Skip to content
Curated playlist

Animated films set in Japan

  • My Neighbor TotoroEight animators finished My Neighbor Totoro in just eight months. They spent one full month on a tadpole scene alone.
  • Spirited AwayIn Spirited Away, a girl's parents turn into pigs in an abandoned resort town. Ten-year-old Chihiro is left alone.
  • The Cat ReturnsThe Cat Returns began as a 20-minute short for a theme park that canceled it. Ghibli made it a feature.
  • The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (film)The Tale of the Princess Kaguya was the most expensive Japanese film ever made. It opened in Japan in November 2013.
  • Princess MononokeHayao Miyazaki spent seventeen years getting Princess Mononoke made.
  • Only Yesterday (1991 film)Ghibli's color team spent roughly a year hunting one shade of red for Only Yesterday.
  • Pom PokoStudio Ghibli's Pom Poko ends on a golf course, where a grassy clearing is all that remains of an ancient forest.
  • PonyoMiyazaki shut down Studio Ghibli's computer graphics section to make Ponyo. He wanted the film hand-drawn.
  • Whisper of the HeartWhisper of the Heart begins when a girl sees the same name on every library book she borrows.
  • Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)Ghost in the Shell flopped in theaters, then became a video hit. In August 1996 it topped Billboard's video sales chart.
  • ArriettyA handwritten envelope led a French musician to score Studio Ghibli's Arrietty.
  • The Wind RisesIn The Wind Rises, a boy with weak eyes builds planes instead of flying them. It follows engineer Jiro Horikoshi.
  • Your NameYour Name began in a fishing village wrecked by a tsunami. Director Makoto Shinkai visited Yuriage in July 2011.
  • My Neighbors the YamadasMy Neighbors the Yamadas is a Studio Ghibli film about a family fighting over the TV remote.

Queue