# The best Studio Ghibli films

Ghibli films that rank highest in Japanese popularity polls (Minna no Ranking, reader surveys), ordered by overall popularity.

- 0 votes · 20 items
- Jul 11, 2026 · moviejunkie_wandering
- https://even.best/en/l/38/the-best-studio-ghibli-films

## Top 20

1. **Spirited Away** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Hayao Miyazaki, 2001. Long held Japan's all-time box-office record and won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.
2. **Castle in the Sky** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Hayao Miyazaki, 1986. Studio Ghibli's first film; the word 'Balse' trends every time it airs on Japanese TV.
3. **Princess Mononoke** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Hayao Miyazaki, 1997. An epic about the war between humans and the gods of the forest.
4. **My Neighbor Totoro** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Hayao Miyazaki, 1988. Satsuki, Mei and Totoro, spirit of the forest, who became Ghibli's logo.
5. **Kiki's Delivery Service** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Hayao Miyazaki, 1989. Kiki, a 13-year-old witch, starts a delivery service in a seaside town.
6. **Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Hayao Miyazaki, 1984. Made just before Ghibli was founded, but usually counted among its films.
7. **Howl's Moving Castle** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Hayao Miyazaki, 2004. Sophie, turned into an old woman by a curse, and the wizard Howl.
8. **Whisper of the Heart** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Yoshifumi Kondō, 1995. Book-loving Shizuku and Seiji, who dreams of becoming a violin maker.
9. **Porco Rosso** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Hayao Miyazaki, 1992. Porco Rosso, a seaplane pilot cursed with a pig's face.
10. **Ponyo** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Hayao Miyazaki, 2008. Ponyo the fish-girl and five-year-old Sōsuke; entirely hand-drawn.
11. **Grave of the Fireflies** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Isao Takahata, 1988. Seita and Setsuko try to survive in Kobe at the end of the war.
12. **The Cat Returns** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Hiroyuki Morita, 2002. Schoolgirl Haru is invited to the Kingdom of Cats; the Baron from Whisper of the Heart returns.
13. **The Wind Rises** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Hayao Miyazaki, 2013. A story inspired by Jiro Horikoshi, designer of the Zero fighter plane.
14. **The Boy and the Heron** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Hayao Miyazaki, 2023. Miyazaki's latest film, winner of the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.
15. **Arrietty** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Hiromasa Yonebayashi, 2010. Arrietty, a tiny girl who lives under the floorboards.
16. **When Marnie Was There** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Hiromasa Yonebayashi, 2014. A mysterious girl, Marnie, met at a marsh house in Hokkaido.
17. **The Tale of the Princess Kaguya** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Isao Takahata, 2013. Takahata's final film, the 'Bamboo Cutter' tale drawn like a watercolour.
18. **From Up on Poppy Hill** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Gorō Miyazaki, 2011. A coming-of-age story set in Yokohama in 1963.
19. **Pom Poko** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Isao Takahata, 1994. Shape-shifting tanuki fight the construction of Tama New Town.
20. **Only Yesterday** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Isao Takahata, 1991. Taeko, 27, recalls her fifth-grade self on a trip to Yamagata.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.