Studio Ghibli Society - Discuss some of the most enchanting films ever made here!
Poll
Which is your favourite Studio Ghibli feature film?
Welcome to the Studio Ghibli Society, where fans can discuss and celebrate some of the most enchanting films ever made.
Studio Ghibli is one of the most important animation studios in the world. Founded by Japanese master animators Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata in the 1980s, it has been responsible for some of the most innovative, distinctive and beautiful animated films ever made, appealing to children and adults alike. There is a Ghibli Museum located in Tokyo, Japan, exhibiting work from the studio.
Featured Works
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (Kaze no tani no Naushika) (1984)
Synopsis
Laputa: Castle in the Sky (Tank no shiro Rapyuta) (1986)
Synopsis
My Neighbour Totoro (Tonari no Totoro) (1988)
Synopsis
Grave of the Fireflies (Hotaru no haka) (1988)
Synopsis
Kiki's Delivery Service (Majo no takkyubin) (1989)
Synopsis
Only Yesterday (Omohide poro poro) (1991)
Synopsis
Porco Rosso (Kurenai no buta) (1992)
Synopsis
Ocean Waves (Umi ga kikoeru) (1993)
Synopsis
Pom Poko (Heisei tanuki gassen pompoko) (1994)
Synopsis
Whisper of the Heart (Mimi wo sumaseba) (1995)
Synopsis
Princess Mononoke (Mononoke-hime) (1997)
Synopsis
My Neighbours The Yamadas (Hohokekyo tonari no Yamada-kun) (1999)
Synopsis
Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi) (2001)
Synopsis
The Cat Returns (Neko no ongaeshi) (2002)
Synopsis
Howl's Moving Castle (Hauru no ugoku shiro) (2004)
Synopsis
Tales from Earthsea (Gedo senki) (2006)
Synopsis
Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (Gake no Ue no Ponyo) (2008)
Synopsis
The Borrower Arrietty (Karigurashi no Arrietty) (2010)
Synopsis
Feature films
Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Castle in the Sky
Grave of the Fireflies
My Neighbor Totoro
Kiki's Delivery Service
Only Yesterday
Porco Rosso
Ocean Waves
Pom Poko
Whisper of the Heart
Princess Mononoke
My Neighbors the Yamadas
Spirited Away
The Cat Returns
Howl's Moving Castle
Tales from Earthsea
Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea
The Borrower Arrietty
Short films
Ghiblies
Ghiblies Episode 2
Imaginary Flying Machines
Koro's Big Day Out
The Whale Hunt
Mei and the Kittenbus
Looking for a Home
The Day I Harvested a Planet
Water Spider Monmon
The Night of Taneyamagahara
Iblard Jikan
Music videos
On Your Mark
Portable Airport
Space Station No. 9
A Flying City Plan
Doredore no Uta
Piece
Commercials
Sora Iro no Tane
Nandarou
Hotaru No Haku
Kinyou Roadshow
Umacha
Shop-One
House Shokuhin
O-uchi de Tabeyou (Summer Version)
O-uchi de Tabeyou (Winter Version)
Hajimaru yo, Erai Koccha-hen
Kawaraban-hen
Dore Dore Hikkoushi-hen
Risona Ginkou
(edited 12 years ago)
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I watched Spirited Away first, then Howl's Moving Castle, then Porco Rosso, then Kiki's delivery Service and finally Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. I still intend to watch a few of the others 
I think it's amazing; clean, wonderfully dubbed releases of arguably some of the most enchanting anime films ever. All of them that I've watched have touched me. That kind of consistent quality seems pretty rare.
What do you think of them? Any other Ghibli/Miyazaki fans, I can't be the only one
. I've got a lot of stick from Charl about them too "it's about a man who was turned into a pig, though we're never told why, who flies an aeroplane" but really there's just something about them. I've been dying to get one of the soundtracks as a ringtone too
Here's a list of Ghibli films, including the more obscure ones and currently unreleased ones:
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Laputa: Castle in the Sky
Grave of the Fireflies
My Neighbor Totoro
Kiki's Delivery Service
Only Yesterday
Porco Rosso
I Can Hear the Sea
Pom Poko
Whisper of the Heart
Princess Mononoke
My Neighbors the Yamadas
Spirited Away
The Cat Returns
Howl's Moving Castle
Tales from Earthsea
Ponyo on a Cliff (unreleased)
I Lost My Little Boy (unreleased)
Plus Isao Takahata is planning another, currently unnamed. Also worth note (and currently both UK licensed and sold in most places where you can buy the true Ghibli films) are Hols: Prince of the Sun (director Isao Takahata's film debut) and The Castle of Cagliostro (Hayao Miyazaki's film debut). Both are pretty awesome.
list courtesy of AngryJellyfish
I think it's amazing; clean, wonderfully dubbed releases of arguably some of the most enchanting anime films ever. All of them that I've watched have touched me. That kind of consistent quality seems pretty rare.
What do you think of them? Any other Ghibli/Miyazaki fans, I can't be the only one
. I've got a lot of stick from Charl about them too "it's about a man who was turned into a pig, though we're never told why, who flies an aeroplane" but really there's just something about them. I've been dying to get one of the soundtracks as a ringtone too Here's a list of Ghibli films, including the more obscure ones and currently unreleased ones:
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Laputa: Castle in the Sky
Grave of the Fireflies
My Neighbor Totoro
Kiki's Delivery Service
Only Yesterday
Porco Rosso
I Can Hear the Sea
Pom Poko
Whisper of the Heart
Princess Mononoke
My Neighbors the Yamadas
Spirited Away
The Cat Returns
Howl's Moving Castle
Tales from Earthsea
Ponyo on a Cliff (unreleased)
I Lost My Little Boy (unreleased)
Plus Isao Takahata is planning another, currently unnamed. Also worth note (and currently both UK licensed and sold in most places where you can buy the true Ghibli films) are Hols: Prince of the Sun (director Isao Takahata's film debut) and The Castle of Cagliostro (Hayao Miyazaki's film debut). Both are pretty awesome.
list courtesy of AngryJellyfish
Are these the ones where they dub over the Japanese voices in American ones?
It worked for Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle, the rest - na-ah. No. Grave of the Fireflies was MURDERED by those voices. Anyway, they're all great films, particularly the three that I've mentioned and My Neighbour Totoro.
It worked for Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle, the rest - na-ah. No. Grave of the Fireflies was MURDERED by those voices. Anyway, they're all great films, particularly the three that I've mentioned and My Neighbour Totoro.
The Macabre Vincent Price...
Are these the ones where they dub over the Japanese voices in American ones?
It worked for Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle, the rest - na-ah. No. Grave of the Fireflies was MURDERED by those voices. Anyway, they're all great films, particularly the three that I've mentioned and My Neighbour Totoro.
It worked for Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle, the rest - na-ah. No. Grave of the Fireflies was MURDERED by those voices. Anyway, they're all great films, particularly the three that I've mentioned and My Neighbour Totoro.
The ones I mentioned are all dubbed in English/American, Nausicaa had Patrick Stewart, Uma Thurman and Shia Lebeouf giving voices. But unlike some dubs I've seen *shudder* it's actually done well, although occasionally it feels as though the mouth doesn't line up with the voice, only rarely.
I haven't seen Grave of the Fireflies, can't remember if I intend to watch it or not. I've been avoiding my neighbour totoro because it sounds kind of sad, but then maybe that's my mistake, I knew very little about the others when I watched them.
Even the songs in Kiki's Delivery Service are English, which surprised me a bit, but it worked. Most of them are online at alluc.org if you want to watch the others.
mute
The ones I mentioned are all dubbed in English/American, Nausicaa had Patrick Stewart, Uma Thurman and Shia Lebeouf giving voices. But unlike some dubs I've seen *shudder* it's actually done well, although occasionally it feels as though the mouth doesn't line up with the voice, only rarely.
I haven't seen Grave of the Fireflies, can't remember if I intend to watch it or not. I've been avoiding my neighbour totoro because it sounds kind of sad, but then maybe that's my mistake, I knew very little about the others when I watched them.
Even the songs in Kiki's Delivery Service are English, which surprised me a bit, but it worked. Most of them are online at alluc.org if you want to watch the others.
I haven't seen Grave of the Fireflies, can't remember if I intend to watch it or not. I've been avoiding my neighbour totoro because it sounds kind of sad, but then maybe that's my mistake, I knew very little about the others when I watched them.
Even the songs in Kiki's Delivery Service are English, which surprised me a bit, but it worked. Most of them are online at alluc.org if you want to watch the others.
No, I've seen most of the ghibli films.
Anyway - Totoro, sad? No! I'll explain. My Neighbour Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies were originally released in Japan in conjunction, because Grave of the Fireflies was such a depressing bloody film that the creators thought that releasing the much more light-hearted Totoro with it would alleviate some of the sadness.
Both are fantastic, and even if you're not inclined towards sad films, I'd recommend giving Fireflies a turn - even the renound film critic Roger Ebert considers it one of the best 'war' films ever made.
But, yes, good thread you've got here
Studio Ghibli was what got me into anime- whether that is good or bad is up to question
Film4 had a Ghibli season last summer and I decided to watch some, despite myself dismissing a talking pig as stupid and planning on only seeing the more "mature" Ghibli films.
I went on to greatly enjoy Porco Rosso. I didn't mind many of the dubs, but then again I'm not one of those rabid all English=bad!!11 anime fans. Though not too keen on the main characters, Mark Hamill as the villain in Laputa added to the experience. Nausicaa is also a special film to me. The music at times is cheesy 80s stuff, but I liked it so much I brought and read the seven volume manga it was based on.
I find the Ghibli have a sense of wonder to them not many films have nowaday- it seems something childlike, the wonder I had when I was younger and not so pessimistic, which is why I enjoy them- enchanting if occasionally odd tales
As I type this I can look across at the seven Ghibli DVDs I own- Spirited away is a must.
Also Grave of the fireflies is something you should at least watch once.
Film4 had a Ghibli season last summer and I decided to watch some, despite myself dismissing a talking pig as stupid and planning on only seeing the more "mature" Ghibli films.
I went on to greatly enjoy Porco Rosso. I didn't mind many of the dubs, but then again I'm not one of those rabid all English=bad!!11 anime fans. Though not too keen on the main characters, Mark Hamill as the villain in Laputa added to the experience. Nausicaa is also a special film to me. The music at times is cheesy 80s stuff, but I liked it so much I brought and read the seven volume manga it was based on.
I find the Ghibli have a sense of wonder to them not many films have nowaday- it seems something childlike, the wonder I had when I was younger and not so pessimistic, which is why I enjoy them- enchanting if occasionally odd tales
As I type this I can look across at the seven Ghibli DVDs I own- Spirited away is a must.
Also Grave of the fireflies is something you should at least watch once.
Truered
Studio Ghibli was what got me into anime- whether that is good or bad is up to question
Film4 had a Ghibli season last summer and I decided to watch some, despite myself dismissing a talking pig as stupid and planning on only seeing the more "mature" Ghibli films.
I went on to greatly enjoy Porco Rosso. I didn't mind many of the dubs, but then again I'm not one of those rabid all English=bad!!11 anime fans. Though not too keen on the main characters, Mark Hamill as the villain in Laputa added to the experience. Nausicaa is also a special film to me. The music at times is cheesy 80s stuff, but I liked it so much I brought and read the seven volume manga it was based on.
I find the Ghibli have a sense of wonder to them not many films have nowaday- it seems something childlike, the wonder I had when I was younger and not so pessimistic, which is why I enjoy them- enchanting if occasionally odd tales
As I type this I can look across at the seven Ghibli DVDs I own- Spirited away is a must.
Also Grave of the fireflies is something you should at least watch once.
Film4 had a Ghibli season last summer and I decided to watch some, despite myself dismissing a talking pig as stupid and planning on only seeing the more "mature" Ghibli films.
I went on to greatly enjoy Porco Rosso. I didn't mind many of the dubs, but then again I'm not one of those rabid all English=bad!!11 anime fans. Though not too keen on the main characters, Mark Hamill as the villain in Laputa added to the experience. Nausicaa is also a special film to me. The music at times is cheesy 80s stuff, but I liked it so much I brought and read the seven volume manga it was based on.
I find the Ghibli have a sense of wonder to them not many films have nowaday- it seems something childlike, the wonder I had when I was younger and not so pessimistic, which is why I enjoy them- enchanting if occasionally odd tales
As I type this I can look across at the seven Ghibli DVDs I own- Spirited away is a must.
Also Grave of the fireflies is something you should at least watch once.
okay okay, you two have convinced me that I should watch Grave of the Fireflies.
I loved porco rosso, I decided it was probably a guy thing, a gruff flying pig. It all seems ludicrous, 'a pig's gotta fly' but the sense of wonder and the way the characters, scenery and again the films score all go towards making it cool.
some of the music in nausicaa was pretty lame, especially the opening jungle sequence, I was desperately hoping it wouldn't all be like that and either it got more subtle or I just stopped worrying about it
Kiki's delivery service was nicely musicked too, even if it did have quite possibly the most immature premise. A witch and her talking cat go to a big city where she flies around on her broomstick delivering things.
The only one I've bought so far is Porco Rosso, Charl d/led Spirited Away for me, someone lent me Howl's moving Castle and I foud the others online, but I might end up buying the DVDs anyway, just so they're always there.
Can't comment too much on the English dubs, but those that I have heard weren't that bad. Grave of the Fireflies is a must see, as is Nausicaa and Princess Mononoke for those who haven't seen them yet. Howl's, Totoro, Spirited Away, Porco Rosso, Pom Poko, My Neighbours the Yamadas and Whisper of the Heart are pretty good too, but having said that I've yet to see a bad Ghibli film (Nope, I haven't watched Earthsea yet, I'll reserve judgement on that for now).
Sephirona
Grave of the Fireflies is a must see.
Agreed, it is very sad and emotional, but overall brilliant.
I love the Studio Ghibli films, I own most of the collection on DVD.
When my kids grow up, they will watch Miyazaki films, not Disney. Period.
I have Laputa, Nausicaa, Howls Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke and Spirited away... i love them all. Im guessing the vesions i have are the disney versions.. got them all recently from HMV, but i watch them subtitled insted of dubbed. Dubbing takes away some of the 'magic' IMO (and i HATE princess mononoke's voice in the dubbed version!)
SoundDevastation
I have Laputa, Nausicaa, Howls Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke and Spirited away... i love them all. Im guessing the vesions i have are the disney versions.. got them all recently from HMV, but i watch them subtitled insted of dubbed. Dubbing takes away some of the 'magic' IMO (and i HATE princess mononoke's voice in the dubbed version!)
That's Claire Danes, I believe.
I like watching them subtitled, but I'm not so much of a purist that I despise the dubbed versions (in fact, I really like them) - I actually think it's great that such brilliant animation is (via dubbing) able to reach wider audiences, who may have been put off by subtitles.
Well, I hate the dubbed versions - I think it takes away most of the magic and to me it feels like a different, lesser film because of it. But then I grew up with the Japanese versions of the Ghibli films and I have a lot of sentimental attachment to them, so maybe that's why I feel they are murdered when dubbed! Incidentally - I think all foreign films should be subtitled because that's how the film was intended to be by the directors. People shouldn't be put off from subtitles; you don't even notice them after a while (like in Pan's Labyrinth or The Lives of Others).
Anyway, my absolute favourite has to be Laputa. Again there's probably a lot of sentimental reasons to it rather than whether it was technically the best, but I feel it has the most magic out of all of them. The characters are memorable, the music beautiful and the story is just simply so imaginative. For similar reasons I really love Nausicaa as well, for the real 'fantasy' element.
I think Ghibli has three kinds of films: the truly 'fantasy' ones (Nausicaa, Laputa, Howl), the ones that depict reality (Whisper of the Heart, Fireflies etc) and the ones that are a mixture of both (Kiki, Totoro, Spirited Away, Mononoke). For me, personally, I prefer the first type of films because that's what I think Ghibli does best. Still, Totoro has a special place in my heart because I grew up with it and they are so damn cute
I think that the Ghibli films are losing their magic a bit, actually, as the years go on. I think Spirited Away is really overrated (graphics etc stunning but the story itself?), and as for Howl, after the first 30 minutes I thought was terrible! The story was a real mess and for once, I feel the original book (by Diana Wynne Jones) was better. But then, the vast majority of people seem to think Spirited Away and Howl were the best films, so........
And as for the music - I love it. I know the majority of the lyrics by heart (in Japanese ofc
).
In short - Ghibli films has formed my childhood and will stay with me for life. I'm so glad to find other people who love them too!
Anyway, my absolute favourite has to be Laputa. Again there's probably a lot of sentimental reasons to it rather than whether it was technically the best, but I feel it has the most magic out of all of them. The characters are memorable, the music beautiful and the story is just simply so imaginative. For similar reasons I really love Nausicaa as well, for the real 'fantasy' element.
I think Ghibli has three kinds of films: the truly 'fantasy' ones (Nausicaa, Laputa, Howl), the ones that depict reality (Whisper of the Heart, Fireflies etc) and the ones that are a mixture of both (Kiki, Totoro, Spirited Away, Mononoke). For me, personally, I prefer the first type of films because that's what I think Ghibli does best. Still, Totoro has a special place in my heart because I grew up with it and they are so damn cute
I think that the Ghibli films are losing their magic a bit, actually, as the years go on. I think Spirited Away is really overrated (graphics etc stunning but the story itself?), and as for Howl, after the first 30 minutes I thought was terrible! The story was a real mess and for once, I feel the original book (by Diana Wynne Jones) was better. But then, the vast majority of people seem to think Spirited Away and Howl were the best films, so........
And as for the music - I love it. I know the majority of the lyrics by heart (in Japanese ofc
).In short - Ghibli films has formed my childhood and will stay with me for life.
I'm so glad to find other people who love them too!
I'm a subs purist normally (and I am in that faction that proclaim 'Dubs = murder' 
), but in all honesty the Ghibli dubs are not the worst in the world, but saying that I still prefer to watch them subtitled.
I havent seen as many of the Ghibli films as I would like to (planning on investing in more soon) but I do own Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howls & Fireflies and all are breathtaking.
Spirited Away has a special place in my heart as the 1st Ghibli film I ever watched (I know shame on me - been an anime fan for over 8 years!
) I remember being completely blown away by it. Ghibli's films just fill you with this sense of pure wonderment and joy - its so different from the tweeness you find in a Disney film and as such is a breath of fresh air.
Everyone should experience a Ghibli film at least once in their lifetime, they are just that good.
), but in all honesty the Ghibli dubs are not the worst in the world, but saying that I still prefer to watch them subtitled.I havent seen as many of the Ghibli films as I would like to (planning on investing in more soon) but I do own Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howls & Fireflies and all are breathtaking.
Spirited Away has a special place in my heart as the 1st Ghibli film I ever watched (I know shame on me - been an anime fan for over 8 years!
) I remember being completely blown away by it. Ghibli's films just fill you with this sense of pure wonderment and joy - its so different from the tweeness you find in a Disney film and as such is a breath of fresh air.Everyone should experience a Ghibli film at least once in their lifetime, they are just that good.
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