sail thou forth, to seek and find

accurate howl’s moving castle film adaptation but it’s filmed like a mockumentary

howl [interview while he’s messing with potions in his shed]: what do i think of sophie? well. she’s my cleaning lady. she cleans a lot of stuff. she cleaned my bathroom the other day. i hate it when people touch my stuff. for example one time michael came in and tried to do a spell but he moved the sulphur so i accidentally used dried lemon zest instead and the entire shed blew up. i lost both my eyebrows and calcifer was sick for three days. i cried for weeks. magic is very touchy stuff, you know. a lot of people don’t realize how careful you have to be. one time -

michael: if you ask howl any questions about sophie or how he feels about her he just slithers out of them. i ask him if he likes her cooking and he gives me more chores to do. i don’t do them, obviously. that’s sophie’s job

I’m not going to explain myself

another lovely thing in howl’s moving castle (and sequels) is the way it uses transformed-appearances to say “the solution to your problems isn’t becoming someone else” without simplifying it to “changing your superficial appearance is bad"

#it would’ve been easy to be like ‘howl needs to stop focusing on his experience bc they’re in love with each others True Beauty TM’ #but that’s not it! sophie likes howl’s perfumes and thinks he looks good and she also loves him when he’s hungover unshaven and frantic #he’s delighted to see her young but was already in love with her when she was cursed to be old!! #it’s not ‘the pursuit of beauty is bad’ it’s ‘beauty does not define your worth or loveability’ #which i really really like

the real reason howl kept his castle moving was tax evasion

When you’re old, all you want to do is stare at the scenery. It’s so strange. I’ve never felt so peaceful before.

Howl’s Moving Castle  |  ハウルの動く城 (2004) dir. Hayao Miyazaki

calcifer: sophie form an extremely suspicious contract with me

sophie: uh idk man. you’re a demon?

calcifer: but i’m being exploited :c

sophie, her instinct as a low/no-wage worker instantly overriding all sensibilities as a self-aware fantasy character: i guess we have no choice but to unionize

hard at work

The wizard Howl

(direct link)

Howl’s Moving Castle (2004), dir. Hayao Miyazaki

Artbook: The Art of Howl’s Moving Castle

You’re in his DMs, I’m in his moving castle victimizing his fire demon and apprentice with my cleaning skills. We are not the same.

This is fabulous.

i finally got around to scanning this in, so here’s a concept art perspective piece i did of howl’s family room, taking insp from both the book and the movie

Sophie but she’s Desi ♡

The pattern shifting is SUCH an animator flex.

Let’s be honest, the man’s whole bedroom was an animation flex.

howl’s moving castle au where howl is trans

- the first girl to disappear and start the rumors about eating hearts is Howl 

- howl, in a fit of drama: [deadname] is dead and i killed her

-also howl: GOD ifuckin g LOVE GIRLS but unfortunately i have to flee the moment i get attached in case they Discover my Dark Secret

-of course hes trans his name is HOWL PENDRAGON.

-i also do love the concept of him nervously explaining this to Sophie and shes like: “so… ur a girl who got turned into a man?”

and hes like “ABSOLUTELY NOT. DISGUSTING.”

sophie: “hm. ok. so u turned urself into a man with magic, bc ur a man on the inside”

howl: “MORE OR LESS”

sophie: “ok makes sense, idk why this had to be a huge production, please come down off the ceiling and shave that weird beard u grew specifically for this conversation, ur my horrible beautiful husband and beards do NOT suit u”

howl: “im going to cry”

sophie: “i wish u wouldnt”