Castle in the Sky: The Official Cookbook

by Studio Ghibli

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking

64 pages, Hardcover

Published October 28, 2025

Reviews

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and VIZ Media LLC for an eARC of this book to read and review.

This was...different. It was a rather abridged story of the movie, with the food and recipes of said food shoehorned throughout. The stew and meatball soup looked amazing. The rest was eh. The egg and toast "recipe" was a stretch and rather weak imho.

While reading the story, I remembered how depressing this movie was, at least for me. Still, since the pictures in this were from the movie, it was beautiful eye-candy. And the recipes did look tempting to try.

This didn't do it for me, but it would be a great gift to a Studio Ghibli fan who enjoys cooking. Neat tie-in, even if it didn't work for me personally.

2, weak for me but I am sure it will be a hit with others, stars.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

All of the recipes look as good as they do in the Studio Ghibli films. However, if you're going into this cookbook thinking that it's going to be mostly recipes, you're in for a disappointment. This book provides a lot of backstory for the film and characters in between each recipe. It is very detailed and very much catered to fans of this movie. My only issue is that I don't like how the recipes are set up on the page. It looks weirdly like an ingredient list on the side of a box you get at the grocery store. Otherwise, it's fantastic. I also think it's awesome that they put metric and imperial measurements in the ingredient list.

[Steff Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just adored this. Though I’m not much of a cook and I certainly had some reservations about the idea that there could be a while book’s worth of recipes for the single movie of Castle in the Sky, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with how much the author was able to include. Seems even I had forgotten some of the gorgeous meals that were eaten through the course of the film.

I think, though, what I appreciated most was the connection to this movie that I just adored as a child. Studio Ghibli does something amazing with their portrayal of food; I have this insanely vivid memory of being fascinated with the egg and bread snack Patsu brings out for them to eat, something I wouldn’t have myself until I was well into adulthood—

Ultimately, this cookbook is a nostalgia time bomb. You enter its pages and just feel transported back to a time when you were much smaller and feel genuinely energized at the idea of trying out several of the recipe options in the book. Now, all that said, there aren’t a ton of recipes and I don’t know that I’d say, of the ones there, that they’re all to my taste.

But then…if I’m buying this book, it’s not because I was focused entirely on the food.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Carolina Colleene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Language: G (0 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG
This cookbook tells an abbreviated version of Sheeta’s story from the movie in order to showcase its recipes in context—like the breakfast Sheeta and Pazu share in a cave and the stew Sheeta makes for the airship pirates. Then there are extra recipes at the end that are inspired by the movie—including candy shaped like the crystal necklace!
Each recipe includes a difficulty indicator; the majority of them are labeled as “easy,” and only one is at the highest level of “difficult.” I love the idea of getting young readers more excited about the characters and action by using the recipes in this cookbook to add more immersion to the experience—not to mention developing a new skill. The mature content rating is for mentions of alcohol, and the violence rating is for mild assault, battle scenes, and gun use.
Reviewed for https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/

[rik ✎ᝰ. · Rating 2 out of 5]

A short and highly visual book of easy-to-make recipes from Studio Ghibli's Laputa: Castle In The Sky, it retells the events of the film, pausing to drop in a recipe as the dish is mentioned or shown in the narrative — yes, even the fried egg on bread.

Although no estimated prep/cooking time is given, both metric and imperial units are used and each step includes a photo alongside written instruction. Written with children in mind, the book also includes a section on basic knife skills and some cooking trivia.

With only 12 recipes in total (and several shortcuts such as using pre-cut canned fruit or frozen veg mix) it is more of a novelty than anything else, but could be a good gift to introduce youngsters to the kitchen.


Thank you to VIZ Media and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this online as an ARC.

🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑 2 / 5

[Erica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ebook in exchange for an honest review.

2/5 stars

This is marketed as a cookbook, but it is really more of a movie synopsis with the occasional "recipe" thrown in. Several of the recipes do look quite good, such as the meatball soup and the stew, but the egg on bread is barely a recipe. The instructions boil down to "Fry an egg, put it on bread." Very underwhelming.

There's one recipe called "Dola's Ham" that is not a ham at all- it's a pork roast. To be ham, it needs to be cured, which this recipe is not, and from a pork leg, which this also is not. (It calls for pork shoulder). It doesn't sound like a bad recipe, but the inaccurate title annoyed me.

If this were marketed as an overview of the movie with recipes included, I think I would've liked it more. As is, it felt like the recipes were an afterthought.

[Elia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclaimer: Netgalley provided me with a free digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

As an avid Gibli fan and a heck of a cook (if I do say so myself) I was very excited about this book. However, while it is really adorable and will appeal to die-hard fans, the cookbook aspect is lacking.
It contains only about a dozen recipes, all of which are quite simple and could be found in a variety of other cookbooks. While it is a lovely looking book which tells the story of the movie, it is really more of a light novel version of the film than a really legitimate cookbook.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

The recipes look delicious. I'm not sure the layout fully works for me. The photographed steps look nice, but due to the small size of the book, it renders the print a tad small and the pages a bit busy. The recap of the movie, while including the beautiful art, also makes this less useful as an actual cookbook. The recipes feel more like an after thought rather than the point of the book.

[Elle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perfect recipes for a movie night! Using the recipes in the book, you can eat the food the characters do! Additional recipes are included that are inspired by the film such as blue agar candies to resemble the Etherium crystal.

[Reba · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very detailed recipes and infographics, my only complaint is that there are so few recipes in the book.

[Jenn Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a sucker for a themed cookbook and this one did not disappoint. I love the information about where in the story the food was and coming shots of the film with photos of the food was nice. there were a wide range of recipes so I think everyone can find something.

4 stars