Ghibli studio and anime culture
Howl’s moving castle is yet another masterpiece by studio Ghibli , if you are a studio Ghibli fan you already know the comforts of the movies they have to offer along the aesthetic visuals and incredible story lines. Studio Ghibli is known for producing some amazing animes that are loved and appreciated all over the world by the people who enjoy anime, in the recent years we have come across to growing interest of people towards anime , what mostly attracts the audience towards anime is the main character energy that it holds the vibrant colors and elaborative expressions and the culture that they get to experience through animes, the style of the characters draw people in and develop a sense of perception for everyone, also who wouldn’t love a light hearted watch with eye appealing visuals after a long day at work or trying to relax after working for the for the whole day, over some good comfort food anime is always a great option to relax and unwind.
Introduction to the movie
Howl’s moving castle is an adaptation from a fantasy novel written by a British author Diana Wynne Jones that first got published in the year 1986 by Greenwillow books New York the novel has also said to be a runner up for the annual Boston Globe-Horn book award and had won the phoenix award about twenty years later. The movie is said to take place in a fictional monarchy of Ingary of which the capital is Kingsbury. Ignary is surrounded by the east border of Strangia and south border with Sultanates of Rushpuht and near them is the country of High Norland, the monarchy of Ignary is in the middle of war zone and is soon likely to be attacked by High Norland and Strangia both, the town is said to have a lot witches and wizard residing inside of it who are every now and then are asked for help in the war by the kingdom.
Characters of the movie
The movie is based on characters as follows: –
The main character girl is named Sophie Hatter 18 years’ old who is the eldest of her sisters and said to be not so good looking like her sisters and mother. Sophie lacks confidence but is sharp witted hard working and head strong, she works as a hatter in a shop and lives life in a rather simple way without too many expectations and desires. Who gets cursed into being an old woman and loosing her youth.
The other main character is the wizard Howl 27 years old who is very charming, self-appreciative and endearing and normally known amongst people as Wizard Jenkins or Howl Pendragon, he is cursed and often appears as dishonest and careless and seems to avoid uncomfortable situations, he gave his heart to Calcifier (another character to be discussed) in order for Calcifer to continue living and not die, the bond he shares with Calcifer is very strong and gives him power.
Calcifer is a fire on which Howl’s moving castle mainly depends as he keeps his fire burning and the castle moving due to some unbreakable treaty he signed with Howl. He creates a good bond with Sophie and promises to help her break her curse and realizes her abilities and intelligence.
Michael Fisher is 15-year-old boy who lives with Howl in his castle and works for him, he is an orphan and he too gets very attached to Sophie and creates an exceptional bond with her and helps her around during house chores and looks after her.
The witch of the waste is yet another character who gets banished from Ingary and seemed to have a small brief relationship with Howl for sometime before Howl broke her heart like he is known to do so with a lot of women and because of some misunderstanding she ends up cursing Sophie in to an old woman by the end of the movie the witch of the waste ends up loosing all her powers and becomes an old hag whom Sophie takes in and looks after. They all start living together with Howl in his moving castle as a little family.
The plot of the movie
Sophie is a small town simple looking girl with a simple mindset and lifestyle she lived Ingary and worked as hatter. One day on her way to home she gets stopped by some guards on duty on the street while one of them tries to flirt with her, while this happened Howl enters the scene and helps Sophie escape the guard being well aware that Howl was being followed by the creations of the witch of the waste. Howl uses his magic to escape them and helps Sophie reaches home and apologizes to get her caught in the mess, little did they know that Sophie had already become a target of the witch of the waste who later on curses her into being an old woman due which Sophie is then forced to leave her home and workplace and travels far across to end up at Howl’s moving castle, during her stay at the castle Sophie gets close to everyone living there including Howl and takes charge of the house hold and becomes everyone’s favorite.
One-day Howl is summoned by the witch Sulimman who lived with the king and guided him. Howl decides to send Sophie as his mother in his place but the witch was well aware of everything beforehand the same day she had also summoned the witch of the waste, somehow the witch Sulimman lures Sophie into her trap well knowingly that Howl was in love with her and will come to save her after, all the disasters Howl and Sophie go through to save each other and their little family they confess their love to one another and become one which was all along the plan of witch Sulimann and she did all this on purpose to knock some sense and responsibility into Howl and to get him serious and careful towards life and then she ends the war where the movie also ends.
Conclusion
I would like to end this with a conclusion that Anime is always a great idea to relax and unwind and that this movie is nothing but major comfort watch I would like to recommend the anime lovers to go watch Ghibli movies as they transport you into a different world of magic, love, peace, power and aesthetics and culture.
