#ive never even watched/read howls moving castle before i dont know that man

[mynameis-a]

more people need to give howl the bennett cumberpatch treatment

and i'm totally not saying this because i fucked up on trying to say his last name so hard that i just gave up and called him "howl pentagonaldodecahedron"

[otterplusharchive]

sorry again for taking so long to answer this, mp100 and ghibli films are genuinely the most important and influental pieces of media in my life so ive wanted to take a long time to think about this. im going to be answering based on how the films feel compared to characters general vibes/characteristics along with which films i think characters would enjoy because i adore the idea of the gang having movie nights and watching ghibli movies. this ended up being pretty long so im putting it under a read more!!

Im starting out with Ritsu because ive got a kikis delivery service with him as kiki. ive made another post a while back about how i can see similarities between the two characters, both ritsu and kiki struggle with finding and expressing themselves truthfully and being able to feel free along with gaining control of their psychic/witch powers. Kiki has a hard time making friends and she seems to also struggle with her view of herself and what/who she wants to be, which really reminds me of Ritsu being compared to his brother and being pinned down into the role of a perfect straight A student. Both kiki and ritsus stories are about believing in and discovering themselves. Aside from what film reminds me of Ritsu, i like the idea of him being a sap at heart and so i think hed enjoy a film like howls moving castle where theres a sappy romance but also adventure and a solid plot.

For Mob im reminded of princess monoke… ashitakas curse that he tries to contain throughout the course of the movie reminds me a lot of ???% and Mobs overall repression of both his emotions and powers. Monoke also reminds me of Mob because in the end its a film that has a hopeful feeling to it.. even after the forest spirit is beheaded the earth blooms and the previously barren mountain that was misused by the humans for war and pain experiences a rebirth. Mob is a character who has gone through so much pain and yet he still believes in the good of people and is a hopeful person in general. Ashitaka says at one point in the movie something along the lines of “how much more killing and hatred will happen before youre satisified” which is a sentiment that really reminds me of mob, who ultimately does not want to hurt others or resort to violence although sometimes the situation forces his hand. Aside from that!! Mob likes action movies, and because of that i think hed enjoy both monoke AND castle in the sky, which is a very swash buckling fun action movie that still has the message of love and peace that i think mob would resonate with.   For Shou im pretty torn. hes a character that has a lot going on with him, he feels that he has to be strong and brave and to both take down his father and fix claws mistakes even though hes still just a kid and shouldnt have to deal with that responsibility. he hasnt gotten much of a chance to really be a kid from what weve seen. hes bold and arguably impulsive/adventurous, and i still think that ONE should have developed him as a character more and given him more of a character arc outside of the claw/world domination arc. Because of all this im really having a hard time deciding between castle in the sky and tales from earthsea. to me castle in the sky seems like the kind of story that shou might draw up into a comic and the dola gangs overall dynamics and shenanagins remind me of shou a lot. however tales from earthsea deals with a young prince who is fleeing from both his homeland and also himself. hes just stabbed his father, the king, and is on the run, constantly vigilant and also a skilled fighter.  hes tricked plenty of times in this film and yet there are also people who are trying to help him and live alongside him. part of both tales from earthsea and castle in the sky is about realizing that all life including your own has value and that the world is driven by and founded on love. tales from earthsea is a much darker film but the storyline with the protagonists father and struggle to simply be himself instead of fighting reminds me of shou. So yeah those both remind me of him, and as far as films hed watch i think hed enjoy the cat returns!! 

Im the first one to acknowledge that i am by no means an expert on terus character, and just like all of these i want to encourage anyone to add their own thoughts on what ghibli films they think match up to each character! but anyway. When i started writing this the first film that popped into my mind for Teru was howls moving castle. I could very easily point to both howl and teru having huge reactions to their hair being ruined and go on my merry way but i want to go a lot deeper than that. Howls moving castle is about a lot of things, and one of those things is loving yourself for who you are. both howl and sophie have problems with their self image and with who they are in general and they express it in different ways. howl is very extravagant and uses magic to make himself look as handsome and flashy as possible whereas sophie seems plain and simple, like shes hiding herself and not secure with who she is. this can be compared to Terus very loud and showy way of presenting himself and how before meeting mob he used his powers in a way to make both the people around him and the world bend to his will. hes got a lot of issues with himself that stem from a lot of things, which probably include his parents never being around during his teen years and being the only esper he knows thus creating this idea that hes somehow above others. both teru and howl are arguably selfish people who during the course of meeting certain people (sophie and mob) try to better themselves and become less selfish. howl throws himself into the battles outside the hat house to try and protect sophie while teru tries to stop ???%s rampage by talking with mob as a friend. Howls moving castle also has a general feeling of grand whimsy and magic that reminds me of teru, and as far as what movie i think hed like watching- i think hed enjoy arriety!! Porco Rosso reminds me so much of reigen, i really think theres been times that ive watched the movie and thought of reigen while watching it. the obvious comparison is that porco is selfish and self centered, which in the end is what has cursed him into becoming a pig. hes a bounty hunter by trade which can easily be tied to reigens con man business  ventures. theyre both very flawed men who put themselves first but the more we go into their story lines the more these selfish ways of thinking are challenged and changed, and despite their flaws both end up helping other people. it can be argued that reigen and porco are not exactly good people, but theyre not for sure bad people either. They both have a lot of issues they need to work on and in their worst critics are themselves, no matter how selfish they might be both characters very obviously are lonely and dont think very highly of themselves. also for a film i think hed like watching.. i like thinking about reigen and serizawa having a movie date night watching nausicaa ive been writing this all day and its already incredibly long so i think im going to end it here although i might come back another day and continue with characters including serizawa and all the girls because ive got thoughts on them too but wanted to answer on the same day as i got the ask. again if you have your own thoughts and ghibli movie comparisons please feel free to add on id love to hear what you think!! thank you so much for asking this