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What do you want to watch tonight?

Each title says who it's good for, and who it isn't. Tap what you want tonight, or say no to one and why.

Closest to Children of the Sea first

  1. Spirited Away 2001

    Anime

    On the way to their new house, a ten-year-old girl and her parents wander into the world of spirits. Her parents are turned into pigs, and she has to work in a bathhouse to save them.

    The sides of Spirited Away

    • A strange world with its own rules
    • A child finding her courage
    • Quiet moments and nature
    • Every frame drawn by hand

    Good for you if

    • you love getting lost in a world with its own strange rules.
    • you like not knowing what will walk through the door next.
    • you like films that stop to breathe, like that quiet train ride.

    Bad for you if

    • you don't watch animated films.
    • you want everything explained. A lot of the bathhouse never is.

    About: growing up · greed · keeping your name · work

    Explore its sides
  2. Life of Pi 2012

    Film

    The story of an Indian boy named Pi, a zookeeper's son who finds himself in the company of a hyena, zebra, orangutan, and a Bengal tiger after a shipwreck sets them adrift in the Pacific Ocean.

    The sides of Life of Pi

    • A boy on a lifeboat with a tiger
    • An ocean that glows at night
    • Which story do you believe

    Good for you if

    • you like a survival story that feels like a fable.
    • you like a sea that turns into a sky.
    • you like an ending that lets you choose what to believe.

    Bad for you if

    • you need momentum. Most of it is a boy and a tiger adrift on one lifeboat for months.
    • you need a survival story to stay realistic. Pi finds an island of meerkats that turns carnivorous at night.

    About: faith · survival · storytelling

    Explore its sides
  3. Penguin Highway 2018

    Anime

    A fourth-grader investigates the mysterious reason behind the sudden appearance of penguins in his village, which is somehow related to a power from a young woman working at a dental clinic.

    The sides of Penguin Highway

    • Aoyama, a fourth grader who writes everything down
    • Penguins appearing in a quiet suburb
    • A young woman from the dental clinic

    Good for you if

    • you like a summer mystery seen through a curious boy's eyes.
    • you like penguins popping out of nowhere in a Japanese town.
    • you like a boy's first crush written into his notebooks.

    Bad for you if

    • you don't watch animated films.
    • you want every mystery explained by the end.

    About: curiosity · first love · growing up

    Explore its sides
  4. Lonely and awkward, Giovanni struggles with his sick mother, absent father, and an afterschool job that isolates him from his peers. But on the night of the Festival of Stars, he is magically transported onto a celestial train with his only friend, Campanella. Together, they embark on an extraordinary journey through the galaxy, encountering mysterious characters and grappling with life's deepest questions.

    The sides of Night on the Galactic Railroad

    • A lonely boy drawn as a cat
    • A train through the stars
    • A last journey with his only friend

    Good for you if

    • you like a quiet train ride through the Milky Way.
    • you like a patient, dreamlike pace with long silences.
    • you like a gentle story that leaves you crying over a friendship.

    Bad for you if

    • you don't watch animated films.
    • you can't take a children's film about death and grief.

    About: friendship · death · loneliness · sacrifice

    Explore its sides
  5. Humanity finds a mysterious object buried beneath the lunar surface and sets off to find its origins with the help of HAL 9000, the world's most advanced super computer.

    The sides of 2001: A Space Odyssey

    • Apes discovering tools
    • A computer that won't open the doors
    • A journey beyond the infinite

    Good for you if

    • you like spaceships waltzing to the Blue Danube in perfectly composed frames.
    • you like a film that moves like a symphony.
    • you want to feel small before the universe.

    Bad for you if

    • you need characters to warm to. Dave and Frank stay cool and calm, and the computer HAL shows the most feeling.
    • you want something to happen. Long stretches are silent.
    • you want a clear explanation of the ending.

    About: evolution · technology · the unknown

    Explore its sides
  6. In the year 2029, Section 9, a group of cybernetically enhanced cops, are called in to investigate and stop a highly-wanted hacker known as 'The Puppetmaster'.

    The sides of Ghost in the Shell 2.0

    • A cyborg major hunting a hacker
    • A program that claims to be alive
    • The 1995 film with new computer scenes

    Good for you if

    • you like long, silent shots of a rainy future city.
    • you like a question about what makes you human left open.
    • you like chants that carry whole scenes.

    Bad for you if

    • you don't watch anime.
    • you need momentum and can't sit through long talks about the soul.

    About: identity · the body · technology

    Explore its sides
  7. In the mysterious future, crystalline organisms called Gems inhabit a world that has been destroyed by six meteors. Each Gem is assigned a role in order to fight against the Lunarians, a species who attacks them in order to shatter their bodies and use them as decorations. Phosphophyllite, also known as Phos, is a young and fragile Gem who dreams of helping their friends in the war effort. Instead, they are told to compile an encyclopedia because of their delicate condition. After begrudgingly embarking on this task, Phos meets Cinnabar, an intelligent gem who has been relegated to patrolling the isolated island at night because of the corrosive poison their body creates. After seeing how unhappy Cinnabar is, Phos decides to find a role that both of the rejected Gems can enjoy. Can Phos's seemingly mundane assignment lead both Phos and Cinnabar to the fulfillment they desire?

    The sides of Land of the Lustrous

    • Living gems on a ruined Earth
    • Raiders from the moon who shatter them
    • A fragile gem trying to be useful

    Good for you if

    • you like 3D animation where bodies shine and crack like real crystal.
    • you like a far future with its own rules, gems, moon people and a strange monk.
    • you like strange stories where a gem loses body parts and is rebuilt from new stones.

    Bad for you if

    • you don't watch anime.
    • you need an ending, and this single season stops with the story far from over.

    About: identity · usefulness · change · loneliness

    Explore its sides
  8. Angel's Egg 1985

    Anime

    In the ruins of a strange city, a young girl takes care of a large egg she holds carefully in her arms. She bonds with a boy who is searching for a bird he saw in a dream.

    The sides of Angel's Egg

    • A girl guarding a giant egg
    • A drowned city of shadows
    • A soldier who barely speaks

    Good for you if

    • you like Yoshitaka Amano's designs in dark, flooded streets.
    • you like a film that leaves you to decide what the egg means.
    • you like a dream with almost no words.

    Bad for you if

    • you don't watch anime.
    • you need momentum, and this is long silences and slow walks.

    About: faith · hope · emptiness

    Explore its sides
  9. In a small fishing village, a gloomy middle school student named Kai meets a mermaid named Lu.

    The sides of Lu Over the Wall

    • A gloomy boy in a small fishing town
    • A mermaid who dances whenever music plays
    • A town that fears the sea

    Good for you if

    • you like a film where every song makes the whole screen dance.
    • you like a lonely boy finding his voice through a strange new friend.
    • you like Masaaki Yuasa's wild, bouncing animation.

    Bad for you if

    • you don't watch anime.
    • you won't read subtitles.

    About: friendship · prejudice · finding your voice

    Explore its sides
  10. Haibane Renmei 2002

    Anime

    A dream of falling from the sky...and then birth. Rakka is born from a large cocoon into the Old Home, greeted by a group of female beings with small wings on their backs and shining halos above their heads. Soon Rakka’s own wings grow, a halo is placed on her head and she is told that she must work in the nearby town of Grie. She soon realizes that the town and the entire world they live in are confined behind the Wall, a tall, impenetrable wall that none except the mysterious Toga are allowed to exit.

    The sides of Haibane Renmei

    • A girl born from a cocoon with small wings
    • A walled town nobody may leave
    • A house of young winged women

    Good for you if

    • you like quiet days of odd jobs in a small walled town.
    • you like the bond between Rakka and Reki, the older girl who looks after her.
    • you like a mystery about the Wall that never fully answers itself.

    Bad for you if

    • you don't watch anime.
    • you can't face a story that circles around guilt and suicide.

    About: rebirth · guilt · forgiveness

    Explore its sides
  11. Mushi-Shi 2005

    Anime

    Ginko, a Mushi master, travels from place to place researching the Mushi and helping people who are suffering because of it.

    The sides of Mushi-Shi

    • Ginko, a wanderer who studies the mushi
    • Villages in old rural Japan
    • One strange case per episode

    Good for you if

    • you like quiet episodes with long silences.
    • you like tiny life forms that bend the world around them.
    • you like mountains, rivers and forests that feel alive.

    Bad for you if

    • you don't watch anime.
    • you need fights and chases to stay hooked.

    About: nature · coexistence · loss

    Explore its sides
  12. Lain—driven by the abrupt suicide of a classmate—logs on to the Wired and promptly loses herself in a twisted mass of hallucinations, memories, and interconnected-psyches.

    The sides of Serial Experiments Lain

    • A shy schoolgirl who logs on to the Wired
    • A classmate's suicide and the emails she sends afterwards
    • A world where the network and real life blur

    Good for you if

    • you like a quiet, eerie anime where the internet starts to feel haunted.
    • you like piecing together who Lain really is across thirteen strange episodes.
    • you're happy to finish with questions and your own theory.

    Bad for you if

    • you don't watch anime.
    • a teenage suicide at the very start is too much for you.

    About: identity · the internet · loneliness · reality

    Explore its sides
  13. Mind Game 2004

    Anime

    Nishi is a loser who has a crush on his childhood girlfriend. After an encounter with the Japanese mafia, he journeys to heaven and back, and ends up trapped in an even more unlikely place.

    The sides of Mind Game

    • A failed manga artist shot by a yakuza
    • A trip to God and back
    • Three people trapped inside a whale

    Good for you if

    • you like a film that jumps from heaven to the belly of a whale.
    • you like animation that changes style from one scene to the next.
    • you want a rush of joy about being alive.

    Bad for you if

    • you don't watch animated films.
    • you won't read subtitles.

    About: second chances · living fully · regret

    Explore its sides
  14. Ponyo 2008

    Anime

    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 sides of Ponyo

    • A goldfish who wants to be a little girl
    • A boy who lives on a clifftop above the sea
    • A storm with waves made of fish

    Good for you if

    • you want a film a five-year-old will love.
    • you like a warm, gentle story with no real villain.
    • you like a little girl running on top of the waves.

    Bad for you if

    • you don't watch anime.
    • you need real danger to stay interested.

    About: childhood · the sea · love

    Explore its sides
  15. After a global war, the seaside kingdom known as the Valley of the Wind remains one of the last strongholds on Earth untouched by a poisonous jungle and the powerful insects that guard it. Led by the courageous Princess Nausicaä, the people of the Valley engage in an epic struggle to restore the bond between humanity and Earth.

    The sides of Warriors of the Wind

    • A princess who flies a glider
    • A toxic jungle and giant insects
    • Kingdoms at war over an ancient weapon

    Good for you if

    • you like a heroine who glides over a toxic jungle full of giant insects.
    • you like a heroine who would rather understand the jungle than burn it.
    • you like a world after the end of the world, drawn in detail.

    Bad for you if

    • you find 1980s animation dated.
    • you don't watch anime.

    About: ecology · war · peace

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  16. Paprika 2006

    Anime

    Dr. Atsuko Chiba is a research psychologist who uses a device called the DC Mini to enter her patients' dreams, wherein she adopts the alter-ego "Paprika". When the device is stolen, she must stop rogue elements from merging the dream and waking worlds.

    The sides of Paprika

    • A psychologist who enters her patients' dreams
    • A stolen dream machine
    • A parade of objects marching out of dreams

    Good for you if

    • you like a dream that spills into the waking city.
    • you want every frame packed with shifting images.
    • you like not knowing whose dream you're in.

    Bad for you if

    • you don't watch anime.
    • you need a machine to follow rules. This one runs on dream logic.

    About: dreams · identity · technology

    Explore its sides
  17. 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."

    The sides of The Boy and the Heron

    • A boy who lost his mother in the war
    • A talking gray heron
    • A tower that leads to another world

    Good for you if

    • you like a world of parakeets, pelicans and a stone tower.
    • you love Miyazaki's hand-drawn worlds.
    • you like a boy learning to accept a new mother.

    Bad for you if

    • you don't watch anime.
    • you want a story where every symbol is explained.

    About: grief · family · growing up

    Explore its sides
  18. Annihilation 2018

    Film

    A biologist signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition into a mysterious zone where the laws of nature don't apply.

    The sides of Annihilation

    • Five scientists entering the Shimmer
    • Nature mutating into something else
    • A bear that screams

    Good for you if

    • you like science fiction that feels like a nightmare.
    • you like rainbow-coloured, mutated landscapes.
    • you like an ending that refuses to explain itself.

    Bad for you if

    • body horror and one terrifying creature are too much for you.
    • you need momentum. The expedition moves slowly and quietly through the Shimmer.

    About: self-destruction · change · grief

    Explore its sides
  19. Undone 2019

    Series

    After getting into a near fatal car accident, Alma discovers she has a new relationship with time and uses this ability to find out the truth about her father’s death.

    The sides of Undone

    • A woman bending time after a car crash
    • Her dead father guiding her
    • Rotoscoped animation over real actors

    Good for you if

    • you like reality slipping away from Alma scene after scene.
    • you like painted animation traced over real actors.
    • you like a daughter trying to save the father she lost.

    Bad for you if

    • you don't watch animated series.
    • you want to know for sure whether Alma's visions are real.

    About: grief · mental illness · time

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  20. She has a loving family and best friends, laughs and cries from time to time... Madoka Kaname, an eighth grader of Mitakihara middle school, is one of those who lives such a life. One day, she had a very magical encounter. She doesn't know if it happened by chance or by fate yet. This is a fateful encounter that can change her destiny. This is a beginning of the new story of the magical witch girls.

    The sides of Puella Magi Madoka Magica

    • A schoolgirl offered a wish
    • A small white creature with a contract
    • Witches hiding in strange labyrinths

    Good for you if

    • you like a cute magical girl story that turns dark.
    • you can take a story where every wish has a price.
    • you like witches' lairs drawn like surreal collages.

    Bad for you if

    • you don't watch anime.
    • you want a light magical girl show to relax with.

    About: sacrifice · hope · despair

    Explore its sides