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Animated films set in Japan

  • My Neighbor TotoroMy Neighbor Totoro, a 1988 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, opens on a family driving to an old house in the…
  • Spirited AwaySpirited Away opens on a ten-year-old girl named Chihiro Ogino riding in her parents' imported Audi, sulking about moving to a new neighborhood.
  • The Cat ReturnsIn 1995, Studio Ghibli released a film titled Whisper of the Heart. That project introduced Baron, a cat figurine who came to life within a fantasy sequence.
  • The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (film)The Tale of the Princess Kaguya arrived in Japanese cinemas on the 23rd of November 2013 as the most expensive Japanese film ever made, carrying a budget of…
  • Princess MononokePrincess Mononoke arrived in Japanese cinemas on the 12th of July, 1997, and within days the newspapers had a name for what was happening: the "Mononoke…
  • Only Yesterday (1991 film)"Only Yesterday" cost its color department roughly a year of searching for a single shade of red. The goal was accurately capturing the safflower in summer…
  • Pom PokoPom Poko, a 1994 animated film from Studio Ghibli, opens not with heroes or villains but with raccoon dogs fighting each other over scraps of shrinking…
  • PonyoPonyo begins with a goldfish-like creature trapped inside a glass jar, drifting toward shore on the back of a jellyfish.
  • Whisper of the HeartWhisper of the Heart is a 1995 Japanese animated film that begins with a small, almost invisible mystery: a girl notices that every library book she picks up…
  • Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)Ghost in the Shell, the 1995 Japanese animated film directed by Mamoru Oshii, opens not with an action sequence but with the slow assembly of a body.
  • ArriettyArrietty is a 2010 Japanese animated fantasy film from Studio Ghibli, and it carries with it a question that has haunted filmmakers for decades: how do you…
  • The Wind RisesThe Wind Rises opens not with a battle or a disaster, but with a boy's dream. In 1918, Jiro Horikoshi longs to fly. His eyes are too weak to let him be a…
  • Your NameYour Name began, in a sense, on the ruined streets of a fishing village called Yuriage. Its director, Makoto Shinkai, visited the town in July 2011, months…
  • My Neighbors the YamadasMy Neighbors the Yamadas arrived in Japanese cinemas on the 17th of July 1999, looking like nothing Studio Ghibli had ever released before.