to the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year, among other major honours.

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Something of a culture vulture, Mr Steel can historically be found in three places; the local cinema, the local stadium or the local chip shop. He is an avowed fan of franchise films, amateur cricket and power-chords.