Castle in the Sky

Early concepts

Following the success of his previous film, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), Hayao Miyazaki began looking for different projects to direct.^[7] Tokuma Shoten, the company backing Miyazaki financially, proposed producing a follow-up to Nausicaä, which he refused.^[8] He envisioned creating an old-fashioned adventure film that would be a "pleasure" to watch,^[9] for which he took a research trip to the city of Yanagawa. He developed an initial film concept set in the city, tentatively titled Blue Mountains,^[10][c] which he pitched to Tokuma Shoten in June 1984.^[11] However, he stated in a later interview that he "wasn't in shape to direct" at the time, and was unable to make progress on the concept.^[12]

The film was never produced, but the city's canals inspired Miyazaki's longtime collaborator, Isao Takahata, to propose they create a documentary about them rather than an animation. This eventually became The Story of Yanagawa's Canals (1987), which focused on the environmental effects of industry on the local waterways.^[13] A documentary, however, was unlikely to be commercially viable and had no prospect of support from Tokuma Shoten.^[14] Miyazaki therefore financed its production through his personal office, Nibariki, using the profits he had made from Nausicaä.^[15]

Takahata rapidly spent the funds on research;^[16] to recover the expense and help complete the filming, Toshio Suzuki, an editor of Animage at the time, recommended that Miyazaki direct another film.^[16] According to Suzuki, Miyazaki immediately agreed,^[17] and quickly developed a concept for the film based on an idea he had in elementary school.^[18][d] Suzuki later commented that "if Takahata had made his movie on schedule, [Castle in the Sky] wouldn't have been born."^[17]

Pre-production

Miyazaki completed a project proposal in December 1984, tentatively titled Young Boy Pazu.^[20][e] According to the animation scholar Seiji Kanō, its concepts constituted a "direct rebellion" against popular animation trends at the time; instead of a protagonist with superhuman powers and a futuristic setting, the proposal featured an ordinary child within a fantastical nineteenth-century period.^[22] Although Miyazaki had expected Nausicaä to appeal to teenagers, he realized that his audience also included many younger children. This led him to conceptualize a film catered to this demographic, opposed to the trend of increasingly adult-oriented animations.^[23]

The proposal was also unusual in that it did not adapt an already-successful manga, which weakened its commercial potential.^[24] Feeling that it was unlikely to be green-lit, Miyazaki preemptively began work on a back-up proposal. However, Tokuma Shoten was eager to back Young Boy Pazu,^[25] and immediately approved it to begin production, with Takahata acting as producer as he had done on Nausicaä.^[26] Miyazaki continued working on the proposal, producing a second draft in February 1985. Kanō wrote that this one contained a shift towards a more realistic perspective; refinements were made to the plot, multiple settings were described in detail, and additional characters were included.^[26]

Cardiff Castle (top) and Big Pit Mine (bottom) in southern Wales, where Miyazaki visited during his location scouting trip.^[26]

On Takahata's suggestion, Miyazaki traveled to the country of Wales in May 1985 to conduct location scouting for the film. With Takahata and Suzuki occupied on the documentary and with building the film's production crew, Miyazaki went alone.^[27] Although using real locations as inspirations for fictional settings was a common practice among Japanese animators,^[28] Miyazaki's intention for the film was only a generally Western appearance.^[29]

He was significantly influenced by the region's architecture and landscapes;^[30] the Big Pit Mine – by then converted into a museum – influenced the opening scenes set in the mining village. Cardiff Castle, and other edifices like it around Wales, provided references for the film's Titus Fort.^[26] He also witnessed the aftermath of the 1984–1985 coal miners' strike in protest of the push from Margaret Thatcher's government to close many of the mines.^[31] He was significantly moved by the empty facilities and defeated atmosphere he witnessed, which resonated with him politically and influenced the themes that he eventually explored.^[32][f]

Writing and production

Hayao Miyazaki (pictured in 2009), the writer and director

Isao Takahata (pictured in 2014), the producer

While Miyazaki was away, Takahata, Suzuki, and Tokuma Shoten's Yasuyoshi Tokuma [ja] searched for an animation studio willing to take on the new production, but were unsuccessful. The company responsible for Nausicaä's production, Topcraft, had also gone bankrupt around the time. They therefore decided to set up a new studio, hiring some of their previous collaborators, including Tōru Hara [ja] – Topcraft's founder – and the colorist Michiyo Yasuda.^[33] After scouting several properties on which to set up an office, they selected a location in Tokyo's Kichijōji neighborhood, and were set to begin production upon Miyazaki's return. Studio Ghibli opened on June 15, 1985, as a subsidiary of Tokuma Shoten.^[34][g]

Along with some initial sketches of the visuals, Miyazaki began working on the script on June 17, the first draft of which was completed by the end of the month.^[35] The film's title, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, was finalized.^[36] This draft's plot was similar to that of the finished film until the substantially different final act: Sheeta and Pazu remained separated throughout their time on Laputa, more scenes of violence and strife that occur there were included, and additional runtime was spent on an exploration of Muska's character. Takahata and Suzuki, who felt that this deviated from the intended adventurous mood, advised Miyazaki to make revisions.^[37]

A second script draft was finished on July 22. In addition to changes to the second half of the plot, new elements began to appear: the power of Sheeta's necklace became tied to her thoughts, and Laputa's natural elements were emphasized.^[35] However, other concepts that had featured in Miyazaki's concept art for several years, such as a scene in which Sheeta and Pazu pilot an ornithopter, were cut. Miyazaki also began the storyboarding around this time.^[37]

Studio Ghibli gradually built its production staff over the following months and began work on the main animation,^[38] recruiting animators from companies they had previously worked with, such as Telecom Animation Film, Toei Animation, and Nippon Animation.^[39] The key animation was done by a team of 21,^[40] and other studios, such as Doga Kobo and Oh! Production, provided support for the in-between animation.^[3] Unusually for the industry, two art directors were assigned to create the backgrounds; these were made with watercolors or other kinds of paint on paper.^[41]

By January 1986, 33 people were working on the project in total. Filming of completed sequences began the following month, and a teaser trailer was sent out to theaters. Miyazaki finalized the storyboards; according to Kanō, they required significant condensing, as the original plan would have run over three hours. The final runtime was just over two hours, making it Miyazaki's longest film at the time.^[42]

Animation and special effects

Castle in the Sky was animated by hand using at least 69,262 cel drawings.^[43][h] Hara said that the studio was "aiming for a manga-like feel", which they planned to accomplish with a limited color palette. However, they ended up using over 300 shades, which Yasuda attributed to the varied lighting conditions across the film;^[45] by comparison, Nausicaä had used only around 250.^[46] The lead animator Yoshinori Kanada was hired in August 1985,^[35] and the first task he was delegated was to experiment on the flaptors – the flying machines used by Dola's gang in the film. He attempted multiple approaches to portray their insect-like wings, eventually deciding upon drybrushed strokes to imply rapid motion.^[47]

Certain special effects from the film use a combination of cel and film techniques.^[48] For example, double exposures in which parts of the image are exposed only once, creating the effect of semi-transparency; this technique was used in the film to depict Laputa's holograms.^[49] The opening sequence uses multiple "transmitted light" techniques – in which the film is deliberately overexposed, allowing light to bleed into adjacent sections of the image – to convey the luminance of the crystal necklace.^[48] According to Hara, the majority of the cels had been completed by May 1986, but around 30% required retouching during the filming process.^[46]

Some of the film's shots make use of the Harmony Process, a technique pioneered by Noriko Takaya [ja].^[50] This involved cutting cels into custom shapes and painting them in the style of a background layer, which could then be moved between frames in a manner comparable to stop-motion animation. This allowed certain foreground elements to be highly detailed as, unlike the other cels, they did not have to be redrawn on every frame.^[51] An early shot of the Goliath airship that Takaya worked on features Harmony elements,^[52] and a similar technique was used to animate the storm initially obscuring Laputa.^[53]

Casting and voice acting

Auditions for the voice cast began in May 1986,^[54] led by Miyazaki, Takahata, and Shigeharu Shiba, the film's sound director. Pazu was initially intended to be voiced by a young boy, but they found the audition performances unsatisfactory. Shiba eventually recommended Mayumi Tanaka, who was known for other voice roles playing children. For Sheeta, Miyazaki requested they cast someone other than Sumi Shimamoto, who had voiced the female leads of his two previous films; they finally decided on Keiko Yokozawa, a veteran voice actor who had also tried out for the lead role in Nausicaä.^[55]

Minori Terada (Muska) and Kotoe Hatsui [ja] (Dola) were considered unusual choices, as they were both known more for their careers in live-action films. Shiba stated that Terada was selected in part due to his voice's similarity to the actor Jinpachi Nezu's, but that he and Miyazaki had also been impressed by Terada's work on the Japanese dub of Blade Runner (1982).^[56] Shiba considered casting a comedian from the Kansai region as Dola, but Miyazaki found their dialect of Japanese to be undesirable. However, after he happened to view a television program in which Hatsui talked about her past, Shiba was impressed by her voice and personality, and handed her the role.^[55]

The voice recordings took place over three days in late June and early July.^[57] As further changes had been made to the story since the last script draft, the scripts given to the voice actors consisted of dialog extracted from the storyboards.^[37] Terada, who was voicing an animated character for the first time, initially had difficulty delivering his lines in sync with Muska's lip movements; however, he grasped the technique during rehearsals and, according to Shiba, made a confident performance.^[56]

Roles of nature and technology

Castle in the Sky contains a strong theme of environmentalism, questioning humanity's relationship with nature and the role of technology.^[58] McCarthy interprets the giant tree of Laputa as a "metaphor for the reviving and life-giving power of nature."^[59] However, in contrast with the more optimistic conclusions of Miyazaki's previous works, Napier notes that the film ends with an "unsettling view" of the castle flying away, suggesting that humanity may not deserve to exist in the natural world.^[60] Literary scholar Anthony Lioi interprets Laputa as an ecological utopia that demonstrates the peace that can be established between nature and advanced technology, but also serves as a criticism of modernity when "[the] peace is shattered by human violence."^[61] Lioi notes that this outlook differs from dominant Western ideas, eschewing the extremes of capitalism and industrialism, as well as radical environmentalism and conservationism.^[61]

Critics note the philosophical ambiguity of the castle; while Laputa initially appears to be an ideal union of nature and technology, it is later revealed to have a much harsher and more oppressive underside;^[59] Napier writes that Laputa is "deeply paradoxical".^[62] Laputa itself takes direct inspiration from the island of the same name from Gulliver's Travels (1726),^[63] and film scholar Cristina Cardia claims that, like its namesake, the island is introduced with benign intentions but is ultimately "exploited for perverse ends, in this case war."^[64] Lioi argues that Laputa is used as a means to comment on the ethics of contemporary culture,^[61] based on Ildney Cavalcanti's observation that such a utopia also "must contain an overtly dystopian element, such that the implicit critique in utopian discourse becomes explicit."^[65] However, he interprets the ultimate destruction of the castle's weapons as a demonstration that "violence is not the heart of the city", and that the dystopic elements of modernity can be healed.^[61]

The film also presents an ambiguous view on the usage of technology.^[66] The robots from Laputa provide an example of this view, as they are introduced in the film as a violent force capable of extreme destruction. However, when the protagonists next meet a robot, it is entirely peaceful, tending to the gardens and fauna on Laputa.^[67] Lioi argues that the robots, as a representation of Laputan technology, are caretakers by default and only become destructive in response to human brutality.^[61] McCarthy argues that "this is not a comment on technology but on man's inability to use it wisely."^[68] Odell and Le Blanc conclude that "technology ... is not necessarily a bad thing, but we must consider how it's used and to what extent."^[69] The duality of nature and technology is further explored in Miyazaki's later film Princess Mononoke (1997).^[70]

Innocence of children

Like many other films by Miyazaki, Castle in the Sky features young children as protagonists.^[66] Miyazaki values the portrayal of children as good-hearted, confident in their own agency, and resilient and upbeat in response to adversity.^[71] He criticized reviewers of his television series Future Boy Conan (1978) who described the titular character as "too much of a goody-two-shoes", admitting he was tempted to retort "So you want to see 'bad characters', you fool?"^[72] Film critics Colin Odell and Michelle Le Blanc argue that creating a film with younger protagonists generates perspectives that an adult would not perceive, saying "the children in Ghibli's films are a liberating force that allows anything to be possible."^[66]

The lack of parental oversight of the protagonists is an element Miyazaki feels to be important in promoting children's independence. The protagonists of his films are, like Sheeta and Pazu, often orphaned, or in some way parted from their parents.^[73] Miyazaki believes that "one of the essential elements of most classical children's literature is that the children in the stories actually fend for themselves."^[74] The presence of parents, in his opinion, would stifle the children's autonomy.^[75] The limitations that children have in their abilities are also explored in the film; for example, Pazu comes close to forsaking Sheeta and his quest for Laputa.^[76] Additionally, unlike Miyazaki's previous works, the protagonists do not succeed at convincing the antagonists of their wrongdoing, which offers a more pessimistic view on children's ability to educate others.^[76]

Napier proposes that Miyazaki's insistence on showing the freedom of children in Castle in the Sky can be credited to the influence of Panda and the Magic Serpent (1958).^[75] Miyazaki first watched the film at age 17, and it moved him to pursue a career in animation.^[77] At a lecture given in 1982 at Waseda University, he said "When I saw Panda and the Magic Serpent, it was as if the scales fell from my eyes; I realized that I should depict the honesty and goodness of children in my work." He considers this a focal point in his endeavors.^[1] The theme of innocence is explored further in Miyazaki's succeeding film My Neighbor Totoro (1988).^[78]

Working-class moralities

While in Wales for his location scouting, Miyazaki witnessed the aftermath of the 1984–1985 coal miners' strike. Their ultimate failure to preserve the industry left a lasting impact on him; he viewed the event as an attack by the powerful on the miners' way of life and hard-working spirit.^[79] His experiences are reflected in several supporting characters in the film, who, despite living impoverished lives of hard labor in the mines, enthusiastically protect the protagonists from multiple aggressors. Napier argued that this depiction reveals Miyazaki's yearning for a simpler way of life and a desire to create a story based in optimism.^[80] Miyazaki later stated that he had "felt a real sense of solidarity with the mine workers" while in Wales;^[81] Kanō speculated that they reminded him of his time in a labor union while working at Toei Animation.^[82] The animation scholar Helen McCarthy wrote that the film "also contains echoes of the struggle of the Welsh people for nationhood and freedom."^[83] Miyazaki visited Wales once more in 1986, ahead of the release of the film. In 2005, he told The Guardian "I admired those men, I admired the way they battled to save their way of life, just as the coal miners in Japan did. Many people of my generation see the miners as a symbol, a dying breed of fighting men. Now they are gone."^[84]

Marketing

To finance part of the production and the marketing campaign, Tokuma Shoten hired the advertising agency Dentsu to find tie-in sponsors, and they selected Toshiba and Ajinomoto.^[96] An initial contract, which would have allowed them free use of film footage in commercials, was rejected by Takahata.^[97] This decision was likely due to his lingering concerns about Nausicaä's campaign, where the studio had lost control over how their content was used.^[96] The studio therefore allowed sponsors to use only concept sketches and the film's logo in promotional materials.^[98]

While advertisements were run in several local newspapers,^[19] and the Kinema Junpo magazine featured the film on the cover of its August 1986 edition,^[99] Animage – Tokuma Shoten's specialist magazine – limited its promotional effort. While Nausicaä had been the subject of regular features and interviews, it published only an illustrated serial novel for this film. The magazine was being criticized at the time for its promotion of Tokuma productions, and Kanō speculated that this may have contributed to the reduction in marketing.^[100]

Ajinomoto created two varieties of branded fruit-flavored sodas featuring illustrations by Miyazaki,^[101] and launched a widespread campaign to publicize them beginning in April 1986.^[102] This included sweepstakes for branded merchandise – among the prizes were high fidelity sound systems with the film's title, provided by Toshiba^[97] – a telephone advertisement service, and a competition to be selected as a "Laputa Reporter" for the Osaka region.^[103]

Due to Studio Ghibli's restrictions on the footage, the television commercials instead featured a live-action adaptation of the film's elements.^[105] A life-size model of a flaptor was created, reportedly at an expense of ¥10 million to Ajinomoto, and various specialized equipment was purchased to film it. Two actors were hired to play Pazu and Sheeta, and the narration was provided by Sumi Shimamoto and Yōji Matsuda, the lead voice actors from Nausicaä.^[104]

The production of these commercials was the subject of significant coverage in Animage, where the challenges and spectacle of the live-action medium were emphasized; the animation scholar Rayna Denison argued that, inadvertently or not, the campaign became a distraction from the film rather than a supportive accompaniment.^[104] However, despite the campaign running during the hot Japanese summer, the drinks did not become particularly popular,^[106] only selling around a third of the anticipated 30 million bottles.^[101]

The film was additionally promoted with two episodes from Sherlock Hound (1984–1985), a television series Miyazaki had co-directed with Kyōsuke Mikuriya [ja], which would be shown along with the film in theaters.^[i] This was an established tactic at the time, and two other episodes had previously been screened during Nausicaä's theatrical run. Denison felt that the more lighthearted episodes were used to compensate for the film's heavier tone, increasing the program's appeal for a general audience. However, unlike with Nausicaä, the episodes in question had already been aired on television.^[108] They were also, according to Kanō, of lower animation quality compared with the rest of the series, and held "questionable" potential to attract audiences.^[109]

Japanese release

A major promotional event was held in Shibuya on July 20, 1986, which was attended by key staff and the lead voice actors. The film premiered on July 25 at the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry [ja].^[110] Preview screenings were held over the following week in major Japanese cities with posters put out by the publicity department at the Toei Company, based on illustrations by Miyazaki. These received positive feedback, and the film was publicly recommended by local film societies and children's welfare committees.^[111]

On August 2, Castle in the Sky was released by Toei in 103 theaters around Japan. However, in its 14-day run in theaters, it attracted 774,271 viewers, earning an estimated ¥1.16 billion at the box office and ¥583 million from distribution rentals.^[112] This was only around two-thirds of the earnings made from Nausicaä, and Miyazaki and Suzuki expressed their disappointment with these figures.^[113]

The animation scholar Shiro Yoshioka argued that the restrictions on the marketing were a factor in the film's lower returns.^[97] Kanō also wrote that the film's runtime, coupled with the length of the Sherlock Hound episodes, limited the number of screenings that could take place per day.^[111] Miyazaki himself attributed the lack of viewership to his defiance of genre expectations and the comparatively unremarkable protagonist.^[114][j]

English dubs

The first English dub was produced by an unknown company in Hollywood.^[115][b] It was first screened in Hong Kong on June 26, 1987 with Chinese subtitles,^[3] earning around HK$13 million in three months at the box office.^[120] It debuted in the United States on July 14, 1987, at the Los Angeles Animation Celebration.^[121] The dub was screened at the London Film Festival in November, and an edited version briefly aired on television in the United Kingdom.^[k] The film was licensed for theatrical distribution in North America in 1989 by the then-new Streamline Pictures;^[123] the release was relatively limited, and its box office earnings are unknown.^[120]

Following the distribution deal struck between Tokuma Shoten and Disney in 1997, which included terms for the dubbing and international release of all Studio Ghibli films, a second English dub was produced. Well-known actors were cast, including James Van Der Beek (Pazu), Anna Paquin (Sheeta), and Mark Hamill (Muska).^[124] Due to the possible confusion with the Spanish phrase la puta – literally 'the whore' – the film was re-titled simply to Castle in the Sky.^[125] After its completion in 2000, it premiered at the New York International Children's Film Festival on February 4.^[124] However, following the poor performance of Princess Mononoke in North American theaters, the intended nationwide theatrical release was canceled, and the home media release was postponed.^[126]

Home media and other releases

Following the Japanese theatrical release, Tokuma Shoten released the film on VHS in August 1986, and a version on LaserDisc was released the next month. These sold approximately 80,000 copies over the following three years. A number of books related to the film were published by Studio Ghibli, including an art book and a comic-book version using stills from the film.^[111]

The film gradually gained popularity through subsequent television broadcasts; screenings on Nippon Television from 1988 to 2004 received viewership between 12 to 22 percent.^[127] The film later earned a significant additional amount through re-releases.^[60] In the United Kingdom, it was the eighth-best-selling foreign language film on home video in 2019.^[128] In Japan, Buena Vista reissued the VHS in 1998, which sold around 1 million copies. Two DVD collections put out in 2002 sold another 500,000 copies.^[111] Multiple international theatrical reruns between 2003 and 2026^[update], including at the annual Studio Ghibli Fest, have earned the film approximately US$6.9 million.^[129]

The 2003 English dub was released on home video in North America on April 15, 2003.^[130] Optimum released a Blu-ray version in the United Kingdom in 2011,^[131] which Buena Vista brought to North America in 2012;^[132] The Numbers estimated the latter earned US$10.3 million.^[133] After assuming the distribution rights to Studio Ghibli's catalog in North America, GKIDS re-issued the Blu-rays and DVDs in 2017.^[134] Both the original Japanese version and the 2003 English dub were made available for streaming when the rights to Studio Ghibli's filmography were acquired by Netflix in 2020.^[135]

The film was released theatrically in France on January 15, 2003, bringing in 615,374 viewers over the span of a month. The film was subsequently released on DVD there, as well as in Italy and Spain. It had a theatrical and home media release in South Korea in 2004.^[124] It made its theatrical debut in China on June 1, 2023,^[136] making CN¥76 million (US$10.7 million) in its first week.^[137]

Development

Joe Hisaishi, a returning collaborator from Nausicaä, composed Castle in the Sky's score. He was not initially planning to fill this role, as he was occupied with composing for Arion (1986) at the time, but accepted the project at Miyazaki's request.^[138] The two went on to become close collaborators, and Hisaishi has since written the music for all of Miyazaki's feature films.^[139]

After he was brought on in February 1986, Hisaishi began work on the image album, a collection of demos based on the concept materials that serve as a precursor to the finished score.^[140] Takahata acted as music supervisor,^[141] and worked with Hisaishi on a plan for the music required in each scene.^[142] Each song from the image album was then extended and arranged for full symphony orchestra; this version was recorded by the Tokyo City Philharmonic [ja].^[143]

In March, the song "If I Could Fly"^[l] was commissioned from Takashi Matsumoto, who had written a similar song for Nausicaä.^[144] Unlike the other music, this was not planned to be featured in the film, and only appears in Ajinomoto's television commercials. Kanō described the track, performed by Yōko Obata [ja], as similar to other pop music from the time.^[143]

For the final score, Hisaishi aimed to precisely synchronize the music with the on-screen action.^[143] Advancements in digital playback allowed him to compose while watching the animation to compare their timing; he then sent the pieces to Miyazaki and Takahata for review.^[142] This resulted in lengthy sequences with uninterrupted background score, and pieces that dynamically switch between different motifs to match the scene's point of view.^[143] While the image album contains prominent electronic elements,^[145] Hisaishi intended for a more "acoustic" sound in the film; the soundtrack version therefore uses Fairlight synthesizers alongside a 50-piece orchestra.^[142]

Disagreements between Miyazaki, Takahata, and Hisaishi about which scenes needed background accompaniment led to delays; the music for the opening scene, for example, was written less than a month from the release date.^[143] "Carrying You",^[m] the vocal song that plays over the credits sequence, was requested by Takahata late in the production. He asked Miyazaki to write the lyrics – Kanō wrote that they were likely inspired by Wind, Sand and Stars (1939), a memoir by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry^[146] – and Hisaishi set them to an arrangement of the film's main theme.^[147] It was performed by Azumi Inoue.^[148]

According to Shigeharu Shiba, Castle in the Sky was among the first films in Japan to use quadraphonic (4-channel) sound for its theatrical release. He avoided using the additional speakers to move sounds around the room – as Miyazaki felt the effect became too artificial – and instead strove to preserve a "natural sense of space". The final mixing was done at the Tokyo Television Center [ja]. Shiba said that Hisaishi's score required very few changes during the process with the exception of the scene of Laputa's collapse, where Takahata insisted the song be cut off in the middle of the scene.^[149]

Rewriting for the English dub

Hisaishi began rewriting the soundtrack for the English dub in March 1999, rearranging the original themes in an American cinematic style.^[151] He was advised by Disney staff that non-Japanese audiences preferred comparatively more music in films. As a result, this soundtrack is much longer, around 90 minutes in length, while the Japanese version featured just an hour of music.^[152]

The new material was used to fill scenes that had previously been silent or partially scored.^[101] Various other changes were made, and scenes from the original that Miyazaki or Hisaishi had been dissatisfied with were rewritten entirely.^[153] In contrast with the original, he used a "Hollywood method", using pieces to directly represent the characters that appear on screen.^[154] Although Hisaishi felt that this writing involved an overly simplistic compositional approach, he stated that he "learned a lot" from the experience.^[155]

As many of the original scores and synthesizer data had been lost by this point, Hisaishi reconstructed them before starting on the adaptation.^[150] Every piece in this version was written for symphony orchestra, and many electronic-heavy tracks for the original were rearranged for the ensemble.^[156] The soundtrack was performed by the Seattle Symphony, which Hisaishi had chosen for their "well-balanced" sound.^[150] The recordings took place in Seattle in late April and early May inside a local church.^[157]

Analysis

The cinema and music scholar Marco Bellano identified the image album as the beginning of a change in Hisaishi's compositional style for Miyazaki's films; it contains more experimental pieces, and the melodies are written with much longer phrases.^[145] Hisaishi said that these were drawn from Scottish and Irish folk influences, which often use pentatonic scales.^[158] Bellano found that, to match the pacing of the film, these melodies are introduced in their complete forms before being "fragmented" when reappearing in later scenes.^[159]

Although Hisaishi uses leitmotifs – short, recurring musical elements tied to aspects of the narrative, such as characters or moods – Bellano argued that he developed a novel approach to using leitmotifs due to the particular constraints of composing for a Miyazaki film.^[159] Bellano analyzed the film's main theme as built on a descending four-note line (highlighted below in red), a technique that would characterize Hisaishi's future melodies in Miyazaki's work:^[160]

In this film's context, he found the descending pattern reflective of the film's theme of flight; rather escaping into the sky, the film's characters must return to the earth. The pieces underscoring Sheeta's speech to Muska, as well as the introductory scene on Laputa, contain similar descending lines, emphasizing the thematic connection.^[161]

Critical response

Castle in the Sky has been generally acclaimed by film critics in the years since its release. In 2001, Animage ranked Castle in the Sky 44th in their list of top 100 anime.^[163] Animation critic and writer Raz Greenberg calls Castle in the Sky "one of the greatest adventure films ever made",^[164] and critic Manabu Murase names it "quite possibly the most entertaining anime that Miyazaki ever made".^[165] On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rate of 96% from 28 critics, with an average rating of 7.6 out of 10. The site's critic consensus reads, "With a storytelling palette as rich and brilliant as its animation, Castle in the Sky thrillingly encapsulates Studio Ghibli's unique strengths."^[166] At Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 78 out of 100 based on seven critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[167]

While multiple reviewers felt that the film's two-hour runtime would turn audiences away,^[168] The New York Times's Caryn James commenting that it is "liable to strain patiences of adults and the attention spans of children",^[169] others argued that the film had the appeal to keep audiences entertained.^[170] IGN's Jeremy Conrad felt the characters are "so likable that you never get bored, you always want to see what adventure is next for them".^[4] Reviewers were split over the 1987 English dub,^[171] with the Dayton Daily News's Terry Lawson calling it "the film's weakest element",^[172] while The Cincinnati Post's David Lyman felt the dubbing into English had been done "superbly".^[173] The 2003 dub similarly received mixed reviews, with The A.V. Club's Tasha Robinson calling Disney's recordings "almost comically bland",^[174] and Conrad expressing his appreciation for Anna Paquin as Sheeta and Mark Hamill's performance as Muska.^[4] Many critics also praised the animation,^[175] the Asheville Times's Tom Sabulis considering it "state-of-the-art"^[176] and The Philadelphia Inquirer's Steven Rea naming it "masterful".^[177] However, some felt the motions lacked fluidity,^[178] with Lyman describing it as "stiff-limbed".^[173]

Most reviewers highlighted the imaginative capacity that Miyazaki displays in the film.^[179] Slant's Chuck Bowen noted the subtle details included in the film, which he felt lends it "texture and originality".^[180] A review in the Weekly Asahi highlighted the film's dynamism, favorably comparing its flying sequences with Peter Pan (1953).^[181] Several reviewers praised the use of color, which made the film "a joy to watch" according to James.^[182] A reviewer for City Road noted that the film could present themes that were critical of modern society while still maintaining a "warm and caring" view of humanity.^[183] Several reviewers noted the film's strong ecological theme, with The Washington Post's Richard Harrington appreciating the "moral duality" of Laputa's technology,^[184] and the Asahi Journal's Yomota Inuhiko praising the depiction of Laputa as a utopia which gradually developed dystopic elements.^[185] Critics and scholars also noted the film's connections to Miyazaki's previous works; Greenberg felt that the film is "deeply rooted within Miyazaki's filmography of the two decades that preceded it",^[76] and Denison called it a "compendium of Miyazaki's previous interests as an animator".^[186]

Audience response

In a poll conducted by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs at the 2006 Japan Media Arts Festival, the film was rated the third-best animation of all time, after Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995).^[187] In a 2008 audience poll conducted by Oricon in Japan, Castle in the Sky was voted the best animation of all time.^[188]

Accolades