After her mother left, Asuna Watase has had to not only make sure that her grades do not slip, but she also needs to tend to everything at home. Thankfully though, she gets brief reprieve with her crystal radio in her secret hideout. One day, Asuna hears something from the radio that she’s never heard before. One thing leads to another, and she is rescued by a mysterious boy named Shun. Suddenly Asuna is plunged headfirst into a journey with Shun and her life will never be the same.

Right off the bat, you should be able to pick up that both movies are centered around female protagonists whose lives go from zero to one hundred very quickly with a random boy who joins them and stays by their sides. Makoto Shinkai, yes that one, is the director of Hoshi wo Ou Kodomo and has stated that Laputa was a massive influence for this movie. While slightly insignificant, the rush to adventure all around a mysterious necklace is also a great trop shared by these two movies.

In the future, humanity has more or less thrown away their bodies and lives online in a place called DEVA. Essentially, it’s an online world where you can be whoever you want to be. That is… until somehow it is hacked one day by someone named Frontier Settler. Angela, a law enforcement officer, traces the signal back to some abandoned planet called Earth. There, she actually puts herself into a physical body, but due to time restraints, the body is only that of a 16-year-old girl! When she arrives, she meets Dingo, someone who is her contact but also wants to know who Frontier Settler is. The journey that they embark on will threaten everything that they take for granted.

Rakuen Tsuihou overlaps Laputa in a lot of ways that people may not recognize. Both Sheena and Angela’s everyday lives are thrown in upheaval by something unexpected and of course–thank you heteronormativity–there is a boy ready to help them out. While Frontier Settler is nowhere near as bad as the government, both want to bring about something from the past and let the people of the current era, who have most likely completely forgotten about it, recall and re-learn what it was. Ultimately, the choices that both Sheena and Angela make come at a very heavy price. How much though is for you to get from watching the movie!

Patema is a girl of royal heritage who lives deep underground. In fact, the entire civilization does and it is all connected by a series of tunnels. When she goes somewhere she is not supposed to one day, Patema falls into a bottomless pit where she falls and falls and falls. However, the world she finds is inverted. In fact, she starts floating up in the direction of the sky! A boy named Age saves her though. Patema then learns that the people of Aiga, where she is now, consider her a heathen and eventually will be consumed by the sky. Age protects her though and suddenly, their two worlds collide where they are inverts of each other.

Starting out, yet again we have another girl who just happens to meet a boy who saves her and wants to protect her. You know, because that is normally what happens when you meet strangers. Both girls are pursued by governments while the boys do their best to help the escape. Puppy love is what helps both pairs pull through in difficult moments and gives them the strength. Both Patema and Laputa also touch on the idea that help can come in all shapes and sizes. You just have to look for it.

The world is now much more symbiotic with plant life due to an experiment went wrong. Well… more like plants have taken over and brought ruin upon humanity. There are a few who try to survive, but they have to be careful. One day, a young boy named Agito finds a special area deep within the forest where time has stopped. There, a girl named Tula has been sleeping for 300 years. When humanity realizes what is happening, warriors kidnap her because she is the key to unlocking a special weapon that could allow humanity to once again, rise to the top of the food chain. Agito now has to not only save Tula, he has to prevent this tragedy from occurring.

More or less, this is the same movie as Laputa with a few twists. The main character is a boy in Origin, and Tula, rather than being a descendant of an ancient race, is actually that said ancient race as she has been frozen in time. Both Sheena and Tula can control a massive weapon due to their pasts that could wreak havoc on the world and are pursued by governments. Not only that, but both girls have to make sacrifices if they wa

Sophie is a normal girl… until one day when she cursed by the Witch of the Waste. This takes a cute young girl and turns her into a shriveled old woman unable to speak of her curse. Wandering out into the mountains, she sees something beyond peculiar, a moving castle. One thing leads to another and Sophie hops inside at the last minute. Now the live-in maid, she helps those around the castle with various issues which includes the master of the castle himself, a strange man named Howl. If only Sophie could tell Howl what was going on! Surely, he could undo the curse. Thus, her journey begins.

This is the only Miyazaki movie to make it on the list because these two movies, while fantastic, mirror each other well. Both movies are centered around a girl who ends up either in or looking for a castle, both are heavily affected by magic, and a beautiful romance blossoms between both the male and female leads. While Howl may not seem like he has saved Sophie, that could not be further from the truth and a careful watch will reveal that. He takes care of Sophie just like how Pazu saves Sheena and makes sure she is safe. A castle on the move in both movies also lends to an interesting overall plot. If you have not caught this classic yet, then now is the time!

Amon is a bit of an odd young boy. You see, he has powers. He can fly when there is a wind and he can freely communicate with animals. His father is a powerful researcher for the Empire. Fearful of what the Empire may do to his son, they flee as a family, but are hunted down. Only Amon survives. He makes it to a strange island where he learns more about what he is. Amon is part of an ancient race where everyone had powers like him. Accepting his past, he meets a girl named Maria in another village, but the Empire is lying in wait for him and attacks the village looking for him. The two work together to try and put a stop to the Empire’s evil deeds.

The last entry here is something a lot of people do not know about. Kaze wo Mita Shounen is very much like Castle in the Sky. Now, we do not know if it is directly pulled from it, but there are very easy parallels. Amon and Sheena are of an ancient race that allows them special powers. Both are pursued by an evil government bent on getting their secrets and harnessing them. An obvious romance buds between the two main characters, and oddly, you find yourself cheering them on to succeed. As luck would have it, finally, both Amon and Sheena have a special heirloom important to them.