So if you haven’t been able to catch them, either in a theater or on video/DVD while you were growing up, you might not be familiar with the enchanting Ghibli film library. A warning, however: Although it’s an undisputed masterpiece, it’s also one of the saddest films ever made.) (The Isao Takahata-directed Grave of the Fireflies (1988) is the only Ghibli film missing from the HBO Max catalog at launch instead, you can watch it on Hulu.

And because only a few of those films have been available online - and even then, only on digital rental marketplaces - many of its devoted fans have yet to discover the full Ghibli catalog. Co-founded in 1985 by a well-established but by no means well-known animator, Hayao Miyazaki, Ghibli’s painstaking animation process, distinctive visual style, and artistic storytelling techniques are revered in film schools the world over.īecause the studio’s decades’ worth of work took time to gain recognition outside of Japan, many people have yet to discover Ghibli films. But Ghibli - pronounced “Jib-lee,” as in Gigi or gerbil - looms large over not only the landscape of animation but also the landscape of cinema itself. This landmark might not mean much if you don’t pay attention to animation or Japanese films.

Animated masterpieces like My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, The Wind Rises, and many more are now available to subscribers. The newly launched service features all but one of the studio’s 22 movies. The arrival of Studio Ghibli films to HBO Max marks the first time the beloved Japanese animation studio’s legendary catalog will be available for easy streaming without having to buy or rent films individually.

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