5 top films in Studio Ghibli's first 40 years, from Spirited Away to Princess Mononoke
Japan's Oscar-winning anime house Studio Ghibli turns 40 this month. Here are the studio's top five films that have delighted fans over the decades:
1. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Studio Ghibli was founded in 1985 , but this post-apocalyptic story featuring a young, independent princess curious about giant insects is considered its first film.
It was based on a comic-strip series that Ghibli co-founder
Hayao Miyazaki wrote for a magazine targeted at anime fans.
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Set 1,000 years after a war that destroyed human civilisation, the story takes place in a valley protected from toxic air emitted by poisonous forests.
Miyazaki won critical acclaim and a cult following for the film about Nausicaä, who discovers the forests' secrets after getting embroiled in conflicts between countries trying to revive a lethal 'giant warrior'.
2. My Neighbour Totoro
This
beloved Ghibli classic is set in the 1950s Japanese countryside where two young sisters with a sick mother move from the city.
Play
They encounter the cuddly yet mysterious forest spirit Totoro and Catbus, a 12-legged grinning cat with a hollow body in the form of a bus – two characters who have become the Studio Ghibli mascots.
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