Studio Ghibli Movie Collection 1984 2020 B Work

The collection technically begins before Ghibli was founded. Nausicaä (1984) , directed by Hayao Miyazaki, is the prototype—an ecological epic with a fierce heroine that established the studio’s core themes: nature’s wrath, pacifism, and flight. This led directly to Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986) , an adventure serial that refined the boy-girl duo dynamic.

The first true landmark is My Neighbor Totoro (1988) . Reviewed against the rest of the collection, it remains an anomaly: a film with no villain, no stakes beyond a mother’s illness, yet it distilled Ghibli’s magic into the iconic creature. In the same year, Isao Takahata’s Grave of the Fireflies delivered a devastating realist counterpoint. Together, these two 1988 releases prove Ghibli’s range—from transcendent childhood wonder to the brutal poetry of war’s aftermath.

When cinephiles discuss Studio Ghibli, the conversation is rightfully dominated by the titans: My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and Howl’s Moving Castle. These are the "A" works—culturally defining, Oscar-winning, box-office-shattering landmarks. studio ghibli movie collection 1984 2020 b work

But between 1984 (the pre-Ghibli Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind) and 2020 (Earwig and the Witch), the studio produced a rich tapestry of what could be called its ‘B’ work. These are not B-movies in the traditional sense of low budget or schlock; rather, they are the second features, the experimental tangents, the quiet character studies, and the box-office disappointments that, upon re-evaluation, hold the studio’s very soul.

Here is a curated guide to the essential ‘B’ works of Studio Ghibli. The collection technically begins before Ghibli was founded

Wait—this is an ‘A’! Artistically, yes. But commercially? It lost money despite an Oscar nom. Its rough charcoal-and-watercolor animation and devastating third-act tragedy alienated casual viewers. It’s a ‘B’ only in the sense of being too avant-garde for mass consumption. Essential viewing.

The Wind Rises (2013) , Miyazaki’s “final” (then un-retired) film, is a mature, controversial biopic about a plane designer—a meditation on creative beauty enabling war machines. It’s a masterpiece for adults, not children. Weaknesses:

Then comes the B-work: When Marnie Was There (2014) , directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, is a quiet, melancholic film about loneliness and implied queer longing—excellent but slow. Finally, Earwig and the Witch (2020) , Goro Miyazaki’s first full CG feature, is widely reviewed as the studio’s nadir. The animation is stiff, the characters unlikable, and the plot unresolved. It feels like a television pilot, not a Ghibli film.

A radical ‘B’ work. Takahata abandoned Ghibli’s lush painted style for watercolor, sketch-like digital animation—ugly to some, brilliant to others. It’s a series of 5-minute comic vignettes about a dysfunctional suburban family. No plot. Just jokes about a father losing his paycheck. Bombed in theaters. Now a beloved anti-Ghibli Ghibli film.

Strengths:

Weaknesses: