Studio Ghibli is perhaps the best-known and most successful Japanese animation studio. Founded bydirectorsHayao MiyazakiandIsao Takahataand producerToshio Suzuki,the studio is recognized thanks to its profound films, which touch on heavy themes ranging from environmentalism, overcoming prejudice, coping with grief, and coming of age. Studio Ghibli’s films are also some of the most beautifully animated in the world, with incredible detail put into even the smallest character movement.
Thus, it’s no surprise thatStudio Ghibli also possesses some of the most creative and inventive worldsever seen in film. These fascinating and immersive creations come to life through gorgeous backgrounds, imaginative creatures, and a creative blend of mundane reality and fantastical mythology. These arethe most beautiful and striking worlds in Studio Ghibli’s movies, ranked from the beautiful and elegant to the utterly spectacular and unforgettable.
10’Kiki’s Delivery Service' (1989)
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
With her flying broom and her cat familiar, Jiji (Rei Sakuma/Phil Hartman), a young witch named Kiki (Minami Takayama/Kirsten Dunst) leaves home for the town of Koriko. She is taken in by a married couple who operate a bakery, and Kiki decides to use her broom to operate a delivery service. Soon, she comes into contact with a young aviation enthusiast called Tombo (Kappei Yamaguchi/Matthew Lawrence), and the two develop a friendship.
Despite the film’s main character being a witch,Kiki’s Delivery Servicekeeps its magic grounded, opting for a down-to-Earth style. Its art style fits this perfectly, especially during the flying scenes, which showcasethe beauty of a bird’s eye view through a casual observer’s lensrather than more intense action sequences like other Miyazaki films. These creative choices help accentuate the profound messages about growing up, makingKiki’s Delivery Servicea remarkable magical moviethat keeps enchanting audiences.
Kiki’s Delivery Service
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9’The Secret World of Arrietty' (2010)
Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi
Hidden within plain sight of the human world is the miniature world of the Borrowers, a race of tiny people named for borrowing supplies from humans. During one mission, a young boy named Shō (Ryunosuke Kamiki/David Henrie) sees Arrietty (Mirai Shida/Bridgit Mendler). Arietty’s family decides to move away, but Arrietty and Shō develop a friendship, leading to several deep conversations about life.
The Secret World of Arriettyis one of the most beautifulfilms about tiny people,thanks to Ghibli’s gorgeous attention to detail.The backgrounds are fantastic, from up-close and detailed drawings of flowers to transforming something as mundane as a kitchen into an obstacle course for the characters to overcome. The Borrowers' culture is also rather creative,making great use of everyday items to create tools and vehicles.
The Secret World of Arrietty
8’Ponyo' (2008)
Brunhilde (Yuuri Nara/Noah Cyrus), the eldest of many fish-like children of the wizard Fujimoto and the Goddess Gran Mamare (Yūki Amami/Cate Blanchett), gets stuck in a glass jar and taken home by a human boy named Sōsuke (Hiroki Doi/Frankie Jonas), who names her Ponyo. By the time her father recovers her, Ponyo has eaten human food and tasted human blood, which begins transforming her into a human girl. Despite Fujimoto’s efforts, Ponyo escapes to return to Sōsuke, but this causes a wave of magic to be released into the ocean that threatens to throw the world out of balance.
Ponyomay not be one of Miyazaki’s best films, but its visuals are nothing short of gorgeous. It’s amazinghow well the animators capture the fluidity of water, and they’re given plenty of chances to flex through the different ways magic is implemented, such as when Ponyo runs atop a tsunami that takes the form of a school of fish. There are also sometruly mesmerizing underwater shots, especially when the magic causes the ocean to team with life.
7’My Neighbor Totoro' (1988)
Sisters Satsuki (Noriko Hidaka/Dakota Fanning), Mei (Chika Sakamoto/Elle Fanning), and their father, Tatsuo (Shigesato Itoi/Tim Daly), move into a house to be closer to the hospital their sick mother is staying at. The house is built next to a forest that is full of friendly spirits, some of whom come to visit the sisters. The most notable of the spirits is Totoro (Hitoshi Takagi/Frank Welker), a massive cat-like spirit who forms a bond with Mei.
My Neighbor Totorowas one of Ghibli’s first movies to receive global recognition thanks to its simple story, and Totoro became the company’s mascot. The art style is perfect for the film’s softer tone: it focuses onbright colors that invite exploration, which reflectsthe simplistic joy of childhood. Meanwhile, the spirits have a wide array of creative designs, such as the iconic cat bus, which is exactly what it sounds like.My Neighbor Totorofinds the beauty in everyday life,injecting magic and awe into the real worldlike few other movies have.
My Neighbor Totoro
6’Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind' (1984)
One thousand years after humanity ushered in an apocalyptic war, various factions try to rebuild while the land is slowly covered by a Toxic Jungle inhabited by mutant insects. Princess Nausicaä (Sumi Shimamoto/Alison Lohman) of the Valley of the Wind makes regular expeditions into the jungle in the hopes of finding a way to cure the pollution and befriend its inhabitants. Unfortunately, her village gets caught up in the power struggle of larger kingdoms, which could threaten to wipe out what’s left of humanity.
While technically produced by Topcraft, many of the animators who worked onNausicaä of the Valley of the Windwent to Ghibli after Topcraft went bankrupt, so fans like to include it as an honorary Ghibli film.Its world is perhaps the most aliento behold, with the few pockets of natural beauty contrasting withbare landscapes, hostile jungles, and all manner of disturbing insect life. Even so,Nausicaä of the Valley of the Windmaintains a powerful and positive message about hope and that, with time and work,any crisis can be worked through.
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
5’Howl’s Moving Castle'
When a young Milliner named SophieChieko Baisho/Emily MortimerandJean Simmons) has a chance meeting with a wizard named Howl (Takuya Kimura/Christian Bale); she incurs the jealousy of the Witch of the Waste (Akihiro Miwa/Lauren Bacall), who curses Sophie with the body of an old woman. To break the curse, Sophie ventures into the wild and stumbles upon Howl’s mobile house, where she meets his apprentice Markl (Ryūnosuke Kamiki/Josh Hutcherson), and Calcifer (Tatsuya Gashūin/Billy Crystal), the fire demon who keeps the castle moving. Sophie hires herself as a cleaning ladyand grows closer to Howl.
Miyazaki was influenced by the Iraq war when makingHowl’s Moving Castle, and that shows through the film’s sub-plot as Sophie’s nation goes to war with its neighbor. Rather than make it a war between fantasy nations,Miyazaki went full steampunk, treating audiences to scenes of destruction that felt close to home, such ascities wreathed in fire from aerial bombings. Still,Howl’s Moving Castlealsoknows when to get whimsical with its imagery, such as the glorious mess that is Howl’s castle and the simple but cute designs of the side characters.
Howl’s Moving Castle
4’Castle in the Sky' (1986)
To escape sky pirates, a girl named Sheeta (Keiko Yokozawa/Anna Paquin) jumps out of her airship but is saved by the magic in her crystal amulet. She is rescued by a boy named Pazu (Mayumi Tanaka/James Van Der Beek), whose father once photographed the mythical flying city of Laputa. When the sky pirates and a government agent named Muska (Minori Terada/Mark Hamill) come looking for Sheeta, Pazu helps her escape, and the two are caught up with uncovering the mystery of Laputa and why so many factions are after it.
Castle in the Skywasthe first film released by Studio Ghibliand, thus, is the originator of many of the studio’s most familiar tropes. The world oozes creativity through itsphenomenal blending of steampunk inventions, futuristic robots, and breathtaking natural landscapes. This novel and striking approach is best seen when the characters arrive in Laputa, where nature and machines have learned to exist in harmony and provided the blueprint for films as recent as DreamWorks’The Wild Robot.
Castle in the Sky
3’The Boy and the Heron'
After losing his mother to American firebombing, Mahito (Soma Santoki/Luca Padovan) moves to the countryside when his father marries his wife’s sister, Natsuko (Yoshino Kimura/Gemma Chan). Unable to process his grief, Mahito distances himself from everyone and even cuts himself with a stone following a fight at school. All the while, he is stalked by a magical grey heron (Masaki Suda/Robert Pattinson), who offers to reunite Mahito with his mother if he follows him into a ruined tower built by one of Mahito’s ancestors.
The Boy and the Heronis, at present,Miyazaki’s last film, and though not his best, it shows that his creativity has not diminished with time. The scenes in the human world are as beautiful as can be expected, but things ramp up when the Mahito is transported intoa fantastical and somewhat eerie oceanic worldpopulated by humans who can wield fire and anthropomorphic animals. Ituses these surreal images to explore deep themesof processing grief, the pursuit of perfection, and picking up the pieces of a broken life.
The Boy and the Heron
2’Princess Mononoke' (1997)
When Prince Ashitaka (Yōji Matsuda/Billy Crudup) is forced to kill a rampaging forest spirit, it inflicts him with a demonic curse that grants him super strength but will slowly kill him as he gives into his hate. To find a cure, Ashikata follows the spirit’s trail back to its home forest, caught in a deadly conflict. On one side is Irontown, a frontier settlement full of people trying to start a new life, and on the other, savage animal spirits who won’t hesitate to shed blood in defense of their homeland.
Princess Mononokeis regarded as one of thegreatest animated films of the 20th centurythanks to its profound themes, which focus onthe balance between humanity and the natural world, and its gorgeous artistry. Unlike many environmentally conscious films at the time, it doesn’t present humanity as all evil or nature as all good but shows the positives and negatives of each. This is especially present through the Forest Spirit, a deer-like creature who has the power to give and take life, and the Kodama, creepy child-like spirits whose existence is tied to the health of the forest.
Princess Mononoke
1’Spirited Away' (2001)
Chihiro (Rumi Hiiragi/Daveigh Chase) is a normal girl who accidentally finds herself stuck in the spirit world with her parents transformed into pigs. To buy herself enough time to find a way to return them to human form and allow them to escape, she gets a job at a bathhouse run by a witch named Yubaba (Mari Natsuki/Suzanne Pleshette), though she takes Chihiro’s name as collateral. Now called Sen, Chihiro works hard to keep up with her spirit coworkers and makes several friends, including a mysterious boy named Haku (Miyu Irino/Jason Marsden) and the enigmatic spirit called No Face (Akio Nakamura/Bob Bergen).
Spirited Awayis not only Miyazaki’s masterpiece but alsoone of the most artistically stunning animated films ever made. Every scene is crammed with excessive detail, from the exaggerated designs of the numerous spirits to how delectable and life-like some of the meals look. Yet the film also knows when to take things slow, such as the iconic train sequence, in which Chihiro and No Face ride alongside shadowy spirits in silence, allowing audiences to get lost in the melancholic moment.Spirited Awayis highly symbolicand thought-provoking, making it the most stunning Ghibli picture by far.
