Studio Ghibli, founded in 1985 by Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata and producer Toshio Suzuki, has made some of the most loved animated films ever. Ranking them is almost impossible, because the “worst” Ghibli film would be the highlight of most studios’ catalogues. Still, here is our Studio Ghibli movies ranking, from gentle curiosities to undisputed masterpieces, with each film’s year and director.
We have included Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, which was released in 1984, before the studio officially existed, but was made by the team that founded it and is always counted as part of the Ghibli canon.
22. Earwig and the Witch (2020)
Directed by Gorō Miyazaki, Ghibli’s first fully 3D computer-animated feature follows an orphan girl adopted by a witch. It has a catchy soundtrack but feels unfinished, and the CG lacks the warmth of the studio’s hand-drawn work.
21. Tales from Earthsea (2006)
Gorō Miyazaki’s debut adapts parts of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea books. It has beautiful landscapes, but the story is confusing for anyone who has not read the novels.
20. The Cat Returns (2002)
Hiroyuki Morita’s short, light fantasy about a schoolgirl taken to the Kingdom of Cats, with the dapper Baron from Whisper of the Heart. Charming and slight.
19. Ocean Waves (1993)
A made-for-TV film directed by Tomomi Mochizuki, about a love triangle among high school friends in Kōchi. Quiet and realistic, it was an early chance for younger Ghibli staff to direct.
18. My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999)
Isao Takahata’s comic-strip adaptation uses a watercolour sketch style to follow an ordinary family’s small disasters. It is funny and touching, though more a series of vignettes than a story.
17. From Up on Poppy Hill (2011)
Gorō Miyazaki’s second film, co-written by his father, is a nostalgic romance set in Yokohama in 1963 as Japan prepares for the Tokyo Olympics. A big step up from Earthsea.
16. The Secret World of Arrietty (2010)
Hiromasa Yonebayashi’s adaptation of Mary Norton’s The Borrowers shrinks the viewer to the size of a tiny family living beneath the floorboards. The sense of scale is wonderful.
15. Pom Poko (1994)
Takahata’s eco-fable about shapeshifting tanuki fighting the development of a Tokyo suburb is strange, funny and ultimately sad. Few family films are this angry about urban sprawl.
14. When Marnie Was There (2014)
Yonebayashi’s gentle mystery about a lonely girl who befriends a mysterious blonde girl in a seaside town in Hokkaido. Its final reveal is one of Ghibli’s most moving.
13. Porco Rosso (1992)
A First World War flying ace cursed with the face of a pig hunts air pirates over the Adriatic in the 1920s. It is Hayao Miyazaki’s love letter to aviation and one of his most relaxed, grown-up films.
12. Whisper of the Heart (1995)
Directed by Yoshifumi Kondō, who was expected to become one of Ghibli’s leading directors before his death in 1998, this coming-of-age story of a girl who wants to write is gentle, honest and full of everyday Tokyo. Its use of “Country Roads” is unforgettable.
11. The Boy and the Heron (2023)
Hayao Miyazaki’s most recent film is a dreamlike, personal fantasy about a boy grieving his mother during the Second World War. It is dense and occasionally baffling, and it won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
10. Only Yesterday (1991)
Takahata’s drama moves between a 27-year-old Tokyo office worker on a trip to the countryside and her memories of being ten. It is one of the few animated films made for adults about ordinary life, and it is quietly beautiful.
9. Ponyo (2008)
A goldfish princess wants to become human after meeting a five-year-old boy. Drawn entirely by hand, with astonishing waves, Ponyo is Miyazaki’s sweetest film and perfect for young children.
8. The Wind Rises (2013)
A fictionalised biography of Jiro Horikoshi, designer of the Zero fighter, about creativity and its moral cost. Mature and melancholy, it was long presented as Miyazaki’s farewell before he returned to make The Boy and the Heron.
7. Castle in the Sky (1986)
The first film produced under the Ghibli name is a pure adventure of sky pirates, a floating island and a mysterious crystal. It set the template for the studio’s love of flight and steampunk machines.
6. Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)
A thirteen-year-old witch moves to a seaside city and starts a flying delivery business. It is about independence, work and burnout, told with great warmth. A perfect film for teenagers.
5. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
A princess tries to understand a toxic jungle and its giant insects while nations wage war around her. Its environmental themes feel more urgent now than in 1984, and its success made Studio Ghibli possible.
4. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013)
Isao Takahata’s final film retells Japan’s oldest folk tale, the bamboo cutter’s daughter, in a style that looks like living charcoal and watercolour. It was nominated for an Academy Award and is arguably the most artistically daring film Ghibli has made.
3. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Takahata’s story of two siblings trying to survive in and around Kobe in the final months of the Second World War is devastating. It is not a film you watch often, but it is one you never forget.
2. My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
Two sisters move to the countryside and meet the forest spirit Totoro. Almost nothing dramatic happens, and that is the point: it captures childhood wonder better than any film ever made. Totoro became the studio’s logo.
1. Spirited Away (2001)
Chihiro is trapped in a bathhouse for spirits and must work to save her parents, who have been turned into pigs. Spirited Away won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and it was for nearly two decades the highest-grossing film in Japanese history. It is Miyazaki at the height of his imagination.
Honourable Mentions
- Princess Mononoke (1997): many fans would place Miyazaki’s epic about the war between industry and forest gods at number one. It sits just outside our top two only because the competition is so strong, and it deserves to be seen on the biggest screen possible.
- Howl’s Moving Castle (2004): a lavish, romantic adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones’s novel, loved for its walking castle and the fire demon Calcifer.
- The Red Turtle (2016): a wordless co-production with Dutch director Michaël Dudok de Wit, often excluded from Ghibli rankings because the studio co-produced rather than made it.
Where to Watch Studio Ghibli Movies
Outside the United States, Canada and Japan, most Ghibli films stream on Netflix. In the US they are on HBO Max, although some titles, such as Grave of the Fireflies, have also been added to Netflix there. In Japan the films are not streamed and are usually watched on disc or on television. For more Japanese films available to stream, see our list of the best Japanese movies on Netflix.