Studio Ghibli

Two Ghibli created shorts about the happenings in fictional animation studio, presumably based to some extent on their own. The first was aired during a TV special about Ghibli, the second shown in theatres alongside 'The Cat Returns'. Note that the animation studio in these shorts is not spelled ジブリ (hepburn: 'jiburi'), but ギブリ (hepburn: 'giburi'), so pronounced with the hard…

Totoro is a forest spirit that little Mei, and later her older sister Satsuki, encounter in a giant camphor tree near their new home in the countryside. Although their father Kusakabe Tatsuo, a university professor, is with them when they move, their mother Yasuko is in the hospital, recovering from some unnamed illness. When Mei hears that her mother's condition may be…

* Based on the children's fantasy novel The Borrowers by Mary Norton, which received the Carnegie Medal in 1952. A family of little people lives under the floorboards of an old house far out in the countryside, surviving by secretly borrowing items from the humans who inhabit it. One day, their existence is discovered by a kind young boy named Shou, who is visiting his…

* Based on Mimi o Sumaseba (Whisper of the Heart) by Hiiragi Aoi. A chance encounter with a mysterious cat sends Shizuku, a quiet schoolgirl, on a quest for her true talent. Together with Seiji, a boy determined to follow his dreams, and enchanted by The Baron, a magical cat figurine who helps her listen to the whispers of her heart, Shizuku embarks on a life-changing…

* Based on Joan G. Robinson's novel When Marnie Was There (Omoide no Marnie). Anna lives with foster parents, a misfit with no friends, always on the outside of things. Then she is sent to Norfolk to stay with old Mr and Mrs Pegg, where she runs wild on the sand dunes and around the water. There is a house, the Marsh House, which she feels she recognizes — and she soon meets…

The story is set in Showa 38 (1963, a year before the Tokyo Olympics) and follows the coming of age of a high school girl named Matsuzaki Umi. The manga recounts her everyday life of laughter and tears with a school newspaper member, the student council president, and other schoolmates. Source: ANN

While fighting to save his village from the attack of a demon-god Ashitaka comes in contact with it and is inflicted with a deadly curse. In his search for a cure he is forced to leave his village forever and journey to the forest inhabited by animal gods. There he finds himself in the middle of a war between the forest gods and a village led by lady Eboshi.

A young boy, Sousuke, befriends a strange looking goldfish whom he names Ponyo. Unbeknownst to Sousuke, Ponyo is a magic fish who has decided that she wants to live with Sousuke and the other humans. Unfortunately, Ponyo's decision to give up her underwater life creates a crack in an ancient magic spell, and places the world in danger. Together, Sousuke and Ponyo must set…

* Based on the Japanese folk tale Nezumi no Sumo (ねずみのすもう). A farmer witnesses the sumo match of his house's mice and is disappointed when they lose horribly. He and his wife prepare a feast to help the mice train for their next match. The next night, they go to see how their mice fare against the competition... Note: The seventh in a series of short films produced to screen…

Studio Ghibli animated Choujuu-Jinbutsu-Giga Emaki, the famous Japanese "Scrolls of Cartoons of Birds, Animals, and People" or "Choujuu Giga" for short, for a Marubeni Power commercial. The "Encounter" commercial promotes Plan G, a new electric power option that Marubeni Power is offering to homes as Japan deregulates its power industry. The plan derives its name from both "…