Howl's Moving Castle
Howl's Moving Castle is an anime movie with stunning graphics and really cool characters that all come together to create, in my opinion, one of the best anime movies out there. The song that I chose to analyze from this movie is the theme song called "Merry-Go-Round of Life" and it's a beautiful song. It includes lots of string instruments and piano, which is why I like it so much. This score was composed, along with the rest of the Howl's Moving Castle soundtrack, by Joe Hisaishi and was recorded by New Japan Philharmonic in 2004.
This song, and the whole soundtrack really, is used mainly to transport the viewers/listeners to a different place. The music was written to carry the viewers into the movie itself and allow them to feel the things that the characters were feeling, through music. It's a very interesting feeling, and that's why I love this movie so much. The music soundtrack and the stunning visuals really create a whole new world available to viewers. This piece serves as the theme song to Howl's Moving Castle and serves the purpose of bringing the viewers back to the lighthearted feel of the movie after particularly sad or scary scenes, so this song is more than just part of the soundtrack.
This song is pretty well known by movie lovers, and especially anime lovers. After looking up a few articles, the main theme that kept popping up was just how much of an immersive experience this movie is. The soundtrack fits perfectly with the moving visuals and just provides that extra interest factor for viewers. A lot of the articles stated that they listened to the Howl's Moving Castle soundtrack on its own and hearing the music lead them to picture specifically poignant scenes from the movie. That shows how powerful this soundtrack is, and just music in general. It can make you remember things, or bring back visuals in your mind when you hear a certain song. These articles describe "Merry-Go-Round of Life" as a walk down a busy street, or a "Viennese waltz". The articles also talk about the composer's ability to take Western style music and incorporate it into Japanese anime and how interesting and intriguing this is. Joe Hisaishi has won the Japanese Academy Award for Best Music 6 times in his life, which according to this article is very impressive and not many people can say that.
I believe that this piece, and the soundtrack as a whole, was written for the purpose of adding an additional layer of meaning to this movie. On it's own, Howl's Moving Castle is a visual masterpiece, but adding in the auditorial masterpiece that is this soundtrack takes it to a whole other level. I think this really solidifies the emotional pull of this movie for me because I enjoy art, and this piece combines my two favorite types of art: music and movies. Having a soundtrack perfectly fit with the visuals and actually uplift and make the audience understand the overall feelings in the movie is such a huge feat to pull off, and I can say that this is one of my favorite movies.
Sources:
“Joe Hisaishi - Howl's Moving Castle.” Album of The Year, 30 Dec. 2016, https://www.albumoftheyear.org/album/68051-joe-hisaishi-howls-moving-castle.php
“The Wondrous Works of Joe Hisaishi.” The Wondrous Works of Joe Hisaishi, 1 Jan. 1970, thenobleartofmusic.blogspot.com/2012/01/wondrous-works-of-joe-hisaishi.html.
2 comments:
Hi Michelle!
I thoroughly enjoyed your song selection for this blog post. As you mentioned, I felt like I was transported to the movie while listening to it. The elegance of the song gave me a sense of nostalgia. I noticed lots of dynamics and tempo changes, which added depth and suspension. I agree, the overarching theme is how nicely it enhances the visuals of the movie. I think I missed the link to the song somewhere in your post so I found it easily on youtube:) Great blog post!
I watched Howl's Moving Castle a few years ago, and although I don't remember much of what happened, I remember having so much fun watching the movie! I remember seeing how beautiful the artstyle was and trying to wrap my head around some of the parts of it (Which still confuse me). Would have been good to have had a clear link to the song though! The song definitely makes you feel as if you're somewhere else.
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