"Castle in the Sky" (1986)

Anime. It is something that I do not usually watch or think I would enjoy, but as it turns out, a couple of the movies on the IMDB Top 250 are...you guessed it, anime. Other than Pokemon, I do not have much experience with this genre, but I am looking forward to this opportunity to expand my horizons.

"Castle in the Sky" was one of the anime movies on the list, and the first that I had the chance to see. Not knowing what to expect, the music starts and you get to learn about the magical land of Laputa. It is a place of old, robotic warriors and lush gardens. Throughout the movie, you find out more and more about Sheeta and how she is the heir to the throne of Laputa. The movie is full of heroic efforts by her love interest, Pazu, as he joins the pirate forces and helps to fight off the evil-minded army.

All in all, I think the action was quite intriguing and the storyline was solid, but what made the movie for me was the soundtrack. The action was well accented by dramatic music while the slower moments had the proper arrangement too. The highs and lows of the orchestration helped my heart to both race with excitement and feel the full range of emotions from love to sadness.

Watching this was both eye opening (to think that I might actually like an anime movie) and rewarding. The main goal of this whole experience is to gain perspective into our culture that I pretend to know so much about. If there are aspects of my own culture that I am out of touch with, I feel that I should check it out. In the end, you only live life one time, and if I do not open myself up to certain movies just because they are anime or any other "unusual" type, I cannot fully enrich myself and my views. And if I do not take the time for enrichment, I will have no excuse for why I might feel out of touch with others or no be able to connect with people. I am a citizen of the US and if I do not know my own culture as well as I should, there is something the matter. And by doing this, I think I can close this gap.

"Learn everything you can, anytime you can, from anyone you can - there will always come a time when you will be grateful you did." - Sarah Caldwell