Not just Hayao Miyazaki: 7 amazing Studio Ghibli animated movies by other directors

"The Tale of the Princess Kaguya" / かぐや姫の物語

Drama, fantasy | 4.28 out of 5 on MyShows | 2013

Director: Isao Takahata

A childless couple of old men adopt a mysterious miniature girl they found in the stalks of bamboo. The girl grows up to be a real beauty, charming everyone who encounters her. However, no one can get her hand, because this girl has a completely different purpose.

A screen adaptation of an ancient Japanese fairy tale from Isao Takahata, co-founder of Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki's creative partner. Takahata is less well known in the West and, in his own words, is no match for Miyazaki (though one could argue with that), but he stands out for his boldness, willingness to experiment, and push the boundaries of animation.

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"Grave of the Fireflies" / 火垂るの墓

Drama, war | 4.56 out of 5 on MyShows | 1988

Director: Isao Takahata

Isao Takahata's directorial debut and one of the best war movies ever made. "Grave of the Fireflies" is based on the autobiographical novel by Akiyuki Nosaka, who was long convinced that his book could not be adapted. Takahata changed the writer's mind by showing him the first storyboards and telling the vision of the characters.

The movie is set in Japan at the end of World War II. 14-year-old Seita and his younger sister Setsuko lose their mother in a bombing raid and are left all alone. Seita immediately has to become an adult and take care of his little sister. But how can the children survive in a devastated, hungry and war-torn country?

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"Only Yesterday" / おもひでぽろぽろ

Drama, romance | 4.29 out of 5 on MyShows | 1991

Director: Isao Takahata

27-year-old Taeko has lived in Tokyo all her life. She works for a local company, but tired of the city, Taeko decides to go to the countryside to visit her relatives. During the trip, she remembers her high school years and thinks about her place in life.

Initially, the manga "Only Yesterday" was proposed to screen Hayao Miyazaki, but he was confused by its style: the original work is a collection of small stories. Miyazaki then passed the project on to Takahata. The director managed to make one of the most unusual anime of the time: he asked artists to "adjust" the animation to the previously recorded voiceover to maximize the realism of the image.

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"Whisper of the Heart" / 耳をすませば

Drama | 4.41 out of 5 on MyShows | 1995

Director: Yoshifumi Kondō

Shizuku, a 14-year-old schoolgirl, discovers that the forms of all the books she borrows from the library include the name Koji Amasawa. Intrigued, Shizuku begins to imagine who this man might be, and soon meets an annoying boyfriend who unexpectedly turns out to be the same Koji.

"Whisper of the Heart" is the directorial debut of animator Yoshifumi Kondō. He was expected to become one of the studio's top directors, along with Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, and later to succeed them. But Kondō never got the chance to direct a second feature film: the animator passed away in 1998.

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"From Up on Poppy Hill" / コクリコ坂から

Drama | 4.46 out of 5 on MyShows | 2011

Director: Goro Miyazaki

As Japan prepares for the 1964 Olympics, 16-year-old Umi and a group of activist students from Yokohama struggle to save the school's old clubhouse. The boys travel to Tokyo to convince the superintendent not to demolish the building, and during the trip Umi begins to bond with Shun, a boy from the school newspaper.

A nostalgic and tender work by Goro Miyazaki, the eldest son of Hayao Miyazaki. Goro's first animated film, "Tales from Earthsea", came out in 2006 and was not at all liked by his father, who walked out of the screening saying: "You shouldn't make a movie based only on your emotions".

However, after a couple of years, Hayao softened up and came to his son himself with the script for the anime "From Up on Poppy Hill". The result, it seems, he liked: answering the question of what he thinks about the movie, Miyazaki asked to pass to his son the phrase: "Go ahead, threaten me". Journalists saw this as an acknowledgement that Goro's work could finally begin to grapple with his father's legacy.

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"The Red Turtle" / La tortue rouge

Drama, fantasy | 4.03 out of 5 on MyShows | 2016

Director: Michaël Dudok de Wit

The animated movie is about a shipwrecked man who wakes up on a deserted island. The island seems like paradise: the man finds fresh fruit and water, a bamboo grove and a sandy beach fringed with palm trees, but he still wants to leave it. He is thwarted by a big red turtle who does his best to prevent the man from leaving. There is no dialog in the movie.

"The Red Turtle" is Studio Ghibli's first non-Japanese film in collaboration with French company Wild Bunch. In 2008, its co-founder Vincent Maraval visited Ghibli and showed Hayao Miyazaki de Wit's Oscar-winning short film "Father and Daughter". Miyazaki was so impressed with what he saw that he stated that if his studio ever worked on a movie with a foreign animator, it would be de Wit.

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"When Marnie Was There" / 思い出のマーニー

Drama | 4.46 out of 5 on MyShows | 2014

Director: Hiromasa Yonebayashi

Anna, a shy 12-year-old girl, is sent to visit her aunt and uncle who live in the countryside. There she meets Marnie and they become best friends. However, Anna soon discovers that Marnie is not quite who she says she is.

Hiromasa Yonebayashi's second film. He was noticed even after the first movie — "Arrietty", but it was in "When Marnie Was There" that he was able to really prove himself. This much more distinctive work helped him earn an Oscar nomination and a Japan Academy Award.

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