Hi. It’s the Time Traveler here, again, with final things to say about Howl’s Moving Castle. I had so much to share about the Ghibli film that I decided to break it into two parts. As you can tell, my last post on the movie was already long enough.
So now, I shall continue with part 2! 🙂
The Cast of Howl’s Moving Castle
Here is a chart I made showing the actors and actresses behind the many Howl’s Moving Castle characters:
Howl’s Voice
It’s crazy to think that Howl was voiced by Christian Bale aka “Batman” from The Dark Knight series! I think he did a great job, delivering a Howl that is more suitable for the Western audience. I thought Takuya Kimura did a great job, too, voicing a Howl that better connects with the Asian audience. All my Asian friends really like the movie. But apparently, his acting in Howl’s Moving Castle was not favored by the public in Japan. I read and heard that some Japanese viewers hated his voice acting. The film even won 4th place for Japan’s 2004 Bunshun Kiichigo Awards, which is “an award presented in recognition of the worst in film” (Wikipedia). 😮
I remember a Japanese classmate I once knew who deplored his role in the movie, too. Honestly, I didn’t and still don’t understand the hate. Maybe it’s because Takuya Kimura was part of a boy idol group? Or perhaps it’s because I don’t speak Japanese so I can’t tell if his voice sounds natural or not.
Sophie’s Voice
As for Sophie, I found Chieko Baisho’s voice to be perfect for the role. In fact, in my opinion, Chieko Baisho sometimes even looks a bit like Sophie, especially the Sophie in the beginning of the movie. I sometimes think that Hayao Miyazaki might have based his character design on the Japanese actress/singer.
It’s also incredible that she voiced both the older and younger Sophies’ voices. Emily Mortimer was also prefect for the role, too! She has that sweetness and gentleness in her voice that suits Sophie wonderfully. (But I did not expect the actress from The Pink Panther and The Pink Panther 2 to play the role.)
Voices of The Witch of the Waste & Calcifer
Other facts about the cast is that it includes famous actresses of the past century, like Lauren Bacall and Jean Simmons. And the Witch of the Waste’s voice in Japanese is by Akihiro Miwa, a singer/actor and drag queen, who voiced Moro the wolf in Princess Mononoke. Moreover, Calcifer’s English voice is done by Billy Crystal, aka Harry from When Harry Met Sally…(1989). Wait! He is even the voice of Mike Wazowski in the Monsters, Inc. franchise! WOW.
And Tatsuya Gashuin, the voice of Calicifer, voiced the frog from Spirited Away!
Markl’s Voice
The two men behind the voices of Markl are Ryūnosuke Kamiki and Josh Hutcherson. Josh Hutcherson is famous for playing Little Manhattan, Bridge to Terabithia, and so many other movies. But I think he is most famous for his role as Peeta in The Hunger Games series.
As for the Japanese voice actor, I didn’t think I knew who Ryūnosuke was, but I realized that he was the child prodigy who appeared in the making of Spirited Away. He voiced Boh, the giant baby! This is the clip from The Making of Spirited Away:
And he played so many other roles in famous Ghibli and non-Ghibli films. He was…
- Shō from Arrietty,
- Taki Tachibana from Your Name,
- Kenji Koiso from Summer Wars,
- and many more animes I haven’t watched.
I’ll stop talking about the phenomenal cast of Howl’s Moving Castle, as I have other topics to discuss in this post!
“The Promise of the World”
Okay, so I’ve just recently uncovered another interesting fact about the film. The final song that comes out in the movie that’s titled, “The Promise of the World (Sekai no Yakusoku)” is sung by none other than Chieko Baisho, the Japanese voice of Sophie!
It sucks that there’s no live version of Chieko Baisho singing the lovely song… 🙁 Plus, there’s no official YouTube video for “The Promise of the World,” as uploaded by Joe Hiaishi’s channel.
But I did find this clip of the last scene from the movie with the soundtrack in it:
Posters, Covers, and More
Lastly but not least, here are some posters, book covers and illustrations of Howl’s Moving Castle. It’s cool to see how others have envisioned Diana Wynne Jones’s novel as well as how others reimagined Studio Ghibli’s version of the novel.
Cover of the novel published by Harper Collins, illustrated by John Rocco. From https://www.harpercollins.com/products/howls-moving-castle-diana-wynne-jones
Rare illustrated cover of the novel published by HarperCollins. From https://www.abebooks.com/9780006755234/Howls-Moving-Castle-Jones-Diana-0006755232/plp
S. Tennant’s book cover design.
Poster created by Nhan Hoang.
Moving art created by Seerlight.
Pages from The Folio Society’s new edition of Diana Wynne Jones’s 1986 novel. Images from https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/11/7/20936830/diana-wynne-jones-howls-moving-castle-folio
Howl’s Moving Castle illustrated by Cristian Eres.
Korean version of the novel. From http://www.kyobobook.co.kr/product/detailViewKor.laf?mallGb=KOR&ejkGb=KOR&barcode=9788989708810
Front cover of the novel’s first U.S. edition.
Another book cover of the novel (HarperCollins, New Ed edition).
Japanese version of the novel.
Illustration by Janelle Carbajal.
Even Skaranger’s design of the novel.
Book cover art by UlaFish on DeviantArt.
Ghibli Pattern Poster Project/Art Print by thumyphan.
Howl illustrated by Marina Evlanova from Moscow, Russia.
Artwork created by Cathy Brett from Leatherhead, UK.
Sophie illustrated by Lulu Chen from Taitung City, Taiwan.
Illustration by Kateřina Čupová from Dobratice, Czech Republic. Image: The Guardian.
Young Howl illustrated by Joe Lillington from Bristol, UK.
Created by Ehsan Abarghouei from Tehran, Iran. Image: The Guardian.
Alex Moore’s illustration.
Sija Hong’s art work.
Howl’s Moving Castle in… Russian? From https://comparativecoverart.tumblr.com/post/115352712988/howls-moving-castle-diana-wynne-jones
Karen Howitt’s design of the novel.
Aren’t these works from illustrators around the world just incredible? 😍 Well, that’s it for Howl’s Moving Castle for now! 🏰
But before I end the post, here are more beautiful illustrations of the novel by Loz Art Productions:
P.S. As mentioned in my previous post (HERE), I ordered my limited edition steelbook of Studio Ghibli’s Howl’s Moving Castle via Amazon, as they have free shipping and the cheapest price. HOWEVER, the plastic-wrapped steelbook was missing the exclusive booklet that is supposed to be in there. I’ve returned it twice hoping that the missing booklet would be there, but Amazon kept sending me the steelbook without one. I decided to keep the third copy I’ve received because I got tired of returning and receiving. 🙁
So beware that if you order from Amazon, you might get the limited edition WITHOUT the booklet that’s supposed to be there…
