Howl then arrives to rescue Sophie, Suliman tries to entrap Howl by summoning star children and revealing his monstrous form, but with Sophie's help, they escape. Madame Suliman realizes Sophie's true relation to Howl and her romantic feelings towards him. This causes Sophie to change briefly to her younger self, then regress to her older persona. 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.

This causes her to regress into a harmless old woman with few memories of her past actions. Once they are inside the castle, Heen and Suliman's servant Kosho lead Sophie to the greenhouse while the Witch of The Waste finds herself a place to sit down - only to find her magical powers drained by Suliman as a punishment. Madame Suliman and her servant Kosho and his siblings, who look suspiciously like Howl. Sophie asking Suliman about the Witch of the Waste and Howl's fate

The Ghibli Museum-exclusive animated short, The Day I Bought A Star, has ties to this film. The film notably has Chieko Baisho, who voices Sophie, sing the theme song The Promise of the World, similar to Tokiko Kato who played Gina in Porco Rosso. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 78th Academy Awards, but lost to Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, in 2006, and won several other awards, including four Tokyo Anime Awards and a Nebula Award for Best Script. The film received critical acclaim, particularly for its visuals and Miyazaki's presentation of the themes. It went on to gross ¥23.2 billion worldwide, making it one of the most financially successful Japanese films in history. Howl's Moving Castle had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 5, 2004, and was screened at the Tokyo International Film Festival on October 23, 2004. She later gave a positive impression of the film, saying it retained the same spirit as her original work. The original author, Diana Wynne Jones' only request was that Miyazaki 'not change Howl's character'. The first half of the film is relatively faithful to the original novel, but the second half was changed completely during development, adding themes of war not present in the source material. It is based on the 1986 novel of the same name (translated in Japan as The Wizard's Howl and the Devil of Fire) by British writer Diana Wynne Jones and is about a young milliner named Sophie, who is transformed into an old woman by a witch, and the wizard Howl. It premiered at the Venice International Film Festival on September 5, 2004, and premiered in Toho cinemas in Japan on November 20, 2004. USD$235.1 million (worldwide) Howl's Moving Castle (ハウルの動く城, Howl no Ugoku Shiro) is an animated fantasy film directed by Hayao Miyazaki, produced by Toshio Suzuki and animated by Studio Ghibli.

Howls moving castle tab