r/HowlsMovingCastle

Watched the movie for the first time last week and now another five or six times since then: English, Japanese with English subs, and German. Have also been enjoying the discussions from past years here.

One thing I’m not seeing in the discussions, and maybe I’m just missing it, is that the Witch of the Waste was burned by Howl’s rejection. He believed her at first attractive and then found her repulsive. So he dumped her and she became obsessed with reclaiming his heart.

Is it more than a coincidence that the very curse the Witch places on Sophie is to turn Sophie into something the Witch believes Howl, who’s just gone for an airy jaunt with Sophie, would reject?

I could never make sense of why so much time was devoted to Sophie and the Witch’s ascent up those castle stairs. But if it’s about attitude towards the aged and aging, then it makes sense. Sophie sees a goal, albeit a hard one made harder by her having to carry that dog, and goes for it. Meanwhile, the Witch, who values youth and her ostentatious beauty but turns uglier as she ascends, can barely make it.

The attitude towards aging might also explain why Sophie suddenly cheers on the woman who put that curse on her in the first place.

Thoughts?

I'm thinking of getting a quote from the film, but there's a bit of a discrepancy between the sub vs dub. In the sub, Sophie says, "Wait for me in the future", while in the dub it's "Find me in the future." I guess they sort of both convey the same thing, but I feel like the implications are a bit different. "Wait for me" feels more passive on Howl's end, but it closes the time loop where Sophie acknowledges how long Howl had to wait for her to figure out the solution and returns his heart from Calcifer.

On the other hand, "find me" is more passive on Sophie's end, but it starts the time loop (at least from Sophie's perspective) from the beginning of the film where they first meet and Howl's ring shines to show he finally found her, especially since he said "I was looking for you/I finally found you" (kind of similar in sub vs dub, I think).

I'm leaning more towards the sub version since that's the original language, but it is a bit wordier and imo less romantic than the dub version. What do you guys think? Let me know your thoughts, thank you!