In this week’s MSN Movies gallery, I attempt to introduce our readership to the world of Japanese animation.

You may notice it’s a pretty gentle  introduction, since we decided to limit it to five key features with specific relevance to Western audiences. And we batted those five back and forth for a while before deciding that, say, “Princess Mononoke” represented more of a landmark than “Spirited Away” as far as Studio Ghibli imports go.

So, yeah, I probably left out your favourite movie. Sorry about that. If it’s any consolation, I left out mine, too.