The Guardian ranks the Studio Ghibli movies.

Cafe Society
1

As with most lists, it gets some things horribly, horribly wrong. Argue about it here.

2

Well, I certainly can’t argue with Princess Mononoke as #1.

3

Spirited Away at #6? This list is bullshit.

Also bullshit for rating dubs, not subs, but that’s no surprise.

4

I would have put Pom Poko bit higher up, at least.

I agree with Spirited Away being #6 (or lower): the art is fantastic but I hate the story.

I think the top 4 are interchangeable at any of those spots.

5

My top 5:

Princess Mononoke
Spirited Away
My Neighbor Torotoro
Ponyo
Howl’s Moving Castle

6

Porco Rosso should have been much higher, and Earthsea dead last.

7

I also agree with the number 1 choice but sharply disagree with the rest:
My top 5 are:
Princess Mononoke
Grave of the Fireflies
Spirited Away
Only Yesterday
Nausicaa

8

My top 5:

  1. Spirited Away
  2. My Neighbor Totoro
  3. Nausicaa
  4. Princess Mononoke
  5. Howl’s Moving Castle
9

Spirited Away as 6th? Porco Rosso 22nd? Hate to be a language snob but if you are ranking them by their translated titles then you have already lost credibility.

10

Actually I mean “English” titles. Some were translated some just changed.

11

My top 5:

  1. Spirited Away
  2. Whisper of the Heart
  3. My Neighbour Totoro
  4. Howl’s Moving Castle
  5. Ponyo
12

Difficult list, and not in particular order, but my top 5 would probably include

(no credibility)
Spirited Away
Totoro
Kiki
Mononoke
Pom Poko

(some credibility)
Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi
Tonari no Totoro
Majo no Takkyuubin
Mononoke-hime
Heisei Tanuki Gassen Ponpoko

(maximum credibility)
千と千尋の神隠し
となりのトトロ
魔女の宅急便
もののけ姫
平成狸合戦ぽんぽこ

13

It’s an English publication writing for an English audience, and we here are English speakers on an English-language message board, discussing them in English. Of course the titles are in English.

And all Studio Ghibli movies are dubbed. The Japanese originals are dubbed, too: Unlike the Western standard of recording the voices and then animating mouth movements to match the speech, it’s the norm in Japan to do all of the animation (including mouths) before the voices are recorded. The only problem with dubbing of foreign-language films is that it’s often done shoddily, with a poor-quality translation and voice actors, but most of Ghibli’s films have gotten the same professional treatment for their English versions as for the Japanese originals.

As an aside, since we’re discussing the language: Spirited Away deals with “spirits”, Mononoke deals with “gods”, and Howl’s Moving Castle deals with “demons”. Would I be correct in guessing that all three of those are translating the same Japanese word, “kami”?

14

Howl’s Moving Castle is based off an English book. The “demon” in it is a “demon” in the original. Or are you asking what the Japanese script uses?

15

Rescuing the Guardian’s rankings from the horribly formatted page:

  1. Princess Mononoke (1997)
  2. Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)
  3. Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)
  4. My Neighbour Totoro (1988)
  5. Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986)
  6. Spirited Away (2001)
  7. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
  8. Tales from Earthsea (2006)
  9. Ponyo (2008)
  10. Whisper of the Heart (1995)
  11. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
  12. The Cat Returns (2002)
  13. The Wind Rises (2013)
  14. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013)
  15. Ocean Waves (1993)
  16. When Marnie Was There (2014)
  17. Pom Poko (1994)
  18. Arrietty (2010)
  19. From Up on Poppy Hill (2011)
  20. Only Yesterday (1991)
  21. My Neighbours the Yamadas (1999)
  22. Porco Rosso (1992)

My rankings (listing only those I’ve seen):

  1. Spirited Away (2001)
  2. Princess Mononoke (1997)
  3. Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986)
  4. My Neighbour Totoro (1988)
  5. Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)
  6. Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)
  7. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
  8. Ponyo (2008)
  9. The Wind Rises (2013)
  10. Porco Rosso (1992)
  11. Arrietty (2010)
  12. Whisper of the Heart (1995)
  13. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
  14. Tales from Earthsea (2006)

Spirited Away is absolutely my favorite–probably my favorite movie of all movies. The whole world and the magic and the themes just resonant with me. The end music “Always With Me” is one of my favorite songs and captures the spirit of the movie perfectly. Princess Mononoke is just a tad behind Spirited Away (I think “Always With Me” makes the difference). I love the characters. Top ten movie of all time for me.

After the top two, which are a step above the rest, it’s all gradually less good. Whisper of the Heart is a solid meh. Worth watching, but nothing special. Grave of the Fireflies is traumatic to watch; it’s well done, but I don’t need that kind of well done.

Tales from Earthsea holds a special place of dislike for me. Ursula LeGuin is one of my favorite authors and I disliked the movie even before I heard her comments on it. But to be fair, I’ve only seen the movie with Japanese audio and Korean subtitles, so my comprehension of the movie-maker’s work is less than ideal. (My viewing of Arrietty suffers from the same conditions.)

16

It is right there in the Japanese title for Spirited Away: Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi. “Kamikakushi” is a subject straight out of Japanese folklore. (PDF, well worth reading.)

17

Putting Porco Rosso last is egregious. It’s an easy top 10 pick for me.

While not a sub-title original language snob, the English dubs for Princess Mononoke and Howl’s Moving Castle are so bad with lazy by-the-numbers stunt casting as to drop the whole movie down a couple of ranks. The English dub for Totoro is excellent in contrast to the others.

18

I’d like to sometime see the French dub of Porco Rosso–Porco is voiced by Jene Reno.

19

My criteria are does it have planes? Flying vehicles of any kind? How about flying creatures? And why not include the other Miyazaki stuff? It’s pretty much all on Youtube. My top 10:

The Wind Rises
Porco Rosso
Future Boy Conan
Sherlock Hound, The White Cliffs of Dover
Laputa: Castle in the Sky
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Spirited Away
Howl’s Moving Castle
Ponyo (subs are like airplanes)
Kiki’s Delivery Service

Also let’s throw in some Lupin.
Lupin III, part 2, episode 145: Albatross, Wings of Death, if you don’t have 13 hours to watch Future Boy Conan.
Castle of Cagliostro, for the gratuitous auto-gyro.

20

Because Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli are not synonymous.