Interest Stacks

• Mary and the Witch's Flower is a 2017 Japanese animated fantasy film co-written and directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, produced by Studio Ponoc. It was based on the 1971 novel The Little Broomstick by Mary Stewart.

• It was Studio Ponoc's first feature film.

• The flim revolves around a girl named Mary Smith (Sugisaki) who finds "fly-by-night", a mysterious flower that can give her the power to become a witch for only one night.

• When Marnie Was There is a 2014 Japanese animated psychological drama film co-written and directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi. It is based on Joan G. Robinson's 1967 novel of the same name.

• The film follows Anna Sasaki while she stays with her relatives in a town in the Kushiro wetlands in Hokkaido. Anna comes across a nearby abandoned mansion, where she meets Marnie, a mysterious girl who asks her to promise to keep their secrets from everyone. As summer progresses, Anna spends more time with Marnie and learns the truth about her family and foster care.

• It was also the final film that Yonebayashi directed for Ghibli before he left and joined Studio Ponoc.

• It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 88th Academy Awards.

• The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is a 2013 Japanese animated historical fantasy film co-written and directed by Isao Takahata that is an adaptation of The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, a 10th-century Japanese literary tale.

• The story revolves around Princess Kaguya who was discovered as an infant within a stalk of bamboo by an elderly bamboo cutter and taken home to be raised by the man and his wife. She grows up at an extremely fast fate and becomes very beautiful. Her ethereal beauty attracts the attention of many who wish to marry her. This film portrays the struggles of a young girl forced to live as a princess and to let go of her personal

• It is considered as the most expensive Ghibli movie till date. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya cost so much money to make was its labor-intensive approach to animation. To capture authenticity by re-envisioning the classic folklore, the traditional sumi-e watercolor painting technique was used.

• It received critical acclaim and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 87th Academy Awards.

• The Wind Rises is a 2013 Japanese animated historical drama film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki.

• The Wind Rises is a fictionalised biographical film of Jiro Horikoshi (1903–1982), designer of the Mitsubishi A5M fighter aircraft and its successor, the Mitsubishi A6M Zero, used by the Empire of Japan during World War II. The film was adapted from Miyazaki's manga of the same name.

• The film was nominated for several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year, winning the latter.

• From Up on Poppy Hill is a 2011 Japanese animated drama film directed by Gorō Miyazaki. It is based on the 1980 serialized manga of the same name illustrated by Chizuru Takahashi and written by Tetsurō Sayama.

• Set in 1963 Yokohama, Japan, the film tells the story of Umi Matsuzaki (Nagasawa), a high school girl living in a boarding house, 'Coquelicot Manor'. When Umi meets Shun Kazama (Okada), a member of the school's newspaper club, they decide to clean up the school's clubhouse, the 'Latin Quarter'. However, Tokumaru (Kagawa), the chairman of the local high school and a businessman, intends to demolish the building for redevelopment for the 1964 Summer Olympics and Umi and Shun, along with Shirō Mizunuma (Kazama), must persuade him to reconsider.

• Arrietty, titled Arrietty the Borrower in Japan and The Secret World of Arrietty in North America, is a 2010 Japanese animated fantasy film directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi as his feature film debut as a director.

• Based on the 1952 novel The Borrowers by Mary Norton, an English author of children's books, about a family of tiny people who live secretly in the walls and floors of a typical household, borrowing items from humans to survive. This movie tells the story of a young Borrower (Shida) befriending a human boy (Kamiki), while trying to avoid being detected by the other humans.

• Ponyo is a 2008 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki.

• The film tells the story of Ponyo, a goldfish who escapes from the ocean and is helped by a five-year-old human boy, Sōsuke, after she is washed ashore while trapped in a glass jar. As they bond with each other, Ponyo desires to become a human girl, against the devastating circumstances brought about by her acquisition and use of magic.

• Tales from Earthsea is a 2006 Japanese anime epic fantasy film co-written and directed by Gorō Miyazaki in his directorial debut. The film is based on a combination of plot and character elements from the first four books of Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, and Tehanu), as well as Hayao Miyazaki's graphic novel Shuna's Journey. The film's title is taken from the collection of short stories published in 2001.

• Short synopsis : In the land of Earthsea, a mysterious force threatens to plunge humanity into destruction and chaos. A powerful wizard named Sparrowhawk seeks the source of his world's imbalance, and along the way rescues a runaway prince named Arren. When Sparrowhawk's powers begin to weaken, he and Arren must join forces with a former priestess and her daughter to defeat an evil foe whose quest for immortality will destroy Earthsea.

• Howl's Moving Castle is a 2004 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It is loosely based on the 1986 novel of the same name by British author Diana Wynne Jones.

• The film is set in a fictional kingdom where both magic and early twentieth-century technology are prevalent, against the backdrop of a war with another kingdom. It tells the story of Sophie, a young milliner who is turned into an elderly woman by a witch who enters her shop and curses her. She encounters a wizard named Howl and gets caught up in his resistance to fighting for the king.

• Influenced by Miyazaki's opposition to the United States' invasion of Iraq in 2003, the film contains strong anti-war themes. Miyazaki stated that he "had a great deal of rage" about the Iraq war, which led him to make a film which he felt would be poorly received in the United States. It also explores the theme of old age, depicting age positively as something which grants the protagonist freedom. The film contains feminist elements as well, and carries messages about the value of compassion.

• The Cat Returns is a 2002 Japanese anime fantasy film directed by Hiroyuki Morita from a screenplay by Reiko Yoshida, based on the 2002 manga series of the same name by Aoi Hiiragi.

• It is a spin-off of Whisper of the Heart.

• The story revolves around a High school student Haru (Chizuru Ikewaki) rescues a cat that was about to be run over by a truck and discovers the cat is actually a prince named Lune. Out of gratitude, Lune's father, the Cat King, asks her to marry Lune. Haru is brought to the Cat Kingdom, where she starts to develop feline features. When she is prevented from leaving, the Baron (Yoshihiko Hakamada) and Toto, two statues that have magically been given life, provide assistance in gaining her freedom.

• Spirited Away is a 2001 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki.

• This flim tells the story of Chihiro "Sen" Ogino, a ten-year-old girl who, while moving to a new neighborhood, inadvertently enters the world of kami (spirits of Japanese Shinto folklore). After her parents are turned into pigs by the witch Yubaba, Chihiro takes a job working in Yubaba's bathhouse to find a way to free herself and her parents and return to the human world.

• Spirited Away is regarded as one of the greatest films of all time and has been included in various "best-of" lists and finally this become the first hand-drawn, Japanese anime and non-English-language animated film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards.

• My Neighbors the Yamadas is a 1999 Japanese animated comedy film written and directed by Isao Takahata. It is based on the yonkoma manga Nono-chan by Hisaichi Ishii.

• The film is a series of vignettes following the daily lives of the Yamada family.

• Unlike the other films of Studio Ghibli, the film is presented in a stylized comic strip aesthetic, a departure from the traditional anime style of the studio's other works.

• Princess Mononoke is a 1997 Japanese animated epic historical fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki.

• Princess Mononoke is set in the late Muromachi period of Japan (approximately 1336 to 1573 AD) and includes fantasy elements. The story follows a young Emishi prince named Ashitaka, and his involvement in a struggle between the gods (kami) of a forest and the humans who consume its resources. The film deals with themes of Shinto and environmentalism.

• The film greatly increased Ghibli's popularity and influence outside Japan

• Whisper of the Heart is a 1995 Japanese animated romantic drama film directed by Yoshifumi Kondō and written by Hayao Miyazaki based on the 1989 manga of the same name by Aoi Hiiragi.

• Whisper of the Heart was Kondō's only film as director before his death in 1998. Studio Ghibli had hoped that Kondō would become the successor to Miyazaki and Isao Takahata.

• This animated film follows Shizuku, an inquisitive young girl and a voracious reader, who longs to be a writer when she grows up. One day she notices that all of her library books have previously been taken out by one Seiji Amasawa. Amid chasing after a large cat, befriending an eccentric antiques dealer and writing her first novel, Shizuku aims to find this mysterious boy who may well be her soul mate.

• A spin-off film, The Cat Returns, was released in 2002, which focused on a minor character of the film, the Baron.

• On Your Markis a song by the Japanese rock duo Chage & Aska. At their request, animator Hayao Miyazaki produced a music video for the song. The music video was created in 1995, is entirely animated, has no dialogue, and runs for about six and a half minutes.

• The music video tells the story of two policemen in a possible near future who rescue a young girl with wings from the headquarters of a religious cult, and then have to rescue her from their own government

• Pom Poko is a 1994 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Isao Takahata.

• Isao Takahata's film uses the tanuki, creatures of myth, as his heroes. Beloved folk-tale characters, they are viewed as bringers of fortune with shape-changing abilities. In this film, their forest home is threatened by urban development and, to save it, they must use all their supernatural talents.

• Ocean Waves, known in Japan as I Can Hear the Sea is a 1993 Japanese anime coming-of-age romantic drama television film directed by Tomomi Mochizuki and written by Keiko Niwa (credited as Kaori Nakamura) based on the 1990–1992 novel of the same name by Saeko Himuro.

• The film is set in the city of Kōchi, and follows a love triangle that develops between two good friends and a new girl who transfers to their high school from Tokyo.

• Ocean Waves was an attempt by Studio Ghibli to allow their younger staff members to make a film reasonably cheaply. However, it ended up going both over budget and over schedule.

• Porco Rosso is a 1992 Japanese animated adventure fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, based on his 1989 manga Hikōtei Jidai.

• The plot revolves around an Italian World War I ex-fighter ace, now living as a freelance bounty hunter chasing "air pirates" in the Adriatic Sea. However, an unusual curse has transformed him into an anthropomorphic pig. Once called Marco Pagot (Marco Rossolini in the American version), he is now known to the world as "Porco Rosso", Italian for "Red Pig".

• Only Yesterday is a 1991 Japanese animated drama film written and directed by Isao Takahata, based on the 1982 manga of the same title by Hotaru Okamoto and Yuko Tone.

• The story revolves around a 27-year-old Taeko Okajima (Miki Imai) as she takes a trip from Tokyo to Yamagata, Japan, to visit her sister's family during the safflower harvest. The movie follows Taeko across two timelines, in 1982 and later, as she returns to the countryside. In 1982, Taeko is an office worker who escapes to the countryside to break from the pressure to settle down and get married. During her stay, Taeko daydreams about her childhood, and has flashbacks about the frustrations and pleasures she experienced as a child. She also meets young farmer Toshio, and begins to wonder if she's been true to her childhood self's dreams. The movie's running time is devoted to flashback sequences, which are visually less complex but infused with psychological nuance.

• Kiki's Delivery Service is a 1989 Japanese animated fantasy film written, produced, and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, based on the 1985 novel of the same name by Eiko Kadono.

• The story follows Kiki, a young witch who moves to the port city of Koriko with her cat Jiji and starts a flying courier service.

• Grave of the Fireflies is a 1988 Japanese animated war drama film written and directed by Isao Takahata, and produced by Studio Ghibli. It is based on the 1967 semi-autobiographical short story of the same name by Akiyuki Nosaka.

• Set in the city of Kobe, Japan in June 1945, it tells the story of two siblings and war orphans, Seita and Setsuko, and their desperate struggle to survive during the final months of World War II. Universally acclaimed, Grave of the Fireflies has been ranked as one of the greatest war films of all time and is recognized as a major work of Japanese animation

• My Neighbor Totoro is a 1988 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio Ghibli.

• This movie focuses on two young sisters and their interactions with friendly wood spirits in postwar rural Japan.

• The film explores themes such as animism, Shinto symbology, environmentalism and the joys of rural living.

• Castle in the Sky is the first film to be animated by Studio Ghibli. Its production team included many of Miyazaki's longtime collaborators, who would continue to work with the studio for the following three decades.

• It's a fantasy adventure film and it was partly inspired by Miyazaki's trips to Wales, where he witnessed the aftermath of the 1984 coal miners' strike. The island of Laputa is used to highlight the theme of environmentalism, exploring the relationships between humanity, nature, and technology, a reflection of Miyazaki's ecological philosophy.

• The film follows orphans Sheeta and Pazu, who are pursued by government agent Muska, the army, and a group of pirates. They seek Sheeta's crystal necklace, the key to accessing Laputa, a legendary flying castle hosting advanced technology.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a 1984 Japanese animated post-apocalyptic fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, based on his 1982–94 manga series of the same name. It was produced by Topcraft and distributed by Toei. Though it was made before Studio Ghibli was founded, it is often considered a Ghibli work, and is usually released as part of DVD and Blu-ray collections of Ghibli work.

• The story is set in a post-nuclear futuristic world, it tells the story of Nausicaä (Shimamoto), the teenage princess of the Valley of the Wind who becomes embroiled in a struggle with Tolmekia, a kingdom that tries to use an ancient weapon to eradicate a jungle full of giant mutant insects.