And finally, I have arrived at what could possibly be Studio Ghibli's final film, When Marnie Was There. Coming out in 2014, Hiromasa Yonebayashi's second film with the studio focuses on a young, insecure girl by the name of Anna. Not only does she shut herself off from the rest of the world and has low self esteem, but she also suffers from asthma and so is sent to live with her relatives to get better. While there she discovers…

After more than a decade, Isao Takahata returns to the director's chair for what is Studio Ghibli's most visually interesting film yet, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya. Coming out in 2013, the film is based on an ancient Japanese folktale about a bamboo cutter who discovers a small child in a bamboo stalk. Being convinced the child is a gift from the heavens, the man and his wife raise the child in the hills as she grows up at…

Next up on my Hayao Miyazaki watching spree is Castle in the Sky. Being released in 1986, the film follows a young girl named Sheeta who is being pursued by a mysterious man in glasses and a group of pirates for the strange crystal she possesses. Through a series of events she ends up befriending a young boy named Pazu, who lives in a poor mining village. The two hit it off and quickly discover that the crystal she possesses…

Starting off with my long overdue watch of Hayao Miyazaki's work is Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Being made before Studio Ghibli was even founded, Nausicaa focuses on, well, Nausicaa. The princess and daughter of King Jil of the Valley of the Wind, a quaint and peaceful valley that has managed to survive this post apocalyptic future and stay out of the conflict between two warring nations, the Tolmekian and the Pejite. Everything changes though when this conflict…