But the tone never finds a smooth balance, with an added layer of darkness to the characters themselves. Howl and Sophie are the two main characters, so anything featuring these characters is a great choice. She was placed into home hospice care and given just six months to two years to live – a short time that she didn’t want to ruin through the devastating side effects of chemo. But others tug the show’s tone the other way, with schlockier costumes and scenarios, cosplay costumes for men from figures in beaked masks and consciousnesses stuck in clanky old machines.