Considered the Walt Disney of Japan, Hayao Miyazaki is a living legend. Making his feature film debut with The Castle of Cagliostro in 1979, he has been behind some of the greatest animated works that have captured the imaginations of millions. Studio Ghibli’s auteur-animator has directed eleven masterpieces, including worldwide hits such as Princess Mononoke (1997), My Neighbor Totoro (1988), and Spirited Away (2001).

In 2013, Miyazaki announced his retirement, but it appears he is not finished telling his beautiful stories. While Miyazaki is in production on a new animated film, How Do You Live?, let’s look at every movie from the Oscar-winning Japanese animator.

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11 The Castle of Cagliostro

     Toho

Though his name is synonymous with Studio Ghibli, Miyazaki worked as an in-between artist and provided key animation at Toei Animation, A-Pro, and Tokyo Movie Shinsha before founding Studio Ghibli in 1985 with Isao Takahata and Toshio Suzuki. Produced by Tokyo Movie Shinsha, 1979’s The Castle of Cagliostro was Miyazaki’s first feature-length animated film.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

Based on Monkey Punch’s long-running manga franchise, this comedy follows the adventures of a James Bond-like gentleman thief Arsène Lupin III. It is the most action-packed film in the animator’s career, which has gone on to influence the Indiana Jones films by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas and the work of Pixar co-founder John Lasseter.

10 Castle in the Sky

     Toei Company

1986’s Castle in the Sky (Laputa: Castle in the Sky) is the very first Studio Ghibli film. Set in the fictional late 19th century, Miyazaki’s epic fantasy follows an orphan boy and a princess searching for the legendary sky-kingdom of Laputa. Castle in the Sky has been cited as one of the first modern steampunk classics and a kind of bridging of the gap between Miyazaki’s action anime The Castle of Cagliostro and the director’s emotionally deep following films.

9 Ponyo

Miyazaki’s sweet take on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, the 2008 animated fantasy film Ponyo tells the story of a goldfish who dreams of becoming a human. Soon, Ponyo transforms into a little girl to be with her five-year-old friend. It might not be the animator’s best film, but it is a magical watercolor-styled fairy tale that the whole family can enjoy.

8 Porco Rosso

Miyazaki’s father was the director of a company that manufactured parts for fighter planes (Miyazaki Airplane). So, as a child living in Japan during World War II, little Hayao was drawn to aviation. His dreams about the sky lasted well into adulthood, finding their place in the animator’s films. 1992’s Porco Rosso is a homage to early aviation.

Porco Rosso follows Marco Pagot (known to the world as Porco Rosso), a former World War I pilot who is turned into an anthropomorphic pig and takes to the skies to combat air pirates. Blending fantasy and elements of real-world history, Miyazaki made one of his weirdest and most imaginative films.

7 Howl’s Moving Castle

Featuring a steampunk vibe that brings to mind Castle in the Sky, 2004’s Howl’s Moving Castle takes place in a world where both magic and technology co-exist. Loosely based on the novel by English children’s author Diana Wynne Jones, Miyazaki’s film follows a young girl named Sophie who is turned into an old woman by a witch. Sophie’s only chance of breaking the spell lies with a troubled wizard named Howl.

There is also a bitter taste of war at the center of the plot. Despite exploring the theme of old age, containing feminist elements, and focusing on love, Howl’s Moving Castle, at its core, is an anti-Iraq War protest film.

6 Kiki’s Delivery Service

The director’s tendency to include strong female leads is intentional. “They’ll need a friend, or a supporter, but never a savior. Any woman is just as capable of being a hero as any man,” Miyazaki said in 2013. A 13-year-old witch-in-training from 1989’s Kiki’s Delivery Service is one of Miyazaki’s brave female protagonists.

In the film, Kiki leaves home with her talking black cat to become a real witch. It is a simply magical tale of a teenage girl discovering her place in the world.

5 Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

The success of Miyazaki’s second film, the 1984 post-apocalyptic masterpiece Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, gave the animator the clout and funding to co-found Studio Ghibli a year later. Many of Miyazaki’s lovers are sure that if the director had made that anime film only, his legacy would have been the same.

The magnificent fantasy with an anti-war and environmental focus, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind centers on a young peacemaker princess trying to stop a kingdom from destroying the jungle and its creatures. It is the director’s meditation about living in harmony – a theme that would grow to define his later work and be further explored in Princess Mononoke.

4 Princess Mononoke

The director does not simplify his films for children. Miyazaki’s characters experience hope and joy as well as sadness and despair. The wartime epic Princess Mononoke is another multi-layered story with the fullest palette of emotions from the legendary Studio Ghibli filmmaker.

The 1997 animated film follows a young warrior from 13th century Japan, Ashitaka, and his involvement in a battle brewing between the gods of a forest and humans. In this quest, Ashitaka falls for Wolf Girl, Princess Mononoke. Princess Mononoke has the soul of a romantic epic, but a central theme of the film is the clash between human civilization and nature.

3 The Wind Rises

2013’s The Wind Rises is the director’s latest work. It is an animated historical drama about Jiro Horikoshi, the designer of many Japanese fighter planes of World War II. Horikoshi’s beautifully designed planes eventually left blood on his hands. Miyazaki said he was inspired to make this heartbreaking film, which is both a love letter to aviation and an anti-war movie, after he read Horikoshi’s quote, “All I wanted to do was to make something beautiful.” The director admitted that it was the only one of his films that has made him cry.

This emotional response is partly due to the fact that The Wind Rises is Miyazaki’s most personal film. The prototypes of Jiro and Nahoko were to some extent the animator’s father and mother.

2 My Neighbor Totoro

My Neighbor Totoro, the 1988 animated fantasy about a giant woodland magical creature who eats acorns, and two little sisters, Satsuki and Mei, with a sick mother, remains one of the loveliest movies ever made. Totoro is the kind of imaginary friend we all wished we had. There’s a reason why he has become the de facto mascot for Studio Ghibli.

For some viewers, there is darkness seething underneath the film. However, Studio Ghibli has debunked fan theories, saying, “Everyone, do not worry. There’s absolutely no truth or configuration that Totoro is the God of Death or that Mei is dead in My Neighbor Totoro”. So, the film is really as cute and sweet as it seems.

1 Spirited Away

2001’s Spirited Away tells the story of Chihiro, a ten-year-old girl who finds herself indentured in the alternate, inside-out universe where her parents are turned into pigs. There, she has to find a way to return home. Drawing on Japanese folklore and culture, Miyazaki focuses on a child’s journey of self-discovery.

Spirited Away became the highest-grossing film in Japanese history (which is ironic for a film which fundamentally critiques capitalism), and the first non-English and anime movie to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. It is Alice in Wonderland for modern times, and Miyazaki’s best film.