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10 Darkest Studio Ghibli Plots, Ranked

Isabella Smith
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10 Darkest Studio Ghibli Plots, Ranked


Legendary animation company Studio Ghibli remains one of the most beloved filmmakers today, thanks to its magnificent artwork, unforgettable soundtracks, and remarkable characters. Each world in the Studio Ghibli universe contains not only a main storyline, but also a selection of intertwined stories that, while not always at the forefront of the narrative, remain as persistent in the minds of viewers as the main story. Much like the worlds created, each film has its own theme and atmosphere, ranging from whimsical to dark; it’s not unusual for Studio Ghibli to create a film with both qualities.




As such, even Studio Ghibli’s most brilliant works can have surprisingly dark narratives, some perhaps hidden by the main story. Some films like Princess Mononoke have a dark atmosphere throughout the story, including side stories to maintain that aura. Other films like Arrietty are generally whimsical and sweet, but highlight perilous themes whose horror the viewer, over time, begins to understand.


10 Chihiro embarks on a perilous journey to save her parents

Spirited Away Features a girl running to find her name


For young Chihiro Ogino, the process of moving to a new town and house is stressful enough without her parents deciding to go off the beaten path to explore an abandoned amusement park. Chihiro finds this strange area uncomfortable and refuses to join her parents in exploring further, even as they begin to eat the food offered in an empty restaurant. It turns out that Chihiro’s hunch was correct, as the property’s area and bathhouse have many youkai residing there. To the girl’s horror, her parents are transformed into giant pigs and are captured by the powerful witch Yubaba, the creator of the curse.

Unable to cross the river because it is now flooded, Chihiro is forced to work in the bathhouse to find her name and try to save her parents. However, her journey through a new world of spirits that Chihiro previously only knew in story form will test her courage. Being away from your parents is a nightmare no child should experiencebut a reality that Chihiro is forced to reckon with as she learns to find her inner strength and later befriends some of the youkai residing in the fantasy spirit world.


9 No-Face reflects others he meets

A lonely mind seeking useful connection

Corrupted No-Face is crouched on a pile of food while talking to Chihiro about Spirited Away.

Little is known about the spirit called No-Face, although his character remains one of the most beloved beings in Studio Ghibli history. This solitary youkai is depicted as staying away from other spirits in the bathhouse, although he seems to take a liking to Chihiro after she begins working there. Initially, No-Face would behave rather aggressively, reflecting the greed of the workers and their corrupt hearts. For this reason, the spirit suddenly became violent and engulfed the entire workers, as well as endless meals intended for other Yōkai other than No-Face.


Foreground: No-Face from Spirited Away. Context: No-Face praising the sky as a huge feast awaits him.

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Chihiro would be the one to calm No-Face, using an emetic pellet given to her by an ancient River Spirit she had previously helped. The emetic caused the now-volatile youkai to vomit up the workers he had eaten, and even attempted to attack Chihiro, with whom he had developed an unhealthy obsession, likely because she was the only one at the bathhouse at the time. ‘have treated with kindness. After this frightening event, No-Face would become more docile and follow Chihiro’s orders without hesitation, keeping him at bay. No-Face’s story is both chilling and bittersweetthe story of a youkai who longs to understand others but instead becomes feared by them. Fortunately for the youkai, he finds a new home with the kind witch Zeniba, who accepts him as her new apprentice, happy and calm in this new environment.


8 Haku struggles to free himself while helping Chihiro

The Hidden History of Spirited Away’s Greatest Ally

Chihiro in her swim uniform and sitting behind a hedge remembers that her name is Chihiro and not Sen after giving it to Yubaba while Haku watches her in Spirited Away.

When Yubaba removes the second kanji from her name, Chihiro is renamed “Sen”. As Sen, she slowly begins to forget her real name, all of this is part of Yubaba’s plan to keep her there as a public bath for eternity. Haku is the one who helps Chihiro remember her real name before she can forget it for good. If the name of Chihiro permanently leaves her memories, she will not be able to free herself from the witch’s claws and will lose all hope of saving her parents. Haku makes sure to keep an eye on Chihiro during the film, with the two becoming close allies and friends over the course of the film.


What Chihiro doesn’t initially remember is that she and Haku have met before; Years ago, the girl fell into a river and was safely swept to shore. After stealing a golden seal from Yubaba, Haku lost her own name and thus seeks her freedom, but cannot gain it without remembering her true name. Chihiro learns more about Haku after seeing him in his dragon form, near death. It is also Chihiro who saves him as Haku once saved her, correctly deducing that his true identity is that of the Kohaku River. Shining with gratitude, Haku manages to escape his torment and live as he did before Yubaba.

7 Arrietty’s mother is almost taken away

The homily is discovered by the maid Haru

Haru discovers the Borrowers in Studio Ghibli's The Secret World of Arrietty.


The life of a Borrower, a person smaller than a leaf, seems fanciful but is filled with peril. For Arrietty, she wants to go on an adventure and learn more about the humans her family is hiding from. It’s his father, Pod, who goes on missions to obtain the items the family needs to survive, like sugar cubes. Despite the protests of her mother Homily, Arrietty begins to go on a quest with her father, although she accidentally attracts the attention of Shō, the great-nephew of the woman who owns the house.

Although Shō and Arrietty form an unlikely friendship, Things take a dark turn when maid Haru finds Homily and the borrower’s house under the floor. The film does an excellent cinematographic job, in particular by showing how small borrowers are compared to normal humans living in the house. The Haru discovery of parquet boards is particularly frightening, because Homelia is powerless while the cleaning lady captures homily and seeks antiparasitic control, in order to capture the rest of the borrowers hidden in the house.


6 The link between Ashitaka and the boar god

The Fall of Nago and the Prince’s Curse

A close-up of Okkoto's eyes when he becomes a demon in Princess Mononoke.

Formerly God boar of a clan near Irontown, Nago spent his life tirelessly attempting to protect his wild comrades and their house on the mountain of human affairs. Although his quest has succeeded for a while, Nago would be shot down by Lady Eboshi, the iron ball melting in his flesh and slowly corrupts it. Fearful of death and filled with rage against humanity, Nago would transform into a demon god and rampage across the countryside.


Ashitaka, the prince of the peaceful village of Emishi, confronts the demon god when he appears at his home. Although the prince tries to reason with Nago, the ancient boar god refuses to listen and so Ashitaka has no choice but to kill the beast. Before Nago passes, the worms that infested the demon god attack Ashitaka, leaving him with a horrible scar and a curse. Forced to leave his home, the prince sought a remedy, as Nago’s curse caused his arm to act independentlyeven trying to kill others without the prince wanting it.


5 The world of Nausicaa is about to die

The world Princess Nausicaä lives in is both beautiful and painful, as human affairs and violent wars have created the Toxic Jungle, nature’s response to fiery ecocide. Although many fear the toxic jungle and its inhabitants, giant insects known as Ohm, Nausicaä is not afraid of these creatures, instead traveling through the jungle at will and seeking out the animals in their natural habitat, which she finds it magnificent. His life in the Valley of the Wind changes after he meets the Princess of Pejite before she passes away, accepting the strange embryo given to him.

Hayao Miyazaki from Studio Ghibli with original illustrations from My Neighbor Totoro and Nausicaa

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Ancient biological weapons known as giant warriors caused a thousand -year -old for the seven days before the film’s events.and these machines of chaos were powered by the very embryo that Nausicaä holds in her hands today. As the princess of the neighboring kingdom of Tolmekia races to retrieve the embryo, Nausicaä is forced to participate in a great war for the safety of her kingdom and to protect the toxic jungle, humanity’s only remaining chance to restore the balance of nature.

4 The rise and fall of Laputa

Sheeta and Pazu search for the truth behind the crystal inheritance

Pazu and Sheeta from Studio Ghibli's Laputa: Castle in the Sky sit on the arms of a robot.


Castle in the Sky is certainly no stranger to the darkness of humanity; in the opening sequence, kidnapped orphan Sheeta escapes her captors and hijackers through the power of her necklace. The girl knows little about her crystal heritage and is unsure why government agent Muska took her from his farm just for the crystal. With the help of their new friend Pazu, a young mechanic, the two set out to discover the secrets of Laputa, the origin of Sheeta’s crystal necklace.

Although the two succeed in finding the floating kingdom of Laputa and the fantastical beings that dwell on land, their brief peaceful stay turns into a nightmare when Muska arrives. The agent himself is of Laputian origin and believes that other human beings are inferior to him and Sheeta. Thus, he wishes to use the technology left on the Floating Kingdom to destroy the rest of humanity. In order to save Laputa and the planet, Sheeta and Pazu send Laputa into spaceI will never be able to see him again, all for the safety of the human race.


3 Howl tries to stop a war at his expense

Wizard Howl begins to lose his humanity

Howl appears as a monster in Howl's Moving Castle. Its monster form is depicted as a frightening face shrouded in gray-blue feathers.

Howl’s Moving Castle is a fantastical fantasy adventure that also focuses on the love between the charismatic wizard Howl Pendragon and Sophie, a young woman cursed into an old woman by the Witch of the Waste. The film being very different from the original novel, the Studio Ghibli adaptation focuses more on the romance between the two characters as well as the consequences of the war. Madame Suliman, the king’s royal witch, plays the role of the film’s main villain, who wishes to use Howl as a means of destruction.


In order to end this terrible war, Howl transformed himself into a bird-like creature with large dark wings. However, every time he transforms, Howl gets closer to never becoming human again. Calcifer, the fire demon who guards Howl’s heart, knows this before Sophie and watches darkly every time Howl returns and struggles to return to his original form. By the end of the film, Howl is a shell of his former self, a blank face amidst raven feathers; Fortunately, it is Sophie’s dedication that ultimately helps free Howl from this monstrous form.

2 Mahito explores a new world after losing his mother

A strange and exciting adventure with the gray heron

Mahito frowns at the Gray Heron in The Boy and the Heron by Studio Ghilbi.


After the death of his mother, Hisako, in a hospital fire during the Pacific War, Mahito cannot accept that his father has remarried his mother’s sister and is expecting a child with her. Troubled, Mahito crosses paths with a strange gray heron who promises to lead the boy to his lost mother. However, he only encounters an illusion of his mother; in his anger, Mahito pierces the heron’s beak, revealing the Birdman’s true form of the heron.

As he travels through a magical new world in search of his future mother-in-law, Mahito befriends Himi, a girl with pyrokinetic abilities. The evil Parakeet King has captured Himi in order to gain power over the wizard who built their world, but he fails and the heroes manage to escape. At the climax, Mahito learns that Himi is his future motherand warns her of her tragic fate. Despite this, Himi decides to live her life without fear; although the revelation is dark due to the fate Himi will face, her courage is not to be ridiculed, even though she is aware of her future death.


1 A war between nature and humanity

Princess Mononoke faces Lady Eboshi

Princess Mononoke is a film considered one of Studio Ghibli’s darkest fantasy tales, with multiple linked storylines about the complex relationship between humanity and nature. The residents of Irontown are loyal to Lady Eboshi, a woman who seeks to create a better world but has no respect for the spirits of nature. Because of this, she often quarrels with the wolf goddess Moro and her clan, as well as Moro’s adopted daughter San. Known as Princess Mononoke, San was raised by the wolves after being abandoned by her parents as a child; due to his past and upbringing, San initially hates humanity.


Ashitaka, Nago and Eboshi in Princess Mononoke

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Ashitaka’s arrival marks a turning point in San’s life, starting with the prince who was almost killed by the mysterious forest girl. Over time, San comes to trust Ashitaka, even though the two must now navigate the terrible war between the people of Irontown and the beings of the natural world, one of those deities being Moro. The film does not shy away fromthe brutality of conflicts and the disappearance of natural beingsincluding San’s adoptive mother. Even though San loses Moro, she continues to fight for the sake of the fantasy world that accepted her alongside the only human she has learned to trust.

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