Isao Takahata’s penultimate feature My Neighbors the Yamadas features “rude” family comedy akin to his early career work, such as Chie the Brat. Tristan and Zoe Crombie, researcher and lecturer at Lancaster University, discuss how Studio Ghibli’s 1999 film, while sometimes seen as “just” a series of vignettes, is an incredibly refined commentary on modern life and family dysfunction (and indeed, is quite funny).

Malcolm Cook, Associate Professor of Film at the University of Southampton, is co-editor, with Kirsten Moana Thompson, of Animation and Advertising, and that particular research interest informs the prologue segment of this episode about Studio Ghibli’s commercial work. But Malcolm and Tristan of course certainly dedicate a lot of conversation to Hayao Miyazaki’s 1997 pop culture behemoth Princess Mononoke, Ghibli’s most violent film and, as is becoming a common refrain this season, one that doesn’t have any easy answers about how to face environmental destruction.

Esteem for Yoshifumi Kondo’s Whisper of the Heart has grown among Studio Ghibli fans in the 30 years since its release in 1995. Tristan and friend of the show Madeleine Clermont discuss why it deserves its dark horse “favorite” status due to, among many other things, its wonderfully understated yet emotional depiction of the creative process.

Isao Takahata’s 1994 eco-fable Pom Poko is simultaneously full of silly humor and morbid reflections on the fate of creatures affected by humanity’s destruction of the environment. As friend of the show J.J. DiUbaldi and Tristan discuss, however, the film doesn’t take the easy way out in its conclusion of these themes and its collective cast of tanuki represent utter joy and deep loss.

Ocean Waves is far and away the Studio Ghibli film with the worst reception so far and the first to not be directed by Hayao Miyazaki or Isao Takahata. But as friend of the show Michael Burns and Tristan discuss, Tomomi Mochizuki’s 1993 TV movie contains beautifully detailed backgrounds and touching threads of nostalgia and the high school experience.

The resonance of Hayao Miyazaki’s 1992 film Porco Rosso is hard to deny. From an iconic line to a chilling moment of morbid beauty, Tristan and film historian Matt Page address the many connections to Miyazaki’s personal temperament, life, and beliefs, even while they celebrate the movie’s ability to serve as a thrilling “genre picture” with universal appeal.

With Only Yesterday, Studio Ghibli’s 1991 film, director Isao Takahata took a number of creative liberties and experimented outside the bounds of typical animation processes of the day. As writer and critic Marta McFly (host of Rewind and Revive) and Tristan discuss, this approach is the basis of a reflective piece with universal empathy on growing up, centered on a young girl’s, then woman’s, experience.

Studio Ghibli broke into big box office hit territory with Hayao Miyazaki’s 1989 cozy movie Kiki’s Delivery Service. As friend of the show Garrett Arseneault and Tristan discuss, the film’s vibes are impeccable, with classic “I want to go to there” scenery, but they contain a depth of commentary on growing up, found family, and young womanhood.

David Blakeslee, host of the Criterion Reflections podcast, is used to thinking seriously about often overwhelming films. That comes in handy in his conversation with Tristan about Isao Takahata’s 1988 masterpiece Grave of the Fireflies, a stunning and moving work of art that many praise and proclaim they’ll never watch again in equal measure.

Hayao Miyazaki’s 1988 film My Neighbor Totoro is now an animation milestone and famed title in the Studio Ghibli catalog, although as writer and journalist Caroline Delbert and Tristan discuss, its success was not immediately assured. Their conversation attempts to explore the rich depths of the amazingly pleasant movie, a film so revered and analyzed in so many different ways.