Miyazaki is one of cinema’s great environmentalists: in the illustrative opening of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Nausicaä takes great care to reroute a runaway giant centipede back to its territory using harmless flashbang grenades and a lulling flute.
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But most of Castle in the Sky is a straightforward adventure tale Miyazaki leaves the explicit allusions for the climax. The film takes a hard stance against atomic power, which may come as a surprise to anyone expecting the meticulously nuanced ethical quandaries of Princess Mononoke. Miyazaki’s peculiar narrative sense leavens the heavy thematic material of Castle in the Sky. The same can be said for Kiki’s Delivery Service, the most fascinatingly quotidian of Miyazaki’s films it is content to follow Kiki as she ekes out an everyday existence, with all the detours and curlicues of life intact. The plot of My Neighbor Totoro unfolds like a run-on sentence, as if the narrative is chasing after the characters. It’s unclear whether this process is the same with all of Ghibli’s directors, but it’s evident in the stream-of-consciousness quality of Miyazaki’s stories.
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Ghibli’s stable of artists begins work on Miyazaki’s films before he finishes the storyboards thus, the plot and the visuals end up shaping each other into a headlong rush of motion. It’s possible to ascribe the film’s shape to the way Miyazaki works with his collaborators.
LAPUTA CASTLE IN THE SKY SERIES
The narrative is structured as a series of chase scenes: Protagonists Pazu, the archetypal plucky shōnen hero, and Sheeta, a reticent, mysterious princess with a magical amulet, search for the floating city of Laputa as they are pursued by a gang of pirates and a ruthless military operative. It sets the lively, brisk tempo that drives all of Hayao Miyazaki’s films. Studio Ghibli’s first film, 1986’s Castle in the Sky, moves at a breathless pace.