This week is a poll suggested by lollylopmr. Got a favorite Miyazaki film? Or perhaps your least favorite in the comments?

You can submit poll ideas here: https://www.mangaupdates.com/topic/kilkdnn/site-manga-poll-suggestions

Previous Poll Results:

Question: Do you still have Christmas (or other December holiday or celebration) decorations up?

Choices:

• Yes, I still have them up - votes: 906 (39.9%)
• No, I took them down - votes: 364 (16%)
• I never had any up to begin with - votes: 1002 (44.1%)

There were 2272 total votes. The poll ended: January 10, 2026

The lights in my hallway are up the entire year

A just ruler amongst tyrants

I chose Porco Rosso to give a nod to one of his lesser known films, but I also love Kiki’s Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away.

I had a phase where Nausicaa was my favorite of his films but Spirited Away has just enough seasoning (nostalgia) to make it my number 1. Was cemented when I went to the Joe Hisaishi concert and couldn't stop sobbing over his performance of One Summer's Day 😂

Honestly, I love all his films and own all of them (shout out to gkids) but my top three would be:

1. Spirited Away
2. Nausicaa
3. Princess Mononoke

The one I gravitate towards the least is prob The Boy and the Heron, I also don't believe for a second that that's his final project. As long as Miyazaki can still hold a pen, he'll want to keep creating 😂

Princess Mononoke. A shame that Shuna's Journey was cobbled together into Earthsea. It and the rest of Nausicaa's manga would work well as movies.

I also read EU/US comics and am a librarian.
Manga-Masters, My ANN-Lists + Imdb

I saw only spirited away, and found it way too disturbing, now I am scared to even watch any other ones, so voted that i don't have favorite... just not my style...

I am envoy from nowhere in nowhere. Nobody and nothing have sent me. And though it is impossible I exist. © Trimutius

My favorite has to be Spirited Away, but Howl's Moving Castle is a close second, and Kiki's Delivery Service also holds a special place in my heart.

I'm not usually a fan of any kind of open/ambiguous feeling endings, I really like to have closure and happy endings, but something about the combination of melancholy yet hopeful feel to Spirited Away's ending with Chihiro and Haku promising to meet again someday really struck a chord with me.

I'm not a big fan of rewatching movies usually, but Ghibli films are an exception, even on a rewatch most of them still feel so fresh and magical and yet comfortingly nostalgic.

I was kind of confused by how The Boy and the Heron seemed to have so many great reviews though, I saw it when it was in theaters and it just felt sort of... I guess aimless and disjointed?

Unlike other Miyazaki movies, I just never really felt like I got where he was trying to go with it, it felt like things just kind of happened. Usually they're wild and chaotic, but they still have some kind of central theme/goal, an internal narrative thread that stays consistent, and I just didn't feel that with this one.

I remember walking out of the theater feeling really disappointed and baffled, like it felt like I watched a completely different movie from the reviewers. The last time I was that at odds with the reviews was when I saw Belle, I remember leaving the theater feeling genuinely mad at how much they'd misled me about such a cliche and nonsensical story 😂

I've seen 3: Princess Mononoke, Kiki's Delivery Service, and Ponyo.

Actually, this brought up a memory. We used to have this newspaper magazine called the TV Guide, and it would list every show on every channel for the week. On it, movies were given a rating between 1 and 4 stars, and very rare was the case a movie was given 4 stars. Princess Mononoke was one of them.

And honestly, I don't know who or what decided the ratings, but they were dead accurate. A 4 star movie really was a cut above other great movies. And this was before internet ratings like IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes.

I'm a jack of all trades but master of none. Too many jars and not enough hands.

I've seen Nausicaä, Castle in the Sky, Kiki's Delivery Service, Whisper of the Heart, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Tales from Earthsea, Ponyo, (some of) From Up on Poppy Hill, The Wind Rises, Princess Kaguya, and The Boy and the Heron.

I like Castle in the Sky, Kiki's Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, and Princess Kaguya the most, but think Kaguya is his best work. The visuals are gorgeous (I can't stop screenshotting) and the story is epic. I feel like I would've liked Nausicaä more if it had a proper ending, so I want to finish the manga to see where it takes me.

Spirited Away only because it was the first Miyazaki movie I ever saw, so it holds a more special place in my memory.

Kaguya is stunning but not a Miyazaki film. One of my favourite Studio Ghibli films though.

I don't have a favorite. I watched Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Arriety, and The Boy and the Heron, and I just did not like them 😕 I tried to like Ghibli films which is why I keep watching them lol but they just don't stick with me.

I'm not sure why I keep forgetting that it's Takahata's film. Otherwise, I'm pretty split between Kiki and Mononoke.