Top 5 Miyazaki Movies! Watch them here!

Miyazaki

Hayao Miyazaki (宮崎駿) is a prominent Japanese animator whose movies play on human emotions. Miyazaki’s movies have generally been successful, and this success has invited comparisons with American animator Walt Disney. He is an accomplished man who was voted as one of the most influential Asians of the past 60 years.

His top movies are…

#5 Kiki’s Delivery Service

This 1989 movie tells the wonderful tale of Kiki, an ambitious young girl trying to become a full-fledged witch. With only her black cat Jiji by her side, Kiki flies to a city far away and sets up a delivery service. Delivery by broomstick!

It’s a great movie that explores the theme of a young girl developing independence and confidence.

#4 My Neighbor Totoro

My Neighbor Totoro is about two sisters Satsuki and Mei who befriend a strange forest spirit named King Totoro. Mei and her sister learn that it’s Totoro’s powers that make the trees grow and the winds blow. Totoro takes a liking to the girls and leads them on a series of wild adventures through the forests.

The movie’s themes of familial bonds and courage in the face of difficult situations make it a perfect family movie. Not to mention the visual appeal of Totoro and the Catbus!

#3 Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Nausicaa is Miyazaki’s second feature film and a sentimental favorite of many longtime anime fans. The movie’s top-notch animation and epic themes made it a cult favorite as the genre gained international recognition in the 1980s.

The story takes place one thousand years after a near-apocalyptic war forces the last vestiges of mankind to struggle to exist on the fringes of a polluted forest inhabited by gigantic insects. Nausicaa, the princess of the Valley of the Wind, is one of the few people left that truly understands the environmental significance of the forest.

#2 Spirited Away

Spirited Away is an award winning film that tells the story of a young girl named Chihiro, who follows her parents into what appears to be an abandoned amusement park. After her mother and father are turned into pigs, Chihiro gets a job at a bathhouse for spirits, and her adventure begins.

It displays Miyazaki’s favorite themes of environmental awareness, love, and bravery and stretches your imagination. The designs of the various spirits that Chihiro encounters are some of the best things about the movie. Brilliant!

#1 Princess Mononoke

Billed as “the Star Wars of anime”, the main character in this film is male! Shocking, isn’t it? Young warrior prince Ashitaka is afflicted with a deadly curse. As he searches the forests of the west to find a cure that will save his life, Ashitaka finds himself in the middle of a battle between a group of rifle-toting ironworkers and the angry gods of the forest. Things get even more complicated when he meets the fiery Princess Mononoke, a young woman raised by wolves.

Mononoke’s epic adventure story creatively draws upon a wealth of established themes and archetypes from classic hero tales. The main theme, the beauty and sanctity of nature, is juxtaposed with rather violent and well-executed action scenes.

The English dub of Mononoke was one of the first anime feature films to attract an all-star cast of American actors, including Gillian Anderson, Billy Bob Thornton, and Jada Pinkett-Smith.