《千与千寻》Spirited Away (2001)
导演：宫崎骏 Miyazaki Hayao
Kirk Wise
My first impression of “Spirited Away” is this anime is presented like a feature film. All the characters and things are very details. Although the place of the story happens is an imagination, but it is closer to the real world. In my opinion, the difference between an anime and feature film is anime will have more space of illusionary.
Chihiro, a girl who is moving to her new home, trapped in another world which is different from the human’s world. In this story, Chihiro faces with many problems when she is trying to save her parents who have turn into pigs after eating the food from that world.
The first plot point is when Chihiro and her parents walk through the tunnel at the beginning of the story. This brings her and her parents to another world, which is unknown.
The second plot point is when Chihiro is going down the staircases to look for Kamaji. This brings her into the bathhouse as worker and her journey to save her parents starts here.
The third plot point is when Chihiro let No Face come into the bathhouse. No Face brings her helps and also problems.
The fourth plot point is when Chihiro is trying to save Haku while the paper birds chase him. This brings her to the journey of saving herself, parents and Haku.
In this story, it is weird that Chihiro will be help by others while she is facing problems. In my opinion, that is unrealistic. In reality, others won’t help us every time when we need it. How can she be so lucky?
The weirdest is when Chihiro went to apologize to Zeniba (Haku steals her seal), Zeniba does not angry with her. Zeniba acts differently in the previous part. When she is in Yubaba’s office, she is asking Chihiro to hand over Haku. How would a person act so differently without any reason?
The story does not tell who is No Face, where is he come from and why is he come. In my opinion, this is the shortcoming of the whole story. The audience will wonder who is he, why is he there …this makes the audience confused.
In “Spirited Away”, characters such as Chihiro, Haku, Yubaba and other main characters are exquisitely illustrated and designed. The looks of the characters show characters’ personalities. For example, Haku with green hair and very stylish is a strong person. While Chihiro is a girl, who is weak and not independent, we can know it from her look - she is so puny.
The look of Yubaba is a very typical Western witch look – a face full with wrinkles, big nose and also big mouth. Her look will afraid the audience.
In “Spirited Away”, things around the environment are clearly illustrated and very details. For example, in the beginning, when Chihiro and her parents walk through the tunnel and reach a hall, through the environment we know that this hall is abandoned. The candlestick and the leaves on the floor portrayed it.
Another is the Yubaba’s office. Her office is decorated beautifully. Through the decorations on the doors, we knew that Yubaba is a very powerful person.
All this is to create a more realistic world. Details of the environment show the authentic of the imagination world in the story.
In “Spirited Away”, without dialogue, just the music, it brings the emotion. In the scene at the beginning, when Chihiro is in the car, the music is slow and sad. This is because Chihiro missed her friends in her old hometown.
When she is going ahead to Yubaba’s office, the music brings the tension mode. We will be very wonder and tension of what is going to happen next.
When Chihiro riding on Haku’s back from Zeniba’s home to the bathhouse, the music is rapid, but when they are flying in the sky and Chihiro remembered Haku’s real name and their first met, the music becomes slow and touching.
At the end when Chihiro on her way leaving the bathhouse, the music is slow and soft. It sounds relax because Chihiro and her parents are safe, but it sounds sad also because Chihiro has to separate with Haku and she does not know whether she is going to see him again.
Written on 23 September 2002
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