Studio Ghibli Movies Ranked: Every Film Tier-Listed
Twenty-five films, four decades, and roughly a million ways to argue about which one is "the best Ghibli movie." We've gone through all of it: Nausicaä (the pre-Ghibli film that basically invented the studio's DNA) all the way to The Boy and the Heron, Miyazaki's reported swan song.
This ranking leans on what fans and critics actually agree on across forums, reviews and best-of lists, with our own call made wherever the consensus splits. Expect to disagree with at least one placement. That's the fun part. Rank them yourself and see how far off we are.
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SS Tier: The untouchables
Spirited Away
Chihiro's bathhouse of spirits is the film even non-anime people have seen, and it still holds up scene for scene, from No-Face's quiet menace to the train ride over the water. An Oscar winner that somehow also feels like a fever dream you had as a kid.
About Spirited Away
A ten-year-old girl becomes trapped in a spirit world and must work in a bathhouse to save her parents. Won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
- Director
- Hayao Miyazaki
- Year
- 2001
- Award
- Academy Award, Best Animated Feature
My Neighbor Totoro
No real plot, no villain, just two sisters, a dying mother offscreen, and a giant forest spirit who naps in the sun. It became Ghibli's mascot for a reason: it's pure comfort with real feeling underneath.
About My Neighbor Totoro
Two young sisters move to the countryside and befriend a giant forest spirit while their mother recovers from illness in a nearby hospital. Became Studio Ghibli's official mascot.
- Director
- Hayao Miyazaki
- Year
- 1988
Grave of the Fireflies
Not a kids' movie, whatever the marketing once implied. Isao Takahata's story of two siblings surviving the firebombing of Japan is devastating from the first frame, because it tells you the ending before it starts.
About Grave of the Fireflies
Isao Takahata's wartime drama about a brother and sister trying to survive in Japan during the final months of World War II. Widely regarded as one of the most devastating animated films ever made.
- Director
- Isao Takahata
- Year
- 1988
Princess Mononoke
Miyazaki's angriest, biggest film: boar gods, gun-wielding ironworkers, a forest that bleeds black sludge. It refuses to give you a clean villain, which is exactly why it's stayed so relevant.
About Princess Mononoke
An epic about the conflict between industrial humans and forest gods, centered on a young prince cursed by a demon. A major critical and commercial breakthrough for Ghibli internationally.
- Director
- Hayao Miyazaki
- Year
- 1997
AA Tier: Excellent, no asterisks needed
Howl's Moving Castle
A walking castle, a cursed old woman, a vain wizard who occasionally turns into a bird monster. The plot gets a little loose in the back half but the visuals and Sophie's growth carry it easily.
About Howl's Moving Castle
Based on Diana Wynne Jones's novel, it follows a young woman cursed into an old woman's body who finds refuge in a wizard's walking castle. One of Ghibli's highest-grossing films.
- Director
- Hayao Miyazaki
- Year
- 2004
Castle in the Sky
Ghibli's first proper feature and still one of its best pure adventures: pirates, a floating city, a crystal pendant. The destruction sequence near the end is one of Miyazaki's best-staged set pieces, full stop.
About Castle in the Sky
Ghibli's first official film, a steampunk adventure about two kids chasing a floating city powered by ancient magic. Directed by Hayao Miyazaki.
- Director
- Hayao Miyazaki
- Year
- 1986
Kiki's Delivery Service
A teenage witch moves to a new city and has to figure out independence, confidence and a job, no dragons required. The scene where Kiki briefly loses her flying magic hits harder than you'd expect.
About Kiki's Delivery Service
A coming-of-age story about a young witch who moves to a new town and starts a delivery business using her broomstick. Directed by Hayao Miyazaki.
- Director
- Hayao Miyazaki
- Year
- 1989
Whisper of the Heart
The most grounded Ghibli film: a bookish girl, a boy who wants to be a violin maker, and a secondhand bookshop cat statue. No magic at all, and it doesn't need any.
About Whisper of the Heart
A grounded, magic-free coming-of-age story about a bookworm teenager who discovers a boy's name keeps appearing in the library books she checks out. The only feature directed by Yoshifumi Kondo before his death.
- Director
- Yoshifumi Kondo
- Year
- 1995
Porco Rosso
A bounty-hunting WWI flying ace who's also, for unexplained reasons, a pig. It's funnier and more melancholy than that pitch suggests, with some of the best seaplane dogfights in animation.
About Porco Rosso
A former WWI fighter pilot, now cursed into the form of a pig, works as a bounty hunter over the Adriatic Sea. Directed by Hayao Miyazaki.
- Director
- Hayao Miyazaki
- Year
- 1992
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
Takahata's final film looks like a moving ink-wash painting and ends up being one of the saddest things Ghibli ever made. The running scene alone, all scratchy lines and raw motion, justifies the whole watercolor style.
About The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
Isao Takahata's final film, based on a centuries-old Japanese folktale, told in a distinctive hand-drawn, watercolor-brushstroke style. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
- Director
- Isao Takahata
- Year
- 2013
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Technically pre-Ghibli, but nobody's leaving it off this list. Giant insects, a toxic jungle, a princess who'd rather understand the world than fight it. You can see the entire studio's worldview forming here.
About Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
A 1984 post-apocalyptic adventure directed by Hayao Miyazaki, released before Studio Ghibli officially existed but foundational to its style. It follows a princess trying to stop a war that threatens to destroy a toxic, insect-filled wasteland.
- Director
- Hayao Miyazaki
- Year
- 1984
BB Tier: Really good, just not top-shelf
Only Yesterday
A 27-year-old office worker takes a trip to the countryside and keeps flashing back to being ten. Quiet and talky by Ghibli standards, but patient viewers get one of Takahata's most emotionally honest films.
About Only Yesterday
Isao Takahata's drama follows a woman reflecting on her childhood during a trip to the countryside as an adult. Took years to get a Western release.
- Director
- Isao Takahata
- Year
- 1991
Pom Poko
Shapeshifting raccoon dogs wage a guerrilla war against suburban development using their, uh, anatomy as a weapon. Genuinely strange and genuinely sad underneath the goofy folklore comedy.
About Pom Poko
A group of shapeshifting raccoon dogs (tanuki) fight back against urban development destroying their forest home. Blends Japanese folklore with environmental themes.
- Director
- Isao Takahata
- Year
- 1994
Ponyo
A fish girl who wants to be human, a flood that turns a town into an ocean, a toddler who isn't remotely fazed by any of it. Gorgeous hand-painted water animation, even if the story stays pretty simple.
About Ponyo
A magical fish girl longs to become human after befriending a young boy, told with hand-painted, flowing water animation. Directed by Hayao Miyazaki.
- Director
- Hayao Miyazaki
- Year
- 2008
The Wind Rises
Miyazaki's biography-adjacent film about the engineer who designed WWII fighter planes split fans right down the middle on whether it romanticizes its subject. Beautifully made either way, with some of the best dream sequences in the catalog.
About The Wind Rises
A fictionalized biography of Jiro Horikoshi, the engineer who designed Japanese WWII fighter planes. Long rumored to be Hayao Miyazaki's retirement film.
- Director
- Hayao Miyazaki
- Year
- 2013
The Cat Returns
A spinoff of sorts from Whisper of the Heart, light on stakes but high on charm, with the Baron the dapper cat gentleman stealing every scene he's in. Short, breezy, easy rewatch.
About The Cat Returns
A semi-spinoff of Whisper of the Heart, following a girl who's whisked away to a kingdom of cats after saving a cat prince. Features the fan-favorite character the Baron.
- Director
- Hiroyuki Morita
- Year
- 2002
Arrietty
A tiny borrower living under the floorboards befriends the sick boy whose house she's been quietly stealing from. Smaller in scope than most Ghibli films, but the scale work (a teabag as furniture) is a quiet delight.
About Arrietty
Adapted from Mary Norton's The Borrowers, it follows a tiny girl who lives secretly beneath the floorboards of a house. Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi.
- Director
- Hiromasa Yonebayashi
- Year
- 2010
My Neighbors the Yamadas
A loose, sketchbook-style anthology about an ordinary family's daily chaos. Fans are genuinely split on this one: some call it an underrated gem, others find the episodic format forgettable. We land on 'worth one watch.'
About My Neighbors the Yamadas
An experimental, loosely episodic comedy based on a newspaper comic strip, following the daily life of an ordinary family. Notable for its watercolor-style animation, a departure from Ghibli's usual look.
- Director
- Isao Takahata
- Year
- 1999
CC Tier: Solid but flawed
Ocean Waves
Ghibli's first TV movie and its first film not directed by Miyazaki or Takahata. A fairly standard love-triangle story elevated a little by its low-key, non-magical realism, but it's clearly a smaller production than its siblings.
About Ocean Waves
Ghibli's first made-for-TV film, a low-key teen romance drama, and the first Ghibli feature directed by someone outside Miyazaki and Takahata's immediate circle.
- Director
- Tomomi Mochizuki
- Year
- 1993
From Up on Poppy Hill
Goro Miyazaki's nostalgic high school drama about saving an old clubhouse is pleasant and well-meaning but plays it safe. Nice period detail of 1960s Yokohama, not much else sticks.
About From Up on Poppy Hill
A nostalgic drama set in 1960s Yokohama about students trying to save their school's old clubhouse. Directed by Goro Miyazaki, written by Hayao Miyazaki.
- Director
- Goro Miyazaki
- Year
- 2011
When Marnie Was There
A moody, lonely girl spends a summer by the sea and meets a mysterious friend who may or may not be real. Atmospheric and melancholic, though the twist lands softer than it probably should.
About When Marnie Was There
Based on Joan G. Robinson's novel, it follows a lonely girl who befriends a mysterious girl during a summer stay by the sea. Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi.
- Director
- Hiromasa Yonebayashi
- Year
- 2014
The Red Turtle
A wordless, European co-produced castaway story that's more art film than Ghibli house style. Beautiful and meditative, but its slow, dialogue-free approach isn't for everyone, and fans argue over whether it even 'counts' as a Ghibli film.
About The Red Turtle
A dialogue-free, European co-produced film about a man stranded on a deserted island. Ghibli's first international co-production, directed by Dutch-British animator Michael Dudok de Wit.
- Director
- Michael Dudok de Wit
- Year
- 2016
DD Tier: Only for completists
Tales from Earthsea
Goro Miyazaki's directorial debut, adapted from Ursula K. Le Guin's novels, gets dinged by fans for muddled pacing and a story that never quite justifies its own runtime. The dragons look great. The plot does not.
About Tales from Earthsea
Goro Miyazaki's directorial debut, loosely adapted from Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea novels. Generally considered one of the studio's weaker critical receptions.
- Director
- Goro Miyazaki
- Year
- 2006
The Boy and the Heron
We're putting this lower than its awards buzz suggests, because fan reaction has genuinely split: some call it a late-career masterpiece, others find it dense and hard to follow on one watch. Worth seeing, but it's divisive, not a slam dunk, and time will tell where it settles.
About The Boy and the Heron
Hayao Miyazaki's most recent film, a semi-autobiographical fantasy about a boy who follows a talking heron into a strange otherworld. Won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
- Director
- Hayao Miyazaki
- Year
- 2023
- Award
- Academy Award, Best Animated Feature
FF Tier: The one most fans skip
Earwig and the Witch
Ghibli's first fully CG film is the one even defenders struggle to defend. The character models look stiff next to decades of hand-drawn work, the story just sort of stops, and most fans consider it the studio's one real misfire.
About Earwig and the Witch
Studio Ghibli's first fully 3D computer-animated feature, following an orphan girl adopted by a witch. Based on a novel by Diana Wynne Jones.
- Director
- Goro Miyazaki
- Year
- 2020
How we ranked them
We weighed how a film is remembered and talked about now, not just box office or awards. Story strength, emotional impact, animation ambition and rewatchability all counted. Films beloved by a passionate niche but divisive overall land in the middle tiers. Films that get near-universal praise from both critics and the fandom sit at the top. Weaker scripts, rushed productions or films that even Ghibli diehards call "skippable" land lower.
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Rank these yourselfFAQ
What is the best Studio Ghibli movie?
Spirited Away is the most commonly cited best Ghibli film, thanks to its Oscar win and near-universal critical and fan praise, though Totoro, Mononoke and Grave of the Fireflies all get plenty of votes too.
What is the worst Studio Ghibli movie?
Earwig and the Witch, the studio's first fully CG feature, is the most widely agreed-upon low point among fans and critics.
Is Grave of the Fireflies appropriate for kids?
It's often mistaken for a children's film but it's a heavy wartime drama. Most parents and critics recommend it for older kids and up, with guidance.
Is Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind a Studio Ghibli movie?
Technically it was made before the studio was founded, but it's directed by Hayao Miyazaki and is almost universally included in Ghibli rankings and box sets.
Is The Boy and the Heron Miyazaki's last film?
It's been widely discussed as a possible final film from Miyazaki, though he's announced retirement before and come back, so it's best described as his most recent rather than definitively his last.
Which Ghibli movies were not directed by Hayao Miyazaki?
Several, including Grave of the Fireflies, Only Yesterday, Pom Poko and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (all Isao Takahata), plus From Up on Poppy Hill and Tales from Earthsea (Goro Miyazaki) and Whisper of the Heart and The Cat Returns (Yoshifumi Kondo and Hiroyuki Morita respectively).
More rankings
Image credits
- Spirited AwayCover: Wikipedia · Source
- My Neighbor TotoroCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Grave of the FirefliesCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Princess MononokeCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Howl's Moving CastleCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Castle in the SkyCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Kiki's Delivery ServiceCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Whisper of the HeartCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Porco RossoCover: Wikipedia · Source
- The Tale of the Princess KaguyaCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Nausicaä of the Valley of the WindCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Only YesterdayCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Pom PokoCover: Wikipedia · Source
- PonyoCover: Wikipedia · Source
- The Wind RisesCover: Wikipedia · Source
- The Cat ReturnsCover: Wikipedia · Source
- ArriettyCover: Wikipedia · Source
- My Neighbors the YamadasCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Ocean WavesCover: Wikipedia · Source
- From Up on Poppy HillCover: Wikipedia · Source
- When Marnie Was ThereCover: Wikipedia · Source
- The Red TurtleCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Tales from EarthseaCover: Wikipedia · Source
- The Boy and the HeronCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Earwig and the WitchCover: Wikipedia · Source