The Best Studio Ghibli Movies, Ranked (Top 15)

Ranking the best Studio Ghibli movies is a losing game, and I’m playing it anyway. Every fan’s list is different, which is exactly why they’re fun to argue about. Below is my top 15 with original write-ups, then the full film list in release order, the best picks for kids, and answers to the questions everyone asks.

The Best Studio Ghibli Movies, Ranked: My Top 15

15. The Secret World of Arrietty (2010). The Studio Ghibli Arrietty film is a masterclass in scale. A borrower the size of a thumb navigates a house where a sugar cube is a boulder and a cat is a kaiju. Quiet, melancholy, and the prettiest “small” film ever made.

14. Only Yesterday (1991). Isao Takahata’s memory-piece about a woman revisiting her childhood is the Ghibli film most adults sleep on. No fantasy, no villains, just the ache of growing up. It holds a rare 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, and it earned it.

13. Ponyo (2008). Miyazaki’s loosest, most joyful film. A goldfish princess wants to be human, a five-year-old wants a friend, and the ocean throws a tantrum. Hand-drawn waves that look like they’re having fun. Pure sugar.

12. Whisper of the Heart (1995). A girl who loves books meets a boy who makes violins, and they dare each other to be serious about their dreams. The most grounded romance Ghibli ever made, and “Take Me Home, Country Roads” will never sound the same.

11. Porco Rosso (1992). A pig who flies seaplanes. A sentence that shouldn’t work and absolutely does. The Studio Ghibli Porco Rosso story is really about a man who decided the world wasn’t worth being human for, told with the best aerial action animation of the era.

10. The Boy and the Heron (2023). The latest Studio Ghibli movie and an Oscar winner. Miyazaki’s semi-autobiographical fantasy about grief is dense, strange, and stuffed with images from his entire career. Not an easy watch. A rewarding one.

9. Castle in the Sky (1986). The Studio Ghibli Castle in the Sky adventure invented half the tropes anime still uses: the floating island, the girl falling from the sky, the ancient robot. It was also the studio’s first official film, and it still moves like a rocket.

8. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013). Takahata’s watercolor swan song looks like ink and moonlight. Rotten Tomatoes’ highest-rated Ghibli film at 100%, and the one critics bring up when they argue Miyazaki isn’t the studio’s only genius.

7. Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989). The burnout movie. A young witch loses her powers to self-doubt in a seaside town and learns that asking for help is part of growing up. At 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s also one of the most beloved.

6. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984). Technically pre-Ghibli (the studio was founded in 1985, partly on this film’s success), but nobody leaves it off the canon. Nausicaa set the template: ecological fable, fearless heroine, insects bigger than buses.

5. Grave of the Fireflies (1988). The Studio Ghibli Grave of the Fireflies film, and the Studio Ghibli fireflies movie everyone warns you about. Takahata’s wartime tragedy is devastating and essential. Watch it once, remember it forever, and keep tissues nearby.

4. Howl’s Moving Castle (2004). A hat-shop girl gets cursed old, cleans a wizard’s castle, and accidentally fixes him. The witch movie for people who hate witch movies: romantic, rambling, gorgeous, and held together by Calcifer complaining about breakfast.

3. My Neighbor Totoro (1988). The mascot, the myth, the film with almost no plot and infinite rewatch value. Two sisters, a forest spirit, and the feeling of summer as a child. Cinema’s warmest blanket.

2. Princess Mononoke (1997). Miyazaki’s epic about gods, guns, and a forest fighting back. Ashitaka’s cursed arm, San raised by wolves, the Night-Walker dissolving into dawn. The most “cinema” Ghibli ever made.

1. Spirited Away (2001). The Studio Ghibli Spirited Away phenomenon: Oscar winner, highest-grossing Japanese film of its era, 96% on Rotten Tomatoes. A girl works in a bathhouse for spirits to free her parents. Every frame is a painting, every rewatch finds something new. The best, full stop.

Honorable mentions: From Up on Poppy Hill (sweet student romance), The Wind Rises (Miyazaki’s most adult film), Pom Poko (the Studio Ghibli raccoon movie, and yes, they’re tanuki), Ocean Waves (the Studio Ghibli Ocean Waves TV-adjacent rarity), The Cat Returns, When Marnie Was There, My Neighbors the Yamadas, Tales from Earthsea (celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2026), and Earwig and the Witch (the Studio Ghibli Earwig and the Witch 3D experiment that divided fans).

Every Studio Ghibli Movie in Release Order

For the completionists, here’s the full Studio Ghibli list: all the Studio Ghibli films in release order. (Studio Ghibli movies ranked by critics look very different; this is just chronology.)

Note: people ask about Studio Ghibli “animes” and Studio Ghibli shows a lot. Ghibli is a film studio; there are no Ghibli TV series. The catalog is features, start to finish.

The Best Studio Ghibli Movies for Kids

Not every Ghibli film is a kids movie (skip Grave of the Fireflies until they’re much older). The best Studio Ghibli kids movies are the gentle ones: My Neighbor Totoro, Ponyo, and Kiki’s Delivery Service top the list, with The Cat Returns and Arrietty close behind. All have excellent English dubs, which matters when your viewer can’t read subtitles yet. Totoro first, always. It’s basically a lullaby with a plot.

Studio Ghibli Romance Movies Worth Your Evening

Ghibli does romance sideways: no grand kisses, just two people daring each other to grow up. The essential Studio Ghibli romance movies are Whisper of the Heart (the gold standard), From Up on Poppy Hill (1960s Yokohama, student newspaper, gentle secrets), Howl’s Moving Castle (chaotic wizard romance), and Only Yesterday (adult romance about memory). Pair with our Studio Ghibli Fest 2026 schedule if you want to see one with a crowd.

The Latest Studio Ghibli Movie and What’s Next

The newest Studio Ghibli movie is The Boy and the Heron (2023), which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Before that, the recent movies were Earwig and the Witch (2020) and a long gap stretching back to When Marnie Was There (2014). As for the next movie and upcoming projects: nothing has been officially dated. Miyazaki has mused about continuing to work, and the studio’s energy has partly gone into Ghibli Park and short films. When a new film is announced, this page gets updated the same week.

Watching the Best Studio Ghibli Movies in Theaters

Streaming is convenient, but these films were painted for the big screen. Studio Ghibli movies in theaters happen every year through Studio Ghibli Fest 2026, which in 2026 included the 20th anniversary of Tales from Earthsea and the 25th anniversary of Spirited Away. For home viewing, see where to watch Studio Ghibli movies.

How This Ranking Was Made

Three ingredients: critical consensus (Rotten Tomatoes scores, where three Takahata films famously hold 100%), cultural footprint, and my own rewatch count. Your list will differ, and that’s the point. Argue in the comments of your group chat.

Keep going: meet the Studio Ghibli characters, study the Studio Ghibli art, take an anime quiz, find what anime you should watch next, browse Studio Ghibli merch, or steal ideas from our anime PFP ideas.

Studio Ghibli Movies: Every Question, Answered

Rapid-fire answers to the exact things fans search for.

• Studio Ghibli all movies – 24 features are usually counted; the release-order table above is the complete set.
• Studio Ghibli movies list – same thing. Bookmark the table.
• Studio Ghibli movies in order – watch in release order to see the studio evolve.
• Studio Ghibli in order – shorthand for that same release-order list.
• Studio Ghibli release order – starts with Castle in the Sky (1986), ends for now with The Boy and the Heron (2023).
• Studio Ghibli best movies for newcomers – Spirited Away, Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service. You can’t go wrong.
• Studio Ghibli movies ranked by critics – Rotten Tomatoes puts The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, Only Yesterday, and Grave of the Fireflies at 100%.
• Studio Ghibli ranked by rewatch value – Totoro and Kiki’s win; nobody rewatches Grave of the Fireflies casually.
• Studio Ghibli animes – Ghibli makes films, not TV anime series. Every title here is a feature.
• Studio Ghibli first movie – Castle in the Sky (1986) under the Ghibli name; Nausicaa (1984) predates the studio’s founding.
• Studio Ghibli latest movie – The Boy and the Heron (2023).
• Studio Ghibli newest movie – same answer: The Boy and the Heron.
• Studio Ghibli recent movies – The Boy and the Heron (2023), then Earwig and the Witch (2020).
• Studio Ghibli new movie – nothing officially dated; see the “what’s next” section.
• Studio Ghibli next movie – unannounced. Rumors surface regularly; trust only official channels.
• Studio Ghibli upcoming movies – no dates on the calendar as of 2026.
• Studio Ghibli upcoming projects – recent studio energy has gone to Ghibli Park and short films.
• Studio Ghibli Earthsea – Tales from Earthsea (2006), Goro Miyazaki’s debut feature.
• Studio Ghibli Earthsea 20th anniversary – celebrated in 2026 with a Ghibli Fest theatrical run.
• Studio Ghibli Nausicaa – Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind; the pre-Ghibli classic everyone counts anyway.
• Studio Ghibli Valley of the Wind – the full title: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984).
• Studio Ghibli Only Yesterday – Takahata’s 1991 memory-piece; a quiet masterpiece.
• Studio Ghibli The Boy and the Heron – Miyazaki’s 2023 Oscar winner; dense, strange, rewarding.
• Studio Ghibli The Wind Rises – Miyazaki’s 2013 drama about the Zero fighter’s designer; his most adult film.
• Studio Ghibli Wind Rises – same film, shorthand.
• Studio Ghibli Up on Poppy Hill – Goro Miyazaki’s sweet 2011 Yokohama romance.
• Studio Ghibli witch – the studio’s witches: Kiki, the Witch of the Waste, Earwig.
• Studio Ghibli witch movie – Kiki’s Delivery Service first, then Howl’s Moving Castle, then Earwig and the Witch.
• Studio Ghibli your name – not a Ghibli film; it’s Makoto Shinkai’s. See the FAQ below.

Frequently Asked Questions