For me it would be Princess Mononoke, which is also one of my favorite films, period. I really appreciate the maturity and nuance it brings to it’s environmental themes, which have been done in many other films, but not as well.
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Porco every time for me, feels like a mini holiday every time I watch it, but Totoro would be a close second.
Very hard to pick one but The Wind Rises has a special place in my heart (tbf most Ghibli movies do). First of all, I watched it when I was very young and forgot about it so it was like rediscovering something I’ve almost forgotten. Second, I’m in and engineering program and know a bit about planes and such so I could relate to the MC. Third, I love the more adult feel of it and the Shakespearian romance. Lastly, it does all the usual Ghibli stuff great like animation, ost and wholesomeness.
The Wind Rises is so beautiful, and so sad. It’s like the essence of bittersweetness in movie form.
Princess Mononoke is a beautiful film. It’s one of the Ghibli films that’s transcended being dismissed by friends and family that don’t like animated media, let alone anime. Good choice!
Mine is Porco Rosso. The setting and characters (like all Ghibli movies lol) make me feel so comfortable. It’s fun and exciting, with a lot of small, genuine moments. Plus, the airplanes and idea of sky pirates is rad.
There’s a game being worked on called The Brew Barons that’s pretty much “Porco Rosso: The Game”, and I’m friggin stoked for it.
Princess Mononoke is my favorite for sure. I love the character design, the setting, the environmental storytelling. And wulfy
Besides that though…I really really liked Spirited Away. So rich and nuanced. I liked the twists and turns the film took
Spirited away, just because I saw it as a child and it got me hooked on Miyasaki for life. It remains one of the most fun ones for me. It has the right balance between reality and fantasy, between fun and action/danger.
It also has that feeling of looking at a strange world as an outsider that I love, which is the reason I liked the first harry potter film/book for example. The wonder of a new, strange world with new rules that we do not comprehend.
Kiki’s delivery service because I like the atmosphere and natural aesthetic.
Kiki is the probably the best children’s movie I’ve ever seen. Not saying it’s not suitable for adults but it’s one that I can imagine watching with my kids over and over again.
Laputa: Castle in the Sky for me. The scale of the story is so grandiose, much more than later Ghibli films. It breaks some of the character structures that become very common. The soundtrack is just incredible, as it shifts away from the more 80’s synth heavy Nausicaa score. Also, it’s the first film under the studio! The first Studio Ghibli film.
Princess Mononoke for me as well, but Nausicäa has also a special place in my heart.
The reason for that is that in my childhood, there was a mystical animated movie in the video store next to my home that I didn’t quite understand but which captivated me like no other, which is why I rented it over and over again. But one day, the store had gotten rid of it, which made me quite sad. Over time, I could only recall some of the images and the name, which was “Star-Warriors” (although the story wasn’t set in space). This was all pre-internet.
Fast forward years later, I’m an adult and I have already watched Princess Mononoke and Chihiro.
When I came upon an older movie by Studio Ghibli called Nausicäa, of course I watched it immediately. There was also something about the cover image which was vaguely familiar. Imagine my surprise when that movie turned out to be the magical movie from my childhood, but longer and better.
As it turned out, the reason I didn’t understand it wasn’t that the movie was to complicated for my age, but because I watched a Western version that had been butchered by cutting out over twenty minutes of the story, which was most of the scenes dealing with concepts such as pacifism and the conservation of nature, also changing the names of the characters, so Nausicäa was now “princess Sandra” and the Ohmus were called “Gorgon monsters”.
Princess Mononoke.
It’s meaningful interesting character design and cool world environment sucks me into the story and immerses me in a way that most movies can’t
the cell shading also helps keep the art+animations look great even after decades have passed!
I come in here planning to upvote every Nausicaa post and then just end upvoting everything because I keep going “damn that one is so good too!”
My Neighbour Totoro. It’s so serene and peaceful. I used to watch it all the time here since we had it in VHS, it’s beyond nostalgic for me. Also that soundtrack is gorgeous, I doubt I’ll ever be able to forget it.
Not my favorite, but no one mentioned howls moving castle.
For me it is Spirited Away, followed closely by Princess Mononoke. I watched the latter first and absolutely loved it, but Spirited Away has a little bit more of surreal feeling that made me absolutely love it even more.
Both of them are incredible.
Howls moving castle 🏰 Was the first Ghibli movie I watched, and love every bit about it. Just recently found out that it’s based on a trilogy of books. So just reading the first book now. Really curious to how much further the books went compared to the movie.
not exactly ghibli but i love nausicaä of the valley of the wind. one of my favorite movies in general. it has my favorite take on the environmentalist thread that so many miyazaki movies have, and the world building is a favorite of mine in anime, with so much more to offer in the manga. not to mention out of all the miyazaki flying contraptions, nausicaä’s glider is definitely the coolest.
