Akio Ogino

"Don't be such a scaredy cat, Chihiro. Let's just take a look."

Akīchirō Ogino is a employee of a construction copmpany, father to Chihiro Ogino and husband to Ichiyūko Ogino. He is seen in the Studio Ghibli film Spirited Away. He is also named Akio for short.

Appearance
Akiichirō has lightly tanned skin, short, brown hair and small, dark-colored eyes. Compared to other characters in the series, Akiichirō has a very bulky figure, though more of his bulk is attributed to body fat as opposed to muscle. He also grows a very slightly accentuated moustache on his upper lip.

Personality
While his personality is never fully elaborated on in the film, it is shown in the introduction to the film that he is extremely overconfident and brave, driving his car through an undeveloped footpath after missing a turn. His curiosity, love for adventure and general carelessness first lands him and his family at the entrance the tunnel of the Spirit World and subsequently places him under a curse.

History
He is first seen driving a car (Audi A4) to his new home in Tochinoki. Unfamiliar with the roads there, he misses a turn and compensates by driving over a footpath in hopes to eventually reach his new house. He nearly drives the car into a stone statue and revels in the architectural beauty of the Red Tunnel. Curiosity piqued, he then takes Ichiyūko and Chihiro through the tunnel, unwittingly stepping into the Spirit World.

Akiichirou is later seen picking up a scent of food and, with wife and daughter in tow, finds a whole street of unoccupied food stalls. Thinking that all expenses would be paid for (due to his owning of credit cards), Akiichirou and Ichiyuuko begin to stuff themselves with food meant for spirits and immediately fall under a curse that prevents them from stopping. He is then seen at sunset where his consumption of the food has transformed him and his wife into large pigs. Whipped by angry spirit stall owners for eating so much food, He consequently forgets his previous life as a human.

He is next seen sleeping alongside his transformed wife (as pigs) in the pigpen, completely forgetting that he was once a human and ignoring Chihiro's calling. He is not seen until the end of the movie where he and his wife are waiting for Chihiro by the Red Tunnel entrance, forgetting about their experience as pigs after the dispelling of their curse. Completely unaware of how much time has passed, he exclaims at how dusty and dirty the car has become, and dismisses the mess as a prank as the film ends.

Symbolism
Even he and his wife are turn into pigs they continue to eat. Hayao Miyazaki shows peoples are nonsensitive of their surroundings; continue their destructive way. Akiichirou and his wife cause trouble for their child Chihiro, who has now to save them.

Akichiro's Car
This Audi A4 Quattro is unique, and, as Akīchirō states, has the special AWD feature, that allows them to take the old road in the first place. Although the car from the movie is grey, this color is almost impossible to find in real life. It is said that the engine noises from a real Audi A4 1.8 were used in the making of the film.