A Visual Celebration of Miyazaki’s Weird Little Guys

kottke.org May 09, 2025 By Jason Kottke

A few weeks ago, I posted about the hundreds of stills from their animated movies that Studio Ghibli has made available for free download. Since I’m a big fan of the weird little guys director Hayao Miyazaki loves to put in his films (e.g. the kodama in Princess Mononoke1 and Spirited Away’s soot sprites), I thought it would be cool to pull some images from the Ghibli archive featuring these lovable little freaks.

a still from a Studio Ghibli movie featuring Miyazaki's weird little guys

a still from a Studio Ghibli movie featuring Miyazaki's weird little guys

a still from a Studio Ghibli movie featuring Miyazaki's weird little guys

a still from a Studio Ghibli movie featuring Miyazaki's weird little guys

a still from a Studio Ghibli movie featuring Miyazaki's weird little guys

a still from a Studio Ghibli movie featuring Miyazaki's weird little guys

a still from a Studio Ghibli movie featuring Miyazaki's weird little guys

a still from a Studio Ghibli movie featuring Miyazaki's weird little guys

And an honorable mention to this frame from Porco Rosso:

a still from a Studio Ghibli movie featuring Miyazaki's weird little guys

The weird little guys category generally doesn’t apply to humans, but this image of little kids crawling all over a pig man’s airplane certainly classifies as an unusual swarm.

  1. I bought a shirt with a kodama on it after seeing Princess Mononoke in 1999. At some point, I got rid of the shirt — why the hell did I do that?! It was very close to this shirt on Etsy selling for $288…the collar/sleeve color was a dark blue or black on mine.

Tags: art · Hayao Miyazaki · movies · Studio Ghibli

💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org

A few weeks ago, I posted about the hundreds of stills from their animated movies that Studio Ghibli has made available for free download. Since I’m a big fan of the weird little guys director Hayao Miyazaki loves to put in his films (e.g. the kodama in Princess Mononoke1 and Spirited Away’s soot sprites), I thought it would be cool to pull some images from the Ghibli archive featuring these lovable little freaks.

a still from a Studio Ghibli movie featuring Miyazaki's weird little guys

a still from a Studio Ghibli movie featuring Miyazaki's weird little guys

a still from a Studio Ghibli movie featuring Miyazaki's weird little guys

a still from a Studio Ghibli movie featuring Miyazaki's weird little guys

a still from a Studio Ghibli movie featuring Miyazaki's weird little guys

a still from a Studio Ghibli movie featuring Miyazaki's weird little guys

a still from a Studio Ghibli movie featuring Miyazaki's weird little guys

a still from a Studio Ghibli movie featuring Miyazaki's weird little guys

And an honorable mention to this frame from Porco Rosso:

a still from a Studio Ghibli movie featuring Miyazaki's weird little guys

The weird little guys category generally doesn’t apply to humans, but this image of little kids crawling all over a pig man’s airplane certainly classifies as an unusual swarm.

  1. I bought a shirt with a kodama on it after seeing Princess Mononoke in 1999. At some point, I got rid of the shirt — why the hell did I do that?! It was very close to this shirt on Etsy selling for $288…the collar/sleeve color was a dark blue or black on mine.

Tags: art · Hayao Miyazaki · movies · Studio Ghibli

💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org

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Published on May 09, 2025 by Jason Kottke

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