Anime Eiga Review: Castle in the Sky

Series Synopsis

Young Sheeta (voiced by Keiko Yokozawa) is a prisoner aboard an airship when sky pirates suddenly attack. With the situation in chaos, Sheeta is able to break free from her captors and recover a small blue necklace.

Escape routes have become limited and the pirates seem to be looking for the pendent as well. After a short chase, Sheeta falls off the ship and plummets to her apparent doom. However, a mysterious light emanates from the amulet's gemstone, slowing the girl’s decent and allowing her to float gently to the ground.

On the surface, a boy named Pazu (voiced by Mayumi Tanaka) sees descending from the sky, a girl enveloped in a bright glow. The young lady is unconscious so Pazu brings her back to his home until she wakes up.

The next morning, the two are at last able to introduce themselves. During a tour of the house, Sheeta sees an old photo of an island drifting through the clouds. Pazu explains it was taken by his late father who claimed it's of the lost city of Laputa. Everyone believes the story to be nothing but a fairy tail and Pazu is determined to prove his father right.

Time is cut short when the pirates manage to track down Sheeta. Pazu takes it upon himself to look out for his new friend and the two quickly make a break for it. This starts a journey to uncover a civilization that was thought to have vanished, for the ancient sky city of Laputa may not be a myth at all.

Film Positives

Sheeta

Despite being our second entry of the month, Castle in the Sky was Studio Ghibli’s first official release.

I don’t think five minutes went by before I asked myself if this was some sort of sequel or follow up to Nausicaä. Although the films appear to be visually similar in many ways, they are indeed two separate entities.

Also this one is leagues better. An impressive feat since I really enjoyed Nausicaä.

Pazu

Storytelling and Character

The story is phenomenal and a lot of fun. While the entire movie is great, there are certain scenes I want to highlight. Castle in the Sky creates moments which feel so genuine, it makes you forget you’re watching a movie. You become that invested. They're brilliantly told, powerful, and will have you thinking about them long after the movie is over.

The first is when Sheeta and Pazu are captured. By this point, Pazu has made it clear he wants nothing more than to find Laputa and validate his father. Sheeta understands and admires his determination, making it all the more difficult when she has to make an impossible choice.

Their captors would allow Pazu to go free in exchange for Sheeta’s cooperation; either that or the boy gets hurt. Needless to say, the latter wasn't an option and when the two were reunited, Sheeta pleaded with Pazu to forget about Laputa.

In any decent movie, you would feel Pazu’s confusion with this supposed betrayal. I say "supposed" because I don’t want to describe what happened as such since that’s not what happened. And right there is what separates decent from great; Pazu recognized knows this too. Instead of resenting Sheeta for something that was completely out of her control, he feels frustration in himself because he couldn’t help her. In this instance, finding Laputa became secondary to saving his friend.

The second scene also involves are leads during a momentary lull in the action for a little heart to heart. This may be my favorite moment of the movie. They're just talking; about what's happened, the circumstance they find themselves in, and how they're going to move on. It would be too easy to say there’s a romantic interest between Pazu and Sheeta because there’s so much more going on. I do believe these two went on to be together for the rest of their lives, but it wasn’t because of simple attraction. Sheeta and Pazu feel what the other is thinking and there's a true trust for one another.

The third scene occurs when Sheeta and Pazu are in Laputa. Is it spoiler to say they end up there?  I hope not because…that’s exactly what they do, but any way. They find their way to a garden which has been looked after by a giant robot. While this thing might be highly advanced, it’s still a robot that’s big, brawny, and shouldn’t have the softest of touches; except it does. What happens is, this huge mechanical being hands Sheeta a flower.

That’s all it was, but in that exchange, which is maybe less than five seconds, the entirety of what Laputa is, or at least what it had become, is shown; somber, gentle, and at peace. It makes the next scene all the more jarring for how not any of that it is.

These three moments, combined with everything else, made Castle in the Sky so much fun to watch. But did you notice something each of the three scenes had in common; Sheeta and Pazu.

These two are a great pair and their friendship is as strong and as deep as any that has been through decades. Incredible since the film takes place only over the course of a few days. It just shows that a story doesn’t need that much time to establish its characters. In fact the less time taken, the more opportunity there is to actually use said characters.

I’m going to inevitably mention characterization at some point in the near future and in all honesty I probably won’t make it through the month without bringing it up again. This is what can be done when done right. It applies to film, it applies to anime, and it is why I put so much importance on characters. They create the moments, that create the scenes, that create the stories that are worth watching.

Film Negatives

The first act's a little fast, I guess.

That’s all there is when it comes to what I didn’t like about this movie.

Though not a sequel to Nausicaä, the film corrected many of it's mistakes. All the characters were interesting, nothing felt pointless or out of place, and it was well contained within its own world. Any problems that might actually exist are so negligible to the point where they didn’t even register.

There was a scene where the pirates got into an impromptu macho contest street brawl with a couple villagers. It's the film’s silliest moment; I say while acknowledging the movie isn’t that serious to begin with. If you were to take this entire segment out, nothing in the story would change. However, it was still great and incredibly entertaining, which illustrates what I am saying.

So no I don’t have anything bad to say about this movie.

Final Thoughts

Castel in the Sky is brilliant and is a fantastic story of two sudden best friends. The entire film is filled with scenes ranging from action packed and intense to comforting and meaningful. There wasn’t a single moment where I wasn’t having a blast.

One last thing, I've been watching these movies in their original Japanese forms. However I have no problem watching a Ghibli film in English. I especially want to watch this one after I learned the character of Colonel Muska (voiced by Minori Terada), the film's main antagonist, is voiced by the one and only Mark Hamill in the dubbed version, and that’s f@#$ing awesome.

Ghibli Month will continue tomorrow with 1988’s Grave of the Fireflies.

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