Studio Ghibli Thoughts

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Studio Ghibli, in my humble opinion, is not only the greatest animation studio of all time, but one of the greatest movie making studios of our age. Their work in Japanese animation is not limited in scope or artistry to the typical "anime" genre, but instead is universal in nature, hallmarks not only of animation but world cinema as a whole. I think that far in the future, some of their movies would stand the test of time and be considered masterpieces equal in importance to the best movies and the books of the 20th and 21st centuries.

In short, Studio Ghibli do not only make sublime "animation", which many time is used a pejorative; they make sublime movies.

Established in 1985 after the success of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, the Studio was founded by three animation visionaries: longtime animation directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, and producer and anime magazine editor Toshio Suzuki. All three had long careers in the animation industries, but forming Studio Ghibli was both a huge financial and artistic risk; without the constraints of a major studio, they would be free to pursue whatever project they wanted but had to contend with the financial risk.

Miyazaki is the most famous of the three, and his movies are considered the trademark of the studio. However, he himself was heavily influenced by Takahata, who unlike his younger colleague wasn't even animator, yet was a director of many masterpieces. Last but not least, despite not directing any of the studio's movies, Suzuki's imprint on its success is undeniable and showcases the importance of a full team in creating cinematic masterpieces.


Being a big fan of the studio's outputs, I am going to watch all of its movies and write my thoughts about each film. As I alluded to, I think that many of the Ghibli's films are masterpieces, and therefore trying to give a numerical review to each film will end with repetitive scores. Instead, I am ranking the films in Tiers: Top-Tier films are movies that I consider great movies and absolute classics, Mid-Tier films are still great movies but not to the same level as the tier above, and the Low Tier is reserved to good and very good movies that don't compare to the studio's overall level. Order in each tier will be based on release date, and I will decide at the end on a Top 5 list.

Enjoy:

 

Top-Tier:

Mid-Tier:

Low-Tier:


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