Spirited Away

thumb|link=Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi?, lit. "The Spiriting Away of Sen and Chihiro") is a 2001 Japanese animated fantasy-adventure film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. The film tells the story of Chihiro Ogino, a sullen ten-year-old girl who, while moving to a new neighborhood, becomes trapped in an alternate reality that is inhabited by spirits and monsters.[2] After her parents are transformed into pigs by the witch Yubaba, Chihiro takes a job working in Yubaba's bathhouse to find a way to free herself and her parents and escape back to the human world.

Miyazaki wrote the script after he decided the film would be based on his friend's ten-year-old daughter, who came to visit his house each summer. At the time, Miyazaki was developing two personal projects, but they were rejected. Production of Spirited Away began in 2000. During production, Miyazaki based the film's settings at a museum in Koganei, Tokyo. However, Miyazaki realized the film would be over three hours and decided to cut out several parts of the story for its July 27, 2001 release. Pixar director John Lasseter, a fan of Miyazaki, was approached by Walt Disney Pictures to supervise an English-language translation for the film's North American release. Lasseter hired Kirk Wise as director and Donald W. Ernst as producer of the adaptation.

When released, Spirited Away became the most successful film in Japanese history, grossing over $274 million worldwide. The film overtook Titanic (at the time the top grossing film worldwide) in the Japanese box office to become the highest-grossing film in Japanese history.[3] It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards, the Golden Bear at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival (tied with Bloody Sunday) and is among the top ten in the BFI list of the 50 films you should see by the age of 14.

Plot
Chihiro Ogino, a 10-year-old girl, is in the process of moving with her parents to a new town, when they suddenly become lost, and find what appears to be an abandoned amusement park. Chihiro's father insists on exploring it, and she and her mother reluctantly accompany him. Chihiro's parents sample the food at an unattended stall. After Chihiro wanders off and finds a grand bathhouse, a boy approaches and warns her to leave before nightfall. When Chihiro runs back to her parents, she finds they have been transformed into pigs,[4] and the area starts to swarm with spirits.

She eventually learns from Haku, the boy she had met earlier, that she and her parents have become trapped in the spirit world. He also reveals that he has known her since she was a child. Haku brings Chihiro to the bathhouse, where he tells her to see Kamaji, a six-armed yōkai who works in the boiler room, to ask for a job. Acknowledging Chihiro's request, Kamaji entrusts her to Lin,[5] a bathhouse worker. Lin then takes her to see Yubaba, the witch who runs the bathhouse. Chihiro's request is accepted, but on the condition that her name is changed to Sen (千?), the first character of Chihiro's name. Having been told from Haku that Yubaba controls her servants by taking their names, Chihiro is warned that if she forgets her real name, she will be trapped in the spirit world forever.

While working as Lin's assistant, Sen allows a mysterious masked spirit to enter. Later, a "stink spirit" enters the bathhouse. Sen eventually cleans the stink spirit, revealing him to be the spirit of a polluted river. In return for restoring his health, the river spirit bestows upon Sen an emetic dumpling.

Sen eventually realizes Haku is actually a dragon. While still a dragon, Haku is seriously injured by shikigami in the form of paper birds. Yubaba decides that the injured Haku is no longer of any use to her and leaves her servants to kill Haku. Sen attempts to protect Haku, however, at which point, the shikigami are revealed to be controlled by the spirit of Zeniba, Yubaba's twin sister. Zeniba informs Sen that Haku stole her gold seal on Yubaba's orders and demands that the seal be returned. In the process, Zeniba transforms Boh, Yubaba's large baby son, into a mouse and Yubaba's bird into a harmless smaller bird. Yubaba's other servants are then transformed to look like Boh. Haku and Sen manage to escape from Zeniba and fall into the boiler room again, where Sen feeds Haku part of the dumpling. Haku coughs up the gold seal and a black slug, which Sen crushes with her foot. Kamaji gives Sen train tickets to visit Zeniba so that she can beg her to lift the curse on the seal. Boh, in his mouse form, and the bird accompany her.

Meanwhile, the masked spirit that Sen allowed into the bathhouse reveals himself as a monster called "No Face (Kaonashi)." No Face, who swallows one of the servants, a frog, in order to speak, offers gold to the staff in exchange for large quantities of food. As No Face continues to eat, it grows in size. Its insatiable appetite causes it to swallow several other employees and it ultimately reaches immense proportions. Later, Sen feeds No Face the remainder of the dumpling, causing him to regurgitate everything and everyone it has eaten. Restored to his prior inoffensive form, No Face also accompanies Sen to Zeniba's house.

Haku regains consciousness and learns that Sen has gone to see Zeniba. Yubaba, enraged by both the damage caused by No Face and Sen's departure, orders Sen's parents to be killed. Haku appears and warns Yubaba that something precious to her has been replaced, and she realizes that Boh has disappeared. Telling her that Boh is with Zeniba, Haku proposes should he return Boh, Yubaba will allow Sen and her parents to return to the human world. Yubaba agrees on the condition that Sen pass one final test.

Sen, Boh, and No Face arrive at Zeniba's house and find Zeniba to be friendly. Zeniba says Sen's love broke the seal's spell, and the slug Sen killed was the curse Yubaba had used to enslave Haku. Haku appears in his dragon form to pick up Sen and Boh, while No Face remains with Zeniba. Realizing that she once fell into the Kohaku River as a child, Sen realizes that Haku is the spirit of the river who saved her, and frees Haku from Yubaba's spell.

Haku returns Boh to Yubaba, and Sen, now called Chihiro, is offered a final test to guess which of a group of pigs are her parents. She correctly answers that none of them are her parents, whereupon Haku leads her towards the entrance of the park and promises they will see each other again. Haku also tells Chihiro not to look back until she has passed through the tunnel. Chihiro is reunited with her parents, who do not recall their experiences, and the family leaves the park. It is implied that a period of time has passed but it is unclear whether or not time passed at the same rate for Chihiro and her parents or Chihiro and the outside world.

Cast
Chihiro (left) and No-Face (right). No-Face becomes obsessed with Chihiro after her kindness towards him and insists on offering her many gifts, including gold and bath tokens.*Akio Nakamura as No-Face (カオナシ Kaonashi?, lit. "faceless") : An odd spirit who takes an interest in Chihiro Ogino. At first, he appears to be a strange, demure, cloaked, masked wraith who seems mute other than his breathing and urging grunts. Seen as polite, calm, and quiet at first, No-Face is a lonely being who seems to sustain itself on the emotions of those he encounters, particularly their emotional reception to his gifts. In the English version, No-Face is voiced by Bob Bergen. Bergen also provided the voice for Bandai-gaeru, a frog worker who was swallowed by No-Face. Ao-gaeru is voiced by Yo Oizumi in Japanese.
 * Rumi Hiiragi as Chihiro Ogino (荻野 千尋 Ogino Chihiro?) : An ordinary ten-year-old girl. While in the process of moving with her family, Chihiro and her mother and father accidentally find a way into the spirit world where her parents are transformed into pigs. In order for Chihiro and her parents' to make a safe return to the human world, she has to become more brave and confident in herself. She is aided by the River Spirit Haku throughout the film. The two eventually develop an innocent romance. In the English, dubbed, version, Chihiro is voiced by Daveigh Chase.
 * Mari Natsuki as Yubaba (湯婆婆 Yubaaba?, lit. "bathhouse witch") : An elderly witch with an inhumanly large head and nose, who supervises the bathhouse. Yubaba has an over-bearing and authoritarian personality, but does show a soft side toward her giant baby, Boh. Yubaba lives in opulent quarters and is only interested in taking care of guests for money. Natsuki also voices Zeniba (銭婆 Zeniiba?), Yubaba's twin sister. Although identical in appearance, their personalities are almost polar opposites. In the English version, Zeniba and Yubaba are voiced by Suzanne Pleshette.
 * Miyu Irino as Haku/Spirit of the Kohaku River (ハク／饒速水琥珀主（ニギハヤミコハクヌシ） Haku/Nigihayami Kohakunushi?, lit. "god of the swift amber river") :[6] A dragon in the guise of a human who helps Chihiro after her parents are transformed into pigs. Haku works as Yubaba's direct subordinate, often running errands and performing various missions for her. He has the ability to fly in his true form, which is a dragon. It is somewhat implied Haku has feelings for Chihiro throughout the film, as he shows his loving care to protect her in numerous scenes. In the English version, Haku is voiced by Jason Marsden.
 * Yumi Tamai as Lin (リン Rin?) : A worker at the bathhouse who becomes Chihiro's caretaker. Lin is a transformed spirit of a Sable (weasel).[5] In the English version, Lin is voiced by Susan Egan.
 * Bunta Sugawara as Kamajii (釜爺?, lit. "boiler geezer") : An old, six-armed man who operates the boiler room of the bathhouse. His extra arms can apparently extend indefinitely to allow him access to the upper cabinets from his original position. A number of Susuwatari (ススワタリ?, lit. "travelling soot", soot sprites) work for him by carrying coal into his furnace. In the English version, Kamajii is voiced by David Ogden Stiers.
 * Yasuko Sawaguchi as Yumiko Ogino (荻野 悠美子 Ogino Yumiko<span class="t_nihongo_icon" style="color: #00e; font: bold 80% sans-serif; text-decoration: none; padding: 0 .1em;">?) : Chihiro's mother. In the English version, Yumiko is voiced by Lauren Holly.
 * Takashi Naito as Akiichirō Ogino (荻野 明一朗 Ogino Akiichirō<span class="t_nihongo_icon" style="color: #00e; font: bold 80% sans-serif; text-decoration: none; padding: 0 .1em;">?) : Chihiro's father. In the English version, Akio is voiced by Michael Chiklis.
 * Takehiko Ono as Aniyaku (兄役<span class="t_nihongo_icon" style="color: #00e; font: bold 80% sans-serif; text-decoration: none; padding: 0 .1em;">?) : The assistant manager of the bathhouse. In the English version, Aniyaku is voiced by John Ratzenberger.
 * Ryunosuke Kamiki as Boh (坊 Bō<span class="t_nihongo_icon" style="color: #00e; font: bold 80% sans-serif; text-decoration: none; padding: 0 .1em;">?) : Yubaba's son and Zeniba's nephew. Although he has the appearance of a young baby, he is twice Yubaba's size. He is also very strong and can be dangerous. Yubaba goes out of her way to give him whatever he wants. In the English version, Boh is voiced by Tara Strong.

Themes and archetypes
The major themes of Spirited Away center on the protagonist Chihiro and her liminal journey through the realm of the bathhouse of spirits. A child forced into the fantastic world, Chihiro becomes completely separated from everything she has known and must find her way back to reality. Chihiro's experience in the alternate world, frequently compared to Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, represents her passage from childhood to adulthood.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-satoshi3_6-0">[7] The archetypal entrance into another world clearly demarcates Chihiro's status as one in-between. In her transition between child and adult, Chihiro stands outside these societal boundaries, a situation mirrored by the supernatural setting outside reality. The use of the word kamikakushi (literally "hidden by gods") within the Japanese title, and its associated folklore, reinforce this liminal passage: "Kamikakushi is a verdict of 'social death' in this world, and coming back to this world from Kamikakushi meant 'social resurrection.'"<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-reider_7-0">[8] Yubaba had many similarities to The Coachman from Pinocchio, in the sense that she transformed humans into pigs in a similar way that the boys from Pleasure Island were transformed into donkeys. Upon gaining employment at the bathhouse, Yubaba's seizure of Chihiro's true name, a common theme in folklore, symbolically kills the child Chihiro.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-satoshi3_6-1">[7] Having lost her childhood identity, Chihiro cannot return to reality by the way she came and can only move forward into adulthood. The following trials and obstacles Chihiro must overcome become the challenges and lessons common in rites-of-passage and the monomyth format. In her attempt to regain her self, her "continuity with her past," Chihiro must create a new identity.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-satoshi3_6-2">[7]

Beneath the surface coming of age theme, Spirited Away contains critical commentary on modern Japanese society concerning generational conflicts, the struggle with dissolving traditional culture and customs within a global society, and environmental pollution.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-napier_8-0">[9] Chihiro, as a representation of the liminal shōjo, "may be seen as a metaphor for the Japanese society which, over the last decade, seems to be increasingly in limbo, drifting uneasily away from the values and ideological framework of the immediate postwar era."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-napier3_9-0">[10] Just as Chihiro seeks her past identity, Japan, in its anxiety over the economic downturn occurring during the release of Spirited Away in 2001, sought to reconnect to past values.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-satoshi3_6-3">[7] In interview, Miyazaki has commented on this nostalgic element for an old Japan.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-midnight-eye_10-0">[11] Initially, Chihiro travels past the abandoned fairground, a symbol for Japan's burst "bubble economy", and her parents' credit-card-fuelled gluttony and transformation into pigs, to reach the fantasy world replete with Japanese culture and fable in the amalgam of the bathhouse.

However, the "bathhouse of the spirits has its own ambivalence, and its own darkness.... Miyazaki is not so simple-minded as to locate a perfect vision in the past or the spiritual."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-thrupkaew_11-0">[12] Many of the employees are rude and prejudiced against Chihiro because she is human, and the corruption of avarice has incorporated itself into the "bricolage" of the bathhouse<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-napier3_9-1">[10] and as a place of "excess and greed" as depicted in the initial appearance of the No-Face.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-harris_12-0">[13] In stark contrast to the "archetypal approaches to cultural recovery such as recognition, proper identification, spiritual cleansing and sacrifice," embodied in Chihiro's journey and transformation, the constant background presence of the ambiguity of the bathhouse reminds the audience reality is not so simple: "the bathhouse's simultaneous incorporation of the carnivalesque and the chaotic suggests the threats to the collectivity are not simply outside ones."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-napier3_9-2">[10] The environmental asides concerning the trash deforming the River God and Haku's plight over the loss of his river to apartment complexes further indicate the sources of pollution within the bathhouse, a place of ritual purity, come from within the Japanese society.

Release

 * 27 July 2001 - Movie theater in Japan
 * 5 December 2001 - VHS Release
 * 20 September 2002 - Movie theater by Disney
 * January 2003 - DVD by Disney
 * 2011 - newer DVD