Ghibli Prince: Howl

Film: Howl's Moving Castle (English title)
Hauru no Ogoku Shiro (Japanese title)

Voices: Christian Bale (English)
Takuya Kimura (Japanese)

The Character

Yes! Yes! I bet to many female anime/Studio Ghibli fans, Howl is the perfect Ghibli Prince. And rightly so too. First of all, he is handsome. There is a debate over whether he looks better as a blonde or as a raven head but he is gorgeous no matter what. Although if I have to chose, I would have to choose him with black hair. That is purely because after shedding the blonde hair through an accident by Sophie, he does mature. Through a flashback to his childhood, we lean that he was born with black hair. From my knowledge, I think he is the only one of two Ghibli Princes to show some skin. The other is Ashitaka who can seem baring his bare chest. Of course, Howl goes one better by running around just wearing a towel (ooo er!)

Yes, in terms of looks, he is desirable (I still have to find a gal fan who is not attracted to Howl) and at the start of the film, he shows affection to Sophie. I mean, he protects her when she feels threatened by two soldiers and then later, to escape from some of the Witch of the Waste's minions, he takes her up in the air and they literally walk on the air before he gently places on the balcony of Cesari's. Sigh. What a guy.

Yeah. At first. That is until the small hair incident. We learn then that he is a spoilt brat. Despite being an adult and magical wizard, he throws a tantrum and then literally turns into goo after moaning that he cannot see a reason to live if he cannot be beautiful.

However, after that incident, besides showing a wee bit of cowardice until near the end, he does mature slightly. As times goes on, he does showing that he cares for Sophie and even calls her beautiful. Now in the book, he learns on his own that she has been put under the spell. Whether he knows this in the film is questionable. Despite that, he shows a bond with Sophie and in the final moments before he flees to help in the war, he tells Sophie that he is willing to die for her.

There is another important relationship in terms of Howl: Caclifer. The two are co-dependent on each other and despite that, Howl still commands his little fire demon around as if he was the superior. Of course, Calcifer obeys. And it is obvious that Howl shows some caring and dependence on Calcifer for after Sophie accidentally pours water on Calcifer, he keeps the fire alive and warns Sophie about that.

Of course, in the final twist, we learn just how dependent and important their relationship is. It also explains why Howl has a lot of childish tendencies. Ironically though, at the end of the film, there is a kinda Wizard of Oz feeling that he never need his heart in the first place for he learned to feel and love Sophie, regardless whether she was young or old.

The voices behind the characters

OMG! OMG! Usually I can honestly say which version I prefer but in this case, it is difficult for me to say which one is best. No, not because they are phenomenally bad but because they are both so brilliant!!! According to some trivia, after seeing Spirited Away, Christian Bale immediately agreed to play any role in this film. I find this really that he would have taken any role just to be part of the Miyazaki and Ghibli magic.

I have little knowledge about Japanese actors so I cannot decipher whether Kimura was the best choice for Howl. As for Christian Bale in the English dub, I do not think anyone could do it as well as him. He is by far the best in the English dub, along with Billy Crystal as Calcifer. The rest of the case is mediocre compared to these two. Christian Bale gives Howl a husky, seductive voice in his first scene. When he says "There you are, sweetheart", I literally melted, dissolving into a puddle when he says later on, "That's my girl." His tantrum is so funny and wonderfully whiny, perfect for a character that is still a child at heart.

Now before I get the purists bashing at me for my comment on Takuya Kimura, when I say that I cannot decipher whether Kimura was the best choice for Howl, I am not saying he was not perfect for the part. I just cannot compare him to other potential choices in the same way I can for Christian Bale. I must point out that I thought Kimura was beautiful as Howl. I admit I saw the English version first so I imagined Howl to have a soft, somewhat seductive voice and Kimura had me in his clutches. When, in his first way, he says "This way" in Japanese, I was giggling like a school girl and the rest of his lines for that scene up to "That's my girl" were beautiful and in some sense, said better than Christian Bale.

However, to be fair, I think Bale was better at the big tantrum scene. Kimura was too calm and smooth whilst Bale really let rip which made it more convincing.

Either way, both were perfectly chosen and I urge people who have just seen the English dub to go and see the Japanese version even it's just to hear Takuya Kimura.

Now I'm going to go and wipe of the drool I made from writing this entry