[4] Hosoda had already analyzed the directing methods and screen compositions of Hayao Miyazaki and Rintaro in a collection of essays written by elementary school graduates.

[6] Hosoda applied as a first-year high school student for the open call for animators for the Toei Dōga-produced film Shōnen Kenya (1984) and was shortlisted, but withdrew because of mid-term exams.

[7][10] Although he did not pass the exam, he received a letter from Hayao Miyazaki saying that he had decided not to hire someone like you because he thought it would diminish your talent.

Hosoda responded to the wise decision of producer Hiromi Seki, who saw through his talent, with the high quality of his work, and built an unshakeable reputation.

[14] At the time, Studio Ghibli was looking for a new talent, as momentum was building to appoint someone other than Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata as director.

[11] Suzuki himself was involved in the film as producer for the first year, but when the project ran into difficulties, Takahashi took over and the team went on location scouting in the UK, but production was cancelled in the spring of 2002.

[14] Suzuki says that this may be due to the difference in production styles between Toei Animation and Studio Ghibli, or the pressure caused by the presence of Hayao Miyazaki.

[16] On the other hand, it is also said that Studio Ghibli was producing Spirited Away, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, in parallel at the time, which caused Howl's Moving Castle team led by Hosoda to be understaffed.

Hosoda says that it was hard having to ask them to work without any guarantees because he had no authority as a producer, but what was even harder was that the production was subsequently cancelled and he was unable to fulfil his promises to those staff, which destroyed the trust he had built with them.

[17] In a programme on NHK General TV that closely followed him, Hosoda talks about how he did not consult anyone around him, including Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, about his worries about what direction to take with his work at the time.

Or, "Shouldn't I have asked for guidance from Miyazaki and Takahata if necessary in order to create a work with many staff members in one mind?"

[18] Furthermore, his mother, Hiroko, fell ill, and he wondered whether he should return to his hometown and find another job while caring for her, but in the end he chose to stay on at Toei.

[9] After watching episode 40, Masao Maruyama, then president of Madhouse, thought this was The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and since he had just acquired the film rights to the original novel, he offered Hosoda the chance to direct it.

[14] Madhouse produced the film and the busy Maruyama left the actual production to his subordinate Yuichiro Saito and Takashi Watanabe, an employee of Kadokawa, which had published the original novel.

[21] When the film was first released, it was planned to be shown in only 21 theaters across Japan, but it gained popularity through word of mouth among audiences and eventually became a hit, with a long run of 40 weeks, over 100 theaters in total, more than 180,000 people in attendance and box-office revenues of approximately 264 million yen.

Hosoda not only directed the film but also wrote the screenplay, which grossed approximately 4.2 billion yen at the box office, significantly more than its predecessor.