Howl's Moving Castle

Howl’s Moving Castle begins with a shot of a monstrous looking walking machine coming out of the mist and traversing a country side. It transitions to the main character, Sophie, who works at a hat shop that her father used to own. Sophie immediately establishes herself as a mature, hard working woman, willing to forgo fun for her work. She heads towards her younger sister’s home and we are shown tanks and soldiers walking by in lines with crowds cheering. She continues making her way down vacant streets when she is cornered by two military men. A blond haired man appears behind her and throws his arm around her saying that she is with him and uses magic to compel them to leave. He then offers to escort Sophie to her sister’s before he states that they are being followed and that someone is after him. He flies her up to where her sister is before flying away, never telling her who he is (although to the viewers it is apparent that this is Howl). When she returns to the hat shop later that night, she is followed in by a very large woman who introduces herself as the Witch of the Waste. The witch curses Sophie, turning her into an old woman and telling her that she won’t be able to tell anyone about the curse.

Howl's Castle

Sophie meets Howl

The Witch of the Waste

Sophie realizes she's old

Sophie runs away, knowing she can’t stay, and heads towards the mountains where Howl’s moving castle was last seen. She then meets a living scarecrow, whom she promptly names Turnip Head. After realizing she can’t get rid of the scarecrow, she asks it to find her shelter. The scarecrow brings Howl’s castle to her. She ends up having to run to catch the castle, no easy feat for an old woman. She makes it in and thanks the scarecrow. Warming herself in front of the fire, the fire introduces itself as Calcifer claiming that he can break her curse. He bargains with her, trying to get her to free him in exchange for her youth. She falls asleep as he continues to try and bargain with her. She wakes up to a doorbell ringing, a little boy appears to get it, merely casting Sophie a weird look before answering the door and accepting an invitation from the palace. The door rings twice more, and Sophie discovers the door is capable of opening to different locations according to the color above the knob. The little boy, Markl, asks why Calcifer let her in, but he explains that she just walked in. After opening the door to its various locations, she decides to make breakfast for Markl and herself. She intimidates Calcifer into submission by threatening to pour water on him. Howl walks in and asks who Sophie is. She introduces herself as his new housekeeper. They then sit down to breakfast where Howl discovers that the Witch of the Waste has left a spell in Sophie’s pocket that allows the witch to find Howl.

Sophie meets Turnip Head

Markl gets ready for work

Markle opens the magic door to one of its four locations

Sophie meets Calcifer

Time passes and Sophie has made herself part of the household (after almost killing Calcifer, and therefore Howl, by excessively cleaning and almost putting him out). Howl asks Sophie to go to the king in response to the summons he received on Sophie’s first day in Howl’s Castle. He gives her a magic ring that connects her to Calcifer and guarantees her safe return. She agrees and Howl says he will be there in disguise. She believes he takes the form of a small old dog and talks to him. She meets the Witch of the Waste who asks about Howl. Sophie ignores the witch, especially after the witch admits that she cannot reverse the curse. When they get close to the king’s palace, the Witch of the Waste is forced to abandon her carriage. We find out that she is rather pitiful, unable to even climb the stairs without being completely exhausted. Sophie encourages her. When they get into the palace, the Witch of the Waste takes the single chair in the room, and Sophie follows the dog down a side hall where she meets a page who escorts her to Suliman, the king’s sorcerer. The scene then goes back to the Witch of the Waste.We see light bulbs and then someone flips a switch and human- like shadows circle her as she yells in alarm. They very obviously are malevolent with no good for the Witch of the Waste. The scene quickly flashes back to Sophie as she begins talking to Suliman. Suliman tells Sophie that Howl gave his heart to a demon. Suliman then makes a threat that if Howl doesn’t give up his path, he would end up like the Witch of the Waste. The witch is then wheeled in, a small, ancient shadow of the massive, obese witch. Sophie is instantly sympathetic to the Witch of the Waste. Sophie reverts to her youthful age as she speaks passionately about Howl and reveals herself as Howl’s weakness. Howl then comes in, and a fight breaks out between Howl and Suliman. Howl starts turning into a bird-like creature and, in a surreal sequence, they seem to be fighting in the stars. As he is turning more bird-like, Sophie tells him it’s a trap and they escape with the Witch of the Waste and Suliman’s spy-dog. Howl separates from them, buying them time. The ring Howl gave her guides her back to Calcifer, where they crash land.

Howl returns and remodels the previously decrepit castle, connecting it to Sophie’s home. However, an air raid causes Howl to continue fighting in the war, trying to stop the air raid. In order to make it so Howl doesn’t have to keep fighting, Sophie desperately removes Calcifer from the castle, causing it to collapse, and with it the link to the town. Then she lets Calcifer eat her braid in order to get the castle back in working, movable order. The Witch of the Waste, who is for all intents and purposes a hapless old lady, realizes that Calcifer is also Howl’s heart and grabs him, causing the castle to lose control again. Calcifer is also burning the Witch of the Waste to death, and Sophie throws water on Calcifer in desperation to stop the chaos. This causes him to lose his power and the castle breaks in half, separating Sophie. She ends up following the magic ring into Howl’s past where she tells the past Howl to wait for her. She comes back to the present and finds Howl, in bird form, sitting there worse for the wear. She tells his almost catatonic self to take her to Calcifer. He gets her there and Howl collapses. Sophie asks if giving Howl his heart back will kill Calcifer, to which Calcifer replies that maybe if she did it it would work since he didn’t go out when she poured water on him. She returns Howl’s heart, and the star version of Calcifer comes out and shoots away, celebrating his freedom. With the remaining power gone, the small bit of castle tumbles over the edge, but Turnip Head saves them by slowing them down. Sophie gives Turnip Head a kiss and he turns into the prince of the land that Sophie’s country is at war with. He says he is going to stop the war. Calcifer returns, saying he would miss them too much. Howl, Sophie and the others look over the countryside, and Suliman is shown this by the spy-dog who now sides with Sophie. Suliman likewise decides to end what she calls a senseless war. The final cut is of them in a new, flying castle as the bombers return to their origins.

Witch of the Waste realizes Calcifer is Howl's heart

Sophie almost puts Howl out , turning him blue and making him weak

Turnip Head turns into a prince

Howl realizes he loves Sophie

Calcifer decides he's lonely

Not such a demon after all...

Spy-dog says that Sophie won

Howl’s Moving Castle is one of the many well-loved Miyazaki films, working with features that are part of his known style. Miyazaki, in four of his five films that I have seen, creates a strong female lead, coupled with another character with greater power but also greater character flaws. Miyazaki creates fantastical worlds using CGI animation that draws in the audience. In this particular film, Miyazaki uses a combination of magic and mundane, particularly in regards to the war that takes place in the film.

Despite the war that is raging through Sophie’s country, the war is not the focus at all, but rather used as a plot device in order to act as a catalyst for the main element of the film: Howl’s development as a character, as well as the relationships Sophie creates in the face of adversity. Sophie is cursed for her mere association with Howl, and yet when she finds him there is no animosity towards him, but rather a profound interest. Howl’s character at that point is frivolous, shallow, and careless. He appears to be entirely unconcerned about anything, but once he starts getting to know Sophie he begins to change into a deeper character. Despite Howl having amazing powers and Sophie trapped in the body of an old woman, Sophie is the stronger of the two- Sophie is what pushes him to be a better person, to break away from the shell of a man he was becoming. The war was used to show the aspects of Howl that are both fear inducing and awe inspiring. Howl at one point comments about how terrible the war is, and how it didn’t matter which side was which, but simply who was harming people. He calls them murderers, a clear strike against any kind of war, and yet he is willing to dirty his own hands by taking down wizards and airships. This is another theme of Miyazaki’s, as seen in Princess Mononoke, where a war is being fought. The main characters are against fighting, but willing to fight to protect what they believe in. In many ways, Howl’s participation and views on the war demonstrate his moral compass.

Howl’s Moving Castle contains the three act structure clearly. The beginning of the film sets up how Sophie comes to be with Howl, as well as showing the political climate and the future conflict regarding the king’s summons. Up until the point where the spell in Sophie’s pocket is revealed, we are being introduced to our characters and given the setting for all the future conflicts. As the film picks up pace we gradually have more of the motivations, limitations, and conflicts popping up and causing issues, particularly involving the summons to the royal palace. This event leads to the culminating event of Calcifer’s near death, and therefore Howl’s. The beginning of the resolution began when Sophie stepped into the past just after the disaster with Calcifer, allowing her to realize how to save Howl from himself and his self-destructive use of his powers. Her learning exactly how Howl’s life is tied into Calcifer’s is the resolution to saving Howl, and at the same time opening the gate for their love. This incidentally resolved the war with the return of the prince from Turnip Head and Suliman realizing that her war was over as well.

Miyazaki is one of the most well-known Japanese directors for American audiences. Using his unique style of anime, he takes the audience on a mystical journey through his dramatic images and the way he invests his audience in his films. He leaves his viewers spellbound, creating an emotional bond between his characters and his viewers. Containing a love story without the focus being on the romance, Howl’s Moving Castle takes a simple plot and fills it with large gaps where Howl and Sophie are living entirely separate lives. This gives both characters the ability to stand on their own, which is often lost within a love story and creating an unpredictable, unique film. Its fantastical nature, contrasted with Sophie’s down to Earth attitude, appeals to an international audience by transcending cultural barriers that have tended to keep Japanese directors from gaining international interests. This, in addition to his unusually strong and independent female leads, is one of Miyazaki’s greatest achievements: being able to emotionally connect through all aspects of his films, and instilling deep, progressive messages throughout his films. Sophie is thrown into a new world in an instant yet instead of bemoaning her fate, she chases a solution, embarking on an adventure of dizzying proportions.

Howl’s Moving Castle contains similarities to Millennium Actress at various points in the films, but more pressing is the contrasts between these films. Both have love stories, and endless adversity coming between their success, but this is where most of the similarity ends. Millennium Actress revolves around a desperate search for the mysterious painter to return his key, but she is doomed to fail as shown by the wraith that tells her how much it hates her and how Chiyoko will chase him for eternity, while Sophie simply lives her life and things develop between Sophie and Howl. Instead of the instant need to follow him to the ends of the world that Chiyoko falls into, Sophie gets to know Howl and his ideals, and those are why she falls in love. It is the man rather than the idea of the man that Sophie is drawn to. In the ends of the films, the resolutions could not be more different. Chiyoko comes to the realization that she never loved him, but rather it was the chase that stole her heart. Sophie ends her story with peace falling back over her country and a new family at her side, including Howl, whom she loves. Both stories began with strange, uncomfortable, captivating beginnings, but these stories take very different paths and led to very different conclusions.

Howl’s Moving Castle takes anime to a depth that much of the anime world is lacking, with twists and turns combined with classical themes. The film captures social issues as well as personal issues and weaves them together, while simultaneously keeping them separate. This film, disguised as a simple children’s film, holds its viewers to the last moment with powerful messages and progressive characters. Miyazaki does not give into character stereotypes, but rather casts them aside entirely as though they never existed. Neither a wasted word nor image, Howl’s Moving Castle uses every detail to create a beautiful film for all ages. A love story with subtlety and striking clarity, Miyazaki has created a masterpiece.