Totoro, Chihiro, San, Kiki and Howl are waiting. Think you know Ghibli beyond the obvious? Let's find out.
Oscar-winning films, unforgettable characters and worlds unlike anything else in animation. Prove you know Studio Ghibli beyond Totoro.
Pick your level
Founded in 1985 by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, Studio Ghibli has produced masterpieces like Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and Howl's Moving Castle. Every film is a world of its own, blending adventure, poetry and social critique in a visual style that has never been matched.
This quiz covers the studio's landmark films, their characters, their hidden details and the facts that only real fans tend to know.
All ten easy level questions, with the answer and the reasoning behind it.
Correct answer: Your Name
Your Name is by Makoto Shinkai, who is often and wrongly filed under Ghibli.
Correct answer: An umbrella
An umbrella. Until then he had made do with a leaf, and the sound of the rain delights him.
Correct answer: A broom
A broom, her mother's, which is why it is a little too traditional for her taste.
Correct answer: Soot sprites
Soot sprites, also seen in My Neighbor Totoro, and always glad of a sweet.
Correct answer: Walk
Walk, on a set of mechanical legs, powered by a fire demon with an attitude.
Correct answer: Kodama
Kodama, whose presence is a sign that the forest is in good health.
Correct answer: A dragon
A dragon, and also a river spirit, which Chihiro eventually remembers.
Correct answer: Ham
Ham. It becomes a loud and lasting preference.
Correct answer: Porco Rosso
Porco Rosso, an Italian seaplane pilot who is unusually relaxed about it.
Correct answer: Her cat
Her black cat, whose dry remarks vary quite a lot between the Japanese and English dubs.
Want to warm up before playing or double-check something? Open any question to reveal the correct answer and a short explanation.
Correct answer: 1985
Studio Ghibli was founded in 1985 by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, following the success of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. The name "Ghibli" comes from an Italian reconnaissance aircraft and means "hot wind from the Sahara."
Correct answer: Spirited Away
Spirited Away won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2003, becoming the first non-American animated film to win the award. It was long the highest-grossing film in Japan, until Demon Slayer: Mugen Train overtook it in 2020.
Correct answer: Mei
Mei is Satsuki's little sister in My Neighbor Totoro (1988). She is the first to discover Totoro in the forest. Totoro became so beloved that he became the studio's official mascot of the studio.
Correct answer: Sen
Yubaba steals Chihiro's name and forces her to go by "Sen" as a means of control. Remembering her true name is one of the central challenges of the film. It is Haku who reminds her of it at a crucial moment.
Correct answer: Calcifer
Calcifer is a fire demon bound to Howl by a contract. He powers the moving castle and forms a close bond with Sophie. His flame symbolises both Howl's power and his vulnerability.
Correct answer: Wolves
San was raised by wolves, particularly by the great wolf goddess Moro. She fights alongside the forest animals against the humans destroying their land, which is why she is known as Princess Mononoke, the spirit princess.
Correct answer: Porco Rosso
Porco Rosso (1992) follows Marco Pagot, a First World War flying ace who has been cursed and turned into an anthropomorphic pig. He lives as a bounty hunter in the Adriatic. Miyazaki has described it as his most personal film.
Correct answer: A black cat
Jiji is Kiki's black cat. He talks to her and offers advice throughout her apprenticeship. As Kiki matures, she loses the ability to speak with him, a symbol of growing up and finding her own confidence.
Correct answer: Plants from the toxic jungle
Nausicaä grows plants from the toxic jungle there, to study them. Watered with clean water, they produce no poison: it is the polluted soil that makes them toxic.
Correct answer: Isao Takahata
Isao Takahata co-founded Studio Ghibli with Miyazaki. He directed landmark films including Grave of the Fireflies (1988), Pom Poko (1994) and The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013), each with a radically different visual approach.
Stuck on one, or just curious how nasty it gets? Every hard mode question is here with its answer and the reasoning behind it.
Correct answer: Laputa
Laputa, a name borrowed from Gulliver's Travels, in Ghibli's first production, from 1986.
Correct answer: Christian Bale
Christian Bale, opposite Emily Mortimer and Jean Simmons as Sophie.
Correct answer: The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, from 2013, based on one of Japan's oldest stories.
Correct answer: Diana Wynne Jones
Diana Wynne Jones, a British author, who gave the film her approval.
Correct answer: The Borrowers
The Borrowers, by Mary Norton, moved from England to the outskirts of Tokyo.
Correct answer: A boar demon
A boar god turned demon, whose wound slowly spreads along his arm.
Correct answer: The Ghibli Museum
The Ghibli Museum, opened in 2001 in Mitaka. Ghibli Park, from 2022, is in Aichi.
Correct answer: How Do You Live?
How Do You Live?, by Genzaburo Yoshino, a book Mahito's mother leaves for him.
Correct answer: Curtis
Curtis, an American with ambitions in Hollywood. Fio is the young engineer, and Mamma Aiuto are the pirates.
Correct answer: Minnie Driver
Minnie Driver, alongside Claire Danes as San and Billy Crudup as Ashitaka.