Howl's Moving Castle (anime)/YMMV

"Sophie: Such drama!"
 * Adaptation Displacement / Adaptation Distillation: Some fans of the films have never heard of Diana Wynne Jones, or think she wrote a book adaptation. Diane Wynne Jones actually liked the adaptation, unlike Ursula LeGuin, although she was well aware that it was going to be different.
 * Anvilicious: The anti-war message is about as subtle as a giant magician-bird to the face.
 * Award Snub: Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit beat it to the Best Animated Feature Oscar.
 * Broken Base: The fans of the original book, in regards to the movie. Some enjoy the movie as well as the book, while others are not a fan of its admittedly extreme liberties with the source material. Some fans have found a compromise between the two, combining elements of the original book (such as the John Donne poem that serves as a focal point in the book) with the movie's designs in their fan-works.
 * Counts as a Broken Base for Miyazaki/Ghibli fans in general. About half think of it as a brilliant piece of art, while the other half sees it as a convoluted, messy and dramatically cryptic failure. Critical opinion is less divided (apart from Roger Ebert's panning of the movie), and Howl has a solid 86% approval rate at Rotten Tomatoes.
 * Crowning Music of Awesome: The movie's theme "The Merry-Go-Round of Life".
 * Hollywood Homely: Young Sophie.She seems to pretty much be the only one who considers herself homely. It's more of a self-esteem problem.
 * Wangst: An in-universe example, when Howl throws a tantrum over his hair color - even summoning spirits of darkness and emanating green goo.


 * The Woobie: Sophie, particularly when she's first cursed and constantly tells herself not to overreact, when it's clear she's overwhelmed. Then she leaves home because she doesn't want to be a burden. Then her mother . Life is rough for Sophie.


 * Back to