LogFAQs > #971313239

I'm going to an anime con tomorrow (just for Saturday), so.... why not tee myself up with some Miyazaki?

Spirited Away (2001)
Written and directed by: Hayao Miyazaki
Dub director: Kirk Wise
Starring: Daveigh Chase, Jason Marsden, Suzanne Pleshette, David Ogden Stiers, Susan Egan
Previous status: Saw ages ago

"Hey Lin, what's a foreman?"

Not many quotes here, because translation. Too many of them sound too negative. So I went with the funniest one.

Can't say I remember much of this one. Or when I even saw it. But watching it, I know I did, probably in 2009 or so. Lots of little things jogged my memory, particularly in the first half.

It certainly begins with something I know all too well: "Daddy does it different." This is a longstanding family meme that happened when I was in 4th or 5th grade and my dad took a wrong turn on the way to school. Chihiro's dad did the same. That said, my dad wouldn't have abandoned 10 y/o me in the car in a strange area, though Chihiro doesn't take that for an answer and tags along even though she has an overwhelming sense of dread... or impatience. Or both. Over what looks like an uncompleted theme park that was just left to rot... apparently not too long before. (I don't get the "early '90s" part for a film made in 2001, seeing as it would take a bit longer than 8 years for that to run its course.)

I immediately notice how it's Chihiro's parents acting like children who can eat whatever they want without asking... and Chihiro saying "No, this isn't yours, you need to ask first." This feels like commentary on a cultural shift and generational divisions that's immediately apparent; the parents are used to being able to walk in anywhere and help themselves, while the kids know not to take without asking. That and... overwhelming sense of dread. She thinks she's dreaming, and it really feels like that. This place is not safe. She takes the red pill (I'll have to get to The Matrix later) from Haku, who has magic powers. It's unclear why he's there, or why he's taking her side, or why he's known her for her whole life. Already that intrigues me more than anything from No Country for Old Men.

Obviously, the gorgeous animation and environments are worth noting here; it really feels like a place full of life, with actual world-building done quickly, even without explaining everything. Are the humans (Haku, Lin) in this world actually humans? How did they get accepted by this place - by getting a job? How does all the magic work, and who all is capable of using it? And yet I don't find myself needing answers, except for how Chihiro infiltrated the spell. Was it her choosing not to eat? The old hag calls out that she has no manners, but... lazy? She's been running around trying to stay alive... and persistence is not lazy. Changing her name to "Sen" gets her further and further away from herself. And then I start to get those answers: Eating their food gets rid of the human smell, which is how Haku and Lin got accepted. But now I have more questions: Like what game Haku is playing, and why he took Chihiro's side and hid her from Hababa (who can turn into a Honchkrow)... his boss. Chihiro starts to forget her real name, but Haku reminds her and feeds her onigiri, then turns into a DARGON. She leaves her clothes with her soot ant friends, who are adorable.

Chihiro is given a filthy cleaning job in the "dirtiest clients tub" as the Sludge Monster From The Earth's Core makes his way into town, causing everyone and everything to faint due to the putrid stench. No Face helps her out, even though it's not apparent who or what he is (I honestly do not recall). The kid ends up a hero, though, climbing over the sludge and halitosis to double the cleansing water, then ties the rope to pull out all the junk the thing had amassed. A small message of teamwork, even with people you hate. And Mr. Frog pays the price of his life by succumbing to No Face's temptations of gold. This is being critical of people being enslaved to money; here, No Face is aptly named as a symbol for faceless capitalist corporations, throwing out money to people enslaved to the system. Chihiro's rejection of the excesses No Face gives her is showing the Millennial (I'd think Chihiro was born in 1991) rebellion against this, over a decade before it began to happen. The symbolism here is pretty blatant, but isn't shoved in your face - just the way I like it. When I'm watching a movie, I don't want to have to stop and think for too long about what X symbolizes because then I get too engrossed in those thoughts and miss parts of the movie.

Yubaba's babby has entrapped itself in the nursery, leading to his mother spoiling him; he just wants someone to play with. The paper bird stowing away on Chihiro turns out to be Zeniba, Yubaba's twin sister, who accuses Haku of robbing her. She causes chaos, turning babby into an earless Bunnelby, the Murkrow into a bug, and the three severed heads into a cloned babby. Kamaji, the furnace guy, explains Haku became Yubaba's slave and had no home to return to. Sad. No idea how he became a DARGON though, but the River Spirit's medicine reverts him back to his human form; the other half works to get No Face to regurgitate all his gluttony. He then joins the party on a literal witch hunt for Zeniba, in the hope to heal Haku. But he heals on his own, and Yubaba throws a fit upon realizing that her babby has been replaced. Haku uses this "hostage situation" as leverage to set Chihiro and her parents free, if he can rescue her and the real babby (and the Murkrow) from Zeniba. Yubaba counteroffers a test. Deal. At this point, she feels like a corporate overlord herself, a cruel boss who expects loyalty to the very people she can't show loyalty to.

Chihiro, No Face, and Co. get to the swamp, another beautiful environment. Bows are exchanged when a Lampent shows up to be their guide (yes I'm keeping with the Pokemon). Zeniba seems much more gracious than Yubaba, and far less sadistic. The spells were temporary. Love breaks the spell on the seal (Haku's boner for Chihiro and her compassion did it). The slug Chihiro squashed was for Yubaba to control Haku. And now she can't. It's clear who is good and who isn't, and they're in opposite places to what is the norm. No Face stays with Zeniba, who Chihiro is calling "Granny" already, as Chihiro rides off on DARGON Haku.... a form which dissipates MIDAIR when she tells him he's actually the river spirit, who saved her life when she dove into that river for her shoe. They filled in that part of the river in a "redevelopment" so Haku can't find his way home: He'd been displaced. The babby reverts form and stands up for Chihiro... literally and figuratively. Chihiro, who Haku starts calling by her real name - her identity restored - and she takes Yubaba up on the deal. It's a trap: None of those pigs are her parents. None of her corporate games will work! She gets to go free, but leaves Haku behind and can't look back. The end.

There was definitely a lot of commentary about Japan, and I obviously can't recognize all the mythological references here (just some). But it still works here as commentary about capitalism and how both all the grunts AND corporate overlord Yubaba want money, money, money. I liked how this wasn't so subtle that I didn't have to spend ages deducing it, or reading someone else's interpretation. Even with this, it has a feel-good ending - literally everyone wins except for Yubaba, who doesn't deserve it. And the animation and storytelling were marvelous in usual Miyazaki fashion. Overall, this movie has everything going for it, and the dub doesn't disappoint. This really can't be anything other than a 5/5. Gonna gild this one too, since it's a masterpiece.

@MetalmindStats you get another nomination!