Children at War 

Words by Ella Marie M. Mercado

Disclaimer: The author has not watched all of the Ghibli films nor does she claim to be a film expert. In fact, she doesn’t like watching moving pictures at all except animated moving pictures or crime documentaries.

It started with an X (formerly Twitter) post: “How much would you pay to live in a Ghibli world?” Attached to the post are four greenery scenes from various Ghibli films: Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away, Kiki’s Delivery Service, and The Wind Rises.

I remember the post had lots of positive engagement with replies of various versions of the meme or gif “Take my money!” 

My mind went blank with confusion. I had just finished binge-rewatching three Ghibli films at the time—My Neighbor Totoro, Howl’s Moving Castle, and Ponyo— and just had a realization, an “adulting” moment.

It was that Ghibli films are films of children AT war. 

That is to say, most renowned Ghibli films are situated in war-torn eras despite having pre-teen leads and generally targeting younger audiences. 

The factors that made me realize the presence of war in my favorite childhood movies, were first, the military men. This can be seen in most of their more popular movies like Laputa or Castle in the Sky, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Ponyo, and Nausicaä,  among others. 

Aside from Howl’s Moving Castle, The Wind Rises, and Grave of the Fireflies, where the war setting was expressly established, there are also films that do not have war undertones such as My Neighbor Totoro, The Cat’s Return, and Spirited Away. 

Drawn out from Hayao Miyazaki’s own childhood living through the aftermath of World War 2, his films are nostalgic in their own unique way even in the 21st Century. This is palpable in the way most of his works, aside from trying to target young audiences, have young children as main characters. 

Another fact I love about Miyazaki’s Work is how his main characters or main leads are mostly female. This is surprising as Japan, especially before the 2000s, was predominantly patriarchal. Thus, having strong female leads at the forefront of most of Miyazaki’s works is a breath of fresh air, especially in the anime or animation industry. 

These movies have subtly portrayed how people of tender age navigate through war-torn eras or armed conflict-ridden societies through their own innocent and child-like adventure, magic, and the wonders of their world without focusing so much on the reality of adults.

However, these Ghibli leads are sadly a reflection of our society at present: ignoring the ongoing war and armed conflicts around us.

And that’s the reality of it: we’re already living the Ghibli life, living blissfully unaffected and ignorant by choice of the different societal problems around us.