I wouldn't call it my sole favourite but it is a great movie, and while I appreciate the sweet wide-eyed kid protagonists in most of his films it's nice when he makes one that has a different sort of lead, I also really appreciate Porco Rosso for similar reasons (and Takahata's Only Yesterday). TBH for my part most of my fave Ghibli's are from their pre-digital era, even though I do think Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away are great and Howl's Moving Castle and Ponyo are pretty good, (I also quite liked From Up On Poppy Hill tbf, and I remember The Cat Returns being good but not great, When Marnie Was There was nice I should prob see that again) - I don't watch Ghibli just for the animation/visuals but IDK their older cel animated films are just so enjoyable for me? Something magical about them, though funnily enough I also loved their Ronja the Robber's Daughter TV anime series more than most of their films in the last 10-20 years and while I think it's very well done it's obvious the characters in that are animated using computer-generated/digital methods/assistance. But yeah my fave Ghibli/Miyazaki/Takahata films are (in no particular order just listed them chronologically by release year):
Horus/Hols Prince of the Sun/The Little Norse Prince
Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Castle in the Sky
My Neighbour Totoro
Kiki's Delivery Service
Only Yesterday
Whisper of the Heart
Princess Mononoke
I also like Pom Poko but not enough to call it a favourite, Grave of the Fireflies is amazing but waaaay too sad for me to consider it a favourite, Ocean Waves I have not seen in a very long time and wish to watch again to reassess to come to an informed conclusion, I'm also tempted to wait and see if it is ever dubbed into English before watching it again, but realistically I probably will buy the sub-only Blu-ray and watch it at some point as realistically I could be waiting forever for that one XP
Honorable/Notable Mentions for Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon, an early Toei feature which Takahata was an assistant director on (loads of cool people worked on that one tbf, it's not only Takahata that made it great), and for Okko's Inn which is not a Ghibli movie but was directed by a major Ghibli alumni and has a similar sort of vibe - I'd recommend it to anyone who thinks as I do, that their more recent work leaves something to be desired but wants a film they haven't seen before with a very Ghibli feel, I thought it was much better than Studio Ponoc's first offering Mary and the Witch's Flower as well!
Also note that I haven't seen any of Miyazaki or Takahata's TV anime series in their entirety (Future Boy Conan, Heidi, Anne of Green Gables, Marco/3000 Leagues in Search of Mother, or Chie the Brat). I would like to though (I have both parts of the upcoming Anime Limited UK release of Future Boy Conan pre-ordered)
