A walking castle powered by a fire demon. An ongoing war no one can seem to stop. A young woman cursed to walk the Earth in the body of a grandmother. Hayao Miyazaki doing what only Hayao Miyazaki can do.

This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam sit down with Howl's Moving Castle (2004), Studio Ghibli's adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones' beloved fantasy novel. While Toonami left this out of their month of Miyazaki, we couldn’t go through this project without stopping to say hi to Howl.

We dig into both the film itself (sharing our opinions on Sophie, Howl, and the rest of the weird and wonderful characters), discuss the movie’s interesting production history, and its odd reception in America, where the film ended up overshadowed by Hayao Miyazaki’s previous films.

Plus, we lament the biggest change from the original Howl’s Moving Castle book, Miyazaki’s refusal to make Howl Welsh.

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Toonami Absolution is a weekly podcast where Alyx, Jon, and Sam revisit the Toonami and Adult Swim shows that made them, and you, you.

From the block's early days with shows like Space Ghost: Coast to Coast and Transformers: Beast Wars to the imported anime that made Toonami and Adult Swim appointment television for a generation of kids, such as Cowboy Bebop, Sailor Moon, and Dragon Ball.

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See more Toonami Absolution stuff (including the video version of the podcast) by checking out our Linktree!

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