To my surprise, most of the apartment-mates hadn't heard of the company nor watched anything from it which became the inspiration for today's post. It was actually so incredibly difficult to narrow down my favorites since I love them all, but these are the first five that came to mind.

CASTLE IN THE SKY

If I could watch a movie for the rest of my life...this one has a pretty high shot. There was just something about this movie that I fell in love with at a young age. It tells the story of man's greed and how destructive it can be while contrasting that with the innocent heart of children. I was also fascinated by the idea of a legitimate castle in the sky where giant robots tended the overflowing gardens.

PRINCESS MONONOKE

This one is not for the faint of heart because it is quite graphic. However, I was a weird kid and I absolutely loved this movie. With all of Studio Ghibli's films, it delivers a very important message - this one in particular dealing with the war between man and nature. Again, the message of human greed is addressed, but to be completely honest, I loved this film for two primary reasons: giant wolves, cute deer-like creature (aka Yakul).

SPIRITED AWAY

I believe this was the first Ghibli film I ever watched as a kid so it gets the credit for starting me on the Ghibli rabbit trail. The funny thing is that this movie terrified my sister when she first watched it, but I was just in awe of everything. It definitely borders on weird and grotesque at times, but once again addresses the idea of greed and how it's essentially a universal currency. Also...it doesn't hurt that Haku transforms into a beautiful dragon.

HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE

If Calcifer the fire demon could actually exist and be my best friend I would be elated beyond words. This wasn't an immediate favorite for me at first because I didn't love all the aspects of the story. However, I think the more I watched the film and the older I got, I started to appreciate the story more. If I could summarize this particular movie in a word, it'd probably be redemption. The characters all get their own piece of happy ever after at the end.

NAUSICAA AND THE VALLEY OF THE WIND

This was one that took me a while to get around to, but I heard about it from one of my best friends in high school. Again with Ghibli's films, this one focuses on the battle between man and nature in a post-apocalyptic world where the air was slowly being poisoned and massive armored bugs were considered the enemy. Our main character embodies the pure heart that our world often lacks and her champion to embrace nature rather than fear it is something we can definitely apply to our society today.

Since December is usually the time for finals and stress, why not take a break and watch one (or all five) of these if they seem up your alley? For me personally, Ghibli holds a special place in my heart right next to Disney for being fundamental in shaping my childhood. :)