Studio Ghibli, the cult-classic Japanese animation studio fronted by the director Hayao Miyazaki, is truly having a moment. When its catalogue was purchased by Netflix in 2020, its hand-drawn frames, mouthwatering food scenes and magical worlds of Japanese folklore were made available to a whole new audience, children and adults alike. Miyazaki’s final film before retirement, The Boy and the Heron, released in 2023 to great acclaim, won a Golden Globe, a Bafta and an Oscar. Here’s our list of the studio’s top five films.
Spirited Away (2001, Netflix)
When Chihiro’s family stray into a world of spirits and her parents are turned into pigs, she takes a job at the spirits’ bathhouse, hoping to earn her parents’ freedom. She soon learns the importance of remaining true to yourself and your friends. The film is filled with lush, ethereal landscapes, especially the flooded river, and Joe Hisaishi’s wonderful score is probably the best of his many collaborations with Miyazaki — which is saying a lot. It’s no surprise that this became Japan’s highest-grossing film upon its release in 2001. And don’t blame us if some of the bathhouse scenes make you want a spa trip.
The Boy and the Heron (2023, soon on Netflix)
After his mother’s death, Mahito and his father move to the countryside, where he meets a mysterious and menacing grey heron. This grief-filled opening — including a disturbing scene of self-harm — gives way to a fantastical world of birds and wizards. Miyazaki’s final film after his unexpected return from retirement in 2017, it offers semi-autobiographical musings on inheritance, family and the value of art. A true swansong, it has all the Studio Ghibli greats: magic, villains (comically ruthless, human-eating parakeets), gossiping old women and adorable spirits. Plus, the English dub’s star-studded voice cast, including Robert Pattinson, Willem Dafoe and Florence Pugh, really pull their weight. The awards — a Golden Globe, a Bafta and an Oscar — are no surprise.
Howl’s Moving Castle (2004, Netflix)
Loosely based on a 1986 novel of the same name by the British author Diana Wynne Jones, this film — Miyazaki’s favourite of his works — follows Sophie, who is turned into an old woman by a witch and meets Howl, a wizard living in a castle on legs. She becomes the castle’s cleaning lady, getting to know Howl, his apprentice and the fire demon Calcifer. Themes of love, friendship and family mingle with more violent overtones, and Miyazaki explained that the film’s scenes of war and bombings were influenced by contemporary events in Iraq. Beyond this, expect gorgeous scenes of lush meadows, comedic moments like the castle shuddering and belching while on the move, and another stacked dub voice cast featuring Lauren Bacall and Christian Bale.
My Neighbour Totoro (1988, Netflix)
In 1950s Japan two young sisters befriend a large furry spirit who helps them cope with their mother’s illness. Though this film lacks the emotional complexity — grief, violence, war — of some of Miyazaki’s other works, it is undeniably charming. In one famous scene the older sister, carrying her sleeping younger sister, stands at a bus stop in the rain and offers Totoro, towering above her, her spare umbrella. Cementing Totoro’s iconic status, this spirit appears on Studio Ghibli’s logo, featured in the credits of all later films and has an unexpected cameo in Toy Story 3. Together with Spirited Away, the film features on the BFI’s Sight and Sound list of the greatest films of all time and was recently adapted as a stage show at the Barbican.
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Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984, Netflix)
In a postapocalyptic world of ecological crisis, the princess Nausicaä roams, trying to repair human’s relationship with the land and its creatures. This film’s ecological message — its main antagonists are pollution and huge, bio-engineered insects — and its insistence on human coexistence with the environment, rather than violence, are prescient and timely. Though technically preceding Studio Ghibli, this film’s success led to the studio’s foundation in 1985. Just make sure you don’t watch the heavily edited US release,Warriors of the Wind, which prompted Miyazaki to ban edits of his later films.
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