Every Studio Ghibli Film, Ranked From Worst To Best - WIRED UK

21/10/23, 0:01 Every Studio Ghibli Film, Ranked From Worst to Best | WIRED UK
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MATT KAMEN CULTURE 07.09.2023 02:41 PM
Every Studio Ghibli Film, Ranked From

Worst to Best
Almost all of Studio Ghibli’s films are on Netflix and Max. To help
prioritize your animation binge, we’ve ranked every single one.
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/best-studio-ghibli-films#intcid=_wired-uk-bottom-recirc_67a02282-1ba2-485e-9ffa-ccf7eca84aee_text2vec1 1/30
COURTESY OF STUDIO GHIBLI
Studio Ghibli is home to some of the greatest animators in the world, but outside
Japan, its catalog has tended to be either difficult to find or the purview of pricey
collector's edition discs. Thankfully, that changed when Netflix (in the UK) and
Max (in the US) snapped up streaming rights. Now, although a few curiosities
escape Western availability—such as Whisper of the Heart spinoff Iblard Jikan—
almost everything from the studio is available at a click.
Now, with visionary director Hayao Miyazaki's final film, The Boy and the Heron,
currently making its way to international cinema screens, it's time to reevaluate
everything that came before. This is the definitive ranking of the rest of the
legendary animation house's library, and where to find them. Binge responsibly,
and when you're done, head on over to our guide to the best films on Netflix and
the best films on Amazon.
24. Earwig and the Witch

Content
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You can almost imagine the cold, calculated decisionmaking that went into
Earwig and the Witch. After all, Diana Wynne Jones' Howl's Moving Castle
became one of Studio Ghibli's most beloved films, so surely adapting another of
the author's books was a smart idea—and with this one following an orphaned
girl adopted by a witch and forced into servitude, it probably seemed a perfect
blend of Howl's, Kiki's Delivery Service, and Spirited Away. Plus, CGI animated
films by Disney and Pixar regularly dominate the box office, so what could go
wrong with adopting the style? A lot, it turns out—Goro Miyazaki's attempt to
deliver Ghibli's first 3DCG feature is a bland, lifeless affair that, despite the leap
into the third dimension, looks flatter and duller than anything else the studio has
released. Beyond the lackluster visuals, the movie is a narrative disappointment
too, with an extended middle act that never matures into a finale, leaving
backstories, relationships, and questions unresolved by the time the credits roll.
Studio Ghibli's worst creative failure.
WATCH ON NETFLIX 🇬🇧 WATCH ON MA X 🇺🇸
23. Tales From Earthsea

Content
Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea is one of the finest fantasy sagas in literature, but has
been blighted with terrible adaptations in other media. Sadly, even Studio Ghibli's
brand of magic couldn't break that curse. The film's bizarre development cycle
didn't help—Hayao Miyazaki had sought the Earthsea rights for years, but was
busy directing Howl's Moving Castle by the time Le Guin gave her approval,
leading Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki to tap Hayao's son Goro (originally a
landscape architect) to direct. The elder Miyazaki disapproved, given his son's
inexperience, and was proven right. This Earthsea is a mess, an incoherent
jumbling of scenes and characters from Le Guin's work, resulting in a generic
fantasy with no real narrative thread and barely any of the visual beauty of the
studio's other works. On the film’s release, Le Guin would say to Goro: “It is not
my book. It is your movie. It is a good movie,” though later was far harsher,
criticizing the film’s violence.
WATCH ON NETFLIX 🇬🇧 WATCH ON NETFLIX 🇺🇸
22. Ocean Waves

Content
1993's Ocean Waves was essentially a training exercise for Studio Ghibli's younger
creators, a made-for-TV film helmed by outsider director Tomomi Mochizuki. It's
also a contender for the studio's most realistic and grounded work, forgoing
Ghibli's penchant for the fantastic in favor of a poignant story of teen friendships,
fractured families, and the pains of adolescence. Despite this, it's also quietly
charming, perfectly capturing the beauty to be found in everyday life. The film
follows the increasingly strained relationships between Rikako, who resents being
shipped off from bustling Tokyo to the much smaller city of Kōchi following her
parents' divorce, and her new classmates, well-meaning but academically
struggling Taku and class leader Yutaka. There are plenty of lingering looks and
wistful staring into middle distance as the young cast navigate their feelings and
futures, making for a mood that's constantly caught between melancholy and
contemplation, but at only 72 minutes, it doesn't outstay its welcome. It'll be too
slow for some, but anyone open to a serious animated drama will be well served.
21. From Up on Poppy Hill

Content
A collaboration between both Miyazakis, with Goro directing from a screenplay

by Hayao, results in the former's best feature work to date. Set in 1963 Yokohama,
From Up on Poppy Hill follows Umi, who lives in a boarding house while her
mother studies in the US, and Shun, a member of their school's newspaper team,
as they fight to save a clubhouse from demolition. Yet as the pair grow closer, they
learn that they may share more than a cause: With records a mess following
World War II and the Korean War, an old photo points to them sharing a father,
too. While it's slow to the point of ponderousness at points, Poppy Hill still
delivers some stand-out moments of animated beauty, and its youthful,
optimistic leads are a real delight.
20. My Neighbors the Yamadas

Content
An adaptation of a newspaper comic strip, My Neighbors the Yamadas is a

candidate for Ghibli's most experimental movie. Not only did director Isao
Takahata eschew cel animation to create the studio's first digital production, but
it's questionable whether it's a "movie" by any traditional definition. There's no
real through-line, instead presenting viewers with a series of vignettes focused on
the Yamada family as they navigate the quirks and eccentricities of daily life. The
tone can vary wildly from short to short—silly enough to place the Yamadas in the
folk story The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (the same story that would later inspire
Takahata's The Tale of the Princess Kaguya) at one moment, but grounded
enough to explore major familial conflicts (like control of the TV remote) in the
next—but with its living watercolor visuals and a beautiful score by Akiko Yano,
Yamadas is never less than utterly joyful.
19. The Cat Returns
Content
The Cat Returns follows a girl named Haru, who finds herself betrothed to the
Prince of Cats following an act of kindness. Drawn into the Cat Kingdom and
slowly changing into feline form, her only hope is the gentlemanly Baron, the
humanoid cat from Whisper of the Heart. Director Hiroyuki Morita's fantasy sits
somewhere between spinoff and sequel to that film—or, at least, to the fantastic
asides within it—which makes this less of a standalone effort than most of Studio
Ghibli's works, but it's still a visual feast packed with charming characters and
gleeful weirdness. At only 75 minutes, it's a nice, breezy watch, too.
18. Ponyo
Content
Hayao Miyazaki's take on The Little Mermaid could have been great, especially if
some of the darker elements of the original story survived the transition. Instead,
Ponyo feels more inspired by the already sanitized Disney version and made even
more kid-friendly here (a theme song with the lyrics "Ponyo, Ponyo, fishy in the
sea" doesn't help). Ponyo is the daughter of a sea wizard, separated from her
family and rescued by Sōsuke, a 5-year-old boy with whom she decides she
wants to stay. The romance element of the source material obviously doesn't
work with such young protagonists, and the progression of the story is far simpler
and blunter than audiences may expect from a Ghibli work. Still, it packs in the
magnificent animation quality that the studio built its reputation on. Ponyo is
Miyazaki's weakest film—but the weakest work by a master of his craft is still
worth a watch.
17. Only Yesterday
Content
This might be Studio Ghibli's most controversial release, a movie barred from
release in North America for a quarter-century due to its shocking content. The
content in question? An incredibly mild, non-graphic flashback scene where
protagonist Taeko has her first period. This everyday biological reality was too
extreme for distributor Disney, and Only Yesterday became the domain of
bootlegs and imports for years. Thankfully, this quiet, contemplative piece from
director Isao Takahata is now readily available, and Taeko's journey back to her
rural home village to escape city life, reflect on her childhood, and decide what
she wants out of life can be easily enjoyed. A sedate film—and, like many of
Ghibli's dramas, likely to be too slow for some—but it stands as a beautiful piece
of animated filmmaking.
16. When Marnie Was There
Content
A subtle, rewarding story about adolescence and identity based on a 1967 novel of
the same name by British author Joan G. Robinson, When Marnie Was There
follows Anna, a shy and withdrawn girl who struggles to connect to anyone. As
she moves to a seaside town to recuperate from chronic asthma, she meets
Marnie, a mysterious girl who lives in a secluded mansion accessible only by
rowboat—and who insists that Anna keeps their growing friendship secret. The
story straddles the line between Ghibli's dramas and fantasies, with only very
gentle supernatural themes, but it's the beautiful locations, gorgeous animation,
and heartfelt connection between its protagonists that make it stand out. The
second and last of Hiromasa Yonebayashi's films at Studio Ghibli, When Marnie
Was There showed the director was one to watch.
15. The Red Turtle
Content
One of Studio Ghibli's strangest offerings, The Red Turtle is a dialog-free survival
epic/mythical romance. A shipwrecked man finds himself alone on an island,
prevented from leaving by the titular red turtle—until the creature reveals itself to
be something else entirely, and the man's life changes forever. The film's mixed
heritage—a collaboration between Ghibli and several European arts and media
companies, and directed by Academy Award–winning Dutch animator Michaël
Dudok de Wit—makes it one of Ghibli's most visually distinctive films, with a
blend of influences including Franco-Belgian bandes dessinée giving it something
of a Tintin flair at times. Dreamlike and almost meditative, The Red Turtle is
perhaps the most unique film in the studio's library.
WATCH ON AMAZON PRIME 🇬🇧 WATCH ON AMAZON PRIME 🇺🇸
14. The Secret World of Arriety
Content
One of Studio Ghibli's greatest talents is being able to show the sheer wonder that
can be found in the world around us, and Arrietty is one of the best examples of
this. Transplanting Mary Norton's classic novel The Borrowers to Japan, the film
follows the young boy Shō as he befriends the eponymous Arrietty, one of the
"little people" who live in the hidden spaces within his aunt's house. Hiromasa
Yonebayashi's directorial debut, Arrietty's sumptuous visuals reveal the magic in
everything full-grown humans overlook. Oddly, there's a UK and US dub of the
film with different casts, but the UK one featuring Saoirse Ronan, Tom Holland,
and Olivia Colman is the one to go for, especially as the US version needlessly
tweaks the ending with some additional lines not found in the original
production.
13. The Wind Rises
Content
Hayao Miyazaki's previous "final film" before The Boy and the Heron—never has a
man been so pathologically incapable of retiring—The Wind Rises adapts his own
manga of the same name into a stunningly animated pseudo-biography of Jiro
Horikoshi, the chief engineer behind some of Japan's key aircraft during World
War II, notably the Mitsubishi A6M Zero. This is no propaganda piece though, as
Miyazaki delivers an honest exploration of 1930s Japan, a country wracked by
recession and disease, alongside a meticulous depiction of how planes are
designed and constructed. His portrayal of Horikoshi is slightly fictionalized—the
real-life figure had an older brother, not a younger sister, as here—but is a likable,
optimistic figure who was almost possessed by his dreams of flight, despite fears
of how his designs may be used. A thoughtful retrospective inspired by his own
love of aviation, The Wind Rises is one of Miyazaki's most personal movies.
12. Whisper of the Heart
Content
Based on a manga by Aoi Hiiragi, Whisper of the Heart blends coming-of-age

drama with a tale of fluttering first love. It tells the story of Shizuku, a 14-year-old
girl who aspires to be a writer, and Seiji, a boy who aims to make the finest violins
in the world. Yet while the personal drama is front and center, there are also some
breathtakingly beautiful fantasy sequences, bringing to life the story Shizuku
invents for The Baron (an antique cat statue, who would later feature in The Cat
Returns). It's these sections, set in a surreal world of floating islands drawing on
the impressionistic artwork of Naohisa Inoue, that elevate the movie as a whole—
well, those, and a very creative reworking of the song "Take Me Home, Country
Roads" that's surprisingly central to the plot. The sole feature directed by
Yoshifumi Kondō, a veteran animation director and planned successor to
Miyazaki and Takahata who tragically died just a few years after the film's release,
Whisper of the Heart endures as a landmark work from a talented creator.
11. Porco Rosso
Content
Imagine Indiana Jones as a pilot instead of an archaeologist… and with his head
transformed into a pig's. That's the basic gist of Porco Rosso, Hayao Miyazaki's
greatest film about flying and an underrated classic. Set in 1930s Italy, Porco
Rosso, the Crimson Pig, is a hotshot pilot caught up in a rivalry with sky pirate
Curtis, competing for both aerial supremacy and the love of Gina, a cabaret singer
and hotel owner. The film is deliciously indulgent on Miyazaki's part, a way to
showcase his love of vintage planes, but is packed with thrilling chases, shoot-
outs, and high-stakes fist fights, making it a classic adventure film. Plus, it gave
the world the immortal line "I'd rather be a pig than a fascist." Perfect Saturday
afternoon viewing.
10. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
Content
Isao Takahata's final film is a stunning achievement, adapting a thousand-year-

old fable into a modern masterpiece. Found as a baby inside a bamboo shoot,
young Kaguya brings joy to her adoptive parents. Hailing from the moon, Kaguya
relishes the simple pleasures of her bucolic life, until the very people who
banished her to Earth demand she return and Kaguya faces losing everything and
everyone she loves. The visuals are unlike anything else, all dreamlike
watercolors and half-remembered sketch lines flooding into each other to create
exquisite forms of movement, while Joe Hisaishi's score is one of the finest to
grace a Ghibli film. Once the most expensive Japanese film ever made—a record
supplanted by The Boy and the Heron—The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is also an
almost-overwhelmingly emotional affair. Watch with people you don’t mind
seeing you weep uncontrollably.
9. Kiki's Delivery Service
Content
Young witch Kiki has just turned 13 and, according to custom, must continue her
magic training by living alone for a year. Having only mastered flying on her
broomstick, Kiki and her talking cat, Jiji, travel to the port city of Koriko, where
she sets about helping the locals as a speedy delivery girl. And … that's it. The
closest thing to a central plot is Kiki's growing friendship with Tombo, a boy
obsessed with flight (often suspected of being a cheeky bit of self-insert on
director Hayao Miyzaki's part, given his own well-documented love of aviation),
but ultimately Kiki's Delivery Service is an energetic coming-of-age story, an
almost episodic collection of the well-meaning hero's small adventures. That
simplicity is part of its mountainous charm though, crafting a mood more than a
story, one of finding your confidence, embracing adventure, and meeting the
world with hope and optimism. An enduring classic, whatever your age.
8. Pom Poko
Content
Tragically, Pom Poko is perhaps better known as "the one with the raccoon balls,"
and that's just wrong. For one, the protagonists aren't raccoons at all, but rather
tanuki, playful creatures known in Japanese folklore for trickery and
shapeshifting. For another, tanuki anatomy’s reputation for magical properties
colors what is one of Isao Takahata's greatest works, an environmental parable
that explores the impact of humanity's urban sprawl on forest habitats and the
creatures that inhabit them. It's a whimsical approach to surprisingly heavy
material, and for every fanciful battle between warring tribes of tanuki, there's a
heartbreaking moment showing the real cost to the natural world of our
relentless modernization. Quirky but somber, Pom Poko's messages will hang
with you long after you finish watching.
7. Howl’s Moving Castle
Content
The first of Diana Wynne Jones' novels adapted by Studio Ghibli (and far more
successfully so than Earwig and the Witch), Howl's Moving Castle allowed Hayao
Miyazaki to present his most overtly anti-war statement to audiences. Set in a
quasi-realistic world where a conflict rages with a mixture of magic and military
might, the film focuses on Sophie, a young milliner aged into a withered crone by
a curse from the Witch of the Waste. In search of a cure, she encounters the
eponymous castle—a daunting construct meandering impossibly through the
countryside—and its vainglorious owner, the wizard Howl. While Howl's powers
are sought by both sides to try to turn the tide of the increasingly devastating war,
it's the focus on Sophie and her relationship with Howl and Calcifer, the fire spirit
who powers the castle, that really allows Miyazaki to emphasize the impact of
war at an individual level. It's all let down slightly by a sloppy, rushed ending, but
the film's mixture of charming characters and sumptuous animation is classic
Ghibli.
6. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Content
Although technically not a Studio Ghibli film—released in 1984, its success laid
the financial groundwork for Miyazaki, Takahata, and producer Toshio Suzuki to
found Studio Ghibli in June 1985—Nausicaä is synonymous with the studio. For
good reason, too: Miyazaki's postapocalyptic fantasy, adapted from his own
manga, proved a pivotal moment in animation history. Set 1,000 years after a
civilization-ending war known to the survivors' descendants as the Seven Days of
Fire, its tale of the titular princess trying to save her people from ecological
catastrophe is brought to life through groundbreaking work from future titans of
the medium (a particularly notable sequence is helmed by Evangelion creator
Hideaki Anno). Filled with what would become hallmarks of both Ghibli and
Miyazaki's output—heroic young women, the joy of flight, and the delicate state of
the natural world—Nausicaä set the standard for everything that followed.
5. Grave of the Fireflies
Content
Warning: There's a fair chance this film will traumatize you. Isao Takahata's
magnum opus follows siblings Seita and Setsuko as they struggle to survive in the
wake of the 1945 fire bombing of Kobe, and Japan's surrender at the end of World
War II. Orphaned by their parents and abused by surviving extended family, they
try to eke out an existence in the wastelands that were once their hometown, only
to face starvation and disease. It is a bleak and harrowing work, and
unapologetically so, painted in sorrowful, mournful tones throughout, a film
about a world lost, of innocence lost, of pain and suffering, of the cost of war on
the most innocent, but also of enduring love. Licensing peculiarities related to the
original short story by Akiyuki Nosaka mean it's one of the few Studio Ghibli films
not available on Netflix (UK) or Max (US), but it's available to buy or rent digitally
in both territories, and has a rather excellent Blu-ray release for physical media
aficionados.
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4. Laputa: Castle in the Sky
Content
The first official Ghibli film, 1986's Laputa: Castle in the Sky is a distillation of
everything that would make the Studio great, both onscreen and behind the
scenes. Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, produced by Isao Takahata, and
with a phenomenal score by Joe Hisaishi, it's a showcase of the greatest talents at
the beloved animation house, while the action-adventure story is as rousing as
Ghibli gets. When Pazu, a young miner, rescues Sheeta, a girl who falls from the
sky, it leads them in search of a castle hidden behind the clouds, a quest that
brings them into conflict with shady government forces, sky pirates in steampunk
airships, and devastatingly powerful robots created by an ancient civilization.
Inspired by influences as varied as Gulliver's Travels and Miyazaki's trip to Welsh
mining towns, Castle in the Sky is Ghibli's first masterpiece.
3. Spirited Away
Content
Steeped in a mixture of Shinto and Buddhist lore, Spirited Away is a mesmerizing

affair, and one that firmly established Studio Ghibli's reputation outside of Japan
(winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature will do that). When
Chihiro steps into a fantastic world populated by gods and monsters, she loses
everything—even her name. Renamed Sen by the witch Yubaba and forced to
work in a bathhouse for yōkai and spirits, her struggle to return to the world she
knew takes her on a tour of an unimaginably beautiful spirit world, filled with
unforgettable figures all brought to life with director Hayao Miyazaki's
inestimable attention to detail. Comparisons can be drawn to Alice in
Wonderland or The Wizard of Oz, but this is pure Ghibli magic.
2. Princess Mononoke
Content
While Spirited Away won Miyazaki the Oscar, there's a strong case to be made
that Princess Mononoke is the film that should have won it. Set in a version of
13th-century Japan, the animated epic depicts the struggle between the animal
gods who protect the forest and the humans who want to cut it down to mine
iron. On one side is San, a young woman raised by wolf gods, who despises
humanity. On the other is the complex Lady Eboshi, a genuine humanitarian and
feminist building a home for those discarded by wider society, but whose hubris
precipitates chaos and destruction. Caught in the middle is Ashitaka, a prince
blighted by a demon's curse, whose search for a cure leads him to try to reconcile
both factions. It's a richer, more complex tale than almost anything else in Ghibli's
oeuvre, wrapped in narrative shades of gray even as its visuals paint a lush, vivid
world of savage beasts and inquisitive spirits. The balance between humans,
technology, and nature is one of Miyazaki's favorite themes, and Princess
Monokoke is the most evocative portrayal of his convictions.
1. My Neighbor Totoro
Content
Of course My Neighbor Totoro tops this list—the legendary creature became the
Studio Ghibli's mascot for a reason. When Mei and Satsuki move with their father
to an old house near the hospital where their mother is recuperating from a long-
term illness, they stumble upon a world of mysterious nature spirits unseen by
adults, led by the gentle giant Totoro. Like Kiki's Delivery Service, Totoro is a
series of gentle, beautiful adventures as the girls bond with the mysterious
creature, but it holds together better thanks to the emotional weight behind the
girls' circumstances. The film also marks the first appearance of so many Studio
Ghibli staples—notably susuwatari, the adorable soot sprites that crop up in
several other movies—and is absolutely crammed with iconic imagery and
standout moments. The bus-stop shot with Totoro and the girls standing in the
pouring rain, the Catbus racing through fields, Totoro's bellowing roar echoing
over the countryside—it's all so memorable. Not just a great film for kids, but one
of the great films about the magic and wonder of being a kid. Watch it, then watch
it again.
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21/10/23, 0:01 Every Studio Ghibli Film, Ranked From Worst to Best | WIRED UK

MATT KAMEN CULTURE 07.09.2023 02:41 PM

Every Studio Ghibli Film, Ranked From

COURTESY OF STUDIO GHIBLI

24. Earwig and the Witch

WATCH ON NETFLIX 🇬🇧 WATCH ON MA X 🇺🇸

23. Tales From Earthsea

WATCH ON NETFLIX 🇬🇧 WATCH ON NETFLIX 🇺🇸

22. Ocean Waves

WATCH ON NETFLIX 🇬🇧 WATCH ON MA X 🇺🇸

21. From Up on Poppy Hill

A collaboration between both Miyazakis, with Goro directing from a screenplay

WATCH ON NETFLIX 🇬🇧 WATCH ON MA X 🇺🇸

20. My Neighbors the Yamadas

An adaptation of a newspaper comic strip, My Neighbors the Yamadas is a

WATCH ON NETFLIX 🇬🇧 WATCH ON MA X 🇺🇸

19. The Cat Returns

WATCH ON NETFLIX 🇬🇧 WATCH ON MA X 🇺🇸

WATCH ON NETFLIX 🇬🇧 WATCH ON MA X 🇺🇸

17. Only Yesterday

WATCH ON NETFLIX 🇬🇧 WATCH ON MA X 🇺🇸

16. When Marnie Was There

WATCH ON NETFLIX 🇬🇧 WATCH ON MA X 🇺🇸

15. The Red Turtle

WATCH ON AMAZON PRIME 🇬🇧 WATCH ON AMAZON PRIME 🇺🇸

14. The Secret World of Arriety

WATCH ON NETFLIX 🇬🇧 WATCH ON MA X 🇺🇸

13. The Wind Rises

WATCH ON NETFLIX 🇬🇧 WATCH ON MA X 🇺🇸

12. Whisper of the Heart

Based on a manga by Aoi Hiiragi, Whisper of the Heart blends coming-of-age

WATCH ON NETFLIX 🇬🇧 WATCH ON MA X 🇺🇸

11. Porco Rosso

WATCH ON NETFLIX 🇬🇧 WATCH ON MA X 🇺🇸

10. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

Isao Takahata's final film is a stunning achievement, adapting a thousand-year-

WATCH ON NETFLIX 🇬🇧 WATCH ON MA X 🇺🇸

9. Kiki's Delivery Service

WATCH ON NETFLIX 🇬🇧 WATCH ON MA X 🇺🇸

WATCH ON NETFLIX 🇬🇧 WATCH ON MA X 🇺🇸

7. Howl’s Moving Castle

WATCH ON NETFLIX 🇬🇧 WATCH ON MA X 🇺🇸

6. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

WATCH ON NETFLIX 🇬🇧 WATCH ON MA X 🇺🇸

5. Grave of the Fireflies

WATCH ON APPLE T V 🇬🇧 WATCH ON APPLE T V 🇺🇸

4. Laputa: Castle in the Sky

WATCH ON NETFLIX 🇬🇧 WATCH ON MA X 🇺🇸

Steeped in a mixture of Shinto and Buddhist lore, Spirited Away is a mesmerizing

WATCH ON NETFLIX 🇬🇧 WATCH ON MA X 🇺🇸

WATCH ON NETFLIX 🇬🇧 WATCH ON MA X 🇺🇸

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