Ghibli Hills/Anime and Manga

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Guess which production company made this movie.

Examples of Ghibli Hills in Anime and Manga include:

Studio Ghibli and Studio Ponoc

  • Hayao Miyazaki's works:
    • My Neighbor Totoro features lavish countryside of Japan, topped off with huge trees, lush rolling hills, and wide fields. The hills are inhabitated by people, making it closer to Arcadia territory. If you are young enough, and visit on the right day with just the right luck, you can even find some forest spirits lingering around...
    • Kiki's Delivery Service is a more western equivalent, with the suggestion that it takes place in a sort of European setting where World War II never happened. Most of the film takes place in the town of Koriko, but as soon as anyone — even the camera — steps foot outside the town, the trope is in full effect. Lush hills, laid with forests and the occasional house, occur in almost every single shot.
    • The majority of Princess Mononoke takes place in Ghibli Hills. Granted, some places have more Ghibli feeling Ghibli Hills than other places, and other places have no trees whatsoever, but the film is still quite a textbook example of the trope.
    • The Denouement of Spirited Away has the two main leads walking through a ornate, wide, sprawling green hill. There's not much trees there, but the lack of tree is more than made up for with vibrant blades of grass.
    • Find any long shot in Howl's Moving Castle. Guess what trope is used? The titular moving castle travels through the setting every other minute.
    • Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea uses the trope less, but just look at any hill. Guess what type of hills they are.
    • The Wind Rises has many Dream Sequences that takes place in a wide, open field. Many trains will take you through Ghibli Hills.
    • Porco Rosso sparingly uses the trope. These hills are often seen passing off the titular Porco Rosso's plane.
    • Laputa: Castle in the Sky uses the trope less, instead opting for steampunk cities and small villages. However, if you look in the distance of any shot containing greenery, you'll probably find Ghibli Hills.
    • Interestingly, Miyazaki's first feature Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind has no Ghibli Hills, being set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland instead.
  • Also used more darkly in Isao Takahata's tanuki story Pom Poko. The tanuki (raccoons in the English dub) start out living happily in the Tama Hills west of Tokyo until the city starts encroaching on their territory. Soon the tanuki are forced to use their legendary powers of illusion in an increasingly desperate struggle to protect their forests, even going so far as to reveal their fantastical existence in a final plea for the environment. In the end the defeated tanuki combine their powers for one last nostalgic illusion depicting their forests as they once were to show the humans what had been lost Ironically, the next Studio Ghibli film, Whisper of the Heart is set in the very same Tama New Town suburb created by this development.
  • The Tale of the Princess Kaguya has many long and wide shots centred on these hills. They are depicted in a different art style than the usual lush and saturated green paintings, opting for a minimalistic style instead.
  • In the backgrounds of When Marnie Was There (film), intended to develop the already calm and subdued tone.
  • In Mary and the Witch's Flower, the forest close to Mary's house is like a Ghibli Forest. This is the forest containing the broom which leads Mary to a Wizarding School.

Everybody Else

  • Like most anime with RPG roots, the universe of Pokémon has a literal overworld, with the characters heading through Ghibli Hills frequently.
  • The future in Sailor Moon seems to be a bright city, surrounded by nothing but green.
  • Kino's Journey
  • In Ranma ½, anywhere in Japan that isn't Nerima is presented as Ghibli-esque landscape (until Ranma and co finish trashing it, that is).
  • It seems that all of Japan is scenic mountains and valleys in Mushishi, which seems to draw other influences from Miyazaki as well. This is largely justified, as it is set in the past, much of Japan is mountains, and mushi live in all sorts of locations.
  • In One Piece, Luffy's hometown of Gao Island has Ghibli Hills between Windmill Village and the depressingly disgusting garbage city, lying outside the nobles' city. It's here that the mountain bandits thrive and Luffy spends most of his time with Ace and Sabo.
  • In episode four of Violet Evergarden, when Violet and Iris visit Iris's home town of Kazaly, a small mountain village primarily focused on agriculture. Due to its isolation, it is surrounded by greenery and Ghibli Hills. They are drawn with enough detail to make the actual Studio Ghibli proud. They also feature in episode seven, due to it being mostly set in a small house surrounded by nature. Also prominent whenever Violet travels.

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