Castle in the Sky

Hayao Miyazaki’s 1986 animation runs 125 minutes and follows a mining boy who catches a girl drifting down from the sky, then lands between an army and pirates, both after the stone around her neck. This was the first Studio Ghibli production, devised by Miyazaki with producer Isao Takahata as the film that would set the studio’s tone. Where the town and the castle came from is on record: Miyazaki travelled to Wales in 1984 while the miners’ strike was running, and returned in 1985 to research the film. Caerphilly, Caernarfon and Powis fed Laputa’s design, and the miners’ houses clinging to the hillsides fed Pazu’s town, so the sympathy for miners is the trace of a place someone went and looked at rather than set dressing. Which release you play changes what you hear. Joe Hisaishi’s original score was made on synthesiser, and for the English version Disney had him record it again with an orchestra; that recording carries the 2003 DVD. Later releases restored the original, so two soundtracks for the same scenes circulate. A good fit if you want Pazu’s town read as a drawing of a real mining valley and care which recording you hear. Not for anyone wanting a clear verdict on technology; the flying castle here is wonder and weapon at once.