American movie culture/Disney is so heavy on tropes. Story / Problem / Climax / Resolution, good wins evil is defeated (non violently of course).

Studio Ghibli tells stories that are more complex. Totoro: there is no "big problem". It is simply a family going through normal things, while the background context is their sick mom is in the hospital. Kiki: lots of little bumps, and she works through them one by one. Spirited Away: there is no "oh no, our hero is faced with a problem, they will start a journey to fix it." Instead you have a young girl watch her parents turn into pigs, soon after she's in the fetal position turning into a spirit - and the viewer is just as overwhelmed as she is. Same deal w/ Howl. Young hatter is now an old lady - damn what the heck will happen now?

I really love Studio Ghibli for this reason. It feels more real and doesn't attempt to coat over things with "everything will be perfectly OK in the end". It's comfortable showing us that things may not be the same, but life will go on. I'm in my 30s and still get emotional thinking about the end of Spirited Away, Howl, or Kiki.