The 10 Best Studio Ghibli Movies Ranked

Founded in 1985 by producer Toshio Suzuki and directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, Studio Ghibli is recognized worldwide as one of the greatest — if not the greatest — animation studios in history, if not the greatest. With very few exceptions (mostly directed by Goro Miyazaki), seeing the Ghibli logo before an anime film is a guarantee you're about to watch an instant classic. With Takahata having passed away in 2018 and Hayao Miyazaki getting on in years after multiple attempted "retirements," Ghibli's future is uncertain, but even if they never make a new movie again and focus entirely on museums and merchandise, the studio's work should still be celebrated for generations to come.

Because so many Studio Ghibli films are masterpieces, ranking the top 10 best of the best is a challenge. Everyone has different favorites, and if you asked us to write this on a different day in a different mood, the order could shift entirely. It says something about the high bar of quality the studio has maintained that movies as beautiful as "Ponyo," "Howl's Moving Castle," "Whisper of the Heart," and "When Marnie Was There" don't even crack this top 10.

All but one of the films on this list, as well as the rest of the Ghibli library, are available for streaming in the United States and Canada on HBO Max. The exception, "Grave of the Fireflies," is streaming on Netflix, where the rest of the Ghibli library streams internationally.

Believe it or not, "My Neighbor Totoro" was not a hit in its initial 1988 release — being issued as a double feature with the much more upsetting "Grave of the Fireflies" is likely responsible for its underperformance at the box office. However, TV airings, home video releases, and merchandise soon turned the film into a phenomenon, and its titular furry forest spirit became Studio Ghibli's official mascot.

"My Neighbor Totoro" is perhaps the truest example of an "all ages" movie out there. If a kid is old enough to pay attention to a full-length movie, they're old enough to be mesmerized by the wondrous animation and connect to Miyazaki's uncanny ability to nail a young child's perspective. 

But watching "Totoro" as an adult proves just as wondrous and even more emotional (the gravity of its sadder historical elements might escape younger viewers). It's slower and less plot-driven than most films for children, but its zen calmness proves refreshing, respecting its audience's patience and punctuating an everyday slice-of-life story with instantly iconic moments of pure magic. Who doesn't want to fly with Totoro (Hitoshi Takagi) or ride a Catbus (Naoki Tatsuta)?

• Starring: Chika Sakamoto, Noriko Hidaka, Hitoshi Takagi
• Director: Hayao Miyazaki
• Rating: G
• Runtime: 86 minutes
• Rotten Tomatoes score: 94%

Emerging after Hayao Miyazaki's longest "retirement" yet, the Oscar-winning "The Boy and the Heron" plays like the director's final word on his art and legacy. Combining elements of all his previous work into another truly original creation, it is the director's most personal film to date. 

Many details in the life of protagonist Mahito (Soma Santoki), the son of a weapons manufacturer in World War II, draw from Miyazaki's own experiences in a semi-autobiographical manner. Meanwhile, the 2023 film's parallel world of ghosts and birds serves as a reflection on the continually close-to-death state of Studio Ghibli itself, approaching doom with a curious optimism.

The fantastical creatures and dramatic set pieces in "The Boy and the Heron" range from adorable to disturbing and hit every note in between, as stunning as anything the Ghibli animators have concocted before. The narrative is the most abstract and arthouse-esque in a Ghibli film yet, demanding multiple viewings to take it all in (you might need the ending of "The Boy and the Heron" explained as well). The making-of documentary "Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron" is highly recommended as companion viewing, to better understand the more personal metaphors throughout.

• Starring: Soma Santoki, Masaki Suda, Aimyon
• Director: Hayao Miyazaki
• Rating: PG-13
• Runtime: 124 minutes
• Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%

If "The Boy and the Heron," the most recent Studio Ghibli release, is the most abstract, then "Castle in the Sky," the first official Studio Ghibli film, is the most straightforward, a traditional action-adventure movie in the blockbuster mode that features one of the studio's only irredeemable villains. However, when you execute old formulas exceptionally, "traditional" need not be mistaken for "lesser."

Pazu (Mayumi Tanaka) and Sheeta's (Keiko Yokozawa) quest to find the lost floating civilization of Laputa, in a race against some charming air pirates and not-so-charming military officers, is a work of top-notch entertainment. The Jules Verne-inspired steampunk fantasy setting offers a distinctive flavor to the visual spectacle. 

Amidst the action and humor, the story also features strong examples of Miyazaki's environmentalist ethos, his thoughtful approach to non-romantic boy-girl friendships, and his simultaneous disgust for war and fascination with weaponry. The lanky robot that cares for the flowers and fox-squirrels long after its human masters have died is one of Ghibli's greatest creations (and the only approved photo-op spot at the Ghibli Museum).

• Starring: Mayumi Tanaka, Keiko Yokozawa, Kotoe Hatsui
• Director: Hayao Miyazaki
• Rating: PG
• Runtime: 124 minutes
• Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%

And now for the least entertaining Studio Ghibli film — and we say that in the most complimentary way possible. 1988's "Grave of the Fireflies" is the movie you hope comes first in the double feature with "My Neighbor Totoro," because you'd sink into a terrible depression watching it second; it's easily one of the greatest movies most people will never want to rewatch. The main character, Seita (Tsutomi Tatsumi), announces how the movie ends right away: he and his little sister Setsuko (Ayano Shiraishi) starve to death following the firebombing of Tokyo in World War II. The rest of the movie shows how they get there.

Like all great literary tragedies, Seita's fate is the combined result of horror beyond his control and his own personal hubris in response to this awful situation. The film finds many moments of tenderness and humanity between the two siblings, which only makes the end hurt all the worse. Curiously, director Isao Takahata stated that he didn't view "Grave of the Fireflies" as an "anti-war" film, but it's nonetheless as upsetting a depiction of the effects of war on civillians as most would care to stomach. It had to be done in animation because in live-action it would be too damn disturbing to watch.

• Starring: Tsutomi Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Yoshiko Shinohara
• Director: Isao Takahata
• Rating: Not rated (content equivalent to PG-13)
• Runtime: 89 minutes
• Rotten Tomatoes score: 100%

When buying the U.S. distribution rights to the Studio Ghibli library in 1996, the executives at Disney were not expecting the anime studio's next film to feature so many severed limbs and decapitations. Faced with requests to censor "Princess Mononoke" for American audiences, Toshio Suzuki threatened Harvey Weinstein with a katana and a note reading "no cuts." For what it's worth, Miyazaki himself considers his most violent film appropriate for elementary school kids, stating that "children most certainly have violence within them."

The brutality of "Princess Mononoke" is vital to this fantasy epic's messages about the overwhelming power of nature and how humankind's encroachment on it could lead to our own destruction. Both San (Yuriko Ishida), a forest-defending warrior adopted by wolves, and Lady Eboshi (Yuko Tanaka), hunting the Great Forest Spirit in hopes of her town's prosperity, are complex, multi-dimensional characters, without letting you forget which side is in the wrong. 

As for the cursed prince Ashitaka (Yoji Matsuda) who's caught in the middle of their war, his quest to "see with eyes unclouded by hate" and meet his fate amidst the most difficult of circumstances proves ever more inspiring in times that feel increasingly dark.

• Starring: Yoji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida, Yuko Tanaka
• Director: Hayao Miyazaki
• Rating: PG-13
• Runtime: 133 minutes
• Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%

If you want to get technical, 1984's "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind" was not made by Studio Ghibli but by Topcraft, a studio otherwise best known for animating Rankin/Bass projects like "The Last Unicorn" and "Thundercats." However, since the "Nausicaä" crew split off from Topcraft to form Ghibli shortly after the film's release and took the rights to "Nausicaä" with them, it has since been marketed as a Ghibli movie.

A post-apocalyptic environmentalist epic with shades of Homer, Tolkien, and Frank Herbert as influences, "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind" now plays like a Rosetta Stone for all the themes Miyazaki would return to throughout his future career. 

The princess-scientist-messiah Nausicaä (Sumi Shimamoto) might be the greatest of Ghibli's feminist heroines, and the kaiju insects she seeks to make peace with are magnificently strange and oddly lovable. The God Warrior monster weapon, animated by future "Evangelion" creator Hideaki Anno, is the stuff of nightmares. Miyazaki would deepen and complicate the film's lore in the longer-running manga series, making rumors of a movie sequel particularly enticing.

• Starring: Sumi Shimamoto, Goro Naya, Yoji Matsuda
• Director: Hayao Miyazaki
• Rating: PG
• Runtime: 117 minutes
• Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%

Studio Ghibli has built up a reputation for being "cozy." While that broad categorization is debatable when so many of the studio's films feature the horrors of war and frightening goo monsters, it most clearly fits for "Kiki's Delivery Service." This story of 13-year-old witch Kiki (Minami Takayama) leaving home with her cat Jiji (Rei Sakuma) and starting her own business in the big city is the cinematic equivalent of a mug of the finest hot chocolate on a cold winter day.

One of the best coming-of-age movies of all time, "Kiki's Delivery Service" is safe for the youngest of children but gains more layers for those with more life experience. When the demands of her job exhaust Kiki to the point where she temporarily loses her magic, anyone who's struggled with artistic burnout will feel it in their soul. Watching "Kiki's Delivery Service" is a healing experience, a reminder of the magic that can be found in our everyday lives when we take the time to care for ourselves enough to experience it.

• Starring: Minami Takayama, Rei Sakuma, Kappei Yamaguchi
• Director: Hayao Miyazaki
• Rating: G
• Runtime: 102 minutes
• Rotten Tomatoes score: 98%

Originally intended as a short in-flight movie for Japan Airlines, 1992's "Porco Rosso" is the closest thing Miyazaki's made to a straight-up comedy since his pre-Ghibli directorial debut, "Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro." It's also — ironically, given its focus on airplanes — one of his most grounded films. The only fantasy element in this 1920s period piece is that the main character, ace pilot Marco Pagot/Porco Rosso (Shuichiro Moriyama), has turned himself into a pig.

It's perhaps that mix of silliness and groundedness that leads some people to overlook "Porco Rosso" compared to other Miyazaki anime. But that's a mistake: As a comedy-adventure and an exercise in Miyazaki's love of animating flight, "Porco Rosso" is delightful, combining the best qualities of classic Hollywood adventure movies and Fleischer Brothers cartoons. 

Beyond that, the film also has a deep undercurrent of political anger — "Better a pig than a fascist," goes one of Porco's best lines — and a beautifully heartbreaking depiction of post-war PTSD. Porco is one of the Miyazaki protagonists who's closest to the director's own personality, a cynical curmudgeon who's disgusted with humanity and struggles with finding hope but seeks it out anyway. "Porco Rosso" feels like one of Miyazaki's most honest films as a result.

• Starring: Shuichiro Moriyama, Tokiko Kato, Akemi Okamura
• Director: Hayao Miyazaki
• Rating: PG
• Runtime: 94 minutes
• Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%

Isao Takahata's directorial swan song, "The Tale of the Princess Kaguya," is a bold stylistic departure from what people ordinarily consider the "Ghibli style." This adaptation of the classic Japanese folk tale "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" is animated like a traditional Japanese brush painting. As the story's emotions get more intense, the brush strokes get looser and the figures more abstract. At least half of the films on this list could make a solid claim at being the most beautiful animation ever made, but "Kaguya" makes a particularly strong case.

Takahata found the original folktale emotionally inaccessible as a child, but there's no risk of facing the same experience in his amazing interpretation of it. When Kaguya (Aki Asakura) is a fast-growing child in the woods, her delight is infectious. When she's forced into the stultifying patriarchal demands of life as a "princess," her pain is equally felt. By the film's ending, it's near impossible not to cry for both Kaguya and her parents (Takeo Chii and Nobuko Miyamoto). The only things keeping this 2013 offering from the No. 1 spot on this list are that it can feel a little slow at points — and the sheer brilliance of the film that does get the top ranking.

• Starring: Aki Asakura, Kengo Kora, Takeo Chii
• Director: Isao Takahata
• Rating: PG
• Runtime: 137 minutes
• Rotten Tomatoes score: 100%

Miyazaki thought "Princess Mononoke" would be his final film, but after spending time with a friend's 10-year-old daughter, he realized he hadn't made a film about 10-year-old girls and that demographic wasn't being given enough positive stories beyond romance manga. So Miyazaki came up with the story of Chihiro (Rumi Hiiragi), a 10-year-old girl thrown into working at a bathhouse for spirits after her parents (Takashi Naito and Yasuko Sawaguchi) steal food and get turned into pigs.

Deeply connected to Shinto tradition and mythology, this very Japanese film nonetheless became a breakthrough hit for Studio Ghibli internationally, winning Miyazaki his first Academy Award. "Spirited Away" comes as close to perfect as movies get (and critics on Metacritic agree about its near-perfection). Every frame is a work of art, and each scene hits the exact right notes it needs to. Every single character — the flawed protagonists, the sympathetic antagonists, the ones too complicated to define, the wise mentors, the cute sidekicks, the funky background guys — is memorable. 

The film broadens the imagination while imparting important lessons on how to live in the real world, condemning greed and reckoning with industrialization's impact on the environment without becoming didactic. It's scary, heartwarming, fun, bittersweet, inspiring, meditative, and often many different emotions at the same time. The film of the stage adaptation is also highly recommended, translating the Ghibli animators' drawings into stunning puppetry.

• Starring: Rumi Hiiragi, Miyu Irino, Mari Natsuki
• Director: Hayao Miyazaki
• Rating: PG
• Runtime: 125 minutes
• Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%