Having seen Ponyo recently, I've been thinking a lot about Studio Ghibli films, their style, conventions, and characters, etc.... I'm always impressed with the quality and attention to detail I see in these films and especially the portrayal of human mannerisms and nuances.

My favorite is Spirited Away. Sure it's strange, but not quite as strange as Princess Mononoke. Spirited Away's strangeness reminded me of Japan's vast variety of cultural quirks and deep-seated spiritual beliefs. On top of that I felt like the story was entertaining and Chihiro was an endearing character. Plus, unlike many Studio Ghibli films, I felt like there was more of a clear villain and an overarching goal for the protagonist.

What is your favorite Studio Ghibli film?

PAWNYO PAWNYO LITTLE TINY FISH

j/k
I like mononoke, very moving scenes both action and not.

Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, and Princess Mononoke in a three-way tie. All three are just good animated films.

Right now, probably Spirited Away, but I've yet to see My Neighbor Totoro, which all of my friends have loved.

Tie between Porco Rosso and Spirited Away, I reckon.

Kiki's Delivery Service or Totoro.

For the epic and/or actiony plots, Princess Mononoke.

Porco Rosso for me. If for no other reason than it's a movie with a great deal of flight done by a person with a very clear fascination with flight. I really liked the pirate characters in it as well.
Mononoke is a close second and it has my favorite ending of any movie I've seen, y'know it's not really a sad ending but it's certainly not a happy ending either.

Nausicaa. One of my favorite movies ever.

I'm not 100% sure what qualifies as a Chibi film but judging from the titles that have already been mentioned, I guess I'll be placing my vote for Princess Mononoke or Nausicaa. I've also seen Spirited away but I think I'll place that movie under Mononoke in my awesome list.

I haven't seen the other titles, mentioned so far.

1. Grave of the Fireflies
2. Porco Rosso
3. is a three way between Pom Poko, Omohide Poroporo, and Umi ga Kikoeru

The rest of the Miyazaki films would go next, for the most part going in date order from oldest to newest (except Ponyo which I haven't seen, yet and Mimi wo Sumaseba which I think may be his weakest film).

Spirited away, Porco Rosso and Whisper of the Heart.

You're too obscure for me Isukun.

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--Edit--
Oh, Whisper of the Heart IS Mimi wo Sumaseba.
Ah well, I disagree there, I thought it was excellent.

I still really wish Omohide Poroporo and Umi ga Kikoeru would get domestic releases. They're both excellent movies, but I guess Disney's not as interested in the non-Miyazaki Ghibli films. Pom Poko probably only got a release because of the contraversy around it. Nobody thought Disney would have the balls (pun intended) to release it in the US. Also, where's the US Earthsea release? Didn't Australia and the UK get that one?

Damn, now I want to go back and rewatch Mirai Shounen Konan, but I'm in the middle of watching Touch. Why don't they make anime like this anymore, damnit!

my fav is either spirited away or the castle of cagliostro

.... who said anything about Chibi films?

#1... would be Princess Mononoke. It gave me a sense of awe, just through pure 2D hand-drawn art, and primitive parallax backgrounds.
(If there was any CG in this film, I didn't notice.)

I never got the point of Spirited Away. Granted, it's a good film with refreshing Japanese-myth strangeness... but... the story is so basic. It's good for what it is (the story), but that's like saying I should think Snow White has an engaging story if I were to watch it today.

Ofc, I'm not a child viewer...

I.... misread the title.

There is. I noticed it, although it was well done.

Yeah, I noticed that too.

I have to disagree with Mlai. From what I remember about Mononke I was really disappointed. There just wasn't much to it for me and the theme didn't seem very coherent and the character motivations were very straight forward, simple and uninteresting (to me). Whereas with Spirited Away what was most interesting was Chihiro- we slowly discover that strange world from her point of view, which makes it more interesting.

Perhaps you like the Gulliver's Travels type of story more, Ozone.

Movies-wise (I have not read the manga epic), I personally feel Mononoke is Nausicaa (uncut version) done right. I like both movies, but the main chara in Nausicaa just seemed too perfectly straight for me. Who can be that perfect and understanding to all the viewpoints in the world? At least in Mononoke, there is no one character who has the answers for everybody.

Really? I noticed that those worm thingies that appear on the corrupted animals were CG almost immediately. It didn't stand out as much as most other examples, but I thought it was still fairly obvious. :/

Do you mean those black worm thingies? They look 100% hand-drawn to me. In fact, unless I'm presented with evidence, I can't even believe that they're CG.

The stuff in Princess Mononoke that I thought was CGI was a few scenes where Ashitaka was riding Yakuru though a field. It was shown in first-person and the ground plane clearly scolled by in a 3D manner. It has been several years since I watched the movie... maybe I should watch it again.

In terms of Nausicaa vs. Mononoke protagonist-wise I think the two only vaguely resemble one another. Even in the manga Nausicaa is pretty compassionate and kind, even taking into account that she actually fights people. In the movie she doesn't even fight that I recall.
San on the other hand is straight up vindictive and violent towards humans, (she gets along OK with animals though.)
I can see something of a resemblance between Ashitaka and Nausicaa if that's what you mean though.

I see some mention of the manga, but after rereading the mange recently, I can kind of see why Miyazaki prefers the movie. For the first half of the manga, the story is great and Miyazaki seemed to have a clear goal in mind. Somewhere after that, he lost sight of that goal and the story seemed to kind of fizzle out. It's possible things could have picked up if he decided to continue the story, but it just kind of ends without a really satisfying resolution, which makes me thing Miyazaki got tired of it and didn't know what to do with it. I'll admit, both have some tremendously powerful moments in them. The movie has a very clear environmental message, which is generally Miyazaki's signature theme. The manga is more of an anti-war epic. It is often more brutal and the battle scenes have more impact, but I think the message Miyazaki wanted to get across got lost in there and he eventually lost interest in the project.

Dammit, why do I have to choose...

It would be a tie between Totoro, Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle...

Although the last one may have been bumped up unfairly because the local premiere of that film was when I, after several years of no contact, again ran into the girl who would later become my wife. :D Still, an enchanting and wonderful film, that.

Spirited Away, because it actually has different character designs to the same ones they've used over and over for 20 years.

Howls Moving Castle and Totoro are two I will always watch over and over. My mum loves Totoro, even though really nothing happens.

I watch The Cat Returns more than any other Ghibli movie, strangley enough. It's not my favourite,but it's just much lighter than any of the others so I don't have to be in a particular frame of mind to wacth it.

Tales from Eathsea was massively disappointing and boring, to me.

@ Patrick:

Yeah, I meant between Ashitaka and Nausicaa. On the surface, they seem the same in that they're compassionate towards all sides. But then you'll notice that Ashitaka doesn't have any answers to any of the big trends moving the film's story. He's only 1 man, and in the end, his goal was simply to save the girl he loves and to save as many innocent people caught in the crossfire as he can.

I really don't understand why he can't just take his girl and go back to his tribe... he undertook a hero's quest/journey, and now he's cured/redeemed! WTF, his tribe won't welcome him back even though he's cured?? What kind of stupid unyielding rules do they have??!

No, because he cut his hair! Would you welcome somebody back into your village after they got a haircut?

You're right though, it's silly that he can't go back. I'm sure all those villagers would go the rest of their lives wondering if he even succeeded.

Kiki's Delivery Service always gave me a warm fuzzy feeling. And I'm surprised no one has mentioned this one yet: Grave of the Fireflies. Very very sad movie, but very well done. Apparently they recently made a live-action version of that movie.

Someone did mention it. The made-for-TV movie wasn't as good as the animated film. The CG kind of killed certain scenes and it really didn't hit as hard as the original. The whole thing's told from the cousin's point of view and I really didn't like that the aunt didn't seem as bad in the live action version.