Every year, I have an issue with the Academy Awards. Being a deeply annoying animation nerd, there’s always a film that I get way too attached to, despite it having zero chance of getting nominated, let alone winning. But this annoying tendency comes from a place of love. Only being able to chat about five animated movies does a disservice to the global industry and films from corners of the world that don’t have the budget or backing to pull off a pitch-perfect Oscar campaign.

With that in mind, I have picked five more animated movies that qualified for this year’s awards that I refuse to shut up about. I did my best to spread the love internationally, and I’ve curated a list that celebrates films from the US, the Dominican Republic, Japan, South Korea and China. Read on to discover the year’s best animation beyond the scope of the Academy Awards. 

Note that Ne Zha 2 was ineligible here because for some reason they didn’t submit it to the Oscars, but being the highest grossing animated movie of all time is reward enough. 

5. The Bad Guys 2

It takes a very smart filmmaking team to craft good quality dumb fun. The Bad Guys 2 is in love with how silly it is, and as an audience member, it’s difficult to not laugh along. The Bad Guys 2 is the platonic ideal of a sequel, using its familiarity to push jokes further, to play with wilder plot twists and set its final battle in outer space. The film’s prologue flashback heist set piece is an excellent microcosm of what makes the film work. A stylish animation style being used to render an exotic location, which gets torn to bits by the mere presence of our protagonists. There’s also a banging Lupin III reference which ties everything together. 

The Bad Guys 2 is a satisfying loop of dominoes being set up and gleefully being knocked down. Each action set piece is surprising and comfortingly familiar at once, a perfect blend that feels effortlessly fun. It’s a shame that its box office performance reflects its poor standing in award shows this year, because few animated features were as joyful as this. 

4. Olivia & the Clouds

This utterly surreal, mixed-media look into connection and loss is one of just three animated features made in the Dominican Republic and was made for under $1 million. There’s no particular style assigned to Olivia & the Clouds, most of the film is rendered with 2D animation, but paper cut out, stop motion, CG and live action all intrude on our hand drawn backdrops, reflecting the tangled minds of all of our protagonists. 

The story takes place through the eyes of various people, some connected, some random, but details their journeys through understanding themselves and those around them. In Olivia & the Clouds, thick crayon-like lines will float around characters having mild conversations, representing all the things they want to say but can’t bring themselves to. In one extraordinary scene set in a latin club, characters form a wordless connection through dancing to the same song – one of the most visceral depictions of falling in love that you’ll see all year. 

3. Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc

Of the big two anime series-turned-movies to come out this year, the wrong one was getting all the love. Reze Arc has so much going for it, its lovely blend of CG and 2D animation, the complexity of its main character, Denji and its commentary about heartbreak. However, eclipsing all of those is its excellent structure. Fans of the show who just want to see Denji chainsaw-out and mow over a hoard of enemies are forced to wait until the final act. What we get for the first two thirds of the film is Denji figuring out what it means to value one’s self in a relationship.

Denji is constantly manipulated by the women around him who are able to identify and prey on Denji’s overt desire for sex and affection. This manifests in his objectification of women who are actually the ones in control. Makima is looking for Denji’s loyalty and Reze creates a fake girl next door persona to get close to Denji in order to kill him. Reze’s betrayal is gut-wrenching to watch, representing everything Denji wants in life, only to literally bite his tongue out the first time they kiss. 

2. Lost in Starlight

There’s another Netflix animated feature set in Seoul that you might have heard of already, but there’s a superior film that has been eclipsed by that large, Huntrixx-shaped shadow. Lost in Starlight is the kind of film we’re actually talking about when we say ‘animation is cinema.’ A non-American adult rom-com that uses the medium of animation to create a singular and unique world and manifest the characters’ struggles in a more surreal and abstract way than what’s possible in live action. 

At its core, Lost in Starlight is a story about a girl, Nan-young, who needs to choose between her love life and her career, something that’s been knocking about in the rom-com genre for decades. Except, this is set in an ultra-futuristic Seoul where technology and nature share equal real estate in every frame, and Nan-young is an astronaut destined for a mission to Mars. It’s just as sweet and dramatic as it needs to be, and is one of the most visually stunning films you’ll see all year. 

1. The Legend of Hei 2

This movie is just so fucking cool. In a year where a different Chinese animated action epic took the headlines, The Legend of Hei 2 barely got any attention, but is more than capable of standing up to the glory of Ne Zha 2. The first film in the franchise does a great job of building lore and setting up the political dynamics of this world separated between normal people and supernatural spirits. Hei 2, now that all the throat-clearing is out the way, goes harder on action than any animated movie released in the last few years. 

From the opening siege on the spirit world, the film serves banger after banger. You’ll see something that you’re convinced is the coolest thing you’ve ever seen in your life, only for it to be topped 10 seconds later. The 2D animation is absolutely astounding and is used to give each character a unique way of fighting and blowing shit up. Something like this only works when you’re familiar with the characters and their motivations from the first film, and Hei 2 does a fantastic job of deepening all of their journeys. But the standout here is the action, elevating it beyond any other animated feature that qualified for this year’s Academy Awards.