ALL STUDIO GHIBLI SHORT MOVIES BY HAYAO MIYAZAKI

I’m a big fan of short animated movies, my Youtube recommendation page is full of them. Short films can’t incorporate the same amount of character development and plot that feature films usually do, hence they make use of a combination of uncommon and original ways to grab their audience’s attention and response. I think it’s clear from my first list of Hayao Miyazaki’s films that I’m a big fan of his work, and it’s only fitting that I write a second post about all of the short movies he has created. Miyazaki’s works characterize themselves by an unmatched depth and artistry to the stories they depict and these elements are not lost in his short movies.

+Please note that some of these short films can only be seen in Studio Ghibli’s museum in Mitaka, Japan. Others are available online through different streaming sites.

1- oN YOUR mARK

ジブリ実験劇場

1995

Running time: 7 minutes

This animated music video features the song ‘On Your Mark’ by Chage&Aska. Hayao Miyazaki took on this side-project after suffering from writer’s block with Princess Mononoke. Non-linear alternate scenes follow two policemen who initially raid a religious cult and discover an angelic girl who is then taken away to a laboratory…

2- WHALE HUNT

くじらとり

2001

Running time: 16 minutes

Whale hunt or Kujira tori, is drawn in very simple style compared to Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli’s other films, making use of bright pastel colors. The story follows school children playing make-believe, acting as if they are building a boat. Fantasy and creativity overtake the real world, an ocean appears, and they find themselves in the middle of hunting for a huge kind and tender whale…

3- KORO'S BIG DAY OUT

コロの大さんぽ

2002

Running time: 14 minutes

This film follows the adventures of Koro the puppy on a day where his owner, a little girl, leaves the front gate open and he slips out and roams around the streets of his small town…

4- mei and the kittenbus

めいとこねこバス

2002

 Running time: 14 minutes

Studio Ghibli doesn’t really do sequels, so this short animated one to My Neighbor Totoro is an intriguing entry to the studio’s filmography. Set after the events of the first movie, the story follows Mei and a younger Catbus: the kittenbus, and their adventure as they fly into a forest where they eventually meet Totoro and other spirits…

5- iMAGINARY FLYING MACHINES

空想の空飛ぶ機械達 

2002

Running time: 6 minutes

This film features Hayao Miyazaki as the narrator, in the form of a humanoid pig, reminiscent of Porco (from Porco Rosso), recounting the story of flight and the many machines imagined to achieve it…

6 - MONMON THE WATER SPIDER

水グモもんもん

2006

Running time: 15 minutes

Witness one of the most out-there romances yet, depicting a diving bell spider falling in love with a water strider…

7- HOUSE-HUNTING

やどさがし

2006

Running time: 12minutes

Here, we follow our heroine as she packs her life into a large satchel and heads out to look for a new house, out of the city and into the mountains. Her journey is filled with encounters with some of Japan’s guardian spirits…

8- THE DAY I BOUGHT A STAR

星をかった日

2006

Running time: 16 minutes

Drawn in the style Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli is so well known for, The Day I bought a Star is the story of a young boy who escapes the city to live in the countryside where he makes a trade for a strange seed. After returning home, he plants it, and soon after, a tiny planet starts growing from it…

9- MR. DOUGH AND THE EGG PRINCESS

パン種とタマゴ姫

2010

Running time: 12 minutes

The closest thing you will get to a Spirited Away sequence: this short movie features Baba Yaga the witch. The animation depicts a tiny egg-girl who has been forced to serve the witch, but is about to meet a blob of dough that will plan an escape with her…

10- BORO THE CATERPILLAR

毛虫のボロ

2018

Running time: 14minutes

What makes this fim so special is that Hayao Miyazaki makes use of CGI animation: challenging himself to create a story in a medium he has never used before and had even greatly criticized in the past. The start of the movie begins with the break of dawn, as Boro the Caterpillar hatches from an egg in the grass. He then experiences the morning sun: the first he’d ever seen, draws his first breath of air and climbs down to the surface, taking his first steps upon this earth…