693-track selection includes many of anime’s most memorable pieces of music.
There’s nothing in the world of animation that looks quite like the beautiful visuals in a Studio Ghibli movie, and fans love going back to re-watch the visuals of their favorite scenes and sequences. But the films’ music is just as memorable, as anyone who’s ever caught themselves humming the theme to My Neighbor Totoro or Spirited Away knows.
So it was a sudden but extremely happy treat for us to learn that as of February 21, music from the collected films of Studio Ghibli is now available on music streaming subscription services Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Google Play Music, and YouTube Music. Don’t worry, either, because the famously luddite-leaning studio isn’t limiting the online selection to a handful of its greatest hits, either, as it’s made a whopping 38 albums available, comprised of 693 tracks.
So what are those 38 albums? To start with, the first 23 are the soundtracks for every Studio Ghibli movie ever made except Grave of the Fireflies (which the studio doesn’t control the rights to), plus French co-production The Red Turtle.
● Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind Soundtrack-To the Far-off Land
● Castle in the Sky Laputa Soundtrack-Mystery of the Levistone
● My Neighbor Totoro Soundtrack Collection
● Kiki’s Delivery Service Soundtrack Collection
● Only Yesterday Original Soundtrack
● Porco Rosso Soundtrack
● Ocean Waves Soundtrack
● Pom Poko Soundtrack
● Whisper of the Heart Soundtrack
● Princess Mononoke Soundtrack
● My Neighbors the Yamadas Original Full Soundtrack
● Spirited Away Soundtrack
● The Cat Returns Soundtrack
● Ghiblies Episode 2 Soundtrack
● Howl’s Moving Castle Soundtrack
● Tales from Earthsea Soundtrack
● Ponyo Soundtrack
● Arrietty Soundtrack
● From Up on Poppy Hill Soundtrack
● The Wind Rises Soundtrack
● The Tale of the Princess Kaguya Soundtrack
● When Marnie Was There Soundtrack
● The Red Turtle Soundtrack
There’re also 14 image albums, with music inspired by some of Ghibli’s most popular films, and finally a double-sized collection of vocal songs from the studio’s movies.
● Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind Soundtrack-Bird People
● Castle in the Sky Laputa-The Girl Who Fell From the Sky
● My Neighbor Totoro Image Song Collection
● Kiki’s Delivery Service Image Album
● Only Yesterday Image Album
● Porco Rosso Image Album
● Pom Poko Image Album
● Whisper of the Heart Image Album
● Princess Mononoke Image Album
● Spirited Away Image Album
● Image Symphonic Suite Howl’s Moving Castle Soundtrack
● Ponyo Image Album
● From Up on Poppy Hill Image Album-Piano Sketch Collection
● The Tale of the Princess Kaguya Soundtrack-Songs for Female Chorus Trio
● Studio Ghibli Songs-Expanded Edition
Between this and Ghibli’s recent anime streaming agreements with Netflix and HBO, it looks like the studio is finally moving past its reluctance to digitally distribute its art, though you’ll still have to make an actual trip to the theater inside the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo if you want to see the Totoro mini-sequel or the latest thing Hayao Miyazaki has directed.
Sources: Tokuma Japan Communications, Spotify
Top image: Spotify（iOS）
Insert images: Spotify（iOS）, SoraNews24
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Follow Casey on Twitter, where Kiki’s Delivery Service’s “Umi no Mieru Machi” and Totoro’s “Kaze no Toru Michi” are his two favorite pieces of Ghibli music.
[ Read in Japanese ]