Studio Ghibli is possibly one of the most amazing animation and film studios in the world. I’ve grown up watching Hayao Miyazaki’s brilliant films. He surely knows how to capture the hearts of the any audience, both young and old. The animations are colorful, realistic with even the finest of details, and heartwarming. Check out my personal favorite Studio Ghibli films. If you haven’t seen any of these, you are definitely missing out!

1. My Neighbor Totoro - Who didn’t love this big fella after watching this classic film? My Neighbor Totoro is probably the most well-known film made under Studio Ghibli. The story revolves around two young sisters, Satsuki and Mei. Them and their father have recently moved into the countryside, where the two discover little black spirits in their new house.

While exploring, they also discovered more spirits of the forest, including Totoro! Totoro is a nice, funny creature that would have you wishing he actually existed in real life. My favorite scene was definitely the bus stop scene where Totoro discovers the fun of rain and jumps up and down to create an even bigger downpour, along with the tree-growing scene. Totoro gives you a hope that anything is possible. My Neighbor Totoro is a fun film for the entire family that you’ll probably want to watch again and again. Did you spot the Totoro plush in Disney’s Toy Story 3?

2. Spirited Away - Hayao Miyazaki really blew me away for this movie. He created such a unique, phenomenal world filled with spirits and monsters. This film tells the story of Chihiro Ogino, who is moving to a new city with her parents, but on the way, her parents get turned into pigs and she gets trapped in a whole new world by the doings of the evil witch, Yubaba. In order to free herself and save her parents, she goes on a journey and takes a job at the bathhouse.

Every detail and concept in this movie was incredible. For example, I loved how humans had to hold their breath as they crossed the bridge and how if Chihiro forgets her real name, then she would be trapped in the world forever. A memorable scene to me was when a stink spirit entered the bathhouse and no one wanted to help it bathe. Chihiro took the task of doing it and it revealed to be a godly spirit of a highly polluted river. It taught me to be brave and not to judge a book by its cover. This movie was inspiring, meaningful, and quite an adventure. I’ve seen this many times already, but I wouldn’t mind seeing it again!

3. Kiki’s Delivery Service - My cousin actually bought me this movie on VHS, meaning I watched this movie over a thousand times when I was bored. This film was far beyond a coming of age film because it touches on the difficulties of finding and becoming one’s self. In this movie, Kiki is a 13-year-old witch in training who must go off on her own for one year as a tradition of the witches. She brings nothing much except for her broom and cat Jiji as she settles in the city of Koriko. You could say that she is is not exactly skilled yet, especially when it comes to flying on her broomstick. She meets new people, encounters hardships and setbacks, and in order to support herself, she even takes on a job as a delivery service.

This movie taught me to never give up and to overcome insecurities. I liked how there were deep meanings and symbols throughout the film. I’m sure many teens can relate to the situations in one way or another and overall, it’s a fun way to spend an uneventful afternoon.

4. Howl’s Moving Castle - I’ve read the book version of this, but I must say, Hayao Miyazaki sure brought the book to life. The story line is quite different so even if you did read the book, it’ll still be a new adventure to you. It is about a girl named Sophie who gets a spell cast on her that turns her into an old woman. She tries to find the witch, but ends up becoming a cleaning lady for Howl and his moving castle that is powered by the fire demon Calcifer. Many bits and pieces of this film were absolutely hilarious, especially when Sophie caused Howl’s hair to turn orange. It’s a grand adventure delving into the usage of magic and the power of time.

5. Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea - This one is a newer one compared to the previous ones and I must say that Ponyo was absolutely adorable! Ponyo is a film about a little fish-girl who lives with her many siblings and father. She dreams to see more of the world and gets rescued by a little boy named Sōsuke. She can heal wounds and likes ham. Ponyo goes on an adventure to become human so she could live with Sōsuke forever. This film was fun, cute, and also expresses the innocence in kids. The colors used in the film created many beautiful scenes. Have you seen it yet?

If you seriously haven’t seen any single one of these, I would probably track you down and tie you to a chair with a Studio Ghibli marathon because their films are simply THAT amazing. Out of all the Studio Ghibli films out there, which one was your personal favorite?