I didn’t understand the Ghibli obsession until I watched Spirited Away on a day when nothing in my life felt stable. I was sitting on the floor with my laptop, half-distracted, when I stumbled upon this animated film. By the looks of it, I thought it would be a feel-good children’s animation film, but halfway through, I could sense my heart breaking.
Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation studio founded by Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and producer Toshio Suzuki. It’s known for hand-drawn films that focus on everyday details that move you immensely. Over the years, the studio has created some of the most influential animated movies in the world, and here’s a list of a few such films.
10
‘Porco Rosso’ (1992)
Porco Rosso casually just drops one of the strangest and most charming premises Studio Ghibli has ever created. It is a story about a former World War I fighter ace who now lives as a pig. Not a metaphorical one, not a symbolic curse you unlock later, just…a pig. And somehow, Miyazaki makes you care about him within just minutes.
Marco (voiced by Shūichirō Moriyama) is a bounty hunter drifting through the Adriatic, fixing planes, drinking coffee, and pretending he doesn’t miss the world he left behind. The real joy, however, comes from watching Marco’s walls slowly crack, especially through his partnership with Fio (voiced by Akemi Okamura), a young engineer who believes in him long before he believes in himself. Their dynamic brings out the film’s soul. Porco Rosso may not be as widely cited as Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke usually are, but it is a masterpiece in its own.
9
‘Ponyo’ (2008)
The kind of innocence Ponyo portrays is rare for even a Studio Ghibli film. The movie starts with a tiny goldfish named Ponyo (voiced by Yuria Nara) who escapes from her underwater world and suddenly ends up forming a bond with Sosuke (voiced by Hiroki Doi). The movie is a simple children’s story when you first look at it, but as you watch it, you realize how layered and moving it is. Miyazaki drew inspiration from The Little Mermaid here, but he skipped all the melodrama and replaced it with pure affection, as the one children’s show without hesitation or fear.
This setting too comes from something extremely personal, which is Miyazaki’s fascination with the sea and his love for nature. The movie Ponyo is a simple film that is grounded in the small truth that love can shake the world, no matter how simple it is in its form.
8
‘Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind’ (1984)
If you’ve ever watched a Studio Ghibli film and wondered where it all began, it’s from this film. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind arrived before Ghibli was officially founded. The movie follows Nausicaa (voiced by Sumi Shimamoto), a young princess trying to keep peace between warring kingdoms and a toxic jungle filled with giant insects called Ohmu. The premise is heavy in many ways because the director Miyazaki was responding to real fears of ecological collapse and human self-destruction.
But instead of making a bleak and punishing story, he gave us Nausicaa, a gentle, brave, and endlessly curious soul. The film’s scale is enormous for its time, and the hand-drawn aerial battles are mind-blowing, yet the emotional core of the film is intimate, just like Miyazaki’s signature style.
7
‘The Wind Rises’ (2013)
With The Wind Rises, you can feel Miyazaki speaking directly to the audience. It’s not the usual fantasy or fable people usually expect from Studio Ghibli. It is a deeply human story about Jirō Horikoshi (voiced by Hideaki Anno), the engineer who designed Japan’s World War II fighter planes. Miyazaki turns his life around and makes a portrait of a man who wants to create beauty in a world determined to use it for destruction. Jiro, dreaming of flight, studies tirelessly and pours his entire soul into building something that he feels strongly about.
Along the way, he falls in love with Naoko (voiced by Miori Takimoto), whose presence and a tragic illness in the end add an ache to the story that never really leaves you. Miyazaki here lets you sit in the uncomfortable space between genius and guilt, between art and responsibility. So, it feels like The Wind Rises is Miyazaki looking back on a lifetime of creation and asking what it means to devote yourself to something beautiful in a world full of conflict. It is one of his most introspective masterpieces.
6
‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’ (1989)
There is a moment in Kiki’s delivery service that always sticks with me. And that is Kiki (voiced by Minami Takayama) lifting off on her broom for the first time and wobbling to the sky with excitement. That small, clumsy takeoff says everything about the film, that growing up rarely feels graceful, but it’s still something you have to leap into. The premise follows 30-year-old Kiki, who leaves home to spend a year on her own, as witches traditionally do. She settles in a seaside town and starts a delivery service. Along the way, she tries to figure out who she is supposed to become.
The beauty of the film is that her journey is not dramatic or high-stakes at all, which is why it feels extremely honest to the audience. She struggles with loneliness, burnout, and self-doubt, all the emotions that we all feel relatable with. There are some simple everyday moments in the movie that are overwhelming and just motivate you to find the courage to keep moving, even on the days when you can barely get your feet off the ground.
5
‘Howl’s Moving Castle’ (2004)
Howl’s Moving Castle is a beautiful fairytale that feels like stepping into a dream. Howl’s Castle is a wonderful machine with crooked chimneys, metal plates rattling, and smoke puffing out of places that should not exist. The movie is unpredictable, emotional, and full of life. The story follows Sophie (voiced by Emily Mortimer, and later Jean Simmons), a quiet hatmaker who’s cursed into old age by the Witch of the Waste. Her search for help leads her straight into the path of Howl (voiced by Christian Bale), a powerful wizard who hides his fear and vulnerability behind his charming tactics.
Slowly, their connection grows with small acts of care, such as cooking breakfast, fixing the castle, and protecting each other. The movie is an adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones’s novel, but Miyazaki’s version focuses less on the plot mechanics and more on the emotional themes of the story. Mostly, he touches on how insecurity and compassion can shape us differently.
4
‘Grave of the Fireflies’ (1988)
You might think that animated films can never break you, but Grave of the Fireflies slowly breaks you in ways you can never expect. The story is about Seita (voiced by Tsutomu Tatsumi) and his little sister Setsuko (voiced by Ayano Shiraishi), both of whom are trying to survive in Japan during the final months of World War II. There are little and heartbreaking realities of a post-war world, and how the siblings attempt to cope with small moments of hope. And that simplicity is what makes the movie hurt more.
I watched Seita try to be an adult when he was still a kid, and something inside me broke. And then there is Setsuko, who tries to stay a child when the world won’t let her. Isao Takahata shows the truth of what war does to ordinary people, especially children who don’t even understand the rules of the world they have been thrown into. And because the film refuses to look away, you can’t either.
3
‘My Neighbor Totoro’ (1988)
My Neighbor Totoro is a movie I put on when I’m tired of thinking. I remember the first time I watched it after a long and messy week. I didn’t want drama or complexity; I just wanted to breathe. And somehow this simple story about two sisters and a giant forest spirit was exactly the kind of comfort I didn’t even know that I needed. The film follows Satsuki (voiced by Noriko Hidaka) and Mei (voiced by Chika Sakamoto) as they move to the countryside with their father while their mother recovers in a nearby hospital.
The film pays attention to tiny moments like running through tall grass, waiting for a bus in the rain, and exploring an old house. These gentle and pure scenes are strangely familiar but also move you deeply. The good thing about Miyazaki is that he treats childhood exactly the way it is, with curiosity, boredom, and sudden wonder. This film just sits with you, quietly, and somehow makes the world feel a little softer.
2
‘Princess Mononoke’ (1997)
The moment I started watching Princess Mononoke, I expected a clean, good vs evil fantasy. But the way the film turned out completely amazed me. The story follows Ashitaka (voiced by Yōji Matsuda), a young prince cursed by a demon attack and forced to leave his village to find a cure. His journey leads him straight into a conflict between the people of Iron Town, led by the determined Lady Eboshi (voiced by Yūko Tanaka), and the forest gods, who are fighting to protect what little land they have left.
In the middle of this stands San (voiced by Yuriko Ishida), a human girl raised by wolves, who sees humans as a threat rather than a home. The film won’t let you choose sides. Every character is grey and human, and in the end, you just think about what people choose to protect, and how they turn out to be, depending on their circumstances.
1
‘Spirited Away’ (2001)
The first time I finished Spirited Away, I sat there for a minute trying to figure out why it hit so deeply when half the characters weren’t even human. I still can’t put my finger on it. The story follows Chihiro (voiced by Rumi Hiiragi), a 10-year-old girl who stumbles into a spirit world after her parents are transformed into pigs. She’s terrified, unsure of herself, and angry in the way kids often are when life moves faster than they can handle. But once she begins working at the bathhouse run by the greedy witch Yubaba (voiced by Mari Natsuki), something slowly shifts in her personality. She helps others, learns the rules, and adapts.
Spirited Away is a masterpiece because it’s magical and extremely raw. It’s a story that grows with you every time you revisit it, each time offering something different depending on where you are in your own life.
