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Mary and the Witch’s Flower isn’t Miyazaki / Studio Ghibli. It’s by Studio Ponoc, which is mostly ex-Ghibli people, so it retains a lot of the same style. Unfortunately, while the style is definitely there, I don’t think the film holds a candle to the storytelling that Ghibli does so well.

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it's certainly better in term of storytelling than some of the worst Ghibli's like Howl's moving castle, Tales from Earthsea (to be fair Hayao wasn't involved with the second). In general, I'd place it in the middle, not as good as the greatest movies but still quite good.

I'm curious - I already know I disagree with you, but why don't you like Howl's? I always hear it highly regarded online, and I'd be interested in knowing why you don't like it.

Actually, this thread has prompted me to find some time to rewatch it but I remember finding the plot meandering and slightly non-sensical unlike Chihiro's or Mononoke. I thought it was beautiful (like most Ghibli's movies) but it's the movie from Hayao Miyazaki I least enjoyed (also the only one I've only watched one).

For reference, my two favorite movies by Ghibli are Only Yesterday and Totoro and my top three movies from Miyazaki are Chihiro, Totoro and Nausicaa (with Mononoke coming close behind)

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