"Are you kidding?! This is the most exciting thing thats ever happened to me!" - Pazu
Castle in the Sky (Tenkuu no Shiro Laputa) is an adventure, fantasy, and sci-fi anime movie. It was originally released in August 1986 by Studio Ghibli running 2 hours/5 minutes. It does not have a continuing series.
General Rating: 8.4/10
My Rating: 10/10
Castle in the Sky was my gateway anime back in 2011 and, oh boy, it changed my life. I discovered it searching through google images, and the art and story attracted me so much that I knew I had to see whatever it was. I searched it online and found it posted on MySpace, yes that's how long ago this was. The anime left me feeling a feeling I had never felt before. My heart was pounding, I felt chills on my spine, and it was in that moment I knew I had found more than just a movie. The recommended list soon showed me other Ghibli films like Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service, My Neighbor Totoro, and the works. If they were as anything as good as what I had just witnessed, I knew I needed to watch them immediately. In a matter of weeks I had seen every Ghibli film - multiple times. (Not including his modern films obviously, as this was only 2011). During the remainder of 2011, my days were spent watching as many Ghibli movies as I could. I had every movie open at my fingertips at all times. However, as much as I loved (and still love) all the Ghibli films, there was never another like Castle in the Sky. This was the movie that changed my life, but I did not just love it due to these memories, but Castle in the Sky is, at its core, my ideal movie. Out of curiosity, when I began to transition into anime series and laid off the constant Ghibli watching in 2012, I checked my browser history. I had rewatced Castle in the Sky 102 times. I have rewatched it here and there since then in addition. It takes a powerful anime to still be entertaining and enjoyable after this many times. It's no wonder in 2011-2012 I had the entire script and character voices for this movie memorized. And when I wasn't watching it I would be roleplaying scenes from it. Castle in the Sky was a constant part of my life and still is one of my favorite movies to this day. It's breathtaking.
Sheeta, the young female protagonist, has been kidnapped by government agents who seek her mysterious crystal amulet and is trapped aboard an airship without hope. Until the ship is one day raided by pirates also after her crystal, Sheeta takes advantage of the commotion and escapes. She escapes to a small mining village where she meets Pazu, a boy who dreams of reaching the fabled flying castle, Laputa. The two embark on a journey together to discover this castle in the sky, while trying to shake the government agents and piratess on their trail. Castle in the Sky follows the soaring adventures of Sheeta and Pazu as their dreams and dire circumstances bring them closer together.
Story: Castle in the Sky is equipped with a fast paced story with so many elements I am not sure how they fit it into just 2 hours. when I am looking for good story, Castle in the Sky highlights perfectly what I am talking about. This is also the anime that led me to love the "hero is forced to join one enemy to fight a stronger common enemy" troupe. As this was my first anime, and I had only seen western kids movies before, this was my first time encountering this troupe and I fell in love at first sight. This movie has many mini-arcs to it which is something that lends itself well to solid progression and development. I love adventure animes with a side dish of romance, and there was no better example of this than Castle in the Sky. The one "flaw" I can say from it though, is how it gets tagged as romance. It does indeed have some romantic undertones, but this is Miyazaki here. There's not much romanctic development between the two, as expected from Miyazaki's style. It's not a flaw of the anime itself, but a flaw of how it is represented. It is by no means a romance anime. (Think romance in Fairy Tail).
Characters: As expected from a movie, there's not a large amount of character development that goes on. However, Miyazaki's detail in his characters is remarkable as always. Castle in the Sky is one of the few animes where I loved the villains more than the main characters. I freaking loved Muska and his smugness, the dumb general guy always made me laugh, and don't even get me started on Dola and her gang of pirates (aka her sons). These characters were incredibly well done that they 1 hit KOed my 11 year old self's stereotypical thinking "villains are bad and made to be hated." Not that the villains Castle in the Sky presented did not come across as evil - they did - but rather that they had personalities that made them so enjoyable and had me laughing my head off. Sheeta and Pazu were great characters as well. Something I love about Miyazaki's female protagonists is that he gives them a bit of damsel in distress troupe, but along with courage that they gain. This is an element present in almost every one of his films. It is details like these that make Sheeta enjoyable as a character. Pazu was amazing as well, full of determination and energy. His background growing up in the mines was clearly present throughout the movie as well, which was a great add-on to his development. Although Miyazaki rarely puts as much effort into his male leads, he still makes them into amazing characters (just less details than the females).
Soundtrack: In one word, a masterpiece. Castle in the Sky's soundtrack is one of my favorites of all time - not just Ghibli films. It kicks off with Prologue: Flaptors Attack and The Girl who Fell from the Sky, two of my favorite pieces of all time. All Ghibli soundtracks, but Castle in the Sky especially, have this huge advantage when it comes to their beautiful soundtracks: you can be listening to the soundtrack (after watching the movie) and remember EXACTLY what was going on at that point in the music. It's an amazing feature that I absolutely love about this anime movies' soundtrack. The voice acting was incredible. I watched in the english dub originally and my breath was taken away by Sheeha's english voice actor, Anna Paquin and Muska's voice actor, Mark Hamill. The Japanse seiyuus were also incredible when I rewatched it in the sub. I still enjoy the dub the most for this movie, maybe due to nostalgia, but I can account for the fact that Ghibl dubs are well done and worth the watch.
Art: As I said before, it was the art style of Castle in the Sky that attracted me to anime in the first place. Miyazaki has a gorgeous hand drawn style like no other anime has. The animation is flawless and I can never believe it came out in the 80s. I loved the scenery in this anime and there was such a vast variety of it like I have never seen in other movies - not even most other Ghibli films. Castle in the Sky is a great example of a true adventure story and has the perfect art, scenery, and animation to go along with it.
This is an anime that I deeply love and its existence alone makes me emotional. I would honestly recommend this anime to anyone. It's a beautiful masterpiece that is highly underrated by the modern anime community. Fans of other Ghibli movies or animes like Children who Search for Lost Voices, Fairy Tail, Escaflowne, or Patema Inverted will especially enjoy this anime.
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