Studio Ghibli Films in Order, With Japanese Release Dates
All 27 entries on Studio Ghibli's own works list, from Nausicaä in 1984 to The Boy and the Heron in 2023, with dates, directors and the odd cases.
Studio Ghibli's official works list runs from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (March 11, 1984) to The Boy and the Heron (July 14, 2023): 27 entries, 25 of them feature-length and two of them shorts. The list is arranged by release date rather than grouped into series, so release order is the natural way through it. If you want a single first film, we suggest Spirited Away (2001), the film the studio's own chronology records as its first Academy Award winner.
Every date below is the Japanese release date as the studio's works page gives it. Two entries premiered on television rather than in cinemas, and that is noted where it applies.
Every Ghibli film in release order
| # | Released in Japan | Title (Japanese title) | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | March 11, 1984 | Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (風の谷のナウシカ) | Hayao Miyazaki | Made by Topcraft before Ghibli was founded; the studio lists it anyway |
| 2 | August 2, 1986 | Castle in the Sky (天空の城ラピュタ) | Hayao Miyazaki | The film in production when the studio was set up in 1985 |
| 3 | April 16, 1988 | My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ) | Hayao Miyazaki | Released as a double bill with Grave of the Fireflies |
| 4 | April 16, 1988 | Grave of the Fireflies (火垂るの墓) | Isao Takahata | The other half of the 1988 double bill |
| 5 | July 29, 1989 | Kiki's Delivery Service (魔女の宅急便) | Hayao Miyazaki | |
| 6 | July 20, 1991 | Only Yesterday (おもひでぽろぽろ) | Isao Takahata | |
| 7 | July 18, 1992 | Porco Rosso (紅の豚) | Hayao Miyazaki | |
| 8 | May 5, 1993 | Ocean Waves (海がきこえる) | Tomomi Mochizuki | A television film, broadcast on Nippon Television |
| 9 | July 16, 1994 | Pom Poko (平成狸合戦ぽんぽこ) | Isao Takahata | |
| 10 | July 15, 1995 | Whisper of the Heart (耳をすませば) | Yoshifumi Kondō | Screenplay and storyboards by Hayao Miyazaki |
| 11 | July 15, 1995 | On Your Mark (On Your Mark) | Hayao Miyazaki | A short of 6 minutes 48 seconds, released the same day |
| 12 | July 12, 1997 | Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫) | Hayao Miyazaki | |
| 13 | July 17, 1999 | My Neighbors the Yamadas (ホーホケキョ となりの山田くん) | Isao Takahata | |
| 14 | July 20, 2001 | Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し) | Hayao Miyazaki | Won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2003 |
| 15 | July 20, 2002 | The Cat Returns (猫の恩返し) | Hiroyuki Morita | |
| 16 | July 20, 2002 | the GHIBLIES episode 2 (ギブリーズ episode2) | Yoshiyuki Momose | A 25-minute short, released the same day |
| 17 | November 20, 2004 | Howl's Moving Castle (ハウルの動く城) | Hayao Miyazaki | |
| 18 | July 29, 2006 | Tales from Earthsea (ゲド戦記) | Gorō Miyazaki | |
| 19 | July 19, 2008 | Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (崖の上のポニョ) | Hayao Miyazaki | The English title the studio's list uses |
| 20 | July 17, 2010 | Arrietty (借りぐらしのアリエッティ) | Hiromasa Yonebayashi | |
| 21 | July 16, 2011 | From Up on Poppy Hill (コクリコ坂から) | Gorō Miyazaki | Screenplay co-written by Hayao Miyazaki |
| 22 | July 20, 2013 | The Wind Rises (風立ちぬ) | Hayao Miyazaki | |
| 23 | November 23, 2013 | The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (かぐや姫の物語) | Isao Takahata | |
| 24 | July 19, 2014 | When Marnie Was There (思い出のマーニー) | Hiromasa Yonebayashi | |
| 25 | September 17, 2016 | The Red Turtle (レッドタートル ある島の物語) | Michaël Dudok de Wit | An international co-production; Isao Takahata was artistic producer |
| 26 | December 30, 2020 | Earwig and the Witch (アーヤと魔女) | Gorō Miyazaki | First shown on NHK General TV; in cinemas from August 27, 2021 |
| 27 | July 14, 2023 | The Boy and the Heron (君たちはどう生きるか) | Hayao Miyazaki | Won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2024 |
The English titles are the ones Ghibli's Japanese works page prints, which is why Ponyo appears under its longer name and the second Ghiblies short keeps its lowercase styling.
Is Nausicaä a Ghibli film?
Strictly, no, and the studio says so. Its works page lists Nausicaä first, then adds a note under the credits: 「※制作はトップクラフトです。」, which says the film was produced by Topcraft. The studio's history page explains the order of events: Studio Ghibli was set up in 1985, during the production of Castle in the Sky, by Tokuma Shoten, the publisher that had produced Nausicaä, after that film's success. The same page gives the domestic audiences as 915,000 for Nausicaä in 1984 and 775,000 for Castle in the Sky in 1986.
So a list of "Ghibli films" that starts in 1984 and one that starts in 1986 are both defensible. We follow the studio's own works list, which includes Nausicaä while being candid about who made it.
The entries that are not ordinary cinema releases
Five entries on the list are worth knowing about before you build a watchlist, because they are easy to miss or easy to mistake for something else.
Ocean Waves was made for television. The works page records it as broadcast on Nippon Television on May 5, 1993, with a running time of about 72 minutes, and gives it no cinema release date.
On Your Mark and the GHIBLIES episode 2 are shorts. The first runs 6 minutes 48 seconds and shares its July 15, 1995 date with Whisper of the Heart; the second runs about 25 minutes and shares its July 20, 2002 date with The Cat Returns. Neither is a feature you need to plan an evening around.
Earwig and the Witch premiered on NHK General TV on December 30, 2020, and reached cinemas on August 27, 2021. The studio's chronology describes it as Ghibli's first feature made entirely in 3DCG. That is why some lists date it 2020 and others 2021: both dates are real, for different releases.
The Red Turtle is an international co-production directed by Michaël Dudok de Wit, with Isao Takahata credited as artistic producer. It is on the studio's list, made with the European partners named in its copyright line, among them Wild Bunch and Arte France Cinéma.
Watching by director instead
Release order mixes several directors' work, and some viewers prefer to follow one at a time. Counting only the 25 feature-length entries above, the list breaks down like this:
- Hayao Miyazaki: eleven features, from Nausicaä to The Boy and the Heron, plus the On Your Mark short.
- Isao Takahata: five, from Grave of the Fireflies to The Tale of The Princess Kaguya.
- Gorō Miyazaki: three, Tales from Earthsea, From Up on Poppy Hill and Earwig and the Witch.
- Hiromasa Yonebayashi: two, Arrietty and When Marnie Was There.
- One each for Yoshifumi Kondō, Hiroyuki Morita, Tomomi Mochizuki and Michaël Dudok de Wit.
For two of Miyazaki's features we have more on the site: the sourced Spirited Away quotes and what Spirited Away's ending shows, and the sourced Princess Mononoke quotes with the Princess Mononoke ending explained. The ending pages contain spoilers. If you have seen Miyazaki's supposed verdict on anime circulating as a GIF, we checked where that caption came from.
Is there a new Ghibli film?
As of October 14, 2026, the studio's works list ends with The Boy and the Heron, and we list no film the studio has not announced. Its chronology does record newer, smaller work, including 魔女の谷の夜 (literally “night of the valley of witches”), an original short made for Ghibli Park and released in July 2026, directed by Gorō Miyazaki and Akihiko Yamashita. Its title shares 魔女の谷 with the park area the same chronology records opening in March 2024; the entry does not say where the short is shown. That short is not on the works list and is not a feature. When a new feature appears on the works page, this list will follow it.