Review of The Movie Spirited Away by Hayao Miyasaki

Made through the early 1990s and released on 2001 in Japan, and a year later worldwide, Spirited Away is considered by general audiences and many critics as Hayao Miyasaki’s magnum opus with Studio Gibli.

The movie is about a young girl, Chihiro, moving to a new region of the country with her parents without her agreement, only for her father to get them lost. After passing through a tunnel, they end upon an abandoned fair, where her parents proceed to indulge their hunger and eat some seemingly freshly prepared food, and shortly after turned into pigs. Now stranded in the spirit world, our young protagonist must find a way to survive in it, and adapt herself to her new and bizarre environment of a spirit’s bathhouse.

The story is of personal growth, from a young kid to a reliable adult. There are many themes through the movie, such as trusting others, how greed is not the way of life, and how everything may not be as how it looks.

Along the way, Chihiro meets other characters, the one of most importance is a young boy that goes by the name of Haku. Haku is soon found out as being a sort of dragon that seems to be caring of Chihiro, and actively helps her in her survival in the spirit world, even if he is the right hand man of Yubaba the main antagonist of the story. Yubaba, the witch owner of the bathhouse is driven by greed, as do most of the workers too, and is the one who begrudgingly accepts Chihiro due to an oath that she had to make when the establishment was built. Under Yubaba, two particular spirits come in contact with Chihiro, becoming her confidants and close friends: Kamaji the spider spirit of the boiler room, the second spirit the protagonist meets and whom directs her to Yubaba after telling her that she should stand firm and never back down no matter what, and Lin a weasel spirit who was very skeptical of the young girl, but soon develops a sisterly bond with her, and comforts her when needed.

In the end, the story of Spirited Away warrants being seen, for it is an experience that has been hand crafted to be a very memorable time. From colorful characters, absolutely breathtaking art that has become timeless, and a story that holds true regardless of age, it is worth it to give it a watch.

Works Cited

1. Miyazaki, H. (Director). (2001). Spirited Away [Motion picture]. Japan: Studio Ghibli.
2. Napier, S. J. (2005). Anime from Akira to Howl's Moving Castle: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation. Palgrave Macmillan.
3. Schilling, M. (2017). The Encyclopedia of Japanese Pop Culture. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
4. Kuhn, A. (2011). Spirited Away. BFI Publishing.
5. McCarthy, H. (2001). Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation. Stone Bridge Press.
6. Miller, J. (2006). The Contemporary Hollywood Film Industry. Wiley-Blackwell.
7. Phillips, G. (2018). Spirited Away, Second Edition: A Film Companion. Bloomsbury Academic.
8. Bryce, M., & Davis, J. (2014). Anime: A Critical Introduction. Bloomsbury Publishing.
9. Brophy, P. (2009). Spirited Away: The Meaning of Hayao Miyazaki's Masterpiece. Mythos Books.
10. Cavallaro, D. (2006). The Anime Art of Hayao Miyazaki. McFarland.