For many anime fans, Hayao Miyazaki’s ‘Spirited Away‘ still stands out as the one that many will watch again and again. The story follows a small, timid girl with dark hair and bangs, named Chihiro. The protagonist and her family are en route to a new town. The little girl sulks in the back seat, resentful of being uprooted from her childhood home to a new school and new friends.
The family gets lost on a precarious dirt road and find their way to an abandoned former fairground where the smell of barbecuing food still lingers in the air. There’s also a curse on the grounds, and Chihiro’s parents are transformed into pigs. The cutest girl then navigates a perilous bathhouse, an evil witch, and a mysterious dragon-stranger to rescue her pig-parents from being slaughtered. Such an iconic turn-around from Studio Ghibli. If you had no reasons to convince people to watch ‘Spirited Away’, then here they are!
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5 Reasons Why You Should Watch And Re-Watch The Anime ‘Spirited Away’
1) For The Naughty Chihiro
Chihiro is far from the precious, sympathetic child, adults often write. She whines, she sulks, and she ignores her parents. For sure, she might not be the one, one would immediately hope to befriend. However, she became one of the closest movie friends for many lovers of this age-old anime movie.
2) The Transformation Of Her Parents
In ‘Spirited Away’, the scene where Chihiro’s parents eat themselves ill, catalysing their transformation into literal pigs is one of the scariest scenes out there. This scene for many anime lovers pushed the boundaries of what they consumed from western animated movies.
3) Just Holding The Breath
Chihiro must hold her breath, in order to cross the spirit bridge without being caught by spirits. She was escorted by the mysterious Haku, to the other end of the bridge. This is probably one of the nerve-wracking scenes ever in an anime. You unconsciously, hold your breath to see whether you can also cross the bridge within the same time as them.
4) Chihiro Starts To Lose Herself Too
Chihiro also starts to lose herself like her parents. Yubaba physically extracts her name, Chihiro from her memory and replaces it with the plebeian Sen. Without her name to anchor her, Sen starts to forget why she came to the spirit world in the first place. She must keep reminding herself of her duty to rescue her parents and overthrow Yubaba. This is one of the most hardest scenes to watch in an anime ever. A small girl had to fight herself to rescue her parents. Heart-breaking!
5) Just For The Dust Motes
I mean, they are adorable! Do not even begin to say no. They are adorable. Period. Even in the most terrifying scenarios, they brought in a cute and calming balance to the scenes. Do not neglect them for their cuteness, they can kill you too!
