Howl's moving castle is a movie directed by legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki and his production studio, Studio Ghibli. It is based off a book by Diana Wynne Jones of the same name.
Hayao Miyazaki is an acclaimed japanese filmmaker, he is one of the most successful animators in the world, rivaling Walt Disney, in fact his studio is often referred to as the "disney of the east" although most fans will immediately tell you that there's no comparison...
As for the reason the papercraft model is so important, there is a pretty good sized online papercrafting community, it's a fun and inexpensive way in which to make 3d models, all it requires is paper, glue, and scissors. There are even 3d modeling programs made specifically for people to create their own papercraft models. This model however is commercially produced, and honestly one of the largest and most difficult commercially produced papercraft models available.
There is also a PDF scan of the model floating around, and that's what most people are able to get, this is the reason I received so many messages on facebook about the papercraft, most were asking for the PDF, or asking if there were english instructions (the model is only available in japanese)
Honestly, a papercraft model like this is much like a giant, super complex, 3d puzzle that requires cutting and pasting =)
Finally a few Miyazaki and Ghibli trailers...
And it's not a Hayao Miyazaki film, or a ghibli film, however it's by Miyazaki's mentor Isao Takahata and I feel this needs an honorable mention as Takahata is part of the Ghibli team... This movie, grave of the fireflies, is so good it's actually on the late Roger Eberts list of the top 10 best WWII movies of all time.
Cool. Thanks for posting. Can't say as it's something I would ever want to attempt, but I can appreciate how much work it must have been for you.
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