If I try to count how many times I've watched 'Howl', I'd be at a loss. I cannot remember them all. Why is it that I can re-watch it and never be bored? Maybe some special Ghibli magic.
story and characters
Of course I can't really add any in-depth analysis to the comprehensive research papers published by others until now. It's not my purpose either. Here is the first reason I watch 'Howl' again and again: Ghibli stories always comprehend fantastic elements with realistic so well that the result looks much more credible than many other stories set in the real world.
For a more selfish reason, here is another one. You can point at as many ikemen characters of any reverse harem saying 'he's my type' as you like, and I'll answer the same - just give me Howl and I'll leave you with all 'Free' or whatever members.
Finally, if ever I saw a world I wouldn't mind living in, it'd be a world created in Ghibli, namely, Miyazaki's works.
voice acting
What I remember for sure, is that the first several times I watched 'Howl', it was the dubbed version. What you discover when you finally turn on the original sound is that many things are a bit unexpected. If you didn't know the details, you'd be surprised to hear that Sophie is voiced by 63-year old Chieko Baisho even when Sophie is her usual self with the voice slightly changed with a computer to sound younger, that Takuya Kimura is an actor rather than a seiyuu, and that the Witch's voice was lent to her by a male seiyuu, Akihiro Miwa. Nothing of these was news to me, but I was still very amused to hear how it actually sounds like.
music
But now tell me what melody 'Howl' ends with. Many will say it's 'sekai no yakusoku'. It's true that it's the ending theme, but in fact, after the song ends there is Joe Hisaishi's 'jinsei no merry-go-round' playing, starting in g minor, then changing several times between different major keys and the minor to end up in major again. It's too straightforward to say all melodies in major are happy and all in minor are blue, but throw a stone at me if there is no connection between these notions.
conclusion
I guess, this is what the title of the piece is about. After all, life is like a merry-go-round with sad and happy events changing each other. Maybe I watch 'Howl' again and again to see how this merry-go-round leads to a happy end, acknowledged even by the witch Suliman.
For a more selfish reason, here is another one. You can point at as many ikemen characters of any reverse harem saying 'he's my type' as you like, and I'll answer the same - just give me Howl and I'll leave you with all 'Free' or whatever members.
Finally, if ever I saw a world I wouldn't mind living in, it'd be a world created in Ghibli, namely, Miyazaki's works.
voice acting
What I remember for sure, is that the first several times I watched 'Howl', it was the dubbed version. What you discover when you finally turn on the original sound is that many things are a bit unexpected. If you didn't know the details, you'd be surprised to hear that Sophie is voiced by 63-year old Chieko Baisho even when Sophie is her usual self with the voice slightly changed with a computer to sound younger, that Takuya Kimura is an actor rather than a seiyuu, and that the Witch's voice was lent to her by a male seiyuu, Akihiro Miwa. Nothing of these was news to me, but I was still very amused to hear how it actually sounds like.
music
But now tell me what melody 'Howl' ends with. Many will say it's 'sekai no yakusoku'. It's true that it's the ending theme, but in fact, after the song ends there is Joe Hisaishi's 'jinsei no merry-go-round' playing, starting in g minor, then changing several times between different major keys and the minor to end up in major again. It's too straightforward to say all melodies in major are happy and all in minor are blue, but throw a stone at me if there is no connection between these notions.
conclusion
I guess, this is what the title of the piece is about. After all, life is like a merry-go-round with sad and happy events changing each other. Maybe I watch 'Howl' again and again to see how this merry-go-round leads to a happy end, acknowledged even by the witch Suliman.
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