I can't remember when or how I stumbled upon the Ghibli movie “Spirited Away”. All I know is that after watching that one show, I decided to watch almost all the movies under Studio Ghibli. If I were to give an impression about all of them, I can only say that it was “an interesting experience”.

If you are going to ask me if they are any good, My answer would be Yes and No. Yes, because there are titles that will make you smile like “Ponyo” and Spirited Away. There are some titles that will make you feel depressed like “Graveyard of the Fireflies”. It all comes down to personal preference.


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In all honesty, I prefer to watch comedy, heart-warming and light hearted titles because it makes me feel good. I try to stay away from depressing titles because it just doesn't fit my character. Ironically my buddy when watching these titles is none other than my little sister. She quite liked Howl's Moving Castle, La Puta Castle in the Sky, Arietty and Princess Mononoke. Sometimes, she watches the other films more than once.

I can't blame her though, some of the Ghibli titles doesn't get old no matter how many times you watch them. For me it's the same for the Disney film “The Land Before Time”, I think I've watched it more than a dozen times many years ago. Truth be told, watching these sort of films when you have nothing to do is a great idea.






Hayao Miyazaki certainly did a great job and I was a bit saddened when I heard the news of his retirement. You can even say that Studio Ghibli was Japan's “Disney” and the stories can really give a lasting impression. The art has greatly improved in most of their recent films although Ghibli likes to use “old style drawings” because it seems to be their art style.

If I were to pick a favorite among all of them, it would definitely be Ponyo. I liked the overall atmosphere of the story. Sure it is childish and might seem silly to others, but for me it was a great title and I highly recommend it to people, who prefer to watch something light hearted.





Oh yeah, I also liked Kiki's Delivery Service, Arietty, Tales from EarthSea and of course Spirited Away. I hope they continue to make great films in the future and allow the name “Studio Ghibli” to remain and not fade into the pages of history. If that were to happen, it would be a sad day for me and to all of their fans.

With that said, I still haven't watched Ghibli's two recent movies which was a few years ago namely The Tale of Princess Kaguya and When Marnie was There. I guess I'll watch these two titles for old times sake. I'm sure that I'm going to enjoy them just like I did on most of their titles.

Well then, join me again next time as we embark on a journey to find the most interesting things that is uniquely Japan!