Best Anime of 2004
Ranked by our critic's grades, best first.
MonsterSeventy-four episodes of moral thriller that never reach for a fight scene and never lose their grip.Read the review
Howl's Moving CastleThe most beautiful machine Ghibli ever drew, attached to a story that comes apart in the second half.
Samurai ChamplooA hip-hop scored Edo period road trip far more interested in the road than in the destination.
BleachPeerless character design and fight staging attached to a plot that stops answering its own questions.
Inuyasha the Movie 4: Fire on the Mystic IslandIt is the most polished of the films to look at and the thinnest to watch, a filler arc on a bigger budget whose half-demon children are its only fresh idea.
GantzA genuinely nasty premise let down by rough CG and an anime-original ending that abandons the story.