The magic ring Howl gave Sophie guides her to Calcifer, but Suliman begins tracking her to get to Howl. Howl then arrives to rescue Sophie, dressed up as the King, but his cover is blown when the real King enters, with the Witch and Heen tagging along. Suliman realizes Sophie’s true relation to Howl and her feelings towards him and allowing the witch one small victory over Howl, she knows of someone he cares about. As Sophie vehemently protests these measures, the Witch’s spell temporarily weakens due to the love in her words. Suliman tells Sophie that Howl will meet the same fate if he does not contribute to the war. She also meets the Witch of the Waste, who had previously been expelled from the court many years ago and now seeks to regain the royal house’s patronage instead, Wizard Suliman punishes the Witch by draining all of her power, causing her to regress into a harmless old woman, with little memories of her past actions, only remembering her obsession with Howl. At the palace, Sophie runs into Suliman’s asthmatic dog, Heen, who she originally thinks is Howl undercover. However, Howl fears Madame Suliman, the royal court’s magician and his former mentor, and comes up with an idea to send Sophie, with the protection of a magic ring and Howl himself in disguise, as his mother to announce what a coward he is and that he would ‘ be of no use’. Howl receives summons from the King, who orders his various assumed identities to fight in the war. As she adjusts to life in the castle, she discovers that the front door is a magic portal leading to several places.Ĭurrently, the land Sophie is living in is caught up in the beginning of a war (reminiscent of World War I) with its neighbour following the mysterious disappearance of the other realm’s Crown Prince Justin, and slowly the war begins to creep into Sophie’s country itself. When Howl appears, Sophie announces that she is the castle’s new cleaning lady, hired by Calcifer because he was sick of how dirty the castle was. Throughout the course of the story he comes to love her like an older sister. He is perplexed by Sophie’s presence, but doesn’t try to throw her out. The next morning, Markl, Howl’s young apprentice, comes downstairs and begins to create potions and spells for Howl’s patrons. Calcifer offers to break the curse in exchange for Sophie’s help in breaking the spell between him and Howl, which keeps Calcifer bound to the house. Once inside, Sophie meets the fire demon Calcifer, who powers the castle and recognizes that Sophie has been cursed. Along the way, she befriends a sentient scarecrow that she names Turnip Head, who eventually leads her to Howl’s castle. As the curse prevents her from telling anyone of her condition, Sophie decides to run away. Later that night, she comes to the hat shop and curses Sophie, transforming her into an old woman. This arouses the ire of the Witch of the Waste, who has been seeking Howl’s heart for herself. When on her way to the bakery to visit her sister, Lettie, she encounters by chance the mysterious wizard Howl, who takes a liking to her. Sophie, a hatter, is a responsible though plain 18-year-old girl who runs her late father’s hat shop.
I actually fall into this movie whole 119 minutes. I also liked scarecrow who is actually princess of neighbor. Howl has very unbounded soul, but coward. Sophie becomes old lady because of witch who turns into very old grandma who barely talk. I always surprised how he expresses his character in unique way.
I also surprised about Miyazaki’s imagination. I was surprised that the way of describing castle, it is very grotesque and odd. He is very popular actor in Japan and Korea. Well, I actually liked the voice actor of one of the main character Howl.