The best part of any Studio Ghibli movie is always the human element of their writing. Whether it’s some sort of fantastical tale or something largely grounded in reality, the human elements, both positive and negative, are always the ones driving the plot, and the craft put into them at every turn never fails to sell that.

Studio Ghibli movies are nothing without the human element to their writing, and that shows itself best when it comes to romance. While romance doesn’t factor into every Studio Ghibli movie, whenever it does show up, it’s always a highlight thanks to strong writing and the great chemistry between the couple, and sure enough, the romances in Studio Ghibli movies have long since been some of the best romances in all of anime. A few of those romances especially stand out, and their respective films just wouldn’t be the same without them.

8

Porco Rosso And Madame Gina

Characters From 1992’s Porco Rosso; Film Directed By Hayao Miyazaki

Porco Rosso and Madame Gina are something of a couple in 1992’s Porco Rosso. Following the death of Gina’s husband, Bellini, in World War I, Porco, who was friends with Bellini, started looking after Gina, even after becoming a bounty hunter cursed with the head of a pig. The two develop an intense emotional bond thanks to their new dynamic, and while Porco remains intentionally aloof due to certain circumstances, Gina comes to love Porco just as much as she did Bellini, if not more.

Despite Gina’s feelings for Porco, Porco seems oblivious to them for the majority of the film, or at the very least, he refuses to act on them because of his bounty hunter lifestyle and his guilt over Bellini’s death. Nevertheless, Porco and Gina’s dynamic is filled with incredible chemistry and romantic tension that makes it all the more bittersweet how they part at the end of Porco Rosso, and it’s a big part of why Porco Rosso is so criminally underrated.

7

Kaguya And Sutemaru

Characters From 2013’s The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya; Film Directed By Isao Takahata

In 2013’s The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, Kaguya grows up developing a bond with a young boy named Sutemaru, although that bond is broken when Kaguya’s parents take her to the capital to turn her into nobility. The two reunite as adults as Kaguya prepares for the possibility of being taken back to the moon and forgetting her life on Earth, and even though Sutemaru has started his own family, the two still profess their love for each other in a scene that may or may not have been a dream.

While Kaguya and Sutemaru couldn’t have become a couple even if Kaguya didn’t have to return to the moon, the film never fails to sell the bond they share from childhood, with their final scene together making that especially clear both visually and narratively. Kaguya and Sutemaru’s relationship is always conveyed with expert craft by The Tale of the Princess Kaguya’s writing and animation, and it makes it all the more bittersweet how it ultimately plays out.

6

Sheeta And Pazu

Characters From 1986’s Castle In The Sky; Film Directed By Hayao Miyazaki

1986’s Castle in the Sky opens with the young mechanic Pazu catching the mysterious Sheeta as she floats down from the sky one night. Pazu soon learns that Sheeta is a descendant of the people of Laputa, a lost civilization that once held immeasurable power, and the two develop an incredible bond as they work to uncover the secrets of Laputa before they fall into the hands of the evil Colonel Muska.

Castle in the Sky never explicitly makes Sheeta and Pazu’s relationship romantic, with the most coming out of it being other characters teasing them about it now and then. Nevertheless, between how fun it is to see them interact from beginning to end and how far they each go to protect each other, Sheeta and Pazu have a relationship that stands out as one of Studio Ghibli’s best, romantic or otherwise, and there was no better relationship to kick off Studio Ghibli’s illustrious 40 years of history.

5

Ponyo And Sosuke

Characters From 2008’s Ponyo; Film Directed By Hayao Miyazaki

The eponymous hero of 2008’s Ponyo is a small, magic fish-like creature who bonds with a young human boy named Sosuke. Despite her father forbidding Ponyo from leaving the sea, Ponyo takes on a human form to be with Sosuke, although doing so causes a natural disaster that threatens to flood the world unless they can prove that their bond is genuine.

With Ponyo and Sosuke only being children, the film can’t get too deep into their relationship, and even with it ending in an iconic kiss, there’s still a clear innocence to how they behave around each other. That being said, Ponyo and Sosuke’s relationship is great specifically because of how the innocence of it all leads to them genuinely caring for one another, and as a result, the strength of that bond ends up being stronger than many relationships with far more serious romance attached to them.

4

Chihiro Ogino And Haku

Characters From 2001’s Spirited Away; Film Directed By Hayao Miyazaki

After Chihiro Ogino is trapped in the spirit world in 2001’s Spirited Away, she finds constant support in Haku, a servant of Yubaba who mysteriously tries to help Chihiro go home with her parents whenever possible, even if it puts his life in danger. Eventually, it’s revealed that Haku is the spirit of a river Chihiro almost drowned in when she was young, and after saving her back then, Haku promised to always protect her from harm.

Spirited Away doesn’t focus too much on the romantic aspect of Chihiro and Haku’s relationship, with it only ever being explicitly brought up once by Zeniba, but even so, the incredible bond Chihiro and Haku share as they both try to protect and support each other in their own ways makes way for amazing chemistry and overall writing from start to finish. Spirited Away is one of the most iconic movies in all of animation, and thanks to Chihiro and Haku’s relationship, it’s easy to see why.

3

Asнιтaka And San

Characters From 1997’s Princess Mononoke; Film Directed By Hayao Miyazaki

In 1997’s Princess Mononoke, when Asнιтaka leaves his village to find a cure for the curse a dying god pᴀssed on to him, he eventually crosses paths with San, a girl raised by wolves who is at war with a village of ironworkers slowly destroying their surrounding forest. Asнιтaka is almost immediately smitten with San, and as he gets more invested in the conflict between Iron Town and the gods, his motivation becomes protecting San just as much as it is finding peace between the two factions.

While Asнιтaka and San’s romance starts rather abruptly, between how fun their interactions are and how much growth they incite in one another, Asнιтaka and San make for a great Studio Ghibli couple simply because of how heartwarming their dynamic is and how much it plays into the larger themes of the movie. Asнιтaka and San’s relationship is another one that ends on a bittersweet note, but even then, it remains one of the most iconic relationships of a Studio Ghibli movie, by far.

2

Jiro Horikoshi And Nahoko Satomi

Characters From 2013’s The Wind Rises; Film Directed By Hayao Miyazaki

2013’s The Wind Rises is a fictionalized account of the life of Jiro Horikoshi, an aeronautical engineer whose planes were heavily used by Japan in World War II. After a failed test flight of a new plane, Jiro went on vacation to the countryside where he met a woman named Nahoko Satomi, and the two quickly fell in love and eventually got married. Unfortunately, Nahoko has always been chronically ill, eventually being diagnosed with tuberculosis, so there was a time limit on how long they could be together, but that didn’t make Jiro love her any less.

Bittersweet romances are nothing new for Studio Ghibli, but the fact that Jiro and Nahoko enter their relationship fully aware of how it will end adds an extra layer of heart to their dynamic, and by the end of it all, Jiro’s relationship with Nahoko is perfect for how it feeds into The Wind Rises’ underlying theme of not having regrets and always endeavoring to live. The Wind Rises was once the film Hayao Miyazaki planned to retire with, and with how great Jiro and Nahoko’s relationship is, it’s easy to see why.

1

Shizuku Tsukishima And Seiji Amasawa

Characters From Whisper Of The Heart; Film Directed By Yoshifumi Kondo

In 1995’s Whisper of the Heart, while Shizuku Tsukishima and Seiji Amasawa initially have a tumultuous relationship with Seiji constantly teasing Shizuku, it quickly turns romantic as they find common ground and Seiji opens up about his dream of becoming a professional luthier. That, in turn, inspires Shizuku to try and become an author so she can feel like she has a place in Seiji’s life, and by the end of the story, the two vow to one day get married and support each other’s dreams forever.

Whisper of the Heart is one of the only Studio Ghibli films focused entirely on a romance story, and it more than excels at it, as Whisper of the Heart does an amazing job of developing Shizuku and Seiji’s relationship with great pacing and maturity to create a couple with an incredible amount of warmth and maturity to their dynamic in every regard. Yoshifumi Kondo was a master creator who was ᴀssumed to be Hayao Miyazaki’s successor, and there’s no better showing of his talents than Shizuku and Seiji having the best Studio Ghibli romance of all time.