I Finally Watched The Boy and The Heron, So I’m Doing a Studio Ghibli Tier List

4 min readJan 11, 2025

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Studio Ghibli has been a part of the pop culture zeitgeist for decades at this point, not just for anime fans, but for many who are even casually interested in animation and/or film. People of my generation grew up on films like Ponyo and Howl’s Moving Castle, and eventually found the more mature side of their work in movies such as Princess Mononoke and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Hell, Spirited Away spent a long time as the highest-grossing Japanese film of all time and was even referenced by the now world-famous musician Billie Eilish last year.

Granted, popular doesn’t always mean good, but its hard to argue with a track record like theirs. In my journey through everything anime and Japanese pop culture, I’ve managed to watch most of the major studio releases from Ghibli, most recently The Boy and the Heron. So, what better way to celebrate having finally watched their latest piece then to rank said films via gamer’s favorite past time?

Back in 2018, almost a whopping seven years ago at his point, I did a top five list of what felt like the best of Ghibli at that time. Given that massive stretch of time and the fact that baby Vivian was fresh out of high school, my list has changed a fair bit. As per usual with these tier lists, there will be a bit of explaining for what might be perceived as the more controversial elements. That being said, it is just for fun, so feel free to agree or not in the comments.

The Tier List

Yup, here it is 🙂

Hayao Miyazaki Does it Again

Back in 2023 when The Boy and The Heron had just come to English theatres, there were a lot of mixed opinions going around. My immediate friends that saw it said it was enjoyable (though one fell asleep during the movie). However, the praise that was coming in online was definitely not universal.

Regardless of the more hesitant opinions, this film 100% deserves a spot among the best of Studio Ghibli. It takes bits a pieces almost every previous film the group has produced while still managing to feel mostly original. Some might argue it wears its heart on its sleeve a bit too nakedly, but it is clear that Miyazaki put a lot of love and care into this film. Yeah, I’d say the half decade or so he took to finish it was worth the time and effort.

Is There a Bad Ghibli Film?

Yes, it’s called From Up on Poppy Hill. I have also heard less than amazing things about Earwig and the Witch and Tales From Earthsea, but speculating about a film I haven’t seen doesn’t necessarily make for a super compelling read. There is no need for speculation when it comes to Goro Miyazaki’s 2011 film because it is not at all worth watching.

Rehashing the entire review from last year also probably isn’t very interesting, but for the broad reasons why it sits so low: too much nationalism, weird pro-incest plotline, and also kinda boring. Like, its not even particularly good as a hate watch, cause nothing actually happens. Unless you’re truly interested in watching all of Ghibli like myself, avoid it.

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