While the rule is to not judge a book by its cover, movie posters are able to sometimes capture the true essence of the film it is advertising. This is especially true when it comes to anime movie posters.
While the posters for anime movies serve as advertisements for the film, they have the additional job of serving as pieces of artwork, using a variety of art techniques to help draw the viewer in, enticing them to want to see the film even more. Additionally, some can also have deep symbolism hidden within them.
10 The Shadows Of The Festival Lights (Spirited Away)
The use of solid black in the background of the Spirited Away movie poster helps in making the rest of the image stand out. The black covering the festival grounds in shadows adds a feel of the evil lurking within them, while the spotty use of red and orange highlights the wonders of not only the festival grounds but the new world that Chihiro finds herself in.
Chihiro's outfit, which is mostly a solid orange, helps her stand out as the focal point for the poster. She is posed facing away from the festival lights and the shadows as if she is afraid of facing the darkness that threatens to engulf her.
9 A World Of Color Pop (Summer Wars)
The characters on the movie poster for Summer Wars look like they walked out of a Takashi Murakami art piece. The variety of colors helps make this poster pop and ask for attention. Additionally, while the colors may seem random at first, the red directs the viewer's gaze.
The avatars of the main two characters serve as the focal point, with the red starting on their outfits and slowly trickling upward through the other avatars, up towards the large red ring and ending in the two avatars floating near the top corners of the poster.
8 The Possible Future Of The Cyberpunk Age (Ghost In The Shell)
While the sight of the half-naked Motoko on the Ghost in the Shell poster may seem like the reason many take a second glance, it's the wires coming out of her back and her multiple cybernetic parts that truly capture the viewer's attention. She's also wearing sunglasses and holding a gun while towering over a futuristic city skyline.
Motoko herself can be seen as the exploration of the relationship between humans and machines, while her positioning over the city can be seen as a representation of the dangers or fears about the growth of technology.
7 The Rainbow Within The Raindrops (Weathering With You)
The movie poster for Weathering With You is a vivid sight and does well to capture the reflective nature of water. Many of the raindrops can be seen refracting a rainbow. The drops don't cause the type of noise that would normally take away from the piece but are instead blended softly in a way that enhances the beauty of the image.
The light that spreads out onto the main characters directs the viewer's gaze from the top corner of the poster to the bottom corner. This allows the viewer to take in the gorgeous scenery in its entirety and all the details in between.
6 Two Lives Becomes One (Your Name)
The bright multi-pointed sparkle serves as a focal point for viewers and a creative divider for the movie poster of Your Name, showing how the main characters, Taki and Mitsuha, lead different lives despite living under the same sky.
The urban background behind Taki represents his city life, while the rural background behind Mitsuha represents her country life. The tiny balls of light that start to split above each character and then form into a single line represent how the lives of these two vastly different individuals are about to be intertwined.
5 All Eyes On The Kid Detective (Case Closed: Countdown To Heaven)
The 80's action movie feel is strong in the movie poster for Case Closed: Countdown to Heaven. The broken glass shards along with the random cracks help create a neat collage effect. The jagged points of the shards with the images of Conan's friends point toward the poster's center
They lead the viewer's eyes back to the star of the show, Conan himself, who looks like he's about to fly off the poster. The color orange is used to direct eyes from the building fire around Conan upward toward the members of the Black Organization.
4 The Splitting Of Reality And Fantasy (Belle)
The bright white light in the movie poster for Belle automatically pulls the viewer's eyes toward the middle where Suzu is standing in front of her avatar, Belle. The pink and blue gradient with pixels interwoven throughout pulls in opposite directions, representing a split between fantasy and reality. The white light blurs the line.
The Beast who looms behind Belle feels like a representation of the darkness that looms within the augmented science-fantasy world that Suzu becomes engulfed in, but he also causes the poster to go dark again towards the top.
3 Follow The Trail Of Blood (Demon Slayer: Mugen Train)
The movie poster for Demon Slayer: Mugen Train gets creative by using the main title logo as the focal point to drive viewer's eyes toward the bottom of the poster. The red spiral of the logo meets the red blood splatter that is spread out into an almost fan-like shape with the bottom trailing over Tanjiro, spreading up over Zenitsu and Hashibira.
The blood stops short at Nezuko who is positioned in the middle above Tanjiro. Rengoku and Enmu are to her sides, creating another fan-like spread. This really helps in giving the poster a layered look.
2 An Hourglass Of Many Layers (Castle In The Sky)
The movie poster for Studio Ghibli's Castle in the Sky uses places and people to form an hourglass shape that goes right up the middle of the poster. The use of gradients going from light to dark multiple times from the bottom to the top of the poster gives the background itself a naturalistic feel.
The color yellow starts as a soft glow radiating above the Tedus Fort, trails throughout the clothing of the main characters, and runs up to the ruins of Laputa, finally ending inside the glow coming off the tree from the sun's rays.
1 The Trickster That Is Realism (Escaflowne)
When taking a quick glance at the movie poster for Escaflowne, a fan could easily mistake it for a live-action movie poster. The poster art emulates realistic hand-painted artwork. It does well in capturing the viewer's eye by showcasing a bright white color in the middle behind the main character, Van, curving up in almost a spiral towards Hitomi's image in the top corner.
The cloudy, almost fog-like effect helps to give an air of mystery to the dark figure of Escaflowne looming in the background. The poster could stand as a beautiful work of art all on its own.