Film School Rejects Ranks the Studio Ghibli Movies

In 2015, pop culture website Film School Rejects devoted a long article to the feature films of Studio Ghibli, ranking all of the titles from Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind (1984) to When Marnie Was There (2014).

Here are their rankings in numerical order:

22. Tales From Earthsea (2006, Goro Miyazaki)

21. Umi ga Kikoeru (Ocean Waves) (1993, Tomomoi Mochizuki)

20. The Secret World of Arrietty (2010, Hiromasa Yonebayashi)

19. When Marnie Was There (2014, Hiromasa Yonebayashi)

18. Howl's Moving Castle (2004, Hayao Miyazaki)

17. From Up on Poppy Hill (2011, Goto Miyazaki)

16. Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea (2008, Hayao Miyazaki)

15. Grave of the Fireflies (1988, Isao Takahata)

14. The Wind Rises (2013, Hayao Miyazaki)

13. Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind (1984, Hayao Miyazaki)

12. The Cat Returns the Favor (2002, Hiroyuki Morita)

11. My Neighbors the Yamada (1999, Isao Takahata)

10. Spirited Away (2001, Hayao Miyazaki)

09. Omohide Poro Poro (Only Yesterday) (1991, Isao Takahata)

08. Porco Rosso (1992, Hayao Miyazaki)

07. Pom Poko (1994, Isao Takahata)

06. Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986, Hayao Miyazaki)

05. My Neighbor Totoro (1988, Hayao Miyazaki)

04. Kiki's Delivery Service (1989, Hayao Miyazaki)

03. Mimi wo Sumaseba (Whisper of the Heart) (1995, Yoshifumi Kondo)

02. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013, Isao Takahata)

01. Princess Mononoke (1997, Hayao Miyazaki)

Overall, I am fairly impressed with this list. As I've stated in the past, most "best-of" Studio Ghibli polls tend to revolve exclusively around Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro, usually ignoring every movie not directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Film School Rejects does a very good job balancing the studio library, recognizing the works of Isao Takahata, as well as other directors such as Hiroyuki Morita, Yoshifumi Kondo and Hiromasa Yonebayashi.

As always, we have our differences, maybe this movie should be higher, maybe that movie should be lower. Overall, however, I am impressed. This is much better than Anime News Network's recent article, in which the editorial staff openly confessed to never having seen most Ghibli films.

My own personal Ghibli list? Well, I'm the publisher of Ghibli Blog, so I'll cop out and say I like everything. Omohide Poro Poro and Mimi wo Sumaseba are my favorites. Tales From Earths and The Cat Returns are my least favorites. Everything else is just one massive clump, all terrific, all brilliant.