All of Animator and Filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki’s Movies in Order (And Where To Watch Them)

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Rachel Ulatowski

Rachel Ulatowski

JustWatch Editor

Hayao Miyazaki’s final title in his filmography, anime movie fared well, given Hayao Miyazaki’s illustrious career.

Read on to learn more about Hayao Miyazaki’s revered filmography and find out where to watch all of his movies streaming on such popular services like Disney+ and more!

Hayao Miyazaki is considered one of the most remarkable storytellers and animators of our time. He is often compared to Walt Disney due to his comparable contributions to animation. Miyazaki has been a force in the industry since the advent of color-animated feature filmmaking in Japan. He rose from humble beginnings as an animator to co-founding his own studio, Studio Ghibli, and gaining international recognition.

Miyazaki’s storytelling and animation techniques are largely unparalleled. Despite technological advancements, he has sworn off CGI and relies on hand-drawn animation. It’s a painstaking process that gives Miyazaki’s works an animation style and aesthetic that is wholly unique. His 2001 film, Spirited Away, was and is still the only hand-drawn animated film to win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

Miyazaki’s animated films are also appealing because they reiterate that animation is not just for children. Many of his works, especially Ponyo are perfectly suitable and enjoyable for children. However, they are so creative, imaginative, and filled with underlying themes and motifs that adults can also enjoy them. His recurring themes of environmentalism, love, loss, and self-discovery ensure audiences always have mature themes to analyze.

In addition to recurring themes and motifs, there are some recurring characters in Hayao Miyazaki’s work, too. This is why it is best to watch Miyazaki’s films in release order to capture the significance of recurring elements, as well as watch the evolution in his filmmaking.

Where to watch all Hayao Miyazaki movies online

Check out our guide below on all of Hayao Miyazaki’s movies in order of release date and where to stream them in the United States!

  1. Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro

    # 1

    After a successful robbery leaves famed thief Lupin the Third and his partner Jigen with nothing but a large amount of expertly crafted counterfeit bills, he decides to track down the forgers responsible—and steal any other treasures he may find in the Castle of Cagliostro, including the 'damsel in distress' he finds imprisoned there.

  2. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

    # 2

    After a global war, the seaside kingdom known as the Valley of the Wind remains one of the last strongholds on Earth untouched by a poisonous jungle and the powerful insects that guard it. Led by the courageous Princess Nausicaä, the people of the Valley engage in an epic struggle to restore the bond between humanity and Earth.

  3. Castle in the Sky

    Castle in the Sky

    1986

    # 3

    A young boy and a girl with a magic crystal must race against pirates and foreign agents in a search for a legendary floating castle.

  4. My Neighbor Totoro

    My Neighbor Totoro

    1988

    # 4

    Two sisters move to the country with their father in order to be closer to their hospitalized mother, and discover the surrounding trees are inhabited by Totoros, magical spirits of the forest. When the youngest runs away from home, the older sister seeks help from the spirits to find her.

  5. Kiki's Delivery Service

    # 5

    A young witch, on her mandatory year of independent life, finds fitting into a new community difficult while she s herself by running an air courier service.

  6. Porco Rosso

    Porco Rosso

    1992

    # 6

    In Italy in the 1930s, sky pirates in biplanes terrorize wealthy cruise ships as they sail the Adriatic Sea. The only pilot brave enough to stop the scourge is the mysterious Porco Rosso, a former World War I flying ace who was somehow turned into a pig during the war. As he prepares to battle the pirate crew's American ace, Porco Rosso enlists the help of spunky girl mechanic Fio Piccolo and his longtime friend Madame Gina.

  7. Whisper of the Heart

    Whisper of the Heart

    1995

    # 7

    Shizuku lives a simple life, dominated by her love for stories and writing. One day she notices that all the library books she has have been previously checked out by the same person: 'Seiji Amasawa'.

  8. Princess Mononoke

    Princess Mononoke

    1997

    # 8

    Ashitaka, a prince of the disappearing Emishi people, is cursed by a demonized boar god and must journey to the west to find a cure. Along the way, he encounters San, a young human woman fighting to protect the forest, and Lady Eboshi, who is trying to destroy it. Ashitaka must find a way to bring balance to this conflict.

  9. Spirited Away

    Spirited Away

    2001

    # 9

    A young girl, Chihiro, becomes trapped in a strange new world of spirits. When her parents undergo a mysterious transformation, she must call upon the courage she never knew she had to free her family.

  10. Howl's Moving Castle

    Howl's Moving Castle

    2004

    # 10

    When an unconfident young woman is cursed with an old body by a spiteful witch, her only chance of breaking the spell lies with a self-indulgent yet insecure young wizard and his companions in his legged, walking castle.

  11. Ponyo

    Ponyo

    2008

    # 11

    When Sosuke, a young boy who lives on a clifftop overlooking the sea, rescues a stranded goldfish named Ponyo, he discovers more than he bargained for. Ponyo is a curious, energetic young creature who yearns to be human, but even as she causes chaos around the house, her father, a powerful sorcerer, schemes to return Ponyo to the sea.

  12. The Secret World of Arrietty

    # 12

    14-year-old Arrietty and the rest of the Clock family live in peaceful anonymity as they make their own home from items "borrowed" from the house's human inhabitants. However, life changes for the Clocks when a human boy discovers Arrietty.

  13. From Up on Poppy Hill

    # 13

    Yokohama, 1963. Japan is picking itself up from the devastation of World War II and preparing to host the 1964 Olympics—and the mood is one of both optimism and conflict as the young generation struggles to throw off the shackles of a troubled past. Against this backdrop of hope and change, a friendship begins to blossom between high school students Umi and Shun—but a buried secret from their past emerges to cast a shadow on the future and pull them apart.

  14. The Wind Rises

    The Wind Rises

    2013

    # 14

    A lifelong love of flight inspires Japanese aviation engineer Jiro Horikoshi, whose storied career includes the creation of the A-6M World War II fighter plane.

  15. The Boy and the Heron

    # 15

    While the Second World War rages, the teenage Mahito, haunted by his mother's tragic death, is relocated from Tokyo to the serene rural home of his new stepmother Natsuko, a woman who bears a striking resemblance to the boy's mother. As he tries to adjust, this strange new world grows even stranger following the appearance of a persistent gray heron, who perplexes and bedevils Mahito, dubbing him the "long-awaited one."