Awesome Music / Studio Ghibli

Joe Hisaishi in his element.

These films are best known for Awesome Music and Visual Effects of Awesome, but these examples here take the cake.

Kiki's Delivery Service has its own page.

Joe Hisaishi – Hayao Miyazaki's main composer for his movies... and for one of Isao Takahata's

• Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. A movie about Kaiju-sized giant insects should not be lyrically beautiful. Largely because of the music, it is. Try the main theme.
• Castle in the Sky has some awesome, adventure-inspiring music including the main theme and this hauntingly beautiful variation when Laputa is destroyed. Hisaishi was never quite pleased with his original score – good at it is, it's very sparse and is almost entirely synthesizer due to lack of time/budget during original production – so when Disney afforded him the opportunity (with Miyazaki's blessing) to rescore the film with a full orchestra, he took it... and the result is gorgeous across the board. Unfortunately, most Americans were denied hearing this reworking... until 2017, when Gkids reissued the film, providing viewers with a chance to view the dub with either score.
• My Neighbor Totoro:
  • You must admit that you have at least once walked around humming "The Path of the Wind". The later orchestrated version takes it to awe-inspiring heights.
  • The ending theme, Tonari no Totoro, is an incredibly cheerful, upbeat and whimsical song. Joe Hisaishi's orchestral version of the song is also beautifully epic.

• In Princess Mononoke, most iterations of the Ashitaka Motif and Main Theme share the proverbial cake. That Chinese glissando effect is delicious.
  • "The Demon God" is absolutely diabolical and heart-pounding. "Disgusting little creatures...".
  • "Adagio of Life and Death" and "The World of the Dead" are both incredibly sinister and unsettling themes.
  • Also "Battle Drums" though you have to listen to it entirely.
• Spirited Away is already an amazing movie, but what also made it so breathtakingly beautiful is the soundtrack.
  • The film's main theme, One Summer's Day, is a beautiful and calm piece that will likely evoke feelings of nostalgia out of anyone who listens to it.
  • "The Dragon Boy" is just perfect in setting up the movie's setting, and the ending credits (though he actually didn't write it) "Always With Me" simply cannot be described in words of its beauty.
  • The sixth stop is a beautiful and melancholy piano piece that fits wonderfully in one of the film's most atmospheric and quiet scenes.
• Howl's Moving Castle: Merry-Go-Round of Life is incredible, and the rest of the score aptly follows suit.
• The Tale of the Princess Kaguya: Soaring and the tear jerking, earwormy Procession of Celestial Beings I and II.

Others

• Arrietty contains some wonderful songs, composed and sung by Cécile Corbel, a French-Brettone singer and harpist:
  • "The Neglected Garden", the first song heard during the movie, is a breath-taking invitation to reverie and remembrance.
  • "Arrietty's Song", which concludes the movie, is also wonderful. Cécile also sang it in French. The jazz version of the song is also amazing.
  • "Our House Below" is a wonderful tune.

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