A talented Studio Ghibli fan captured both the look and spirit of Sophie from Howling’s Moving Castle in a beautiful cosplay.
The Ghibli fan uploaded an image of the cosplay on Reddit, revealing that they sewed their version of Sophie’s green dress. In the original Howl’s Moving Castle novel by Diana Wynne Jones, fairytale tropes are life facts. As the eldest sister, Sophie believes she will have a dull future running her family’s hat shop. Still, her life drastically changes when she is transformed into an older woman by a petty witch and finds herself working for the flamboyant titular wizard. Ultimately, Sophia’s hardworking and caring nature brings about her happy ending. These themes carry over into this cosplay’s handmade dress and Studio Ghibli’s film adaptation.
I went as Sophie for Halloween! I sewed the dress myself! from ghibli
The Anime Film Remains Beloved After 18 Years
Written and directed by beloved filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, Howl’s Moving Castle premiered in 2004. It earned $236 million against its budget of $24 million, winning several prestigious awards, including Animation of the Year and Best Director at the Tokyo Anime Awards in 2005 and Best Script at the Nebula Awards in 2007. While Howl’s Moving Castle received a nomination for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards in 2006, it lost the category to Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
Even though the film debuted almost 20 years ago, the impressive handmade Sophie cosplay demonstrates the ongoing appeal and popularity of Howl’s Moving Castle. It isn’t the only recent example of remarkable fan-made content for the movie. Notably, a different fan fashioned an incredibly delicate pastry version of the fire spirit Calcifer, and another built the titular castle out of nothing but popsicle sticks and glue.
Ghibli Park Is Environmentally Friendly
Studio Ghibli fans have more to be excited about than just new pieces of fan-made content. Most notably, the highly anticipated grand opening of Ghibli Park occurred on Nov. 1. Located in Aichi Prefecture in Japan, the new theme park celebrates the animation studio’s long legacy and features attractions inspired by films like Whisper of the Heart and Spirited Away.
More importantly, Ghibli Park embodies the positive environmental messaging of several of the studio’s projects and requires attendees to take their trash home with them. The park also does not allow food; people are encouraged to visit the nearby culinary options at the Expo 2005 Aichi Commemorative Park.
Howl’s Moving Castle is available through Amazon Prime Video.
Source: Reddit
