like it or not, the term 'anime' does come attached with certain stylistic assumptions. now, being obviously relatively unfamiliar with 99% of the subject material, i can not speak as expertly as i would like, but when has that ever stopped me? my main point is thus: if we accept the stereotypical idea of anime, which we may not but it is all i know, then we would most likely never categorize most of the ghibli films as such. it is their japanese origin that pigeon-holes them into that category, when i'm not sure that they should be.
also, i don't mean to malign anime as a whole, but it gets complicated when the term comes wrapped up with so many assumptions: big eyes, small mouth, flashing backgrounds, and fountains for tears are some of the ones that come to mind. i know that that isn't what anime is at all, but in my mind (and i think to most people's minds) it is exactly like that, and ghibli would never fit those ill-educated, yet broadly accepted parameters.