Spirited_away

Spirited Away
Spirited Away film poster
Directed by	Hayao Miyazaki
Produced by	Toshio Suzuki
Written by	Hayao Miyazaki
Starring	Rumi Hiiragi Miyu Irino Mari Natsuki Takashi Naitō Yasuko Sawaguchi (Japan) Daveigh Chase Jason Marsden Michael Chiklis Lauren Holly Suzanne Pleshette David Ogden Stiers Susan Egan Bob Bergen Tara Strong (USA)
Music by	Joe Hisaishi
Cinematography	Atsushi Okui
Editing by	Takeshi Seyama
Distributed by	Toho (Japan) Studio Ghibli (Japan) Walt Disney Pictures (USA) United International Pictures (South Africa)
Release date(s)	July 27 2001 September 20 2002 November 6 2002 December 12, 2002 September 12 2003
Running time	125 minutes
Language	Japanese English
Budget	¥1,900,000,000 (est.) $18,000,000 (est.)
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Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し, Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi^?, literally "Sen and Chihiro\'s Spiriting Away") is an Academy Award winning 2001 film by the Japanese anime studio Studio Ghibli, written and directed by famed animator Hayao Miyazaki.

The film received many awards, including the second Oscar ever awarded for Best Animated Feature, the first anime film to win an Academy Award, and the only winner of that award to win among five nominees (in every other year there were three nominees). The film also won the Golden Bear at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival (tied with Bloody Sunday).

Contents 1 Plot 2 Characters 2.1 Principal characters 2.2 Minor characters 3 Themes 4 Production 5 Japanese culture in the film 6 Distribution and box office gross 6.1 Theatrical 6.2 DVD 6.3 Television 7 Differences between Japanese and English versions 8 Reception 9 Original soundtrack 9.1 Original sound track listing 10 Image album track listing 11 Cast 12 See also 13 References 14 External links

Plot

Note: This synopsis is written based on the English version, which has a few notable differences from the original Japanese version. For more information, see "Differences between Japanese and English versions" below.

The movie begins by introdicing Chihiro, a whiny, pessimistic child, who is very annoyed at having to move to a new town. While en route to their new house, Chihiro\'s father attempts a shortcut; they subsequently lose their way and come across a mysterious tunnel. Out of curiosity, they enter it, not knowing that they have entered a kind of mythological Japanese spirit world drawn from the Shinto religious traditions. The family crosses a verdant field and enters what appears to be an abandoned theme park lined with fully-stocked restaurants. Both parents impulsively eat the food they find there, and as a result transform into pigs.

Chihiro\'s distress at losing her parents is compounded by the discovery that the world around her has changed and her body seems to be dissolving. A mysterious boy named Haku then appears and comforts her. Haku gives her something to eat, which makes her solid again. He smuggles her into a large bathhouse, owned and operated by the tyrannical witch Yubaba, where the thousands of spirits in the Shinto religion come to refresh themselves. Haku tells Chihiro that the only way she can remain in the spirit-world long enough to rescue her parents is by gaining employment in Yubaba\'s bathhouse.

Following Haku\'s advice, Chihiro descends a long staircase to the boiler room, where she asks Kamaji - the humanoid, six-armed boiler operator - for work. He rebuffs her until one of the coal-carrying sprites (a theme of Miyazaki\'s repeated from My Neighbor Totoro\'s soot sprites) collapses under an extra-heavy lump. Chihiro takes the sprite\'s place and feeds the boiler. Impressed, Kamaji warms towards the girl and tells her to ask Yubaba herself for a job.

A young woman named Lin helps Chihiro find her way through the labyrinthine building, ultimately diverting a fellow servant by tantalizing him with food while Chihiro squeezes into an elevator behind a grotesque but benign radish spirit.

In Yubaba\'s penthouse suite, Chihiro repeatedly and stubbornly asks for a job, overriding the monstrous witch\'s refusals. Yubaba ultimately consents, on condition that Chihiro give up her name. Yubaba literally takes possession of Chihiro\'s name by grasping the kanji characters from Chiriro\'s signed contract, leaving Chihiro with one part of one character of her original 2-character name, in isolation pronounced "Sen". Taking a person\'s name gives Yubaba power to keep its owner in her service forever; it is revealed that Haku is also in Yubaba\'s service, and remains so because she has taken part of his full name.

The following morning, Haku takes Sen to the pig pen and indicates her parents among the other pigs, urging her to memorize them. He then reminds her of her full name, warning her to keep it secret.

While at work, Sen gives admittance to a wraithlike spirit called No Face, who returns the favor by helping her obtain water needed to bathe a "stink spirit" whom no one else will help. After bathing, the stink spirit is revealed to be a powerful river spirit who rewards Sen with a small ball. This ball later turns out to be a strong emetic.

Subsequently, Sen sees Haku in the form of a white dragon, and perceives that he is under attack by a horde of paper figures resembling birds. She helps him escape from these, although one of them adheres to her back unseen.

Desperate to find the injured Haku, Sen searches the bathhouse. In one room, she encounters Yubaba\'s gigantic infant son, Boh. Boh attempts to retain Sen as a playmate; she escapes by playing on his fears of sickness and hastens to find Haku. She finds him lying on the floor of Yubaba\'s office, wounded and bleeding. The paper object stuck to her back transforms into Zeniba, Yubaba\'s twin sister, whose sigil Haku had stolen. When Zeniba is distraced by Boh, a harpy employed by his mother, and three spirits employed by Yubaba, Zeniba transforms them into a mouse, a hummingbird, and a replica of Boh, respectively. At this, Haku strikes the paper figure with his tail, causing Zeniba to vanish from the room. He then topples into Kamaji\'s boiler room with Sen and her transformed compatriots in tow.

Using the river spirit\'s emetic, Sen causes Haku to spit out the stolen sigil, which he had swallowed, as well as a black slug. Kamaji orders Sen to kill the slug, on grounds that it brings bad luck; this she does. Haku remains comatose; hoping to lift Zeniba\'s curse, Sen sets out to return the sigil to Zeniba.

Meanwhile, No Face has become intoxicated with the greedy atmosphere of the bathhouse and swells into a huge, aggressive monster, giving illusory gold to the bathhouse workers in exchange for lavish amounts of food. When they do not comply with his demands, he swallows three of them; this causes a panic and the entire bathhouse is thrown into pandemonium. Sen manages to solve the problem by feeding No Face the remaining emetic making him throw up his tainted substance and then leading him out of the bathhouse; No Face then reduces back to his former demure size and personality.

Sen travels by train with No Face, Boh, and the hummingbird, to Zeniba\'s faraway cottage. Inside Zeniba\'s home, the three spirits are put to work spinning thread while Sen converses with a now amiable Zeniba who is actually a very kindhearted grandmother like figure. Sen gives the sigil back to Zeniba, apologizing for having killed the black slug. Zeniba reveals that the slug had been one of Yubaba\'s means of controlling Haku, and that the curse put on the seal has already been broken by Sen\'s love for Haku. Sen also confides in Zeniba, whom she has now befriended, her proper name of Chihiro.

Back in the bathhouse, Yubaba discovers Boh\'s absence and is enraged. Haku, now revived and restored to his humanoid form, offers Boh\'s safe return in exchange for Sen and her parents to be freed and restored to normal. Yubaba accepts, but promises to set Sen one final task. (The plots of the Japanese-language and English-language versions differ slightly here: in the Japanese version, Yubaba and Haku talk about that which is necessary to break the spell on Sen\'s parents, while no such conversation occurs in the English version.)

Haku, in dragon form, finds Sen at Zeniba\'s cottage. Along with Boh and the hummingbird, they all fly back to the bathhouse, leaving No Face to live with Zeniba as her assistant. En route to the bathhouse, Chihiro remembers a previously suggested meeting with Haku: some time ago, she had fallen into a river and was rescued by the river\'s spirit. She realizes that the spirit of this river, called Kolaku River, and her friend Haku, are one and the same. At this realization, Haku\'s dragon form molts away, and he rejoices to recall his name (and hence is finally delivered from Yubaba\'s control).

They return to the bathhouse, where Yubaba and a large crowd have gathered to witness Chihiro\'s final task: to pick out her enchanted parents from a group of pigs. Chihiro correctly states that none of the pigs displayed by Yubaba are her parents, who have already been restored to human form and sent back to the human world. She is taken to rejoin them by Haku, who bids her farewell just as she is about to meet her parents.

Chihiro and her parents (who have been deprived of all memory of the spirit world), return to their car and resume their journey to their new home. Chihiro, perhaps as a result of her adventures, is more confident in herself and more willing to embrace her new situation.

Characters

Principal characters

Chihiro Ogino/Sen (荻野 千尋, Ogino Chihiro^?) 

Chihiro is the 10-year old protagonist of the movie. Chihiro is in the process of moving to a new town when her family stumbles upon the entrance to the spirit world. During her adventure she matures from a whiny, self-centered, and pessimistic child to a hard-working, responsible, optimistic young girl who has learned to care for others. She is renamed "Sen" (千, sen^?, lit. "a thousand") by the proprietor of the bathhouse, Yubaba. In Japanese orthography, "Sen" is an alternative pronunciation of "Chi", the first kanji in her name, "Chihiro", which roughly translates as "thousand searching", which could be a reference to Chihiro\'s search to free her parents.

Voiced by: Rumi Hiiragi (Japanese), Daveigh Chase (English)

Haku creating a distraction to protect Chihiro

Haku/Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi (ハク/ニギハヤミコハクヌシ, Haku/Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi^?) 

A young boy who helps Chihiro after her parents have transformed into pigs. He helps protect her from danger and gives her advice. Haku works as Yubaba\'s direct subordinate, often running errands and performing missions for her. He has the ability to fly and to transform into a dragon. Toward the end of the story Chihiro recalls falling into the Kohaku (コハク, Kohaku^?) river, of which Haku is the spirit; she thus frees him from Yubaba\'s service by helping him remember his real name and past, which he had forgotten due to the industrial development that has destroyed his river. While he seems often cold-hearted, and is disliked by the bathhouse staff, Haku is unfailingly kind to Chihiro, perhaps because of his experience of her in the past, which he partly remembers. When Yubaba is listening, Haku is as sharp-voiced to Chihiro as to anyone else, so as to avoid the revelation of his growing fondness for her. Yubaba sees him merely as a tool.

Voiced by: Miyu Irino (Japanese), Jason Marsden (English)

Yubaba (left)

Yubaba (湯婆婆, Yubaaba^?, lit. "bath crone") 

An old witch with an inhumanly large head and nose, who supervises the bathhouse. She reluctantly signs Chihiro into a contract (having, at some point in the past, bound herself with an oath to give a job to anybody who asks). Yubaba then takes Chihiro\'s name and renames her "Sen" in order to hold power over her for the duration of the contract. Yubaba has an over-bearing and authoritarian personality, but does show a soft side toward her giant baby, Boh. In contrast to her simple and hospitable sister Zeniba, Yubaba lives in opulent quarters and is only interested in taking care of guests for money. Though she is very intuitive and perceptive, she does not notice when her own baby is gone. When Haku prompts her by telling her that something she values is missing, her first reaction is to scrutinize the gold. Her name is similar to that of another legendary witch, Baba Yaga. Her appearance somewhat resembles that of Sir John Tenniel\'s drawings of The Duchess from Alice\'s Adventures in Wonderland. She possesses an oversized head and, as in Alice, a child whom she mistreats, and whom she does not notice is missing until it is pointed out. She treats Chihiro much like the Duchess did Alice.

Voiced by: Mari Natsuki (Japanese), Suzanne Pleshette (English)

Kamajii (釜爺, lit. "boiler old man"^?) 

An old man with six arms, who operates the boiler room of the bathhouse. A number of Susuwatari (ススワタリ, Susuwatari^?) (Soot balls) work for him by carrying coal into his furnace. He has a large cabinet where he keeps all the herbs that are used in the baths. After some persuasion, he allows Chihiro to work at the bathhouse and even pretends to be her grandfather to protect her, though this ruse does not stand for long. He later takes an injured Haku into his boiler room and cares for him while Chihiro, given train tickets by Kamajii, journeys to Zeniba\'s cottage. At first he seems cold and uncaring, but by the end of the movie he seems to have grown a soft spot for Chihiro and for anyone whom she calls her friend. His appearance resembles a large humanoid spider, with several arms which seem to be extendable. His brown moustache and dark glasses additionally give him a resemblance to the Tiger Moth\'s engineer, who is featured in Laputa: Castle in the Sky, He also bears resemblance to Doctor Eggman.

Voiced by: Bunta Sugawara (Japanese), David Ogden Stiers (English)

Chihiro (left) and No Face (right)

No Face (カオナシ, Kaonashi^?, lit. \'No Face\') 

No Face is an odd spirit who takes an interest in Chihiro. Chihiro lets No Face into the bathhouse through a side door. At first, he is a strange, cloaked, masked wraith that merely breathes and smiles. 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. He is helpful to Chihiro because she helped him, whereas after observing the bathhouse staff\'s reaction to gold and his own attempts to win them over with more gold, he reacts to their greed by becoming a grotesque monster which eats lots of food and some of the staff. He throws up, calms down, and reverts to his former state after he leaves the bathhouse\'s influence. At the end, he stays with Zeniba as a helper. No Face\'s mask, movement, and name share many similarities with the Japanese Noh theater. He also assumes the voice(s) and personality of those he "eats". He usually speaks in grunts.

Voiced by: Tatsuya Gashuin (Japanese), Bob Bergen (English)

Lin (リン, Rin^?) 

A worker at the bathhouse who becomes Chihiro\'s caretaker. Although aloof at first, she warms up to Chihiro and grows a strong bond with her. She warns No Face, who had previously gone on a rampage, not to harm Chihiro or there would be trouble. At the end, she is very happy for Chihiro when the latter finally manages to find her way home. In the English dub, Lin states that she wishes to leave the bathouse for some better life. She is very surprised when Kamajii gives Chihiro train tickets

Voiced by: Yumi Tamai (Japanese), Susan Egan (English)

Boh (坊, Bō^?) 

Boh is Yubaba\'s son. Although he has the appearance of a young baby, he has twice Yubaba\'s size. He is also very strong and can be dangerous. Yubaba spoils him and goes out of her way to give him whatever he wants. He believes that going outside will make him ill. When Sen is trapped in his room, she tells Boh that staying in his room during all the time will sicken him. Later, Zeniba turns him into a mouse. He becomes good friends with Chihiro while in his mouse form and eventually stands up to Yubaba to protect Chihiro. Boh tells Yubaba he had a good time when he was with Chihiro. His little adventure may be seen as an analogy to Chihiro\'s adventures and growing up. This idea suggests that Boh is overgrown because he has never really matured under Yubaba\'s doting care.

Voiced by: Ryūnosuke Kamiki (Japanese), Tara Strong (English)

Note: Elements of Ryūnosuke Kamiki\'s voice can be heard in the English language version (e.g. when Boh cries during the scene where Chihiro/Sen gets her contract).

Akio Ogino (荻野 明夫, Ogino Akio^?) 

Chihiro\'s father. Akio\'s impulsive behaviour catalyzes the unfolding of events in the beginning of the movie, climaxing in his transformation into a pig. He is suggested to be relatively wealthy; when he eats the spirits\' offering, he says to Chihiro, "Don\'t worry, you\'ve got daddy here. He\'s got credit cards and cash".

Voiced by: Takashi Naito (Japanese), Michael Chiklis (English)

Yuko Ogino (荻野 悠子, Ogino Yūko^?) 

Chihiro\'s mother who, along with Chihiro\'s father, is turned into a pig at the start of the movie. She and her husband are never named during the film, and only referred to as Chihiro\'s parents.

Voiced by: Yasuko Sawaguchi (Japanese), Lauren Holly (English)

Kashira (カシラ, Kashira^?) 

A trio of green, disembodied, wall-eyed heads living in Yubaba\'s office that move around by bouncing. They do not speak except in small grunts when they bounce about. They are later changed into an illusion of Boh by Zeniba in order to trick Yubaba.

River Spirit (川の神, kawa no kami^?) 

A customer of the bathhouse originally thought to be a "stink spirit" who is assigned to Chihiro and Lin. Yubaba suspects that he may be something more than a stink spirit; when Chihiro helps him by pulling trash that had been dumped into his river out of his side (Miyazaki had a strong interest in the environments and wished to portray the destruction of rivers), her suspicions are proven correct. He is in fact a famous and wealthy river god. As a reward for cleaning him, he gives Chihiro a ball of plant material which, viewers are told by Kamajii in the English-subtitled version, is a "healing cake". In the English dubbed version, Kamajii simply states that it is medicine from the river god. The "healing cake" is later used to heal an injured Haku through ingestion and to cause No Face to vomit the people and vast amounts of food he ate during his rampage. It is implied that the taste of it is extremely bitter, as demonstrated when Chihiro tries a bite and reacts violently.

Zeniba (銭婆, Zeniba^?, zeni can refer to both money and public baths, making her name a play on Yubaba\'s) 

Zeniba is Yubaba\'s twin sister and rival. Although identical in appearance, their personalities are almost polar opposites. At first she appears no kinder than Yubaba when she becomes enraged at Haku for stealing her magic seal and threatens to take it back, regardless of what happens to Haku. Hoping to gain Zeniba\'s forgiveness, Chihiro journeys to Zeniba\'s cottage to return it and apologize. It is then that Zeniba reveals her true character as that of a kind, grandmotherly figure, even sentimentally requesting Chihiro to call her "Granny" in the English version. Zeniba makes dessert and tea for her and No Face, and does her best to help Chihiro while realizing that there are limits to what she can do. She forgives Haku for stealing her seal (in the Japanese version she states that she no longer blames him, prompting some fans to speculate that when Chihiro told her about the control-slug that Yubaba put in him, she realized that Yubaba was more guilty than Haku ever was) and tells him to look after Chihiro, and sees everyone off, assuring Chihiro that she will be well. She takes No Face in as a helper, giving him a place to call home. Chihiro loves her kindness and thinks of her as a grandmother.

Note: Zeniba is voiced by the same actors as Yubaba in both the English and Japanese versions.

Note: In Zeniba\'s house, there is a chair with an oddly thin back, earlier seen in the house in the woods in Kiki\'s Delivery Service

Minor characters

• Yubaba\'s unnamed harpy lieutenant has no speaking part but is transformed into a fly and accompanies Sen and the similarly transformed Boh on their trip to Zeniba\'s. When instructed it carried Boh through the air, and later helped to make Sen\'s friendship hair-tie. Unlike Boh, the viewer does not see this creature return to it\'s original appearance.
• The bathhouse manager is referred to as the "foreman", and is shown to have a very high rank, in that he reports directly to Yubaba.
• The female workers in the bathhouse are referred to as Yuna (ユナ, Yuna^? "bath women"); in the Japanese version No Face is said to have eaten two frogs and a slug — "slug" presumably referring to the female worker.
• The management of the bathhouse are Chichi-yaku (父役, Chichi-yaku^? "role of father") or Ani-yaku (兄役, Ani-yaku^? "role of older brother").
• The male workers in the bathhouse are either Ao-gaeru (青蛙, Ao-gaeru^? "blue frog") or Bandai-gaeru (番台蛙, Bandai-gaeru^? "green frog").
• Chihiro shares an uncomfortable elevator journey with a gentle, elephantine Radish Spirit (大根神, Daikon Kami^?, also known as Oshira-sama).
• The bathing bird gods are known as Ōtori-sama (おおとりさま, Ōtori-sama^? "bird lord").
• Those with red cloaks and masks who become visable as they decend off the boat are Kasuga-sama (かすがさま, Kasuga-sama^?).
• The gods who exit the elevator wearing the Aburaya (油や, Aburaya^? "bath house") bathrobes are Ushioni (牛鬼, Ushioni^? "cattle demon").
• The gods with horns, orange faces, and green bodies are the Onama-sama (おなまさま, Onama-sama^?).

Themes

Miyazaki characters have negative and positive traits in different situations.

Some suggest that the film is an allegory on the progression from childhood to maturity, and the risk of losing one\'s nature in the process. The theme of a character being lost inside a (fictional/different) world if he/she forgets his/her real name is a common folk theme. True names having magic power are a staple of folks tales such as Rumplestilskin. Similarly, Chihiro and Haku stay under Yubaba\'s control forever if they forget their real names and consequently their real identities.

The main character is a sullen, spoiled, and very modern Japanese ten-year-old being forced to grow up when faced with more traditional Japanese culture and manners. Miyazaki himself has said that there is an element of nostalgia for an older Japan in this film and several of his others. \'Midnight Eye interview: Hayao Miyazaki\'. Retrieved on 2006-09-12.

Miyazaki also included a theme advocating the prevention of greed: those swallowed by No Face were attempting to receive the gold he made. Similarly, in a monomyth format, Yubaba\'s rich accommodations and interest in gold dominate the "road of trials" portions of the film, while Zeniba\'s rustic home and grandmotherly demeanor arguably mark Chihiro\'s gain of the "boon" in her quest. Also, Chihiro\'s parents\' grotesque transformation after consuming too much food not meant for them is another representation of human greed.

Environmental awareness is a theme explored by Roger Ebert. \'Spirited Away\' by Roger Ebert. Retrieved on 2006-09-12. The most obvious examples of this are the river spirit\'s dramatic and beautiful transformation once he has been freed from the material dumped in him by humans, and Haku\'s discovery that the reason he cannot go home is that the River Kohaku, whose spirit he was, had been filled in by apartment buildings. This environmental awareness is present in several of Miyazaki\'s works, such as Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Princess Mononoke.

Production

Hayao Miyazaki came out of retirement to make this film after meeting the daughter of a friend, on whom the main character is based. Chihiro\'s father, Akio, was based on the real-life father of the girl Chihiro is based on. Miyazaki said the real-life father is similar to Akio in the habits of always getting lost while driving and eating too fast. Chihiro\'s mother (Yuuko) is based on a friend of Miyazaki\'s; an idiosyncratic hand-gesture of Miyazaki\'s friend is copied when Yuuko is eating in Spirited Away. Chihiro\'s best friend\'s name is Rumi (the one who gave her the flowers), which is the name of Chihiro\'s voice actor.

Japanese culture in the film

In the scene during which Chihiro squashes with her foot the small black slug that inhabited Haku (a spell laid by Yubaba), Kamajii tells Chihiro to "Cut the line!" "Cutting the line" is a Japanese good-luck charm performed by making a chopping gesture through another person\'s connected index fingers; in a behind-the-scenes featurette included on the Disney DVD, Cindy Davis Hewitt (the English version\'s co-writer) likened the gesture to the children\'s game of giving someone a "cootie shot" when something bad happened. This is done whenever someone is affected by some impurity, such as having stepped in dog feces. During footage of the dubbing process in the Spirited Away Nippon-TV Special, Rumi Hiiragi, the young Japanese voice actor playing Chihiro was not aware of this concept and had it explained to her by Miyazaki himself in between takes of the scene in question. One of the sound engineers commented saying "The young don\'t know it these days".

The kompeitō that Lin feeds to the soot sprites is called confetti in the English version of the anime.

Distribution and box office gross

Ratings
Australia:	PG
United Kingdom:	PG

Theatrical

Spirited Away was released in Japan in July 2001, drawing an audience of around 23 million and revenues of ¥30 billion (approx. US$250 million), to become the highest-grossing film in Japanese history (surpassing the 1997 American film Titanic for overall highest grossing and 1997\'s Princess Mononoke for highest grossing animated motion pictures). It was the first movie to have earned $200 million at the worldwide box office before opening in the United States.Johnson, G. Allen. "Asian films are grossing millions. Here, they\'re either remade, held hostage or released with little fanfare", San Francisco Chronicle, February 3, 2005.  By 2002, a sixth of the Japanese population had seen it.

The film was dubbed into English by Walt Disney Pictures, under the supervision of Pixar\'s John Lasseter. It was subsequently released in the United States in September 20 2002 and had made slightly over $10 million by September 2003.Spirited Away Box Office and Rental History. Retrieved on 2006-04-21.

DVD

The film was released in North America by Disney\'s Buena Vista Distribution arm on DVD format on April 15 2003 where the attention brought by the Oscar win made the title a strong seller.Reid, Calvin. "\'Spirited Away\' Sells like Magic", Publisher\'s Weekly, April 28, 2003.  Spirited Away is often marketed, sold and associated with other Miyazaki movies such as Castle in the Sky, Kiki\'s Delivery Service and, most recently, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (due in part to the latter\'s recent US release).

The North American English-dubbed version was released on DVD in the UK on March 29, 2004. In 2005 it was re released by Optimum Releasing with a more accurate subtitle track and additional bonus features.

The back of the Region 1 DVD from Disney and the Region 4 DVD from Madman states that the aspect ratio is the original ratio of 2.00:1. This is incorrect; the ratio is actually 1.85:1 but has been windowboxed to 2.00:1 to compensate for the overscan on most television sets. There is much dispute over the validity of this practice, as many displays are capable of showing the entire picture, and as a result the DVD picture has a noticeable border around it.

All Asian releases of the DVD (including Japan and Hong Kong) have a noticeably accentuated amount of red in their picture transfer. This is another case of compensating for home theatre displays, this time supposedly for LCD television which, it was claimed, had a diminished red colour in its display. Releases in other DVD regions such as the US, Europe and Australia use a picture transfer where this "red tint" has been significantly reduced.

Television

The U.S. television premiere of this film was on Turner Classic Movies in early 2006, closely followed by its premiere on Cartoon Network\'s "Fridays" on February 3, 2006. On March 18, Cartoon Network\'s Toonami began a "Month of Miyazaki" that featured four movies directed by Hayao Miyazaki, with Spirited Away being the first of four. Cartoon Network showed the movie three times more: once on Christmas 2006, for Toonami\'s "New Year\'s Eve Eve" on December 30, and on March 31, 2007. It was also shown again on Turner Classic Movies on June 3, 2007.

The first European television showing of the film (both the subtitled Japanese and dubbed English versions) was in the UK on December 29 2004 on Sky Cinema 1, http://www.otakunews.com/article.php?story=163 and it has since been repeated several times. The first UK terrestrial showing of this film (dubbed into English) was on BBC2 on December 30, 2006. The Japanese subtitled version was first shown on BBC4 on the 26th January 2008.

The Canadian television premiere of the film was on CBC Television on September 30th, 2007 [1]. In order to fit the film into a two hour time slot with commercials, extensive time cuts were made during this airing.

Differences between Japanese and English versions

Some changes were made to the film by John Lasseter and the other writers of the English dub.

Changes include:

• The insertion of a significant portion of background chatter.
• Adjusting the translated dialogue to match the visible mouth movements of the characters.
• The addition of dialogue explaining or emphasizing certain on-screen elements: for example, when Chihiro reaches a massive, red, steaming building, she comments, "It\'s a bathhouse". These insertions are mostly used to explain certain aspects of Japanese culture that are foreign in America and many other English-speaking countries.
• The alteration and/or omission of several lines from the Japanese version: for example, upon hearing Haku\'s request to return \'Sen\' and her parents to the human world in exchange for Boh, Yubaba says that she will still give \'Sen\' one final test. In the original film, she instead threatens to tear Haku to pieces after sending them back.
• New lyrics were improvised by John Ratzenberger for the English version of a song sung by Aogaeru.

Miyazaki himself has stated that Chihiro, at the end of the film, does not remember what happened to her in the spirit world.Nausicaa.Net The English dub adds a line indicating that Chihiro has come away from her adventure a better person. At the beginning of the film, Chihiro\'s pessimistic viewpoint had been expressed:

Chihiro\'s Father: Look, Chihiro! There\'s your new school!

Chihiro\'s Mother: It doesn\'t look so bad.

Chihiro: It\'s gonna stink. I liked my old school.

At the end of the English dubbed version, Chihiro is asked again what she thinks of her new school:

Chihiro\'s Father: A new town and a new school — it is a bit scary.

Chihiro: I think I can handle it.

The original film simply ends with Chihiro\'s father asking that she hurry back to the car.

Reception

Based on 146 reviews at Rotten Tomatoes,Spirited Away at Rotten Tomatoes it ranks as the sixth-best animation film.Best Animation of Rotten Tomatoes

Source	Reviewer	Grade / Score	Notes
AnimeOnDVD	Chris Beveridge	Content: C Audio: A- Video: A+ Packaging: N/A Menus: B Extras: A+	DVD/Anime Movie Review
THEM Anime Reviews	Carlos Ross and Jacob Churosh	5 out of 5	Anime Review

Original soundtrack

The closing song, "Itsumo Nandodemo," (いつも何度でも; English title: "Always With Me", literally translates as "Always, No Matter How Many Times") was written and performed by Yumi Kimura, a composer and lyre-player from Osaka. The lyrics were written by Kimura\'s friend Wakako Kaku. The song was intended to be used for a different Miyazaki film which was never released, Rin the Chimney Painter (煙突描きのリン Entotsu-kaki no Rin).

The other 20 tracks on the original soundtrack were composed by Joe Hisaishi. His "Ano hi no Kawa" (あの日の川; "The River of That Day") received the 56th Mainichi Film Competition Award for Best Music, the Tokyo International Anime Fair 2001 Best Music Award in the Theater Movie category, and the 16th Japan Gold Disk Award for Animation Album of the Year. Later, Hisaishi added lyrics to "Ano hi no Kawa" and named the new version "Inochi no Namae," (いのちの名前; "The Name of Life") which was performed by Hirahara Ayaka.

Beside the Original Sound Track, there is also an Image Album, which contains 10 tracks.

Original sound track listing

1. あの夏へ [Ano Natsu he / One Summer\'s Day] (久石譲 Joe Hisaishi)
2. とおり道 [Toori Michi / Road To Somewhere] (久石譲 Joe Hisaishi)
3. 誰もいない料理店 [Dare mo Inai Ryouriten / Empty Restaurant] (久石譲 Joe Hisaishi)
4. 夜来る [Yoru kuru / Nighttime Coming] (久石譲 Joe Hisaishi)
5. 竜の少年 [Ryuu no Shounen / Dragon Boy] (久石譲 Joe Hisaishi)
6. ボイラー虫 [Boiraa Mushi / Sootballs] (久石譲 Joe Hisaishi)
7. 神さま達 [Kami-samatachi / Procession Of The Spirits] (久石譲 Joe Hisaishi)
8. 湯婆婆 [Yubaba] (久石譲 [Joe Hisaishi])
9. 湯屋の朝 [Yuya no Asa / Bathhouse Morning] (久石譲 Joe Hisaishi)
10. あの日の川 [Ano Hi no Kawa / Day Of The River] (久石譲 Joe Hisaishi)
11. 仕事はつらいぜ [Shigoto wa Tsuraize / It\'s Hard Work] (久石譲 Joe Hisaishi)
12. おクサレ神 [Okusare kami / Stink Spirit] (久石譲 Joe Hisaishi)
13. 千の勇気 [Sen no Yuuki / Sen\'s Courage] (久石譲 Joe Hisaishi)
14. 底なし穴 [Sokonashi ana / Bottomless Pit] (久石譲 Joe Hisaishi)
15. カオナシ [Kaonashi / No Face] (久石譲 Joe Hisaishi)
16. 6番目の駅 [Roku-banme no Eki / Sixth Station] (久石譲 Joe Hisaishi)
17. 湯婆婆狂乱 [Yubaba Kyouran / Yubaba\'s Panic] (久石譲 Joe Hisaishi)
18. 沼の底の家 [Numa no Soko no Ie / House At Swamp Bottom] (久石譲 Joe Hisaishi)
19. ふたたび [Futatabi / Reprise] (久石譲 Joe Hisaishi)
20. 帰る日 [Kaeru Hi / The Return Day] (久石譲 Joe Hisaishi)
21. いつも何度でも [Itsu mo Nando demo / Always With Me] (木村弓 Youmi Kimura)

Image album track listing

1. あの日の川へ [Ano Hi no Kawa He / To the River of that Day] by Umi
2. 夜が来る [Yoru Ga Kuru / The Night is Coming] by Joe Hisaishi
3. 神々さま [Kamigami-sama / The Gods] by Shizuru Otaka
4. 油屋 [Yuya / The Bathhouse] by Tsunehiko Kamijou
5. 不思議の国の住人 [Fushigi no Kuni no Jyuunin / People in the Wonderland] by Joe Hisaishi
6. さみしいさみしい [Samishii, Samishii / Lonely, Lonely] by Monsieur Kamayatsu
7. ソリチュード [Kodoku / Solitude] by Rieko Suzuki and Hiroshi Kondo
8. 海 [Umi / The Sea] by Joe Hisaishi
9. 白い竜 [Shiroi Ryuu / White Dragon] by RIKKI
10. 千尋のワルツ [Chihiro no WARUTSU / Chihiro\'s Waltz] by Joe Hisaishi

Cast

Character	Japanese version	English version
Chihiro Ogino/Sen	Rumi Hiragi	Daveigh Chase
Haku	Miyu Irino	Jason Marsden
Yubaba, Zeniba	Mari Natsuki	Suzanne Pleshette
Kamajii	Bunta Sugawara	David Ogden Stiers
No-Face	Tatsuya Gashuin	Bob Bergen
Lin	Yumi Tamai	Susan Egan
Boh	Ryūnosuke Kamiki	Tara Strong
Akio Ogino	Takashi Naito	Michael Chiklis
Yuuko Ogino	Yasuko Sawaguchi	Lauren Holly
Chichi-yaku	Tsunehiko Kamijō
Ani-yaku	Takehiko Ono
Ao-gaeru, Assistant Manager	Tatsuya Gashūin	John Ratzenberger
Bandai-gaeru	Yō Ōizumi	Bob Bergen

• Additional Japanese Voices: Koba Hayashi, Noriko Kitou, Shiro Saito, Ken Yasuda
• Additional English Voices: Jack Angel, Rodger Bumpass, Jennifer Darling, Paul Eiding, Sherry Lynn, Mona Marshall, Mickie McGowan, Candi Milo, Colleen O\'Shaughnessey, Philip Proctor, Jim Ward

See also

• Kami – explanation of gods and spirits in Japanese mythology
• Obake and Yokai - the spirits of the Shinto religion.
• Tengu – the origins of the term kamikakushi (spiriting away) in Japanese folklore
• Kompeito – the brightly-colored star-shaped candy Lin feeds to the coal-carrying sprites of the boiler room
• Onsen – a Japanese hot spring resort
• Sentō – a Japanese bathhouse
• Jioufen – a Taiwanese town, the model of the downtown near bathhouse
• List of animated feature-length films

References

External links

• Miyazaki\'s Spirited Away at Internet Movie Database
• Sen To Chihiro No Kamikakushi at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Spirited Away at OnlineGhibli.com
• Spirited Away at Metacritic
• Spirited Away at Rotten Tomatoes
• Spirited Away at SparkNotes
• Spirited Away (Japanese) at the Japanese Movie Database

v • d • e The works of Hayao Miyazaki
Films	Director, screenplay and storyboard: The Castle of Cagliostro • Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind • Castle in the Sky • My Neighbor Totoro • Kiki\'s Delivery Service • Porco Rosso • Princess Mononoke • Spirited Away • Howl\'s Moving Castle • Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea Screenplay and storyboard: Panda! Go, Panda! • Whisper of the Heart Chief animator and concept artist: Gulliver\'s Travels Beyond the Moon • Horus: Prince of the Sun • Puss in Boots • Flying Ghost Ship • Animal Treasure Island • Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
TV series	Director, screenplay and storyboard: Lupin III • Future Boy Conan • Sherlock Hound Scene design and layout: Heidi, Girl of the Alps • 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother • Anne of Green Gables
OVA	Director, screenplay and storyboard: Lupin III\'s Greatest Capers
Manga	Story and art: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind • The Journey of Shuna • Hayao Miyazaki\'s Daydream Data Notes
Miscellaneous	Director, screenplay and storyboard: On Your Mark • Mei and the Kittenbus • Mizugumo Monmon
Future projects	Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea

v • d • e Studio Ghibli films
Pre Ghibli films	Hols: Prince of the Sun · Panda! Go, Panda! · Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro · Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Ghibli films	Castle in the Sky · My Neighbor Totoro · Grave of the Fireflies · Kiki\'s Delivery Service · Only Yesterday · Porco Rosso · I Can Hear the Sea · Pom Poko · Whisper of the Heart · Princess Mononoke · My Neighbors the Yamadas · Spirited Away · The Cat Returns · Howl\'s Moving Castle · Tales from Earthsea · Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea
Studio Ghibli short films	Nandarou · On Your Mark · Ghiblies · Ghiblies Episode II · Mei and the Kittenbus · The Night of Taneyamagahara · Mizugumo Monmon · Iblard Jikan · Hoshi o Katta Hi
Related articles	Hayao Miyazaki · Isao Takahata · Ghibli Museum · Nausicaa.net

v • d • e Academy Award for Best Animated Feature
Shrek (2001) · Spirited Away (2002) · Finding Nemo (2003) · The Incredibles (2004) · Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) · Happy Feet (2006) · Ratatouille (2007)

Preceded by Intimacy

Golden Bear winner 2002 tied with Bloody Sunday

Succeeded by In This World

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