Why the ‘weird’ ending of Howl’s Moving Castle isn’t so weird at all.

Howl’s path from aggression to pacifism.

The problem with adults in Howl’s Moving Castle.

Howl’s Castle as a character in its own right.

Heen – the dog with the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it storyline.

Calcifer – the fire demon with an existential crisis.

Markl – the boy who had to grow up too fast.

Howl – the world’s most powerful adolescent.

Sophie Hatter – the girl who leapt through adulthood.

Howl’s Moving Castle – Character Analysis.

Coming of age in Miyazaki’s earlier films.

“In reality, I often forget about the children”.

Nuanced storytelling and self-referencing.

and how the ending is actually not that weird if you pay attention to how the film sets up its storylines.

the big reason why the characters don’t want to grow up and how that ties into Miyazaki’s lifelong anti-war stance.

the interview quote that sheds some light on the perspective to apply when watching this film.

how Miyazaki seamlessly integrates fairy tale storytelling with archetypal mythology.

In the final video in my Introduction to Studio Ghibli Storytelling series, I reveal: So Miyazaki literally puts them under one roof, so they can help each other work through their issue. Howl’s Moving Castle is unique in the sense that it’s like a setup for a sitcom: it takes characters that have the same problem – Howl, Sophie, Markl, Calcifer and even the Witch of the Waste are people who don’t want to take responsibility for where they are in their life, and don’t want to move on - essentially they don’t want to grow up.

In Howl’s Moving Castle, Hayao Miyazaki flips his own script and instead of making a coming-of-age film, he makes a film-where-people-should-have-come-of-age-but-didn’t, shaping his story around how to grow up if you’re already an adult.

Howls moving castle movie visuals