Film

Bubble

Name: Bubble
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Science Fiction, Fantasy
Released: 2022
Cast: Jun Shison, Riria., Alice Hirose, Mamoru Miyano, Yuki Kaji

Bubble is a gorgeously animated sci-fi romance set in a gravity-warped Tokyo where parkour-loving teenagers navigate a world consumed by massive, physics-defying bubbles. It's a love story wrapped in spectacular action sequences and mystery, made for anyone who loves visual storytelling and doesn't need everything explained. Thumping soundtrack, stunning backgrounds, occasionally baffling plot—totally worth it.

TMDb rating

3.7

If you liked this

Your Name.2016

Shares Bubble's blend of romantic longing, visual spectacle, and a central mystery that slowly unfolds. Both films trust their animation to convey emotion across impossible scenarios. Makoto Shinkai at his most enchanting.

But The dubbed or subbed choice matters more than usual, and the romance can feel slight if you're not in the mood for melancholy.

Weathering with You2019

Another Shinkai film with a similar DNA: young lovers, Tokyo, environmental mystery, and extraordinary animation that makes you forget you're watching a drawing. The emotional stakes feel genuinely high.

But It's very long at 112 minutes, and relies on you caring about the couple as much as the spectacle around them.

The Boy and the Beast2015

Mamoru Hosoda's masterpiece about connection across impossible worlds. Like Bubble, it uses animation's freedom to create spaces that feel both fantastical and emotionally real, with a brooding male lead and constant visual invention.

But The second half shifts genre unexpectedly; some find it loses its footing, though others see that as the point.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Bubble

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Akira1988

Both pit a young couple against an incomprehensible force remaking their world; both use the city itself as almost a character, and both suggest that individual connection might be the only real answer.

The obvious pick for anime sci-fi, but it deserves inclusion for a different reason: like Bubble, it's a story about connection and control set in a sprawling, visually overwhelming city. Both ask what happens when one person breaks the rules that bind everyone else.

But It's 124 minutes of dense, sometimes impenetrable cyberpunk. The ending is famously cryptic, and it doesn't soften the landing.

A Silent Voice: The Movie2016

Quieter than Bubble but equally gorgeous. Two damaged kids reconnect in a visually stunning world. The animation alone justifies the watch—every frame could be a poster—and the emotional payoff is genuine.

But It's slow and introspective; if you came for action, you'll be disappointed. Also deals with heavy themes including suicide.

Promare2019

Trigger's kinetic sci-fi action film with explosive animation and a surprisingly warm heart. If you loved Bubble's parkour energy and visual dynamism, this delivers chaos with style and genuine stakes.

But The plot is thin and sometimes nonsensical. It's style over substance, which is the whole point, but not everyone's after that.

The Garden of Words2013

Shinkai's most visually perfect work—a meditation on connection between two people in a rainy garden. Spare, intimate, and animatedly breathtaking. Only 46 minutes; pure distilled beauty.

But Almost nothing happens plot-wise. It's mood over narrative, which can feel slight or precious depending on your patience.

Flavors of Youth2018

Three interconnected stories about memory and romance, gorgeously animated with that same sense of yearning that drives Bubble. Co-directed by Japanese and Chinese animators, it feels like a love letter to youth itself.

But Anthology structure means you're invested in different characters with no throughline. The middle section drags noticeably.

Children of the Sea2019

Visually unlike anything else—Ayoma Yoshida's adaptation of a manga about kids and marine mystery. Dreamlike and hypnotic, with animation that prioritizes mood over clarity. Perfect if Bubble's poetry appealed to you more than its plot.

But It's deliberately obscure and refuses to explain itself. Some see it as profound; others as pretentious noise.

Sword of the Stranger2007

An older gem: a wanderer and a boy flee across medieval Japan in a kinetic action film that inspired a generation of animators. Technically dazzling sword work and a melancholic tone that lingers.

But Pre-Shinkai era aesthetics might feel dated. The plot is basic samurai stuff, not novel, just beautifully executed.

Night Is Short, Walk On Girl2017

Both are love stories that use surreal, gravity-defying animation to show what it feels like when normal rules stop applying because you've met the right person. Both trust visuals to carry the emotion.

Masaaki Yuasa's feverish, wildly inventive romance that follows two people across a single night in Kyoto. Animation at its most playful and strange—nothing like Bubble tonally, but the same commitment to visual storytelling and the magic of meeting someone.

But It's surreal and often incomprehensible. The humour is very Japanese and sometimes alienating. Watching it feels like a fever dream in a good way, but not for everyone.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners2022

Both are 2022 anime about young people in futures that don't make complete sense, where the emotional logic matters more than the plot logic, and where the animation itself is half the story.

A 10-episode anime that shares Bubble's year and similar sci-fi DNA—a young outcast moving through a dystopian, impossibly visual world. Studio Trigger creates sequences of pure kinetic beauty. The ending hits like a truck.

But It's darker and gorier than Bubble, with harder edges and genuine tragedy. Also very plot-heavy and complex; you need to pay attention.