The 10 Best Anime Movies of the '80s Beyond 'Akira' and Studio Ghibli

"While general audiences might associate the anime of the '80s with "Akira" and Studio Ghibli efforts like "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Castle in the Sky," the real story of how the industry evolved over the course of those 10 years is best told through relatively lesser-known films that made a massive imprint from inside Katsuhiro Otomo and Hayao Miyazaki's shadows. The 10 features listed below — presented in chronological order — are representative of the gradual changes and emergent talent that defined the decade, or what Tomino would call "the new century."