This is Howl. The black-haired cutie pie. 

A short character introduction. 

Sophie. She was a lovely young girl but she crossed the Evil Witch when she accidentally fell in love with Howl. The Evil Witch turned her into this frail 90 year old lady.

This is Howl. Utterly handsome, with an air of confidence and mystery but a very kind face and smile. 

The fire in How's castle. Hahaha! 

A charming little character who injected a lot of humour into the show. 

The scarecrow. He's been cursed, just like Sophie. This character doesn't talk at all, but strangely it's a very endearing character. It exudes kindness and friendliness, which spoke volume even though it was a soundless act. 

The Evil Witch. Uber disgusting. So are her henchmen. 

The interior of the castle. A right old mess. Sophie escaped when the Witch turned her into an old lady and she ended up in the Castle! She took it upon herself to clean up and place to make it suitable for human habitat. 

Howl said this to Sophie in one of the scenes. 

It was such a touching moment. 

Sophie's heart, the goodness of her heart shone through the ugly and old exterior of her 90 year old body to touch Howl's heart. 

In fact, I believed the curse cast on Sophie reflected how she felt and thought. At times she regained her youthful appearance but at times it faded back again. 

It was a difficult time as war was raging, Howl rescued Sophie..

Hayao Miyazaki once said that his movies are not children movies. 

I agreed. 

He said they were movies for adults that appealed to children. 

Well-said.. 

Children would not have been able to comprehend the hidden meanings or fully appreciated the dark fantasy of the movie. But the darkness of the the fantasy is exactly what drew me in, the storyline is not superbly intricate but that is exactly what I like about it. You are given free rein to feel, to imagine and to soak up the mood of the animation. 

The story had a really good ending and I enjoyed it thoroughly. 

Definitely watching it a second time.  :)