History Anime / HowlsMovingCastle

* AdaptationDyeJob: In the book, Sophie is described as having reddish blonde hair, but in the anime film she has brown hair. [[spoiler:At the end even after getting her youth back she still has gray hair, though Howl describes it as looking like starlight.]]

* AgeLift: Howl's around 27 years old in the book [[note]] He states that he's almost '10,000 days old' or 27 years [[/note]], but happens to be an 18-21-year-old in the film. Similarily, Michael Fisher is 15 years old, while Markl is a child around 8-12.

* BroughtDownToBadass: Sophie from the book to the movie. In the book, she has a magical power that imbues abilities in inanimate objects she talks to. In the movie, she doesn't have any magical ability. That doesn't stop her from righteously calling out Miss Suliman or the Witch of the Waste, nor from being able to fulfill Calcifer's contract, deal with the stubborn and aloof Howl, undo the old age spell put on her, and [[spoiler:save Howl - both when the Witch of the Waste steals his heart from Calcifer and when he's about to go mad from turning into a bird-monster]].

** In the book, Sophie has two sisters: dark-haired Lettie who studies magic and half-sister Martha who works at Cesari's Bakery. The movie merges the two with a blonde Lettie, who works at the pastry shop and is implied to be Sophie's half sister.
* ConfrontingYourImposter: Howl comes to Madame Suliman's castle impersonating His Majesty. The charade breaks down when the real Majesty enters the room… and doesn't realize what's going on and [[ComicallyMissingThePoint congratulates Madame Suliman for her excellent work on his double]].

* GrandRomanticGesture: Not only does Howl replicate Sophie's old room, but he brings her to, essentially, a private dimension featuring stunningly gorgeous GhibliHills, which he declares is his gift to her. The gesture works and Sophie even changes back into her younger self for the longest time yet in the film… until she realizes that the reason Howl is doing this is because he's about to leave.

* GratuitousForeignLanguage: The chanting of the spirits summoned by Sulliman is actually a Bulgarian folk song called Trendafilcheto.
* GreyAndGrayMorality / WhiteAndGreyMorality: Like most Miyazaki films, antagonists are grey at worst. Sulliman is actually a WellIntentionedExtremist at worst. The Wicked Witch of the Waste turns out to not be nearly as bad and actually joins the heroes halfway through the movie.

* ObfuscatingStupidity: Downplayed. When [[spoiler:the Witch of the Waste]] loses her powers, she appears to go completely senile and helpless, but she still has a helping of craftiness and all her knowledge of magic. She ''does'' still have her moments of confusion – [[spoiler:her obsession with capturing Howl's heart is logical once you realize that like Howl, she gave her heart away to a demon and thus has no heart herself. In the end though, she realistically resembles an old lady with dementia.]]

* TrashOfTheTitans: In the film we get to see just how filthy the Castle is before Sophie shows up, including [[CobwebOfDisuse spiderwebs]].

** Calcifer is a fire demon [[spoiler:who made a pact with Howl - Howl's heart for Calcifer's power in magic -]] and makes a pact with Sophie, but he's sarcastic at worst and mostly honest and helpful.

* ColourCodedforYourConvenience: The interior of the castle can teleport to one of four locations at a time, and there's a dial beside the castle's front door that indicates the present location of the interior. The mechanism is operated by turning the handle, and the dial has four different colours: red, green, blue, and black.

* GratuitousForeignLanguaje: The chanting of the spirits summoned by Sulliman is actually a Bulgarian folk song called Trendafilcheto.

* MeaningfulName: Calcifer's name seems to be a mix of the name "Lucifer" (Latin for "bringing light") and the Latin word for heat, "Calor."

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Humorous subverted with the King of Ingary, who at first seems open about the problems of using magic in the war...than its turns out he's just Howl in disguise. The real king comes off as a bumbling ArmchairGeneral.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Some of Howl's more prevalent flaws in the books such as his womanizing behavior and chronic irresponsibility are omitted or downplayed. His anti-war attitude is original to the movie, as ''BookHowl'' had no problem supplying the King of Ingary with magical devices for his troops, although no war actually occurs in the book.

* CompositeCharacter: Madame Suliman, Howl's mentor and the court magician, is two separate characters in the original book: Mrs. Pentstemmon, his mentor, deceased[[note]] due to the Witch of the Waste murdering her partway through the book[[/note]] and Master Suliman (the court magician, very much alive... and male).

* MoodWhiplash: Howl's hair-dye incident, the whole scene going for just under 2 minutes. He comically wangsts about how terrible his hair is and Sophie tries to cheer him up. It turns nightmarish for a moment as Sophie discovers Howl is covering himself in green goo, only to whip into sadness as Sophie then complains about herself never feeling beautiful even once in her ''life'', at which point declares she's leaving and never coming back as she cries in the rain for a bit, then has a poignant moment with Turnip-head covering her with an umbrella. Then it goes back to comical with Markl coming and asking for Sophie's help and wondering if Howl's dead only for Sophie to comment it's just a tantrum.

* AgeLift: Howl's around 27 years old in the book [[note]] He states that he's almost '10,000 days old' or 27 years [[/note]], but happens to be an 18-21-year-old in the film.

* AgeLift: Howl's around 27 years old in the book [[note]] He states that he's almost '10,000 days old' or 27 years [[/note]], but happens to be a 18-21-year-old in the film.

* BaseOnWheels: The castle is a base on legs.

* BroughtDownToBadass: Sophie from the book to the movie. In the book, she has magical power that imbues abilities in inanimate objects she talks to. In the movie, she doesn't have any magical ability. That doesn't stop her from righteously calling out Miss Suliman or the Witch of the Waste, nor from being able to fulfill Calcifer's contract, deal with the stubborn and aloof Howl, undo the old age spell put on her, and [[spoiler:save Howl - both when the Witch of the Waste steals his heart from Calcifer and when he's about to go mad from turning into a bird-monster]].

** Sophie's is a bit subtle. At first when she's turned into an old woman, she hunches while she walks, uses a cane and is very slow, needing a break every so often. As the film moves along, she begins standing up straighter with her stamina increasing until eventually she doesn't need it anymore. This echoes her low sense of self-worth as the film begins. [[spoiler:This is also highlighted by how she turns younger whenever she feels confident. She ends up breaking the curse completely by the end of the film and transforms back into her younger self.]]

* IAmNotPretty: Sophie insists she isn't beautiful, through the movie she gains more confidence in herself.

* OminousLatinChanting: When Madame Suliman tries to capture Howl, there are a few seconds of very creepy singing from the sprites that encircle him.

* SceneryGorn: [[spoiler:Sophie's hometown is devastated by bombs during the final act (thankfully, it was evacuated beforehand).

* SceneryPorn: The movie is stunning in practically every frame. The laundry scene in particular takes a few moments to show off the beauty of Star Lake and the mountains surrounding it.

* SceneryPorn: The movie is stunning in practically every frame.

* ColourCodedforYourConvenience: The interior of the castle can teleport to one of four locations at a time, and there's a dial beside the castle's front door that indicates the present location of the interior. The mechanism is operated by turning the handle, and the dial has four different colours: red, green, blue, and black. Eachone represents a different location respectively.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Watch the scene where Sophie is cleaning out the ashes, and Calcifer falls into the metal cup and almost goes out. When Howl is breathing on Calcifer to get him going again, you can see [[spoiler:Howl's heart beating in Calcifer's flames.]]

* IWillFindYou: Howl gets hold of Sophie in the beginning because that's what she asks him to do when they shortly meet in his childhood.