Hacker News Reader

My personal recomendation for HN users to get into Ghibli is to start with The Wind Rises. It's more recent (2014), and loosely based on a true story/biography. No crazy monsters or spirits. It also emcompasses creativty, engineering and hard work as the main characeter design a fighter plane. Truly a masterpiece that resonated with me

Of course the other ones mentioned in this topic are good too.

View on HN

As a counterpoint, I thought that was maybe my least favorite movie directed by Miyazaki!

Even a bad Miyazaki movie is pretty good, but for me it didn't have what makes his other movies special. I'd recommend it only if a person absolutely can't, say, tolerate elements of the fantastical in their entertainment. The lead character is an engineer who makes planes, but the movie (understandably) doesn't really go into that part.

Mononoke is probably tied with Wind Rises for "most serious Miyazaki movie." which might make it a perfect starting point for some in the HN crowd.

Spirited Away is probably the closest to a universal crowd-pleaser?

The animation is _incredible_ in The Wind Rises.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com