The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013). 🤍 “The Procession of Celestial Beings I” by Joe Hisaishi is such an ethereal piece of music.
Whisper of the Heart but I couldn’t explain why
Pom Poko is literally the only one that didn’t put me to sleep in the first act.
The Tale of Princess Kaguya is also my favorite! I especially love its painted watercolor art style. Made me cry a lot too 😅
Still Totoro for me
My Neighbors the Yamadas
It’s cute, hilarious, and uplifting.
This is like asking what is the best or favourite South Park episode. I can’t think of a favourite studio Ghibli movie. But for me, probably the closest to my number 1 spot is “When Marnie was there.” I am not sure why, but the movie pulls a heart string for me and it feels more personal. Speaking of the movie, I can’t believe that the movie is 10 years old this year! I remember watching it for the first time in my local independent theatre!
Porcco Rosso. I can literally watch that movie on repeat.
Better to be a pig than a fascist.
“that American’s going to be trouble”
I’d have to flip a coin between Porcco Rosso and Naussica
Haven’t seen all of them yet, but so far it’s Kiki’s Delivery Service.
Kiki’s Delivery Service is just a wonderful movie. It’s completely unlike any of my other favorites, but I adore it completely. It’s like a warm, cozy blanket.
My next favorite is probably Spirited Away.
Kiki’s Delivery Service
My Neighbor Totoro
Porco Rosso
Spirited Away
PonyoI misread that as Princess Caligula for a second and was briefly very confused.
Mononoke is probably the “best” in my book but my personal favorite will always be Nausicaa. Although I just found it out predates the founding of studio Ghibli by one year.
Little personal story: As a kid, I repeatedly rented an animated movie called Warriors of the Wind from my local videostore. It was fairly short and the story was confusing as if there was something missing, but I loved it regardless. One day, the videostore didn’t have it anymore since they got rid of older VHS in favour of newer ones. I was heartbroken and didn’t managed to track it down (this was way before the internet).
Fast forward about 15 years, when I had already watched Princess Mononoke and wanted to watch other movies by that studio. So I watched Nausicaa, and the longer it ran, the more I realized it was that movie from my childhood.
Turns out that a US studio had gotten the rights in the 80s and cut 23 minutes of the run time to make the story simpler, even changing names completely (Nausicaa became princess Sandra for example). This was the version I saw as a kid.
a fellow Nausicaa appreciator! It’s hard to find people that have even seen it tbh.
Have you read the Nausicaa manga? It’s really good.
The only problem with reading the Manga is that after you finish it, the film seems so simplistic and flat in comparison. The Manga has so much greater nuance, tragedy, and depth to it.
Yeah, Castle in the Sky is considered the first “official” Ghibli movie.
I’d also have a pre-Ghibli film as my favourite with Lupin III: Castle of the Cagliostro. Although hard to argue with Mononoke or Nausicaa.
Agreed, and I never see anyone claim Nausicaa as their favourite. If the studio ever revisits earlier material, I hope they do a fuller adaptation of the source. It’s such a rich world, it deserves more time spent within it.
There are dozens of us.
Nausicaa is my favorite, too. The hand-drawn animation is incredible, the conflict is nuanced, the setting is beautiful, and the characters have interesting motivations. Its a masterpiece.
For me it’s a tie between mononoke, pom poko and the wind it rises
Oh and from up on poppy hill
Huge fan of Princess Mononoke.
Not sure what exactly it is, but the characters and setting have just stuck with me since the first time I saw it.
Same.
Love the themes of environmentalism and societal diversity in Princess Mononoke.
I like Only Yesterday. There’s just something appealing about getting away from a stifling job in the city and just going out to live in the country for fun, even if just for a week.
Only Yesterday is my favorite by far. If Grave of the Fireflies didn’t have the supernatural/Deus-ex-machina/genre whiplash scenes at the end, it would’ve been my favorite, but that ending ruins the movie for me.
