Hauru no Ugoku Shiro (Howl's Moving Castle)

Translator's notes in yellow.

5/14/04 (Fri.)

The animator Ohhashi's long-awaited child was born. And what's more, it was a boy, something very rare for Ghibli men. There have been boys born in marriages within the company before, but this is possibly the first time a boy has been born when the wife was from outside the company. Work hard, Ohhashi, for the sake of your wife and child!

5/15/04 (Sat.)

The first time we have received completed key animation for some time. Considering the content of the cuts being worked on by the remaining three, this is probably the pace we should expect. However, progressing when we are down to single digits is...

A pinch. The in-between animation we expected to be finished today was all delayed. Internal and external in-between animators all worked over the holidays, so perhaps they are a little fatigued. However, at this rate, the in-between animation supervisors and finishers will soon have nothing to work on, so we expect them to be done Monday.

5/17/04 (Mon.)

We shifted the photographed cuts to the production storeroom. Thank you, we're full! We'll have to buy more shelves and install them in another area. Since there are more sheets than for Spirited Away of course places to put them [are running out].

5/18/04 (Tues.)

At last, the big finish for director checking and animation direction work. Just the last scene and various cuts which have accumulated are left. Naturally, this will take a little more time than it has up until now. While I am writing this diary entry, I glance over at the shelf of cuts for which animation direction has been completed, and it is empty. Will the rope, which up until now we thought might break but didn't, finally break? As if to kick them when they are down, large quantities of completed in-between animation started coming in. It's both happy and sad.

5/19/04 (Weds.)

Animation direction work has also progressed quite a bit, and the final frame count is coming into sight, but it will be bigger than was initially planned. We produced projected frame counts at important points, but animation direction output for the last few days has had more frames than expected, and considering the remaining content, it seems likely that [the frame count] will far exceed that of Spirited Away.

5/20/04 (Thurs.)

Only one cut of key animation remaining. Ah, it's really the last stretch. The final editing session will be held at the end of this month. Basically, to prepare, we have to continue photographing all the key animation after animation direction is finished with it. Since we have to make adjustments in accordance with animation direction corrections, this will take quite a bit of time.

5/21/04 (Fri.)

It's done! It's done! It's done! Finally, key animation is complete. We're really done with this phase. It's truly a milestone in the long production process, and the production team has been looking forward to it. To all the key animators, thanks for your hard work.

The regular rush check. The total has now passed 1200 cuts. Nearly 200 cuts remain. There haven't been any retakes for a while, but today there were four.

5/22/04 (Sat.)

At last, the editing session is only a week away. We're taking care of the cuts coming from animation direction one after another, but not as many cuts as we expect are coming, and we feel just a little bit impatient.

5/24/04 (Mon.)

Cuts remaining for background art have also reached the single digits. Animation direction has 50 cuts remaining, and the end has come into sight. However, before that, there is another large job: editing. Until editing is complete, we can't progress any further. Work hard, animation directors!

5/25/04 (Tues.)

For the sake of the editing session, the animation directors worked until dawn on the last spurt. Thanks for your hard work.