Kanji: 魔女の宅急便
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Year: 1989

Kiki is thirteen years old, right at the age when a young witch in training is supposed to travel to another city and strike out for herself. It's a real test of responsibility and independence, and if Kiki can handle it for a year, she'll be ready to undergo the rest of her education.

So, with only a little money, her pet cat/confidante Jiji, and her mother's broom, Kiki makes her way to a big city by the sea, where witches haven't been seen for years and the demand for them isn't exactly great. Being resourceful, Kiki starts the kind of business most suitable for a witch who can fly on a broom: an airborne package delivery service.

Kanji: 千と千尋の神隠し
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Year: 2001

Ten-year-old Chihiro and her parents end up at an abandoned amusement park inhabited by supernatural beings. Soon, she learns that she must work to free her parents who have been turned into pigs.

Kanji: ハウルの動く城
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Year: 2004

A plain young hatter named Sophie has her life changed when a witch transforms her into an old woman. Unable to face her family in such a condition, Sophie runs away in search of a way to become young again. Along the way, Sophie helps a turnip headed scarecrow, who repays her by leading her to the moving castle owned by the dreaded wizard Howl. There she befriends Howl's apprentice Markl, Howl's fire demon Calcifer, and eventually, Howl himself. Sophie then becomes the castle's cleaning lady in an effort to not only find the solution to her problem but to save Howl from his own terrible secrets as well.

Kanji: となりのトトロ
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Year: 1988

Mei and Satsuki shift to a new house to be closer to their mother who is in the hospital. They soon become friends with Totoro, a giant rabbit-like creature who is a spirit.

Kanji: 風立ちぬ
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Year: 2013

Jiro dreams of flying and designing beautiful airplanes. Nearsighted from a young age and thus unable to become a pilot, he joins the aircraft division of a major Japanese engineering company in 1927. His genius is soon recognized, and becomes one of the world's most accomplished airplane designers.

'The Wind Rises' chronicles his life and the key historical events that affected it - The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, The Great Depression, the tuberculosis epidemic, and Japan's plunge into war. Jiro meets and falls in love with Nahoko, develops and cherishes his friendship with his colleague Honjo, and innovates tremendously, leading the aviation world into the future.

Kanji: もののけ姫
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Year: 1997

While fighting to save his village from the attack of a demon-god, Ashitaka comes in contact with it and is inflicted with a deadly curse. In his search for a cure he is forced to leave his village forever and journey to the forest inhabited by animal gods. There, he finds himself in the middle of a war between the forest gods and a village led by Lady Eboshi.

Kanji: 思い出のマーニー
Director: Hiromasa Yonebayashi
Year: 2014

A young girl is sent to the country for health reasons, where she meets an unlikely friend in the form of Marnie, a young girl with flowing blonde hair. As the friendship unravels Marnie has closer ties to the protagonist than we might expect.

Kanji: かぐや姫の物語
Director: Isao Takahata
Year: 2013

Deep in the countryside, Okina works as a bamboo cutter in a forest, chopping away at the hollow plants day after day. One day, he discovers a small baby inside a glowing shoot. He immediately takes her home, convinced that she is a princess sent to Earth as a divine blessing from heaven. Okina and his wife Ouna take it upon themselves to raise the infant as their own, watching over her as she quickly grows into an energetic young girl.

Kanji: 借りぐらしのアリエッティ
Director: Hiromasa Yonebayashi
Year: 2010

The Clock family are four-inch-tall people who live anonymously in another family's residence, borrowing simple items to make their home. Life changes for the Clocks when their daughter, Arrietty, is discovered.

Kanji: 崖の上のポニョ
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Year: 2008

A goldfish sneaks away from home and floats off on the back of a jellyfish. After getting stuck in a glass jar, she drifts to the shore where she is freed by Sousuke, a five-year-old boy who lives with his mother in a house by the sea. After healing a cut on Sousuke's finger by licking it, the goldfish is named Ponyo by her new friend. Unknown to Sousuke, Ponyo already has a name and a family. Her father Fujimoto, a sorcerer who forsook his humanity to live underwater, searches frantically for his daughter Brunhilde.

Kanji: 火垂るの墓
Director: Isao Takahata
Year: 1988

A Japanese boy of 14 and his 4 year old sister attempt to seek refuge from the atrocities of World War II. Seita and Setsuko flee their disheveled home and deceased parents to make their bid for a new life. Before American troops begin to occupy their country, the children resort to dwelling in an abandoned bomb shelter in the countryside. Though these siblings later get a sense of safety, they realize necessities such as food and water will not be easy to come by.

Kanji: ゲド戦記
Director: Goro Miyazaki
Year: 2006

In the land of Earthsea, a mysterious force threatens to plunge humanity into destruction and chaos. A powerful wizard named Sparrowhawk seeks the source of his world's imbalance, and along the way rescues a runaway prince named Arren. When Sparrowhawk's powers begin to weaken, he and Arren must join forces with a former priestess and her daughter to defeat an evil foe whose quest for immortality will destroy Earthsea.

Kanji: 耳をすませば
Director: Yoshifumi Kondō
Year: 2006

This animated film follows Shizuku, an inquisitive young girl and a voracious reader, who longs to be a writer when she grows up. One day she notices that all of her library books have previously been taken out by one Seiji Amasawa. Amid chasing after a large cat, befriending an eccentric antiques dealer and writing her first novel, Shizuku aims to find this mysterious boy who may well be her soul mate.

Kanji: 紅の豚
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Year: 1992

In Italy in the 1930s, sky pirates in biplanes terrorize wealthy cruise ships as they sail the Adriatic Sea. The only pilot brave enough to stop the scourge is the mysterious Porco Rosso, a former World War I flying ace who was somehow turned into a pig during the war. As he prepares to battle the pirate crew's American ace, Porco Rosso enlists the help of spunky girl mechanic Fio Piccolo and his longtime friend Madame Gina.

Kanji: おもひでぽろぽろ
Director: Isao Takahata
Year: 1991

Career woman Taeko Okajima takes her first extended trip outside her native Tokyo when she travels to rural Yamagata to visit her sister's family during the annual safflower harvest. On the train, Taeko daydreams about her pre-adolescent self. As her vacation progresses, she has extended flashbacks about the frustrations and small pleasures of her childhood, and wonders if her stress-filled adult life is what the young Taeko would have wanted for herself.

Kanji: コクリコ坂から
Director: Gorō Miyazaki
Year: 2011

In anticipation of the upcoming Olympic Games, a beloved old clubhouse is set to be demolished to make way for a modern building. As a result, a large part of the student body has banded together, working tirelessly to prevent this from happening. Umi finds herself helping the newspaper club to spread information about this cause where she befriends Shun Kazama, whom she gradually begins to fall in love with. But Shun is an orphan who doesn't know much about his origins, and when the two begin searching for clues to the boy's past, they discover that they may have a lot more in common than either of them could have thought.

Kanji: 天空の城ラピュタ
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Year: 1986

Young orphan Sheeta and her kidnapper, Col. Muska, are flying to a military prison when their plane is attacked by a gang of air pirates led by the matronly Dola. Escaping from a mid-air collision via a magic crystal around her neck, Sheeta meets fellow orphan Pazu and the pair join forces to discover the mystical floating city of Laputa while pursued by both Muska and the pirates, who lust for the city's myriad treasures.

Kanji: 風の谷のナウシカ
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Year: 1984

Far in the future, after an apocalyptic conflict has devastated much of the world's ecosystem, the few surviving humans live in scattered semi-hospitable environments within what has become a "toxic jungle." Young Nausicaä lives in the arid Valley of the Wind and can communicate with the massive insects that populate the dangerous jungle. Under the guidance of the pensive veteran warrior, Lord Yupa, Nausicaä works to bring peace back to the ravaged planet.

Kanji: 風の谷のナウシカ
Director: Tomomi Mochizuki
Year: 1993

As he journeys back from Tokyo to his high school for a reunion, Taku Morisaki recounts his memories of his school days, focussing in particular on a love triangle that developed between him and two of his friends.

Kanji: 猫の恩返し
Director: Hiroyuki Morita
Year: 2002

High school student Haru rescues a cat that was about to be run over by a truck and discovers the cat is actually a prince named Lune. Out of gratitude, Lune's father, the Cat King, asks her to marry Lune. Haru is brought to the Cat Kingdom, where she starts to develop feline features. When she is prevented from leaving, the Baron and Toto, two statues that have magically been given life, provide assistance in gaining her freedom.

Kanji: 平成狸合戦ぽんぽこ
Director: Isao Takahata
Year: 1994

A secret society consisting of shape-shifting raccoon dogs get together and try their best to save their city after humans encroach their space with development plans.

Kanji: ホーホケキョとなりの山田くん
Director: Isao Takahata
Year: 1999

The Yamadas, a middle-class Japanese family, cope with the day-to-day situations that life throws at them while contemplating their individual roles and responsibilities.

Kanji: アーヤと魔女
Director: Gorō Miyazaki
Year: 2020

An orphan girl, Earwig, is adopted by a witch and comes home to a spooky house filled with mystery and magic.