Hacker Cinema
Castle in the Sky
天空の城ラピュタ
1986 · Film · 125 min
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
AdventureFantasyAnimationActionFamily
A young boy and a girl with a magic crystal must race against pirates and foreign agents in a search for a legendary floating castle.
10 positive1 negative1 mixed9 neutralfrom 21 commenters
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24 comments on Hacker News
Miyazaki's films are often more similar to the traditional four-part Kishōtenketsu[0] story structure rather than the more common three-act or Hero's Journey style. If you're not used to that structure you can find it boring or difficult to immerse yourself in. I love a lot of Miyazaki films and I think My Neighbour Totoro[1] is one of the finest movies ever created, but I can't just throw them on like I can most movies; if I'm not in the right mood for them I'll just get bored.
For a practical advice, I'd suggest watching either The Wind Rises (if you want strictly Miyazaki) or Only Yesterday (if any Ghibli is fine) next. Neither will have the strict conclusion that you are looking for, but they both are more "adult" films that are similar to Western dramas so you might find your brain is more accepting of that. At the very least you might find them more relatable than his other films and their child protagonists; I think The Wind Rises should speak well to any tech worker these days.
For less useful advice: it wasn't until I had an apartment high enough that I could see the skyline over the trees did I begin to understand why artists painted clouds the colors they did[2]. All art is holding a mirror up to nature, sometimes you gotta touch grass before you can get it.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kish%C5%8Dtenketsu
[1] Castle in the Sky and Porco Rosso are my favourite Ghibli films, but Totoro I think is the greatest children's movie of all time and one of the few films capable of reminding someone what being a child is really like. I never got into Spirited Away or Howls Moving Castle though.
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Levitan_Evening_bells_1892.jpg
As much as I love Spirited Away and Castle in the Sky, I've been so bummed Miyazaki hasn't returned to more adult storylines.
Princess Mononoke and Nausicaa are two of my top ten films. I'd do anything to have Miyazaki make one more.
I even bought Miramax's old marketing website and kept it online [1].
I was lucky enough to teach English in Hokkaido [2], which is where Ghibli animators drew inspiration for Princess Mononoke. It's such a beautiful place, and you can feel it in the film.
[1] http://www.princess-mononoke.com/ (I should get SSL certs but I haven't touched it in years.)
[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46035689
If you're in Seattle, there's also a large statue of the robot from Laputa: Castle in the Sky here. It's standing on the front lawn of a house in the Ballard neighborhood. I had recently seen the movie when I first encountered it, so it was a fun find.
Definitely. Lots of Ghibli films (and anime in general) aren't really targeting an age demographic the way the west would.
Kiki's Delivery Service, Totoro, Castle in the Sky, Arrietty, etc. are all watchable at any age.
Even the more mature films like Princess Mononoke would be unlikely to garner more than a PG rating.
In children’s movies the antagonist/monster is often meant as a metaphor for the child’s lack of autonomy in an ambivalent world that they do not fully understand.
And then you have My Neighbor Totoro, where all the monsters are friends, and the bad guy is just chronic illness, children who have let their imaginations run wild and fear the worst, a sibling getting lost, and at the end basically nothing happens which is the best news considering. There is no metaphor for human struggle, it’s just human struggle.
While some of his movies like Castle In the Sky, Mononoke and Nausicaä follow a modified Hollywood bad guy arc (in Castle half the bad guys practically become chosen family, in Spirited Away they become allies), a lot don’t. Up on Poppy Hill is essentially two teenagers in love discovering to their horror that they are first cousins, despair, and then discover that one of them was adopted.
But in all of them is the self-rescuing princess. The child either has to save themselves or at least demand the help that they are rightfully entitled to.
I got to introduce some kids to Ghibli right as Disney started distributing them. If you’ve seen Lasseter’s introduction to Spirited Away that’s where we were at that time - I’m telling you a secret that should not be a secret. And they in turn “forced” their friends to watch them in the same way my generation forced people to watch The Princess Bride; like it was a moral imperative to postpone other plans and rectify this egregious oversight in their education.
The best book recommendation I have in mind is "A Psalm for the Wild-Built" by Becky Chambers. It's a small book, but it truly embraces the Solarpunk aesthetic in many cool ways.
When friends ask me for fictional works with a Solarpunk vibe, here's my short list.
Movies: Miyazaki's "Castle in the Sky" and "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind," Cameron's "Avatar," Disney's "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" and "Treasure Planet".
Video games: The Zelda series (especially the latest ones: TP, SS, Breath of the Wild), "Horizon Zero Dawn", "Nier: Automata".
Not all movies are for everyone. It's okay to not like something
It's also possible that a lot of people wouldn't like movies you love.
That said, Castle in the Sky in particular is not only one of the best animations I ever watched, it's likely one of the best movies I ever watched.
> English dubs are usually terrible in general. I'd mind them a bit less if they were just faithful translations using different voice actors, but so often they dumb the scripts down and add a bunch of other changes as if no one in the English speaking world could appreciate it otherwise.
The later Ghibli films (which received proper localization in English) are mostly quite good. They aren't perfect, but increased awareness of Miyazaki in the west (and from Disney no less) meant that it was worth spending the money to do them well. In general they have good writers and voice actors, and demonstrate a respect for the source material.
The earlier Miyazaki stuff, before he was as well known here (like Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind or Laputa: Castle in the Sky) ... well... not so much (I do think Nausicaä was eventually redubbed, though I'm not sure how good it was).
If I had significant wealth, one of the things I'd do would be to try and commission Miyazaki to make another film in the same veins as Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind or Princess Mononoke. Maybe adapting his earlier Shuna no Tabi manga, which was also great. I'd even settle for something more kid-friendly like Castle in the Sky or Spirited Away.
I know money probably wouldn't sway him, but a donation to something he cared about... maybe. It's just an unrealistic hope, anyway.
I can't stand that there's nothing else like Princess Mononoke or Nausicaa. The world needs more Miyazaki, and especially his adult-themed sci-fi and fantasy.
Miyazaki is a treasure. I'm going to miss having him.
The English dub of Castle In The Sky was famously very poor[1]. Most notably, much of the movie's quiet parts got crammed with music and extra dialog because Disney felt Americans' attention span could not handle long stretches of silence and simple ambient environment sounds.
Granted this was one of the earlier Ghibli films and Miyazaki reportedly clamped down on these shenanigans on future dubs.
1: https://screenrant.com/studio-ghibli-castle-in-the-sky-english-version-changes/
To clarify, by “adult themes” I didn’t mean that they aren’t suitable for children. Just they didn’t really hold my kids’ interest.
I watched bunch of Studio Ghibli movies with my kids when they were age 4 - 6 or so. Spirited Away, Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Castle in the Sky, and Nausicaa. The pacing is quite a bit slower, and the action more subdued than in Pixar movies and other animation targeted at kids.
My kids tended to gravitate toward Pokemon, Crayon Shin-chan, Doraemon, and other animation aimed at kids - which I don’t really have any problem with. Also Demon Hunter and One Piece - which we probably shouldn’t let them watch - but they seemed to handle it ok. And finally YouTube, which is mostly trash, but we tolerate in moderation. I would definitely be happy if they showed more interest in Ghibli movies - but it’s hard to compete with endorphin rush of YouTube.
spirited away is amazing because of the chihiro's journey through the fantastical world of the kami, where she has to contend with not only her own present but generations past and all their virtue and vice. it's about the ever-present struggle to place oneself in a world built upon tradition and deference. this is a common theme in east asian tv and film, but miyazaki explores it in such an enveloping and actually rather gentle way, filled with symbolism and mysticism. the film's representation of coming of age seems to be external (overcoming spirits), but it's all about the girl's coming to terms with herself in relation to her parents and everyone who came before them. it's a blip in her life externally but internally, everything has changed. chihiro transforms in that little blip.
i haven't seen nausicaä yet, but all the ghibli films are great (except perhaps arrietty, as noted in a nearby comment). porco rosso was fun and more action oriented than most ghibli films. it's been a while since i've seen castle in the sky but it sits storywise between mononoke and howl's moving castle in my head.
It's hard to define best, as someone who watched a lot of it as a kid.
For a pre-teen audience, Nausicaä of the valley of the wind, Castle in the Sky, Totoro, basically all the stuff before Princess Mononoke are great films.
I see Princess Mononoke to be a film for people coming of age, where it's time to realize the binary view of the world is overly simplistic.
Just don't bother with the dubs. Hollywood just couldn't get the right voice actors to act with the right voice to fit the setting and the theme. For example, the main characters dub for Castle in the Sky felt older than the original (or Cantonese dub, which was my first introduction). Pazu was supposed to be an orphan, a child worker in a frigging mine. While the film doesn't directly call attention to that much, it hints at it by having the original voice to be too young to even crack yet.
Howl's Moving Castle really falls apart at the end, and it's a shame.
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and Castle in the Sky are the most similar in feeling to Princess Mononoke. High fantasy, adventure, against all odds. (This is my favorite batch of Ghibli / Miyazaki / Takahata films.)
Spirited Away is an otherworldly coming of age treasure that cannot be missed. Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service feel similar. Whisper of the Heart is this too, just aimed a little older. (And if you like that, check out Your Name by Shinkai or Wolf Children by Hosoda - not Ghibli films, but very deserving of a watch if you like this sort of film.)
Grave of the Fireflies is a very poignant anti-war film.
FWIW, I bought the old Miramax domain name for Princess Mononoke and kept the website online [1]. It's one of my favorite films. I wish Miyazaki made more films like Mononoke and Nausicaa - they're sublime.
[1] http://princess-mononoke.com
interesting, these are more 'western' than the ghibli catalog as a whole, which does have some western stories. it almost seems like they were looking for less familiar material, much like i've been doing for the past number of years by watching more 'eastern' (chinese/japanese/korean) content. still, looks like i have some watching to do!
as a sidenote, i'm happy vulture put "spirited away" and "my neighbor totoro" at the top of their ghibli rankings[0]. these two films are amazing. i wouldn't have ranked "castle in the sky" at 3, but do agree that "grave of the fireflies" and "princess kaguya" should rank highly. "howl's movie castle" or "ponyo" would probably be #5 for me. "arrietty" would be last, despite me not having seen 5 of the films yet.
[0]: https://www.vulture.com/article/best-studio-ghibli-films-ranked.html
It was a magical and surreal experience when I was first introduced to Miyazaki's work.
Shortly after arriving at my duty station in Okinawa I pushed to be assigned to the 31st MEU. Pretty soon I found myself in mainland Japan at the Sasebo naval base. A Marine friend of mine had the initiative to sign a bunch of us up for a bus trip to Nagasaki for the day. The drive was about an hour and a half and the entertainment during the trip was Castle in the Sky. I was deeply moved watching both the film and the picturesque hilly southern Japanese country side roll by. I still feel moved by the experience today.
I personally like Castle in the Sky the best, not because it has the best animation (it doesn't), but because it was the first Ghibli movie I saw. It captured my imagination in the same way Chrono Trigger did. Plus Mark Hamill does his trademark over-the-top villain which is always fun.
Fun fact - Level-5 appears to have casually plagiarized this movie in their game "Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy". I mean, check out the evidence in this blog article:
https://thewolfthatfellforlittlered.tumblr.com/post/93741989928/professor-layton-and-the-azran-legacy-vs-castle-in
> After all, most films don't need recognizable motifs, they just need music to tell us how to feel
Not trying to pick a fight with you - I agree with your comment overall, but this is a culturally learned thing, very specific to Western movies and TV-series, and it is actually mildly infuriating to me. It is one thing to complement the emotions present in a scene, but being told what to feel is basically a cheap way to try to patch up bad storytelling.
Worse, it can totally backfire: for the dub of Castle in the Sky, the original composer had to fill in a ton of quiet scenes with music because (IIRC) Disney was worried about the audience feeling awkward about not being told what to feel. They also added background chatter, and worst of all: filled in scenes that were quiet on purpose with all of these things. While the orchestral score sounds great in and of itself, in most scenes all that added audio ruined the mood of the original.
However, I can't deny that what you state is what the audience expects, and that it "works", so sadly you're still right.
Studio Ghibli movies shaped my childhood and I loved them. (My parents didn't even realise they were Anime until later, they assumed it was from Disney because they were so well made) Spirited Away was a favorite family movie for a long time.
I think Laputa - Castle in the Sky will remain my all-time favorite and Princess Mononoke second.
Porco Rosso, Howl's Moving Castle, My Neighbor Totoro, and Princess Mononoke are good. In fact, they're arguably some of his best.
But my favorites will always be Kiki's Delivery Service, Castle in the Sky, and Whisper of the Heart. They may not be Miyzaki at his best, but they were the films that I loved the most.
The Wind Rises may also join the latter category. Either way, it's a really good film.
Finally, it should be noted that Kaze Ni Naru from The Cat Returns is possibly one of my favorite songs from any anime, ever. And I watch a lot of anime.
Suffice to say it's up on the list with A Cruel Angel's Thesis, and Tank. For you anime fans who know what that means, yes, it's that good, IMHO. YMMV.
>> I wonder if it will accelerate the pace of restoration of temples in the area.
Likely not; current restoration projects are a shitshow, with an utter lack of coordination and even communication between the various country teams involved. In one temple, the Indian team tried to clean a wall and stained it; the Chinese restoration crews make the plainest and cheapeast concrete fillers to plug gaps in rock faces, they flake if you touch them. And now, the authority in charge of maintaining the complex is struggling with how to balance the much-valued tourism with air pollution; UNESCO has threatened status and funding if it doesn't address the impact that mostly auto/bike exhaust is having on temple faces. Other restoration projects will only get initiated if someone else is spending the money, and also kicks back to Phnom Penh.
>> to the point where they filmed Indiana Jones there!
Alongside Indy, Lara and Tony Leung, my favorite film reference is at Beng Mealea, and bonus points for the article for mentioning that temple. It's about 45km away down a dusty rutted road, and before it was added to the ticket list, the only people who visited besides domestic tourists were Japanese, because Hayao Miyazaki took it as inspiration for the setting "Laputa: Castle in the Sky." If you ever saw the old Japanese tourism books with the blue outer edge, Beng Mealea was mentioned in that, and every non-Khmer there would be clutching it.
Does anyone know what moment in "Castle in the Sky" would cause everyone to tweet at the same time? I saw the movie years ago and it's not at all obvious to me.
1. Wasn't the Castle in the Sky tweet record from last year? Edit: It turns out its the same film making records this year again.
2. I remembered the China WeiBo has a way higher TPS record then Twitter. I wonder what there stack are.
Now, 200-300 RPS were pretty low on RoR. But even with modern Ruby, reactive or event based, latest optimization and workaround etc. I dont think it can even scale to what they have achieved with JVM.
- I Heart Huckabees - You, Me And Everyone We Know - Juno - The Straight Story - My Neighbour Totoro
Are all straight forward feel good movies.
- Caché - The Lives Of Others - The White Ribbon - The Fountain - Amores Perros - City Of God - Fargo - Dune - Castle In The Sky - Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Festen
Make you feel good simply by the presence of their across the board brilliance.