Wolf Children (2012)
Oct 19, 2013Anime/Werewolf Children
Mamoru Hosoda proves himself as one of the major directors in anime with this tender, lovely and enormously affecting work about a mother raising two werewolf children.
Genki Kawamura
Parasyte Part 1 (2014)
Feb 14, 2017Body-Snatching Shapeshifting Parasites
Live-action adaptation of a manga about the war between body-snatching parasites that are capable of rearranging their host's bodies. This plays out as a madcap version of The Thing relocated to a Japanese high school
The Boy and the Beast (2015)
Nov 6, 2015Anime/Boy Becomes Apprentice to a Beast Warrior
If Hayao Miyazaki ever follows through on his threat to retire, the one most likely inheritor would be Mamoru Hosoda. This is a perfectly enjoyably film that is sort of The Karate Kid by way of Disney's The Jungle Book
Parasyte Part 2 (2015)
Jan 20, 2020Body-Snatching Shapeshifting Parasites
Parasyte Part 1 was a manga adaptation filled with wild effects sequences. This sequel is an even better film that expands the characters and ideas in quite fascinating directions
Your Name. (2016)
Apr 17, 2017Anime/Cross-Time Bodyswap
Makoto Shinkai anime that starts as a light and fluffy piece about a boy and a girl who keep waking up in each other's bodies but expands out into a wholly different story, gaining unexpected emotional depths
Mirai (2018)
Jun 22, 2020Anime/Boy Meets Family from the Future and Past
Mamoru Hosoda film nominated for the Best Animated Film at Academy Awards. A young boy jealous at the arrival of a baby sister is visited by her future self and travels through time to meet his family at different periods
Weathering With You (2019)
Jan 13, 2025Anime/Girl Who Can Control Weather
From Makoto Shinkai who made Your Name., a lovely anime about a girl who can control the weather. An odd premise about orphans that soon develops unusual and unexpected depths
Belle (2021)
Apr 8, 2022Anime/Beauty and the Beast in Virtual Reality
A beautiful anime from Momoru Hosoda that retells Beauty and the Beast and spins it in SF terms as tale about a girl who finds fame as a singer in Virtual Reality
Bubble (2022)
Dec 4, 2023Anime/Mysterious Bubble Covers Tokyo
Anime in which Tokyo is covered by a mysterious energy bubble of alien origin and of a group of defiant youths who live on in its midst until the appearance of a mystery girl
Suzume (2022)
Aug 4, 2024Anime/Quest to Close Portals
Beautifully made anime from Makoto Shinkai about a young girl and a three-legged chair on a quest to close a series of portals across Japan and prevent unimaginable chaos emerging
Exit 8 (2025)
May 8, 2026Videogame Adaptation/Trapped in a Labyrinth
Enigmatic adaptation of a Japanese videogame where the protagonist is trapped inside a railway platform tunnel and must walk through the same corridor that repeats itself with minute variations to find the exit