;; I didn't know Diana Wynne Jones had died - that's incredibly sad. I wasn't a huge fan of Howl's Moving Castle (the books, at least, the movie was excellent), but I loved her gryphon series and the Chrestomanci series.

yeah, when the movies was even slightly mentioned being worked on maybe a year or two before its release, my dad bought me Howl's and Castle in the Air. Confusing writing style, but it was still nice- from previewing the other books on her site around the same time, the Gryphon series you mentioned is what caught my eye.

Her writing style is a bit out there. xD But her ideas are incredibly unique. The gryphon series (two books only, sadly, I always really hoped she'd write more) are really cool. She even made a third side-book that's absolutely hilarious, called The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, which presents itself as a very serious tourist guide to a fantasy world, but really makes fun of all the common failings of written fantasy; it's basically a criticism of authors who way way overuse stereotypes and cliches. xD Good stuff.

Suh-weeet! Thanks for linking!

Oh and did you know DWJ wrote two sequels to Howl's Moving Castle?

yep, I do. I own one of the sequels

Oh my goodness.. wonderful little read, and a precious story all together. Thank you so much for sharing

Miyazaki's rather good at "precious" :>

Wow! How did that (almost "beauty and the beast") get to what it is today? CRAZY!

Isao Takahata, the other guy in charge, tends to have a less whimsical approach to films- he might've helped change the story a bit

v.v *bows in respect to a great author*

Thanks for sharing. :)

That was an amazing good read for my morning wake up very sweet story indeed

Yaaay! That was so great! I would love to see that made into a movie. Mononoke is adorable <3 Do you know anymore info about it? Like whether it's been printed into a "Super Secret Miyazaki Drawings" book or something? I know it wouldn't be in english but the drawings are darling *melts*

..
,...

Whoa :o

Thanks for the first link. And man, I didn't realize they had died. :(

;; I didn't realize she passed... That makes two of my favorite authors, this year.

Whoa that was totally unlike the movie how did that happen??


Loved it none the less. Thanks for sharing

Wow, even his storybooks are wonderfully theatrical.

I didn't know DIana had passed, she was a terrific author- While Howl's is my favorite Ghibli movie, the book was soooo much better XD Someone out there is totally going to hate me for saying that.

HOW DARE YOU NOT LIKE A MOVIE FROM OUR ANIME GOD, HAYAO MIYAZAKI
YOU HEATHEN

I hope nobody takes this sarcastic comment too harshly
I love Isayao Takazaki ;3;

I do like Howl's Moving Castle, A LOT- but it's so drastically different than the book that it might as well be a different story all together!!! :P

PS- the icon totally works for impersonating an angry rabid fan!

Oh gosh that original story is cute! But absolutely no resemblance to what it became. xD

Very interesting! Looks like they used elements of this story art in Spirited Away and Totoro.

those are like... whoafarapart on the timeline

Yeah, though they could still have used that material in later films, as Disney does. They never throw any ideas out when it could always be used in later films.

nope. I'm stupid
I just saw the date for the concept book for Mononoke Hime, which predates Totoro and Spirited Away

I'm so dumb, oh god

No worries lol. I remember the sliding screens with the demon faces in the art looked familiar :D

maaaan. now that I'm not fatigued to all hell, this is like..

Mononoke Hime, Totoro, Spirited Away, Porco Rosso, and like.. a little bit of Laputa in one

Yeah it's cool seeing these preliminary ideas, thanks for sharing!

woah.. they're all like pieces of this!!!

ilu
I'll try not to be such a stubborn jackass, now

wow, the movie is not at all like that story.. :(

Haha! that is nuts! That one greatly transformed over time. Which reminds me, have you seen this?
http://celesse.tumblr.com/post/3740.....ing-fact-about

oh wow! I only knew of the "Sento" wordplay, but this is just incredible

I know!! My mind was totally blown when I read that. haha.

intarestin