Spirit it Away!: Spirited Away

Greetings, fellow children of the Internet!  Welcome to part one of Miyazaki May 2017!  Starting off this year’s festivities will be a review on one of the most renowned Studio Ghibli films as well as one of the most reputable anime films of all time.  So I guess I’ll just cut to the chase then.  Sit back! Relax! And enjoy this week’s review on the one and only Spirited Away.

The film opens on Chihiro and her family on the road to their new home.  After taking something of a detour, Chihiro and her family find themselves at an abandoned building.  They soon find a small deserted town beyond it.  However, Chihiro quickly learns that this deserted looking town is actually a mystical world of spirits, and that her parents have been turned into pigs for eating the village food.  Chihiro later runs into a boy named Haku, who tells her that humans are not allowed in this strange world and get turned into animals by the sorceress Yababa, who also runs the local bathhouse.  In order to avoid this, she must get a job at the bathhouse.  Fortunately, she is able to get one, but Yababa changes her name to Sen.  According to Haku, Yababa is able to control people by taking their names, and if she forgets her name, Chihiro will never leave the spirit world, a fate that Haku has unfortunately met.  Chihiro’s time in the bathhouse goes well until she witnesses Haku as a dragon in a fight with a swarm of paper dolls.  These paper dolls turn out to be Yababa’s twin sister Zeniba.  Not only does she mortally wound Haku for stealing a magical seal from her, but she also turns Yababa’s henchbird into a smaller, shrimpier looking bird-which, by the way, makes the cutest buzzing noise-and her infant son Boh into a mouse.  Haku eventually spits out the seal and a black slug, which Chihiro steps on.  In an attempt to save his life, Chihiro decides to go see Zeniba and apologize and return the seal in Haku’s place.  However, before she can leave, she is chased by No-Face, a creature that has an odd attraction to her after showing it kindness and has now become a ravenous monster.  No-Face eventually calms down and throws up everything he has eaten-mostly bathhouse employees-and accompanies her to meet with Zeniba.  Meanwhile, Yababa plans to kill Chihiro’s parents, but then realizes that Boh is missing.  Haku makes a deal to return Boh if she releases Chihiro’s parents from their curse and free them and Chihiro.  Yababa agrees, stating that Chihiro must pass one final test.  If she fails, the deal with Haku will be broken and Chihiro will remain in the spirit world.  Chihiro, later on, is able to return the seal, and Zeniba reveals that Chihiro’s curse was already broken and that the slug she stepped on earlier was placed by Yababa to control Haku.  Haku appears in his dragon form to take Chihiro and Boh back to the bathhouse.  Along the way, Chihiro realizes who Haku is; several years earlier, Chihiro nearly drowned but was mysteriously rescued, revealing that Haku is a spiritual entity of the Kohaku River.  This in turn breaks Haku, or Kohaku rather, from his curse.  Back at the bathhouse, Chihiro returns and is asked by Yababa to determine which two pigs out of a presented group are her real parents.  After concluding that none of the pigs are her parents, her contract with Yabaaba disintegrates and Chihiro is able to leave.  She soon meets her parents by the abandoned building they came through before and all three drive off.

This film has a reputation behind it, there’s no doubt about that.  Still, I expected a little more from a film that won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature (more on that later).  But I was pleased with the film overall.  And so, I give Spirited Away an eight out of ten.  Now I know you fans of the movie are thinking why I didn’t rate it higher, but again, I’ll explain that later.  Let’s focus on the positives for now.  Among those, I will say that, without a doubt, was the animation.  I’m not kidding when I say that this film has some of the finest Studio Ghibli animation that you will ever see.  While it’s true that it’s ranked among the big name Ghibli films for its animation, it’s well deserving of that title.  And of course, as with any Ghibli film, the music was beautiful.  Joe Hisashi is a staple in Studio Ghibli, therefore being synonymous with the studio’s name.  And the soundtrack for this film did not disappoint. 

Ok, so what’s the bad news?  You may have noticed that one of my usual praises was left out: the story.  And admittedly, that’s where a lot of my concerns lay.  It’s not that it was a bad story, it’s just that there were plot elements to the story that just felt thrown together and not properly explained, so parts of it felt haphazard.  Some of my biggest questions were “so how does Zeniba come into play?” and “what’s the deal with No-Face?”  And then there was this sudden change in conflict.  At first it’s about Chihiro trying to escape the spirit world and save her parents, and then it becomes trying to save Haku, and then back to leaving the spirit world and saving her parents again.  That especially seemed inconsistent and made watching the film really confusing.  I like how the film took a dream-like approach to the story by throwing in twists along the way, but if you’re confusing your viewer in the process by not resolving these elements, you’re doing something wrong.   Still, I used to think that this film was just weird and creepy.  But having watched it, it was much better and a lot more pleasant than I expected!  No self-respecting anime fan lives their life without seeing this film at least once!

So let’s sum this review up, Spirited Away is not perfect, but it’s one Ghibli film that you have to see to believe.  This classic is available wherever anime is sold.  Seriously, it’s not that hard to find.  And so, that wraps up this review!  Stay tuned next week for part two of my month of Miyazaki with Only Yesterday!

-Hanime on Anime

Spirited Away Official Trailer