My friend hates anime, and before she moves away I am going to force her to watch a miyazaki movie. Which one is the best.
FIGHT!
I don’t even want to talk to you if you don’t vote for My Neighbor Totoro.
I’ve only seen 4 of the movies listed here. Nausicaa, Howl, Spirited, and Mononoke. I’m going to say Spirited Away as it was the first one I watched and got me hooked on his movies.
I have never seen that one.
Spirited Away has always been my favorite. That said, I tried showing it to some people that hate anime and it didn’t convert them. All that was accomplished was that they were a little baffled and annoyed and I got to sadly ponder their lack of taste and deadened souls.
The only anime I have used to convert people is Cowboy Bebop… and it has had a 100% success rate.
“Which one is the best” and “Which one is the best one to show to someone who hates anime” are two different questions, really. Personally, I’d have a hard time choosing between Spirited Away and Totoro as my personal pick for “best,” but with regard to your specific question, I’d go with Totoro, definitely. Anyone that is not absolutely charmed by that movie–anime fan or not–is not human, and should be purged.
Do it like they did it for the release in Japan. Make her watch My Neighbor Totoro followed by Grave of the Fireflies.
Nausicaa is my favourite mainly because their is a lyric beauty and whimsy in that film and it has a awesome soundtrack.
Spirited Away is more of a film that you need to be in a particular mood for. Princess Mononoke didn’t really do a whole lot for me as the story I think didn’t really reach the heights it could of.
Kiki’s delivery service is a good film, one of those rare films that deals with vocation or how do I seek meaning in my life through my choice of career/work.
Still My Neighbour Totoro wins purely for Catbus and acessibility and comedy and zaniness and lot of other reasons too.
Howl’s moving Castle felt too disjointed to be a success.
Yeah, Spirited Away is really good, but it’s really weird.
If Spirited Away starts playing in my house, we’re pretty much incapable of doing anything else until the movie ends. So yeah, easy choice here. Haven’t seen Howl’s, Porco or Nausicaa yet, though.
Princess Mononoke probably is the easiest to sell on a Non-anime fan, since it’s story (up to the resolution anyway) is fairly standard fantasy fair and there’s lot of strong characters populating the world.
That said, Spirited away is my personal favourite.
I couldn’t pick a favorite. Depending on my mood it’s either Nausicaa, Spirited Away or Mononoke – mainly because my favorite thing about Miyazaki’s films is their humanity and basic pacifism, which is so rare. Each hero and heroine is looking for the solution that benefits as many as possible while hurting as few as possible, and that speaks to the corner of my soul that still believes in things.
Oddly, I own a copy of, but have not yet watched, Howl’s Moving Castle. I need to get around to that one.
I’d say Spirited Away with Totoro a close second. Of course, my secret write-in vote would have to go to Grave of the Fireflies, which is still kind of Ghibli related. Is there a better way to convert someone to a medium other than utter despair?
I hate anime and definitely have a deadened soul. There is no help for me.
Porco Rosso wins for being so polished (story and animation). My Neighbor Totoro was charming but everytime they would cut to the main story, I just wished they would cut back to those crazy characters (catbus).
Oh, and this poll sucks because it doesn’t have, “The Castle of Cagliostro”. The opening car chase scene is better than Ronin’s car chase.
What Sergio said. Nausicaa is my favorite on that list, but Castle of Cagliostro is still my favorite of the Miyazaki movies.
And if you’d included all of Studio Ghibli, I would’ve voted for Pom Poko, because that’s in my top 10 movies ever.
I really really liked Porco Rosso, also some Jean Reno action on the french audio! I didn’t put Cagliostro because it isn’t an original work, it is more of part of the Lupin t.v. series. But, i think I might have to go with Totoro, since I haven’t seen it, we would both benefit.
Another vote in the (current) Spirited Away landslide. An awful lot of Miyazaki’s films have similar themes and characters, and I think Spirited Away was the best iteration. Howl’s Moving Castle I disliked specifically because it seemed to borrow too heavily from Spirited Away. The theatrical release being dubbed, with the bonus pleasure of get^H^H^Hhaving to listen to Billy Crystal, was icing on the cake.
I do have to concur with Mononoke being a better candidate for showing to people who are unfamiliar with/detest anime though.
Castle in the Sky.
It’s probably nostalgia as much as anything, but I love it.
When I first moved to SF I had an untranslated video tape dupe of it that I used to watch, and then I saw the horrible Streamline dub on an actual movie screen, and rode my scooter home through the streets like I was flying on one of those winged sky buggies.
Man that was awesome.