Everyone loves the work of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. Don't even try to deny your massive love for these amazing animated works. I am seriously adamant in my dislike for most anime outside of Pokémon and Dragon Ball Z, but I still have a major sof𝄹t spot for Studio Ghibli.

I would go so far as to claim that, if you didn’t immediately fall in love with the adorable furball Totoro in My Neighbor Totoro, something might be wrong. If you don't sympathize with the plights of Chihiro Ogino in Spirited Away, then I might be inclined to 🦂believe that you and I will never truly be friends.

Well, maybe that’s a bit too much, but you will be hard-pressed to find someone who couldn’t find a single thing to like about these timeless classics. That being said, while the Ghibli films may be cinematic masterpieces, they certainly have their weirder moments. In fact, some films like Princess Mononoke and Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind can be downright odd, and I’d probably think twice before showing them🍃 to just about anyone.

Now, if you’re a grown-up, being afraid of weird sequences in movies is not a reason to dismiss yourself from the wonderful works of Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. I realize that I’m insisting on this point, but, in my opinion, some of their stuff is to animated theater what Citizen Kane is to live-action cinema—albeit with 🍒more than a few moments that really aren’t for just anyone.

30 Catch⛦ A Ride ꦿ

The Catbus in My Neighbor Totoro has always bothered me a little. Sure, I understand that it’s supposed to be a fairly adorable take on public transportation, but, jeez, this thing is weird. I’m not really sure why Japan seems to be so obsessed with cats, but they show up in a lot of th♒eir media.

Japanese cat culture goes way, way beyond a few cute videos on YouTube, too.

Perhaps most troubling, however, is that the Catbus may actually be a —a type of giant cat being that ඣis said to hang out in the Japanese mountainside. These things are also known to attack people, which do♐esn’t really bode well for the passengers of this feline freighter. At the end of the day, though, I may be looking into this a little too intently, drumming up connections that don’t actually exist.

Who knows?

29 A Very Special Neighbor 🔜

Miyazaki’s cute and cuddly Alice in Wonderland parable is an unmitigated masterclass in animation and storytelling, as are most of his films. While in-line with Miyazaki's tamer Kiki’s Delivery Service in terms of its child-friendly qualities, My Neighbor Totoro does occasionally offe🐼r a peek beyond the normality.

While never outrightly weird like Princess Mononoke, there’re definitely some weird goings-on in this 1988 classic.

The noteworthy scene likely comes when a litt♎le girl is thought to be missing, and in an attempt to recover her, a shoe is found by a pond. Her rescuing party fears that the young girl may have met her untimely demise in the nearby water, but the shoe is later declared to be someone else's—a major relief to in-universe characters and audience members alike.

28 Spirited Into Swine 🍬

I’ve gushed over it plenty already, but Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away might be one of my favorite films of all time. It’s funny, inspiring, it captivates the imagination while ✃still invoking a ꦬsense of intensity.

I imagine that this film is to me what The Neverending Story must have been to kids growing up in the 1980s.

That said, it’s filled with ghoulish scenes that have doubtlessly popped up in the dreams of younger viewers. In the film’s first few minutes, we’re forced to watch as𓆏 Chihiro💫’s parents are transformed into pigs after chowing down on some food that wasn’t meant for them. What would I have done, at the age of ten, if my parents were bewitched and left me alone in a strange place?

I wouldn't have b♌een s𒀰uper happy about it, that's for sure.

27 Such A Big Baby 🐲

Yubཧaba’s baby is named Boh, and he is actually a giant human baby. Now, I really don’t want to think of the implications surrounding Yubaba’s offspring, but I really do have to question who the father might be.

It's quite possible that dramatically oversized proportions simply run in the family.

Fun fact: in the English dub of the movie, he’s voiced by , who is famous for her portrayal of Timmy Turner in Nickelodeon’s hit show The Fairly OddParents. It’s so bizarre to hear such a familiar, friendly voice coming from such an otherworldly character. It would be like if Tom Kenny, the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants, suddenly lent his talents to a character in Rick and Morty.

Oh, .

26 ඣ 🦄 Revenge Of The Wolf

Princess Mononoke seems to just become more convoluted each time I watch it. On the surface, it’s about a power struggle between men who live in villages and the woodland spirits who dwell in the forest. A closer look reveals an intricately woven tale relaying the dangers preying on purity and innocence, which usually🔯 come with rampant industrialization.

That may sound somewhat romantic, but it’s almost more over-the-top than heartfelt. 

In a battle between the humans from Iron Town and the spirits of the forest, Moro the wolf deity is dispatched. Her head is said to grant immortality, so it’s somethℱing of a prized possession. Yet, when the human combatant𒉰s find it, it reawakens and causes trouble.

No, that’s alright, I wasn’t𒁏 planning on sleeping tonight anyway.

25 Childhood Themes ♓

I’ve already touched on this, but I think one of the weirdest parts of Ghibli’s Spirited Away lies in what isn’t explicitly seen or stated. Chihiro has been inadvertently left by her parents and lost, at a very young age, in a foreign🎃 world. Solitude by itself can be extremely ꦿhard, but it gets even more complex from there.

Not only has she ♕lost her way in a strange place, but the sorceress Yubaba literally takes her identity away and puts her to work. In return, the newly-branded Sen is given a slim chance at rescuing her parents from their fate. The fear of losing one’s identity and leaving your old life behind is pretty intense, and, when you include super strong river spirits and masked ghosts, it makes for a pretty memorable experience.

24 We've Ope♔ned A🧔 Can Of Worms!

Perhaps this is cheating, as Miyazaki himself has that his 1999 film Princess Mononoke isn’t intended for young audiences. Still, the opening scene was enough to put me off watching the rest of the movie for many years. I was blown away by 2001’s Spirited Awayඣ when I first saw it on Cartoon Network, a long time ago.

However, I just couldn’t handle watching Princess Mononoke until just recently.

To begin with, the introductory scene depicting the defeat of Nago, a giant, mean boar covered in black worms, was nothing short of memorable. Not only does he chase th🔥e hero down in red-eyed spider form, but, when he’s attacked, we literally get a close up of the vanquished demon.

No, thank you! Not reco༒mmended for the faint of he𓃲art.

23 The👍 TatariGami ♔

The TatariGami are those black snake things that plague some of the creatures seen in Princess Mononoke, and yes, I am awꦑare that I’ve already included a bunch of stuff from this movie—it’s just so jam-packed with creepy creatures! These little worm things are supposed to be , or some kind of metaphor for the consuming nature of these intense feelings.

Though some are instantly 🐈overcome by this infestatio🔴n when affected by it, others, like the movie’s protagonist aren’t quite as burdened. The main driving force of the film is that Ashitaka has been cursed by these things, and he needs to seek a cure from the forest spirit. This also demonstrates that the TatariGami feed off the the particularly hateful.

Interesting, to say the least.

22 🐈 Lovely Grandmother

So, sure, there’s plenty of weird stuff in Spirited Away, but one of the strangest is the design of the main villain, Yubaba. She’s like a thousand year-old witch thing with proportions that could make any artist cri𒁃nge, and she also has the power to transform into a ꧑massive crow-like creature.

Spirited Away is kind of a weird movie all around, honestly.

That said, she can also breathe fire when she’s really upset, and it’s basically all the more reason to never go near her, unless you absolutely have to. I’m not going to pretend that I understan🌄d the anatomy of this fantastical humanoid beast hybrid, but I do know that I won’t be applying to work in her magical bath house any time♐ in the near future.

21 ⛄ The Green Heads 🅺

Could someone please explain what the Kashira are supposed to be? As far as I know, they are a set of that roll around in Yubaba’s office. I’m not sure if they are intended to be her henchmen, or perhaps she keeps them as an extremely unique set 🌄of pets?

As far as I can tell, the Kashira can take some orders, but they don’t seem to be too intelligent.

They’re weird enough on their own, but they take it a step further when Yubaba’s sister transforms them into a duplicate of Boh, Yubaba’s giant baby. I recognize that there are tons, and I mean tons, of crazy beasts in this movie, but most of them aren’t all that difficult to understand. These things, however, just give me the cr⭕eeps.

Can’t you keep a co꧟uple of dogs or something🌊, Yubaba?