Shih Tsu

Castle in the Sky

Castle in the Sky (天空の城) (Laputa) is a 1986 film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki.
According to the story's premise, human fascination with the sky prompted increasingly sophisticated ways of lifting aircraft from the ground; ultimately including flying cities and fortresses, of which most were later destroyed during an unspecified catastrophe, forcing the survivors to live on the ground as before. One city, Laputa, remains in the sky, concealed by a violent thunderstorm; whereas large airships remain in common use.
Aboard a civilian airship, a girl named Sheeta  is escorted to an unknown destination by sinister-looking agents under Colonel Muska . The ship is attacked by a group of sky pirates led by an old, vivacious woman named Dola and her sons Charles, Louis, and Henri. In the resulting disorder between Colonel Muska's men and Dola's pirates, Sheeta takes a small pendant from Muska and escapes through a window. The sky pirates attempt to seize her and the pendant, but Sheeta falls from the ship, whereupon the pendant radiates a blue light and she gently floats to the ground. An apprentice miner named Pazu  witnesses this and catches Sheeta, whom he conveys to his own house. There, she finds a photograph of Laputa, which Pazu's deceased father, an airship pilot and adventurer, had taken but was disbelieved by his contemporaries. Pazu believes the city exists and wishes to find it.
Dola's sky pirates arrive at Pazu's house, forcing the children to leave, with Sheeta in disguise. They are pursued by Dola's pirates and cornered by soldiers; but fall from a collapsing rail trestle and are saved when Sheeta's pendant activates once again, allowing them to float safely into an abandoned mine shaft.

Inside the mines they meet an old miner, Uncle Pom, who tells them of "volucite" (levistone in some subtitled versions, levitation stone in the original English language dub, and aetherium in Disney's English language dub), the crystal that keeps Laputa aloft. He reveals that Sheeta's pendant is one of the largest and purest of such crystals in existence and counsels Sheeta to remember that the crystal's power rightly belongs to the earth and that she should never use it to commit acts of violence.
Upon returning to the surface of the land, Sheeta tells Pazu that she has inherited an ancient "secret name": Lusheeta Toel Ul Laputa (Laputian for "Sheeta, True Ruler of Laputa"). A plane then unexpectedly lands with army soldiers and the two are captured, placed in a fortress, and separated.
The general in command of the fortress discusses with Muska the government-sponsored search for Laputa and agree that Sheeta and her crystal are the keys to its discovery. Muska reveals to Sheeta his knowledge of her true name, shows her a huge android robot believed to have been created in Laputa, and tells her that unless she cooperates with him in the search of Laputa and unlocking the crystal's secrets, which he believes can be used to physically locate Laputa, Pazu is likely to come to harm. Seeking to protect her friend, Sheeta tells Pazu that she has agreed to cooperate with Muska and the army in search of Laputa and asks him to forget her and Laputa. Stunned by this apparent rejection, Pazu returns to his village only to find Dola's pirate family occupying his home and eating dinner as they capture him upon arrival. Pazu tells Dola of his experiences. When the pirates learn that Sheeta, Muska, and the general will depart the fortress in search of Laputa aboard the gigantic military airship Goliath, Pazu begs Dola to take him with her.
In the fortress tower, Sheeta absent-mindedly recites a spell given by her grandmother, causing the crystal to illuminate a strange blue light that points to Laputa. The spell also re-animates the robot, which wreaks havoc all over the fortress, setting it on fire. The robot rescues Sheeta, demonstrating its loyalty, before it is destroyed by the Goliath airship. In the meantime, Dola and Pazu show up and rescue Sheeta from the burning tower, but her crystal is torn from her neck and later recovered by Muska, who uses it to track down Laputa. The children and Dola's pirates pursue the Goliath aboard the pirate ship Tiger Moth, intent on finding Laputa before the Goliath does. That night, as Sheeta and Pazu stand watch on the crows nest, they talk at length about their respective lives, touching upon Sheeta's study of magic words and mentioning one such spell, the Spell of Destruction, a power Sheeta has never used. Dola, who is awake in bed, overhears their discussions through the intercom.
Amid their conversation, Pazu sees the Goliath rise from the clouds. The airship attacks, but the Tiger Moth escapes unharmed. The Tiger Moth enters a storm, and Dola tells the children to keep watch above the clouds by turning the crows nest into a glider. Soon a massive cloud becomes visible, which Pazu recognizes from his father's descriptions as Laputa's hiding place. As they try to find a way in, the Goliath attacks again and the glider Sheeta and Pazu are riding is blasted away from the pirate ship. After a harrowing ride through the storm-charged cloud, the children land in Laputa, only to find the city devoid of human life, having only a single robot among the ruins taking care of the grounds and its plant and animal life. In the grounds is a gargantuan tree, whose roots have pervaded Laputa's base.
The Goliath arrives at Laputa, whereupon the soldiers plunder the city's vast treasures. The Tiger Moth is found wrecked on the surface, with Dola and the pirates being held captive. As Pazu attempts to rescue Dola, Sheeta witnesses Muska locating a hidden entrance to a large sphere that surrounds the city's core; she is subsequently captured and taken inside. Pazu frees the pirates and, after many difficulties, finds another way into the sphere.
Muska takes Sheeta into Laputa's core, a chamber holding a gigantic Volucite/Aetherium crystal that serves as the city's power source, and reveals that he is also an heir to the throne of Laputa. He takes control of Laputa and all its technology and demonstrates the power of the city to the army by beaming an immensely powerful blast toward the surface. Betraying the general and the army, he then activates hundreds of robots to wipe out the army and the Goliath while Dola and the pirates hide from the robots inside the remains of the Tiger Moth. Sheeta frees herself, steals back the crystal and runs through the core with Muska in close pursuit. Eventually, she finds Pazu and passes the crystal to him.

Muska finally corners Sheeta in the city's throne room. He brandishes a handgun at her, blasting off her braids. Pazu, with a hand cannon provided by Dola, then enters and asks for a moment to talk to Sheeta, which Muska grants. Together, the two children decide to use the Spell of Destruction; with a single word, the pendant releases an enormous power surge that triggers the collapse of the city's core. Muska is blinded by the flash and falls to his death, while Sheeta and Pazu are hurled into the tangle of roots from the giant tree and survive. Afterwards they find their way back to the glider, also lodged in the tangle of roots, and leave Laputa.
The Dola pirates also survive Laputa's destruction aboard their moth fighters, and are overjoyed to be reunited with Sheeta and Pazu in midair, with some Laputan treasure as a compensation for their troubles. After reaching the coast, the pirates and the children bid each other a fond farewell and part ways. The ending credits show the remains of Laputa, held together by the tree, continuing to rise, until they apparently establish an orbit high above the earth.

  

The Cat Returns

Laputa

Spirited Away

 

 

Howl's Moving Castle

Howl's Moving Castle (ハウルの動く城, ) is a 2004 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli and based on the novel of the same name by Diana Wynne Jones.
Sophie（苏菲）, a hatter, is a responsible and beautiful 18-year-old girl, though she does not perceive herself as such, who runs her late father's hat shop. When on her way to the bakery to visit her sister, Lettie, she encounters by chance the mysterious wizard Howl（霍尔）, who takes a liking to her. This arouses the ire of the Witch of the Waste, who has been seeking Howl's heart for herself. Later that night, she comes to the hat shop and curses Sophie, transforming her into an old woman. As the curse prevents her from telling anyone of her condition, Sophie decides to run away. Along the way, she befriends a sentient scarecrow that she names Turnip Head, who eventually leads her to Howl's castle.
Once inside, Sophie meets the fire demon Calcifer（卡西法）, who powers the castle and recognizes that Sophie has been cursed. Calcifer offers to break the curse in exchange for Sophie's help in breaking the spell between him and Howl, which keeps Calcifer bound to the house. The next morning, Markl, Howl's young apprentice, comes downstairs and begins to create potions and spells for Howl's patrons and is perplexed by Sophie's presence, but doesn't try to throw her out and, in the course of the story, comes to love her like an older sister. When Howl appears, Sophie announces that she is the castle's new cleaning lady, hired by Calcifer because he was sick of how dirty the castle was. As she adjusts to life in the castle, she discovers that the front door is a magic portal leading to several places.
Currently, the land Sophie is living in is caught up in the beginning of a war with its neighbour following the mysterious disappearance of the other realm's Crown Prince Justin, and slowly the war begins to creep into Sophie's country itself. Howl receives summons from the King, who orders his various assumed identities to fight in the war. However, Howl fears Madame Suliman（萨丽漫）, the royal court's magician and his former mentor, and comes up with an idea to send Sophie, with the protection of a magic ring and Howl himself in disguise, as his mother to announce what a coward he is and that he would ' be of no use'. At the palace, Sophie runs into Suliman’s asthmatic dog, Heen, who she originally thinks is Howl undercover. She also meets the Witch of the Waste, who had previously been expelled from the court many years ago and now seeks to regain the royal house's patronage; instead, Wizard Suliman punishes the Witch by draining all of her power, causing her to regress into a harmless old woman, with little memories of her past actions, only remembering her obsession with Howl. Suliman tells Sophie that Howl will meet the same fate if he does not contribute to the war. As Sophie vehemently protests these measures, the Witch's spell temporarily weakens due to the love in her words. Suliman realizes Sophie's true relation to Howl and her feelings towards him and allowing the witch one small victory over Howl, she knows of someone he cares about. Howl then arrives to rescue Sophie, dressed up as the King, but his cover is blown when the real King enters, with the Witch and Heen tagging along. The magic ring Howl gave Sophie guides her to Calcifer, but Suliman begins tracking her to get to Howl.
Sophie learns that Howl transforms into a bird-like creature to interfere in the war, but each transformation makes it more difficult for him to return to human form (as it is made apparent that all wizards who would perform such a change could lose themselves to madness). Howl shows his appreciation for her by transforming the castle so that it can lead to Sophie's old home as well as Howl's childhood residence, which he gives to Sophie as a gift. During their walk together, Sophie changes back and forth between her old and young selves until she temporarily stops at her young self albeit with silver hair. Sophie fears he's preparing to leave them, because he knows his remaining time as a human is limited. A bomber ship flies over Howl's home and he causes it to malfunction. However, he is then forced to leave Sophie back in the castle while he returns to interfering in the war. Soon after, Sophie's mother visits the house and somehow recognizes Sophie, despite her old appearance. They then have a happy reunion. However, Sophie's mother is actually under Suliman's threats and leaves behind a bag containing a "peeping bug" under her orders. The former Witch of the Waste discovers it and promptly destroys the bug by tossing it into Calcifer. Unfortunately, Calcifer gets sick after eating the bug, rendering him unable to protect the castle from being discovered when Markl opens the windows to air out the Witch's cigar smoke.

A few hours later, the city is carpet-bombed by enemy aircraft while Suliman's henchmen invade the hat shop. After arriving in the nick of time and protecting the hat shop from the bombing, Howl draws the guards away, while Sophie and Calcifer bring the castle to the Wastes. Sophie pulls Calcifer out of the castle to destroy the magic and cut off all ties to the city, so that Howl would not be continually forced to defend them (During this time, Sophie has continuously stayed young). They replace Calcifer in the castle's remains and create a smaller version of the moving machine so they can rescue Howl. Unfortunately, the Witch discovers Howl's heart in Calcifer's flames (after Calcifer explains that he needs a part of someone for assistance in powerful magic) and grabs it. To save her from burning, Sophie douses her and Calcifer with water. With Califer extinguished, what is left of the castle breaks apart and Sophie and Heen are thrown over a cliff and separated from Markl and the Witch, with the now barely glowing Calcifer still in her hands.
Sophie recovers in tears, believing that she has killed both Calcifer and Howl, as their lives are interconnected. As she is sobbing, Howl's ring points to the remains of Howl's castle door, but Sophie doesn't see it until Heen alerts her; she walks through it, with Heen reluctantly following and finds herself in Howl's past, where she sees Calcifer being caught by a young Howl as a falling star. Howl and Calcifer make a contract with each other; Howl swallows Calcifer, who then emerges from his chest with Howl's heart as well. Sophie is pulled back into present time, but before leaving, she yells to Howl and Calcifer that she knows how to help them and they should find and wait for her in the future. They watch in surprise as she is swallowed up by the ground, with a little dog following her. Lost in time and space and falling to the earth, Sophie is guided back to the present by Heen, who keeps urging her to hurry, before the passageway collapses.
Back in the present, Sophie finds Howl, having now lost his human consciousness in bird form, and realizes that he has been waiting for her all along. When they return to the others Howl becomes human again and Sophie pleads with the Witch to give back Howl's heart, which she puts back in his chest after Calcifer agrees to it. Although Howl has not yet regained consciousness Calcifer returns to his original form and flies away. With Calcifer gone completely, the remains of the castle with everyone still atop, slides down the cliffs and Turnip Head is forced to almost sacrifice himself to stop the fall. As a result of his brave actions, Sophie gives him a kiss, transforming him back into the missing Prince Justin, who had been cursed by a witch until he could receive a kiss from his true love.

By now, Sophie has fully transformed back to her youthful self (with the exception of her silver hair) and Howl recovers and sits up, immediately feeling the new burden of his restored heart, though glad to see Sophie again and comments on her 'starlight' hair. Though he has come to love Sophie as well, Prince Justin realizes that her love is for Howl and leaves to put an end to the war, as does Suliman, who has been spying on the group using Heen. Calcifer returns, realizing that he could not bear to leave his friends. Howl, Sophie, and the others are later seen aboard a new, flying castle powered by Calcifer of his own free will, high above the bomber planes now returning home from the end of the war. The film ends with Markl and Heen playing on a grassy area of the castle, overlooked by Calcifer, with the former Witch of the Wastes watching from a chair like a kindly grandmother, while Howl and Sophie share a kiss on a balcony at the head of the flying castle.

The Cat Returns

The Cat Returns (猫の恩返し,) is a Japanese animated film directed by Hiroyuki Morita , produce by Studio Ghibli .

The story is of a girl called Haru(小春）, a quiet, shy and unassuming high school student who has a suppressed ability to talk with cats. One day, she saves a darkly-colored, odd-eyed cat from being hit by a truck on a busy road. The cat is Lune, Prince of the Cat Kingdom. As thanks, the cats give Haru many gifts of catnip and mice, and she is offered the Prince's hand in marriage. Her mixed reply is taken as a yes.
Wanting none of this, Haru hears a kind, female voice, which tells her to seek the Cat Bureau. Haru meets Muta（胖胖）, a large white cat the voice told her to seek for directions, who leads her there to meet the Baron（男爵） , who is a cat figurine given life by the work of his artist, and Toto（多多）, a stone raven who comes to life much like the Baron. Soon after meeting them, Haru and Muta are forcefully taken to the Cat Kingdom, leaving Toto and the Baron in the human world to follow the group from the air. The Baron and his crow friend find the entrance to the Cat Kingdom on Earth: Five lakes forming a cat's paw.
Haru is conducted to a feast at the castle of the Cat Kingdom and she begins to slowly turn into a cat with tan paws, ears and whiskers, though still mainly human, so that she will make a suitable bride for the Prince. At the feast, the Baron (in disguise) dances with Haru as part of the entertainment, and reveals to her that the more she loses herself in the kingdom, the more cat-like she will become, and that she has to discover her true self. When the Baron is discovered and is forced to fight the guards, he and Haru are helped by Yuki（小雪）, a white female cat who works as a servant in the palace and who had tried to warn Haru to leave the Cat Kingdom before she was taken to the castle. Yuki shows them an escape leading to a tunnel.
Haru, the Baron, and Muta's escape moves them through a maze to a tower, which contains a portal to Haru's world. The King goes through a series of efforts to keep them in the Cat Kingdom long enough for Haru to remain trapped in the form of a cat and have her as his daughter-in-law.
Lune and his guards return to the Cat Kingdom to reveal the King was not acting on his behalf and has no desire to marry Haru; he has instead planned on proposing to Yuki. Muta is revealed to be a notorious criminal in the Kingdom (having devoured a whole lake of fish in one session), and Yuki as being the strange voice who had advised Haru to go to the Cat Bureau. In her childhood, Haru had saved Yuki from starvation by giving her the fish cookies she was eating, and Yuki has now repaid her kindness.
Eventually, the Baron, Haru and Muta escape the Cat Realm, with the aid of Prince Lune and Toto, and Haru discovers her true self and tells the Baron how she has come to have like him. He tells her "Just for the record, I admire a woman who speaks from the heart." and that the doors of the Cat Bureau will be ever open for her. Haru returns to the human world with more confidence in herself; after learning her former crush has broken up with his girlfriend, she simply replies "it doesn't matter anymore".