Artist Spotlight: Zack Smith

If you're in Salt Lake or Utah County next week, take a day or two to check out Salt Lake FanX. When I lived in Utah, I attended FanX/Salt Lake Comic Con for five years and it was a blast! If you're into cosplay, celebrities, or geekdom in general, you'll feel right at home. But in the meantime, I wanted to spotlight a friend (who I met at FanX because of his Digimon artwork) and an artist who'll have a booth at the Con: Zack Smith. I sent him a few sample questions to introduce himself and express his life as an artist, so I'll let him take it from here. 

Where are you from and how does that affect your work?

I'm from Utah. I've been a doodler all my life, but never considered art as a possible career path until I was on my LDS mission to Mexico and would send little drawings to my friends on their missions. When I came home, I decided that I wanted to pursue story telling, and decided to study Gaming and Animation at UVU, from which I graduated in 2017. After graduation, I decided I wanted to work on a comic project, but also became aware that my Inking ability was sadly lacking, so I started drawing and posting to Instagram as inking practice. During this, I applied and was accepted into Salt Lake FanX as a vendor in Artist Alley, so suddenly I had to make some real art. My first project was to make a coloring book, and a bunch of prints. From that point the rest is basically history. I got into doing conventions, and have been working on art and improving ever since.

Tell me about your favorite medium. 

I tend to work with mixed media - I do all of my line art by hand, and scan that into my computer to do my color digitally. However, in the past few years I've gotten addicted to alcohol markers. I love how I am able to create a sort of watercolor effect with them. I love the soft, muted colors.

How do you develop your art skills? 

I work on developing my art skills constantly. I used to look at every one of my drawings and dislike them, but the further I go on my journey as an artist, the happier I am with each drawing. I feel like I'm finally getting closer to where what I draw matches the vision I have for the drawing in my mind. The main thing is drawing every day. I used to force myself to post something every day to Instagram, and while I've relaxed on that, I still draw every day, I just give myself more time to make sure that the art I'm producing is art that I am happy with.

What memorable responses have you had to your work? 

At the first convention I sold at, one thing that stands out to me was a group of guys walking past my booth, and one of them pointing to my drawing and saying "That looks f***ed up!" I was having a pretty hard time as it was, so that didn't help, but I'm glad that I didn't take it personally, and I kept going. Selling at multiple events this year, I've been gratified to have many people tell me how much they love my work, including the drawing the guy made fun of. 

What do you like about your work? 

The fun thing about being an artist is that I always get to see my own growth, even from one drawing to the next. Considering that I never planned on being an artist, I'm glad that my life has led me to this path, and I'm excited to see what art brings me in the future! 

What superpower would you have and why? 

I generally would like to have the superpower of super speed  - I would love it if I could get to places faster, and get more done!

Your top 3 fandoms of all time

For my three top fandoms, that’s a tough question! I tend to enjoy a lot of different fandoms! I would definitely have to say Digimon and Pokémon, however, but I can’t really pinpoint a third that has been super strong for me.

Zack will be at Salt Lake FanX next week, alongside his brother Jacob (both probably in cosplay). Check booth A825 to buy some prints of their art.

If you're an artist (even if you're not a Latter-day Saint) and would like to be featured on our blog, send us an email to mormongeeks@gmail.com or message us on Facebook/Instagram. 

Zack's Instagram (click here)

Jacob's Instagram (click here)

Zack's Facebook (click here)

Jacob's Facebook (click here)

Zack and Jacob's Cosplay (click here)

10 Broadway Songs That Bring Me To Tears

Music has a way of touching the soul like nothing else- and when woven into a narrative it can increase the impact till we can't stand it. The following are some songs from Broadway shows that bring yours truly to tears and leave me breathless. 

For the record, I will NOT be including productions that started life as a film, so no Sister Act or Newsies, and no Disney productions so no Lion King or Beauty and the Beast. They deserve lists of their own. 

Also, spoilers. 

10: Memory (Cats)

This is one of the classic heartbreak songs of Broadway that even the awful Cats film couldn't ruin. The song is about remembering the time when things were better and Grizabella was young and beautiful. It invokes a sense of sadness at what she lost, and pared with the melodic tone it moves the heart every time. 

9: Not My Father's Son (Kinky Boots)

This irreverent play is a celebration about being different, but being different comes with its own pain. This song is about not being able to live up to a father's expectations, despite wanting his approval. This is a pain most men go through, no matter their situation, so this becomes a dagger right to the daddy wound. 

8: I'm Not That Girl (Wicked) 

Usually the pick for Wicked is For Good, the finale and conclusion of Elphaba and Galinda's relationship, but I'm going to argue for I'm Not That Girl. Another song for the outcast, this is Elphaba morning the fact that she will never be the one Fiyero will ever want to be with (Even though he does later). It's a heartbreaking song about being rejected for things you can never change, whether you'd want to or not.

7: Little Fall of Rain (Les Miserables)

Honestly pick a song from this musical and you will probably burst into tears (Except Master of the House, that one's just pure fun) but I'm going with Little Fall of Rain. Here Epanine sacrifices herself to protect her beloved Marius, despite him being in love with Cozette. In her last words, she sings how all she wants is for him to be with her till the end, and that despite the sadness at least the rain will make the flowers grow, and thus something beautiful can come from this one moment. 

6: For Forever (Dear Evan Hansen)

Quick synopsis: Evan is a shy depressed kid starting a new year at school with a broken arm. On the first day the school burnout swipes one of his letters he wrote for therapy then later that evening commits suicide. When the letter is found on him it's assumed that he and Evan were best friends. Evan, not wanting to tell grieving parents that the reason his letter was in their son's pocket was due to an act of bullying, decides to go with the assumption and procedes to make up a story about their friendship. Now if this show was purely a comedy (and a bad one at that) this story would probably be played up for laughs with exaggerations, things that can be easily misproven, and a lot of nervous stammering. Instead though Evan tells a story of them going out to the woods and climbing a tree when he fell off and subsequently broke his arm. The story is beautiful in the sincerity Evan pours into it, making the listener think that this was the day he wanted instead of the day he actually had, where he did go out to the woods and climb a tree but jumped off in his own suicide attempt. Evan rewrites his own story as a what if these boys had been friends, and what that friendship would've meant to each other. 

5: Somewhere That's Green Reprise (Little Shop Of Horrors)

Somewhere That's Green is a pretty song in and of itself, as Audrey describes her want for a life outside the dirty city where everything is green and pretty. In the film that most people would be familiar with, Audrey and Seymore escape the flesh-eating plant and get their fairytale life. In the play however, Audrey is killed by Audrey II, and has a soliloquy about how she will become the green place she always wanted, as long as Seymore is there to take care of her they will always be together. 

4: Doubt Comes In (Hadestown) 

I talked about Hadestown recently but this song is probably the most killer (Get it, cause it's about death?) in it Orpheus and Euridice are trying to walk out of the underworld, their success based on weather or not Orpheus can lead them out without turning around to see if his beloved is still following him. The song is Orpheus in his head, debating weather or not Hades' promise is real and if Euridice is even still behind him. While Euridice is trying to encourage him, the music stings, indicating the moment when his doubt finally gets the better of him and he turns around. The moment is as heartbreaking now as when it was first penned thousands of years ago. 

3: It's Quiet Uptown (Hamilton)

Another play where you can pretty much pick a song and cry, Hamilton's most tear-jerking song describes the grief parents feel after losing a child. Alexander wanders New York in a daze, his charisma completely eradicated by the loss of his son. On top of that we still have the fallout of the Reynold's pamphlet, where he confessed to infidelity on his wife. In this song though not only do we get their grief but her forgiveness, seeing a slight glimmer of hope in an extremely dark time. 

2: You Are Not Alone (Into The Woods) 

Even a comedy can have its moments, and the finale of Into the Woods is no exception. The baker, so scared to be a parent, holds his child and hears his wife's voice helping guide him in the first few moments of this new life. The entire idea that even when you feel alone that you aren't is something everyone at one point or another needs to hear, and this song takes us right back to those moments. 

1: I'll Cover You Reprise (Rent) 

This list has covered loss a lot (And a lot of reprises) but this funeral hymn takes the cake. Originally sung as a celebration of Angel and Collin's love, Collins now sings it at Angel's funeral, both celebrating and mourning his partner. The upbeat lyrics juxtoposed to Collins' tone is enough to rip your heart out and make you pull your beloved close to you. 

A Hot Take on Harry Potter's Prophecy

(Guest Post by Stephen F)

My hot take on the Harry Potter series is that the prophecy could never have truly meant Neville Longbottom….

This is hinted to in Order of the Phoenix but not in the way I originally thought. Harry wonders if Volde… He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had targeted Neville I would be him with the lightning scar, and Harry being hugged and kissed by his own mother before heading off to school. Harry then has the dark thought that what if the sacrifice to save Neville (by his mother) didn’t happen… What if she was unable to do it? I truly believe that this would have been the case. Alice Longbottom could never have done what Lily Potter did.  Not because she wouldn’t have defended Neville, not because she didn’t love him, not because she wasn’t brave. There is only ONE real defining factor in the prophecy about Volde--He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and Harry Potter and that is… Severus Snape.  

Lily Potter’s sacrifice was very noble and was the defining act of love that changed so much in the Wizarding World. I don’t wish to take away from that, but to add a bit of context.  We are to believe that Lily put herself between Voldemort and Harry and that this act gave Harry valuable protection… But then why didn’t James’s sacrifice mean that too. We are to believe that never in the history of Voldemort’s murders had anyone tried to sacrifice themselves for their fellow wizards? 

The reality is Lily’s sacrifice created the protective charm for only one reason, she chose to sacrifice herself when she didn’t have to.  When Voldemort heard the prophecy and decided it meant the Potter Family he surely planned to murder them all. Destroy the only chance for his demise. If he would have chosen the Longbottoms he would have known that all of them must die. So the question must be why Lily’s death was so special, and there was only one reason for it. Snape asked Voldemort to spare her… Why else would Voldemort ask her, a muggleborn, to stand aside? Why else show her mercy? Alice Longbottom no doubt would have died for her son, but she would not have had a choice. Lily died for her son when she didn’t have to… She didn’t have to because of the love that Snape had for her. 

There is only one person who really made the difference in the prophecy… Snape. He heard it… he took it to Voldemort… He realized it meant Lily… He asked for her life to spared… and due to those actions Harry was marked as Voldemort’s equal and we have the story we do…. 

My question is what do you all think? 

The Problem with Star Wars Resistance

Working my way through the Star Wars canon, I finally arrived at the Sequel Trilogy era. People may have their issues with it, but I enjoyed the sequels and have fond memories of seeing them in theaters (The Last Jedi was the setting of my bachelor party). So when people told me that Star Wars Resistance was a flop, I took it with a grain of salt. That being said, it still fell short for me.

My biggest problem with Resistance is that I don’t think I was its target audience. I know people call Clone Wars or Rebels a kid show, but it still has deep themes and stories relevant to Star Wars fans of all ages. However, Resistance felt like it was exclusively geared towards kids. The stories were very episodic, with very few threads to follow through from start to finish. In fact, I’d say about 90% of the series was filler. Not great for engaging long-time, adult Star Wars fans, but great for kids with short attention spans. In addition, other than a few isolated incidents, there weren’t even many life/death moments, despite it being Star Wars. Even the stormtroopers shot their blasters to stun most of the time, instead of to kill. 

One of the great things about Clone Wars was the integration of characters we knew and how it was woven into the canon of the Prequel Trilogy. Even Rebels kind of had this, in a prequel sense, leading up to A New Hope. However, Resistance felt very separate from the Sequel Trilogy. Other than a few appearances from General Organa, Poe Dameron, and General Hux, we didn’t get a lot of overlap with the movies… even though they happen at the same time. Don’t get me wrong, there were some references to the movies (like the destroyed Dreadnought from The Last Jedi) and BB-8 leaving to go on a mission with Poe (leading into The Force Awakens). But despite those minor instances, everything in the movies felt distant.

To avoid going out on a negative note, I want to talk about a couple things I liked. First off, Tam and Sinara. They were two of the few characters who got some development and growth through the series. I kept wanting to know more about Tam’s inner conflict during the second season. And to see Sinara grow from a pirate to a rebel was inspiring too. All because of the power of friendship. Speaking of which, the other thing I liked: Neeku. He might be annoying at times, but who couldn’t love Neeku? He’s so wholesome, innocent, and unassuming. The perfect friend for anyone who needs to feel a little love. 

So it’s not the perfect show. Still, it’s wholesome. And it was worth watching, even if it’s just the one time. If you want to check it out but you’re skeptical, maybe watch it with your kids, as it’s probably the most kid-friendly Star Wars. In the end, it was part of the journey through the Star Wars timeline. And I’ve enjoyed this journey through a galaxy far far away.

Reading was Boring, Now It's Fun!

If you could send one message to your past, what would you like to tell your younger self? Would you want to tell yourself that you’re beautiful; put more time into playing the piano; or start playing a sport? The one thing I would want to tell my immature self is to “read books, I promise you will enjoy it.”

I am honestly so grateful for my wife who encouraged me and challenged me to read books. It was in 2019 and a local bookstore set a yearly challenge that if you read a variety of 50 books of different categories than they would reward you with a $50 voucher. My wife started at the beginning of the year and finished quickly. I wasn’t planning on doing it but then during the summer my wife challenged me to do it. Like a true competitor I accepted and worked hard to read those 50 books and I rushed by the end of the year to finish and claim my reward. Besides the in-store credit and the pride of finishing the challenge I gained the best reward possible; the appreciation for reading books.

Growing up I was a slow reader and I spent so much time reading every work of every line of every paragraph of every page that I didn’t enjoy it. I did everything possible to get out of reading and I was jealous of my friends that could read. I never liked the books that were required in school. I will still challenge most of them to this day: why were there never any modern authors and why are most of the endings depressing? How I got out of reading those assignments was by reading Sparknotes or texting ChaCha, A search engine that would help would answer homework questions (phones in my time couldn’t access the internet). With this distaste of reading in my youth I really missed out on great books. I am still missing out on them because I am trying to catch up while reading books that are currently being released. I remember my mom wanting me to learn to read so she bought Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time to help me learn how to read. Instead of reading I played video games. 

 

When I was young I remember Narnia coming to Theaters. My family liked the books and I wanted to understand why so I took our copies of them so I wanted to read them but I was also lazy so instead I watch the movie, then the second came out and again I watched it without reading the book, but then I thought they wouldn’t make a third movie so I spent so much time reading The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and then the movie came out. When I watched the movie, I learned that my imagination is more powerful than film, but what did I do with that knowledge; nothing. I didn’t finish the series as a youth and I regret it. I wish I did because when I finally read the last book The Final Battle I thought the simile was profound and is something that I still think about to this day. I felt so many different emotions while reading the last book. I felt sad about Susan then happy everyone coming back and sadder because of the ending. If you haven’t read the books, read them enjoy the masterpiece of C.S. Lewis ending to this brilliant series.

Currently I have started reading the Percy Jackson series that I wished I read in my youth. I just finished the first book a couple of weeks ago and it was surprisingly better than I expected. I remember I saw the first movie, but I remember nothing that happened in it. I recently decided to read the book because other readers highly praised it and after reading the first book, I can confidently say it deserves that praise. It is better than the movie. The main character is from a broken home and deals with dyslexia. I think if I read this book I would want to be tested for dyslexia so I could be as cool as Percy, but now since I am older I know that I am not dyslexic I was just a lazy reader. The story is about Percy being accused of stealing Zeus' Thunderbolt and he sets out on a mission to return it before he gets captured. 

I have not yet committed to reading Harry Potter, but I am planning on it! My sister loved the series, and she would read it to me and at the end of the chapter she would quiz me about what happened; No wonder she became a teacher. I still don’t know what I am missing out from not reading the books. It is on my to read list and I am planning on reading them there is just other books that get me distracted. I appreciate what Harry Potter has brought to the community and I see that many people started reading because of this series. As a chemist I should want to read the books and be on team Snap. I have seen all the movies and liked them and like every reader says about every adaptation "The book is better than the movie". That is not always true if you want proof read and watch The Prestige. 

So, you might be like me and have a hard time reading books and you may be wondering how I have overcome this barrier. My last year in college, 2018, I took a class about speed reading, and I learned the technique of reading faster, but it only works if you work at it and read. Then when my wife challenged me in 2019, I started off reading slow but as I kept reading, I kept practicing those techniques and became more comfortable with reading faster tempo. After that challenge I kept reading because I enjoy reading books and I don’t want to lose what I worked so hard to obtain. I can change the velocity of how fast I read, and I figured out a good pace for me where I will be interested in what I am reading without getting bored. Each person is different and the more you read the sooner you will find your comfortable speed.

Here are some books that I have been recently enjoying in categories short, medium, and long depending on the length of the book. Side note most of these are fantasies because I enjoy reading fantasy the most. Some of them maybe Sci-Fi.

What books do you enjoy reading? What book(s) should I put on my to reading list above Harry Potter? Would you like more content about books, leave a comment! 

Short:

• Narnia – C.S. Lewis
  
• Alcatraz vs. The Evil Librarians – Brandon Sanderson
• The Seventh Tower – Garth Nix
• Beyonders – Brandon Mull
• A Series of Unfortunate Events – Lemony Snicket
• The Squire Tales – Gerald Morris
• Howl’s Moving Castle – Diana Jones
• The League of Princes – Christopher Healy
• The Chronicles of Prydain – Lloyd Alexander (Movie didn’t do it justice)

Medium:

• Percy Jackson – Rick Riordan
• The Boys in the Boat – James Brown
• Ender’s Saga – Orson Scott Card
• Discworld -Terry Prachett
• Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
• Abhorsen – Garth Nix
• Skyward – Brandon Sanderson
• Ransom trilogy – C.S. Lewis
• Project Hail Mary – Andy Weir

Hard:

• Lord of the Rings – J.R.R Tolkien 
  
• Cosmere – Brandon Sanderson
• The wheel of Time – Robert Jorden

D&D Class Breakdown: Ranger

  For new players, it can be hard to choose your first class. For veteran players, it can be hard to choose a class and not fall into stereotypes everyone's seen a thousand times. So now I'm going to deconstruct the 5E Player's Handbook classes (Sorry Artificer, you'll come later) and talk about what works, what doesn't, and some interesting ways to play the classes. 

I won't be going into game mechanics as much as I'll be going into roleplay. 

Let's talk about Rangers! 

What Is A Ranger?

Every culture has someone who is a liaison between civilization and the wilds beyond. Sometimes that's a professional hunter who brings meat back from the woods to share with the village or it can be an expert to call in when a pack of wolves gets too close to people's houses. Today that translates to forest rangers, whose job is to keep the lines between human and wild as clear and defined as possible, no matter how many people want to try to get selfies with buffalo in Yellowstone. 

I have no idea how the Power Rangers come into any of this. 

In The Game

Rangers serve a nearly identical role as they do in reality, just substitute "animal" with "anything not human". Rangers choose an enemy, or enemies, that they are particularly angry against and get bonuses to tracking and fighting said enemy, adding bounty hunter/exterminator to their resumes, but in general are still seen as the ones who handle the owlbear that's made it's home too close to farmer Thunderstone's barn. 

A note on the difference between rangers and druids: Where rangers tend to defend humanity (or elfmanity, or dwarfmanity, or whatevermanity) from the wild, druids try to defend the wilds from humanity. The ranger is on the side of the people where the druid is on the side of the animals. This should put them at odds (Which would honestly make for interesting stories) but usually both parties will settle a problem by putting everyone back where they belong. 

Players usually play the ranger in one of two ways: Either Legolas or Drizzt. They either have a guy who shoots everything ever with arrows or a guy with two swords turning everything into an episode of Hell's Kitchen: Mincing Finals. For races they usually pick an elf, their favored enemy is usually either orcs or dragons, and their animal companions are almost always wolves or large cats. 

Yawn. 

Breaking the Trope

The thing about this class is that it could go in so many interesting directions, and 5E has even more flavors to add to the pot that it's a shame that only the two elf boys get ripped off. Let's use some imagination and come up with some fun alternatives to Orlando Bloom and... Well Drizzt. 

Defender of Alternative Biomes

As I said with the druids, people get obsessed with landing the wild classes in the forest when we have so many more interesting places to play, especially in Dungeons and Dragons. What if the ranger was an expert in sea hunting, and yes that's a thing read Moby Dick. Or use something like the underdark, or the feywild, where they know how to track creatures where a basic forest ranger would be beyond lost. 

Half Orc Ranger

Too many people pigeonhole the half-orcs into being idiot meat heads, when while they may not win at Trivial Pursuit they can survive in a tough spot. Even more interesting, what if the ranger was defending their orc village from encroaching humans, who they saw as the same type of beast as they would any invasive species? 

Scholar

At the turn of the century, expeditions were sent to Africa and South America in droves to research and discover new animals. Sometimes they'd be captured and dragged back to live sad lives in zoos, sometimes their pelts would be brought back and turned into creepy research pieces, either way, these guys had similar skills to the ranger. Arcane magic users don't have to be the only egg-heads in the party if you have a ranger looking to either stock a menagerie or fill a trophy room. 

Bounty Hunter

Rangers can take humanoids as a favored enemy with restrictions to their own race unless they are evil, so why not have a ranger that hunts members of another race that have in some way broken the law? Mean spirited and possibly racist yes but we're talking about fictional races here so let's calm down. I still want the opportunity to have a human ranger to specialize in hunting halflings...

Famous Rangers

Vex'ahlia (Critical Role)

Yup, the usual Matt Mercer darling is here. Vex is the typical bow-focused ranger who has a special taste for dragons. She also has an adorable animal companion in the form of a bear named Trinket, which aids in combat when she remembers that he exists. 

Mando (Mandalorian)

You can substitute this for Boba Fett if you want since in this context they're both the same. Both are trained in survival and how to hunt down prey, and are the bounty hunter type I mentioned above, only these guys do it in space. 

Gaston (Beauty and the Beast)

Gaston is an example of the historical ranger, since we see him coming in with hunting spoils and he brags about his antler collection in the tavern. The townsfolk love him, in story it's because he's the manliest man to ever man, but historically we can assume that some of his popularity comes from providing meat for the village in leaner times or during the winter, making him a lynch pin to the survival of the village. 

-JOE

Strange New Worlds: My First Foray into Star Trek

I grew up the son of a Trekkie (my dad literally had dozens of VHS tapes with recorded Star Trek episodes) but I’d never watched a Star Trek series start to finish, only episodes here and there. But last month at a guys’ night, someone wanted to watch an episode of Strange New Worlds. We ended up watching two episodes that night and I was hooked.

One of my best friends described Strange New Worlds as a return to what traditional Star Trek felt like. Instead of lengthy plots and story arcs throughout the season, we got individual, one-episode stories. Sure, there are threads running through the season, but you could get by watching an episode here and there if you didn’t want to watch everything. 

That being said, we had several overarching plots throughout the season: Pike’s vision, Spock’s engagement, La’an’s past with the Gorn, Una’s homeworld, and M’Benga’s daughter, to name a few. As a father my heart broke for M’Benga and the misfit in me felt a tug toward Una’s discrimination. With only one season of Strange New Worlds so far, it’s a great place to start your adventure with the Federation. It’s short (for now) and it gives you a sampling of what to expect in other series.

If you’re like me, this only leaves you with one problem: Where do I go next now that I’m done with Strange New Worlds? 

Studio Ghibli and Their 5 Greatest Movies

(Guest Post by Kobe)

You’ve probably heard the name Studio Ghibli at least once in your life. The famed Japanese animation studio has many avid supporters and enthusiasts around the world. Sadly, I was never one of them. When I was little, the only thing I knew about Studio Ghibli is that commercials for some of their movies such as Ponyo and Kiki’s Delivery Service would be shown before the old VHS Disney movies I watched as a kid. These weird movies had strange looking characters and a completely different animation style than I was used to. I saw them as merely an obstacle in between me and the Disney movies I was so familiar with. As I got older, I heard more and more praise for these movies, but I had no way to watch them. With all their movies streaming on HBO Max, I finally decided to give them a try. And no, I didn’t just watch a few of their films. I watched all 23. After watching all of Studio Ghibli’s movies for the first time, here’s what I believe to be their five greatest films.

#5: Kiki’s Delivery Service

This is a movie that has grown on me tremendously the more I’ve thought about it. Kiki’s Delivery Service, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, follows a young witch named Kiki that must leave home to continue her training in magic. Settling in a coastal town, Kiki decides to start a delivery service using her ability to fly. This movie perfectly encapsulates the light and happy feeling that comes with most Ghibli movies. The stakes are low and there isn’t much action, but watching Kiki meet new people and overcome the problems that eventually arise is so wholesome. When the movie ended, I had a big smile on my face. If you’re wanting to start watching these movies, this is one I would start with.

#4: When Marnie Was There

I love When Marnie Was There. Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, the film is about a shy, depressed girl named Anna, who, because of her mental and physical health, leaves the city for the summer and moves in with her relatives in the countryside. There she discovers a mysterious house across a marsh and a girl named Marnie that lives there. Together they form a strong bond and unlock secrets neither of them knew. If that sounds like your kind of movie, please give it a watch. It won’t be for everyone, but I recommend giving it a try. The ending floored me emotionally and made me cry more than almost any movie has, and that’s saying something.

#3: Grave of the Fireflies

Speaking of movies that floored me emotionally, next is Grave of the Fireflies! Directed by Isao Takahata, Grave of the Fireflies takes place in Japan during World War II, as orphaned Seita and Setsuko try to survive without a home. There is a lot of suffering in this movie and so much of it is centered around children, which makes it an incredibly difficult movie to sit through. I appreciate that the director pulls no punches emotionally and doesn’t back away from what makes this movie so uncomfortable. Animation is so often viewed as something only for kids, and this movie is the antithesis to that way of thinking. As difficult as it is to watch, this movie is a haunting masterpiece and a must-watch for any animation fan.

#2: Spirited Away

Spirited Away was the first Ghibli movie I watched, and wow it blew me away. When a young girl named Chihiro’s parents are turned into pigs by a witch, she must navigate a world full of spirits to save them. I’m just going to say it, this is the most visually creative movie I’ve ever seen. Miyazaki, the film’s director, does such a fantastic job crafting this world full of strange and magical creatures. The movie is a joy to look at, featuring some of the most beautiful animation I’ve ever seen. Also, the musical score by composer Joe Hisaishi is nothing short of iconic and puts a liveliness and freshness into the movie. It’s hard to explain what makes the movie so good. Please go watch it and you’ll understand.

#1: My Neighbor Totoro

In my opinion, Studio Ghibli’s best movie is one of their simplest. When two young girls move into a new house in the Japanese countryside in order to be closer to the hospital where their sick mom is staying, they meet a lovable and magical creature named Totoro. In my opinion, this movie defines Studio Ghibli. Directed by Hayao Miyazaki (again), My Neighbor Totoro is simple, magical, imaginative, happy with a tinge of nostalgic sweetness, and endlessly rewatchable. It might be less ambitious than some others, but it made me feel like a kid again. You really can’t top that feeling. 

And here's my list! Almost all the studio’s movies are great, so deciding on my favorites was difficult. What are your favorite Ghibli movies? Did they make it on my list? Watching these movies was a treat and I recommend you check them out!