Akio Ogino

Akiichirō Ogino (荻野 明一郎, Ogino Akiichirō) is a working-class male, husband of Ichiyūko Ogino, and father of Chihiro Ogino in the Japanese animated film Spirited Away. As punishment for his crimes against the Spirit World, Akiichirō is cursed and transformed into a pig for much of the movie.

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
Not much is known about Akiichirō's past except for the fact that he and his family have decided to move from an unnamed location to the suburbs. Unfamiliar with the roads there, Akiichirō 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 Spirit World Tunnel. Curiosity piqued, Akiichirō then takes Ichiyūko and Chihiro through the tunnel, unwittingly stepping into the Spirit World.



Akiichirō 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), Akiichirō and Ichiyūko begin to stuff themselves with food meant for spirits and immediately fall under a curse that prevents them from stopping. Akiichirō 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, Akiichirō 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. Akiichirō is not seen until the end of the movie where he and Ichiyūko are waiting for Chihiro by the Tunnel entrance, forgetting about their experience as pigs after the dispelling of their curse. Completely unaware of how much time has passed, Akiichirō exclaims at how dusty and dirty the car has become, and dismisses the mess as a prank as the film ends.

Abilities
His abilities are not really shown throughout the film, but he is a gifted person in that he is able to smell food from a long distance.

Quotes

 * "Relax, I got four-wheel drive."
 * "What's that?"
 * "I knew it."
 * "It's an abandoned theme park."
 * "They built them everywhere in the early-nineties."
 * "But then, the economy went bad."
 * "And they all went bankrupt."
 * "This must be one of them."
 * "Look, they were planning to put a river here."
 * "I must've missed the turn-off."
 * "Yeah, you’re right."
 * "Don’t worry, you got Daddy here."