Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away: An Anime Masterpiece

"Spirited Away"

(Japanese: 千と千尋の神隠し,
“Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi”
) is a full-length anime film directed by Hayao Miyazaki, filmed at Studio Ghibli in 2001. This acclaimed masterpiece is full of references to ancient Japanese mythology.

Plot[edit]

A ten-year-old girl, Chihiro Ogino, moves to a new home with her father and mother. Having gotten lost on the way to it and having driven through a strange forest, they find themselves at a dead end: they stop in front of a high wall in which the entrance is dark. Entering there, the Ogino family finds themselves in an abandoned town. There is not a soul anywhere, but by the pleasant smell, Chihiro’s father finds an empty, huge table, bursting with various delicacies. Father and mother stay to eat, and Chihiro goes to wander around the city. Coming to a large building with the sign "Baths of Abura-ya", she meets a boy, Haku, who demands that she flee from here immediately. Dusk quickly thickens and evening sets in, the city is filled with strange, eerie shadows appearing from everywhere. The heroine rushes to the restaurant where her parents are staying and is horrified to discover that they have turned into pigs. The frightened girl runs to the place from where they came, but now there is a wide river on the way.

Haku finds Chihiro and helps her: he takes her to the bathhouse building and explains what is happening. It turns out that Chihiro and her parents found themselves in a magical world of spirits, deeply hidden from the world of people. The owner of the town is the evil witch Yubaba, under her control there are baths and restaurants where gods, ghosts, spirits and other supernatural creatures from all over the world come to relax. Yubaba turns everyone except guests and his employees into animals. In order to gain hope of saving her parents and returning home, the girl, on Haku’s advice, must demand a job from Yubaba - according to an old vow, the witch cannot refuse such a request to anyone. With the help of new acquaintances, the old arachnid stoker Kamaji and the bathhouse attendant Rin, the heroine manages to get to Yubaba’s office and get a job there, and with it a new name. Now Chihiro's name is Sen.

Chihiro sets to work hard, hoping to find a way to lift the curse on his parents and find a way home.

Why Spirited Away is Hayao Miyazaki's best work

The anime “Spirited Away” by Hayao Miyazaki was released back in 2001 and was very quickly recognized as one of the best cartoons in the world. And from December 27 this year, the Pioneer returns the cartoon to the big screens ! This is just great news! After all, we will be able to watch our favorite anime in the cinema, and at the same time show it to children who, due to their age, could not attend it in the cinema.

This work is worth seeing! 49th place in the list of the best films on KinoPoisk, first place in the ranking of the best animated films according to IMDb, and the number of awards and nominations is simply too many to count. Is it deserved? Of course! But let's look at what makes Spirited Away a masterpiece of animation and Hayao Miyazaki's best work.

Who was this story made for?

In one of his interviews, Hayao Miyazaki explained for whom he created this cartoon. According to him, he made “Spirited Away” for 10-year-old girls, who are offered only sweet stories about love, but they also want to see something about themselves - ordinary, simple, one might say “average” girls in fairy-tale circumstances .

That is why the story about love (if it is about love at all, it is up to the audience to decide) is not in the first place; the main theme of the cartoon is going through the trials of youth, which reveal character. Miyazaki says that this is not even growing up, but simply finding something in yourself that has always been there. Under the supervision of her parents, Chihiro did not need to take responsibility or make difficult decisions, but at the same time she could always do it. It’s just that until she was on the other side, she didn’t need it.

Children's whims and “wants” are left behind when one test is followed by another, and the world around is incomprehensible and alien. Chihiro needs to pull herself together and learn to act alone, because despite the help of Grandfather Kamaji and Haku, at key moments in the cartoon she makes decisions herself.

And any 10-year-old girl, after watching this cartoon, should realize that yes, she could do it too. “This is a film for those who were once 10 years old, and for those who will be 10 years old again” (Hayao Miyazaki).

Philosophy and hidden lessons

Each episode of the cartoon is a kind of life lesson that both the heroine and the viewer need to learn. Miyazaki himself compared the baths to his own Studio Ghibli, and Chihiro to a young animator. For everyone except the girl, the studio is a familiar and pleasant place, but for a beginner it seems unfriendly. You need to earn trust, achieve recognition and find your place.

Therefore, the witch Yubaba is not entirely a villain. She is just the mistress of a bathhouse with a lot of things to do and subordinates, but at the same time she is also a person with her own sorrows and joys. And if you get to know her better, it becomes clear that she is not bad at all. She's an older, busy woman, a businesswoman, one might say, and to keep the business going she has to be tough. There is no evil in the cartoon at all, and this is a huge plus, especially for 2001.

Evil is only in ourselves. In parents who decided to give in to greed and began to eat food that was not prepared for them at all. The bathhouse workers, who were greedy for money, themselves turned out to be lunch for the Faceless One. In the whims of Yubaba's son, who thought only of himself. And so on.

The cartoon shows the importance of memory and self-awareness. Having forgotten his name, Chihiro will not be able to return home, the same happened to Haku, so he helps the girl not to forget. And this is an important lesson: remember your roots, remember who you are and why you came into this world, value your name and origin.

Another topic that seemed to be casually and not at all intrusively raised in the cartoon is the topic of ecology. The huge Spirit of the Garbage, which Chihiro washes, turns out to be the Master of the River. By the way, Miyazaki took this episode from his life; one day he helped clean up a river and, together with volunteers, pulled a bicycle out of it! This impressed the director so much that he inserted this episode into the cartoon.

At the same time, no one here tells children: “take care of nature, your mother.” No, this already becomes clear with the help of a simple symbol that is easily read by a small viewer. Just like the fact that if you are honest, hardworking and kind, you will be rewarded.

Consumer society and the power of money

A topic that is worth dwelling on in more detail is the topic of money in the cartoon. Few animated works address such an issue as “consumerism.” But here, most of the plot related to the Faceless Man is built on greed and the power of money.

Chihiro, not knowing the rules, let the spirit into the bathhouse so that he would not get wet in the rain. The faceless man offers gold to all the bathhouse servants and buys them all, but only to eat them later. Chihiro doesn't need the gold (“you don't have what I need”), so she was the one who was able to free the spirit and take it with her on the journey.

Essentially, the Faceless One is a void that is filled by whatever is around him. Next to greedy people, he is Greed itself, but next to the quiet and caring Chihiro, Faceless becomes kind and sweet. "What goes around comes around".

The race for money does not lead to anything good; there are things more important than gold. When Yubaba is told about replacing her “most precious treasure,” she thinks first of the gold, not of her son. And, obsessed with profit, she does not immediately notice that her “baby” has been replaced. Although her son is more important to her than any money and everything in the world.

OTHER CARTOONS WHERE MONEY CREATES PROBLEMS

Of course, we have seen many cartoons about gold and greed, let us at least remember our “Golden Antelope”, but this time the author again dispenses with moralizing and simply conveys his message through symbols.

A fairy tale that everyone can understand

Spirited Away is a classic tale of transformation, different worlds, and lessons learned. How is Chihiro not our Russian Masha, who helps Mishka clean the house and receives a reward for it? How is Yubaba not Baba Yaga, who is only scary in appearance, but in fact she is a helper for a kind and honest traveler?

If we recall the classification of fairy tales according to Propp, then we have a classic “fairy tale”. There is a wonderful world. The plot is about overcoming loss (in this case, the loss of parents) with the help of magical companions (Grandfather Kamaji, Haku) and miraculous means (the magical pie of the River Spirit). There are two generations in the fairy tale - the older, more greedy and rude, and the younger, who are at a fork in the road, at the beginning of the path. We don’t yet know what it will become, it depends only on the actions of the heroine.

In the beginning, Chihiro's parents violate a certain prohibition, which leads to loss. And in the denouement, the heroine solves a difficult and seemingly impossible task (to find the transformed mom and dad among a bunch of other pigs), as a result of which everything returns to its place. Standard construction of a fairy tale.

Many people think that a spirit that eats everything in the world is too scary for a children's cartoon. But remember what Baba Yaga/Bear/Forest Witch threatens to do to those who do not fulfill their conditions? That's right - eat it. And the same Wolf from “Little Red Riding Hood” not only threatens, but also does. Therefore, this motive is also clear for any country.

The division of the world into “ordinary” and “fairytale” with a magical transition is the same traditional plot, usually teaching the heroes a lesson in growing up. They explain to children that in the “other” world it will be scary in some places, difficult in others, it has its own rules, but if they behave correctly and follow these simple requirements, the kids will succeed, and the world will reward them.

Details and deep understanding of the world

Of course, the overall assessment could not but be influenced by the excellent work of the animators themselves and their incredible love for detail. In this cartoon you will see mud on shoes, a grasshopper hiding in the grass, wrinkles on Yubaba's forehead and much more. Miyazaki took his time, he put both time and soul into this work. And it’s not just him—the entire Studio Ghibli.

The amazing creatures that inhabit the world of spirits amaze the imagination. They are multifaceted, diverse and interesting. Such a wealth of colors and shapes is breathtaking, it’s impossible to stop looking, each frame is a small work of art.

Despite the incredible fabulousness of the world, the heroine in it is the most ordinary, including in details. She is a little clumsy, like any child, she does not immediately respond to her name when her parents call her, she is worried, capricious and looks at everything with curiosity. Miyazaki was very worried that the girl came out “ugly, gray,” but when Chihiro moved from concept art to animation, the director changed his mind. She is just like other girls, that is her beauty.

The cartoon, which combines deep philosophy and a simple fairy-tale message, an ordinary heroine and unusual circumstances, love for detail and an exciting plot, simply could not help but please the public. And she liked him. Spirited Away was not intended to be a successful commercial project, but it became one. Nobody knew that this anime would turn into Miyazaki's calling card, but it did. No one could have imagined that after so many years people would return to this story with such pleasure, but it is so.

The answer to the question is simple. Why is Spirited Away the best work of Miyazaki? Because this fairy tale is understandable and close to anyone, because it makes you fall in love once and for all, and because we are always ready to see it again, each time finding something new for ourselves in it.

So don't miss your chance to see Spirited Away in theaters on December 27th !

Even more interesting things in our group on Odnoklassniki and VKontakte.

Interesting on the topic: Studio Ghibli showed design concepts for its theme park

Characters[edit]

Bo, the giant idiot

• Chihiro Ogino (Sen)
  is the main character of the film, a ten-year-old girl. At the beginning of the film, Chihiro appears spoiled and capricious. As the plot develops, the heroine shows her best character traits - responsibility, patience and selflessness.
• Akio and Yuko Ogino
  are the heroine's parents. They were turned into pigs as punishment for eating food intended for Yubaba's guests.
• Haku
  is Yubaba's young student.
  He sympathizes with Chihiro and helps her. Can transform into a beautiful silver dragon. In fact, he is the guardian spirit of the Kohakugawa River, and his name is Nigihayami Kohakunushi
• Yubaba
  is the main antagonist of the film, the owner of the Abura-ya baths. An evil witch and Haku's mentor.
• Bo
  is Yubaba's terribly spoiled son. It looks like a huge baby that can barely crawl when it first appears. However, he speaks and thinks like an older child—five or six years old. After being in mouse form, his character improved significantly.
• Grandfather Kamaji
  is a six-armed stoker spirit in the baths who leads the small soot spirits of Susuwatari. Despite his intimidating appearance, he is very kind.
• The Faceless God Kaonasi
  is a mysterious masked deity who does not have his own face and is constantly looking for one. Chihiro accidentally let him into the baths, mistaking him for another client. It lures living beings whose form it decides to take with golden sand, and then devours it.
• Rin
  is a grumpy bath attendant who is Chihiro's mentor.
• Zeniba
  is Yubaba's twin sister. Unlike her, she is kind and does not like luxury, preferring to live in a modest house with a vegetable garden.
• Susuwatari
  or
  Chernushki
  - small black spirits of soot; serve as workers in the boiler room.

The cartoon was originally called differently

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In the original version, the story of the girl Chihiro, who went to the mysterious baths to save her parents, was called "Sen and the Mysterious Disappearance of Chihiro." However, in the American box office the cartoon was released with the more intriguing title Spirited Away, which was translated into Russian as “Spirited Away.”

The names of all the characters have a special meaning

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As is often the case in fairy tales, the names of the cartoon characters are telling and have a symbolic meaning. Due to the peculiarities of the Japanese language, each name can be interpreted in several different ways, but the general meaning will be approximately the same. For example, the name of the main character, Chihiro, can be literally translated as “bottomless depth.” "Ti" means "thousand" and "hiro" is a Japanese measure of depth, which is 1.81 meters. Having entered into an agreement with Yubaba, Chihiro loses part of his name, leaving only the particle “Ti”, which can also be read as “Sen”. The witch Yubaba's name translates to "hot water" or "bath witch" (and her sister Zeniba's name can be interpreted as "money witch"). The name of baby Bo literally means “baby”, “child”, and the name of the many-armed grandfather Kamaji is translated as something between “bowler”, “boiler”, “old man” and “grunt”.

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The places that inspired Miyazaki actually exist

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Despite the fact that the main character of the cartoon is transported to some other, borderline reality, the world of Spirited Away is created in the image of the tiny town of Juifen in Taiwan. Its narrow, crowded streets and abandoned amusement park inspired Miyazaki's opening scenes of the film, and the bathhouse was modeled after the public baths the director visited in his youth.

The script for the cartoon was written during filming

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It turns out that starting work without having a completed script in hand is standard practice for the animation master. “When we start working on a film, I don’t have a finished script,” Miyazaki told Midnight Eye. - Usually I don't have time for this. We never know how the story will develop next, we just work on the film and everything happens by itself.”

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