Character Design is an important part of any movie, but few use it to map out character design as well as Howl’s Moving Castle
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Character design is a funny thing. It is an integral part of visual storytelling, but most viewers don’t pay it a whole lot of attention. I want to focus on character design in Hayao Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle, and how it helps establish character development, but first let’s look at some of the basic philosophy behind character design.
Beyond “This character looks like a badass” or “holy crap, I want to cosplay her” most people don’t consider the design of a character too closely. But it’s a really very important part of developing a story. Good character design has to not only be nice to look at, but also convey information to a viewer. How a character looks- their clothes, their hair, the shape of their eyes and face and body types, convey a lot of information about them. Personality, profession, stuff like that.
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So, Let’s Look at Naruto, for example.
Never mind that orange is, logically speaking, probably the worst color a ninja could wear. This is actually some really solid character design. Bright colors, exaggerated posing, and that spiky spiky hair- one glance and you can sum up his core personality. Naruto is energetic, outgoing, and a young hero. The colors and shape of his composition are able to convey an effective first impression. While the story itself will introduce more nuance to his character, this initial impression primes us for his outlandish, even prankster attitude in the early chapters.
And bright colors + spiky hair is a really good character design for shounen heroes.
Look at Izuku in My Hero Academia
Bright colors and spiky hair. His design is more subdued than Naruto’s, but then, so is his personality- more shy and nervous than Naruto, but still young and heroic.
Bright colors and spiky hair are a main stay for your energetic, young, friendly shounen hero.
And This even holds true for the ultimate shounen hero of our time:
Goku has super bright colors and super spiky hair, and never a hero more bright and energetic and pure hearted have you seen. Aspects of his design- like the tail and the power pole, are a nod towards his origin as Son Goku of The Journey West legend. His fighting gi instantly let’s us know that not only is this a fighting, action show, but one with action based in martial arts specifically. It’s a very effective design
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But not only does character design help establish character traits with a first impression. It can also be used to draw a contrast between characters.
Compare little Goku to little Gohan.
Gohan is still in bright colors, and his hair is even a little spiky. But instead of a fighting gi, he’s dressed in traditional looking Chinese clothes, much like his mother, ChiChi. Little Gohan isn’t a fighter (yet), and his outfit clearly reflects that. Also, his hat and the dragonball on top are much rounder and more contained that Goku’s wild mop of hair, hinting that Gohan will be milder and less outgoing as well.
Character design can also be used to draw a connection between two characters. Look at Sukeroku and Yotaro from Showa Genroku Rakugo. If you’ve seen this anime, it’s fantastic. Everyone should watch it.
They both have that same little curly loop on their nose. It’s a subtle thing, one that’s easy to miss, but it gives the characters an implicit connection even though they have never and will never meet. Their personalities, their style of performance, and their roles in the story are hinted to parallel each other with this simple visual cue though.
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So let’s look at Howl’s Moving Castle. Howl’s Moving Castle came out in 2004, and is based on the book of the same name by Dianna Wayne Jones. It’s apparently pretty different from the book, but since I’ve never read it, I can’t speak on that too much. It’s a film that deals a lot with war and pacifism, emotional honesty and responsibility, and even the question of identity.
Note: lots of spoilers moving forward. So if you haven’t seen the movie, be careful.
Between the missing Prince being disguised as a turnip headed scarecrow, Markl disguising himself as an old man, and the state magicians slowly losing their human forms forever, the question of appearance and identity is a recurring motif.
So character design becomes particularly important in Howl’s, not only to help in our initial impression of the characters, but also to help us understand their character growth. We see this very clearly with the Witch of the Waste, Sophie, and Howl himself.
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Let’s start with the Witch of the Waste. When we first meet her, she looks like this.
She’s used magic to glamour herself, and the result is…kind of alarming. She’s this big formless shape in bright make-up and jewelry, menacing and obsessed with outer appearance. It tells us an awful lot about her- she puts us on edge. She’s dangerous, kind of inhuman. She could not be more different than the rather plain Sophie.
And then, she gets her magic taken away. Deprived of all her magic, she reverts to this tiny, rather sweet, kind of senile old lady, totally human and almost helpless. It’s a startling difference. It also happens at the exact same time that the much larger threat, the looming war and the war mongering government, appears center stage in the movie, and the witch goes from the main antagonist to a lovable side character. Her character development happens narratively at the same time it happens visually.
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Sophie is a much more complicated case. Her character design shifts are a major plot point. At the beginning of the movie, Sophie is a bit of a shut in. Mature to a fault, she has dedicated her whole life to work and has eschewed fun. And her character design reflects that. She wears a plain dress, her hair is in an unassuming braid. Despite working in and owning a fancy hat shop and making beautiful, intricate hats all day, her own hat is very simple and plain. She keeps her emotions totally subdued and comes across as rather lonely and unhappy with low self esteem. Especially when she is compared to her younger sister- friendly, and outgoing, and in big bright outfits.
After a bad encounter with the Witch of the Waste, she is cursed for her outer appearance to reflect her inner emotional state. And Sophie takes on the appearance of an old woman. So now Sophie’s appearance literally reflects her emotional state and growth. In moments of emotional vulnerability, when she lets herself be honest about how she feels or acts more spontaneously, she grows younger to reflect that, but fear and self doubt make her revert to old age.
By the end of the film, she has broken the curse on her own, and her appearance is far more youthful and open, a bright dress, her short hair, and she herself has grown more open and confident.
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While Sophie’s character development and character design is a major plot point, Howl’s is a bit more subtle. When we first meet Howl, he has bright blond hair, a bright pink and grey jacket cape thing, tons of sparkling jewelry and a real habit of showing off. He is as flashy and flamboyant as his outfit- shallow and dazzling, truly a man who would eat a woman’s heart. When Sophie, now an old woman, because of the curse, shows up at his house, he pays her no real mind at all. He doesnt even have much to say about it. He just continues on as normal.
Howl’s big design change happens after Sophie has shown up and moved into the castle. She buckles down one day while he is out and cleans the entire castle, top to bottom, scrubbing and sweeping. This is one of my favorite scenes in the film, because only god damn Miyazaki knows how to make cleaning look like so much fun. This is the scene that really cements Sophie’s place in the castle- she isn’t just a stowaway. She takes charge, gets things done, and carves out a place in Howl and Markl and Calcifer’s lives. Howl comes home, sees the change in the castle and the good Sophie has done, is ok with it, takes a bath, and boom-
Character design change. He lets Sophie into his life in a meaningful way, and his entire hair color and wardrobe change. After this moment in the movie, the entire dynamic of their relationship alters. Howl asks Sophie for help, Howl gives her the flower field, Howl stops running and takes a stand.
And look at his character design! All the pomp and poshness has been stripped away- his hair a plain black, shirt a plain white, plain black pants. It is a drastic change from what we saw in the opening act. He never wears the bright pink diamond coat cape thing again. Even in the final shot of the movie, when he’s in a pink shirt, his hair stays that more subdued black.
And here’s the sign of really effective character designs: If you had never watched the movie, and I showed you a picture of Sophie and Howl from the beginning of the film and then the end of the film and asked you to guess how their characters had changed, you could probably ballpark it. Sophie looks happier and more confident. Howl looks more genuine and content.
And that’s the joy of visual media. Movies and tv shows and comics have ways of giving and reinforcing information that other forms of storytelling just don’t. And it’s always a joy to see it done so well. So I guess what I’m saying is take a minute to appreciate the good character designs around us. And take a minute to grieve the terrible ones.