Studio Ghibli Streaming Guide: Where to Watch Every Miyazaki Film

Studio Ghibli’s entire film catalog is available to stream in the United States exclusively on Max, thanks to an extended deal between Max, GKIDS, and the legendary Japanese animation studio. This means every Hayao Miyazaki masterpiece, every Isao Takahata classic, and every deep cut from the studio’s four decades of filmmaking is available in one place. Here is your complete guide to what to watch and in what order.

Where to Stream

Max is the exclusive U.S. streaming home for Studio Ghibli. The library includes every feature film the studio has produced, from 1984’s Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind through 2023’s The Boy and the Heron. Plans start at $10.99/month. Several films are also available in 4K streaming for the first time, including Your Name (a Makoto Shinkai film distributed by GKIDS alongside the Ghibli catalog).

If you do not have Max, most Ghibli films are also available for digital rental or purchase on Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, and Vudu, typically at $3.99 to rent or $14.99 to own.

The Essential Five: Start Here

Spirited Away (2001) is Miyazaki’s masterpiece and one of the greatest animated films ever made. Ten-year-old Chihiro stumbles into a spirit world bathhouse and must work to free her parents, who have been turned into pigs. The film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. It is the perfect introduction to Ghibli because it contains everything the studio does best: wonder, danger, empathy, and a refusal to condescend to its audience.

My Neighbor Totoro (1988) is the gentlest film on this list and the source of the studio’s iconic logo. Two sisters move to the countryside with their father while their mother recovers in a nearby hospital, and they discover friendly forest spirits including the enormous, grinning Totoro. There is no villain. The film runs on the joy of childhood imagination and the quiet anxiety of a family dealing with illness.

Princess Mononoke (1997) is Miyazaki’s environmental epic, set in feudal Japan. A young prince becomes caught in a war between the gods of a forest and the humans who are destroying it. The action is thrilling, the moral complexity is genuine, and the film refuses to offer easy answers. This is the entry point for viewers who want something with more edge.

Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) is a romantic fantasy about a young woman cursed with an old body who takes refuge in the walking castle of a vain wizard. It is looser and more chaotic than Miyazaki’s tightest work, but the animation is breathtaking, and the central love story is one of his most satisfying.

The Boy and the Heron (2023) is Miyazaki’s latest and possibly final film. A boy grieving his mother’s death follows a mysterious heron into a fantastical world that may hold the key to understanding his loss. It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and is deeply personal, drawing from Miyazaki’s own experiences of war, loss, and creativity.

The Deep Cuts Worth Your Time

Porco Rosso (1992) is about an Italian World War I pilot who has been cursed to look like a pig and works as a bounty hunter chasing air pirates in the Adriatic. It is Miyazaki’s most personal film, a love letter to aviation and to a Mediterranean lifestyle that the director adores.

Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) follows a 13-year-old witch who moves to a new city and starts a flying delivery business. It is a gentle story about finding your place in the world and dealing with creative burnout, and it works beautifully for both children and adults.

Castle in the Sky (1986) is a pure adventure film about two children searching for a legendary floating city while pursued by pirates and the military. It is the first official Studio Ghibli production and remains one of the most exciting animated films ever made.

The Wind Rises (2013) is a fictionalized biography of Jiro Horikoshi, the designer of the Japanese Zero fighter plane used in World War II. It is Miyazaki’s most adult film, wrestling with the moral implications of creating something beautiful that will be used for destruction.

Beyond Miyazaki: Other Ghibli Directors

Isao Takahata directed several Ghibli masterworks. Grave of the Fireflies (1988) is one of the most devastating war films ever made, animated or otherwise. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013) uses a watercolor animation style to tell a Japanese folk tale with profound emotional depth. Only Yesterday (1991) is a quiet drama about a woman reflecting on her childhood as she visits the countryside.

Hiromasa Yonebayashi directed The Secret World of Arrietty (2010) and When Marnie Was There (2014), both excellent smaller-scale Ghibli films that deserve wider recognition.

Viewing Order Recommendations

For newcomers: Spirited Away, then My Neighbor Totoro, then Princess Mononoke. For a Miyazaki chronological marathon: Nausicaa, Castle in the Sky, Totoro, Kiki’s, Porco Rosso, Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl’s, Ponyo, The Wind Rises, The Boy and the Heron. For more animated film recommendations, see our best animated movies streaming guide and our best Japanese movies streaming list.