Chihiro Ogino

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I want you to know my real name. It's Chihiro.

—Chihiro to Zeniba

Chihiro Ogino
Japanese name	荻野 千尋 / 千 (Ogino Chihiro / Sen)
Species	Human
Age	10 years old
Gender	Female
First Appearance	Spirited Away
Role	Main character
Voice actor (Japanese)	Rumi Hiiragi
Voice actor (Disney)	Daveigh Chase

Chihiro Ogino  (荻野 千尋 Ogino Chihiro), referred throughout most of the film by her nickname Sen (千 lit. "one-thousand"), is the ten-year-old core protagonist of the Japanese animated film Spirited Away.

Appearance

Chihiro/Sen is a ten-year-old girl who has brown hair, brown eyes, and rosy cheeks. She is very petite and has a childish appearance, and a quite-pudgy face. Her attire includes a white medium-sleeved T-shirt with bright green stripes, bright red shorts, white socks and sunshine yellow sneakers. While working in the bath house, she is barefoot and wears a bright red and white work uniform with a tasuki cord for tying her sleeves up.

In the first part of the film she wears her standard outfit, but soon she takes off her shoes and socks for walking better on the wooden floor of the Bathhouse. After staying a little barefoot with only her striped shirt and shorts, then she changes with her work outfit, putting the uniform on and continuing to stay barefoot. For going outside the Bathhouse she wears her work uniform with her own shoes, but strangely without wearing the socks: in a scene when she's preparing to go outside she is seen taking her removed shoes and socks from the Sootballs, wearing only the shoes and taking socks on her hands and then in her pockets. When she returns in the regular world she will finally again wear her regular outfit as it was in the beginning of the film, with obviously also her white socks.

Personality

Chihiro's growth into a capable individual is a core factor to the movement of Spirited Away's plot. During her adventure in the Spirit World, she matures from an easily scared girl with a childlike personality to match her age to a hard-working, responsible, and brave young girl who has learned to put her fears aside for those she cares for. To protect her friends and rescue her parents from a spell that has turned them into livestock, Chihiro sheds her former personality and adapts to her environment to become a courageous, quick-witted and reliable girl.

The strength of her bond with Haku as the story progresses eventually evolves into a very sincere form of love that dispelled Yubaba and Zeniba's respective curses on Haku.

History

File:Chihiro in car with flowers.jpg

Chihiro, clutching her flowers at the back seat

At the start of the film Chihiro was introduced to have moved from an unnamed location to the countryside with her parents Akio Ogino and Yuko Ogino . Awoken from a nap in her parents' car, Chihiro complains that the farewell bouquet she received from her friends have wilted. Her father subsequently misses a turn he was supposed to take and instead drives the car through an undeveloped footpath surrounded by spiritual offerings. Nearly crashing the vehicle into a stone statue, Akio leaves the car behind and finds a large tunnel. Curious, he brings Yuko and Chihiro through the tunnel and unwittingly into the Spirit World, where he quickly picks up a delicious scent from nearby empty food stalls.

Drawn in by the scent, Akio and Yuko begin to devour the unguarded food. Refusing to eat out of nervousness, Chihiro leaves to explore the rest of the seemingly deserted land and meets Haku on the bridge to Yubaba's Bathhouse. Haku, shocked at Chihiro's arrival, tells her to leave immediately and that he would try to buy some time for her escape. Reluctant but afraid Chihiro runs back to inform her parents of Haku's words, but finds out that they have been turned into large pigs. Upon witnessing the emergence of countless black figures (spirits) and the transformation of her parents Chihiro decides to run back to the tunnel herself in fear, only to find that the way back has been sealed by a vast amount of water. Realizing that there was no longer a way back to the Human World, Chihiro hides on her own and attempts to dismiss the occurences as a dream, but finds her body slowly fading into nonexistence.

Haku finds Chihiro soon after, giving her medicine to prevent her from disappearing from the world altogether. He dispels a charm placed on Chihiro's legs to impede her movement and takes her to Yubaba's Bathouse, imprinting directions in her mind. Following these instructions Chihiro climbs down perilous flights of stairs to find Kamaji's boiler room, where she is disheartened to find that Kamaji already has countless Susuwatari working for him. Nevertheless he sends Chihiro off with Lin, informing the weasel spirit that Chihiro was in fact his granddaughter and that she needed to find a job with the bathhouse's proprieter: Yubaba. Chihiro then finds herself taken up the elevator to the top floor where Yubaba's office lies.

Harshly welcomed, threatened and harrassed at first by the ruthless Yubaba, Chihiro's determination and Bo's timely interference forces Yubaba to relent and offer Chihiro a job at the bathhouse in exchange for her name, which Yubaba promptly corrects as 'Sen'. Chihiro, now referred to as 'Sen' is taken by Haku down to meet Lin, who shows respect for Chihiro now that she has survived an encounter with Yubaba. Shocked by so many drastic changes in her life, Chihiro finds herself unable to sleep properly and is woken up by Haku, who tells her he would bring Chihiro to her parents.

Chihiro meets Haku at the pigpen, where Haku points out that Chihiro's parents have no memory of being human prior to their transformation into pigs. Tearfully, Chihiro yells at her 'parents' to not fatten themselves too much in fear that they would be eaten. She runs from the pigpen and is next seen accompanied by Haku, who offers her riceballs, knowing that Chihiro would be hungry. He also gives Chihiro her clothes and farewell card that came with her bouquet, warning her to never forget her real name or suffer enslavement from Yubaba. Haku then sadly tells Chihiro that he has forgotten his own name, but also speaks of remembering Chihiro's name for some reason. Reinvigorated by Haku's encouragement Chihiro returns to the bathhouse, but not before witnessing a transformed Haku fly off into the distance.

Due to her interactions with Haku, Chihiro is nearly late for her work the next shift. She unwittingly lets a wandering No-Face (Kaonashi) into the bathhouse under assumption that he was a customer. She and Lin are then tasked with cleaning the dirtiest bathtub, a task the latter describes as 'harassment'. Deciding that scrubbing with hands simply won't get the job done, Lin tells Chihiro to retrieve Bath Tags from The Foreman. Initrially rejected by the stingy Foreman, No-Face appears whilst The Foreman was speaking to Yubaba and hands an expensive tag to Chihiro, who returns to fill the large tub.

Upon the arrival of a first-assumed 'Filth Spirit', Chihiro is then tasked with cleaning the paying customer and, through hard work and perseverence, uncovers the 'Filth Spirit's' identity as a famous river god whose body was nearly destroyed by humans dumping trash into his river. Gifting Chihiro with the River God's Medicine (an emetic dumpling) as a symbol of gratitude, the customer happily leaves the bathhouse feeling refreshed. Yubaba proceeds to congratulate and praise Chihiro for her endeavors.

The next morning Chihiro finds a white dragon, whom she (surprisingly to herself) calls Haku by instinct, attacked by shikigami. After saving Haku from a potentially deadly encounter with the shikigami, Chihiro finds that her friend has been terribly injured. Yet before she could treat him, Haku painfully flies to Yubaba's penthouse. Chihiro, driven by her want to save her friend, moves towards Yubaba's penthouse via the bathhouse's exterior structures, unwittingly allowing one of Zeniba's shikigami to stick to her back. She forces open the window (with help from the shikigami) to Bo's room, and almost loses an arm when Bo threatens to twist it unless she plays with him. Running out of options Chihiro thrusts her palms (still stained with Haku's blood) at Bo who, in fear, throws a violent tantrum. Chihiro then takes the opportunity to escape into Yubaba's office, where she finds the three green heads attempting to roll Haku's unmoving body into a hole for disposal. Attacked by the heads, Yubaba's Bird and an angry Bo, Chihiro is saved by the interference of Zeniba who transforms Bo and Yubaba's bird into a mouse and a pitifully small black bird. She replaces Bo with the three heads soon after, placing a lip-sealing spell on Chihiro to prevent her from spilling secrets. Before Zeniba could explore her twin sister's room however, Haku (in a struggle) smashes her shikigami and disperses her projection. Chihiro then falls with Haku, Yubaba's Bird and Bo into the boiler room where she frantically attempts to save Haku from death by giving him half the medicine she received from the river god. She is then seen stepping on and killing a magically conjured worm that was sapping Haku's life force.

Chihiro then pleads for Kamajii to let her visit Zeniba regardless of the witch's reputation, believing that the gold seal that Haku stole from her was indeed enchanted with a death curse. Chihiro explains that she would definitely save Haku, and receives train tickets for her trip. She then makes her way to the upper floors, but is met with a furious Yubaba. It is revealed that No-Face has turned monstrous and vulgar due to the influences of the bathhouse personnel. Standing up to No-Face bravely and relenting the other half of the enemic dumpling to No-Face, Chihiro flees as a monstrous No-Face chases her whilst vomiting. She is then seen walking along the railroad tracks with Bo, Yubaba's bird and No-Face.

She arrives at the last station at nighttime and meets Zeniba, who reveals that the magically conjured worm Chihiro killed was a virus that Yubaba implanted in Haku to keep him under her command. Chihiro then stays with Zeniba, waiting by the door for news about Haku or her parents. Fearing that Haku may be dead, Chihiro tearfully spills her worries to Zeniba, who in turn gives Chihiro a hairtie that represents 'everone's feelings'. At that exact moment, a transformed Haku arrives to take Chihiro back to the bathhouse. Happily thanking Zeniba for her hospitality Chihiro leaves with Haku where she recalls a childhood memory, unintentionally reminding Haku of his real name and freeing him from Yubaba's grip.

She is seen again on the bridge to the bathhouse where Yubaba presented her with the challenge of picking her parents out of a line of pigs. Chihiro ultimately succeeds in guessing that her parents 'weren't there' and is free to leave. Before reuniting with her parents, Chihiro bids a sad farewell to Haku, who assures her that they will meet again someday. Chihiro is then seen with her parents, crossing the tunnel once again and returning to their parked car.

Speculation

It is mentioned by director and creator Hayao Miyazaki that Chihiro has 'lost' all her memories of the Spirit World following her exiting of the tunnel. However according to Haku's promise, he and Chihiro will meet again someday. This may or may not be referring to Chihiro's death and transformation into a spirit. However, Zeniba's quote, "memories are never forgotten, they are just difficult to recall" suggests that Chihiro will eventually remember her experiences at the Bathhouse. Regardless, the fate of Chihiro and Haku's relationship remains unknown and up to audience interpretation.

Speculation

Her parents turning into pigs

It is mentioned by director and creator Hayao Miyazaki that Chihiro has 'lost' all her memories of the Spirit World following her exiting of the tunnel. However, according to Haku's promise, he and Chihiro will meet again someday. This may or may not be referring to Chihiro's eventual death and transformation into a spirit. However, Zeniba's quote, "memories are never forgotten, they are just difficult to recall", suggests that Chihiro could, potentially, remember her experiences at The Bathhouse and the Spirit Realm. Regardless, the fate of Chihiro and Haku's relationship remains unknown and is up to audience interpretation.

Etymology

• The name Chihiro means "thousand" (千) (chi) and "search, seek" (尋) (hiro).
  • Part of the name Chi (in Chihiro) and Sen both use the same Japanese kanji (千), which means '1,000', but are different readings of the same character.
• Chihiro's surname Ogino means "reed, rush" (荻) (ogi) and "field, wilderness" (野) (no).
  • In some countries, Chihiro's surname Ogino was changed to Senko, so that viewers who do not have a deeper knowledge about the Japanese language wouldn't be confused when her name in the bathhouse was changed to "Sen".

Trivia

• In an interview regarding Chihiro's character design, Hayao Miyazaki informs the audience that "[He] created a heroine who is an ordinary girl, someone with whom the audience can sympathize. It's not a story in which the characters grow up, but a story in which they draw on something already inside them, brought out by the particular circumstances. [He] wants [his] young friends to live like that, and [he] thinks they, too, have such a wish."
  • Chihiro was based on a ten-year-old girl: the daughter of a friend of Miyazaki's. This girl also made Miyazaki continue working after promising retirement from filmmaking after Princess Mononoke (1997).
  • One of the main character of Chihiro is similar to the one of the main characters of Belle from Beauty and the Beast (1991 Disney film) shared with the same character and design alike.

Quotes

• (To Zeniba) "I want you to know my real name. It's Chihiro"
• "The wind's pulling us in."
• "I'm not going in there! It gives me the creeps!"
• "Wait for me!"
• "Wait a minute."
• "What's up with him?"
• "I'm dreaming! I'm dreaming!"
• "I'm see-through!"
• "It's just a really bad dream."
• "They did turn into pigs. I wasn't dreaming."
• "Kamajī?"
• "Yubaba?"
• "Please! I gotta get a job here!"
• "Yes, ma'am."
• "Just a minute, sir."
• "He's a good person."
• "I knew you were good!"
• "We would like to go to Swamp Bottom, please."
• "Wow, you're a big baby."
• "Staying in this room will make you sick!"
• "Germs! I got germs! See?"
• "Haku!"
• "Shut your mouth!"
• "Lin, you know Haku?!"
• "There aren't two him, aren't there?"
• "I don't feel so good."
• "Which ones are you?"
• "Mommy!"
• "Water?"
• "Bad dream."
• "No, you can't!"
• "Haku, we're falling!"
• "What are those weird buildings?"
• "What are those stones?"
• "My flowers are dying!"
• "Kamajī lit the boiler already?"
• "How long was I asleep?"
• "I hope Dad hasn't gotten too fat."
• "I'm going to go look for Haku!"
• "Where is Haku?"
• "Are birds chasing him?"
• "Haku!"
• "Fight 'em!"
• "Come on!"
• "Haku, you're bleeding."
• "It's just paper."
• "Thank you, Mr. Boiler Man."
• "Please, I just want to work!"
• "Please, can't you just give me a job?"
• "Everyone, I need my shoes and my clothes, please."
• "I think I can handle it."
• "I guess my parents will have to wait."
• (To Yubaba) "Thank you for everything, Granny."
• (To Zeniba) "Granny, I can't remember anything at all. Haku could be dead already, and I'm just sitting around here. My mom and dad could've been eaten for dinner."