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Comment by gsatic | Hacker News Reader

For me the stories are so so. As in I can't even remember most of them, but the art oh man...for some reason, it has left a permanent mark. Like if I am admiring the trees after the rains, flowers moving in the wind, water leaking out of a pipe...my brain goes straight to Miyazaki scenes...so much beauty captured in the simplest of things.

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A couple are quasi-picaresque, nearly plotless. I'm thinking of Kiki's Delivery Service. It feels cozy and injects little in the way of tension, compared to most animated family movies (that I've seen). Seems like an underrated approach but probably hard to pull off. In contrast, Princess Mononoke (admittedly, not for kids) has more going on and doesn't lack drama.

Some titles like Nausicaa have more of a traditional Hollywood script, with bad & good guys, some big tension and epic storylines.

The rest, and on my opinion the best ones, are like the author described: the plot runs on kindness, friendship and discoveries, which may feel “static” when you’re used to frenetic disney movies but makes for much more inspiring movies.

The genre is often referred to as “slice of life”.

I really love the ones that doesn’t have a “story” but just places you in a world with interesting characters.

Stories are overrated.

No, stories in general are not overrated. Studio Ghibli’s films are.

I’m downvoting this because it says nothing. Unpopular (or popular) opinions without explanation are boring.

I think it's a cultural thing - the stories just don't follow the Western narrative arc.

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