Future Boy Conan
Miyazaki's earlier anime series "Future Boy Conan" (1978) featured a number of elements that he later adapted for "Castle in the Sky". Conan and Lana, for example, were precedents for Pazu and Sheeta, and it had similarities to Sheeta's rescue by Pazu. Some of the characters and themes in "Future Boy Conan" set the blueprint for "Castle in the Sky". The name "Laputa" is derived from Jonathan Swift's novel "Gulliver's Travels", wherein Swift's Laputa is also a flying island propelled by a giant central crystal and controlled by its citizens. Anthony Lioi feels that Miyazaki's "Laputa: Castle in the Sky" is similar to Swift's Laputa, where the technological superiority of the castle in the sky is used for political ends.