Top 100 Movies

1. Miyazaki's movies from 1984 to 2001



Yep, I am including ALL Miyazaki's movies from 1984 to 2001 essentially tied in first place (hence why Stalker was 7th place).

Miyazaki's first movie was Gagliostro in 1979 and in 1984 with his second movie, Nausicaa, he achieved perfection: nothing I have watched in my life matches the quality of his movies from 1984 to 2001. I guess one of the reasons is that I like animation more than live action film so it's very hard for a live action movie to reach the same level as these movies for me. While Miyazaki is without a doubt the greatest artist in animation who ever lived, his output's quality is just beyond what other animation artists have achieved: his perfectionism is just impossible to match. Because his movies are not often really "powerful" like for instance Tarkovsky's Stalker or Kurosawa's Ikiru, but instead they are like visual music that I can watch over and over, they are truly art film in the same way music is sonic art: I appreciate them for their visual qualities as some of the animation in these movies give me chills and combined with Hisaishi's soundtrack (a big part of the reason why these movies are so special) make them truly astounding audio-visual experiences.

No love for Ponyo?

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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

I would include Gagliostro, Wind Rises and Ponyo in a top 200. Ponyo I think is Miyazaki weakest movie but still great.

I loved Ponyo more than Nausicaa.

You are weird.

Good job Gaup finishing up-great thread!

I took a while to finish it up. I think that this top 100 is going to stay as my top list for a long time now.

Congrats on finishing your list, Guap. Though I feel your #1 is a complete cop out.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Well then my top 10 with movie titles looks like this:

1. Castle in the Sky
1. Kiki's Delivery Service
1. My Neighbor Totoro
1. Nausicaa & Princess Mononoke (two versions of the same theme so I counted as one movie)
1. Porco Rosso
1. Spirited Away
7. Stalker
8. Gunbuster
9. Ikiru
10. Tokyo Story

I don't feel like I can order Miyazaki's best movies: they are 10/10 each in their own way.

Interesting you mention that as not only are the films similar I think Mononoke is even more similar to the direction the Nausicaa manga went after the film.

Indeed I think to really understand Miyazaki's career path generally you need to consider the Nausicaa manga as I think the darker side to his work diverted into that in the late 80's and 90's, Mononoke was the first film he made after it finished and I think you see a clear shift in style from that point even in more family focused films like Spirited Away.

Indeed. Miyazaki's though evolved a lot during Nausicaa's manga. So Nausicaa reflects his early perceptions on ecological issues and Mononoke reflects his mature perceptions. He got a bit more nuanced on these issues as time went by.

I do think that's part of what makes the Nausicaa manga for interesting, that it was created over so many years(although its not actually over long/episodic, more created in the gaps between films) means you get to see the shifts in the story reflect the authors shifting world view. I'm not generally a big reader or manga or indeed comics/graphic novels generally but I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in Miyazaki's career.

Film wise Castle in the Sky does hold a special attraction for me considering it was the first film of his I ever saw(indeed probably the first anime film I saw although I didn't know it's source) when it was shown on kids ITV in the late 80's. My favourites though would probably be Porco Rosso and Mononoke, the latter again I think reflects a lot of the strengths of the Nausicaa manga and the former is for me his best outwardly light hearted family story with more serious depth in the background.