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Studio Ghibli animated films

  • Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (film)Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind arrived in Japanese cinemas on the 11th of March 1984, carrying a story set one thousand years after an apocalyptic war…
  • Castle in the SkyCastle in the Sky opened in 103 Japanese theaters on the 2nd of August 1986, carrying on its shoulders the future of a brand-new animation studio that had…
  • 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…
  • Kiki's Delivery ServiceKiki's Delivery Service opens with a rule every witch must follow. On turning thirteen, she leaves home alone for a year, taking only a cat and a broomstick.
  • Tales from Earthsea (film)Tales from Earthsea arrived in Japanese cinemas on the 29th of July 2006, carrying more weight than most debut films. Its director, Gorō Miyazaki, was making…
  • 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.
  • When Marnie Was There (film)When Marnie Was There, released in Japanese theaters on the 19th of July 2014, begins with a question most children have asked in some form: does anyone…
  • 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…
  • 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…
  • Earwig and the WitchEarwig and the Witch drew positive notices from just 28 of every 100 critics who reviewed it. That figure, compiled by the Rotten Tomatoes aggregator from 68…
  • 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…
  • Porco RossoPorco Rosso is a 1992 Japanese animated film by Hayao Miyazaki about a man who has become a pig. Not metaphorically. Marco Pagot, an Italian ace from the…
  • The Boy and the HeronThe Boy and the Heron, a 2023 fantasy film from Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, reached Japanese theaters behind a single poster and nothing else.
  • The Red TurtleThe Red Turtle opens on a man clinging to wreckage in the open sea. A storm has just swept over him, and next he wakes alone on a beach.
  • Howl's Moving Castle (film)Howl's Moving Castle arrived in Japanese cinemas on the 20th of November 2004, carrying more emotional weight than most animated films dare to attempt.
  • 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.