Just seen this light hearted, 2004 released a fantasy feel good anime film named Howl’s Moving Castle. So, let’s discuss the full story of it and give a review on if you should watch it in 2024 or not.
So, hey guys, this is Sagnik J. from AnimeQuack and I have just finished watching Howl’s Moving Castle, a fantasy love making anime movie made to completely oppose to any war. By the way, Howl’s Moving Castle is available on Netflix.
Howl’s Moving Castle Release Date & Cast :
Howl’s Moving Castle is a Japanese animated film directed by Hayao Miyazaki, was first premiered on September 5, 2004 at 61st Venice International Film Festival and later theatrically released in Japan on November 20,2004.
All the major voice cast of this anime film are given below for Japanese and English dub version.
Japanese Voice Cast :
- Chieko Baisho – Sophie
- Takuya Kimura – Howl
- Akihiro Miwa – Witch of the Waste
English Dub Version :
- Jean Simmons – Old Sophie
- Emily Mortimer – Young Sophie
- Lauren Bacall – Witch of the Waste
- Christian Bale – Howl
- Josh Hutcherson – Markl
- Billy Crystal – Calcifer
Howl’s Moving Castle Full Story :
So, explaining the full story of the fantasy anime Howl’s Moving Castle, it unfolded at a small town and showed a young milliner called Sophie who was the eldest among three sisters. One day, during her visit to her sister Lettie, Sophie encountered a wizard named Howl.
But when returning home, she met the Witch of the Waste, who then transformed her into a 90 years old woman and fled away. When she got to know about the curse, she started keeping herself away from the other family members and wanted to keep the secret to herself only.
How The Story Started :
She then decided to go on a journey to find and break the curse. On her journey, she met a scarecrow, which was felt in the ground, so she made stand and discovered the scarecrow could actually speak like human.
Then the scarecrow ( which she named Turnip Head) gave her a stick to support her in her journey and way to enter in a (Howl’s) moving castle for her shelter. There she met a fire demon means Calcifier who source the castle’s all magic and movement and Howl’s young apprentice Markl.
There in the moving castle, Calcifer, the fire demon made a deal with Sophie, agreeing to break her curse if she could identify and broke it’s link with Howl that we got to know at the end of the movie. Meanwhile when the Howl appeared in the moving castle, old Sophie introduced herself to him as a cleaning lady.
How The Story Continues :
Now long story in short, as the movie continues, we got to know that Sophie’s nation was caught up in a war with it’s neighbour kingdom in search of his missing prince. For this when the king summoned the Howl to participate in war from his side, the Howl to refuse it, sended Sophie as his mother to tell him that Howl was too much of a coward to fight.
In the king’s palace, Sophie met the witch of the waste and Suliman, the king’s head sorceress. But after the conversation, Sophie got into trouble. When Howl came to rescue her, Suliman tried to trap him by turning him into a monster.
But with the help of Sophie, Howl came back to normal and flew away with Sophie, Witch of the Waste and Suliman’s dog named Heen. After that the soldier of Suliman searched for them in all of their possible hideouts but didn’t find them.
How It Ends :
During the movie, then we see various storytelling with cinematography scenes and how Sophie discovered the relation between Calcifer and Howl. Meanwhile, we see Howl involved in the war and also attached the castle’s magic door to Sophie’s home.
Throughout the end part of the movie, when Sophie kissed the Turnip Head (scarecrow) for saving their lives ( there was an incident when Turnip Head saved all’s life by sacrificing it’s body), it became the missing prince and there we got to know, the missing prince became the scarecrow because of a curse and now as the missing prince returned, the war ended from the both sides.
But after all the end, Howl and Sophie came together and as the castle soars away, Howl and Sophie kissed on the castle’s balcony. An Happy Ending!😭❤️
Howl’s Moving Castle Movie Review :
Now, the final review part of Howl’s Moving Castle. If you have observed, these type of animes are completely different from the traditional japanese anime, I kind of more like this.
The simple storyline, crystal clear anime visuals, somewhere something different with a slightly fantasy touch and a happy ending, perfect anime for chill and specially if you specially looking for any simple feel good anime, then I will highly recommend it, at least you should give it a try.
Queries :
The below are some of the queries that people generally ask about Howl’s Moving Castle. If you don’t find your query here, then you can add that in the comment section and we will add that here.
What is Howl’s Moving Castle all About?
Though I have already explained all the story of Howl’s Moving Castle in the upper section of this article. But in brief, Howl’s Moving Castle is a kind of love story and somewhere made against the war and it does, a slightly touch of fantasy, that makes it smooth, straightforward and feel good anime movie.
Where to Watch Howl’s Moving Castle?
It’s currently available on Netflix. Beside you can rent or purchase this film from platforms including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, iTunes, Google Play etc.
Howl’s Moving Castle Cast in English?
The below is the list of all the major english dubbed cast of Howl’s Moving Castle.
- Jean Simmons – Old Sophie
- Emily Mortimer – Young Sophie
- Lauren Bacall – Witch of the Waste
- Christian Bale – Howl
- Josh Hutcherson – Markl
- Billy Crystal – Calcifer
Who is Calcifer in Howl’s Moving Castle?
Calcifer is a fire demon that lives and responsible for the movability of Howl’s Moving Castle. Calcifer also has a secret relation with Howl that we got to know throughout the movie.
Conclusion :
So, that’s all for today guys, here in this article, I have tried my best to showcase whole storyline in as short as possible. If you like this, please do like share and follow us for more article. Thank you for reading and have a great day ahead.
