Best Studio Ghibli Movies For When You Need A Good Cry, Ranked

Studio Ghibli knows how to tell an amazing story — as evidenced by their consistent successes with titles such My Neighbor Totoro or Howl’s Moving Castle, to name a few — with many of their tales brimming with emotionally powerful scenes. This makes them prime choices for when viewers need a good cry, as Studio Ghibli steadfastly delivers. The cathartic release of viewing emotional scenes and tear-jerking moments can often help audience members purge their own overwhelming emotions, making Studio Ghibli’s films prime watching material for when viewers need to hit that release button but aren’t sure how to do so.

Many of Studio Ghibli’s movies could provide that cleansing sensation, but some provide more dependable emotional resonance than others. From the triumphant return of Kiki’s flying skills in Kiki’s Delivery Service to the devastating separation between Arrietty and Shō, these films showcase significant moments guaranteed to tug at the audience’s hearts.

10 The Boy and the Heron Tackles Grief Both Inside and Outside the Narrative

Mahito Must Face the Future Just as Like the Audience

The Boy and the Heron follows Mahito Maki as he moves to a rural estate outside of Tokyo after his mother dies in a fire during the Pacific War. With his father remarrying his aunt, Mahito feels distant from his new family. He opts to spend his days exploring the grounds, where he stumbles upon a sealed tower and a peculiar gray heron that seems to haunt his every move. After Natsuko becomes lost in the tower, Mojito ventures inside to save her, only to meet a magical world unlike anything he’s ever encountered.

As Hayao Miyazaki’s final film, The Boy and the Heron carries a heavy weight of grief with it, both within the narrative and in the knowledge that such a masterful storyteller is retiring with its most important metaphor. What makes this film truly a strong choice for viewers looking for a good cry stems from that grief. From Mahito’s grief at losing his mother to a hospital fire and then watching his father remarry his aunt, to his eventual acceptance of his trauma and life moving forward, the film offers many emotional moments that could trigger a good cry.

9 Kiki’s Delivery Service Showcases Depression and Triumph

Kiki’s Relationship With Flying Plays a Large Role Emotionally

Kiki is in-training to become a full-fledged witch, and part of her training involves living on her own in a new city while developing her witchy talents in Kiki’s Delivery Service. After relocating to the oceanside town of Koriko, Kiki meets Osono the baker and moves into her spare room over the bakery. From there, she launches her delivery service, using her broom-flying skills to deliver packages for the residents of Koriko.

The climax of the film revolves around Kiki losing her magic as she becomes swept up in insecurities and depression. Such a heavy topic — especially in a children’s coming-of-age film — can take an emotional toll on the viewer, bringing them to tears as they empathize with Kiki’s pain. And just as well, on the flip side of that coin, her triumphant reclaiming of her magic, her identity, and her purpose can stir the viewer’s heart, prompting audience members to bawl with joy.

8 The Wind Rises Weighs Dreams Against Family

Jiro Must Choose Between his Wife and his Dream Job

In The Wind Rises — one of Studio Ghibli’s most underrated movies — Jiro Horikoshi dreams of designing and creating a brilliant aircraft. He sets out to make his dreams a reality, and along the way, meets Nahoko. They eventually marry, and Jiro works diligently to design an aircraft that passes testing, but trials and tribulations stand in the young couple’s way. With Nahoko’s illness and the rising tempers of World War II, Jiro’s journey is filled with tough choices as he tries to strike the balance between being a husband and a designer, and what he’s willing to sacrifice for the sake of his dreams.

In one of the most emotional scenes of the film, Jiro must choose between staying with his dying wife or attending a flight test for his Mitsubishi A5M. He realizes she’s died when a gust of wind passes, which in and of itself is devastating, but Nahoko’s attempts to spare him from watching her die really hit home, as she displays a level of devotion and affection must only dream of. For viewers looking for a sad start to their good cry, The Wind Rises makes for an excellent contender.

7 Spirited Away Showcases a Child’s Struggle

Chihiro Must Handle a Heavy Burden in Restoring her Parents

Chihiro and her family are moving to a new home in Spirited Away, yet the family stops to explore what they believed to be a defunct amusement park after getting lost on the way to their new house. As they inspect the stalls, the parents find a tasty spread of food, and then help themselves to the delicious offerings. Chihiro traverses farther, realizing that they’ve all stepped into a new world, but before she can flee with her parents, she discovers they’ve been turned into pigs. Forced to work at the bath house where they’re held as she tries to find a way to return them to normal, Chihiro meets friends, allies and enemies with motives of their own.

In an emotional gut-punch of a scene, Chiriro and Haku sit outside in a field after they’ve been to visit Chihiro’s transformed parents. The pigs don’t know or recognize her, and their loud, insensible squeals mock Chihiro as she gazes upon them before she flees. Haku finds her crouched down near some bushes, and together they share some rice balls. Chihiro silently eats, tears streaming down her cheeks, until her sobs overtake her and she wails. The poignant reminder of her innocence and childhood, juxtaposed to the stark reality of her dire situation, combined with her dominating despair, will bring a tear to any viewers’ eye.

6 Princess Mononoke’s Many Deaths Sting

Death Plays a Pivotal Role Within the Film

After being cursed by a rampaging boar god, Ashitaka is outcast from his village and must seek a cure for his affliction. His travels take him to an enchanted forest, where he meets the humans of Iron Town warring with the spirits of the forest led by wolf-raised San, or Princess Mononoke. As dark human forces conspire to seize immortality from the Forest Spirit and purge the gods within the woods, Ashitaka and San must discover the true meaning of balance and pick a side for the carnage to come.

Princess Mononoke is perhaps one of Studio Ghibli’s most violent films, offering plenty of tear-jerking moments to draw out that good cry audiences might need. Full of frustration as the beheaded Forest Spirits consumes the woods it once protected, San stabs Ashitaka while he merely holds her in one such scene. The despair of life lost, the frustration at not knowing what to do, and the wilting decay of the forest San calls home hits hard. Audience members who can empathize with its most important themes, including that of nature versus man, will find something that stirs their soul.

5 Pom Poko Gives an Environmentalist Lens to the New Overtaking the Old

The Tanuki Must Adapt or Disappear

The mischievous tanuki — or Japanese raccoon dog — are creatures of myth able to perform illusions and dwell in forests and other wooded areas. In Pom Poko, a colony of tanuki finds their home threatened by an urban development construction project. They devise a slew of ways to deal with the impending development, from appealing to media channels to utilizing guerilla warfare tactics on the construction workers.

Pom Poko draws a hard line between traditional and progressive views of thought — as well as rural versus urban — as the old-fashioned tanuki must adapt to survive. Anyone who can keenly feel the march of time, and can sympathize with the forgetting of traditions in favor of the shiny and new, will find a kinship with the tanuki. Their fate then, at the end of the film, will resonate strongly for viewers needing a good cry, as the beloved and hysterical creatures find their world changed forever.

4 The Secret World of Arrietty Reveals Life’s Fleeting Moments

Making the Most of Every Second is how Life Should be Lived

Arrietty is a Borrower, a miniscule human that lives within the nooks and crannies of a gorgeous mansion owned by Shō’s family, and coincidentally one of Studio Ghibli’s best female protagonists. The Borrowers “borrow” things from the giant-sized house surrounding them, careful to take things that won’t be missed and intent on not being realized by the humans in the house. When Arrietty and Shō meet, their friendship transcends their individual worlds, building into a beautiful connection that inspires both to be brave.

One of the main themes of The Secret World of Arrietty revolves around the beautiful, but fleeting, moments in life. Shō must undergo a heart operation — one with very little chance of success — just as Arrietty makes a friend that she must ultimately forfeit. The quiet moments of the film, the ones filled with introspection and fear against the unknown, resonate strongly with audiences in need of a good cry, showcasing that Studio Ghibli knows how to tug at the heartstrings.

3 When Marnie Was There Deals with a Child’s Self-Loathing

It Also Deals with Generational Trauma

To recover from an asthma attack while living in the dense Sapporo, Anna Sasaki’s mother, Yoriko, sends her to spend the summer in a small seaside town off the coast between Kushiro and Nemuro. She stays with Yoriko’s relatives, the Oiwas, and discovers an abandoned mansion across a salt marsh. Eventually, she comes to meet Marnie, whom she learns lives in the abandoned mansion. As the two grow closer, Anna begins to understand her identity and her past all while exploring the mysterious Marnie and their veiled connection.

Anna’s complicated emotions make the film a truly cry-worthy watch, with her depths of abandonment, generational trauma, and self-loathing heartbreaking to witness. Audiences can’t help but cry at her moments of tragedy and then her subsequent overcoming of that same tragedy as she grows from — but never forgets — her past.

2 Grave of the Fireflies Depicts the Horror of War

Its Depiction is Made Harsher by its Child Protagonists

Undoubtedly one of the most emotionally devastating Studio Ghibli films — if not in the entirety of cinema — Grave of the Fireflies shows Seita and Setsuko’s clawing attempts at survival amidst World War II. With food scarce and devastation rampant, the children struggle to continue living after their mother passes and their aunt grows resentful of their presence. They set out on their own but meet with a country ruined by the high cost of war, and must contend with malnutrition, Japan’s surrender and illness, all while hoping to understand why fireflies die so soon.

The entire film — all eighty-nine minutes of it — pack an emotional wallop for anyone brave enough to watch the 1988 film and is loaded with some of Studio Ghibli’s saddest moments. Themes of war, broken systems designed to aid people, and the fragility of life steamroll the audience’s hearts, as they root for a doomed Seita and Setsuko. This film is guaranteed to give audience members a good — if lengthy — cry, though viewers looking for more positive or triumphant emotions might want to steer clear.

1 The Tale of Princess Kaguya Reveals the Folly of Desire

And Showcases the Despair Women Feel at Times When Their Life is out of Their Hands

After finding a small girl inside a bamboo shoot, a bamboo cutter brings her home and decides to raise her as his child, believing she is a divine being. The girl grows quickly, coming to enjoy her time in the countryside, despite her adopted father constantly pressuring her to conform to the noble and royal image he’s adopted for her. She is eventually given the name Princess Kaguya, moved into the capital and treated as a valuable object, rather than a person. As she begs the moon to save her from her dismal fate, Kaguya recalls that she was once a resident of the Moon and longed to visit Earth. An envoy from the Moon arrives to reclaim her and a tearful Kaguya relinquishes all her memories of Earth before being taken away.

The tragic themes of materialism, objectification and the small boxes society places women into are enough to bring a tear to the eye. But the truly devastating scenes involving the separation of the classes — despite love’s attempts to bridge them — and Kaguya’s erased memories are enough to emotionally pull a tear from viewers. At its core, the movie explores the concept of desire, and with so many audience members able to relate, it’s such a poignant tear-jerker for those needing a good cry.