Favourite Studio Ghibli film?Movies

[Touring Mars]

Film4 (UK) have announced that they are going to show the entire Studio Ghibli collection free-to-air starting 29th July!

Wish I had known that before buying the whole lot on Blu-ray last month!

 

[Har1MAS1415]

My Neighbour Totoro, followed closely by Ponyo.

(Sorry for the resurrection)

 

[GTvsForza]

My profile pic says it all...

 

[Touring Mars]

This question is getting harder and harder to answer for me.

I've watched a bunch of films I hadn't considered watching before for not much reason other than I didn't know anything about them - big mistake!! In the last 6 weeks, I've watched:

From Up On Poppy Hill
Arrietty
When Marnie Was There
Whisper Of The Heart (x2)
The Cat Returns
Tales From Earthsea
The Boy and The Heron

I've also rewatched:
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Princess Mononoke (x2)
Howl's Moving Castle (x2)
Spirited Away (x2)
Laputa: Castle In the Sky
My Neighbour Totoro
The Wind Rises

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Of all of these, I think the biggest surprise was 'Whisper Of The Heart' - I absolutely loved it. I watched 'The Cat Returns' (which is nowhere near as good, but I enjoyed it because it is utterly bonkers.) Arrietty was also much, much better than I was expecting, and 'Marnie' was very powerful emotionally.

Of the ones I've watched many times before, the one that's gone up the most in my estimation is 'Princess Mononoke'; I also love 'The Wind Rises' and 'Spirited Away', but 'Howl's Moving Castle' is probably my absolute favourite. I still find 'My Neighbour Totoro' a bit grating, and I was also surprised at how much I was irritated by the screeching vocals in 'Laputa', but both are still very enjoyable.

I also bought 'Ghibliotheque' as an ebook on my iPad, and it is brilliant - highly recommend it for the artwork alone, but it is also a fascinating insight into SG and the directors etc.

 

[Sprite]

This question is getting harder and harder to answer for me.

I've watched a bunch of films I hadn't considered watching before for not much reason other than I didn't know anything about them - big mistake!! In the last 6 weeks, I've watched:

From Up On Poppy Hill
Arrietty
When Marnie Was There
Whisper Of The Heart (x2)
The Cat Returns
Tales From Earthsea
The Boy and The Heron

I've also rewatched:
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Princess Mononoke (x2)
Howl's Moving Castle (x2)
Spirited Away (x2)
Laputa: Castle In the Sky
My Neighbour Totoro
The Wind Rises

-

Of all of these, I think the biggest surprise was 'Whisper Of The Heart' - I absolutely loved it. I watched 'The Cat Returns' (which is nowhere near as good, but I enjoyed it because it is utterly bonkers.) Arrietty was also much, much better than I was expecting, and 'Marnie' was very powerful emotionally.

Of the ones I've watched many times before, the one that's gone up the most in my estimation is 'Princess Mononoke'; I also love 'The Wind Rises' and 'Spirited Away', but 'Howl's Moving Castle' is probably my absolute favourite. I still find 'My Neighbour Totoro' a bit grating, and I was also surprised at how much I was irritated by the screeching vocals in 'Laputa', but both are still very enjoyable.

I also bought 'Ghibliotheque' as an ebook on my iPad, and it is brilliant - highly recommend it for the artwork alone, but it is also a fascinating insight into SG and the directors etc.

View attachment 1551207

If you haven’t seen it yet, watch

“The Kingdom of Dreams & Madness”

A fantastic documentary looking at the studio.

The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness - Apple TV

Directed by Mami Sunada (Death of a Japanese Salesman) The Kingdom of Dreams & Madness provides a rare fly–on–the-wall look at the inner workings of o…

tv.apple.com

Also try and find the Blu-ray of TV shorts by Ghibli and Miyazaki. I have to get my copy directly from Japan.

 

[Touring Mars]

If you haven’t seen it yet, watch

“The Kingdom of Dreams & Madness”

A fantastic documentary looking at the studio.

The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness - Apple TV

Directed by Mami Sunada (Death of a Japanese Salesman) The Kingdom of Dreams & Madness provides a rare fly–on–the-wall look at the inner workings of o…

tv.apple.com

Also try and find the Blu-ray of TV shorts by Ghibli and Miyazaki. I have to get my copy directly from Japan.

Is it this? It's on eBay, so might have to order that!

 

[Sprite]

View attachment 1551743

Is it this? It's on eBay, so might have to order that!

That’s the one. Just make sure you can play it being a Japanese only release.

 

[Sprite]

@Touring Mars

I’ve taken some larger and clearer shots of the sleeve. Also another from the Ghibli Blurays is the concert done to a backdrop of the films by Joe Hisaishi.

Also there is another documentary which follows Miyazaki himself rather than focusing on the studio.

 

[Touring Mars]

Version 1.0 of my Studio Ghibli ranking list... it's very difficult to rank such wildly different films, and I think I'm being harsh on a few, trying to take out as much of the 'how much I enjoy watching them' as possible.

Create a All Studio Ghibli Animation Films Tier List

All Studio Ghibli animated films. Everything Studio Ghibli up until 2024. Rank your favorite Studio Ghibli films in one template.

tiermaker.com

I only watched Ponyo for the first time this week - but it didn't quite sit as well with me as I thought it might; it's beautifully colourful and imaginative, but it did strike me as being a bit too much of a kid's film than most other SG movies. I must also confess that I didn't make it through all of The Red Turtle, as was struggling a bit with it. The Cat Returns is very entertaining and funny, but it's also a bit too out there for me.I reckon my mid-table is a bit controversial, esp. with Kiki and Porco Rosso in there, and Totoro is not far off being in this bracket for me too.

I reckon my top-tier is quite different to alot of people's - currently The Boy And The Heron is my personal favourite - as a swan song from Hayao Miyazaki, it is effective on a variety of levels, but I just think the entire film is an absolute masterpiece, even if the story isn't particularly coherent - but the dream-like structure of it (which I presume is a direct result of Miyazaki's creative style of making the whole thing up as he goes along) just works. The Wind Rises still blows me away every time - the sheer detail and quality of the animation is stunning, and it packs a hefty emotional punch. And of course, The Grave Of The Fireflies is an undoubted masterpiece - albeit it can be a difficult watch at times; these three films are united by the common theme of WWII, and the profound influence that has had on both major SG directors; the way they deal with such harrowing experiences is phenomenal - sensitive yet powerful and deeply moving.