Studio Ghibli has been a juggernaut of animation since the 1980s and in the Western world has become synonymous with Japanese cartoons through its often surrealist tales that tackle themes such as growing up, environmentalism and the virtues of compassion.

Headed since their inception by the imperious Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli is often erroneously compared to Disney due to its association with animation but while the House of Mouse is a corporate behemoth, Ghibli is a story factory – it makes movies (and other forms of media) and nothing else.

The studio temporarily ceased producing films in 2014 following the since-reversed retirement of Miyazaki but has been back to its prolific best in recent years. 2023 also marks Miyazaki's return to the big screen with his first feature in a decade – How Do You Live? – set to be released this July.

Before Miyazaki embraces the cinema for the final time, let's look at Studio Ghibli's 10 best films below.

Showing 1 to 10 of 10 results

  • Only Yesterday

    • Drama
    • Animation
    • 1991
    • Isao Takahata
    • 118 mins
    • PG

    Summary:

    Animated drama from Japan in which an unhappy Tokyo office worker reflects on her childhood and is forced to examine some of the decisions she has taken in her life.

    Probably the most adult-orientated film in Ghibli's vast canon, Only Yesterday tackles the curse of nostalgia and memory and why we look back at the past. Animated with a more realistic style than other Ghibli productions, the human characters are more expressive, which makes Only Yesterday that bit more melancholy.

    How to watch
  • Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

    • Fantasy
    • Drama
    • 1984
    • Hayao Miyazaki
    • 117 mins
    • PG

    Summary:

    Animated sci-fi fantasy directed by Hayao Miyazaki. In a post-apocalyptic world covered by poisonous jungle and ruled by giant insects, a young princess tries to make amends for the mistakes of her ancestors.

    A broad sci-fi adventure, Nausicaä is influenced by Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and Frank Herbert's Dune with its story of a princess in a post-nuclear world in a struggle against a kingdom with genocidal intent. Like much of Miyazaki's work, Nausicaä was interested in exploring the evils of war and the need to protect the environment with the central character leading people to have a better respect for nature.

    How to watch
  • Porco Rosso

    • Action
    • Fantasy
    • 1992
    • Hayao Miyazaki
    • 93 mins
    • PG

    Summary:

    A 1930s flying ace cursed with the head of a pig scrapes a living protecting ships in the Adriatic from airborne bandits. However, his daring deeds look set to come to an abrupt end when a deadly rival attempts to ground the plucky porker - permanently. Hayao Miyazaki's animated adventure, with the voices of Shuichiro Moriyama and Tokiko Kato. In Japanese

    Yes, the one with a fighter pilot pig. Porco Rosso is set after the First World War and follows the fighter pilot of its title who has become a bounty hunter in this film that is an homage to aviation, a rebuttal to authoritarianism and also the closest Miyazaki has come to making a Hollywood film. With its Italian setting, it's fascinating to see Miyazaki animate Europe and the clear sense of location he gives the film.

    How to watch
  • Princess Mononoke

    • Action
    • Fantasy
    • 1997
    • Hayao Miyazaki
    • 128 mins
    • PG

    Summary:

    Animated action fantasy from the director of Spirited Away. When a young prince is cursed by an angry god, he travels east in search of a cure. However, he encounters a battle between the creatures of the forest and the inhabitants of the mining town who are threatening their existence. The leader of the forest animals is a human raised by wolves called Princess Mononoke.

    An environmentalist treatise, Princess Mononoke follows the Emishi people as they come under attack from demons and humans who wish to use forest resources for mining. The demons are a not too subtle metaphor for corporate interests wishing to strip natural resources from the Earth. The US DVD release is widely credited with massively increasing Ghibli's visibility in the US.

    How to watch
  • Ponyo

    • Family
    • Fantasy
    • 2008
    • Hayao Miyazaki
    • 98 mins
    • U

    Summary:

    Animated adventure inspired by The Little Mermaid, from director Hayao Miyazaki and featuring the voices of Liam Neeson and Cate Blanchett. When young Sosuke saves the life of a beautiful fish who washes onshore near his coastal home, he soon discovers that she is no ordinary creature.

    Only Studio Ghibli could get away with making a film about a goldfish princess. A (very) loose retelling of The Little Mermaid, the goldfish is the Ponyo of the title who longs to experience life on land and serves as a more accessible gateway into the world of Miyazaki and Japanese animation. Dreamlike and lightly charming, Ponyo skews younger than Miyazaki's later work but is no less substantial.

    How to watch
  • Howl's Moving Castle

    • Drama
    • Animation
    • 2004
    • Hayao Miyazaki
    • 114 mins
    • U

    Summary:

    Animated fantasy from the director of Spirited Away, featuring the voices of Christian Bale, Emily Mortimer, Billy Crystal and Jean Simmons. In a magical war-torn land, 18-year-old milliner Sophie loses her heart to the vain young wizard Howl, only to be turned into an old woman by a jealous witch. Setting out to reclaim her youth, the pensioner travels into the desolate Wasteland, eventually finding refuge and employment in Howl's mysterious walking castle.

    Influenced by Miyazaki's ardent pacifism and more directly by his opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the US and their allies, Howl's Moving Castle is a rage against war and the sadism it promotes. The story follows a young milliner, who after being cursed by a witch, becomes entangled with Howl (amusingly voiced by Christian Bale in the dubbed version), a wizard in one of Miyazaki's darkest tales that tackles war, compassion and old age.

    How to watch
  • The Wind Rises

    • Documentary and factual
    • Drama
    • 2013
    • Hayao Miyazaki
    • 121 mins
    • PG

    Summary:

    Animated wartime drama directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Jiro falls in love with the idea of flying aeroplanes from a young age, but being short-sighted means he can't qualify as a pilot. Rather than be discouraged, he turns his focus to designing planes and building "beautiful dreams" for others.

    A semi-autobiographical account of the life of Jiro Horikoshi, a chief engineer for Mitsubishi who designed the planes used by Japan in the Second World War, The Wind Rises is a reckoning of one's creation being used for devastation. Themed centrally on the destruction of beauty, The Wind Rises is a fully realised masterpiece and was originally intended to be Miyazaki's swansong.

    How to watch
  • My Neighbour Totoro

    • Family
    • Fantasy
    • 1988
    • Hayao Miyazaki
    • 82 mins
    • U

    Summary:

    Animated fantasy adventure from the director of Howl's Moving Castle and Princess Mononoke. Sisters Satsuki and Mei move to the country with their professor father and soon encounter a mysterious forest sprite named Totoro, with whom the girls share a multitude of magical experiences.

    Recently seen on stage in London, My Neighbour Totoro revolves around two girls who become friends with the spirits (Totoros) that live by their new home. One of the warmest Ghibli productions and more outwardly child friendly than, say, Spirited Away, you've not lived until you've seen the bus that is actually a cat.

    How to watch
  • Spirited Away

    • Drama
    • Animation
    • 2001
    • Hayao Miyazaki
    • 124 mins
    • PG

    Summary:

    Oscar-winning animated fantasy adventure from the director of Princess Mononoke. On the way to their new suburban home, Chihiro and her parents stumble across what appears to be an abandoned theme park. But after eating in its deserted restaurant, mum and dad are transformed into pigs and the family is trapped in a spirit-filled fantasy world. Alone and frightened, Chihiro is helped by a mysterious young boy who gets her a job in a strange bathhouse, while she tries to work out how to save her parents and escape.

    The film that largely broke Studio Ghibli into the Western mainstream, the Oscar-winning Spirited Away took cues from the terrifyingly surreal Alice in Wonderland with its imaginative story that tapped into fears of parental abandonment. The epoch of Hayao Miyazaki's work – boys become dragons, spirits have baths and parents are turned into pigs – it is not the most accessible work in the Ghibli canon but the best.

    How to watch
  • Grave of the Fireflies

    • Drama
    • Animation
    • 1988
    • Isao Takahata
    • 90 mins
    • 12

    Summary:

    Animated Second World War drama set in Japan. After their mother is killed by a bomb during an air raid, teenager Seita and his young sister Setsuko struggle to survive alone during the last days of the war.

    Originally released as half of a double feature with the much better known My Neighbour Totoro, Grave of the Fireflies is a devastating drama set during the closing months of the Second World War as Japan is left in ruins from merciless American air attacks. The film follows two young siblings left wandering Japan after their home city of Kobe is flattened. Director Isao Takahata was informed by his own memories of surviving air raids, the personal aspect as clear as anything in its harrowing depiction of the impact of war on normal people.

    How to watch
See more Best Studio Ghibli films: From Spirited Away to Princess Mononoke
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