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Love film? Join BBC Culture Film Club on Facebook, a community for film fanatics all over the world. And at the other end of the spectrum is The Castle of Cagliostro, a crime caper that was very pre-Ghibli with its 1979 release, but is notable for being Miyazaki’s directorial debut, and is available on DVD. It’s a bit soapy in parts, but worth a look. Ocean Waves (1993) was made for TV, and was a way for the studio to try out some of its younger animators, with the intention to make a romantic story to appeal to young people. There are two films that are not really considered part of the Studio Ghibli canon proper, yet are definitely worth your time, especially after you’ve exhausted the main movies. If you want to be an absolute completist… But with more than 20 movies, all very different, to choose from when Netflix opens the Ghibli gates, where should you start? Japan, of course, is famous for its animated movies, or anime, but Ghibli (the name means ‘desert wind’ in Libyan, chosen by Miyazaki to signify that the venture was going to blow through the existing industry) is in a league of its own, and its gorgeous painted visions set the template for many more movies that came after its initial releases. If you have seen any of the films put out by the studio, founded in 1985 by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, it would either have been in the cinema, on DVD or via their occasional appearance on TV, but the Netflix deal is certain to open them up to a whole new audience. (Although they won’t be available in the US, Canada and Japan, HBO Max will be showing them at some point.) There are two types of people – those who have never heard of Studio Ghibli, and those who love the movies with all their heart. For the first time, the animated output of Japan’s Studio Ghibli is being made available on a streaming service, with Netflix beginning to serve up 21 of the movies in batches from 1 February.

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