[Anime Review] Howl's Moving Castle

Howl's Moving Castle

"A Fantastic piece of anime by Ghibli" -bezoe

A plain young hatter named Sophie has her life changed when an evil witch transforms her into an old woman. Unable to face her family in such a condition, Sophie runs away in search of a way to become young again. Along the way, Sophie helps a turnip headed scarecrow, who repays her by leading her to the moving castle owned by the dreaded wizard Howl. There she befriends Howl's apprentice Markl, Howl's fire demon Calcifer, and eventually, Howl himself. Sophie then becomes the castle's cleaning lady in an effort to not only find the solution to her problem but to save Howl from his own terrible secrets as well.

I like hows this anime goes, even though I don't think I like the story so much but artistic wise was wonderful. For me it is a bit weird to digest the story wise (even though I know the story but I still consider it a bit confusing). This is my 3rd times watch these anime so far.

Character design was very well done by Hayao, Sophie in my opinion actually looks good in grey hair, but that probably just me hehe. Howl was a pretty interesting design by Ghibli I must say, I like him, a very interesting character. Scarecrow and Calcifer are both really fun to watch.

Animation wise was amazing as usual, but I noticed they use some 3D element in this anime, which is fine actually as long as it integrate. I like how the "blob army" (that's what I like to call them, you watch it then I guess you know which characters I'm describing here) move around.

Graphic was amazing, and even more if you buy the Art book hehe. Its really hard to describe how I like the design of the Howl's Castle. The background layout also pretty awesome, and the interior design of the Castle was great, I like how the dirty bathroom look~.

Music, even though its by Joe Hisaishi, I can't say I like it nor I hate it. Let say its a very good background music and composing, but I don't think its as memorable as Totoro or Laputa.

Bottom line: Its a very great Ghibli anime, I really recommend it all people to watch, but unfortunately I don't think this anime will be as memorable as other Ghiblis great anime.

Overall Rating: A-