History Main / GhibliHills

* The popular MMORPG ''{{Mabinogi}}''. Every. Single. Place. In. The. World. It's a shame, even, that some of the more well-designed areas serve little purpose, some fans wander them just to see what's there.

Of course, despite its soothing grass, great blue skies and small animals, Ghibli Hills is still a lawless wilderness, crawling with [[RandomEncounters dangerous monsters]], [[TheHighwayman highwaymen]], wild magic and [[AdventureFriendlyWorld adventure]]. It is a popular home for people who need to live beyond the reach of unjust officials, bought judges, and corrupt law enforcers in the city. In older works, written in times when most people lived in the countryside and so were less moved by the greenery, this freedom from injustice was its main allure, where it may chiefly contrast with the DeadlyDecadentCourt.

** The US State of Minnesota. Most of the population live in the Twin Cities area which despite being the states major hub, takes up only a small portion of the state. Go past the boundaries of the Twin Cities and with the exception of some small towns, farmland and the small city of Duluth, it's all wilderness complete with forests to the north and prairies in the south, and the largest wolf population in the United States.

** The Wasatch Front (the western slopes of the Wasatch Mountains) in Utah is home to two million people strung out along a 120-mile long north-south axis. It's an average of 5 miles wide and never more reaches a width of more than 18 miles. Ten minutes to the east and you're in deep forest and/or open grassy plateaus. Thirty minutes to the west and you're in barren salt flats and deserts. Two hours to the south, you're in arid redrock country. One hour to the north, vibrant farmland. The next major urban area is 300+ miles in any direction. Even ''in'' the Wasatch Front, if there are enough rain clouds (which isn't horribly often though), the Wasatch Mountains look like [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings the Misty Mountains]].

** Calgary, Alberta is around an hour's drive from the Rocky Mountains, so this fits the description above perfectly. Those who find Banff National Park to be a bit crowded will find solitude in the Kananaskis Park. There is also Nose Hill and Fish Creek park within the city.
** The New Jersey Palisades definitely qualify. They are dramatic cliffs, located along the Hudson River, just across from New York City, with almost no development. Less than an hours drive can take you from downtown Manhattan to excellent hiking and dramatic natural views.

** Cannock Chase, in Staffordshire, England is a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and former royal forest, located relatively near several urban centres in the Midlands.

* ''Webcomic/TheRedac'''s world got large areas of forest and grassy hills between relatively small towns. A lot of important characters and strange creatures can be found in the woodlands, and the protagonist lives in [[http://the-redac.webcomic.ws/comics/pl/846562 an isolated mountain house]].

* The Spirit World in Avatar's sequel series, ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', is depicted with a lot of vivid landscapes.

* Portland, OR seems to be like this on ''Series/{{Grimm}}.''

* Lovingly described in Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld/TheWeeFreeMen.'' In this, they're actual hills.

** The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Spain Green Spain]] counts too. Even at the outskirts of its cities you can find forests, green meadows, and mountains almost touching them in some cases. Go farther away and unless going to the north (Cantabrian Sea) you'll find sylvan forests, more -- and higher -- mountains, more green meadows, and beautiful landscapes. The best is the contrast after going southwards and crossing the Cantabrian Mountains with the vast, almost flat and forest-free and much drier expanses of Spain's central plateau.

* See, of course, [[Creator/HayaoMiyazaki Miyazaki's]] ''Anime/MyNeighborTotoro,'' ''Anime/PrincessMononoke,'' ''Anime/SpiritedAway'' and, to a lesser extent, ''Anime/PorcoRosso'' and ''Anime/CastleInTheSky''. Interestingly, Miyazaki's first independent feature ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'' has no Ghibli Hills, being set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland instead.
** Also ''Anime/HowlsMovingCastle'' and ''Anime/PonyoOnTheCliffByTheSea'' to lesser extents. There are very indulgent shots of the ocean and mountains, but they are significantly shorter and occur less often in other Studio Ghibli films.
** ''Anime/KikisDeliveryService'' is a more western equivalent, with the suggestion that it takes place in a sort of European setting where UsefulNotes/WorldWarII never happened. However, most of the plot happens within the city.
** The scenes in the Cagliostro countryside in his first film ''[[Anime/TheCastleOfCagliostro Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro]]'' qualify as well.

* Mufasa's kingdom in ''Disney/TheLionKing'' is like a Ghibli Savanna, which [[{{Shadowland}} later becomes]] {{Mordor}} once [[{{FisherKing}} Scar takes over the throne]].
* The future city in ''Disney/MeetTheRobinsons'' is surrounded by lush green hills under blue skies, with the Robinsons house atop one of the hills. In the BadFuture controlled by Doris, [[{{Shadowland}} the city]] becomes an over-industrialized CrapsackWorld.
%%* "The Rite of Spring" in Disney/{{Fantasia}}.
%%* Even more so, the "Firebird Suite" in Disney/Fantasia2000.

* In Creator/TheBrothersGrimm's ''Snow White And Rose Red'' -- no relation to Literature/{{Snow White|and the seven dwarfs}} -- the girls live by such a forest, in which they are safe to wander and even sleep at night.

[[folder:Folk Lore]]

* Used more darkly in ''Anime/PomPoko''. The {{tanuki}} (raccoons in the English dub) start out living happily in the Tama Hills west of Tokyo until the city starts encroaching on their territory. Soon the tanuki are forced to use their legendary powers of illusion in an increasingly desperate struggle to protect their forests, even going so far as to [[{{Masquerade}} reveal their fantastical existence]] in a final plea for the environment. In the end [[spoiler: the defeated tanuki combine their powers for one last nostalgic illusion depicting their forests as they once were to show the humans what had been lost]] Ironically, the next Studio Ghibli film, ''Anime/WhisperOfTheHeart'' is set in the very same Tama New Town suburb created by this development.

[[quoteright:318:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/parris18.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:318:The Glen, by Maxfield Parrish]]

** Holyrood Park, being a Royal Park and therefore under the protection of the Crown, is a little bit of Ghibli Hills ''in the middle of Edinburgh''.

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