It’s almost impossible to talk about the Mary and the Witch's Flower cast without mentioning the massive, Totoro-sized elephant in the room. When Studio Ponoc released this film in 2017, everyone—and I mean everyone—thought they were watching a "secret" Studio Ghibli movie. It makes sense. Director Hiromasa Yonebayashi, the guy who gave us The Secret World of Arrietty, was at the helm. But the magic of this specific film doesn't just come from the lush, hand-painted clouds or the way the bread looks suspiciously delicious. It comes from a voice cast that had to bridge the gap between British literary roots and Japanese animation soul.
Honestly, the casting for this film was a gamble. You had a brand-new studio trying to prove it wasn't just a Ghibli clone while simultaneously leaning into the exact same tropes that made Kiki’s Delivery Service a masterpiece.
The Voices Behind the Broomstick
Ruby Barnhill leads the English version as Mary Smith. Fresh off her breakout role in Steven Spielberg's The BFG, Barnhill brings a certain scrappiness that Mary desperately needs. Mary isn't a "chosen one" in the traditional, polished sense. She’s a bored kid with messy red hair who accidentally stumbles into a world of genetic mutation and magical oversight. Barnhill’s performance captures that specific brand of childhood frustration—the kind where you’re trying to be helpful but end up breaking everything you touch.
Then you have the heavy hitters. Kate Winslet and Jim Broadbent.
Getting Oscar winners for an anime dub isn't as rare as it used to be, but here it feels intentional. Winslet plays Madame Mumblechuuk, the head of Endor College. She’s not a mustache-twirling villain. She’s complicated. Winslet uses this airy, authoritative tone that slowly curdles into something obsessive and frightening. Opposite her is Jim Broadbent as Doctor Dee. If you grew up watching Harry Potter, hearing Slughorn’s voice coming out of a steampunk scientist is a trip. Broadbent does this "absent-minded professor" bit better than anyone alive, but he adds a layer of cold, clinical detachment to Dee that makes the character’s experiments feel genuinely gross.
Why the Japanese Cast Hits Differently
If you’re a purist who watches subbed, the Japanese Mary and the Witch's Flower cast offers a completely different texture. Hana Sugisaki voices Mary (Mary Isami in some contexts), and she brings a high-energy, breathless quality that contrasts with Barnhill’s more grounded British delivery. Sugisaki is a powerhouse in Japan, known for her roles in Bleach and Blade of the Immortal. She makes Mary feel younger, maybe a bit more vulnerable.
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The legendary Ryunosuke Kamiki voices Peter. If that name sounds familiar, it should. He was the voice of Taki in Your Name and Markl in Howl’s Moving Castle. He’s basically the lucky charm of modern anime. In Mary and the Witch's Flower, he has to play the straight man to Mary’s chaos. It’s a thankless job, but Kamiki gives Peter a sense of reliability that makes the high-stakes finale actually land emotionally. Without that chemistry, the whole "saving the boy" plot would feel like a hollow trope.
The British Connection and Mary Stewart’s Legacy
We have to talk about the source material. The movie is based on The Little Broomstick by Mary Stewart, published in 1971. Because the book is quintessentially British, the English dub actually feels "correct" in a way many anime dubs don't. The setting—Great Northern Square, the mist-heavy countryside—is baked into the dialogue.
- Ruby Barnhill (Mary): Brings the "BFG" innocence.
- Kate Winslet (Madame Mumblechuuk): Pure, sophisticated menace.
- Jim Broadbent (Doctor Dee): The eccentric, dangerous academic.
- Louis Ashbourne Serkis (Peter): Yes, Andy Serkis’s son. He’s great.
- Ewen Bremner (Flanagan): You know him from Trainspotting. He plays a talking rat/custodian. It’s weird. It works.
The casting of Ewen Bremner as Flanagan is probably the most underrated part of the film. Flanagan is a fox-like creature (or a bureaucratic animal-person?) who obsessively manages the broomstick stables. Bremner’s frantic, Scottish-inflected delivery adds a layer of frantic energy that breaks up the more "prestigious" acting from Winslet and Broadbent. It’s a bit of grit in an otherwise very polished production.
The Weirdness of Endor College
When Mary gets to Endor College, the movie shifts from a pastoral drama to something out of a sci-fi nightmare. This is where the Mary and the Witch's Flower cast really has to do the heavy lifting. The background characters and the "transformed" animals don't have many lines, but the atmosphere is built on the performances of the leads reacting to the horror.
Doctor Dee isn't just a wizard; he's a chemist. Jim Broadbent’s voice goes from whimsical to chilling when he discusses "transformation" magic. It’s a subtle shift. It’s about the way he treats living creatures like data points. This is where the film differentiates itself from the whimsical magic of Harry Potter. This isn't about wands and incantations; it's about the "Fly-by-Night" flower, a biological anomaly that grants temporary power. The cast treats the magic like a drug or a dangerous chemical, which adds a layer of tension you don't usually see in "kid-friendly" animation.
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Production Stakes: Studio Ponoc’s First Outing
You have to remember that when this cast signed on, Studio Ponoc was a startup. They were the survivors of Ghibli’s temporary production shutdown. If this movie failed, the studio died.
The casting of Kate Winslet wasn't just about getting a big name; it was a statement of intent. They wanted international prestige. They wanted to prove that hand-drawn animation still had a seat at the table in a world dominated by Pixar’s 3D renders. Interestingly, the English adaptation was handled by Gkids, who are notoriously picky about their localizations. They didn't "Americanize" the script. They kept the Britishisms, the tea-time pacing, and the specific class dynamics between Mary and the Great-Aunt Charlotte (voiced by the late, great Lynda Baron in the UK).
Comparing the Leads: Barnhill vs. Sugisaki
It’s fun to compare how different cultures interpret a "spunky girl" lead.
In the Japanese version, Hana Sugisaki plays into the gambare spirit—that idea of "doing one's best" against impossible odds. Her Mary is loud, expressive, and almost operatic in her fear.
Ruby Barnhill’s Mary is a bit more cynical. She’s got that dry, British wit. When she’s told she’s a "once-in-a-century" prodigy, she doesn't just beam with pride; she’s suspicious. She knows she’s faking it. That nuance is what makes the English dub stand out. It’s not just a translation; it’s a slight tonal shift that fits the damp, gray environment of the film’s first act.
The Technical Magic of the Dub
The lip-syncing in this film is remarkably tight. Usually, with anime, you see the "flap" where the mouth moves and the words follow. But because Yonebayashi’s animation style is so fluid and detailed, the English voice actors had to be incredibly precise with their timing.
Kate Winslet apparently took the role because her children were fans of Ghibli films. You can tell she’s having fun. There’s a scene where Madame Mumblechuuk is showing Mary around the school, and Winslet’s voice is practically purring with hidden agendas. It’s a masterclass in voice acting that goes beyond just "reading lines." She’s building a world with her breath.
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Is It Better Than Ghibli?
That’s the question everyone asks. Honestly? The cast is just as good, if not better, than some of the Disney-produced Ghibli dubs. While Disney often threw random celebrities at roles (sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't), the Mary and the Witch's Flower cast feels curated. Every voice fits the character's silhouette.
The movie does suffer a bit from being "too safe." It hits every Ghibli beat: a young girl, a black cat (Tib), a magical world, a lesson about nature vs. technology. But the cast prevents it from feeling like a hollow cover song. They bring a soul to the characters that the script—which is a bit thin in the middle—sometimes lacks.
Finding the Flower
If you haven't watched it yet, do yourself a favor: watch it twice. Once in Japanese to see the original intent, and once in English to hear Winslet and Broadbent chew the scenery.
The "Fly-by-Night" flower itself is a metaphor for fleeting talent and the dangers of shortcuts. The actors treat it with a kind of reverence that makes the stakes feel real. When Mary finally rejects the easy power of the flower, Barnhill’s voice has this finality to it that really hits home. She’s not a witch. She’s just Mary. And that’s enough.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Viewers
- Check the Credits: If you enjoyed the English dub, look up the work of Gkids. They consistently produce the highest quality anime localizations in the industry, often surpassing major studio efforts.
- Explore the Source: Read Mary Stewart’s "The Little Broomstick." It’s a short read and gives you a much deeper understanding of why the film’s world feels so structured and "British."
- Watch the "Making Of": There is a documentary called The Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki that provides context for why Studio Ponoc (the creators of this film) exists in the first place. It makes the performances feel much more significant when you realize the stakes for the animators.
- Compare the Cats: Pay attention to Tib and Gib. In many anime films, animal sidekicks are just for comic relief. In this film, the voice actors (or rather, the sound designers and the way the human actors interact with them) treat the cats as the moral compass of the story.
- Listen for the Score: The hammered dulcimer used in the soundtrack (by Takatsugu Muramatsu) is meant to mimic the "sparkle" of the voices. Try to notice how the music dips when Jim Broadbent’s Doctor Dee is on screen—it becomes more mechanical and rhythmic.