Spirited Away: Key Facts

Previous Next

Full title: Spirited Away

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Lead Cast: Voiced by Daveigh Chase, Jason Marsden, and Suzanne Pleshette

Supporting Cast: Other voices by David Ogden Stiers, Lauren Holly, John Ratzenberger, and Susan Egan

Writer: Hayao Miyazaki

Producer: English version: John Lasseter

Genre: Adventure/Fantasy

Language: Dubbed in English. Considered an excellent translation by anime experts.

Awards

2003 Annual Academy Awards: Best Animated Feature Film

Date of Release: September 20, 2002 (US)

Setting (Time & place) A traditional Japanese bathhouse in the late 1990s

Major Conflict: After Chihiro and her family accidentally wander into a spirit world and her parents turn into pigs, Chihiro struggles to stay focused on her goal of freeing her parents in the face of numerous otherworldly distractions involving greed and consumption.

Rising Action: Sen is tested by No-Face, who offers her gold to keep her in the bathhouse and distract her from her goal of freeing her parents and saving Haku.

Climax: Sen gets on a train to go see Zeniba, who holds the key to helping Sen reclaim her identity as Chihiro, saving Haku’s life, ameliorating the loneliness of No Face, and determining the fate of Chihiro’s parents.

Falling Action: Chihiro and her parents find their car covered with dust. The parents think someone has been playing a joke on them. Chihiro shows she’s now resigned to her new life.

Foreshadowing: Chihiro’s dad telling Chihiro and her mother not to worry that he’s driving dangerously because he has four wheel drive. Along the same lines, a few minutes later he says not to worry about eating the food because he has credit cards and cash. Both of these events foreshadow Chihiro being left to rely on her own character and devices.