Both movies involve the Japanese countryside and growing up, yet the colors are soft and warm helping personify the warm feeling created by both movies.
These two ghibli movies have the same core: The purity of rural life. What Miyazaki recounts with magic, Takahata does with realism. I'll leave to your imagination who wins.
Both talk about the significance of nature and its advantages over the 9 to 5 city life
Both have beautifully portrayed characters who care about the others
Both were produced by the legendary Studio Ghibli