Castle in the Sky

Ready for a blast from the past? Dakota and Anthony, take you on a nostalgic journey back to an anime classic, Hayao Miyazaki's classic anime, "Laputa Castle in the Sky." And what a ride it was! Even with my VR experience, it still felt like the first time. We deconstruct the film, its themes, and how it ties into Miyazaki's career and other Studio Ghibli works.

But hey, we don't live in the past. We're also here to share the latest buzz in the world of entertainment. The "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" cast is getting back together for a new project, and we've got our take on the latest Marvel movie, "The Marvels."

Back to Miyazaki's masterpiece, Castle in the Sky doesn't get the recognition it deserves. We dug deep into the lost civilizations, the unique perspective on the world that Miyazaki presents and also drew parallels to popular works like Overwatch and Minecraft. And we couldn't wrap up without appreciating the clever world-building, where civilizations live in the sky and the people on the ground are descendants of these flying cities. If you're a Miyazaki fan, a Marvel enthusiast, or just love a good geeky chat, this episode is one you don't want to miss. Join Dakota and Anthony as we geek out about the beauty and depth of storytelling in Castle in the Sky and its impact on the audience.

Twitter handles:
Project Geekology: https://twitter.com/pgeekology
Anthony's Twitter: https://twitter.com/odysseyswow
Dakota's Twitter: https://twitter.com/geekritique_dak

Instagram:
https://instagram.com/projectgeekology?igshid=1v0sits7ipq9y

Geekritique (Dakota):
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBwciIqOoHwIx_uXtYTSEbA


Twitch (Anthony):
https://www.twitch.tv/odysseywow

Music:
Eric Godlow Beats: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRpkcYps82PdSo0tK5rEIPA

Transcript

Dakota: 0:06

Welcome to episode 66 of Project Geek. Project Geek Critique.

Anthony: 0:11

Project.

Dakota: 0:12

Geek Project, geekology. Let's just run with it yeah. Episode 66 of Project Geekology. We should have done something order 66 related, but instead we're deciding to go with a very classic anime 1986 or 87?.

Anthony: 0:26

No 1986. Yeah, I looked it up.

Dakota: 0:29

Was it 86? Okay, yeah, so Miyazaki's third film, hayami Izaki. Previously he did two films up to this point. This is he did Lupin the Third, the Castle of Kagliostro, and then he did Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, which is one of. Nausicaa was the one that put him on the map, really. And then this was his follow-up and I don't think, or I think, this was the first film that he did under Studio Ghibli, like officially. But we're going to talk all about Laputa Castle in the Sky in just a minute. But before we begin all that, my name is Dakota and I'm joined, as always, with Anthony. I love how our introductions have just devolved into just us like rambling for like two minutes and then introducing ourselves and like, and finally we get to the part where we ask each other what we've been up to this past week or so.

Anthony: 1:19

You know, aside from early podcast ramblings, I think since the last time we recorded, I've been playing Spider-Man 2. A lot of people have been playing Spider-Man 2. I enjoy it, you know. You get to play Peter, you get to play Miles. You get to swap off on either or and there's some missions that you could play either or. And then there's some Miles specific missions, peter specific missions. And it's really cool because sometimes you'll be like swinging around in the city and you played the first Spider-Man right.

Anthony: 1:49

Yeah, you know how you have, like, the random crime encounters, like they'll just pop up. Well, sometimes you'll go and start fighting. You know you'll go to stop the crime and if you're playing Miles or Peter, every once in a while, like one of them will come in and help you stop the crime.

Dakota: 2:05

They also exist in this world and they're coming to help their buddy out.

Anthony: 2:09

Right right, it's not like you're swapping off a skin, you know.

Dakota: 2:13

Yeah, so even though this is Spider-Man 2 and the previous game to this was Miles Morales, so this is actually like the third game in the series, even though this is technically the second one, you know.

Anthony: 2:26

Right. So this is like the full sequel to Spider-Man, but I will say that playing Miles Morales very relevant because they talk about stuff that happens in that game. So I mean, Miles Morales was kind of the sequel and this one was, I mean I guess it was. No, it wasn't long enough to be a sequel. I'd say it was an expansion, but they charged it like it was a full sequel. Okay, All right.

Dakota: 2:52

That's cool, though. That's really awesome, so I'm guessing you like it.

Anthony: 2:55

Oh, absolutely. It's that first game. I think that Spider-Man game was like the only game that I platinumed. Like I played it so much that I got like all the trophies for it, and I'm probably going to do the same thing with this one.

Dakota: 3:09

So do you not normally platinum games? No, no, I play them.

Anthony: 3:13

I usually play them and even though, like I absolutely love and enjoy it, some games require you to do just several playthroughs to get all of the trophies, and I'm like no not about that, you know, especially some games are long.

Dakota: 3:29

Yeah, I platinumed the first three uncharted games for the PS or PS3 and PS4. I think it was. I forget if they were all. No, I think they were PS3 games, right, I don't even remember.

Anthony: 3:38

Yeah, I think you might be right, those ones.

Dakota: 3:40

And they specifically wanted you to. So beat it on hard mode, then it was like an extra mode on top of that Once you beat that. You unlocked the last and final like just impossible mode. You had to do that to eventually the game. Like it was tedious.

Anthony: 3:58

Like. As much as I love playing like Persona 5, I'm never going to platinum that game and that's like one of my favorite games.

Dakota: 4:06

So why don't you think that? Or it's just a matter of, like, the time commitment?

Anthony: 4:11

the time commitment dude. Persona is so long, you know, and the Persona games are games that I would definitely revisit, but I'm not going to.

Dakota: 4:21

Sorry, my cat turned on Siri.

Anthony: 4:25

I started hearing music. I'm like what's happening? That your cat wanting to like change the mood.

Dakota: 4:31

I have no idea what even song that was, but my cat turned it on.

Anthony: 4:34

Your cat wanted it. All right, I wanted it to the mood that was hilarious your cat just like, and I saw your cat in the back you see him in the background Right. Yeah.

Dakota: 4:46

Yeah, yeah, he touched the sorry guys. Let's, let's continue. We can keep that into it's kind of fun?

Anthony: 4:51

Yeah, definitely, I was thinking I was like man, I think I want to keep that in. That was awesome but good. But yeah, no, we're just talking about platinum gaming games and stuff. Yes, I mean, there's never going to platinum Persona five, you know yeah, I mean I might play through it again, but I don't know. I mean I guess I would need to look into it to see what it would require to platinum Persona five. But I mean I've been playing Persona five Royal, which is the even longer version of Persona five, so or?

Anthony: 5:22

I played it and I beat it Gotcha, gotcha. So Spider-Man, to anything else you've been up to, and oh well, so, preparing for this episode, I rewatched this movie, and so for about 45 minutes of watching this movie, I just for the heck of it, I watched it on VR.

Dakota: 5:44

Why I'm so confused. Why would you do that?

Anthony: 5:47

So I've been. So I kind of like busted out my VR, like recently, every once in a while, like I get in the mood to play like a specific system. You know, like I'll play my. I'm on my PC a lot, but I'll play my PlayStation for a good bit. I'll play my Xbox for a bit. Sometimes I get in the mood to play my switch. That's just like how it is, and so I was in the mood to mess around on my VR. I've been playing Beat Saber and like different games and I was like you know what, like let me watch a whole anime movie.

Anthony: 6:18

No, I don't watch the whole movie. Oh well, you said 45 minutes and it's about what two hours long. So yeah, I wanted to just like experience, watching something kind of like in VR. I mean I kind of did, but like I never like really spent too much time and honestly it's like a really really cool, especially like when you watch something in the.

Anthony: 6:38

It's like the horizon browser, some meta horizon browser, and when you put something in full screen it makes everything around you black and then it puts up like a screen like right in front, like not right in front of it.

Dakota: 6:51

Backed up a little bit, so that you can see like a theater, yeah, like a theater, and that's cool.

Anthony: 6:56

And so like I thought that was like an interesting thing. I was like you know what, like I kind of wanted to change things up and try it that way. So I thought that was pretty fun. It was pretty cool watching that and I hooked it up to some, to some speakers, so it kind of really enhanced that experience too.

Dakota: 7:14

Gotcha, you mentioned earlier, I think last weekend you were watching the Scott Pilgrim adaptation. Oh yeah.

Anthony: 7:22

Netflix, yes, yes.

Dakota: 7:23

How was? I haven't had the opportunity to check it out yet, but I've heard good things.

Anthony: 7:27

It's good. I really enjoy it. But do not go into this anime thinking that you're gonna be seeing a one-to-one from the movie or the manga. It's like completely different. It's right, it follows certain beats, but it's like very, very different.

Dakota: 7:40

It's a new thing which, honestly, is kind of cool, like I've heard people like either love it or hate it, depending on how closely they Enjoy my cats going crazy. But yeah, I've heard people like it or hate it, depending on which what they like, how much they like the original or how much they like appreciate what the Creators doing with this new move or this new show you know me and Scott Pilgrim, like I, absolutely loves the movie and remember I was reading the mom and I showed you remember Like I was reading and I showed you some of the stuff that was happening in it.

Anthony: 8:16

And some of it was very close to the movie, right, right, right. So this one is almost like it almost feels like you're like in a Multiverse where, like the point of view is, it's more like Ramona than Scott Pilgrim. So but I've been enjoying it. I like the. It's funny, I like the humor behind it and you know the music.

Dakota: 8:34

They brought the cast of the. They brought back the cast of the movie isn't that insane? Yeah Is it. Is it mostly everyone, or pretty much everyone?

Anthony: 8:42

I would say, yeah, pretty much like all the main people like Chris Evans is in it, Michael, sarah, mary, elizabeth's when said that's.

Dakota: 8:49

Aubrey Plaza and Ralph.

Anthony: 8:51

Yeah, like everybody. Brie Larson like I mean, oh my gosh, what's his name? Oh, was it Mark Webber? Like everybody, like literally everybody that like was a part of the original Young neo Steven Stills, was it Kim? Like ever I do, everybody that was like a main character in that movie or like was like a had like a speaking role or a prominent role. They all came back. That's awesome.

Dakota: 9:17

I. What's funny is that we did a podcast on Scott Pilgrim versus the world the movie, like really early on, and I was just like, is that just a memory I have, or like something that I dreamed up? And I had to look it up just now and yeah, episode 6, our Episode for Scott Pilgrim versus the world the movie specifically. So if you guys are interested in checking out our thoughts on the movie we've already done it you get a whole episode there and I think it's probably longer than this episode. Why?

Dakota: 9:46

yeah, oh, yeah, yeah this back, then we would go. We were just talking till, we had nothing else to say. We were nuts like that.

Anthony: 9:52

Yeah, we were just. We would just go on for like hours.

Dakota: 9:54

We were unrestrained.

Anthony: 9:56

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah we went in.

Dakota: 9:58

Yeah, that was like peak COVID years, though Everyone was a little crazy at that point.

Anthony: 10:03

We were still trying to like kind of figure out like what we wanted to do and like what our identity was. And yeah, and so I don't know who it is of you, if it's one person or a bunch of you, but y'all on Wednesday went, just like, went and listened to a bunch of our episodes or downloaded a bunch of our episodes, and we absolutely appreciate that, like every episode you had a boost of like 80 or 90 downloads in like one day, which is a lot for like a podcast of our size.

Dakota: 10:32

So thank you, guys, and yeah, is there anything else?

Anthony: 10:35

you, you can't even see it, we got it, we got a, we got a boom today too.

Dakota: 10:39

Really.

Anthony: 10:40

Yeah, about 70 episodes. What the?

Dakota: 10:42

heck, where are you guys coming from?

Anthony: 10:43

We all coming from. Bring more people.

Dakota: 10:46

Tell your friends, tell your friend of the wonders of this beautiful, beautiful podcast.

Anthony: 10:52

Yes, but yeah, I know I just been Doing a lot of that and, you know, taking care of some personal stuff. But how about you, man? Like, what have you been up to? I seen that you released a video or two a single video.

Dakota: 11:05

Oh well, actually yeah too, since our last recording, I did a. I did a short video on the marvels, which came out two weeks ago, I think it was after our last recording.

Anthony: 11:17

I saw that I watched that movie too.

Dakota: 11:19

What did you? What do your thoughts?

Anthony: 11:21

I thought it was a fun watch, but I feel like this movie might have worked earlier in the MCU days. But I think that right it's. It's losing its charm. Yeah, it's definitely lost its charm, but I feel that what's really like against it is the superhero fatigue because, I'll be honest with you, I'm kind of like I really don't want to watch Marvel stuff anymore, like right now. I think that we need like I mean I'm gonna go see Deadpool, don't get me wrong.

Dakota: 11:49

But yeah.

Anthony: 11:50

I think that we need like a good year or so of like no like Marvel material. We need time to miss it and Give them time to like write out, because they're just trying to like pump them out like a factory and like the quality of it Is now starting to look very, very just not good right. Right, you're gonna get like some good quality stuff and then some not so good quality stuff, and so we just need better writing.

Dakota: 12:18

Yeah, I agree, I think I mean I too enjoyed the movie, but and actually, like some of the action was really really fun and really creative, like the entire Idea of them, like whenever they would use their powers, they would literally switch bodies in different locations, and I thought that was really creative, like they were quantum entangled. But yeah, there's something about it that does feel like, even though I liked it, even though I want to see more like it, it does feel like a thing of the past now and I do want to Get that opportunity to miss it a little bit. Also, when it comes to like missing it, I think that we will get that opportunity, because I think next year we only have Deadpool 3 coming out. I'm cool.

Anthony: 12:59

I'm cool.

Dakota: 12:59

Yeah.

Anthony: 13:00

I'm hoping that Deadpool 3 is good. It's looking like it's going to be fun. You know, I mean, look, it's been a while since we've had a Deadpool movie and that's like a different type of a movie. It wasn't under the different type of Marvel, right, yeah right, it wasn't under the MCU umbrella, so we've had the opportunity to miss a Deadpool. I mean, we've been wanting a Deadpool for a while now and now we're finally starting to get it. I think we need that same thing for the MCU, like I think the MCU needs to. Their production needs to like go down a Little bit. I know that you know they want to make money and stuff, but the thing is that I'm tired of these movies that have like some good written moments and then like the rest of its trash. You know, like I'm just. I'm like like what are you guys doing? You know, take a moment, think about it.

Dakota: 13:44

And I also. I did a review of the MCU timeline book. I think I mentioned that I was reading it last time we were on the show.

Anthony: 13:52

Yes.

Dakota: 13:52

I finished it, I did a review. I liked some of it. I didn't like a lot of it and that was kind of a big video for me because I've been Focusing so much on the MCU timeline the past couple years and like mapping everything out like that. So to see such an official project have what I believe to be so many mistakes was a little disheartening. So I just had to basically vent in that video and people seem to agree, at least mostly, you know, I think. I think they see the cracks too. It's not just the cracks in the writing, it's cracks in like the overall Understanding of the world that they're building. So yeah, that's what I've been up to. Oh, also, we got a new TV show on Apple TV called Monarch Legacy of Monsters. I don't know if you've given that a shot yet.

Anthony: 14:32

No, I haven't been able to give it a Watch, but it looks good dude.

Dakota: 14:39

I have been watching that. There's three episodes now. Such a solid series, so it like bounces around the monster verse. So you know the series that started with Godzilla in 2014, then went into Kong, squall Island, godzilla, king of the Monsters and then Godzilla vs Kong a couple years back. It kind of bridges all of those. Well, mostly it bridges like early Monarch days, to the first Godzilla film basically. But it kind of shows the story of like how Monarch got started, why they were Necessary early on in the 40s and 50s and so on and so forth. It's really cool and it bridges into like modern day, or like the modern day is like 2015, so it's like a year after what happens with Godzilla in San Francisco. It's. It's just really well we've together. I'm really excited about it.

Anthony: 15:25

Nice. Yeah, I need to. I've been wanting to check it out. It looks really good All right.

Dakota: 15:31

So you want to talk about Castle in the sky a little bit.

Anthony: 15:34

Let's head to the castle in the sky, so that we can become the podcast in the sky.

Dakota: 15:38

So this is such a like. It's like a hidden gem of Miyazaki, because it's a really good movie but it's also a little forgettable and when you think of Miyazaki, this is usually not the first thing that pops up. So I'm happy that you said yes to like doing a podcast on this particular movie, because you know, when I suggested let's do a Miyazaki, you probably were like yeah, and then I said Castle in the Sky and you're like huh.

Anthony: 16:03

I mean it was interesting because, like for me, like there's certain Miyazaki movies that I've only seen once in my life. You know, yeah, castle in the Sky was one of them, yeah, but there's, and a lot of people.

Dakota: 16:16

That's enough, you know right Like.

Anthony: 16:17

Another one that I think is like pretty like popular with some people is Ponyo, and I've only, I've only seen that once. I've seen it that one time with you.

Dakota: 16:29

Yeah, I remember that that was fun, yeah, and I think going back to some of these films is just a really nice opportunity to reacquaint yourself with, like, what made this movie tick, what made this work for you know the audience in, say, 1986 or like whatever. You first watched it because it is a good movie and I think that you and I both enjoyed it when we first watched it, you know right right. Yeah, so a couple of years ago I did a video on Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

Anthony: 16:59

I remember that.

Dakota: 17:00

That's one of my favorite videos. It was such a good time making that and like really diving into the history of Miyazaki, and in that video I kind of explored how Nausicaa was basically like the blueprint for Miyazaki's career. You know, a lot of the tropes that we see in future Miyazaki films was in Nausicaa, but a lot of development of those ideas is featured in Castle in the Sky, like the idea of, you know, lost civilizations being a thing that pops up again and again in Miyazaki's work. Or what I really like about this one is that it kind of idealizes the working man's life in a way.

Dakota: 17:38

You know, like the town that Pazu lives in is a very like it's a mining town but it's like situated on, like inside a, like a cavern almost, or not a cavern. It's featured in like a valley between different crags of mountains. It's such a beautiful fantasy setting. But it also feels so real and his idea of like these people are happy because they have purpose, they're working, they're working with their hands, they're a part of the earth's like ecosystem and that's what keeps them happy. You know, I think that that's that's like a really unique viewpoint on the world and he seems to really run with that idea that you know it's nice, it's a good calling to do simple work even though it's not simple, like mining is not a simple job but it's a trade, you know right.

Dakota: 18:28

A lot of times in future Miyazaki films you'll see a lot of people working trades, like in a spirited way. We have Chihiro go into the bathhouse and she's learning to work the baths basically, and then you go into like the steam room, in like underneath the bathhouse, and you have that one guy with all those arms working the cranks and like putting the coals in the fire. So you see a lot of like physical labor in his work and I think that that's such a cool concept. I don't know, I think a lot of fantasy and sci fi people move away from that into a more like futuristic world, but he's very set on like this is a good way to live, you know it's interesting.

Anthony: 19:11

I do like it when I watch any like movie or anime where the future isn't exactly what we think it is. You know, like sometimes you see that the future is hyper advanced. There's cyber like it's like very cyberpunk and so like this one was like definitely it felt, yeah, like you said, like a lot more realistic.

Dakota: 19:33

Yeah, so a lot of anime goes for the more urban, like Tokyo vibe versus Miyazaki, who likes the suburbs, the towns and like nature. And I think that that's what sets his work apart, because, like he never sets things in the big city, he never sets things in Tokyo. Now, there are big cities in his works. Like you know, we have Kiki's delivery service. She lives in a city, but it's a very almost like a European city. It's not a modern city. It deals with a lot of, you know, small towns put together. Basically, it's just like that idea, it's like been seeping into, like my consciousness as I grow up, like what was Miyazaki trying to tell us about all this? And I just think it's such a it's a beautiful like viewpoint of the world that he's been able to capture.

Anthony: 20:21

Yeah, watching this movie, honestly I felt like I was watching it again for the first time because yeah, there's a lot about it that I don't remember. I fairly kind of remember the like that the castle at the end, like I remember I had like a faint memory of like what it looked like, but other than that man like it was, it was very. I was surprised like how well the animation like held up. It looked great for a 1986 film and you know how there's some anime from like back then that doesn't really hold up.

Dakota: 20:55

But I mean even like American animation it just doesn't like hold a candle, you know. But yeah, I totally agree and I think you know I was rambling earlier about like you know, like the idealization of, like the blue collar worker and whatever, but what ultimately boils down to is this is a cozy movie, you know.

Dakota: 21:13

Like there's so much that's like sleepy day Viewing about this, you know oh, yes, yes, it's very like it's slow, but there's a lot going on and people are just living nice, simple lives that you know you can respect. I just think it's cool. I just think the whole idea of it's cool. But, like, even from like the beginning, when, like posers, like he wakes up, he plays his little horn to like wake up the town, it's such a simple, cozy little idea. I don't know it's like who would think of this? Only Miyazaki.

Dakota: 21:45

But yeah, I saw this recently. I've seen it a few times now at this point I've probably seen it twice Years ago and I watched it once a few months ago in theaters. That was a really nice experience. There's a Alamo draft house near me that I go to and they occasionally play old movies, so this was a fun one. But even then, like it's not a super memorable movie, I had to rewatch it. I literally watched it right before we got onto this podcast To just remember, like all the small details, like I didn't remember like the characters names, or Pazoo and Sheetha, I, or like that the pirates were, like Dola and her Children, her men, whatever, I don't know.

Dakota: 22:22

But yeah, it's weird, like when you're watching it it's just as dog upstairs. Go crazy. Sorry, guys, I gotta, there's a dog upstairs and I can't control him because I don't know him. So, yeah, let's jump into this movie because, like, there's so much to cover. But yeah, I just wanted to get across that I just feel like it's such a cozy movie and I've been trying to boil down why it's such a cozy movie for a while and I think it's just Miyazaki style, you know.

Anthony: 22:47

Well, I think you were saying that. You didn't you say that this was and I'm not trying to to drum up any Controversy but didn't you say that this was like your least favorite Miyazaki film?

Dakota: 22:59

Did I say that? I don't think I did. I mean I might have at one point believed that, yeah, you sent me.

Anthony: 23:04

You sent me a text.

Dakota: 23:06

Oh, I did say it's honestly one of my least favorite Miyazaki movies, but I have a lot to say about it.

Anthony: 23:11

Yeah, I remember you typing that, but for some reason that's not on my phone.

Dakota: 23:15

It's like in one of my longer messages. Yeah, like I, I mentioned it a couple.

Anthony: 23:20

Yeah, remember you, yeah, you said you're writing an article about it, and.

Dakota: 23:24

I think actually that's probably gonna be the idea of my articles, because I'm working with a bunch of people For a site called streamer just for this particular project. I volunteered for it.

Anthony: 23:33

I think I'm gonna be telling me about that actually.

Dakota: 23:36

Yeah, they're doing a Miyazaki thing. We're like one writer every day leading up to the boy in the Haran, the new movie. It's gonna release an article about one of the Miyazaki films and I think my article comes out in two days. So pretty much today and tomorrow I'm gonna be writing like just a quick little article about what makes this movie work and like how it changed Miyazaki's legacy. So I'm excited about that. You can check that out. I'll be posting about it on my Twitter. So if you are interested at all, look up my Twitter in the show notes below.

Anthony: 24:03

We can post it in the show notes to the actual, like you know. Oh, yeah, yeah, your article, if you'd like yeah, that sounds good.

Dakota: 24:10

Oh, I'll send it to you. Somebody mode their line. Yeah, it's so. It's not that it's somebody, it's like a mowing company. Sorry guys, this is like super annoying, but they're usually done within a couple minutes All right. I'm gonna lower the. They're like right outside my door and I think they're blowing their blowing leaves.

Anthony: 24:26

It definitely got very loud, but I mean honestly, like, while we're waiting for that, I did want to talk about that. The movie was really interesting because you had this whole dynamic where a bunch of people were after this pendant that Sheetah has so that they can get to the castle in the sky, that civilization, and so like. For like a little while you're thinking that the pirates are bad but they end up being the good people and, like the government ends up being the bad people. And you know, you find out that she does this like long. She's like a distant ancestor of, or she's related to, the people of this.

Dakota: 25:08

Lafita yeah, like she's like literally a princess Right, or like a lost princess because, for whatever reason, like her ancestors left Lopita and they abandoned it and, you know, left for the ground for whatever.

Anthony: 25:20

You know something that this was a thought that like randomly it popped up in my head. But you know the robots and La puta where they kind of reminded me of like a mix between Bastion and overwatch and K2so and the reason why I say Bastion is because they're like very like Gentle and like with the bird and all that stuff. I was like, oh my gosh, that reminds me of Bastion. I wonder if that was the inspiration turns out.

Dakota: 25:50

It was really no.

Dakota: 25:52

Yeah, so so there's actually a lot that's inspired by this movie. So, like the most striking visual in the entire movie, after they make their way to Lafita, they, they encounter those like rock golems or you know, ancient machines yes, whatever that are protecting the wildlife and the gardens. On this floating castle, you have one of the machines like hands, shita, a flower like in its palm, and what's amazing about this is that, like, just like, maybe like 30 minutes before this, we just saw a One of these robots destroy a whole like military base. You know like these are massive, like their mass weapons.

Dakota: 26:32

You know they have a lot of firepower, they are super destructive and they're autonomous, pretty much you know. So it's such a striking visual of this like it's basically like being offered a flower by an atomic bomb, but like when you see, like that, how gentle they are on this planet or this castle in the sky, you Kind of realize, oh, they're just protecting what they love, basically. So that visual has seeped into Popular culture quite a bit and actually, like I was doing some research, this movie inspired quite a bit. So you mentioned Bastion, I think one of his what was it? I think it was his.

Dakota: 27:10

They made a Bastion animated short, they did, and in it they actually have something similar where there's a bunch of like Bastion, like corpses all over, like a green field, and that's very reminiscent of like what we see in the castle in the sky at one point and they also have him like his interaction with his bird Ganameed, I think is the name of the bird is very reminiscent of. You know how they treat the wildlife there. It's 100% Like there's no way, there's no ifs, ands or buts about it, like that's inspired by that. Another direct one, like a super direct one, is the rock golems in Minecraft.

Anthony: 27:47

Oh, yeah, okay, I remember, I know they actually they actually give you.

Dakota: 27:53

They give you flowers like they hand out flowers to you, oh that.

Anthony: 27:56

I don't know if you're not attacking them.

Dakota: 27:58

Yes, that's something that's pretty cool, man, I wish these people outside would like leave me alone, but they're blown. Sorry guys, this is like a very noisy and raucous between my cat turning stuff on and these people outside and the dog upstairs. Another thing that's interesting is you know Ethereum, the cryptocurrency.

Anthony: 28:17

Yes.

Dakota: 28:18

So it's the second biggest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin, ethereum and I was just like, wait, the element in this Chita's emblem her necklace is made of Ethereum, like it's a pure Ethereum crystal. And I was looking it up and apparently the creator of Ethereum, ethereum, the blockchain was basically looking up like fictional elements on Wikipedia and he's just like, oh, that sounds cool, so that's where they got the idea for naming their thing, ethereum. And also like the symbol of Ethereum is like a diamond and that diamond is what's powering Laputa Castle in the sky, like the big diamond. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. So I don't know. I think it's a very influential movie, even though, even though it's kind of forgettable, there are certain elements to it that seep into you like your consciousness, like you'll never forget the robot.

Anthony: 29:11

Right, I'm handing out some. You know. Well, it made an impression. It made me think of, yeah, it made me think of, like Bastion, Like I'm telling you that was like one of the characters that popped up and I'm like man, there's such a similarity. I wonder if there was an inspiration for Bastion from this and like come to show that there was an inspiration. So that's insane that there was that and that you know the rock ooms and Minecrafts, because they look like almost exactly like them and dude, come on, let's be real Like the body of it and stuff. I mean, I don't know if they got the inspiration, but there's definitely something about it, about them that reminded me of K2SO also.

Dakota: 29:51

Yeah, sorry, you also mentioned K2SO and I think so. I know some, like I know, concept artists in Lucasfilm and a lot of them really love Miyazaki. I know one in particular who's like written several articles about Miyazaki and I'm sure if I asked them they confirmed that. Yeah, k2so is definitely based in part on, you know, miyazaki's robots, so I think that that's really cool, and they you know K2 also has that gentleness to him, even though he's like a powerhouse of evil sometimes. Not evil, but like weaponry.

Anthony: 30:23

Right, no, no, I guess you're talking about, but yeah, no, no, it. That's really cool that that there's, and we're just talking about the rock golems, well, I mean, and then you talked about the Ethereum, but I'm pretty sure that there's probably other inspirations from this film too. I really thought that their source of transportation was really cool you know, the airships and stuff but I really liked those like firefly, like things that they were using. The airships, the pirates yes, the pirates.

Dakota: 30:50

Yeah, the pirates they had, like it was almost like in Dune. They have those like helicopters that have the flapping like dragonfly wings.

Anthony: 30:59

Oh yeah.

Dakota: 31:01

I think they call them ornithopters. I might be wrong, but it's kind of that same design of it's like a flapping thing. It's kind of like in the first Avengers movie, remember, like the Chitauri that were invading New York. They were like kind of riding those floating vehicles. Yes, it was like those floating vehicles but with flapping dragonfly wings. I thought that was really cool. Before I forget about it, like one of the early scenes in this movie is when she does falling from the sky and talk about like an anime trope, like someone falling from a sky, like when I first saw that, I was just like oh, this is just like Kingdom Hearts, you know, like that idea, but like that's a very common thing in anime and I can't confirm this, I can't confirm this, but that's the earliest thing that I've seen do that, you know, and like she's floating down to earth with such grace. But that became a thing not only in Kingdom Hearts but like Final Fantasy and I've seen it in a bunch of other stuff.

Anthony: 32:01

Yeah, they have that in Weathering with you.

Dakota: 32:04

Yes, yes. So I have a feeling that that's 100% like some, at least some inspiration from Miyazaki Dude guys the legend, Guys the legend. I can't wait for his new movie, by the way. Oh yeah, If you've seen the trailer.

Anthony: 32:17

Yeah, I'm definitely going to go see it. I'm really stoked. You know, when it comes to physical media, I really, really want to get an entire Studio Ghibli collection, but I think I want to hold off for now. For what? Because I mean Miyazaki. He always says that this is his last film and then, like two years later, I think he's just going to continue to make films until he dies, Like really, that's just going to be him. He's like oh no, actually the last one, his last film, and then this one's his last film.

Dakota: 32:45

Supposedly, no, actually, he's now saying that, like after this finishes its theatrical run, he'll begin his work on his next film.

Anthony: 32:51

Okay. So yeah, now you know that this man is going to literally make movies until he dies.

Dakota: 32:56

I think that he just respects the craft and I think that seeps back into his idea of like work and like labor and how much he idolizes that like the working man's life and what he does is a trade. You know, I think that way he puts out into the world isn't just content like you or I are putting out. You know, he's putting out art and that's his job and I respect that. I'm excited to see what he comes up with.

Anthony: 33:21

So what you're saying is that we don't put out art. I mean no, we do? Content is an art, yeah, but I get what you mean, but I think that he just thoroughly enjoys making these films and I mean honestly, like if you find joy, and your crafts, whether that's you know working on a movie or you know creating a podcast.

Dakota: 33:42

Man keep more power to you. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I keep that flame going because it does give you purpose. It does give you a feeling of satisfaction, being able to put something out into the world and be proud of it. So I 100% agree with that and I think that Miyazaki's love of storytelling and animating why should he stop? If he has more to say, then tell it.

Anthony: 34:02

I like the connection and the chemistry in this movie between Shita and Pazu. Like there was this closeness but it didn't go full throttle into romance, you know, like there was a deep caring for one another.

Dakota: 34:18

Yeah, I think what's great about it is that they were both young enough where it didn't need to be romance.

Anthony: 34:24

Right right.

Dakota: 34:25

It didn't need to be anything like that, and I think that's kind of why he chose to make the two characters children. But also I think it's cool that children are capable of so much, and I think that's part of the message. In a world of corrupt adults, corrupt military people, corrupt politicians like Muska, who's trying to take the power of Laputa for himself, or scientists whatever you have good-hearted children who are willing to try to keep the world a better place.

Anthony: 34:54

I think that's cool. Actually, I like that you said that because, honestly, when it comes to children out of us and a lot of adults don't give them credit for where credit is due, yeah, children are capable of a lot more than we give them credit and yeah, like you said, this shows that. I mean, sure, this is an anime, but sometimes people, sometimes a child, will do something and an adult will be surprised. It's like, well, you shouldn't be surprised, because children are a lot smarter than we think they are.

Dakota: 35:28

Yeah, they may be dumb. They may be dumb, but they're very smart, you know, like they're intelligent beings. They have agency, they are capable of.

Anthony: 35:36

They are sentient you know.

Dakota: 35:38

Yeah, they can keep the Sorcerer's Stone away from Voldemort. They can do that, you know.

Anthony: 35:43

They can figure out where the location of a hidden civilization is or a lost civilization is.

Dakota: 35:49

You know yes unlock the Chamber of Secrets with a little whisper.

Anthony: 35:53

Or unlock the Kingdom Hearts.

Dakota: 35:55

Oh yeah.

Anthony: 35:57

I mean I'm pretty sure that Sora in that first one was like 14 or 15.

Dakota: 36:03

That sounds about right. Yeah, I think he's 14 and Riku's 15. About the same age as.

Anthony: 36:08

Shita and Pazoo. Yeah, I think they were about like 13.

Dakota: 36:12

Yeah, I think that that's my favorite age for you know, like children, characters where it's like stranger things with their teenagers. They're maybe just in middle school or early high school, stuff like that. That's another one like stranger things, stranger things like the entire world is saved by these kids in Hawkins, Illinois. For Like how many times. Like it's four seasons now.

Anthony: 36:35

Yeah, absolutely. They're like some of the very few people that know the existence of this other, like alternate reality, that like lives. You know the very thin rail and so, yeah, I don't know you're right. No, I agree, it's like that. It's that slot where it's like the coming of age they're like early teens. It's the coming of age or they're in that moment where they're trying to Figure there's still innocent.

Anthony: 37:01

Yeah, they're innocent and it's like the beginning of their journey to adulthood and where they're trying to figure and find themselves. And this movie definitely like kind of falls into that, you know, especially with Sheeta finding out About her path or her lineage, you know right?

Dakota: 37:18

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, that's a good point. Innocent until proven guilty.

Dakota: 37:22

I always miss you, miss mischievous. One thing I really liked about this movie was its idea of so this is like a parallel world to ours. Obviously, none of this happened. None of this exists Right, but it feels like it could because they do such a good job of world-building early on, like, if you like, pay attention to, like the Early credits, you have several civilizations of, like, giant floating cities that are crashing into or they like fall out of the sky, basically, and all the people who live on Ground now are the descendants of these flying cities. I think that that's a really just clever way of world-building.

Anthony: 37:59

I wonder if Oda got inspiration from this movie, because there's definitely like a whole civilization that lives in the sky and One piece, yeah, and there's like a piece of land that gets shot up into the sky by this thing you know, I feel like we could do.

Dakota: 38:16

We could do a whole, we could do a whole. Are you talking about skypea, skypea, yeah, and then maybe it is there's the, there's the.

Anthony: 38:24

They call like first and it's like the only like piece of like actual land that's up there, like earth, that's like, you know, dirt and trees and all that stuff, and so it gets shot up and there's a civilization that lived there. The civilization isn't lost, they just kind of got kicked off of that land. But it kind of reminds me of that now that I think about it. You know, it's like the civilization in the sky, you know. So I'm looking it up.

Dakota: 38:46

We're not the first people to come up with this theory. Like on the one piece reddit, there's a theory that says in my opinion, one piece took more than 90% of its main story from castle in the sky. Yes, 90%, I mean it. I Don't know about that, but I think there is definitely a lot of inspiration that's been stemmed out of this and I think what's great about it is that, even if it's not your favorite Miyazaki movie which doesn't my favorite Miyazaki movie it's still a fantastic movie.

Dakota: 39:14

A and it seeps into your consciousness, whether you like it or not. You know like it draws on, like these base instincts of like what makes life good and what makes life fantastical and the mythologies that we believe in or the histories that are lost to us. Like this is very much Like a post-empire world, not necessarily, like you know, the Empire of Star Wars, but like the castles in the sky were basically the Roman Empire of the past. And then what they're currently living through is, like you know, just after the Middle Ages, when people have kind of forgotten about the empires and they're now in an era of Industrialization, like their civilization has become industrial. So this is like turn of the century stuff, 1900s-ish world that they're living in.

Anthony: 40:03

Yeah, it was yeah.

Dakota: 40:05

It's, it's a and then they're basically like rediscovering all these old myths about, like where they came from, like Laputa, you know. Yeah it's cool, there's something to it, something to it.

Anthony: 40:15

Absolutely. Is there anything else that you want to discuss?

Dakota: 40:18

No, I I do want to cover more me as Otto yeah.

Anthony: 40:22

I do too. I've been wanting to for for a good bit.

Dakota: 40:26

It's interesting. I feel like this movie isn't something that I want to like talk about scene by scene, but it's more of a feeling, right, right?

Anthony: 40:33

Yeah, it is more of a feeling, I agree, and it is actually really nice. I mean, you know, we did brush a bit upon, like you know what the movie is about and I would say that you know it's really nice, like looking at some of the inspirations that this film has given it's. You know, although we do say that it's largely Forgettable, but there's still a lot that was taken from it that inspired other things. So that goes to show you that there is a lot to love about this film. Yeah for sure.

Dakota: 41:05

Would you be interested in covering the boy in the Harron?

Anthony: 41:08

Oh yeah, I really want to go see that.

Dakota: 41:10

Yeah, let's do that for our next show.

Anthony: 41:12

Let's do it, alrighty, bro. Um Any last thoughts on castle in the sky.

Dakota: 41:19

There is a castle and it's in the sky. Not too much longer anymore. If you have seen the ending, alright, yeah, no, I just it's a. It's a beautiful film. I think it's such a good vibe Altogether. If you haven't seen it, I don't think we really spoiled all that much. Like there's so much more to the story than what we've actually discussed here on the show. But I'm encouraged to cover more Miyazaki in the future, especially here on project ecology. So if you're interested, be sure to check this movie out. Obviously, follow us in the show notes, where you can find us at Twitter and Instagram on both, you know, like the podcast handles as well as our personal ones. And, yeah, so next week we're gonna be covering the boy and the Harron.

Anthony: 42:01

Well, the next, yeah, next up, yeah, next episode, cuz I don't think it'll be out by then. I think it comes out right fit.

Dakota: 42:08

I think it comes out next week or in a week or two or something like that. When is it come out? Actually, it might actually be too far away.

Anthony: 42:15

No, no, no, I think we're good. I think we're good because I think that this episode will be. It'll come out Because we released that episode this week, so it'll be like another couple. Yeah, no, I think we'll be good.

Dakota: 42:28

I think we'll be good.

Anthony: 42:29

I think it's beginning of December, so if not if you listen to this and if not, if, if the if it's a different podcast, right Right, because the the movie come out in time for us.

Anthony: 42:39

But yeah, well, I would say my last thoughts are I agree with Dakota. It's a beautiful movie, there's a lot to love about it. It's something that I haven't seen it in a while, so you know, yeah, there are some bits and pieces of it that are, you know, largely forgettable, but it's still something worth watching, at least in my eyes, like something to come back to every once in a while. I haven't seen it since I was a kid, so this was a nice revisit.

Anthony: 43:03

Thank you for joining us for episode 66 of Project Ecology, where we talk about Castle in the sky. Join us next time to listen to Boy in a Heron, hopefully. And if you want to catch us on social media, go to Twitter, or go to ex, formerly known as Twitter, and we are at P Geekology there or Instagram, which is Project Geekology only one. We will have our links in the show notes. We thank you so much. If you enjoy this podcast and your podcast application allows you to make reviews, give us a nice five-star review so that we can read it here on the show. Thank you so much and we hope you all have a great rest of your week.

Dakota: 43:45

Thank you make it a six-star review, if you can. That would be even better. 27 star review execute order 66. All right, guys, bye, bye.