Japanese animation has been pushing the boundaries of the field for decades, and Hollywood is only now catching up to the trends that anime films have already set.

In honor of Disney's American release of "The Secret World of Arrietty," which has already grossed $125 million outside the U.S., we're listing the most important masterpieces of the anime genre ... at least the ones that don't feature pervy monsters and Japanese schoolgirls.

'Akira' (1988)

It goes without saying that Katsuhiro Otomo's glimpse at the futuristic dystopia of Neo-Tokyo is a landmark of both animation and science fiction in general. Biker gang leader Kaneda is forced to do battle with lifelong best friend Tetsuo when the latter's latent psychic powers begin manifesting in horrifying ways. It's a subversive cyberpunk fable which functions as both cautionary tale of military run amok and full-throttle action movie. Though an Americanized live-action remake is in limbo, the...