Poll of the Day > What is it about Spirited Away

(+) Yeah! (+)

where it always ends up on "Greatest Movies of All Time" lists? It's a very good film, one of the better Ghibli films even. But there are way more titles better deserving from the studio. Nausica for sure. Howl's Moving Castle is up there in quality and popularity, too. And while it's an outlier for the studio, Grave of the Fireflies is leagues above in narrative and impact. I'm even surprised Totoro never gets a mention with how it's the studio's mascot and all.

Spirited Away is one of my favorites and has a great balance of storytelling, animation and aesthetic that makes it a classic, but the narrative is honestly pretty basic, the character development and relationships feel rushed and the ending is incredibly abrupt. Is there some sort of history behind the film in the industry where it's just propped up eternally as a pinnacle of its format, much like Citizen Kane? Maybe it was one of the early animated films that helped inspire more mainstream respect for the medium?

It was one of the few major cinematic pushes for anime. I think Akira might be the only other one that I can think of. I don't remember any previous works from the studio having the same amount of weight behind it. The fact that it was pretty solid and had a basic coming of age story without all the anime cringe helps it age pretty good and helps it fit in with the Disney classics. I guess there was also Pokemon the Movie but that fad was nuclear hot at the time. It could have been made with sock puppets and filled theaters.

Salrite posted...

Spirited Away is one of my favorites and has a great balance of storytelling, animation and aesthetic that makes it a classic, but the narrative is honestly pretty basic, the character development and relationships feel rushed and the ending is incredibly abrupt.

That's a fair point. I guess it depends on what you value from that kind of film. I have Spirited Away and Nausicaa in my top 20 of all time mainly for the incredible worldbuilding, animation and score. For high quality character development and relationships I would rather watch a live action drama or romance.

Yeah, Akira is pretty highly praised, but still pretty niche being exclusive to "film buffs" and anime fans. Spirited Away always ends up on lists among movies such as Forrest Gump and Moonlight as a "Must Watch Film". I guess it's accessible if anything. The ending is kinda weird though... like, "Hey, that dragon/boy she fell in love with spontaneously is actually a river she fell into when she was five... that's it. No elaboration needed."

Salrite posted...

the narrative is honestly pretty basic, the character development and relationships feel rushed and the ending is incredibly abrupt.

Are you really surprised that a story with questionable character development has no trouble in the American market? That's an advantage, Americans don't know how to deal with character development or an imperfect cast, Americans prioritise spectacle to an unreasonable degree.

Joelypoely posted...

For high quality character development and relationships I would rather watch a live action drama or romance.

I think Nausica and Princess Mononoke do this really well. Especially the latter.

Also, seems odd given how staunchly Miyazaki is a proponent of writing believable characters and relationships and so many of his films have those issues of characters becoming unbelievably close so quickly and with little incentive. Boy and the Heron was really bad with this. But not all of his films have this problem.

Regardless, even considering this, nearly every Ghibli film just has a unique "vibe" that is uncomparble.

Kyuubi4269 posted...

Are you really surprised that a story with questionable character development has no trouble in the American market? That's an advantage, Americans don't know how to deal with character development or an imperfect cast, Americans prioritise spectacle to an unreasonable degree.

Explains how Into The Spiderverse was so successful.

And even with my complaints, I really struggle to have them because that film made me feel things. Really nice things. Which makes me conflicted. It did a wonderful job executing its overall themes. Maybe if it were longer it could have had more of an opportunity to flesh some things out?

Kyuubi4269 posted...

Are you really surprised that a story with questionable character development has no trouble in the American market? That's an advantage, Americans don't know how to deal with character development or an imperfect cast, Americans prioritise spectacle to an unreasonable degree.

You say this, but the American movies that do best in foreign markets are exactly those same low-narrative spectacle movies. There have actually been discussions about movies being "too smart" for China, because the dumber an American action movie is, the more Chinese audiences seem to like it.

Avatar (the poster child for pretty-looking/low-substance films) made about 3/4ths of its money outside of the US.

It's almost as if everyone goes ooooh at the pretty moving pictures. It's not an American thing, it's a human thing.

Salrite posted...

so many of his films have those issues of characters becoming unbelievably close so quickly and with little incentive.

Honestly, it's not that unbelievable, for people that are more extroverted. Stick two compatible extroverts in a room together (bearing in mind that, by virtue of being an artificial creation, characters in movies that are meant to end up in relationships are predefined to be compatible with each other), and they'll be best friends within the hour, let alone over the course of several days or weeks of being thrust together by whatever fantastic circumstance forms the movie's setting. That just stands out in anime in particular because so much anime is targeted toward a more introverted audience that can resonate better with more gradual relationships that take a long time to go anywhere because one or both parties are too shy/insecure to move forward.

Even outside of anime et al, so many romance stories feature a more outgoing person breaking through the shell of somebody more withdrawn specifically because you kind of need that to make the story last long enough to be worth telling. With two introverts, nothing ever goes anywhere unless you bring in a couple of extroverted wingmen to give them a push (which is also a common structure). With two extroverts, they hit it off after the first date and the only way to keep the story going is to throw some kind of dramatic wrench into their relationship (which isn't always what people want from a feel-good romance story).

Miyazaki's approach to relationships in his movies is to avoid "will-they/won't-they" situations and other tropes that pad relationships out with dramatic ambiguity. That can make them seem kind of abrupt compared to other media, but it is actually a fairly realistic portrayal of how relationships form when they aren't serving some kind of dramatic purpose (read: when actual people are having them), and it's a good fit for movies where those relationships aren't the main point.

It's also worth noting that when developing a relationship is the main point, Miyazaki does tend to draw it out longer. In Howl's Moving Castle, for example, it takes most of the movie for Sophie and Howl to end up properly together, thanks to Sophie taking a while to realize her feelings and then a while past that to overcome the insecurities that keep her bound by the curse. That's a case where the main point of the story is the development of their relationship and Sophie growing as a character to the point where she can have it, and as a result, she's not conveniently extroverted and self-assured enough to skip that gradual development for the sake of moving on with the real story. It's only the movies where the friendships/romance are secondary that they develop without any particular fanfare.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

It's almost as if everyone goes ooooh at the pretty moving pictures. It's not an American thing, it's a human thing.

Are you suggesting that Kyuubi's "Hail Britannia master race" schtick is actually a bunch of nonsense with no particular basis in reality?

I've given this a LOT of thought, and I have come to a conclusion about Spirited Away that not a lot of people talk about:

It is, in my opinion, the perfect movie to get people into anime.

People who had never seen anime before. People who were skeptical of it. People who had a deep misunderstanding of it. People who thought it was all about giant robots, angry fights, colorful hair, and jiggly lady parts.

No.

Anime can be extremely dynamic, artistic, and beautiful.

I have had numerous people in my life who would cringe and roll their eyes at the very mention of the word "anime".....and after a lot of begging, I convinced them to watch Spirited Away. Within the first 5 minutes they were like, "This isnt what I expected...." (in a good way).

By the first hour, they were like joyous little children, enjoying the ride.

A few ladies even got tattoos of the dust sprites because they loved them so much.

It just hits all the right notes. It's the perfect beginner anime.

GreenKnight127 posted...

It is, in my opinion, the perfect movie to get people into anime.

That's actually a really good point and explains a lot. My first Ghibli film was Totoro, and while it executes the same goal, it can be a little more saccharine. Which isn't a bad thing, but could be offputting to certain audiences. So yeah, I can really see Spirited Away just being very accessible. Simple, unpretentious, and executing classic themes of greed and selflessness extremely well and in a very visually satisfying way.

I'm also willing to believe that a lot of the things in those films that feel "off" narrative or don't make sense in context is just an issue of being lost in translation. Things that are culturally relevant for Japan but not so much outside. Boy and the Heron is a huge example of this as I felt it was horribly written and paced, but afterwards watching a synopsis and explanation of how it is so strongly ingrained in Buddhist and Shinto philosophy, I can understand how much of it could be more metaphorical.

I think Spirited Away is the only one I've seen in its entirety.

Somehow it ended up being alot of peoples exposure to anime outside of Shonen like DBZ, it was for me and a fe others I know, but I was quite young and didn't see it for a few years after so idk if I'm really correct.

Ive tried to watch it

Its appealing to a very wide audience. Its got humor, adventure, heart, suspense and intrigue.

I think quite a few Ghibli movies could would be a great entry point into anime. Castle in the Sky, Porco Rosso, and Nausicaa are also great in that way.

Salrite posted...

Boy and the Heron is a huge example of this as I felt it was horribly written and paced, but afterwards watching a synopsis and explanation of how it is so strongly ingrained in Buddhist and Shinto philosophy, I can understand how much of it could be more metaphorical.

I'll have to check that out; I also felt it was badly paced especially in the third act.

Pretty sure youre thinking of spirit stallion of the Cimarron

keyblader1985 posted...

I'll have to check that out; I also felt it was badly paced especially in the third act.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSb7x8maEHY

This one particularly. It's quite low in views, but I feel he gives a lot of insight.

I'm still not quite sold on the film, but at least I can see the intention a bit better.