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Songs of Studio Ghibli: List of Theme Songs, Insert Songs, and BGM from Ghibli Music

DancerFukkun:)Tatsuki Fukuda
Primarily active in Tokyo, I have experience as a backup dancer for artists, a music video dancer, and a commercial dancer. I continue to work as a dancer while also engaging in article production. After discovering Michael Jackson in junior high school, I began dancing in my second year of high school. Since starting dance, in addition to the J-Pop and Japanese rock I had been listening to, I began exploring Western R&B, rap, alternative music, and other tracks commonly used for dance. In elementary school, I spent three years in a choir, and because I love singing, I often go to karaoke for fun. These days, I enjoy a wide range of music, from Japanese rock and rap to K-pop.
Deputy Editor of RAG MUSICSasashina
Deputy Editor of the web media RAG MUSIC. I’m Sasashina, a mom currently raising an elementary schooler and a preschooler. In my student days, I studied broadly at Kyoto College of Science and Technology, covering sound, lighting, and video technology, and acquired skills from comprehensive stage production to the fundamentals of creative expression. After graduation, I joined a music production company, where I still work, and have consistently built my career on the production side, taking on diverse tasks centered around music. Currently, I mainly handle articles for children, drawing on what I’ve learned about parenting in my own way, as well as insights and discoveries from interacting with my kids every day. I hope I can be of help to you, even just a little!

Studio Ghibli films, enjoyed by both adults and children, are also famous for their wonderful music.

Every work features songs that perfectly fit the story and leave an unforgettable impression after just one listen.

We’ve gathered not only the popular theme songs and insert songs from Studio Ghibli works, but also image songs that bring back memories of famous scenes and evocative moments.

If you want to listen to Ghibli’s masterpieces or hear again the song that played in that one scene, be sure to check these out!

Heisei Tanuki War Ponpoko (1–10)

Life of a tanuki

"Tanuki Life" from "Heisei Tanuki War Ponpoko," played by ocha

Life of a tanuki

Within the world of Pom Poko, the raccoons’ richly individual and unique characters, along with the preciousness and fragility of life lived in nature, serve as the main themes of the story.

Among them, the piece titled “Tanuki no Kurashi” (“A Tanuki’s Life”) is a beautiful song with a relaxed tempo and an emotionally resonant melody.

Listen to it while picturing their gentle, peaceful way of life.

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The tanuki now... (Epilogue) (Pom Poko)

"Tanuki Now..." from "Pom Poko" performed by ocha

The tanuki now... (Epilogue) (Pom Poko)

This piece, with its slow and gentle melody that brings deep calm, is the first track—a prologue titled “Tanuki Now.” It’s a tender theme song that evokes images of the raccoon dogs living modestly and harmoniously, surrounded by nature, as depicted in the story.

In a film themed around rich natural landscapes, it showcases the expressive power of Studio Ghibli’s music.

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Mr. Raccoon Dog, won't you play with me?

A short track featuring a distinctly folk-like child’s voice singing a Japanese “fushi.” It leaves a strong impression with a folkloric atmosphere, like an old hand-play song or a lullaby passed down through generations.

In a film themed around the struggle for habitat between tanuki and humans in the natural world, this opening song—where a human says, “Tanuki-san, won’t you play?”—gives you something to ponder.

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Main Title

How powerful—and short—this piece is! The fact that something only nine seconds long is included as a single track on the CD really gives you pause.

Reading into it, you can hear a man’s shout, the sound of a natural instrument like a flute, and the tones of an artificial instrument, a synthesizer, all blended together.

It’s a composition in which the film’s core theme—the balance between nature and humanity—is harmoniously realized.

That may be why it’s titled “Main Title.”

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chemical reconstruction

The song has a title, “Chemical Revival,” that gives a distinctly high-tech impression, but the music itself features Japanese taiko drums, percussive instruments, and a Japanese flute melody.

Some listeners may have thought it sounds quite tanuki-like—and that’s exactly right: here, “chemistry” (kagaku) is a play on words meaning the art of transformation practiced by tanuki (bake-gaku).

With that in mind, the use of drums makes perfect sense for this track.

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Pom Poko Main Theme “Genki-bushi”

Set in Japan’s mountain regions—and in the Heisei era at that—this work is portrayed with a worldview that feels especially close to our everyday lives among Studio Ghibli films.

That sense of realism is a hallmark of director Isao Takahata, and this piece of music, true to its title “Genki-bushi” (“Lively Tune”), is a fun track filled with spirited shouts and the sounds of drums.

Yet the sharp little kick of spice beneath all that liveliness is quintessentially Ghibli.

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Elegy (Heisei Tanuki War Ponpoko)

"Lament" from "Pom Poko" performed by ocha

Elegy (Heisei Tanuki War Ponpoko)

In this film, created by the duo of directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, the depiction of death is striking—and cruelly so.

When it comes to the relationship between humans and nature, and the compromises living beings must make, the story brings forth a great deal of sorrow and hatred.

Amid all this, the piece titled “Elegy” may well be the track that most symbolizes the work.

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