Howl no Ugoku Shiro

That jumbled piece of architecture, that cacophony of hissing steam and creaking joints, with smoke billowing from it as it moves on its own... That castle is home to the magnificent wizard Howl, infamous for both his magical prowess and for being a womanizer—or so the rumor goes in Sophie Hatter's small town. Sophie, as the plain daughter of a hatmaker, does not expect much from her future and is content with working hard in the shop.

However, Sophie's simple life takes a turn for the exciting when she is ensnared in a disturbing situation, and the mysterious wizard appears to rescue her. Unfortunately, this encounter, brief as it may be, spurs the vain and vengeful Witch of the Waste—in a fit of jealousy caused by a past discord with Howl—to put a curse on the maiden, turning her into an old woman.

In an endeavor to return to normal, Sophie must accompany Howl and a myriad of eccentric companions—ranging from a powerful fire demon to a hopping scarecrow—in his living castle, on a dangerous adventure as a raging war tears their kingdom apart.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Howl Main

Kimura, Takuya Japanese

Hatter, Sophie Main

Baishou, Chieko Japanese

Calcifer Supporting

Gashuin, Tatsuya Japanese

Turnip Head Supporting

Oizumi, Yo Japanese

Heen Supporting

Harada, Daijiro Japanese

Markl Supporting

Kamiki, Ryunosuke Japanese

Witch of the Waste Supporting

Miwa, Akihiro Japanese

Suliman Supporting

Katou, Haruko Japanese

Hatter, Lettie Supporting

Kazuki, Yayoi Japanese

Hatter, Honey Supporting

Yasokawa, Mayuno Japanese

Suzuki, Toshio Producer

Ishii, Tomohiko Assistant Producer

Miyazaki, Hayao Director, Script, Screenplay, Executive Producer

Toba, Yousuke Episode Director

Reviews

Mar 23, 2025

Anihwa

Recommended

This Ghibli movie is directed by Hayao Miyazaki. The story follows a girl who is cursed into an old woman, and her journey leads her to meet Howl, eventually becoming his housekeeper. I assume you've already read the synopsis, so I won’t waste time repeating it. Let’s get straight to the review. Since this movie is quite famous and well-loved, my review will likely get lost among thousands of others. If you come across this and like it, feel free to leave a thumbs-up!

This is my second Ghibli movie. I think the movie is decent. I’d say it deserves a 7-ish rating, yet it's enjoyable. ... The plot becomes a bit messy in the middle, and there's little to no logic behind certain elements. The unexplained use of magic made things confusing. The romance also lacks proper development. But despite all that, it's still a highly enjoyable watch.

The animation is appealing, and I really love Howl’s character design. Some scenes had inconsistencies in his design, but that’s expected since it’s hand-drawn. Considering the sheer effort that goes into traditional animation, I really appreciate the artistry. The music at the end was also great.

The movie has a good vibe overall, but Howl’s motivations should have been explored more. His childhood needed better development. He’s a dramatic and likeable character, but the lack of depth in his character is a drawback. The ending also felt rushed. It wrapped up too quickly without proper relationship development, also leaving several questions unanswered.

Despite its flaws, it’s still a great movie. It’s fun, family-friendly, and easy to enjoy. I believe it deserves a rating around 7, my personal enjoyment doesn't change that. I’m giving it a final rating of 7. If you like Disney fantasy films especially Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, or The Princess and the Frog and want something with a similarly lighthearted yet beautifully animated style, you’ll probably enjoy this one!

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Feb 2, 2025

TheWizardNonagon

Mixed Feelings

This movie utterly fails as an adaptation. It is based on a book it seemingly has no interest in, and thus leaves everything it doesnt absolutely need from the book out. The plot of the movie doesnt make sense just on its own because it leaves so much unexplained. But it also doesnt make that much sense if you have read the book because it diverges so much. It is thematically about different things, the characters are just barely recognizable. It really should not have been an adaptation.

Despite all this it is an enjoyable experience to watch. It is impeccably animated, the emotional beats work, ... the music is gorgeous, the tone works wonderfully. I would not recommend you watch it because it feels incoherent, but there are things worth watching for if you can stand the incoherency.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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Oct 11, 2024

ArturiaP3ndrag0n

Not Recommended

All spectacle and whimsy, with no plot or notion of development. There is no proper build up for anything, and consequently no proper pay off for anything. Everything is incredibly contrived. It is the perfect kid's movie because you just turn off you brain and enjoy the flashy colors and fun things unfolding.

Rubric 1: Entertainment and Artistic Value = 2/2
This is the only saving grace of this movie, its a masterpiece of animation that is truly the pinnacle of artistic achievement in the medium of film. Even 20 years later the art and soundtrack is better than most works. Eye candy and eye catching. ... The first half was kinda enjoyable, seeing Sophie wrestle with the dynamic of being an old lady, her antics and funny jokes as well as bantering and calm approach to everything. The first half was fun which I'd say salvaged it somewhat. Also because my baby girl was enjoying it a lot too so I'm inclined to find it fun too.

Rubric 2: Would I recommend this? = 0/2
Absolutely not. Maybe if you are curious about what this movie meant, you could watch it for the incredibly Sakuga. But narrative and art is much more than pretty paint and colors. We have narrative storytelling, world building, multifaceted character development, exploration of complex thematic discourse and of course the core tenant of the movie being a complication, building with set up to set up until its a lock in that leads to a climax where you get your pay off all the way to resolution. None of that here.

Rubric 3: Narrative Consistency = 0/2
I define narrative consistency as the quality that allows you to determine at any point in the film how easily you can ask What are we doing? Why are we doing this? When is this in the entire story and Where are we headed? Through out the entire film, I was unable to answer any of these questions. We start with questions and are left with nothing but more questions. Nothing is resolved and complications after complications spring up out of nowhere with no build up. Frankly, I had no idea what was going on in the film anymore after the half way mark.

Rubric 4: Emotional Moments = 0/2
Any moment that sticks in your mind be it due to heavy emotions of Sadness, Anger, Joy or Cerebral. Some examples are United States of Smash from BNHA, Operation Arclight in Steins;Gate, CHOOSE ME BEATRICE from ReZero S2, Tokai Teio in Uma Musume S2 etc. Moments that stick with you long after the show has ended. Unfortunately there is nothing here that I find remotely memorable, aside from the splash of colors everywhere.

Rubric 5: Caters to Personal Preferences? = 1/2
My preferences are as follows:

Historical = The plot, world building or power systems are based on real history or inspired strongly by history.

Power Systems = Magic Systems, Power Mechanics, basically the plot devices and means of influencing the plot or other things. This could be FMAB's Law of Equivalent Exchange, Avatar's Airbending, or even the Rules of Time Travel in Steins;Gate. Brandon Sanderson's 3 laws of magic apply here.

Idealogue = Deep themes, and philosophical discourse. My favorite theme is the theme of Kingship, so stuff like Fate where we have King Arthur in Arturia Pendragon, Iskander as Alexander the Great and Gilgamesh the King of Heroes clashing with each having their own ideals of being a Great King.

Out of these, due to the blatant inspiration from the Great War (WW1) era as well as an attempted inspection of the theme of War and Peace. This show gets the Historical point there.. barely.
The magic systems make 0 sense, everything is contrived and nothing seems to make sense. Aside from only 1 limitation about Howl, which even then didn't make sense either. Too much contrivance.
Sanderson stated in his laws of Magic,
1 = The capability of a magic system to solve a plot complication must be directly proportional to the audience's understanding of it. If we don't understand how any of this works, or have any idea of the limitations. We don't know what is the magic system capable of, as such plot complications carry no significance or stakes. If a demonic curse can be solved by a kiss or true love? thats fine but communicate that first and then make the stakes the logistical problem of getting there, i.e the beast has gone mad and his beloved needs to reach them but is impeded by baddies etc. None of that here.
2 = Magic Systems are known not by their capabilities, but their limitations. Its magic, its literally the do anything i want plot device. If we don't know what are the limitations or costs in a concrete transactional manner, then it is not interesting. We never did learn what were the limits of power for many people here, only that they suddenly lose powers for some reason. It also doesnt seem to justify alot of motivations, are they powerless? if so how? if not why don't they just do what they want? (assuming we even know what the characters want in the first place), magic is party tricks here. it is flashy and does alot, but we don't know what it is not capable of doing and why. We never did see Sophie actually resolve the matter of being cursed.
3 = Before you expand on your magic system, make sure its consistent with existing rules. This is probably the most blatantly abused against here. So many things happened and so many developments with endless more magic stuff happens which we never understand. The more you watch, the more confusing, frustrating and ridiculous it gets.

Lastly is idealogue. I do like the theme of War and Peace here which was completely neglected and put in the background sadly. They could have gone somewhere. But the most infuriating thing in this entire show.. is nobody is willing to die for anything. Everyone has PAPER THIN MOTIVATIONS. What does the witch want? idk, is it the king? 50 years? nope apparently. She wants hearts? Okay then why is she suddenly the good guy here right until the moment where they want her to throw a wrench in the works? What about Howl? What does he want? He wants to be free? Then why is he held down by anything? Why does he go out and risk his life like he does? For what purpose? Does he want to be free? or does he see a duty to stop the war? If he wants to stop the war enough to risk his life why doesnt he go face the king? Hes a coward? Then why is he risking his life? Wait he got courage? He needed one old grandma stranger to give him the courage to risk his life like that? I could keep going, but by far the most ridiculous assertion out of everything. Was the fact the two actually somehow fell in love with each other. I could somewhat get Howl, a man can catch feelings if he is helped by someone at their lowest. But Sophie? If she never met howl, she would never have gotten cursed and would have lived a normal life. Its his fault she got dragged into all this. Maybe she wanted an adventure? and she fell for this whimsical mess of a man? Why? I find it rather degrading for a girl to simply get the hots for a guy for no apparent reason like that.. or maybe im out of touch or taking this too seriously. Either way, it is infuriating. Nobody stands for anything, so i found no reason to care about anything either.


The first half was still bearable, the 2nd one went south super fast. The entire world building went nowhere, the entire war thing was pointless. tldr 3/10 this stuff sits alongside Queens Blade. That balatant Fan Service fest atleast had potential, consistent characterization and world building. This show has nothing but fancy sakuga thats it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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	Poll: Howl no Ugoku Shiro Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Cele - Dec 3, 2009	176 replies	by godslonelywoman »» Mar 20, 1:24 PM
	Im so confused _txhsin__ - Apr 3, 2023	6 replies	by monceeef »» Aug 23, 2024 8:13 PM
	Can someone explain why Sophie felt the need to destroy Howl's Castle? Golden_Cheese - May 29, 2023	9 replies	by voltaxx123 »» Jan 22, 2024 11:21 AM
	How was Sophie able to venture into Howl's past? Why did that black door appear? Golden_Cheese - May 30, 2023	5 replies	by namazuFish »» Jun 3, 2023 1:29 AM
	Is it because of the animation? Bogenvilia - Jan 12, 2022	31 replies	by Asudox »» Oct 7, 2022 1:51 PM

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