The Japanese master’s greatest achievement, this is an anime of endless imagination and hypnotic power, winning the coveted Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

A dress rehearsal for what would come later, this captivating early effort may be thought of as Miyazaki’s ‘Dune’—a fantasy epic with warring nations, a mythic prophecy and giant insects that also operates as a potent call to prevent the mother of all ecological disasters. 

A weaker work in Miyazaki’s oeuvre that while operating efficiently on plot and characterisation doesn’t quite do anything substantial thematically as a young witch travels to a new town to find work as a rite-of-passage.

The anxiety of opening one’s heart to another marks this underrated Miyazaki effort about a WWI pilot cursed to look like a pig—it could be his funniest film, yet the enveloping sense of nostalgia and memory makes us yearn for a past that we have never known.

Still as enchanting and imaginative as ever, even if Miyazaki’s work had to overcome some pacing issues and an anything-goes narrative.

Probably Miyazaki’s most epic film inasmuch as it is a pure fantasy-adventure with strong themes of peaceful co-existence as battles are waged among humans, animals and spirits.

A girl with a sought-after magic crystal falls from the sky in this underrated early gem from Miyazaki, packed with action, comedy and fantasy in what could be his purest, most exhilarating adventure.

Miyazaki’s somewhat convoluted anti-war and pro-elderly piece doesn’t quite reach the heights of some of his greatest works, but as a fantasy about love, magic and curses, it can be spellbinding at times.