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Curated category

Japanese animated fantasy films

  • Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (film)One thousand years after the Seven Days of Fire, a vast forest swarms with giant mutant insects. The air carries poison that kills any human who breathes it…
  • Castle in the SkyOn the 15th of June 1985, Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata founded Studio Ghibli in Tokyo. The new studio emerged from the commercial success of Nausicaä of…
  • My Neighbor TotoroIn 1950s Japan, a university professor named Tatsuo Kusakabe moves his two daughters into an old house near a hospital. His wife Yasuko stays there to…
  • Kiki's Delivery ServiceIn 1987, Group Fudosha approached Kadono's publishers to adapt the novel into a feature film. The studio sought either Hayao Miyazaki or Isao Takahata for…
  • Tales from Earthsea (film)In 1985, Ursula K. Le Guin received a call from Hayao Miyazaki through the bookseller Iwanami Shoten. She turned him down because she had not seen his films…
  • Spirited AwayTen-year-old Chihiro Ogino and her parents Akio and Yūko travel to their new home. Akio takes a shortcut through a tunnel leading to what appears to be an…
  • 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)In 1960, Isao Takahata prepared a potential adaptation of The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter for Toei Animation. That project never came to fruition.
  • Princess MononokeHayao Miyazaki composed the preliminary ideas for what would become Princess Mononoke in 1980 after releasing his first film, The Castle of Cagliostro.
  • PonyoA five-year-old boy named Sōsuke cuts his finger while shattering a glass jar on the shore of a small fishing town. A goldfish-like creature named Brunhilde…
  • ArriettyOn the 16th of December 2009, Studio Ghibli announced the film Karigurashi no Arrietty for release in 2010. This announcement marked the feature directorial…
  • Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen TrainTanjiro Kamado steps onto the Mugen Train with his sister Nezuko and friends Zenitsu Agatsuma and Inosuke Hashibira. They board to assist Flame Hashira…
  • Mary and the Witch's FlowerIn 1971, Mary Stewart published a children's book titled The Little Broomstick. A few months after its release, Walt Disney Productions acquired the film…
  • Porco RossoHayao Miyazaki began work on Porco Rosso in 1989 with a manga titled Hikōtei Jidai. The project started as a planned short film for Japan Airlines to show…
  • The Boy and the HeronHayao Miyazaki stood before a press conference in Tokyo on the 14th of September 2013 and declared his retirement from feature animation.
  • The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the SunIn autumn 1965, Isao Takahata began work on a project that would become his first feature film. The title was Horus, Prince of the Sun.
  • The Red TurtleIn 2008, Vincent Maraval walked into the Studio Ghibli offices in Tokyo. He was a co-founder of Wild Bunch, a French production company seeking new projects.
  • Final Fantasy VII: Advent ChildrenIn the ruins of Midgar, a grey wolf howls at the sky. Cloud Strife stands alone in the rain that falls after a long battle.
  • The Lord of the Rings: The War of the RohirrimIn June 2021, New Line Cinema announced a fast-tracked anime film to secure the rights to J. R. R. Tolkien's novels before they expired.
  • Pokémon: The First MovieIn a laboratory on New Island, a cloned Pokémon named Mewtwo gains sentience and immediately questions his right to exist.
  • Your NameMakoto Shinkai stood in the fishing village of Yuriage on the 14th of July 2011. The ground beneath his feet still trembled from the massive earthquake that…
  • Howl's Moving Castle (film)Studio Ghibli announced the production of two films in September 2001. The second project was an adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones' novel Howl's Moving Castle.
  • Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XVThe sky over the capital city of Insomnia turned a bruised purple as dawn approached. Inside the Royal Citadel, King Regis Lucis Caelum CXIII stood before…