There is something aboutThe Little Prince,Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s slim, illustrated novella first published in 1943, that feels timeless like aHayao Miyazakifilm. Though it’s framed as a children’s story, it has captivated readers of all ages with its bittersweet blend of innocence and philosophical depth. With over 140 million copies sold and over 500 translations, it is one of the most cherished books ever written. And yet, despite numerous adaptations in film, theater, ballet, and opera, no version has quite captured its uniquely melancholic charm and imaginative scope, at least, not the way a Studio Ghibli adaptation could.
Hayao Miyazaki, co-founder of Studio Ghibli, has built his legacy on translating quiet, poetic stories into breathtaking animated films filled with emotion, metaphor, and magic. It is no surprise, then, thatThe Little Princeappears on his personal list of 50 favorite children’s books.While Ghibli has already adapted several books from that list likeWhen Marnie Was There, The Borrowers, Heidi, andA Wizard of Earthsea,there is a powerful argument to be made thatThe Little Princedeserves the Ghibli treatment next.In fact, the novella and the studio are such a natural match that it’s almost shocking it hasn’t happened already.
A World of Planets and People That Feels Just Like Ghibli
Why The Little Prince Feels Like a Ghibli Tale Already
From the very first pages ofThe Little Prince, readers are plunged into a surreal, emotionally charged world that runs parallel to our own.A downed pilot in the Sahara Desert meets a golden-haired boy from another planet who recounts his interstellar journey.Each stop along the prince’s path introduces a new adult, each more absurd and lonely than the last, with a king with no subjects, a businessman counting stars he believes he owns, and a lamplighter hopelessly stuck in routine. These characters, while humorous on the surface, are critiques of adulthood’s often empty pursuits.
This whimsical parade of flawed grownups could have walked straight out ofSpirited Away. In Miyazaki’s 2001 masterpiece, Chihiro encounters similarly grotesque, comically exaggerated adults who are driven by greed, power, and ego. The toads and pigs of the bathhouse are not far removed from the vain men on the prince’s planetary journey. Both stories offer scathing but compassionate commentary on how adulthood can distort joy and wisdom, and how it takes a childlike spirit to see the truth beneath the surface.
Studio Ghibli excels at these dreamlike, slightly absurd worlds that mask deeper emotional currents.The visual metaphor of planets small enough to house one person would fit naturally into the studio’s aesthetic language. Just imagine the quiet melancholy of the lamplighter’s tiny rotating world or the prince standing alone atop his rose-covered asteroid, gazing into the stars. It’s poetic visual storytelling that practically draws itself in Ghibli’s signature style.
The Story’s Heart Matches Miyazaki’s Personal Obsessions
Why Hayao Miyazaki Would See Himself in the Pages of The Little Prince
The Little Princeis a story of longing, wonder, and ultimately, love and loss. Its narrator, once a child with artistic dreams, grows up to become a pilot, which is a career Saint-Exupéry shared in real life. He abandons art after adults fail to understand his drawings, a moment that mirrors Miyazaki’s well-documented frustrations with how grownups often fail to see the value in childlike imagination. In both the novella and Miyazaki’s films, there’s an enduring tension between wonder and cynicism, creativity and conformity.
Planes and flying recur in Miyazaki’s work, not just as vehicles but as symbols of freedom and personal transformation, as seen inPorco Rosso, The Wind Rises, andLaputa: Castle in the Sky. That the narrator ofThe Little Princeis a stranded aviator feels tailor-made for Miyazaki’s lens. He would surely emphasize the dual identity of the narrator as both an artist and a pilot, someone grounded by reality yet yearning for the sky.
Then there is the relationship between the prince and his rose. It’s complicated, tender, and full of emotional ambiguity, exactly the kind of bittersweet dynamic Ghibli often explores.Think of Ashitaka and San inPrincess Mononoke, or Howl and Sophie inHowl’s Moving Castle. These are not easy romances, but deeply human bonds shaped by misunderstanding, self-discovery, and sacrifice. The rose’s quiet apology before the prince departs, and his eventual realization that he loved her all along, echo with the same aching beauty found in Ghibli’s most emotional climaxes.
The Little Prince Already Looks Like a Ghibli Character
The Fox, the Stars, and the Empty Desert are all Scenes Ghibli Could Bring to Life
Visually,The Little Princelends itself perfectly to Studio Ghibli’s aesthetic. The book’s original watercolor illustrations, drawn by Saint-Exupéry himself, are deceptively simple. The prince, with his golden hair and long scarf, could easily be mistaken for a Ghibli protagonist. The gentle curves, soft palettes, and slightly exaggerated expressions mirror the animation studio’s own design sensibilities.
One of Ghibli’s strengths is crafting vast emotional landscapes within quiet, painterly visuals.Whether it is the windswept cliffs ofPonyoor the golden wheat fields inOnly Yesterday, the studio knows how to make stillness feel profound.That quiet tone is essential toThe Little Prince. Much of the book takes place in the still heat of a desert, interrupted only by conversation and memory. It’s not an action story, it is a meditation. And no one animates introspection like Ghibli does.
Miyazaki has never been concerned with clear-cut answers. LikeThe Little Prince, his films ask viewers to feel first and understand second.
Importantly, the prince’s journey is filled with symbolic imagery that would give the animators immense freedom. Baobab trees overtaking a tiny planet, a snake offering the promise of return through death, and a fox teaching the meaning of love are not literal events but poetic moments. Ghibli thrives in this kind of ambiguity. Miyazaki has never been concerned with clear-cut answers. LikeThe Little Prince, his films ask viewers to feel first and understand second.
A Ghibli Adaptation Would Let the Story Live On, Without Explaining It Away
This Classic Deserves the Ghibli Touch Before It Is Too Late
One of the reasons many previous adaptations ofThe Little Princehave not fully succeeded is because they try to fill in the gaps the novella leaves open. They want to explain the prince’s fate, or spell out the themes, or restructure the narrative into something more conventional. ButThe Little Princeis not a story that needs resolution. Its strength lies in its mystery. In the end, readers are not supposed to know whether the prince died, or returned home, or was even real. Like the narrator, fans are left with only memory and longing.
This restraint is rare in modern storytelling, but it’s right in Studio Ghibli’s wheelhouse.Ghibli has never shied away from ambiguity. Think of the ending ofMy Neighbor Totoro, where questions about Mei’s fate are left unanswered. OrSpirited Away, where Chihiro’s adventure ends with a quiet return to reality and no promise that she will ever remember what happened. Ghibli respects its audience enough to leave them wondering and feeling.
An animated version by Ghibli would not need to “fix” the story or update it. Instead, it could elevate the emotions already present in the text. The imagery, the pacing, and the quiet sadness could all remain intact, but given the richness and depth of a fully realized visual world. And if there is anyone who can translate a fragile, deeply human fable into something magical, it’sHayao Miyazaki.
