We rewatch Spirited Away about three times a year, more than Howl. It's lovely, and we like revisiting it. The coal sprites were also in My Neighbor Totoro which, while simple and aimed at kids, may be my most favorite Miyazaki ever--it's so beautiful, much of it with a langorous pace, all of it touched with a gentle imagination.

Totoro is a love poem to a vanished way of life and countryside, remembered through a child's eyes after WWII. Spirited Away is has a much more modern sensibility, but with that same sense of gentle imagination, overlaid with a more adult awareness of the ominous.

Miyazakis are my comfort films. I'm glad you stuck with Sen and got through the gross parts.

Miyazakis are my comfort films.

We just introduced Matilda to Kiki's Delivery Service.

Both JZ and I were pining for Kiki's city. Just one of the loveliest settings ever for a film.

Liv hasn't seen KDS yet. I need to remedy that.

Liv hasn't seen KDS yet. I need to remedy that.

Tombo, the boy aeronaut, reminds me of a young billytea.

Kiki's city, except for being coastal, was very reminiscent of the older parts of Nurnberg, and Firth, where we lived, and Rothenburg, where we often visited. It's a bit like Edam and parts of Amsterdam as well, except for the steep hillsides Kiki's city is built on (Holland, while very lovely, is a pool table). But Kiki's city is nostalgic for us. I knew couples who rented places like Kiki's attic and shared toilet facilities with owner families so as not to have to live in military housing. Even the forest in Kiki's Delivery Service was reminiscent of replanted Bavarian forests.

The towns and cities in Howl's Moving Castle were much more generic European. People familiar with other parts of Europe might feel more recognition.

Kiki's city, except for being coastal, was very reminiscent of the older parts of Nurnberg, and Firth, where we lived, and Rothenburg, where we often visited. It's a bit like Edam and parts of Amsterdam as well, except for the steep hillsides Kiki's city is built on (Holland, while very lovely, is a pool table)

Thanks for placing the European aspects of it. The coastal and the hills remind me of both San Francisco and parts of the British coast. It really is a dream city.

Imaginary Cities I Want to Live in:

Lankhmar
Burton's Gotham
Kiki's City
The Los Angeles in Bladerunner

Interesting. All those cities sound like hell to live in. (Not counting Kiki's which I have not yet seen.) Maybe I'd choose to live in those cities if I had a whole bunch of extra lives so that getting killed was not a big deal.

Imaginary Cities I Want to Live in:

Halloweentown.

The Addams' house. (Not a city, I know. But where I've always wanted to live.)

Not a movie, but Charles de Lint's Newford.

Interesting. All those cities sound like hell to live in.

I noticed that I was leaning a bit towards the dystopic. But they have undeniable appeal to me. Lankhmar never seemed hellish to me, though. It's a lot like San Francisco.